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Ban-hit arrack consumers hit a bigger, 'better' booze-bottle in Kerala

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The much trumpeted arrack ban introduced in Kerala by the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front has been a failure, according to a study conducted by Dr M Kuttappan of the Centre for Tropical Studies.

The study, sponsored by Union department for welfare for women and children, revealed that the ban imposed from April 1, 1996 has failed to make any positive impact on the society as a whole, contrary to the claims being made by the opposition parties and the prohibitionists in the state.

The study, which covered 312 boozers and their families, showed that 93 per cent of the arrack drinkers shifted to all types of alcohol available in the market after the ban.

Only seven per cent of the arrack consumers had quit the bottle following the ban. The government's attempt to distract the drinkers from alcohol by steeply hiking the duty on the Indian-made foreign liquor did not have any effect on the habitual drinkers.

The study showed that 24 per cent of the former arrack drinkers shifted to toddy or IMFL after the ban. The rest turned to illicit liquor. The illicit liquor trade had witnessed a massive boom following the ban on arrack, the favourite drink of the low-income brackets. The illicit liquor flowed in packets from neighboring states as well as the interior areas of Kerala where it is brewed on a large-scale.

The ban, on the other hand, has severely strained the budget of the arrack consumers, as they had to shell out more money for illicit arrack and the foreign liquor, which are the easy alternatives available, the study pointed out.

The study of the households of liquor consumers revealed that they were spending about 44 per cent of their earnings on the alcohol.

As a majority of these people belong to the economically backward sections, the ban has actually wrecked their families. The living standard of such families has drastically come down following the ban, the study said.

The study covered 312 drinkers and their families. Out of the 312 enumerated, only 23 persons stopped consuming alcohol. The remaining 293 persons shifted to all types of alcohol available in the market.

The study revealed that about 90 per cent of the drinkers were married and earning-heads of the households. A majority of them were either illiterate or had schooling only up to the primary level.

The survey showed that while 52 per cent of the households of drinkers lived in slums, 71 per cent of non-drinking households lived in pucca houses.

Majority of the drinkers looks frail and weak and showed symptoms of various debilitating diseases, the study said. The study gains significance in the light of the raging controversy over the government decision to grant licences for more distilleries and blending units in the state besides a move to lift the arrack ban.

The Communist-led government, which does not ideologically agree with prohibition, had alleged the ban as an election gimmick adopted by the then Antony government with an eye on the 1996 general election.

Although the Left parties did not fully subscribe to the ban during the campaign for both the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in April 1996, they have been able to stage a come back in the state and improve their tally in the Lok Sabha from four to 10.

The Nayanar government, which came to power subsequently, did not review the ban as it got massive support from the Church, women's groups and the opposition parties.

However, hints about a possible review of the ban were dropped by the Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member V S Achutanandan and the party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan recently.

Although the government has strongly denied any move to lift the ban, the prohibitionists think that the party was trying to gauge the mood of the people for an eventual withdrawal of the ban. The prohibitionists and the Church have mounted a massive campaign against the move.

Meanwhile, the government is going ahead with its plan to grant more licences to new distilleries. The government has so far received about 150 applications for new licences. The government has already granted licences to eight new units and plans to give 16 more.

The government has justified its decision saying that it will help not only in rehabilitating those thrown out of their jobs as a result of the arrack ban but also help meet the mounting shortfall in the production of IMFL in the state.

A petition challenging the grant of licences to the new units has already been admitted by the Kerala high court.

UNI

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