The endemic issue of drug abuse is not an isolated problem and it spunks more, the moment an angle of economics gets associated with it. Today, ironically the sellers are the sufferers and sufferers are eventually the sellers or traffickers of this ‘death on wheels’ substances like tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, heroine, LSD and many more. Therefore, along with the intention to limp the supply side of these substances, emphasis should be laid more on the pattern of its usage. With the same objectivity, Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan in the divine stewardship of His Holiness Ashutosh Maharaj Ji, under its drug abuse eradication program BODH has started a yearly campaign drive ’UTTHAAN’ in order to sublimate the problem of drug abuse to a greater extent and degree.
Therefore, as its first step, in the month of June 2015, various school communities, residential communities and workplace communities have been demarcated at more than 6 districts of Maharashtra, namely Mumbai, Amravati, Pune, Nagpur, Latur and Ahmednagar. Prior to the conduction of the surveys, under the program’s specialized volunteer training module ‘ Bodh Kaksha’, more than 250 volunteers were trained with the help of interactive workshops, activities, field visits, demonstrations, video screenings where each volunteer has been given ‘personal interaction time’ every stint in order for ensuring the proper understanding of the workability of the campaign.
Along with formulation of the teams, various experts were called to train the volunteers on how to develop tools, questionnaires and survey forms for the conduction of surveys. They also shared various do’s and don’ts of direct & indirect interviews, personal meetings, formal and informal interactions for the collection of the correct and appropriate data during the survey. Drug experts and facilitators viz.a.viz Annpoorna Bharti Ji, Shubhprada Bharti Ji from Amravati district, Swami Chidanand Ji and Sadhvi Ujjwala Bharti Ji from Pune district, Swami Brijeshwaranand Ji, Swami Satyedranand Ji from Mumbai district and Sadhvi Prashma Bharti Ji from Ahmednangar and Sadhvi Pratibha bharti and Sadhvi Sheetal bharti Ji from Nagpur district shared the campaign strategy with greater details during these workshops:
In the month of May and June, through sampling techniques like simple random sampling and systematic random sampling methods, various communities like Churni Village (taluka chikhildara ), MHADA Colony ( Akoli Road, Amravati), Morshi (taluka Morshi) , Dipti Signal & Vasantrao Naik Basti in nagpur, kenhari tanda & sonvati village in Latur district, Maalibabulgaon & Dangewadi in Ahmednagar, Beed Vasti and more than 50 workplaces and Schools were surveyed throughout these months.
On the first day of the survey, meetings with the villages’ heads, advocates, hospital authorities, workplace owners and school authorities were also conducted and documented to have an overall scenario of the problem of drug abuse in each community. While conducting the surveys, volunteers also prepared their observation sheets individually for the better understanding of the cultural and social belief system of each area so that further activities can be molded given the available cultural and social fabric of the local society for better acceptance and support from each area.
Based on the inclusive model developed for, which is yet to be launched as a part of Utthaan Campaign, workshops, mass sensitization programs, activities, meetings, street plays, advocacy sessions, marches, interactive activities will be organized to make the state of Maharashtra, a drug free state.
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