When Manipur University says No to Drugs, it says Yes to Manipur’s Future
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Naorem Mohen
The one-day awareness programme on “Mission of Drug-Free Campus” organised by the National Service Scheme Cell of Manipur University deserves to be viewed beyond the narrow frame of a university event. It was a timely and necessary intervention in a State where drug abuse and illicit trafficking have long affected families, youth, public health, social stability and the moral confidence of society.
Held at the Court Hall of Manipur University to commemorate the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the programme was organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Prof. Sumitra Phanjoubam, Vice-Chancellor (In-charge) of Manipur University, graced the programme as chief guest. Prof M Premjit Singh, Registrar of Manipur University; Ms Princi Gupta, District Youth Officer; and Dr Sapam Dilipkumar Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, attended as guests of honour. The function was presided over by Prof Laishram Santosh Singh, Programme Coordinator, NSS Cell, Manipur University.
The significance of the programme lay not only in its observance of an international day but in the quality of the message delivered. Prof Sumitra Phanjoubam’s address stood out because it spoke directly to students without sounding punitive, distant or bureaucratic. Her speech was in close harmony with the mandate of the Ministry of Education, the University Grants Commission and the wider National effort under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan.
Manipur University’s NSS awareness programme on “Mission of Drug-Free Campus” was more than an observance. With Prof Sumitra Phanjoubam calling for student responsibility, counselling, mentorship, yoga and collective care, and Prof M Premjit Singh reminding that laws alone cannot defeat drugs, the message was clear : a drug-free campus is Manipur’s investment in its future.
In a State such as Manipur, where the problem of drugs has caused deep social consequences, her words cannot be treated lightly. She reminded the gathering that drugs destroy lives, shatter dreams, break families and damage the future.
Drug abuse usually does not announce itself as a crisis at the beginning. It often begins quietly. It may begin with stress, loneliness, academic pressure, peer influence, curiosity or the desire to escape anxiety. It may begin as casual experimentation. It may enter through friendship networks or through the false promise of relief. By the time society recognises the damage, the student, the family and the institution may already be in distress.
This is why Prof Sumitra’s emphasis on students was important. She said students come to the university with dreams, hopes and expectations. Parents send their children to the university with trust. They expect not only degrees, but maturity, confidence, discipline and a future. A university is therefore not merely a place for lectures and examinations. It is a space where young citizens are shaped.
Her speech placed the responsibility of the univer- sity in its correct moral frame. Students today face many pressures. They face academic competition, uncertainty about employ- ment, emotional strain, social comparison and the demand to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.
It is in such vulnerable moments that drugs, alcohol, smoking or other forms of substance abuse may appear as temporary relief. But temporary escape can become long-term destruction. Prof Sumitra’s message was therefore clear : students must not seek easy exits from stress. They must seek healthier and permanent solutions through discipline, support, counselling, meaningful activity and collective care.
The pledge administered during the programme under the guidance of the VC (In-charge) gave the event a deeper meaning.
A pledge against drugs matters only when it moves from words to conduct. It must influence the classroom, hostel, canteen, playground, library and neighbourhood. It must guide how students respond when a friend shows signs of addiction. It must shape how teachers notice distress. It must remind administrators that prevention is not achieved by circulars alone. It must tell families that silence is not protection.
The address delivered by Prof M Premjit Singh, Registrar of Manipur Univer- sity, added an important historical and institutional dimension to the programme. Referring to the historical background of drug abuse and illicit trafficking, he spoke of the Opium War in China and the significance of 26 June. This historical reminder was useful because the drug problem has never been merely about individual weakness. It has always had links with trade, power, profit, exploitation and social collapse.
The Opium War remains one of the clearest examples of how narcotics can be used to weaken societies and distort history. It showed that drugs are not only substances of addiction. They can become instruments of economic greed and political control. When the Registrar drew attention to such a background, he was locating the present campaign within a larger historical warning. Societies that fail to resist drugs do not merely lose individuals. They lose collective strength.
His observation that strict laws alone cannot completely eliminate drug abuse and trafficking is equally important. Laws are necessary. Enforcement is necessary. Policing, border vigilance, investigation and punishment have their place. But law alone cannot create a drug-free society. A society may have strong laws and still lose its youth if families are weak, campuses are indifferent, peer culture is reckless and moral education is absent.
Prof Premjit Singh’s emphasis on education, social awareness and the moral strength of citizens to reject drugs goes to the heart of the matter. The fight against drugs is ultimately a fight for character, judgement and community vigilance. A young person must be able to say no before the police, the Court or the hospital becomes involved.
