The scene is known to anyone who has lived in a college hostel or stood at an office party. 

A substance goes from hand to hand, a friendly voice says the others are already doing it, and a moment opens in which a young person weighs the embarrassment of refusing against the discomfort of standing apart. 

The Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan starts from the belief that addiction often begins in that moment, less as a decision than as the fear of being left out.

That puts the campaign’s focus in a place no enforcement agency can reach. 

The person giving the substance is often a friend, and the pressure can feel like a way of fitting in.

The Abhiyaan, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2020, staked its effort on the courage of one person, in a weak moment, to decline in front of peers, a refusal delivered without drama and a moral lecture.

The Prime Minister has set that refusal inside a national ambition. 

Speaking of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan, he said a country aiming to become developed needs youth who are healthy in body and mind, full of confidence and........

© Kashmir Observer