Stop child abuse, SC demands of Centre

Chief Justice T S Thakur also ordered the Centre to formulate a national plan to take care of this children drug abuse situation. The Central government has six months time to carry out this survey and create the database.

Drug abuse is not a new thing in India but something that is even worse – child drug abuse. In order to put a halt to this practice in this country, the Supreme Court has ordered the Central government to conduct a survey throughout the nation and create a database which will reflect the drug abuse by children.

The Apex Court stated that the biggest challenge in India right now is to protect children from substance abuse.

Chief Justice T S Thakur also ordered the Centre to formulate a national plan to take care of this children drug abuse situation. Also the Chief Justice has given them a time limit of four months.

A part of the 21-page statement said,”India is home to the largest child population in the world with over forty-four crore children, according to the census of 2011. They constitute a vulnerable age group for social, educational, moral and physical development. Protecting children from wide-spread prevalence of substance abuse is one of the biggest policy challenges facing India.”

A latest health Ministry survey revealed that boys between the age of 15 and 19, 28.6% used tobacco and 15% were addicted to alcohol. And among the girls aged 15 and 19, 5.5% used tobacco while 4% were addicted to alcohol.