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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WHAT DOES REPLACING 44 LABOUR LAWS IN INDIA WITH 4 LABOUR CODES MEAN?
Ankan
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Accumulation of ever-increasing capital is the fundamental force driving the development of the capitalist economic structure. But this very force gives rise to its contradiction in the form of falling rates of profit, thereby giving rise to a crisis. A crisis is primarily characterised with massive unemployment, and not surprisingly, crisis becomes the solution in the capitalist economic structure and does not necessarily present itself as a problem.
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The current situation is no different-globally as well as domestically. Since the financial crisis of 2008, there is a severe fall in the rate of profit. As a result, unemployment has increased significantly since 2008.
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According to ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook Trends, 2019-an estimated 172 million people were unemployed in the year 2018 with an unemployment rate of 5%. The same rate of unemployment is expected in the year 2019 and 2020, which would drive unemployment to 174 million by 2020.
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When the rates of profit fall and the existence of the capitalists and the capitalist economic structure as a whole come into question, the capitalist or the bourgeoisie class pushes the burden on to the working class. They do so by reducing the real wages of the workers or by changing the tax structure.
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In 1991 India adopted the policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation following a balance of payment and fiscal deficit crisis. These neoliberal policies are nothing but economic policies which removed all the restrictions on foreign capital allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in various sectors like automobiles, banking, airports as well as education, health and agriculture. With foreign capital freely moving in the country, the next step was to change or scrap laws safeguarding the natural resources so that it can be exploited for profits. For example, the draft Environment Law Amendment Bill 2015 attempts to dilute the power of National Green Tribunal and even the provisions of the law aren’t clear.
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But the neoliberal policies also seek to exploit the human resources, i.e. labour. With the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a weakening of labour movements world over and thereafter neoliberal regime unleashed by Thatcher-Reagan administrations from the 1970s spread its octopus-like grip on every corner of the world.
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In a capitalist economic system, there are two forces acting against each other – the capitalist or the bourgeoisie class and the working class or the proletariat. Since the 1970’s the capitalist class has systematically disenfranchised the working class.
With India agreeing to the structural adjustment programs proposed by IMF and World Bank, the lives of the working class and their struggles would change forever. Laws which protected the rights of the workers such as Factories Act 1948, Industrial Disputes Act 1947, Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation Act) 1970, Minimum Wage Act 1948, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, Apprentice Act 1961, Exemption (from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishment) Act 1988 sought to be changed by successive governments. In fact, there is a complete unison among all the political parties sometimes even of the parliamentary left, especially since Nandigram and Singur when it comes to further the case of the neoliberal regime.
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In the same endeavour, the NDA government headed by Narendra Modi has come up with nefarious policies which would replace the existing 44 labour laws with 4 Labour Codes – Code on Wages, Code on Industrial Relations, Code on Social Security and Welfare and Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions. The Code of Wages has been passed, and the other three are in process.
“The proposed new labour law will help investors and is expected to accelerate growth, another official said.”Clearly, the concerned officials are clear with their intent with the changes in the labour laws. Labour Laws which previously protected the rights of the workers will now help the investors. The regulations will herald increasing contractualization, informalization and privatisation of workers, thereby weakening the working class even further.
But with increasing repression the working class organises themselves and fights for their rights violently, and in doing so they discover new horizons as is evident in the struggle of Maruti Workers, Workers of Munnar Tea Plantation, Safai Mazdoors of Mumbai etc. and as students we should rise to the historical task of building up of that uncompromising struggle.