Key Facts

Performance achievements under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA):

• Outreach Statistics: Over 35.84 crore people reached through direct community engagement, including 11.32 crore women and 13.5 crore youth.
• Institutional Penetration: Active awareness drives established across 4.1 lakh educational institutions, schools, colleges, and university campuses.
• Community Force: More than 200,000 community volunteers registered as 'Nasha Mukti Mitras' for surveillance, de-addiction counselling, and peer support.
• Target Horizon: Aligning with the vision of Viksit Bharat, the campaign targets dismantling illicit retail supply chains and rehabilitating affected individuals by December 2029.

GK Context

• NMBA was initially launched on 15 August 2020 in 272 most vulnerable districts identified by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), AIIMS.
• By August 2023, the scheme was scaled nationally to cover every district in India.

Static GK

Article 47 of the Constitution of India, located in Part IV under the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP), explicitly directs the State to endeavor to bring about prohibition of the consumption of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health, except for medicinal purposes.

UPSC Mains Framework

GS Paper II (Social Justice & Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections): Substance abuse poses a severe threat to India's demographic dividend. Critically evaluate the effectiveness of community-driven prevention programs like NMBA compared to strictly punitive narcotics law enforcement.