The Department of Social Justice & Empowerment has signed a MoU with the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) on 23^rd November 2023 at New Delhi for spreading the message of Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan among the youth, women, students etc. The main objectives of the MoU are as under:

1. To create awareness in the community- through on-ground activities & social media
2. Focus on higher educational institutions, university campuses and schools to make them substance free
3. Community Outreach & identification of dependent population
4. Augmentation of counselling and rehabilitation
5. Focus on mental & physical well being of youth & adolescent

The Ministry has developed Navchetna Modules for school students in country under “Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan” (NMBA). These 9 modules teacher driven training modules (8 modules for students of 6th-11th standard and 1 for parents), will be disseminated and implemented by teachers with the aim to increase awareness and education on life skills and drugs among students in schools.

The roll out in the first phase will cover 100 schools with 30+ teachers in each of the identified 300 districts. Five (05) Master Trainers from each District have been identified who are being trained by the Department of Education & SCERT of the concerned State. To train the teachers from these schools to disseminate these modules to students and parents,

Further strengthening the reach and impact of NAVCHETNA, the training materials are also being translated into 12 regional languages of India.

Under “Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan”, the NAVCHETNA training package is being disseminated and implemented by teachers with the aim to increase awareness and education on life skills and drugs among students in schools.

The key objectives of Navchetna Modules are:

1. Prevention and delay in the initiation of substance use among school children
2. Provide linkage support for children in drug use for further screening, counselling support and treatment.
3. Provide support to families / teachers on early signs of drug use among children and information on support available

Under Navchetna Modules, first level Master Trainer’s training to 309 Master Trainers have been provided in the states/UTs of Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Srinagar, Punjab, Delhi and Haryana so far. In next year, the Ministry has set a target to roll out Navchetna modules in identified schools of the identified 300 districts.

 This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri A. Narayanaswamy in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

***** 

MG/MS/VL