Ever since the British rule, the illegal trade of drugs and its abuse has been affecting the social fabric of the Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh. Not surprisingly, this was also one of the districts selected under the ‘Nasha Mukh Bharat’ campaign launched by the Government of India.
Several officials made numerous efforts to make the district drug-free but to no avail. A ray of hope finally emerged out of darkness when the current Deputy Commissioner of Changlang, Mr. Devansh Yadav successfully executed a drug de-addiction campaign in the most affected village of the district.
The village named Kengkhu has now achieved 100 percent drug free status.
THE CULTURAL ACCEPTANCE
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, Mr Yadav said “Changlang falls near the Golden Triangle which is located in South East Asia. As Golden Triangle has been the largest opium-producing areas of the world since the 1950s, the underground elements have taken a big role in the drug trades.” Golden Triangle is the region where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. Till about 20 years ago, when Afghanistan became the world’s biggest producer of heroin, most of this drug would be rerouted to the rest of the world from Golden Triangle.
“There have been historical reasons as well, as during the British rule Singphos in the northern region of the district were encouraged to consume opium by the Britishers. Many areas here formed part of transit trade routes through which Myanmar traders took back salt in exchange for opium. Also, culturally the raw compounds have been accepted by the people in district,” he added.
Due to all these reasons, the younger generation is falling into the drugs trap. Lack of unemployment opportunities in the villages also contributed to this state of affairs.
THE EARLIEST OPIUM-AFFECTED VILLAGE
Kengkhu, one of the largest villages of the Longchang sub-tribe (Tangsa), is one of the oldest villages to have started large scale consumption of opium in the district. Such was the general acceptance of drugs as a way of life here that the youth and the women had no qualms in consuming the narcotics.
With the consumption of such intoxicants, fights and quarrels became a daily affair in the village. The students got distracted and the infrastructure of schools, community hall, and agricultural fields started deteriorating. These were all tell-tale signs of a downward spiral when things start going out of control.
Mr. Yadav said, “The women Self help Group (SHG) in Kengkhu village approached us as they were facing various issues due to the rising drug abuse in the district. As village is a strong unit in itself, we wanted to start the drug de-addiction model in Kengkhu district.”
Earlier, when Mr. Yadav was serving as the ADC in the Bordumsa region, many de-addiction camps were organized with limited success in the Singpho `bastis’. The main issue he saw was that some of the youth, once treated, started consuming the intoxicants again after returning back to their village. This was a lesson learnt by the officer which he wanted to avoid under the new model.
EXECUTING THE BASTI/VILLAGE MODEL
The campaign started by assigning a young APCS officer, MetungTaku, to monitor the village day and night. Meetings were conducted with village heads, after which it was unanimously agreed to send willing youths to the drug de-addiction centre in Bordumsa. Initially, there was lack of cooperation from some gram panchayat members and public leaders and the member of the women SHGs were constantly facing harassment from addicts upon new activities.
But in two months, 30 youths got completely de-addicted and a few more were accommodated in the newly established de-addiction centre in the district hospital. De-addiction activities involved medical treatment, yoga, and morning/evening fitness sessions as well as various recreational activities.
In the second meeting, the achievement in the past two months was acknowledged and the 30 de-addicted youths were urged to change the sentiment in the village. Unlike last time, the fully treated youth upon returning to their village got an opportunity to get involve in newly started cluster farming in Kengkhu. They also received further motivation from `Art of Living’ sessions organized there by Amaka Ngemu.
“Through feedback from BihunTaidong, leader of the Kengkhu self-help group, we discovered that a few peddlers were supplying drugs incessantly, and so we got them arrested through immediate police action. This immediately reduced the supply of drugs in the village,’’ pointed out Mr. Yadav.
After a few hiccups, the unthinkable happened. The village soon passed a resolution declaring the whole premises as drug-free. The model is now being replicated in one more village which will soon be free of drugs as well.
