Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Wednesday said the government is committed to “build a drug-free India by 2047”, and if there are collective efforts and a “whole of India approach”, the victory is certain.

Amit Shah was addressing the first National Conference of Heads of Anti-Narcotics Task Forces of States and Union Territories here.

The home minister said the young generation is the foundation for the development of the country, but narcotics are ruining them, thereby weakening the foundation of the country’s development.

On such weak foundations a strong country cannot be built, he said. Apart from ruining the youth of the country, the smuggling of narcotics affected the country’s economy. Smuggling of narcotics not only impacted the economy of the country, but compromised national security and borders through narco-terror, he said.

Shah said that while many countries across the globe had failed in the battle against narcotics, India was at a stage “where we can win against this fight by moving forward with the determination of 130-crore people.”

He said that there can be three reasons for failure against this fight: It must be understood that it is not just the fight of the government, but of the people, that it is not the fight of any one department, but everyone has to fight it together with equal intensity, he said.

There should not be any mistake in the approach and the goal should be clear that one who consumes drugs is a victim and one who deals in drugs is a criminal, and they need to be dealt with firmly, the Home Minister said.

Shah said that “we will definitely win if we work on it. He said, the Ministry of Home Affairs under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has devised a 3-point strategy -strengthening of institutional structure, coordination among all narco-agencies and comprehensive public awareness campaign.”

He said that “we should move forward with Team India and Whole of Government Approach. He said that one should rise above party politics and political ideology in this fight against the narcotics. He said that this battle has to be fought rising above party politics and political ideology. He said that with zero tolerance approach all state governments should move forward to achieve the goal of drug-free India.”

The minister said that the outcomes of the fight against drugs in the last three years have been encouraging.  He said that while only about 1,257 cases were registered between the years 2006-2013, the number has increased by 181 per cent to 3,544 between 2014 and 2022. During the same period, the total number of arrests increased by almost 300 per cent to 5,408 as against 1,363 arrests.

During 2006-2013, 1.52 lakh kilograms of drugs were seized which doubled to 3.73 lakh kilogram between the years 2014-2022. Drugs worth Rs 768 crore were seized between 2006-2013, which has increased by more than 25 times to Rs. 22,000 crore between 2014 and 2022.

The home minister released the Annual Report (Special Edition), 2022 and Drug Free India, National Resolution Booklet of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on the occasion.

He launched a mobile app and web portal — ‘Map Drugs’ which will help in identifying and destruction of illegal farming in the country. He virtually inaugurated the office complex of NCB, Indore Regional Unit also.