Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday pledged that not a single gram of narcotics would either enter or leave India through its borders as he launched a roadmap for Nasha Mukt Bharat 2029 (Drug-Free India 2029), focused on supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction.
Among the other changes were the launch of a national helpline for the rehabilitation of drug-addicted youth, increased manpower and zonal presence, and a national database of narco offenders, ‘NIDAN’. During his press conference, Shah said that since 2019, the Government of India had begun a coordinated campaign to tackle drug networks. “Before 2014, action against narcotics was done in bits and pieces and in isolated silos; the scope of action was limited to small seizures and small-time accused. After becoming the Home Minister in 2019, I ensured that the fight against narcotics transitions from files and isolated actions by different agencies into a national, coordinated, and continuous campaign,” he said. He said that in 2019, a four-tier NCORD mechanism was created with apex, executive, state and district levels. Shah said that between 20014-2016, agencies collectively seized 1.19 crore kg of narcotics, which is 4.6 times higher than what was seized during 2004-2014, and the value too jumped from Rs. 40,000 crore to Rs. 1.89 lakh crore.
“We integrated local police with the national strategy by forming dedicated Anti-Narcotics Task Forces in all states and union territories along with a Joint Coordination Committee, so that central agencies and states take joint decisions on every major network, interstate links, and operational gaps,” he said. Other measures included initiating integrated analysis through a data-driven map of networks, hotspots, modus operandi and drug-wise seizures through CCTNS data and integrated data fusion, and making financial investigation and PIT-NDPS the core investigation standards, thereby simultaneously striking at hawala, benami properties, bank accounts and proceeds of crime, the Home Minister said.
