National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction
Also called: NAPDDR · Topic: Safeguards for Vulnerable Sections: SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Women and Children · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) is the main scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for fighting drug abuse. It began in 2018. It works on demand reduction, which means getting fewer people to want and use drugs. It does this through prevention, awareness, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation (helping people return to normal life). It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme: the Centre pays and the States carry out the work. It also has some parts that the Centre runs on its own. It rests on Article 47, a Directive Principle that asks the State to work to prohibit drugs that harm health.
Example
Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan is NAPDDR's awareness campaign. It started on 15 August 2020 in 272 districts and has covered all districts since 15 August 2023. NAPDDR also pays for treatment centres, such as Integrated Rehabilitation Centres for Addicts and Addiction Treatment Facilities in Government hospitals. Its budget for 2026-27 is Rs. 333 crore.
Don't confuse with
- Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA): NMBA is the awareness campaign inside NAPDDR. NAPDDR is the larger umbrella scheme, so the two are not separate parallel schemes.
- NDPS Act and the Narcotics Control Bureau: these deal with the supply side. They use the law and the police to stop drugs from being sold. NAPDDR deals with the demand side and is a welfare scheme, not a law.