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
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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?
. . .
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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.
. . .
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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.
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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.
Arth
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PLUNGING AUTO-SALES IN INDIA : INVENTORIES FULL OF VEHICLES, BUT POOR DEMAND
By Ankit Seth
“FMCG sales are low because millennials didn’t brush and didn’t use soaps for bathing.” The social media platform Twitter was flooded with thousands of chucklesome tweets like this after the Indian Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman made a so-called hilarious statement. Preference given by millennials to digitally accessible and comfortable cab rides like Ola, Uber, etc. is among the reasons for the sinking of automobile sales in India, which is the crux of the FM’s claim.
There was a spate of tweets made by furious youngsters on trending campaigns like #BoycottMillennials and #SayItLikeNirmalaTai on Twitter, replying to the FM’s statement.
Even India’s richest banker, Uday Kotak, says that his son is more than happy taking a cab ride rather than owning a car.
Passenger vehicle sales in India saw a steep fall for eight months until June, but the highest recorded fall was seen in May when the sales dropped by 20.55 percent. As buyers have shelved the purchase of automobiles, auto inventories have started piling up. The normal inventory level is about 30 days, but according to a survey conducted by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the average inventory with two-wheeler and commercial vehicles’ dealers is 45-50 days at present while passenger vehicle dealers have an average inventory of 40-45 days.
There are some critical reasons for the fall in auto-sales.
One, banks and mutual funds, which are critical lenders to Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), cut off funds. This left many finance companies with a “liquidity crunch” due to which buyers of automobiles were affected.
A large-scale NBFC, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) which nearly collapsed a year ago had its outstanding loans amounted to Rs. 91,000 crores. IL&FS defaulted on its debt obligations, which triggered a liquidity crisis in the financial services, which led to the reluctance by banks in giving automobile loans to Indian buyers.
State Bank of India’s chief Soumya Kanti Ghosh says, “The NBFCs are responsible for 30 percent of the auto-sector problem.” According to the Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the NBFCs currently finance almost 70 percent of the new two-wheelers and 60 percent of the new commercial vehicles in the country.
Sudhir Gharpure (General Manager, Maruti Suzuki Dealership) and his sales team were discussing on an issue at a big Maruti Suzuki dealership on the outskirts of Mumbai one day. That day, not a single customer was seen in the dealership to book a car, though previously, they used to get 15-20 bookings each day. In recent times auto-sales are as scarce as hen’s teeth.
Two, forthcoming of the Bharat Stage VI (an emission standard) norms have left Indians in incertitude that whether to buy the new BS-VI compliant vehicles straight in the year 2020 or to avail the offers on the automobiles which are produced at present.
These norms prescribe the limiting values of pollutants emitted from the vehicles. The difference between BS-IV and BS-VI graded fuels is that the former contains 50 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur, whereas the latter contains only 10 ppm of sulphur.
It is estimated that with the oncoming BS-VI norms, the cost of diesel cars will be higher by about Rs. 1 lakh, whereas the increase in the price of petrol-driven vehicles will be about Rs. 20,000.
Many car makers who are launching the BS-VI vehicles in readiness are proffering their upgraded cars at remunerative prices to allure the buyers. For instance, Hyundai Grand i10 Nios with the BS-VI engine is launched in India at Rs. 4.99 lakh.
It is evident that as Indians are looking forward to shift to the new BS-VI compliant vehicles, the sales of automobiles are also certain to fall. Surely, intervention by the Government of India in the auto-sector issue is critical. Though difficult, probably the reduction in GST will help to raise the sales of automobiles once again. Certainly, complying with the new standards will pose a problem in reviving the sales of automobiles produced at present.