Kerala has made a progressive stride in its steps towards preventing
the manufacture and trade of uncontrolled illicit liquor by bringing in the
entire foreign liquor trade in the State under the Beverages Corporation. The
taxation system prevalent in the State is that the liquor on the basis of its alcoholic
content are taxed very heavily. On a comparison with other States, it can be
found that the tax rates are so high in the state that most of the smugglers
use, Mahe, (a part of Pondicherry State, where taxes are lowest) and also use border check-posts as conduits for smuggling of illegal liquor in
to this State. This should have been at par with the tax rates of other states
and it is unlikely that we can lower the tax rates at this stage, due to the
huge loss in revenue anticipated. But it may be noted that the after the
banning, the clear arrack is coming in a coloured form in the guise of foreign
liquor. The high tax regime has raised concerns in
food safety of almost all sections of the male population of the State. Let me
share some thoughts on this issue. (In the
Gods own land of controversies, please understand that the views expressed here are purely professional from the
food safety point of view, and all the Governments, for the last few decades
are following the same policy, more or less in the same lines, thinking
that High tax regime and holiday on the
first day of a month will reduce consumption of liquor(sic))
1.
Preventing working class from consuming hard liquor: Though cheap liquor is purchased by
the Beverage Corporation, a high tax regime prohibits the common man/working
class to consume the foreign liquor sold by govt run outlets. The result is that, he has to depend on illicit
liquor, brewed with prohibited materials and in unhygienic condition, and this often leads the government to
embarrassing situations in the form of hooch tragedies. And governments, in the
past, announced Rs.5 lakh per victim to tide over public anger. It may be
kindly understood that even in gulf countries, where punishments like beheading
or flogging in public has failed to prevent the manufacture and trade of
illegal liquor. Any wise government will have to acknowledge that the
consumption of liquor cannot be prevented by just raising the taxes and making
the commodity prohibitively costly. That will help only illegal market to grow.
It is necessary in the interest of the working class that the govt should
provide them with an opportunity to take good quality liquor at a lesser cost,
but with government’s control need to be there on the alcohol content and without
the private manufacturers taking benefit undue advantage. The solution proposed
is to manufacture good quality cheap liquor, with low alcohol percentage, at
the government run Chittor sugars or Pandalam sugars and make them available
through the beverages corporation/consumerfed outlets. Unless this is done, we
are encouraging the mixing on illegal spirit in toddy and the health of our
working class is being affected badly. In the olden days, the working class
preferred country toddy, after a day’s hard labour, but the available material also
has become an unsafe commodity. (see point 5 below). This high alcohol content liquor
is UNSAFE, as it is spoiling the health of the our working class.
2.
Preventing younger generation from consuming hard liquor: The second class of citizens whose health is adversely
affected because of the inadvertent promotion of hard liquor by the government
is the youth of the State. We cannot prevent the youth from the consumption of
alcohol especially when they are in parties/get-together, which are part of the
vibrancy of their age. In every such get-together,
the youth generation is forced to consume the hard liquor because the cost of
low alcohol beverages like beer and wine are prohibitively high in the State.
So it is natural for anyone to buy and consume a half-a-pint of hard liquor
rather than going for a bottle of wine or few bottles of beer. In several
western countries, beer is considered in equivalent to any other beverages like
Coke and Pepsi. In a recent article in the 'Times of India' exploring on why
the consumption of alcohol is not affecting the health of Europeans, even they
consume on a daily basis, the main reason is stated therein to be the
consumption of beverages with low alcohol percentage, where Indians consume
more hard liquor in short span of time.
In almost all the metros in India, ‘Beer pubs’ are common. It may also
be acknowledged that the high cost of beer and wine has led to the failure of
KTDC's Beer/Wine Parlours. It may be
also be noted that even in the Technopark, where about 30,000 employees are
working, of which over 95% are in their prime youth, do not have Beer/Wine Parlours.
They are forced to take hard liquor from the nearby Bar. Therefore, there is an
urgent requirement to bring down the taxes on beer and wine. There is also a
major policy shift to establish large number of Beer Parlours along with 2
Star/3 Star Hotels or even in common hotels to make available this low
alcoholic beverage to the younger generation.
