Jammu : NCC Wings (2 J&K Boys Bn NCC Jammu and 1 J&K Naval Unit NCC Srinagar) of Maulana Azad Memorial College on Tuesday organized an awareness rally and a guest lecture under the aegis of NashaMukt Jammu and Kashmir Abhiyaan.
The rally was flagged off from the Science Block of the College by Dr. Sanjay Karlupia, Head of the Department of Geology.
More than 110 cadets of NCC and faculty members participated in the rally. Prof. Sanjay Karlupia, lauded the efforts and initiatives of the NCC units of the college and interacted with the cadets. He also appreciated the efforts of the NCC cadets of the college in maintaining the discipline in the college campus and for spreading the awareness against drug use among the society.
The key speaker for the guest lecture was Dr.SurajMohaniJamwal, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, PSPS GCW Gandhinagar, Jammu. Dr. S. M. Jamwal is an active researcher in the area of drug use among the youths of Jammu and Kashmir. She shared first hand experience of her dealings with the addicts and the consequences of drug use. She said that the threat of drug usage among the youths is so high that the Government has to launch NashaMuktAbhiyaan to eradicate illicit drugs from society.
In her talk, she presented the data of drug addicts in Jammu and Kashmir. Surprisingly, 35% are the female addicts among the drug addicts of the age group 17-33. Jammu and Kashmir being a border region is prone to the drug supply from the neighbouring countries and as a result the incessant supply of drugs through borders is nothing less than the Narco-Terrorism.
The slides of Dr.Jamwal’s presentation also contained the ways to avoid drugs and deal with addicts. She also interacted and answered several queries of the students related to drug use.
Major Dr. Karan Singh (Associate NCC Officer) in his address said that the youth are idealistic and want their lives to have greater meaning than just collecting money. Youth needs to leave their mark, to do something above average and unique. But, the prevalence of illicit drugs in the society is a serious challenge that our country is facing. Therefore, it is very important to organise awareness programmes for students in Schools and Colleges as lack of awareness is one of the major causes of drug addiction. He urged the students to be brand ambassadors of the awareness among the society against the illicit use of drugs.
Dr. Anil Singh (CTO) Naval Wing, in his address said that according the WHO report there are about 27 crore people between the age group of 15-64 who had used drugs in the previous year and it is estimated that worldwide almost 1.1 crore people inject drugs, of whom 14 lakhs live with HIV and 56 lakhs with Hepatitis C.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen increase in the number of drug users and therefore it is imperative on all the citizens to fight this menace altogether and save the youth from this vicious trap. He also presented the formal vote of thanks. The cadets of the Naval wing presented poems, posters and speeches in various languages highlighting the damage caused by the drugs to the addicts and their families.
Askit, highlighting the peer pressure as one of the causes for usage of drugs among students, was presented by the Cadets of Infantry wing. Other faculty members who graced the occasion were Dr.KoushalKiran, PO NSS, Dr.BanpreetKour, Prof. Rajesh Kotwal, Prof. Sanjay Sambyal, Dr.Ranjodh Singh Jamwal, Dr SeemaJamwal, Dr.Anupama Gupta, Prof. Ajay Virdi, Prof Meena Sharma, Prof. Vishally Sharma, Prof. Sonam Mehta, Dr.NamitaSingh and Prof. BhanuPriya.SCCSunakshi Gupta and PO Cadet Diksha Rani conducted the proceedings of the event.
