Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) has got funding from the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for a project, which is being done as part of the Government’s ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’ (drug abuse-free India campaign).
The one-year project titled ‘Nasha Mukt Udupi Abhiyaan by involving Young Leaders of MAHE’ is a part of the Government’s nationwide campaign ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’.
Funded by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, this project has been undertaken by the Department of Student Affairs of MAHE. The amount granted for the project is ₹16.83 lakh.
The objective of the project is to raise awareness regarding the repercussions of substance abuse, particularly amongst the youth, thereby creating a secure conducive atmosphere for learning and development for students in MAHE campus and in the surrounding regions of Udupi.
Geetha Maiya, who is the principal investigator of the project, said it is an effort to educate the youth and free the society of the perils of substance abuse. She requested the student community to help achieve this objective by involving themselves in all activities organized as a part of the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’ project and help to make the entire Udupi district ‘Nasha Mukt’.
Addressing the audience at a project-related event, HS Ballal, Pro Chancellor of MAHE, said MAHE has always striven hard to eradicate drug abuse and drug peddling on its campus.
“Our vision is to be a leading university dedicated to the pursuit of excellence by fostering, disseminating and applying knowledge, and instilling ethical and intellectual values to ensure and enrich the future of all the student community,” he said.
As part of the project, MAHE recently conducted an international webinar on tobacco control where experts from India, England, Ethiopia, Ghana and Bangladesh discussed best practices for tobacco control and provided suggestions to strengthen policies.
MAHE said that it has plans to raise awareness by conducting a series of talks titled ‘Nasha Mukt Udupi Abhiyaan Talk Series’, targeting common issues relating to substance abuse. The first talk in the series was delivered by Rayan Charls Mathias, Student Counsellor of MAHE, on balancing mental health and dealing with substance abuse during the pandemic.
In the second talk in the series, Vinod C Nayak, Professor and Coordinator for Centre for Clinical and Innovative Forensics, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, delivered a lecture on ‘Decoding India’s drug laws’.