Tightening the noose on drugs

Punjab- its rich heritage, its valor, its contribution to India’s grainary, the number of youth it sends to the defence forces is something that makes every Punjabi proud of amongst many other contributions.  Punjab is acknowledged worldwide due the contribution made by Punjabi Diaspora wherever they have gone despite the fact that the state suffered a lot during the time of militancy in 1980 and 1990s, and with the turn of the century, the state witnessed farmers’ incomes going down the hill, no industry worth the name, a service sector that has not moved beyond few call centers, youth moving for greener pastures to other lands.

Change in land policies made the rich farmers richer and poor the  poorer. Punjab has traditionally had a high level of opium addition and drinking culture to boost despite certain religious sects condemning it. Easy availability of drugs coupled with extravagant spending habits specially made the rich indulge in drugs as a sign of social acceptability and the poor for addressing their frustration.  Over the last few years, the synthetic drugs have added a new dimension. There have been allegations on the previous SAD-BJP government under the command of Parkash Singh Badal for doing little to control the menace. Rather, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal had to apologise for pointing finger at the top notch in the Badal family for supporting the drug trades.  The regime of SAD-BJP was content with denying allegations and defending those against whom the allegations came. The situation has turned precarious. In village after village young men and even women are wasting away their lives and many have died because of drug overdose. Estimates suggest that more 70% of people below 25 in Punjab are hooked to one narcotic substance or the other.  The assembly elections were contested over the issue of drugs and Capt Amarinder Singh came to power on the strong promise of eradicating the menace. The cases of drug abuse being reported have been followed by claims, counter claims, allegations and denials. Quiet like the previous regime! However, Capt. Amarinder Singh is not known to buckle down and he came out openly to order mandatory dope tests of all government employees and police personnel after a woman alleged that she was put onto drugs and pushed into drug trading by a senior Punjab Police official. While, the employees have gone jittery over the proposal, Capt Amarinder Singh too had to defend his blanket order. He is clear that if cops or for that matter government officials are too hooked to the drugs, it won’t be easy to eradicate the drug peddlers.  He has assured the officials that there won’t be any action against any government official found to be drug addict, rather he or she would be sent to rehabilitation centre. Though a lot of work on making this rehabilitation centre cater to the needs of addicts has to be done.  The state government has  in recent weeks, has shot off letters to the central government to make anti-narcotic laws stiffer. Captain’s government has decided to recommend to the Centre to provide death penalty for drug peddlers and smugglers. Rightly so, as the chief minister feels that the drug peddling is destroying entire generation and it deserves exemplary punishment.  Having sent a strong signal through strong steps, Captain Amarinder Singh too has scored on the social front and created a perception whereby he assumes a role of terminator of the drug nexus.  Captain has been able to involve the highest Sikh seat, the Akal Takht to issue an appeal against the use of the drugs.

Captain’s efforts can be seen as delivering results, with a large number of parents taking their addict kids for treatment, where names of those indulging in pedaling have come out, those involved in the Punjab Police have come out and are likely to face trial. Today, Punjab has taken a step forward to regain its lost glory but the Congress government led by Amarinder Singh will have to be relentless in its endeavor to take its efforts to an logical conclusion.