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.
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Explained: Thalinomics - The Economics of a Plate of Food in India
By Abhivyakti Mishra
A country that stands second in the population number graph but has the 94th rank out of 107 nations in the hunger index is worrying. With an increase in household food wastage and also an increase in death related to the shortage of food, one needs to track the availability of the same. This article explores Thalinomics, a method to quantify what an ordinary person pays for a food plate in India, and how the dynamics have changed pre and post the Pandemic of 2020.
A country with a population of over a billion must have a lot of mouths to feed. But do all of these mouths get a chance to taste the flavours of food? India was ranked 94th out of 107 nations in the Global Hunger Index 2020, with a score of 27.2, placing it in the ‘Serious Hunger’ category. According to a World Economic Forum report, 220 million Indians live on less than Rs 32 a day, which is the poverty line for rural India. When one looks at such statistics, one can easily conclude that India has such a disparity in feeding its people because of low economic standards. Conversely, in India, annual household food waste is estimated to be 50 kg per capita or 68,760,163 tonnes. This supports the statement that it is the mismanagement of food distribution, not the economic standards, resulting in many hungry stomachs across the country.
In view of this, a method to quantify what an ordinary person pays for a plate of food in India has been developed. It is called “Thalinomics: Economics of a plate food in India”, the cost of a vegetarian and non-vegetarian supper is calculated for 25 States/UTs, taking into consideration the cost of cereals, vegetables, pulses, and fuel. It was introduced for the first time in the Economic Survey of 2019 to 2020.
After analysing the data, the survey discovered that the dynamics of ‘thali' prices had changed during 2015-16. It claims that thali prices have shifted as a result of actions implemented a year ago to boost agricultural productivity and the efficiency and efficacy of agricultural markets for more accurate and transparent price discovery.
In addition, after 2015-16, the average household benefited an average of $10,887 per year from price reductions in vegetarian thali. Using the annual average wage of an industrial worker, the poll found that the vegetarian thali became more affordable by 29% from 2006-07 to 2019-20, while the non-vegetarian thali became more affordable by 8%. from 18%.
According to the poll, a worker who spent 70% of their daily wages on two vegetarian thalis each day for a family of five in 2006-07 would only have to spend 50% of their income in 2019-20. This year, Jharkhand had the most affordable supper, with two vegetarian thalis for a family of five costing roughly 25% of a worker's daily wage.
During the pandemic, thali costs varied significantly between states. On the other hand, the Economic Survey stated that the CPI-C is projected to lower thali prices in the future.
According to the Economic Survey 2020-21, overall, due to the continuation of supply-side interruptions, headline CPI inflation remained high during the COVID-19 caused lockdown period and thereafter. Food inflation grew to 9.1% in 2020-21, accounting for most of the increase in inflation (Apr-Dec). A general rise in price momentum has been observed as a result of COVID-19-induced disruptions, boosting inflation since April 2020, while a positive base impact has acted as a moderating element.
The disparity in CPI inflation between rural and urban areas, which was prominent in 2019, began to reduce in November 2019 and persisted into 2020. In 2020-21 (June-December), inflation in States/UTs varied from 3.2 per cent to 11 per cent, compared to (-) 0.3 per cent to 7.6 per cent the previous year. Thali costs for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian Thalis fell dramatically in January-March 2020 but rose sharply in rural and urban areas from April to November before dropping in December 2020. Thali prices are projected to fall in the future as the CPI-C eases.
Food is not just a means to an end but also a vital component in the development of human capital and, as a result, in the creation of national wealth. As a Sustainable Development Goal, nations around the world have agreed on ‘Zero Hunger’. 135 million people are severely malnourished, according to the World Food Programme, as a result of man-made conflicts, climate change, and economic downturns (United Nations Sustainable Development, 2021). By the end of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic might have doubled that figure, putting an extra 130 million people at risk of starvation. Measuring the affordability of a thali might help record how people in the nation can afford food, which in turn might help in managing malnutrition.
Abhivyakti Mishra
Daulat Ram College, Delhi University
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