GUWAHATI: Home Minister Amit Shah has said that India will collectively succeed in uprooting the drug trade by 2029. He made the remarks on Tuesday while addressing the 3rd National Conference of Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) Heads of States/UTs in the national capital.
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In the two-day conference organised by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), ANTF heads from 36 States and Union Territories, along with representatives of concerned government departments and other stakeholders, are participating.
In his address, the Union Home Minister said the government has, for the past five years, been taking one step after another in an effort to achieve the difficult goal of a drug-free India.
He said that the time has now come to deliver a decisive blow against narcotics, which have become the most serious threat to the country and the world, and to achieve victory through collective efforts.
Shah said that by December 2029, India will collectively succeed in uprooting the drug trade.
Amit Shah said that in the past five years, the country has achieved success against several challenges such as terrorism in Kashmir, insurgency in the Northeast and the problem of Naxalism.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), with the cooperation of all the states, has ended these major problems that have confronted the country for decades,” he said.
He said that the fight against drugs is the most difficult of all battles, but India cannot abandon this fight.
Shah said that to build a Viksit Bharat by 2047, save future generations and connect the youth with India’s development, the only option before “us is to make India drug-free.”
“We will have to fight this problem unitedly and with passion, and we must achieve victory,” he added.
Shah said that they have prepared the complete roadmap after taking suggestions from all stakeholders, and it has been given to everyone with definite targets.
Targets and timelines have also been fixed in it.
The Home Minister said that it will also be reviewed after some time. Shah added that the MHA or the NCB cannot do all this alone.
“We all have to fight this battle with top priority and complete dedication, and we have to win it as well,” Shah said.
The Union Home Minister said that for emerging challenges such as synthetic drugs, diversion of precursor chemicals, new communication technologies, dark net, drug markets, crypto, dead-drop delivery systems and international drug networks, a team of officers who think “out of the box” should be constituted in every state, and success should be shared and implemented across the entire nation.