This is where Manipur University’s role becomes crucial. As one of the State’s most important higher educational institutions, it must become a model of preventive education, student welfare and responsible campus governance. Its students come from different districts, communities and social backgrounds. What they learn on the campus will travel back to families, towns, villages, schools, offices and public life.
The UGC has already given higher educational institutions a structured framework under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. The UGC has called for comprehensive awareness and prevention activities, including anti-drug declara- tions, seminars for fresh batches, formation of anti-drug committees, drug-free campus clubs, individual and group counselling, sports, yoga, meditation, skits, plays, workshops and hostel-level mechanisms for continuous engagement with students.
The UGC communication also recognises that newly admitted students and hostel residents can face higher risk due to peer pressure, academic stress, lack of supervision, mental health issues, loneliness, homesickness, absence of structured routines and easy availability of substances. This recognition is important because it shifts the campaign from mere warning to practical prevention.
The direction to appoint responsible anti-drug officers, strengthen hostel moni- toring, install CCTV cameras at entry points, provide helpline numbers, create counselling systems and work with police and administration should be implemented with seriousness. Such measures are not meant to criminalise students. Properly understood, they are meant to protect students from suppliers, couriers, peddlers and social pressures.
At the same time, Manipur University must be careful not to create an atmosphere of fear. A drug- free campus cannot be built only through surveillance. Fear may drive addiction underground. Students who need help may hide their condition. Friends may hesitate to report problems. Families may conceal symptoms due to stigma. The university must therefore combine vigilance with empathy.
This is why Prof Sumitra’s reference to counselling and rehabilitation was significant. If a student has already fallen into drug use, the university community must not treat that student as beyond recovery. Teachers, friends and fellow students must offer support, guidance and compassion. Addiction must be confronted firmly, but the affected student must not be abandoned.
The university’s mentor-ship system should be strengthened. Every teacher must understand that mentoring is not a ceremonial assignment. It requires attention, trust and availability. A student who is unable to speak publicly may speak privately to a teacher. A student in distress may not need a lecture at first. He or she may need to be heard. The success of a drug-free campus will depend not only on committees but on human relationships.
Prof Sumitra rightly observed that the university is not only about studies. Sports, yoga, community engagement and constructive activities can help students find discipline, companionship and purpose. Manipur University has resources that can be used. The Yoga Department can support physical and mental well-being. NSS volunteers can run peer awareness campaigns.
A drug-free campus must be built through routine. It cannot depend only on annual observances. Every fresh batch should receive anti-drug orientation. Every hostel should have a functioning monitoring and counselling mechanism. Every department should know the referral process for students in distress. Every campus club should include drug-free activities in its calendar. Every NSS volunteer should be trained to identify risk signs and guide fellow students toward help.
Manipur’s drug problem has a wider social context. The State’s geography, prolonged unrest, unemploy- ment, trafficking routes, social disruption and emo- tional insecurity among young people have all contributed to the spread of the problem. This does not excuse drug abuse. But it explains why the solution must be broad. Enforcement agencies alone cannot solve it. Families alone cannot solve it. Universities alone cannot solve it. Civil society, police, health profe- ssionals, teachers, parents and students must work together.
For Manipur University, the mission must begin from the campus but must not end there. A university that produces drug-free, socially responsible students contributes to Manipur’s future more effectively than any slogan. Students who reject drugs become stronger members of families. They become better professionals.
The phrase “drug-free campus” must therefore not be reduced to a compliance requirement. It is a public interest commitment. It is about protecting the moral and intellectual capital of Manipur. A society already burdened by conflict, unemployment, social division and uncertainty cannot afford to lose its students to addiction.
The NSS Cell deserves appreciation for organising the programme, especially at short notice and during vacation time. But the greater responsibility begins now. The pledge must be followed by action. The speeches must be followed by institutional mechanisms. The guidelines must be followed by implementation. The students must be followed by mentors. The vulnerable must be followed by counsellors. The campus must be followed by the wider society.
Prof Sumitra Phanjou-bam’s speech gave the programme its emotional and moral centre. Prof M Premjit Singh’s address gave it historical depth and civic seriousness. Together, they conveyed a message that Manipur urgently needs to hear: the fight against drugs is not won by fear alone, nor by law alone, nor by slogans alone. It is won when institutions educate, families guide, students resist and society refuses to normalise destruction.
When Manipur University says no to drugs, it says yes to Manipur’s future.
