Medicines tried, now ‘havans’ to help addicts in Madhya Pradesh

After deciding against a full prohibition on drugs and alcohol in the state, the Madhya Pradesh government has now turned to socio-religious group Gayatri Pariwar to help people with havans (religious ceremonies) and a mass awareness programme that will begin in July, state government officials familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Under the programme, the government will open de-addiction centres at the district level and 50 more at the panchayat level in the first phase, where the havans will be held and people will be offered religious literature and Ayurveda treatment to help them get rid of their addictions.

Social justice principal secretary Ashok Shah said, “Spiritualism will show a real path to addicts and also boost their morale. The MP government decided to seek help from the Gayatri Pariwar as their study suggests that Agnihotra (havan) is good for de-addiction as it fills the human body with positivity, love and care.”

The idea was mooted by social justice department in the first week of April after it organised more than 500 religious and social plays in about 700 villages of MP from January to April this year.

Gayatri Pariwar’s mass awareness programmes for de-addiction in-charge KP Dubey said, “In Rajasthan and Bihar, we received a very good result and now MP wants our services. As we are working at the grassroots level it is easy for us to motivate people to stop taking alcohol and drugs. We basically first create awareness among people by explaining the ill effects of drug abuse and then havans and pooja help them in becoming stronger towards their commitment to give up bad habit...”

Clinical psychiatric Dr Satyakant Trivedi said, “Many a time, an addicted needs proper medical treatment for giving up the habit of taking drugs and alcohol because withdrawal symptoms can prove fatal sometimes. Hence, just havans and spiritualism is not enough...”

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