Will return Padma Bhushan if govt doesn't fulfil promises: Anna Hazare

Agencies

February 4, 2019

Ralegan Siddhi, Feb 4: Social activist Anna Hazare, whose indefinite hunger strike entered the fifth day on Sunday, warned that if the Narendra Modi government did not fulfil its promises, he would return his Padma Bhushan.

Earlier in the day, Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena came out in Hazare's support, urging him to emulate socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan and lead an agitation against corruption.

Hazare has been on a hunger strike since last Wednesday at his native Ralegan Siddhi village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, demanding appointments of Lokpal and Lokayuktas and resolution of farmers' issue.

"If this government does not fulfil its promises made to the country in the next few days, I will return my Padma Bhushan," he told PTI Sunday evening. "(The) Modi government has breached the faith of people.

The 81-year-old was awarded the third-highest civilian honour of the country in 1992.

Hazare's demands include immediate appointment of anti-corruption ombudsmen Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states, implementation of Swaminathan Commission's recommendations for tackling agrarian distress and electoral reforms.

In the morning, in support of the Army man-turned- activist's demands, a group of farmers and youths blocked the Ahmednagar-Pune highway at Supa village in Parner tehsil, 38 km from here.

The police tried to pacify the protesters and asked them to end the blockade as vehicles had backed up for around six km on both sides, Supa police station inspector Rajendra Bhosale said.

As many as 110 protesters were detained in the afternoon and released after the traffic resumed, Bhosale said.

Dr Dhananjay Pote, who checked Hazare in the morning, said he had lost 3.8 kg in the past five days and his blood pressure, blood sugar and creatinine level in the urine had gone up.

Around 5,000 farmers from the district are likely to stage a protect outside the Ahmednagar collector's office on Monday to support Hazare's agitation, his associates said.

The decision to hold the protest was taken at a gram sabha (village meeting) at Ralegan Siddhi on Saturday night.

Leaders of various political parties from Parner tehsil were present at the meeting.

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray appealed to the BJP-led state government -- of which his party is a part -- to intervene and asked it to not to "play" with Hazare's life.

Thackeray also asked Hazare to take to the streets instead of "giving up" his life, and urged him to emulate the role played by Narayan in the 1970s when the socialist leader took on the Indira Gandhi government.

Hazare should not meet the fate of activist G D Agrawal, who died during a fast for his campaign for clean Ganga, the Sena leader said.

Hazare had earlier declined to meet state government envoy and minister Girish Mahajan for talks.

The anti-corruption crusader had told PTI that he welcomed the Maharashtra cabinet's decision to bring the office of the chief minister under the ambit of the Lokayukta.

"However, the strike will continue till the government fulfils promises they made before coming to power about passage of Lokayukta Act, appointment of Lokpal (at the Centre) and to tackle farmers' issues," he said.

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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'.

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