The lovely tale of Liquor
during Lockdown and before
At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and
vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing —
a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart.
Cornelius Platinga
The use of alcohol in India for drinking purposes dates back to somewhere between 3000 and 2000 BC. An alcoholic beverage called Sura which was distilled from the rice was popular at that time in India for common men to unwind at the end of a stressful day. . Yet the first mention of Alcohol appears in Rig Veda (1700BC). It mentions intoxicants like soma and prahamana. Although the soma plant might not exist today, it was famous for delivering a euphoric high. It was also recorded in the Samhita, the medical compendium of Sushruta that he who drinks soma will not age and will be impervious to fire, poison, or weapon attack. The sweet juice of Soma was also said to help establish a connection with the gods. Such was the popularity of alcohol. Initially used for medicinal purposes, with time it evolved and became the beverage that brought life to social gatherings, and eventually consuming alcohol has become a habit for many.
With such a rich history of not just humans but also of the gods,
what is a worldwide pandemic to stop anybody from drinking?
. . .
According to a report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2018, an average Indian drinks approximately 5.7 liters of alcohol every year. In a population of casual and excessive drinkers, with the shutters of liquor stores down, it must have been extremely difficult for “certain” people to survive lockdown. In the first two phases of lockdown, the desperation had quadrupled prices of alcohol in the Grey Market of India. Also, According to Google Trends, online searches for “how to make alcohol at home” peaked in India during the fourth week of March, which was the same when the lockdown was announced. As a consequence, a few people died drinking home-brewed liquor. People committed suicide due to alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Owing to the worsening situation and to reboot the economy, some states decided to open licensed liquor stores in the third phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown in India. This decision was the worst best decision the state governments could take. The kilometer-long queues in front of liquor stores were evidence that a pandemic can turn your life upside down yet your relationship with alcohol cannot move an inch.
The love in the hearts of those who are addicted was explicit. We might have seen addiction, we might have witnessed desperation but what happened in the month of May was madness, not just in terms of the way people pounced but also in the way the government earned. According to a report by Hindustan Times, on the first day of the third phase of Lockdown, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh recorded a sale of over Rs 100 Crore from liquor. On the second day of the reopening of Liquor stores, Karnataka reported sales of 197 crores in a single day which was the largest ever. Eventually, the prices of Liquor were hiked to 100% to discourage people from drinking.
. . .
There was a special corona fee that was imposed in Delhi by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. A 70% corona fee was imposed in Delhi, yet the sales did not drop. The entire situation was a disaster for the law enforcement officers, social distancing was easily abandoned and a basic code of conduct was happily violated. Despite the chaos created, the states continued to collect revenues. Home delivery of alcohol was allowed in Maharashtra and e-tokens were sold in Delhi.
Demand for liquor is inelastic which means that
the sale of alcohol is not much responsive to change in prices.
In general, since alcohol policy is a state subject in India, revenue from Liquor is a cash cow for state governments. In 2018 and 2019, four states collectively collected about 20,000 crores in taxes from the sale of liquor. As much as the state earns from the sale of Liquor it is undoubtedly, a threat to the Economy. Consumption of alcohol has dire health consequences. When a person consumes an alcoholic beverage, there is a rise in BAC because of which there is a gradual and progressive loss of driving ability because of an increase in reaction time, overconfidence, degraded muscle coordination, impaired concentration, and decreased auditory and visual acuity. This is known as drunken driving. (V. M. Anantha Eashwar, 2020) Drunken driving is the third biggest cause of road accidents and over speeding in India. Road accidents are not it; alcoholism causes sleep problems, heart, and liver issues. Also, it is not about an individual’s life, it ruins the lives of all people concerned.
Addiction also causes economic loss. In 2000, Vivek Benegal and his team assessed 113 patients admitted to a special de-addiction service for alcohol dependence. They found that
the average individual earned a mean of ₹1,661 but
spent ₹1,938 per month on alcohol, incurring high debt.
