Assess how far the shift from organisational involvement to a community-owned 'Jan Andolan' has made India's drug demand reduction strategy more effective. What institutional gaps remain?

Article 47 directs the State to prohibit harmful drugs. The Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA), the awareness arm of MoSJE's National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR), has grown from department-led events into a community-owned Jan Andolan that has reached 35.84 crore people [1]. The shift has clearly widened reach and reduced stigma. It has not yet shown that drug use is falling.

Gains from the Jan Andolan shift

• Scale: the campaign began in 272 vulnerable districts in 2020 and has covered all districts since August 2023 [1][2].
• Last-mile delivery: Nasha Mukti Mitr volunteers, PRIs, Anganwadi and ASHA workers carry the message, and training modules reach students, teachers and parents [1][2].
• Less stigma: people seeking treatment or counselling rose from 2.08 lakh (2020-21) to over 9.11 lakh (2025-26), about 4.4 times [1].
• Accountability: State, District and Block committees were set up after the 9th NCORD Apex meeting. Grants continue only after a satisfactory inspection and are tracked on the NAPDDR MIS [1].

Limits to effectiveness

• Reach is not recovery: 35.84 crore counts contacts, not people who stopped or never started [1].
• Treatment gap: 9.11 lakh seekers set against over 7 crore people with substance use disorders (NDDTC-AIIMS survey, 2018) means only about 1.3% are reached in a year [1].

Institutional gaps that remain

• Data: the 2018 survey gave only national and State estimates. District estimates arrive only in 2027, so districts were chosen without local drug-use data [1].
• Money: Rs. 333 crore (2026-27) works out to under Rs. 50 per affected person, and every district gets the same Rs. 10 lakh grant whatever the size of its problem [1].
• Legal mismatch: Section 27 of the NDPS Act makes drug use a crime. Section 64A protects users only if they volunteer for treatment, and fear of police keeps many from coming forward [3].
• Helpline confusion: 14446 is the de-addiction line, while MANAS (1933) reports to NCB. Families may fear that calling brings the police [1].
• Planning gap: the NAPDDR roadmap ran from 2018 to 2025 [4], and no successor has been announced.

In short, the Jan Andolan has made India's strategy broader and more humane, but it is not yet demonstrably more effective. A new NAPDDR built on the 2027 data could close the gap. It should track treatment completion and relapse on the MIS, fund districts by need, and use NCORD to make Section 64A a step before any charge. That would turn reach into recovery, in line with Article 47 and SDG 3.5.