The writer is Editor Signpost News
The one-day awareness programme on “Mission of Drug-Free Campus” organised by the National Service Scheme Cell of Manipur University deserves to be viewed beyond the narrow frame of a university event. It was a timely and necessary intervention in a State where drug abuse and illicit trafficking have long affected families, youth, public health, social stability and the moral confidence of society.
Held at the Court Hall of Manipur University to commemorate the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the programme was organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Prof. Sumitra Phanjoubam, Vice-Chancellor (In-charge) of Manipur University, graced the programme as chief guest. Prof M Premjit Singh, Registrar of Manipur University; Ms Princi Gupta, District Youth Officer; and Dr Sapam Dilipkumar Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, attended as guests of honour. The function was presided over by Prof Laishram Santosh Singh, Programme Coordinator, NSS Cell, Manipur University.
The significance of the programme lay not only in its observance of an international day but in the quality of the message delivered. Prof Sumitra Phanjoubam’s address stood out because it spoke directly to students without sounding punitive, distant or bureaucratic. Her speech was in close harmony with the mandate of the Ministry of Education, the University Grants Commission and the wider National effort under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan.
Manipur University’s NSS awareness programme on “Mission of Drug-Free Campus” was more than an observance. With Prof Sumitra Phanjoubam calling for student responsibility, counselling, mentorship, yoga and collective care, and Prof M Premjit Singh reminding that laws alone cannot defeat drugs, the message was clear : a drug-free campus is Manipur’s investment in its future.
In a State such as Manipur, where the problem of drugs has caused deep social consequences, her words cannot be treated lightly. She reminded the gathering that drugs destroy lives, shatter dreams, break families and damage the future.
Drug abuse usually does not announce itself as a crisis at the beginning. It often begins quietly. It may begin with stress, loneliness, academic pressure, peer influence, curiosity or the desire to escape anxiety. It may begin as casual experimentation. It may enter through friendship networks or through the false promise of relief. By the time society recognises the damage, the student, the family and the institution may already be in distress.
This is why Prof Sumitra’s emphasis on students was important. She said students come to the university with dreams, hopes and expectations. Parents send their children to the university with trust. They expect not only degrees, but maturity, confidence, discipline and a future. A university is therefore not merely a place for lectures and examinations. It is a space where young citizens are shaped.
Her speech placed the responsibility of the univer- sity in its correct moral frame. Students today face many pressures. They face academic competition, uncertainty about employ- ment, emotional strain, social comparison and the demand to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.
It is in such vulnerable moments that drugs, alcohol, smoking or other forms of substance abuse may appear as temporary relief. But temporary escape can become long-term destruction. Prof Sumitra’s message was therefore clear : students must not seek easy exits from stress. They must seek healthier and permanent solutions through discipline, support, counselling, meaningful activity and collective care.
The pledge administered during the programme under the guidance of the VC (In-charge) gave the event a deeper meaning.
A pledge against drugs matters only when it moves from words to conduct. It must influence the classroom, hostel, canteen, playground, library and neighbourhood. It must guide how students respond when a friend shows signs of addiction. It must shape how teachers notice distress. It must remind administrators that prevention is not achieved by circulars alone. It must tell families that silence is not protection.
The address delivered by Prof M Premjit Singh, Registrar of Manipur Univer- sity, added an important historical and institutional dimension to the programme. Referring to the historical background of drug abuse and illicit trafficking, he spoke of the Opium War in China and the significance of 26 June. This historical reminder was useful because the drug problem has never been merely about individual weakness. It has always had links with trade, power, profit, exploitation and social collapse.
The Opium War remains one of the clearest examples of how narcotics can be used to weaken societies and distort history. It showed that drugs are not only substances of addiction. They can become instruments of economic greed and political control. When the Registrar drew attention to such a background, he was locating the present campaign within a larger historical warning. Societies that fail to resist drugs do not merely lose individuals. They lose collective strength.
His observation that strict laws alone cannot completely eliminate drug abuse and trafficking is equally important. Laws are necessary. Enforcement is necessary. Policing, border vigilance, investigation and punishment have their place. But law alone cannot create a drug-free society. A society may have strong laws and still lose its youth if families are weak, campuses are indifferent, peer culture is reckless and moral education is absent.
Prof Premjit Singh’s emphasis on education, social awareness and the moral strength of citizens to reject drugs goes to the heart of the matter. The fight against drugs is ultimately a fight for character, judgement and community vigilance. A young person must be able to say no before the police, the Court or the hospital becomes involved.
