Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s idea of a phased liquor ban may earn him brownie points among womenfolk. But will it work in a state which is the largest consumer of alcohol?
By TK Devasia
Preethi Nair (name changed), a housewife in Kozhikode, tried to control her husband’s drinking habit in the only way she could—she destroyed the liquor bottles he brought home. She realized the futility of it after he started coming home drunk. Preethi tried almost everything to sober him up in the last 15 years, including taking him to de-addiction treatments, but failed. So, she is naturally skeptical about the Kerala government’s move to impose prohibition.
As for drinkers, they are not unduly worried about the “partial prohibition” introduced by the Congress-led United Demo-cratic Front (UDF) government. The policy will see all 700 bars in the state, which aren’t Five Star, being shut from September 12. It will also see 387 retail outlets of Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) and Kerala State Consumers Co-operatives Federation (Consumerfed), sole liquor distributors in the state, being shut down gradually over the next 10 years, starting from October 2.
This means that Malayalees, who consume nearly 35 million cases of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer a year, will now have to queue up before 348 retail outlets (after 10 percent have shut down) and 23 Five Star hotels from October 2 if they do not quit drinking.
Seasoned drinkers
Drinkers who queued up at liquor outlets along the road from Kochi, the commercial capital of the state, to Palai, the home of Kerala’s first liquor baron, Joseph Maichel Mannarkattu (called Mannarkad Pappan), a day after the government gave its nod for partial prohibition, said they were in no mood to stop drinking. Drinkers at a Bevco outlet at Kuravilangad said they were not inordinately worried, as they could get their quota from outlets that were open.
Their methods to get their daily tipple are ingenious. “We can always form a group and depute one member to procure the quota from some other outlet if the one in our area is closed down. We will compensate him by paying him for his time,” reveals Rajesh, 30, an autorickshaw driver in Kuravilangad. He started drinking from the age of 18 and says he cannot think of quitting the bottle. He needs at least three pegs after a hard day’s work to get sleep.
Thomas Varghese, a software professional at Kakkanad, the IT hub in Ernakulam, doesn’t like to stand in a queue in front of retail outlets. And he needn’t, as he has a better option brewing at home—online home alcohol distillers. These equipment will give him better and cheaper liquor. Already, details of websites selling such liquor have started appearing on Facebook and other social networking sites. The price of a distiller that allows one to brew one’s favorite alcohol at home starts at `4,000.
Lure of toddy
But Vivek Pillai, a former employee of Bevco, says there may be no need for drinkers to take this risk, as toddy shops and beer and wine parlours have been spared from this new liquor policy and can quench the thirst of hard drinkers. “When arrack (country liquor) was banned in 1996, toddy shops sold it. Those who cannot afford IMFL can flock to these toddy shops even now for the required kick,” says Pillai. “It is not difficult to turn spirit into whiskey, brandy or rum. IMFL manufacturers have been producing all varieties of drinks for Malayalees by mixing coloring agents and additives with molasses,” he says.
Interestingly, the Kerala high court had several times brought to the notice of the government the mismatch between toddy production and sale. At one point, the court had also suggested the closure of toddy shops, numbering over 4,000.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, noted film director, says that this misconceived prohibition will have a catastrophic outcome, as it will lead to the free flow of spurious liquor. “Arrack ban produced a hooch baron called Manichan. Total prohibition will produce a chain of bigger hooch barons and trigger massive human tragedies,” he says. Prohi-bition, he adds, is not practical in a state like Kerala, where consumption of liquor is the highest in the country. It is not easy for people who queue up before bars and Bevco outlets in the morning to quit drinking.
Most drinkers share his view and feel that the UDF move will fail, as the decision is a strange concoction of politics and religion. Roy Abraham, a Gulf returnee living in Palai, believes that the new liquor policy has been triggered by a change in political equations in the Congress, following the appointment of VM Sudheeran as party chief and pressure mounted on the government by Muslim and Christian organizations.
The UDF government, which did not take any major initiative to implement its policy of phased prohibition after the ban on arrack 18 years ago, had no intention of taking the next step when it decided not to renew the licenses of 418 bars on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections. The government’s plan was to renew them after elections, but Sudheeran made the going tough by taking an adamant stand against reopening these bars. Abraham believes that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had proposed the recent prohibition to cut Sudheeran to size. If Chandy had succumbed to his pressure and agreed to permanently shut down these bars, the party chief would have emerged a hero.
Chandy made a sudden shift in his stand, much to the surprise of the prohibitionists, after he saw support swelling for Sudheeran. The party chief had rejected all compromise formulas, including one which envisaged renewal of licenses of all bars with three-star facilities and granting time to the rest to upgrade their facilities.
Though Chandy has scored a point against his rival by proposing closure of all the bars and 10 per cent of retail liquor outlets every year, he is not ready to forgive Sudheeran, a chief ministerial contender, for putting him in a tight corner. Chandy has already taken his grievance to the Congress Working Committee member AK Antony.
Huge revenue loss
Chandy, apparently, pushed for this drastic measure without discussing its implication or taking stakeholders into confidence. It resulted in many stakeholders, including several ministers, coming out against the measure. While finance minister KM Mani is worried about the loss of revenue to the tune of `7,500 crore annually, tourism and IT ministers fear it will affect the growth of these two sectors, which are the major revenue earners in the industrially backward state.
Excise minister K Babu lamented the lack of machinery to ensure effective implementation of this decision. He said there would not be enough excise staff to deal with the flow of hooch and spread of drugs as a result of the phased prohibition. He is already grappling with a sharp rise in narcotic and abkari (activities related to manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks) cases.