If this is not done, the Government may unknowingly make all the younger
generation, habitual drinkers of hard liquors and not only the future
generations become alcoholic but also the Government has to spend most of its
revenue generated from foreign liquor on their health care. The increase in
consumption of low alcohol drinks will ensure that there will not be any drop
in tax revenue. But, at the same time, the health expenditure will also come down.
3.
Prevention of illegal trade of foreign made foreign liquor: Thirdly, the Government expect that
any decent person in the State has to stand in the queue of the shabby
Beverages Corporation's outlets along with thugs and crooks. This is the reason for the high surge in the
sale of scotch and other foreign brand in the 'smugglers market'. Unconfirmed studies estimate that, the market
for sale of scotch and other imported brands in Kerala is around Rs.750/-
Crores per year. The Government is not
getting a single paisa as tax except from the sale of liquor in the Duty Free
Shops. There is also a high prevalence of spurious liquor in the imported
liquor market (which affects the health of its good citizens). The Government
can immediately raise around Rs.100/- Crores, as tax, if super market type of shops for imported brands
and premium Indian brands are opened in all the district headquarters, where
the high/upper class and the rich can walk-in, select their own brand rather
than standing in the queue before the Beverage Corporation outlet officials.
Delhi and other metros have already started these kind of shops. This will not only ensure the availability
of, again the quality liquor which will not affect the health of the people,
but also the Government can immediately get a sizeable income from the sale.
But the present taxing system on liquor may not be made applicable in this
case, since the prices will become substantially high, when compared with the
prices in the "smuggler's market" and there will be few takers. Therefore,
a 50 to 100 percent increase in tax may be ideal, where customers are even
willing to give extra amount to the tune of Rs.300/- to Rs.500/- per bottle,
since the liquor supplied is a genuine brand. This policy will take care of the health of the upper and
upper middle class and Government spend will be less.
4.
License fees for the Clubs and Wayside restaurants When the Government started giving licenses for Bar in
clubs, the fee was fixed at Rs.50,000 per year. Now, I am told that this almost
equal to that of bar licenses.
Government has to issue licenses for beer and wine parlours in clubs,
and in all types of small hotels in the level of ‘Aramam’ of the KTDC. The ‘Vazhiyoram’
project of the tourism department would have created a network of safe hotels,
a boon to the travelling population, since they are controlled by the department.
It is understood that one of the reasons it did not take off since, the
beer/wine permit was not issued. There is a need for giving beer and wine
permits to all the clubs and those wayside hotels under the department control.
This measure will encourage the consumption of low alcohol beverages. This
policy will again promote the low alcohol content beverages.
5.
The adulteration of Toddy: Its is a secret known
to all. Kerala taps 4 lakh litres of toddy from coconut and palm and consumes
20 lakh liters annually. Where does this ‘16 lakh litres’ come from? Synthetic
toddy. Is it restricted to permitted chemicals and vegetables? No. It contains all
known and unknown chemicals and high degree of spirit smuggled in, not to
mention Diazepam and chloral – harmful drugs added to increase the ‘kick’.
Where is this leading to? We are again ruining the health of our working class
knowingly. The wayside toddy shops are frequented by the lorry drivers day and
night, and the mixed alcohol is one of the causes of high accident rates of
Kerala. Toddy is to be treated as a
luxury good. Permit rooms have to be attached to the hotels with Bar licenses.
The rates at these hotels for pure toddy have to be high. The benefit will go
to the toddy tappers. Upper and middle class will consume and that will also
yield more tax to the Government. The public has to be offered choice-- between
low alcohol toddy or hard liquor at a Bar. Time has come to stop the auctioning
of toddy shops – it has to move to a permit system.
In all the
instances suggested above, it can be seen that the Government has to spend on
the health care an equal amount of whatsoever amount generated out of the sale
of foreign liquor. If the Government
policy continues like this, it is likely that the Health Care spend will become
multi-fold in the years to come, as the whole generation would become addicted
to hard liquor, affecting their vital organs. We are spoiling a whole new
generation because of flawed liquor policy aimed, at least in paper, for
discouraging people from consumption of alcohol, but levying exorbitant taxes.
Therefore, a major paradigm shift in the policy of sale of foreign liquor in
the State of Kerala is the need of the hour.
