‘Udta Punjab’ by Anurag Kashyap has brought the crisis of drug abuse that has gripped the State into mainstream discourse. The movie provides rare glimpses of the extent of the menace that affects all, without the bias of gender or class. The following section provides succinct previews about the worsening condition of Punjab.
At the outset, the intensity of the problem can well be gauged from the fact that about 60 per cent of the drugs confiscated in India are seized alone from Punjab. Also in the news was the the Drug Situation Report, September 2015, released by Narcotics Control Bureau, that claimed a seizure of 13.755 kg of heroin from Khemkaran, Amritsar. Dr. S.P.K. Jena, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Psychology, University of Delhi, says “not only these drug addictions have led to decrease in efficiency of the youth of Punjab but also has given rise to a number of criminal and anti-social activities.”
In a 2013 working paper, ‘Factors Driving Drug Abuse in India’s Punjab’ by Rahul Advani, Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), it is stated that although there is no comprehensive study to determine the number of drug addicts in the State, it is estimated that 40 per cent of the Punjabi youth in the age group of 15-25 years have fallen prey to drugs.
If we were to apply this statistic to the total youth population of Punjab, this would suggest that roughly a population of about 1.5 to 2 million young Punjabis are addicted to drugs. According to a study ‘Drug Addiction in Punjab: A Sociological Study’, 2013, by Dr Ravinder Sandhu, UGC Emeritus Fellow, Department of Social Work, Punjab University, Patiala, reveals that such crimes in Punjab are nine times more than the national average. The study further states that 73.5 per cent of drug addicts belonged to the 16-35 age group. Dr Suman Gupta, Psychiatrist, Social Worker and Counsellor at Neuropsychiatry and Drug Deaddiction cum Rehabilitation Centre, Chandigarh, adds “the trends for drug consumption in Chandigarh are on its peak and are being equally consumed by both poor and rich sections.’’
As per the ISAS paper, the high proliferation of drug rackets and consumption in Punjab can be attributed to unemployment, agricultural economy, obsession with masculinity etc. as the economic growth of the State is hampered due to a downturn in agricultural productivity, resultant from over consumption of pesticides and fertilizers in the wake of green revolution. As per the study, “Impact of Delay in Investment Implementation in Punjab”, 2015, conducted by Assocham, a sharp declining trend has been observed in the growth performance of Punjab’s economy as the State’s overall growth has declined from 10.2 per cent in 2006-07 to 5 per cent in 2014-15.
The green revolution resulted in a large influx of workers from the states of UP, Rajasthan and Bihar because of which the native youth are subjected to competition in employment opportunities, along with substandard quality of education and unemployment. This incompetency further gives rise to distress due to which drug consumption shoots up not only for high priced drugs like opium and heroin but also cheap drugs in the form of tablets, capsules and injections. Most villages in Punjab do not have health clinics but usually have three to four drug stores which sell cheap pills as an affordable alternative to heroin.
The ISAS paper also adds that ‘increasing masculinity’ has also become a growing phenomenon for drug use. Usually, the most popular reason for drug abuse given by abusers is that they wanted to increase their sexual performance. This suggests that drug abuse is partially consumed for both display and realisation of masculine identity. Maqboolpura, a village in Punjab is called the ‘village of widows’ because of the large scale deaths of young men due to drug abuse, the paper points out.
As per the Punjab Opioid Dependency Survey, 2015, carried out by the Society for Promotion and Youth Masses and National Drug Dependence Centre, AIIMS, almost 80 per cent drug addicts report that they have tried to give up drug use in the past but just about 35 per cent have received any kind of help or treatment.
Jena further said that “not only does heroin and other drugs lead to slowing down of one’s reasoning ability, mental functioning and blockage of thought processes, but also has further consequences, in the form of secondary effects, like committing crimes and engaging in anti-social activities.” He also suggested methods, to overcome addiction, such as “counselling, psychotherapy and vocational training of people suffering from addiction.
Policies should be formulated with missionary zeal and strong political will power. The government should stop putting the drug abusers behind the bars and should rather try to understand their reasons for adopting drug addiction of any kind. The state is earning around INR 13 crore daily from the excise duty on sale of liquor but nothing is spent on the research on drug abuse.”
In Punjab, a host of factors are aggravating the depressing situation. And what further accentuates the crisis is the fact that the population suffering from drug addiction is primarily the youth who are fundamental to economic growth of any region.
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In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)