Mindtext
Urbanising Kerala – Revisiting Governance for a better Metro Kerala
March 2, 2012
Reforming Maritime Laws in India
March 2, 2012The ‘Alcohol’ Debate Continues…
Alcohol abuse, consumption, ban… amusing that this has become one of the most talked about topics in our state today whether to condemn or to glorify!…
Excerpts from a conversation between socially responsible friends who are fervently for and against banning of liquor for all the good reasons…
And if you’re wondering how they ended up there…of course they were catching up after Onam and what else comes to mind than the Bevco’s achievements……
A: There has been a 26.4 percent increase in liqour consumption with Karunagapally outplacing Chalakudy in this onam fiesta. Readhttp://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article589846.ece.
Let me enlighten you on that…A look at this link gives you the familiar picture..
Miles of orderly queues in front of a lucky Bevco somewhere…but the numbers will not fail to shock you….In the article the Minister himself has accepted that price rise has not affected the consuming patterns of a Malayalee. Well…the knowledge that economics (price increase-demand decrease) does not generally work in the case of an addictive substance like liquor (especially State promoted…why not, when they get 82% as tax?) might have helped the State here!! How sad that they tried their best to reduce sales by increasing prices but ended up raking in Rs.155.16 crore during the six-day run-up to Thiruvonam. This was a jump of over 17 per cent over last year\’s sale..
A rightfully opined that there could be a total revolution if Beverages Corporation (BEVCO) is closed for 1-2 days. Now that is food for thought….
Then the thread drifted to the quality….let me remind you again all of them are teetotalers or so I’ve gathered…
D: I will always go for allowing big guys like Mallays’ so that consumers get good quality liquors rather than these waste products sold by Beverages corporation. I have been told that wine is allowed to be sold in retail stores as a policy decision of GoI. Let it be with Beer and others as well. Also that Big Bazaar and UB group along with some other corporate is exerting high pressure on GoI to give that open entry. That in a way will help to get toddy and Fenny branded and the consumers will get quality product…
I hope we all got the quality part of it…but don’t know D…when they’re all killing themselves should we care whether it’s by rat poison or human poison? And I believe at least some people consume less because they’re ashamed to go stand in queue (haven’t you noticed helmeted creatures fidgeting in queue?)
And then comes the question of the human spirit….the question of what of right and what is wrong..or whether there is such a so-called wrong at all?
P: The spirit of individualism and personal freedom conflicting with law has been there as a burning issue since the beginning of civilization and will continue to stay forever. One point is clear- alcoholism is a menace affecting large number of individuals and has therefore ceased to be an issue of individual freedom, but has attained proportion of social issue… (Here P’d taken a dig at his friend which I opted out!!!)
Of course if you drink alcohol or if you drink sulphuric acid, it doesn\’t bother anyone else. But when women n children are at the receiving end of alcoholism, when families break, when children going to schools n colleges drink n smoke n even dope, it is no more a matter ofindividual freedom. We can\’t be that naive. So many incidents of domestic violence, children not getting good education n family ambience, wives including newly wed brides being thrown to eternal agony, hospitalization expenses, road accidents- I would laugh if we say law can\’t even touch it since its individual freedom. You can\’t treat symptoms without eliminating root cause. Getting knee jerk over illicit liquor breeding corruption is not even an excuse, let alone a sound justification.
Well said P..especially the beginning…But can’t help it…I think this would be a justification given by almost everyone for liquor sale…especially our benevolent patrons….but yes….I guess that should not be an excuse….
D: I don’t think many of these issues are because of liquor alone. There are various reasons for that and my limited research shows it. I don’t agree fully with this argument..
Yes D granted..nobody believes that banning alcohol will save Humankind but wouldn’t it have some effect? At least all people in Kerala might unite..and maybe some kind soul here might file a Public Interest Litigation or maybe Imraan Khan will have a reason to come to Kerala?
