CM Rekha Gupta backs PM Modi's anti-drug youth campaign launch
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Every parent's dream, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta wrote on Sunday, is simple: children who are safe, skilled, and proud — not lost to addiction. That dream is now the stated mission of a national campaign set to launch at the highest level.
Gupta announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 'Nasha Mukt Yuva - Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan' (Drug-Free Youth - Developed India Resolve Campaign) on 2 August 2026 at 11:00 AM via video conferencing. The CM called on citizens to join what she described as a jan andolan — a people's movement — for a drug-free India.
From 2020 roots to a 2026 national resolve
The campaign builds on the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, the national anti-drug awareness drive launched in 2020 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. That programme focused on awareness and rehabilitation across districts with high substance-abuse vulnerability. The new 2026 initiative explicitly ties youth welfare to the Viksit Bharat vision — the government's overarching goal of a developed India by 2047.
The framing is deliberate: addiction is cast not merely as a health crisis but as a barrier to national potential. Gupta's post captured it sharply — 'unke haathon mein nasha nahin, hunar ho' (not drugs in their hands, but skills). The language links the social campaign directly to workforce readiness and the country's development ambitions.
Video conferencing as a tool for national reach
The Prime Minister's choice of video conferencing for the launch follows a well-established pattern — multiple flagship schemes have been rolled out this way to ensure simultaneous state-level participation without logistical barriers. For a campaign that depends on grassroots momentum, the format signals intent: this is meant to be a ground-up movement, not a Delhi-only announcement.
State-level rollout events and participation figures in the weeks following the launch will be the real measure of whether the sankalp — the resolve — translates into reach.