The Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan, India’s national campaign against substance abuse, is marking its sixth year since launching on August 15, 2020, and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has released a fresh set of numbers on how far it’s actually reached. Secretary Sudhansh Pant said this week that the campaign has now reached more than 34.54 crore citizens overall, including over 13.70 crore youth and 10.64 crore women, through nationwide awareness activities.
What is the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan
NMBA is a Government of India campaign focused on awareness, prevention, community participation and access to support around substance abuse, run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment since 2020. It isn’t only an awareness drive: under the broader NAPDDR framework, it funds states, union territories, NGOs and government hospitals for preventive education, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation work.
It’s worth being precise about what “reached” means here. Being counted in these figures means someone was exposed to an NMBA awareness activity, not that they received counselling or treatment. The Ministry’s own figures for people actually treated and rehabilitated are reported separately from these outreach numbers.
Why the women’s number matters here
That 10.64 crore figure is worth sitting with. Substance dependency is often framed as a problem that affects men directly and women only indirectly, as mothers, wives or sisters managing the fallout. NMBA’s own outreach numbers suggest the campaign is treating women as a direct audience for awareness and prevention work, not just as support figures on the sidelines of someone else’s recovery. Community volunteers under the campaign, called Nasha Mukti Mitras, now number more than 1.67 lakh nationally, and it’s this kind of grassroots, community-level structure that the Ministry is crediting for the scale of reach.
What the campaign has actually built
Beyond awareness numbers, Pant pointed to concrete infrastructure: more than 755 new de-addiction facilities set up in the last two years, including District De-addiction Centres, Addiction Treatment Facilities, and de-addiction centres inside jails. Separately, more than 1.67 lakh master volunteers, community leaders and personnel have been trained in identifying substance dependency and supporting people through care, under the campaign’s broader NAPDDR framework, which funds states, union territories, NGOs and government hospitals for prevention, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation work.
Over 31.40 lakh awareness and outreach activities have been conducted across the country under the campaign to date, according to the Ministry.
Where to actually find help
This is the part most likely to be useful if you’re reading this because it’s relevant to you or someone you know, not just as a policy update.
Call 14446. This is India’s national toll-free de-addiction helpline, run under the same Ministry framework, offering counselling and referral to nearby treatment options. It’s the single fastest route to actual support mentioned anywhere in this campaign’s own materials.
The Ministry has also launched an NMBA 2.0 mobile app specifically to help people locate the nearest de-addiction centre. The campaign’s main portal, where you can find more on the programme and its network of centres, is available at dosje.gov.in.
The campaign also runs a pledge initiative, both in person and online, aimed at building a personal commitment to stay away from drugs and to support others doing the same. More than 34 lakh pledges, including e-pledges, have been taken so far. If you’d like to take the pledge yourself, it’s available at nashamukt.dosje.gov.in/epledge.
What’s coming next
The Ministry’s target is to mobilise more than 10 crore citizens, through both in-person and online participation, for a National Mass Pledge Against Drug Abuse, scheduled for the end of this month to mark NMBA’s sixth anniversary. That 10 crore figure is a goal the Ministry has set for the event, not a count of people who’ve already taken part. Pant described it as an opportunity to build broader public awareness of the campaign, beyond the community-level outreach that’s driven most of its numbers so far.
Common questions
What is the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan? A Government of India campaign, run by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment since August 2020, focused on awareness, prevention, community participation and access to de-addiction support.
How many women has NMBA reached? More than 10.64 crore, according to the Ministry’s September 2026 update, through nationwide awareness activities specifically, not treatment or counselling numbers.
Where can I find a de-addiction centre near me? Call the national helpline at 14446, use the NMBA 2.0 mobile app, or check the official NMBA portal for centre information.
Is 10 crore people who’ve already joined the National Mass Pledge? No. That’s the Ministry’s mobilisation target for the pledge event planned for the end of this month, not a number already reached.