Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat), under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, organised nationwide Deepotsav celebrations and neighbourhood youth parliaments on November 6 and 7 as part of the eighth week of its 100-week ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat’ campaign.
The initiatives, titled ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva Deepotsav – Ek Diya Sankalp Ka’ and ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva Par Paricharcha’, combined Diwali celebrations with grassroots discussions on substance abuse. They collectively engaged more than 1.19 lakh young people and citizens across 30 states and Union Territories, with participants taking pledges to support a drug-free India.
Under the Deepotsav initiative, 435 programmes and 568 activities were organised, attracting 1,10,101 participants. Activities included rangoli-making, diya lighting, distribution of sweets, awareness campaigns and felicitation of MY Bharat volunteers. Partner organisations, including Brahma Kumaris, EPSI and Heartfulness, also took part.
In Uttar Pradesh, MY Bharat volunteers organised celebrations in Lucknow, distributed sweets and fruits at an old-age home in Banda, and conducted awareness activities in Rampur. Deepotsav and rangoli programmes were held in Mungeli and Dhamtari in Chhattisgarh, while celebrations and sweets distribution were organised at an old-age home in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh.
Similar activities were conducted in Yavatmal in Maharashtra, Yanam in Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir.
The second initiative, ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva Par Paricharcha’, was conducted through Neighbourhood Youth Parliaments (NYPs) at the block level. It recorded 85 programmes and 298 activities, with participation from 9,526 people.
The discussions focused on substance abuse, the challenges it poses and the role of young people in building a drug-free society. Each youth parliament was designed to engage at least 80 young people per block through four structured sessions.
The sessions covered an introduction to the MY Bharat portal, an understanding of substance abuse and the challenges facing India’s youth, tools to translate awareness into action, and an audio-visual presentation titled ‘Stories of Change: The Journey Towards a Nasha Mukt Bharat’.
The programmes also featured slogan writing, rangoli-making, street plays, interactive discussions and pledge-taking. Such activities were organised in Bhuna block of Fatehabad district in Haryana, Latur in Maharashtra, East Delhi and Dongargarh block in Chhattisgarh.
The 100-week ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat’ campaign aims to provide a sustained nationwide platform for youth participation and community-led efforts to build a drug-free India.
-PIB
