The days when India turned a blind eye to drug abuse by Western backpackers may be over

It was billed as the biggest music festival of its kind in India — a four-day “psychedelic trance” party in the middle of the desert in Rajasthan.

But the inaugural Moondust Festival has been shut down on its second day in the latest sign of a backlash against the New Age culture that has attracted Westerners to India since the 1960s.

The move comes after a ban on all-night beach parties in the southern Indian state of Goa.

Police broke up the Moondust Festival at about 3am on Monday after local villagers complained that the 3,000 guests were drinking alcohol, taking drugs and indulging in “indecent behaviour”.