Thursday, August 28, 2014

How will Kerala celebrate now?

India has just won a match – an overseas ODI, not an overseas test you optimist! You have just received a job or a promotion. Your child has just got admission in a school / college. You have just won a state lottery. Sachin Tendulkar has just visited your state and you were in attendance for his felicitation. Your outstretched arm barely scraped past Sachin’s shoulders while he was leaving. It’s a festival / Sunday / any personal occasion like Birthday, Anniversary etc. Your blood test has proved everything’s right in your body. Your liver’s fine.

In all the above mentioned occasions, don’t you feel the urge to celebrate? If yes, then how? Not sure if most of us will buy a cake / have a quiet dinner with the family. It must be a lot of buzz and booze! Speaking of booze, wouldn’t you like to have a dip in the alcohol pool? Well yes, of course.

Not if you are in Kerala. Most Keralites residing in Kerala will be devoid of such “luxury” from September 12th. That’s because their government has decided to ban over 700 liquor bars in Kerala in a phase-wise approach. Around 418 bars are already closed since 1st April 2014. 213 bars currently functioning will be closed on 31st March 2015. From 1st April 2015 only 5 star hotels, approx. 23 in the state, will legally sell liquor.
Why such a ban? – Statistics don’t lie. Kerala is the one of the leading consumer of liquor in India. So much so that 1/6th of the total liquor consumption comes from Kerala. To put things in perspective, India’s per capita consumption of liquor stands at 4 liters whereas Kerala is twice that number at 8.3. So, excessive alcoholism is a major issue in Kerala, at least most of the female population and religious groups will testify. Some analysts have also linked alcohol consumption to domestic and social violence. While the link appears logical, there’s a separate school of thought that believes a drunk drowns his problems / frustrations using alcohol thereby reducing the chance of domestic / social violence. Kerala is not the first state to implement such a step – Gujarat, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland have all tried it. 

Will a ban be successful? – Let’s get one thing out of the way – if the intention is to have a healthier and a safe Kerala, then it is worth applauding. While the jury is out and there is no clear prediction if the ban will be successful, I personally feel it’s a step back for the Kerala government – economic damage notwithstanding. I can understand the political pressure imposed from the religious allies of the government – perils of a coalition government. But the solution will not do much good. Instead, it will force the regular drinkers to “procure” their spirit from neighboring states. Illegal liquor business will flourish, which is more harmful to government and individuals. Just to quote a metaphor, if murders have increased dramatically in a region, you don’t ban knives / ropes / other common weapons right? You devise a mechanism to have a stringent law to fight the culprits. Same applies here too. If alcohol is leading to an increase in crimes, you introduce and implement stringent laws to fight the crime. Generating awareness is also a solution – albeit long term. Banning alcohol, even in a phased manner, serves no purpose.

Alcohol is not the problem here. Excessive alcohol and its effect on individuals and society are. We need to fight the problem from its root instead of barely attacking the leaves.

PS: I am a teetotaler and this issue doesn’t matter to me at a personal level. But Kerala is my hometown and I am afraid this ban will be counter-productive towards Kerala’s cause. 

14 comments:

  1. Kerala will find a way out. There will be alcohol available in the state all the time, ban or no ban.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes sir. When there's a "spirited" will, there's a way!

      Delete
  2. I don't think making Kerala a dry state is a good idea. Such prohibition will only lead to bootlegging . Besides people may move to deadlier stuff like contrabands etc.

    Alcohol generates a lot of revune for the state .. With loss of revenue either state taxes will have to go up or public facility & growth will come down...

    Then what is the solution??? ... One wonders .
    We need to come up with a solution where liquor is available but limit the supply . something like :
    1) Each person who wants alcohol must register himself/herself . May be use some biometric tool -- Aadhar /NPR card [Use technology to prevent misuse or false card use]

    2) Say He/She is entitled to :
    Least of :
    a) Fixed qty /30 days ( Say 1L/30 days)
    b) Liquor cullmulatively amounting to not more than 50% of one's salary from known sources ( This will prevent false use of card in the name of wife,son,father etc)

    3) If there are pictorial warning on ciggartte packs .. Why not on liquor bottles & boxes.

    4) Increases the taxes on Alcohol in a staged manner .. Say 2% increase/month ( that's a whooping 24% increase & it also means alcohol consumed /month reduces gradually due 50% sal cap enforced)

    5)Sale of liquor only via Beverages Cooperation

    6)Even if someone vists a bar then biometric check must be used to limit his monthly quota.

    Now I know there are flaws in this ..
    1) What about non residents?
    2)What about "Duty Free Items"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Waah Rajesh. Long time man! And an interesting proposition provided by you.. Biometrics and restriction are also the thing I thought about, but feasibility and usability are big concerns. Ban / restriction are something we humans cannot bear. We will find a way to work around it. But its definitely better than the current solution being adopted.

      Delete

  3. My company was supposed to transfer me to Ahmedabad, which is again a part of the dry state. I kept praying continuously about getting kerala so that atleast I could be out of the dry state debacle. To my surprise I did get Kerala, but within two days this news came along :|

    I don't think a complete ban with work. In Gujarat, the police actually sells alcohol in black. It is the alcohol they procure from the people while checking on the state boundries. So, all I would be worried about is a little high prices and thats all

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe.. Irony! Regarding Gujarat, even I have heard how the "ban" actually works.. Ban is never a solution..

      Delete
  4. This decision by the kerala govt has no proper backing...
    God knows what.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has backing from religious allies and hence such a step Red..

      Delete
  5. No amount of banning can be helpful! It will encourage only more corruption as people will not give up drinking!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thats true sir. The "drinkers" will never give up drinking due to the ban imposed.. Only the means to procure will change

      Delete
  6. I dont think a ban will help as boot legging will start and with that more problems hope the govt has thought about it , how will it tackle the underworld ...



    Bikram's

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. An apparent solutions will only increase problems..

      Delete
  7. It happened in Haryana, I think in late 90s by BJP government but failed miserably. I hope it gets some positive results in Kerala.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quite frankly it has failed everywhere.. Not sure if this is the right approach..

      Delete

All yours..

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