According to Babu, since 2011, 1,769 persons were arrested in connection with 1,618 narcotic cases. About 2,690 kilograms of ganja, 6.12 kilograms of heroin, 7.41 kilograms of hashish, 5,448 narcotic ampules, 65 grams of charas, 2.34 kilograms of brown sugar and 1.355 grams of opium were seized during the period. Babu says prohibition would confound the situation as drinkers may switch to ganja, heroine and other dangerous substances.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has already warned of an attempt by an international racket to lure the young generation to drugs. He feels that prohibition will help the gang which is now active around campuses to spread its tentacles. “It will not be easy for the excise department to check the menace as drug abuse is not easily detectable,” he added.
Spike in crimes
The excise department now anticipates a sharp rise in cases of illicit brewing and smuggling of spirits and liquor from other states. Out of the 14 districts in Kerala, 10 border Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where there is no restriction on liquor sale. Moreover, Mahe, part of the Union territory of Puducherry, where liquor is 40 percent cheaper than Kerala, is within the state’s territory, surrounded as it is by the northern districts of Kozhikode and Kannur.
The numbers say it all. Cases reported under the Abkari Act have witnessed a quantum jump in recent years. They relate to illicit brewing and smuggling and went up from just 1,975 in 2008 to a stupendous 48,828 in 2013. Till May this year, 20,120 such cases were registered.
To curb these rising crimes, Babu will need the help of the police, but the home minister has pleaded his helplessness, saying his men are already overburdened. Plus, the creation of new posts may not be possible until the state overcomes the financial crisis caused by prohibition.
Finding alternate sources of funding to meet the deficit is not easy in a state where industry and agriculture are almost stagnant.
Liquor has contributed nearly 25 percent of the state’s revenue receipts for the past several decades.
Chandy is, however, not worried as he says the state was spending more on health and other issues triggered by liquor consumption. He stresses that prohibition would benefit the state in the long run. He has also dismissed concerns about the success of prohibition. “I am aware prohibition has failed wherever it was implemented. Ours is not total prohibition that others have tried, but a march towards prohibition through promotion of abstinence. We will carry out a sustained campaign during the next 10 years against alcohol. I am sure this will help drinkers realize the hazards of drinking and make them quit the habit,” he adds.
While Chandy may describe his government’s liquor policy as a revolution, others feel it will bring in social anarchy. It waits to be seen how different this prohibition will be.
‘Social costs of alcoholism higher than economic costs’
Kerala has the dubious distinction of having the highest per capita consumption of liquor—8.3 liters—as compared to the national one of four liters. It is, therefore, a moot question how prohibition will be enforced. But Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is optimistic that the ban will be a success. Excerpts from an interview with Shobha John
Why was prohibition imposed and rushed through without any consultation?
The scourge of alcohol was fast eroding Kerala’s society and the state had attained a rather dubious distinction of having the highest number of alcoholics. It was not a decision taken in haste. In fact, society at large has been in favor of banning liquor for quite some time. Recently, the demand reached an all-time high and the political fraternity in Kerala also felt that the time had come to take a bold move to uproot this evil. The matter was finally taken up by my government and the political will and consensus that emerged, resulted in a decision for phased ban of alcohol.
Prohibition has failed in various states. Don’t you think people will now go to bootleggers or take spurious liquor, leading to hooch tragedies?
It failed in many states because most of them implemented it unscientifically. We are doing it in a phased manner and along with that, are educating people on the need for such a move. We are now closing down all bars, except those in Five Star hotels. Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) outlets will continue, with 10 percent of them winding up every year. It will take 10 years to reach a liquor-free Kerala. This is our preparatory period and we will continue to focus on educating people. We will also be vigilant against spurious liquor. The police and the excise personnel have been directed to confront this challenge in the days to come. We are also strengthening our campaigns against the usage of
intoxicants and the present drive, “Clean Campus, Safe Campus”, of the home department will be intensified.
The liquor industry contributes over `8,000 crore to the state exchequer. How will you make up for it?
I agree that the revenue loss is bound to create a dent in our economy. But, how can one overlook the burgeoning trend of alcohol consumption in Kerala, which has led to increase in crime rates, disintegration of families, road accidents, health problems and divorces? In fact, the social cost is much higher than the economic cost.
Won’t this hit tourism, one of the main sectors in Kerala?
We still have the option of beer and wine parlors, so it is not fair to say that the tourism sector will be affected badly. It is also a false notion that liquor of strong grade is an inevitable component of Kerala’s tourism sector. A good majority of foreign tourists do not prefer IMFL.
This issue has also taken on religious connotations with some Hindu outfits seeking a ban on wine served in churches. Your comments.It has nothing to do with our new abkari (liquor) policy. Wine is used in churches as part of the religious
practice of Christians.
What is the rehabilitation package being worked out for those rendered jobless due to the closure of bars?
We have introduced two new schemes, viz., Punarjani 2030 and Kerala Alcohol Education Research, Rehabilitation and Compensation Fund (KAERCF) for rehabilitating employees of bars that will be closed down (other than those attached to hotels). The fund for this will come from the 5 percent cess levied from the sale of liquor through Bevco outlets. Apart from this, the excise department will also have its own assistance program to rehabilitate the staff of BEVCP outlets, who will lose their jobs with the closure of some outlets on a yearly basis. The fund for KAERCF will be generated from voluntary donation of a day’s salary by Keralites residing inside and outside the state. KAERCF will be mainly utilized for various awareness campaigns against the evils of alcohol consumption.
Critics say the move is a political one to checkmate chief ministerial rival, KPCC president VM Sudheeran?
The new abkari policy has been arrived at after having sufficient discussions among KPCC, coalition partners in the UDF and after taking into account the increasing demand for alcohol ban from society itself. Everyone has
wholeheartedly welcomed the decision.