They also found that 95% did not work for about 14 days in a month. They concluded that it led to a loss of ₹13,823 per person per year in terms of foregone productivity. A more recent study, Health Impact and Economic Burden of Alcohol Consumption in India, led by Gaurav Jyani, concluded that alcohol-attributable deaths would lead to a loss of 258 million life-years between 2011 and 2050. The study placed the economic burden on the health system at $48.11 billion, and the societal burden (including health costs, productivity loss, and so on) at $1,867 billion. “This amounts to an average loss of 1.45% of the gross domestic product (GDP) per year to the Indian economy,” the study said. (Mint, 2020)
Setho ka Gaon
With each passing day, the ‘curtain of separation’ weighs down on the women of Afghanistan, paving the way for tyranny to thrive.
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Increase in FDI for greater investment in Defence manufacturing
Richa Sinha
In the present scenario, the whole world is facing various challenges due to Covid pandemic. The world is debating the role of China in this situation and blaming them. Therefore most of them are thinking of shifting their investment base from China. However, the fact of the matter is that China plays a major role in the global supply chain and if countries boycott China then a major impact will be on the global supply chain. To maintain the imbalance, countries are incentivizing their citizens to switch to local supply chains. Although the situation seems to normalize yet we know deep down it has created a long-lasting impact which is tough to minimize soon, yet some opportunities are also knocking at the door. Considering India in this situation, after the announcement of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ the government-initiated some other programmes to motivate manufacturers and producers to be self-reliant. Also, to encourage foreign investors, the government introduced the program ‘Make in India’ so that they invest in our projects.
The biggest opportunity in ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ programmes are in the defence manufacturing sector of the country. As we all are proud to have the world's second-largest armed forces but for a very long time, India has been dependent on other countries for imports of weapons. In fact, India has been the second-largest importer of foreign weaponry after Saudi Arabia for 2015-2019. Now in order to be self-reliant in the import of weapons like transport aircraft, light combat helicopters, conventional submarines and cruise missiles and armaments like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, and transport aircraft are about to be banned. In place of that, the government is planning to increase the manufacturing hubs in India and promote Indian companies to manufacture a worth of $53.4 bn.
The budget allocation for this sector has been increasing. In the annual budget 2020-21, 5.8% increase in allocated budget compared to 2019-20. And the government is launching various schemes to encourage corporates to manufacture in India as well as foreign investors to invest in their projects. To increase foreign investment, the government increased the investment limit from 49% to 74%. Now above 74% investment will need government approval which was earlier 49%. And giving special privilege to the defence sector 100% FDI is allowed. In May 2020 Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman announced a ban of import of some weapons. She said that there will be indigenisation of some imported spares, and separate budget provisioning for domestic capital procurement will be done. To reduce the huge defence import bill.
The Government of India has been a continuous endeavour of placing investor-friendly FDI policy. They make strategies time and again to attract FDI for foreign firms in order to diversify their manufacturing base and defence sector is the crucial one here. By this way, India’s relationship with other countries is also moulding towards friendliness and brotherhood. We can safely say here that future growth could be exponential. In the strategies developed so far, the government tries to either have a meeting or resolve problems with other nations.
The government of India is expecting the manufacturing sector to give a turnover of $25 billion by 2025. This sector is going to boost up with the use of advanced technology and is playing a major role in the smart weapon development program. With such advancements, we can expect the use of hypersonic weapons or missiles or nuclear warheads in wars or for defence purposes by Indian Defence Forces. Being reliant will also boost the morale of Indian Soldiers, they will be freer to take the right actions with the help of their government. India has the required skill and technology to make this happen and thus foreign investors can take a chance to invest here. Moreover, for self-reliance, the most important thing is to encourage locals. When the manufacturing in the defence sector will increase it will help Indian companies such as Bharat Forge, L&T, HAL, BHEL and others to take this advantage effectively. This will bring trust in domestic investors also towards them leading to less depreciation of Indian currency.
Observing the growth potential and current scenario of the global supply chain, foreign investors will benefit from this investment. This increase in FDI in the defence sector will be a big push to ‘Make in India’.