Amit Shah Announces Roadmap to Make India Drug-Free by 2029

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Centre has prepared a three-year roadmap to make India drug-free by 2029, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s objective is for drug-free youth power to lead the country towards Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji after a meeting on Goa-related issues, Shah said the government has transformed the fight against narcotics from fragmented enforcement into a national security priority. He said the Centre is targeting the entire narcotics ecosystem, including trafficking, financing, synthetic drugs, rehabilitation and demand reduction.

Shah said that before 2014, agencies largely operated in isolation and often focused on small-time offenders. The government has since strengthened coordination through the NCORD mechanism, Anti-Narcotics Task Forces in states and Union Territories, and greater cooperation between central and state agencies.

The roadmap focuses on four pillars intelligence and operations-based enforcement, control of precursor and synthetic drugs, demand and harm reduction, and capacity building and coordination. The government aims to dismantle 100 international and inter-state drug networks, bring back 100 narcotics-related fugitives and destroy 100 clandestine laboratories over the next three years. The campaign also seeks to reach 50 crore citizens, create one lakh Nasha Mukt Mitras and expand de-addiction centres to 1,751.

Shah said more than 1.19 crore kg of drugs, valued at around ₹1.89 lakh crore, were seized between 2014 and 2024, while over 48.66 lakh kg were destroyed.

Linking the anti-narcotics drive with the government’s internal-security record, Shah said Naxalism, which persisted for five decades, had been eradicated and asserted that the drug menace would be tackled with similar determination. He also cited declining terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and said more than 10,000 young people in the Northeast had laid down arms and joined the mainstream.

Shah also reviewed Goa-related matters with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and officials. On Monday, he will chair the 28th Western Zonal Council meeting, followed by the President’s Police Colours Award Ceremony for Goa Police in Taleigao.