Ultimately….
D: If we ban liquor, poor become more poorer.. this time tax had been raised by Kerala government but it did not have any impact in the sales. Result, poor spent more..same is the case with ban.. In Gujarat, if I can believe my friends from there, a bottle costs thousandswhich should otherwise cost a few hundreds… A ban is always justified by the government onmoral grounds and I don’t think any state has any role in that…
One of the studies I want to undertake is that of divorce rates and liquor in Kerala. When I was going through some of the statistics, I found out that most of them happen in the middle class and upper middle class and not because of liquor. That is because of many other issues.
And so we will rise..in liquor consumption…in divorces..in suicides….in facebooking…..in the Santhosh Pandit rage( note the pun!)
D’s point here is that just banning liquor will not satisfy the quench for liquor anywhere…and he has unfailing hope that it can happen with better education or awareness etc….Don’t we all?
S: Why hasn\’t Prohibition been successful anywhere else in the world? Or in other words, why is there a black market for liquor almost everywhere there is prohibition and thus defeating the purpose of why the law was there in the first place?
Maybe because man is innately foolish and liquor is available elsewhere and even if not there are people who want to make money out of it?
Perhaps in such cases a law may not have the desired effect.
So ….banning won’t help…..I think we’ve gathered that much…at least not in the current scenario…but incidentally S is also all for reduction or no consumption of liquor and she too did not see it as a case of individual liberty. According to:
S: Alcoholism does not happen in a vacuum. People drink but they don\’t get into physical abuse or cause harm to themselves unless there is another problem: poverty, personal problems, lack of awareness or just plain joblessness etc. I have also seen a few people reform from the state of plain drunkenness to sanity (for the want of a better word) with other interventions.
So maybe the remedy is that you remain occupied? And if you’re a happy person and you drink- you wouldn’t be causing any other problems? Maybe..but after all isn’t that the justification for social drinking?….the new jargon in the “corporate world”? But on the other hand- if you were totally happy would you drink?…
And here he comes around to his defence..I did mention earlier that nobody drinks in here!!!
D: Don’t count me as one who advocates for alcoholism..I come from a family which is totally absolutely alcohol free so I may not be the right person to judge the issues.
Lucky us sir……mostly all the ones judging are…and the rest – the judged…
What I was deliberating is that-from a policy angle, if the job of framing abkari policy was given to me, I would not go for prohibition. Why did prohibition fail? Because it was not practical..that is the answer I can give.
Re-emphasis…….
You can agree or disagree with me but I have the same opinion on Gambling as well. In Goa, gambling is allowed on floating ships. I am yet to understand what the difference would be if it is on the main land.. I have the opinion that even betting should be legalised.
Drawing a parallel between drinking and betting…D opines that both are avoidable evils but both should be legal since banning them is not practical….
I am sure that many nationalists amongst us will differ with me..
Yes of course there will still be some who’ll hope for Utopia….
I have always felt many laws in this country are either obsolete or unnecessary.. It is like when I argue for close sports ministry or CPWD. They are evils..
That’s the way to go..BAN the LAW!!! Or at least the making of it. Why keep dead assets around?
So then finally what’s the solution? The law won’t work……
So then…we go back to our hope for Utopia…awareness from both sides- producer and consumer….partial restrictions (We should get on the right path soon..Thank the Madhyanirodhana Samiti for that..) not price increase, and awareness….and God save Kerala…the World too!!!
PS: Setting of good example by everybody might come in handy…especially by heroes- real life and virtual….
On that note we wind up saying….We’re all against this bane of liquor consumption, just as you might be too….it’s true that all of us tend to get frustrated and sarcastic and downright dejected but yes, We’re all part of those rarities we call Optimists or in more recent jargon..Utopians……and yes, We will fight against it……Hope you will too……
Dhanuraj as D, Saritha as S, Prashanth as P, Madhu S as A and me myself Neha. Thank You
