'Speedbreaker didi' lost sleep after 2 phases: Modi

Agencies

April 20, 2019

Buniadpur, Apr 20: Lashing out at TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said: "speedbreaker didi" has lost her sleep after the first two phases of the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.

Addressing an election rally here in South Dinajpur district, Modi accused the chief minister of fooling people in the name of 'ma, mati and manush' (mother, land and people).

"Speedbreaker didi has lost her sleep after the reports that came in the post the first and second phase of polling in the state," the prime minister told a well-attended rally.

He also flayed Banerjee for allowing people from the "neighbouring country" to campaign for the Trinamool Congress in the state.

"It is shameful that people from the neighbouring country are campaigning for the TMC. This was done by the party to appease the minority community," Modi said, referring to Bangladeshi actor Ferdous canvassing for the ruling TMC.

"Such a thing has never happened in India, where people from neighbouring country have been campaigning for a political party," he said.

The prime minister criticised Banerjee for seeking proof of the Balakot airstrikes in Pakistan and asked her to, instead, collect evidence against those behind chit fund scams.

He also said that tough measures will be taken to identify and stop cross border infiltration after the NDA-led government returns to power.

Modi said after the poll results are declared, "those elements who are trying to stop border fencing will have to face the reality".

"After May 23, we would take steps to identify and stop cross border infiltration," he said at Buniadpur, which shares its border with Bangladesh.

Besides, the NDA government is committed to grant citizenship status to refugees, he said.

"During partition, some people had stayed back in other countries. But, due to their religion and faith, they have been facing persecution in those countries... Where will they go?" Modi asked.

It is the duty of every Indian and the government to save these people, he said, adding, "It is our commitment to pass the Citizenship Bill in Parliament."

Some political parties, the PM said, are trying to mislead people on the issue of citizenship.

"Be it the TMC, the Congress or the Left, they have only indulged in politics of dividing people, but we believe in taking everybody along with us," he said.

Mocking Banerjee's 'Bengal model', Modi said, "Mamata Didi wants to implement her 'Tolabaji (extortion) Tax' model of development across the country."

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

Comments