This is where Manipur University’s role becomes crucial. As one of the State’s most important higher educational institutions, it must become a model of preventive education, student welfare and responsible campus governance. Its students come from different districts, communities and social backgrounds. What they learn on the campus will travel back to families, towns, villages, schools, offices and public life.
The UGC has already given higher educational institutions a structured framework under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. The UGC has called for comprehensive awareness and prevention activities, including anti-drug declara- tions, seminars for fresh batches, formation of anti-drug committees, drug-free campus clubs, individual and group counselling, sports, yoga, meditation, skits, plays, workshops and hostel-level mechanisms for continuous engagement with students.
The UGC communication also recognises that newly admitted students and hostel residents can face higher risk due to peer pressure, academic stress, lack of supervision, mental health issues, loneliness, homesickness, absence of structured routines and easy availability of substances. This recognition is important because it shifts the campaign from mere warning to practical prevention.
The direction to appoint responsible anti-drug officers, strengthen hostel moni- toring, install CCTV cameras at entry points, provide helpline numbers, create counselling systems and work with police and administration should be implemented with seriousness. Such measures are not meant to criminalise students. Properly understood, they are meant to protect students from suppliers, couriers, peddlers and social pressures.
At the same time, Manipur University must be careful not to create an atmosphere of fear. A drug- free campus cannot be built only through surveillance. Fear may drive addiction underground. Students who need help may hide their condition. Friends may hesitate to report problems. Families may conceal symptoms due to stigma. The university must therefore combine vigilance with empathy.
This is why Prof Sumitra’s reference to counselling and rehabilitation was significant. If a student has already fallen into drug use, the university community must not treat that student as beyond recovery. Teachers, friends and fellow students must offer support, guidance and compassion. Addiction must be confronted firmly, but the affected student must not be abandoned.
The university’s mentor-ship system should be strengthened. Every teacher must understand that mentoring is not a ceremonial assignment. It requires attention, trust and availability. A student who is unable to speak publicly may speak privately to a teacher. A student in distress may not need a lecture at first. He or she may need to be heard. The success of a drug-free campus will depend not only on committees but on human relationships.
Prof Sumitra rightly observed that the university is not only about studies. Sports, yoga, community engagement and constructive activities can help students find discipline, companionship and purpose. Manipur University has resources that can be used. The Yoga Department can support physical and mental well-being. NSS volunteers can run peer awareness campaigns.
A drug-free campus must be built through routine. It cannot depend only on annual observances. Every fresh batch should receive anti-drug orientation. Every hostel should have a functioning monitoring and counselling mechanism. Every department should know the referral process for students in distress. Every campus club should include drug-free activities in its calendar. Every NSS volunteer should be trained to identify risk signs and guide fellow students toward help.
Manipur’s drug problem has a wider social context. The State’s geography, prolonged unrest, unemploy- ment, trafficking routes, social disruption and emo- tional insecurity among young people have all contributed to the spread of the problem. This does not excuse drug abuse. But it explains why the solution must be broad. Enforcement agencies alone cannot solve it. Families alone cannot solve it. Universities alone cannot solve it. Civil society, police, health profe- ssionals, teachers, parents and students must work together.
For Manipur University, the mission must begin from the campus but must not end there. A university that produces drug-free, socially responsible students contributes to Manipur’s future more effectively than any slogan. Students who reject drugs become stronger members of families. They become better professionals.
The phrase “drug-free campus” must therefore not be reduced to a compliance requirement. It is a public interest commitment. It is about protecting the moral and intellectual capital of Manipur. A society already burdened by conflict, unemployment, social division and uncertainty cannot afford to lose its students to addiction.
The NSS Cell deserves appreciation for organising the programme, especially at short notice and during vacation time. But the greater responsibility begins now. The pledge must be followed by action. The speeches must be followed by institutional mechanisms. The guidelines must be followed by implementation. The students must be followed by mentors. The vulnerable must be followed by counsellors. The campus must be followed by the wider society.
Prof Sumitra Phanjou-bam’s speech gave the programme its emotional and moral centre. Prof M Premjit Singh’s address gave it historical depth and civic seriousness. Together, they conveyed a message that Manipur urgently needs to hear: the fight against drugs is not won by fear alone, nor by law alone, nor by slogans alone. It is won when institutions educate, families guide, students resist and society refuses to normalise destruction.
When Manipur University says no to drugs, it says yes to Manipur’s future.
The writer is Editor Signpost News