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.
Arth
.png)
NFTs represent a core paradigm shift into the metaverse
By allowing basketball fans to own an NBA- authorised 10 seconds of a game, NFTs have revolutionised everyday experiences. Whether it’s music, art or videos, Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs make it possible for individuals to trade unique and non-interchangeable tokens of digital experiences on the ‘metaverse’, a shared, immersive online state where one can move digital objects between online and offline modes. Though the global launch of NFTs can be traced back to 2014, they have only recently taken over the world with raging popularity among youth across different nations. NFTs are traded using the blockchain technology and are being heralded as the torch bearers of a new phase of the internet, ‘Web3’, characterised by an availability of internet services and apps built on the same decentralised blockchain technology as cryptocurrency.
Interestingly, NFTs do not pose the same threat as cryptocurrency, in that there is no fear of the development of a pseudo-currency waiting to flood the market. NFTs are ‘non fungible’ i.e. they are non-interchangeable, thereby eliminating this threat. Moreover, NFTs are changing the landscape of intellectual property. At Wharton Business School, John Fleckenstein (COO for RCA Records) notes that any business reliance on intellectual property rights in the digital space is a ‘game changer’. Further, he notes that the industry has gone from buying physical copies of music to now selling the musical experience beyond the quintessential audio stimulation. In an experimental attempt, Gresham et al published their research paper as an NFT after being rejected from several journals. Whether or not this precedes a shift from online journals to NFTs for the publication of academic resources is yet to be seen. Nonetheless, it does showcase NFTs’ innovative reach.
In India, NFTs gained considerable traction in 2021, when prominent social and entertainment personalities began launching their own collections. From Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan to Yuvraj Singh and Manish Malhotra, stars are using NFTs as a unique way to reach out to fans and form novelty investments. On 1st June 2021, India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, WazirX launched the country’s first NFT marketplace. In a nation with a considerable Gen Z and Millennial population, it is no surprise that our youth are quite fascinated by NFTs, both for status and investment purposes. However, impending Central regulations on cryptocurrency and NFTs may cause the current craze to abate.
Indian youth’s financial patterns are also highly unique. Teenagers and young adults do not have much experience with personal finance. Parents are the breadwinners of the family and they manage household finances including money received by children as gifts. Further, higher socio-economic classes disallow their children from earning in any form as a matter of prestige and status. However, the global rise of NFTs and technological savviness of the Indian youth open doors for unconventional means of earning. Thus, with the growth of NFTs, we may expect a change in the Indian youth’s preferred source of income.
Adoption of NFTs also has a profound impact on the Indian economy and its future as a digital giant. The Economic Times notes “Web3 is the future of the Internet and its mass adoption has just begun”. The Indian Express reports that Web3 could add $1.1 Trillion to India’s economic growth over the next 11 years and induce widespread redistribution of data across networks, as opposed to the current tech-corporation monopoly on data. According to the US India Strategic Partnership Forum and CrossTower report, “the digital asset economy’s value to India’s GDP will grow at a 43.1% compounded annual growth rate”. Moreover, cryptocurrency allows India to harness its technologically forward and skilled youth and leverage it to become a global leader in digital assets.
Today, NFTs are simply used as art collectibles but they are essential to the growth of the metaverse. The underlying blockchain technology speaks to the future of holding digital assets. Notably, the same blockchain technology works on the ‘Proof of Work’ system that is fuelled by complex and power-hungry machines, thereby posing several ecological challenges. In keeping the transactional records safe, this system uses as much electricity as the country of Libya. Distressingly, most scholars are not optimistic about the use of renewable energy or advanced machinery to tackle this issue as these efforts may be diverted to more pressing issues including the natural fuel crisis. Alex Tapscott at Fortune projects that we may soon be able to trade and transport across different environments and jurisdictions. NFTs are set to revolutionise our relationship with the internet, with each other and our fundamental understanding of trade and exchange as we know it.
Tavishi Sharma
Miranda House
* The comments section is open for a healthy debate and relevant arguments. Use of inappropriate language and unnecessary hits towards
the department, the newsletter, or the author will not be entertained.