Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Tuesday inaugurated the third National Conference of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) Heads of States and Union Territories in New Delhi, calling for intensified and coordinated efforts to make India drug-free.
Addressing the two-day conference, Amit Shah said the roadmap for a drug-free India is crucial to achieving the goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047. He said the government aims to collectively uproot the drug trade from the country by December 31, 2029.
The Home Minister said the fight against narcotics must move from “Meeting to Mission, Reporting to Result, Seizure to the dismantling of Networks, and Case to Conviction.”
He stressed the need to adopt a coordinated approach involving intelligence, investigation, financial action and prosecution. He said the objective should be to dismantle entire drug networks rather than focusing only on seizures.
Amit Shah said districts should be made the basic unit of the fight against drugs and proposed categorising them into three clusters — drug manufacturing or entry districts, transportation corridor districts and consumption districts.
He also called for targeting drug cartels at three levels — the entry point, the interstate distribution system and local sales networks in districts. Financial investigations and tracing digital links should also be given priority to target the funds generated by drug trafficking, he said.
The Home Minister highlighted emerging challenges including synthetic drugs, diversion of precursor chemicals, dark-net, crypto-based drug markets, new communication technologies and international drug networks. He called for specialised teams in every state to deal with these challenges.
Shah said the Vision Document 2026-2029 rests on four pillars — enforcement, intelligence and operations; control of precursor and synthetic drugs; demand and harm reduction; and capacity building and coordination. More than 100 targets have been identified under these pillars.
He said 46,780 Nashamukt Mitras have been registered so far against the target of one lakh. These volunteers will visit 10 lakh schools, colleges and institutions across the country to create awareness among youth and sensitise campus authorities.
The Home Minister also called for greater use of financial investigations, digital evidence and forensic capabilities in the fight against narcotics. He said the entire process of converting ANTF information into actionable intelligence should become part of the work culture of state police forces.
During the event, Amit Shah launched Television Commercials for anti-narcotics awareness and the newly designed website of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). He also laid the foundation stone for new NCB zonal complexes in Lucknow and Dehradun.
The best-performing ANTFs of States and Union Territories were also honoured.
Heads of ANTFs from all 36 States and Union Territories, along with representatives of concerned government departments and other stakeholders, are participating in the two-day conference.
