Promotion and legalization of country liquor and marijuana
- Part 2 -

Thangniang Lunzosang Vaiphei *

Commandos raid liquor vendors in Imphal on April 03 2013 :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

During the colonial period : The rise of colonialism in India had great impact on the Indian society. It has changed the socio-cultural practices completely. The societal norms and importance were extensively curved out of the Indian society. The making and use of country liquor has changed in its importance and value after the introduction of colonialism in India. The tradition gradually sunk and moved towards making and earning profits out of it. There are various accounts on how the tradition had change over a period of time.

Indra Munshi Saldanha (1995) discussed extensively in his article "On Drinking and 'Drunkenness' History of Liquor in Colonial India" that; "The British liquor policy was guided, avowedly, by the twin objects of generating revenue on the one hand, and checking intemperance among people towards safeguarding their morality, on the other. State policy, however, often came into conflict with another morality that of the peasants, especially the adivasis (tribals), to whom drinking formed an integral part of their material as well as symbolic reality".

As the British introduced various policies and laws to control the use and production of the country liquor, the tradition of Indian tribal community on use and production of liquor crippled down. There are acts and provision based on alcohol policy in India which prohibited the use and production of country liquor and introduced their homemade brand liquor in India.

The British created such policy which allowed some of them to continue the production for consumption by paying high taxes to the administration. We can see the movements of British by introducing new laws and policies on country liquor in the Bombay Akbari Act of 1878 and the Mhowra Act of 1892. In these two act, the British government had invest an interest in taking up the business of the liquor in India by imposing revenue tax and excise tax through various policies in the name safeguarding the life of the people and environmental cause.

Simultaneously, the British government imposed revenue upon the producer of country liquor with a license authorized by the British itself creates a harsh situation for the tribal. "A Revenue tax from excise mostly from liquor was the second in importance only to land revenue" (Saldanha, 1995). The colonial administration was effectively functioned due to all such income that sustained their economy in India. There was also an account of British interfering in making liquor in Indian land by using the available resources which are used to make liquor.

Saldanha (1995) pointed out that, "It also gave rise to a class of capitalists for whom manufacture of liquor became an extremely lucrative business" and also he further said that, "Given the persistence of semi-feudal relations of production, liquor became an instrument of exploitation to the poor". The notion of drinking still continues in the Indian society even after the imposition of various harsh policies and acts. Mainly the tribal continue their practices under purview of British liquor policy but in the changed situation more expensive and less healthy (Saldanha, 1995).

During the Colonial period, the British were much more concerned and interested in the business of marijuana. They often traded the products of marijuana from India to other countries. It is also believed that, farmers cultivated marijuana and paid off the revenue taxes collected by the British. "The British controlled over cultivation and trade collected revenue taxed sale of cannabis and opium products through license shops" (Charles, 2001). This kind of intervention and activities had continued till the end of colonialism in India.

The present situation : India has been going through a rough time since its creation as a nation. Socially, economically and politically the country was in turmoil which is affecting the socio-culture of Indian community. Today, "Alcohol is also a significant contributor to government revenues in many states" (Mahal, 2000) mostly of foreign products which are sold in India.

Now Indian alcohol consists of different foreign made brands taking over the indigenous products. The popularity of country liquor among the country has gone down and no concerned measure has been taken up by the government. Instead there are significant influx numbers of brand alcohol coming from foreign and increase of Indian made foreign liquor now playing the market in India, marginalising the richness of country liquor.

But lower class countrymen still have the space of utilizing the spirit of country liquor under a dreadful condition. "The westernization effects on the social elites, (bureaucrats and educated Indians from higher castes) provided impetus for western style alcohol as a status symbol. Thus, paradoxically, alcohol use came to be regarded as an affectation of the upper classes, and at the same time an atavistic trait of the poor tribal and other socially and economically marginalized sectors of society, who continued to rely on their locally made country liquors." (Sharma, Tripathi, Pelto, 2010).

Country liquor which is purely homemade still remained as a cottage industry without any support and continues to exist in the society, especially within the lower class society milieu. There is no such measure planning to bring up the issue of country liquor which will give many of fellow lower class countrymen a better livelihood source. In the case of some states like, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat etc has imposed prohibition of alcohol in the state without any consideration given to those people who are depending their livelihood on such activities. The state is taking over completely on the sphere of alcohol policy in India. The government promotes the foreign brand alcohol and imports the products in India.

It's clear that, the state has incurred revenues from the alcohol which are imported as well as made in the country. The policy is always diverted towards the improvement of imported alcohol but never considered about promoting and standardizing the present country liquor which exist in our country. "Alcohol being a major source of tax revenue, many states are reluctant to reduce the dependence on this source of revenue for their resource mobilisation" (Abraham, 1995)

There are chances of making illicit liquor which can be acquired from the country liquor as consumptions is high within some section of the society, due to the negligence from the government to promote in terms of improving the quality of the country liquor. There won't be any changes until and unless, if there is no such steps taken into consideration. In the case of Manipur state, mostly women from plain areas are engaged in making and trading country liquor in their village, locality or town.

Critiques and Issues in the Legislation ? Alcohol policies in India

The importance of cultural identity which is the most appreciable thing is not highlighted in the Indian Constitution. The British had dismantled the whole tradition of the Indian society. In fact, the tribal were much more affected by the British. Even though, India had acquired all the necessities for governing its own country, there was no such importance and consideration taken in order to preserve and promote the tradition and cultural identity of the society. Instead it acts as a barrier for some section of society's liberty. The constitution doesn't pay full liberty to each citizen to execute their own way of earning for their livelihood. The government doesn't have a provision for Promoting own traditional way of making things, especially the country liquor which is considered as illegal and illicit products tagged by the government.

"Under the Indian Constitution, Excise can be levied by the Union government as per Entry 84 of schedule VII excluded alcoholic liquors for human consumption" (Mu-khopadhyay, 2000), but the laws are not followed. Taxing on the producers and seller has been in practice for a long time in many states, like Manipur. There are accounts of the responsible department taking ransom or taxes from the small country liquor traders. Since many laws has been enacted upon alcohol and its strong prohibition, especially on country liquor, the price increased in unhealthy manner and liquor are produced illegally to meet the needs. "As the laws became more stringent and the prices rose, the peasants resorted to smuggling, illicit distillation and other acts which came to be termed 'crimes' and 'offences' in the legal discourse.

While the government succeeded in fulfilling its object of raising revenue from liquor which, as we shall see, showed a steady increase throughout the period, the second object of checking consumption did not show much success" (Saldanha, 1995). (The writer is an MA in Dalit &Tribal Studies and Action TISS, Mumbai)

The recent incident that took place in Manipur, about the disposed of 1000 litres of country liquor owned by a small trader, was burnt down by the Excise Department. Such harsh action is not penned down in the law. Even though the state is an anti-alcohol state, the state-run wine shops are in function. Very contradictory policies are implemented by the state government.

The recent tragedy about the death of many people from drinking illicit country liquor is also an important issue that has to be addressed. The state cannot just shutdown the livelihood source of the people who are engaged in doing such activities for their livelihood without any alternatives. There has to be a discussion between the state and the people. The state must take up the issue of country liquor and plan to standardise it for a better environment. ?

To be continued ...