NCB found usage of darknet and cryptocurrency for drug trafficking in India: MHA informs Rajya Sabha

Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha as per the survey report of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment published in 2019, the consumption of drugs in India has increased as compared to the survey report in 2004, which is a matter of concern. The Centre has taken several steps to upgrade the NCB, Rai said.

“419 new posts at various levels have been sanctioned, four new regional offices at Amritsar, Guwahati, Chennai and Ahmedabad have been sanctioned, five new Zonal Offices at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), New Jalpaiguri (West Bengal), Agartala (Tripura), Pasighat/Lower Siang (Arunachal Pradesh) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh) have been sanctioned, and 12 existing sub-zones (Dehradun, Amritsar, Mandi, Ajmer, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Imphal, Goa, Mandsaur, Cochin, Madurai and Hyderabad) have been upgraded to Zonal level,” Rai said.

This year, MHA has been allocated in excess of Rs 1.96 lakh crore in the Union Budget. This figure is around 6 per cent higher than the allocation of Rs 1.85 lakh crore in the 2022-23 budget. Central Police Organisations, such as the NCB and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), among others, have been allocated Rs 1,147 crore.

Rai had earlier said the Central Government through NCB organises training programmes to upgrade the skills of public prosecutors and drug law enforcement officers to ensure a better conviction rate. NCB has initiated a quarterly training programme for Special Public Prosecutors and two training programs have already been conducted. “The Central Government has adopted a two-pronged strategy to stop consumption and sale of drugs: drug supply reduction initiatives and drug demand reduction initiatives,” he had said.