Just 25 years back, if somebody used to drink liquor in India then it was very bad thing, people used to talk about that person in derogatory way and feel pity on him as that person was walking the wrong path. Today situation has turned around so much that if somebody is not drinking then he is considered as kid and drinking alcohol is associated with somebody’s manhood, some daring act & enjoyment.
What happened in this period and how come nobody is even noticing what is happening with people’s lives and economy of nation. If one observes how liquor got its position in Indian civilization then one finds Television, Cinema, bad politicians and greedy global businessmen have systematically done this.
If one observes movies of last 30-40 years in India, one can easily find one common thing in every movie & that is liquor glass, bottle in the hands of hero. Whether it is occasion of celebration or deep distress he will drink liquor. People always like to associate themselves to hero and they copy what hero is doing. This is exactly the point which liquor companies understood and targeted hero. Even if you see many TV commercials one can see many liquor ads in which liquor associated with Valor, bravery, celebration of the person who is drinking it. Again many famous cinema and sports personalities do these advertisements which are aired every few minutes on each channel which have huge impact on youngster’s minds. If you observe carefully, religious people do not drink liquor or get involved into any immoral act as their religiosity stops them, these days many movies are targeting this religiosity and trying to break people from that. Infact these days even television serials have many liquor scenes which are introduced in very subtler or blatant way. In India, % of men drinking liquor has gone up drastically and liquor companies are making huge money out of it but hunger for money is not satiated as they want more money. If one observes carefully then one can see women are being targeted now as if women start drinking, then it is again huge market and things are going in that direction. If you see many recent movies, liquor glass, bottle is in the hands of lead actress. Recently I was watching one TV serial along with family in which party is going on in one Punjabi family, suddenly one girl takes another girl (returned from Australia) into corner and asks her “Have you started drinking or not? or have you drowned name of Punjabis?”. I was stunned after seeing this. Punjabis are associated with liquor. Children of Guru Nanakji & Guru Gobind Singji who saved this nation is being associated with Liquor! This is shameful. Today if one visits de addiction centres then one can find many girls/women as well and this was not the scenario few years ago.
Another important aspect in liquor consumption is its availability and politicians have played major role here. If one recounts number of liquor shop or bar before 25 years and current numbers of bars and such shops then there is drastic difference. Number has gone up multifold and governments have given licenses to thousands of people. Many say there is huge corruption in that as well. One can easily find liquor shops on every road, you may not find milk dairy easily but you may find liquor shop easily. In one of the drought prone district of Maharashtra, there is no water for irrigation or drinking but there are 700 liquor shops/bars in entire district!
Another aspect which is playing out is free liquor! Whenever there are elections, politicians are giving free liquor for almost 1 or 2 weeks and youngsters drink it lot as it is free but then get hooked to it. Not only politicians but big corporate houses are doing same. You take IT companies, under the garb of project budget they allowed liquor in project parties which is free and young employees (even old ones as well) started drinking it heavily. One more route through which liquor is entering in people’s lives is social drinking. People think they are drinking little bit and that is fine and it is cool as well but soon this little bit turns to be major part of people’s lives and they don’t even realise.
If we look at the statistics of liquor in India alone then one must get concerned and stunned. More than 1/5th of the alcohol produced in the world is consumed by Indians. According to one study liquor market in India is growing at 30%. In 2015 alone ~ 20 billion liters of liquor was sold. Value of whisky, wine, beer etc sold in a year amounts to near about 2 lakh crore (~30 billion dollars). All other types of liquors (toddy & country liquors) are not even considered in this. It is estimated that many people spend 50 to 60% of their income in alcohol. This means billions of dollars are flowing into the very few pockets (owners of these liquor companies).
Other dangerous aspects of high liquor consumption are domestic violence & abuse, fatal accidents (drink & drive), addictions, health hazards (lever getting damaged, brain damage, stomach related issues, depression etc), extra police efforts needed for tackling of crimes arising after alcohol consumption, untimely deaths, costs of putting people into deaddiction centers, loss of productivity, It is estimated that every day in India ~15 people die from alcohol and to me this number appears very small from what is the reality…These are the costs arising due to alcohol consumption and further billions of dollars go into this (several lakh crore). Just imagine how much money these liquor companies must be making across globe as many of them have presence across globe!
If costs and effects of alcohol are so big then what will happen if we ban it! It will be big boon to humanity and economy. Lakhs of crores that are going into pockets of handful of people will remain in the pockets of millions of people. Savings rate of people will increase. Many people will get out of poverty in few months. Once people have money in their pocket and they are in their consciousness & alert then only they will be able to buy other necessary things for their family Ex- Good cloths for children, toys for them, saree for wife, building good house, good utensils in kitchen, good quality of groceries, holiday with family. Just imagine how much economy will boom due to growing demand for various products and services. Money in circulation will increase and so tax collection of government as well! Right now money that goes into few pockets and gets locked will start circulating in market resulting into booming economy which will further create millions of jobs. Imagine money that will get saved in healthcare, increase in productivity, lesser burden to police means they will be able to dedicate their time to other more important issues. If one thinks carefully then Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Per capita Income will improve drastically due to booming economy.
Most important factor which will improve is GDH – Gross Domestic Happiness index. There will not be so many domestic violence or abuse incidents, there will not be untimely deaths after which small children and mothers struggle for their survival, more savings, more time for family, more jobs etc will result into happier families which is most important goal of any government or nation. Looking at all these factors first thing any sensible society should demand is ‘Ban On Liquor’ and any sensible government should first put this ban in place!
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