NSS Block-Level Sports Meets Draw 87,481 in Anti-Drug Drive

Sport was used as the instrument of an anti-drug message across the country this week. On 14 November 2026 the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports reported that the Directorate of MY Bharat-National Service Scheme (NSS) had organised clusters of block-level sports meets under Week 9 of the 100-week Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat Sankalp Abhiyan. The week fell in Month 3 of the campaign, whose theme is ‘Strong Communities, Healthy Youth’.

The numbers

A total of 992 activities were held, drawing 87,481 student volunteers, members of local youth clubs and community spectators. Field reports came from more than 130 institutions spread over 10 Regional Directorates: Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow and Trivandrum. Women and girls accounted for 42,190 of the participants, a figure the Ministry cited as evidence of the campaign's emphasis on gender inclusion.

What was played

The meets mixed athletics with team games and local tradition. There were 100-metre and 400-metre sprints, marathons, kabaddi, kho-kho, volleyball, football and basketball, alongside traditional contests such as tug of war, known in parts of the country as rassa-kassi, rumal jhapat and lemon races. In Lakshadweep, participants played traditional island games organised under the Trivandrum Regional Directorate. Every competition opened with a collective Nasha Mukt Sankalp, a pledge taken by athletes, referees, coaches and spectators together to keep to fair play and an addiction-free life.

The awareness side

Health awareness kiosks were set up at the bigger clusters in Bhopal, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi, handing out material on mental health and publicising the national de-addiction helpline, 14446. Street plays, anti-drug rallies and slogan-writing contests took up the themes of substance abuse, peer pressure and recovery. Senior police and Narcotics Cell officers from Bathinda, Kasaragod and Coimbatore, along with psychiatrists, de-addiction specialists and panchayat sarpanches, joined the events.

The campaign behind it

The Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat campaign was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 August 2026 under the umbrella of the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan. It runs for 100 weeks and sets out to turn young people away from drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other addictive substances. For the exam, the campaign's name, its parent mission, the launch date, the helpline number and this week's figures are the points to carry away.