Nada India Foundation News update

By Suneel Vatsyayan, Drug-related harm: personal and societal Recently, I attended the cremation of Suresh*. He died prematurely because of cardiac arrest at the age of 49 leaving behind his wife and two sons. He had earlier lost his friend Pawan* at the age of 39 because of lung cancer. Both Suresh and his friend had been drug free and physically healthy for 24 and 13 years respectively. Suresh and Pawan were treated for their multiple drug use starting with marijuana at Navjyoti Drug Rehabilitation Center, a program funded by the Ministry of Social Justice. In Delhi, Suresh had been treated for his substance use problems 17 times prior to the last treatment in different nursing homes and NGO-run programs. Later on both Suresh and Pawan were involved in conducting a peer-led drug rehabilitation center in the outskirts of Delhi. Both continued to attend Narcotic Anonymous self-help groups, regularly run in Delhi. These N.A. groups have a substantial role and have greatly contrib...

Nada India supports the move of the Indian Government that favours holding celebrities liable for appearing in misleading ads and endorsing bad products. Guidelines should include surrogate alcohol advertising and brand endorsement as well. The government is likely to bring out guidelines for celebrities who endorse products, Suneel Vatsyayan, The endorsement by celebrities of products can have serious adverse effects on health –  for example in the case of MAGGI and school children. Maggi product “2 minute noodle”  (that is popular with school kids) was  found to be containing Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG)  and lead higher than the permissible limits. The samples collected by Uttar Pradesh Food  Safety and Drug Administration proved that MAGGI’s advertising messages, driven home by  Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit – falsely boasted “nutritional value” of the noodles. The common people incr...

Importing Alcohol Harm Via Diplomats And Big Alcohol Nada India network members fully support the enforcement of the law on labelling on liquor imported from other countries to India. Email Share on Twitter Share on Facebook In India, alcohol is not as common as in the Western world (remember: Europe is the region in the world that consumes alcohol most heavily.). Alcohol in India is a controlled and luxury item unlike packaged water or juice. But also India is burdened by alcohol harm and therefore we advocate for better regulations on local and state level as well as for a national alcohol policy. Some regulations are in place already. For instance regulations concerning labelling and packaging. The bottle and package design gives the alcohol product a deceptive identity instead of introducing the customer to the ingredients honestly. Alcoholic beverages are not classified as single ingredient foods and so the manufacturer in foreign countries needs to follow the label...

Suneel Vatsyayan Value Young India: Make Strong And Healthy Policies Category:   Alcohol Industry ,  Development ,  Global ,  Marketing ,  Non-Communicable Diseases ,  Policy ,  Prevention ,  Youth Email Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Designing strong and healthy policy measures to prevent  Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs, lifestyle related diseases) is a step towards community well-being which can facilitate young people to make healthy choices in a market-driven and compelling environment. Every third person in India is a youth. By 2020, the average individual in the county will be 29 years old, making India the youngest country in the world. India is set to become the world’s youngest country with 64 percent of the population in the working age group. And young India is at  risk .  Young people in general think that consuming an alcoholic beverage casually after work or at dinner is...

Suneel's Blog Suneel Vatsyayan Email Share on Twitter Share on Facebook A ban on all kinds of marketing strategies that seek to portray alcohol consumption as normal was  proposed by NGOs  including  Nada India Foundation  unanimously, after attending a seminar on  “Rampant advertising by alcohol industry in India and need for a national level alcohol control policy”.   Monika Arora, the Director of the health promotions unit of  PHFI  blamed advertising for promoting the use of alcohol among youth. “It has been seen that children who are exposed to alcohol use in movies are more likely to have tried alcohol compared to those who have not been exposed,” Arora said. The  report launched on this occasion  includes an overview of the alcohol industry in India, its key players, the growth patterns and advertising and promotion of alcohol products in India. “Since alcohol use is interconnected with c...

Suneel's Blog “In the true democracy of India, the unit is the village. Every village has to become a self sufficient republic.” – Mahatma Gandhi Today, the National Panchayati Raj Day  was observed with a call from the Prime Minister , Dr. Manmohan Singh, to act collectively in bringing decentralisation of self governance at the grass roots level. He said that though the concept of Self Government has now constitutional and legal recognition but still we have to go a long way in developing each village as a model village under the scheme Pradhan Mantri Adrash Gram Yojana. Concerned over Punjab Government not giving much heed to the resolutions by various village Panchayats on ‘no liquor vend’ in their respective villages, Sangrur Member of Parliament , Shri Vijayinder Singla has decided to financially empower the Panchayats passing resolutions against liquor use ( Liquor free village ). A silent Freedom From...

  Suneel's Blog ...