God’s Own Country, Kerala — haven for tipplers!!
Liquor drinking is on the ascending mode in the Kerala state where the per capita liquor consumption is way high. In 2019 during the Onam festival alone the government agency sold liquor worth whooping Rs. 500 crore.
During India’s independence struggle against the British rule, Mahatma Gandhiji campaigned against the consumption of alcohol and considered it as a major social evil that would destroy the welfare of the society. He urged a total ban on drinking. When the Constitutional Committee wrote the Indian constitution, to accommodate Gandhiji’s view on alcoholism and a powerful anti-alcohol lobby, they included a section into the Constitution declaring its intention to enforce prohibition across India. But today, state governments across the country are violating this edict with impunity, going back on the assurance given to that grand old man. As for Tamil Nadu, the credit goes to the government headed by the DMK party to lift the prohibition. In the later years, alcohol had begun to flow like water, causing havoc to millions of poor families. From the Himalayan states to the southern states including Kerala, liquor is available easily.
Believe it or not God’s own country — Kerala has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in the country and the sale of liquor is on the increase as days go by. What surprises the common man is this upward mobility in liquor sale continues despite the prohibitive tax on legal alcohol and many dry days. Last year during the major Onam festival, the most popular one in Kerala, the liquor sale was worth $500 crores despite a ban on the sale on festival day. The state government was unable to check on the illegal, covert sale and hoarding. As the per capita alcohol consumption is very high, the government’s coffer is full to the brim — thanks to its biggest revenue contribution from the sale of liquor and the people’s addiction to liquor. It is implicit that more and more people have taken to drinking to be free from mundane life that is rife with frustration and ennui.
There has been an increasing demand for foreign as well as India made liquor. The tipplers in Kerala have a more swell time than their counter parts elsewhere. For the first time in April 2018, the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) outlets and Consumer-fed outlets started stocking up Foreign-Made Foreign Liquor (FMFL) along with branded high-end Indian-Made Foreign Liquor. This was done to please the regular patrons. Another first is they also introduced self-service facilities in their outlets that had a good ambiance. ‘Right service, quality and easy availability of liquor’ is the motto of the government agency and now they came up with a naval way to serve the thirsty customers effectively without their having to stand in a long queue to get their favorite brew(s). The Bevco and Consumer fed outlets had a plan to introduce liquor vending machines. You drop in the right money and press the button. There you go you will get the favorite brew you’re craving for!! Yet another advantage is such bars are open up to 11.30 PM, a good news for the nocturnal drunks.
When making alcohol available to the public, as ordered by the High Court, the government aims at more consumer friendly service, one Bevco official said. Why the government agency has gotten into FMFL? The reason is simple. Several foreign brands were being sold clandestinely on the black market in the state even during the height of prohibition. Consequently, the state agency incurred loss and, to make it up, they took a decision to sell FMFL presumably at a competitive price. Though the import duty on the foreign liquor is 150% and the price is high, lots of people prefer foreign liquor to the India made foreign liquor. Since the price difference between FMFL and IMFL, the sale market the the latter is not affected. Bevco has a proposal to import many brand of foreign made beers to please the beer lovers. Thus God’s own country has become a haven for liquor freaks.
According to an article by the New Indian Express paper (29 Oct. 2019) Keralites downed liquor worth around Rs 45,000 crore whooping money in the last three years after the LDF government had taken over the reins. A week after the Cabinet had approved to produce fruit-based wine and liquor with low alcohol content, data shows liquor worth Rs 35,587.98 crore was sold by the State Beverages Corporation during the April 2016-March 2018 period.The demand is so much the water holes are also on the increase. The number of bars shot up by at least 20 times to 540 bar hotels to satisfy the liquor-hungry people. In addition, many applications for bar licence are pending before the government. It is a paradox that as many as 41 clubs are registered under the the Charitable Society Act to sell liquor. Does it not sound strange — sale of liquor in the name of charity? In 2009 there were just 19. Yet another interesting information we get is the Ernakulam district has the highest bar hotels — 131; other districts like Idukki and Malappuram, Wayanad, etc have no clubs with liquor licence.
The Toddy shanties (Commonly known as Toddy Shops), tucked into an isolated place in the midst of greenery are equally famous where you get the local brew — commonly called ‘’Kallu’’. It is a sort of local wine with low alcohol content; non-alcoholic versions of palm sap are also available. Also called ‘Toddy’, in Kerala Palm Wine, Palm Toddy and Kallu are all the product of different species of palm trees like Palmyra, coconut palms etc. It goes by
different names in different regions and is common in various parts of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and Micronesia. In Kerala, only the state agency has the right to sell it through numerous licensed outlets and lots of people go for it. Tamil people living close to the state line go after the Kallu, as the liquor sale is banned in certain areas — along the bordering towns and villages in TN.
Above image: Considering tipplers’ health and the compliance of physical social distancing in the midst of Covid-19 endemic, to avoid serpentine line before the liquor shop, the mobile app is getting ready for virtual queue management; made by a Kochi-based start-up, it was finally submitted in May 2020 to Google for fast track approval. In many states liquor is running the economy …………
According to National Institutes of Health (NIH), 1 in every 13 people in the United Kingdom is an alcoholic. In the USA, 15 per cent have been proven to be problem drinkers, 5 per cent to 10 per cent male drinkers and 3 per cent to 5 per cent female drinkers are alcohol dependent. In India, in the pastone and half decades, alcohol consumption has gone up and so is the problem of alcoholism.
“Drink makes a man forget himself. He creases to be a man for the time being. He becomes less than a beast and he is unable in his drunken state to distinguish between his wife and sister. He loses control over his tongue and other limbs. It never does the slightest good. I hope, therefore, that you will combat the curse with all your strength. — — Young India (23/3/1925)…… ‘’Mahatma Gandhi’’.
https://www.sarcajc.com/mahatma-gandhi-on-liquor.html
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/kerala-consumes-more-alcohol-this-onam/article29405693.ece
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2018/04/02/bevco-kerala-fmfl-imfl-alcohol-consumption.htmlhttps://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2019/oct/29/kerala-guzzled-liquor-worth-rs-45000-crore-in-the-last-three-and-a-half-years-data-show-2054207.html
Originally published at http://navrangindia.blogspot.com. (23 June 2020)
