JOIN USCollege days are known to be the best part of any student’s life, but they can also give nightmares to many, in terms of ragging and drug abuse.
In the past also we have lost students due to the inhuman practice called ragging, which starts with ‘fun’ by the seniors but ends up with consequences, sometimes with the victim committing suicide. The same is true of drug abuse. Students start taking drugs as part of their ‘experimen-tal’ nature but end up becoming addicts.
Recently, a two-day campaign was held at the Delhi University by the NGO Leaders For Tomorrow (LFT) where thousands of DU students pledged against drug abuse and ragging. The Anti Drugs, Anti Ragging Campaign (ADAR) worked towards harnessing leadership skills, urging students to pledge themselves against ragging and drug abuse.
The NGO which partnered with the Delhi Police, held the campaign where the members informed the students about the ill-effects of drug abuse and shared their views about the negative aspects of ragging. The campaign focused on all students, seniors and juniors included, to educate and make them aware about the purpose of this campaign.
Sachin Das, a first year BA (Prog) student of Bhagat Singh College, said, “I took part in this campaign because in the past I have seen in the news about students committing suicide due to ragging. Even I was also prepared to face it on my first day, but fortunately everything went off well. Also, police personnel were deployed to take control of the situation.”
“After taking part in the campaign, I also encouraged my other friends to ‘say no to ragging and drugs’. Such campaigns can definitely stop another Aman Kachroo incident in the future,” added Das.
During the campaign thousands of students became members of LFT, while many of its volunteers worked across 61 colleges of the university to raise awareness on the issues. “LFT is a youth leadership movement which basically aims at raising awareness among college-goers regarding drug and substance abuse and also against ragging,” said, Siddharth Jain, a volunteer.
Ashish Jain, another student from Bhagat Singh College who took part in the campaign, said, “The campaign mainly focused on freshers because they are the most vulnerable. It aimed not only to raise awareness among them, but also to involve them in various activities to awaken social consciousness in them.”
The campaign will be conducted in three phases to cover 150 colleges across the capital region. While the first phase covers DU, in the next two phases Indraprastha University and Jamia Millia
Islamia University will be covered.
Most of the students in DU come from outstations and smaller towns. The new-found freedom and peer pressure often leads them to drug abuse and other unhealthy practices. Through such campaigns, students can be made aware about the consequences of these ill practices.