In the light of Maharashtra's prospective Alcohol Ban, why it makes sense, and why it doesn't.

Source: web.cortland.edu

      On the morning of the 24^th of July, news reports of Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis, suggesting an all-state liquor ban surfaced, instantly sending the internet into a state of panic. Facebook and twitter immediately reacted, with a barrage of shares of news articles, and innumerable cusses directed at the Government. What would the state ever do without alcohol! We'd have hundreds of youngsters flocking to Silvassa every weekend, just to have a drink. By the same evening, reports of how the Chief Minister had declared that there will not be a ban were out, and the internet was calm once more.

      But, the debate of whether or not alcohol should be banned anywhere, is deep, real, and very complex. For every decision the Government takes, there is a great amount of thought that is put in, and it is necessary to dissect that thought to see how much sense it makes to an individual.

      In relation to whether or not alcohol should be banned in Maharashtra, the first step we could take is picking up from what the Chief Minister said in his statement. "We will impose the [liquor] ban across the state after studying the results of the same currently imposed in three districts in the state." Liquor is a banned commodity in the districts of Wardha, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur. What is the scene here?

In the banned states

      Gadchiroli has been liquor-free (on paper) since 1992, Wardha, from somewhere around 1998, and Chandrapur, recently, on the 1^st of April this year.  

      In Chandrapur, the ban was the result of extensive protests by several activists, and groups of women. Alcoholism had become one of the district’s biggest problems. According to social activist Paromita Goswami, increase in alcohol consumption led to families being destroyed. Even schoolchildren took to drinking, and women and girls felt unsafe in public places. She added that unlicensed liquor was being smuggled into Wardha and Gadchiroli as well, through supply networks.

      Although the ban was supposed to save the districts from rampant alcoholism, things aren't going too smoothly.

      To begin with, country liquor is STILL a major problem in the three districts. In Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Wardha, anywhere between 30%-50% of the patients in the indoor psychiatric ward are alcoholics, undergoing de-addiction treatment. These are statistics from 2011. We are talking about a point in time around thirteen years after the ban was implemented. Dr. Prakash Behere, head of the psychiatric department, said that most of the patients undergoing de-addiction treatment are manufacturers of country liquor themselves, and hence, get addicted really easily.

      An activist from Chandrapur, Bandu Dhotre, said that even though the ban exists, illicit liquor trade is thriving, and since it is not within legal purview, there is no regulation as to the quality of liquor.

      In Yavatmal, a police officer was stoned to death, when he attempted to intervene in illegal liquor trade.  

The Issue of Illicit Alcohol

      While alcoholism is a bane in several aspects, it is a necessity for some as well. In the words of social activist Vikas Amte, “Why people drink is an issue which must be addressed first. Labourers do hard work, and liquor and substance abuse are a panacea easily available to them... to forget the exploitation of labour, grief and pain." It is, hence, safe to say that alcohol is a need and therefore, alcohol will be consumed.

      Let us look at where the alcohol comes from. One lot of it comes from licensed breweries and registered brands, which are under the regulation of the government, while the other lot comes from local bootleggers, brewed without a licence, with unknown ingredients, which does not exist in the eyes of the government until discovered; more popularly known as hooch in the country.

      Every state has its own, indigenous hooch production units, irrespective if there exists a ban in the state or no. Be it the Hooch Tragedy in Mumbai this year, where alcohol isn't banned yet, or the Hooch Tragedy in Gujarat in 2009, where it is; people are victims to illicit alcohol everywhere. So that goes to prove a point; that alcohol obtained from unreliable and unregulated sources (not alcohol as a whole) is where the problem lies.

      Moreover, in Mumbai, even though 117 excise raids were conducted over a span of 18 months in the Malvani region, hooch continued to flow in. So why is there still a good market for hooch, despite a threat from the state, and the availability of good alcohol? Because it is cheap; hence, it is the alcohol of the masses.

Going the Dutch Way

      The Netherlands, regarded as one of the world’s most liberal countries, has adopted a very liberal drug policy. They legalised the use of Cannabis in coffeeshops in the country. What that did, was diversify the industry, give consumers multiple options to choose from, and limit their usage to just when they were in the coffee shops (since that’s where you got the best stuff).  As asserted by Marten Pieters (ex-CEO, Vodafone India, who was born and grew up in the Netherlands) while addressing a crowd of Indian students, most people there don't even consume Cannabis. But for those who choose to, there is always a safe alternative. On the other hand, in India, people smoke cannabis that is laced with substances like Opium, shoe-polish and rat poison. That takes the whole concept of inhaling toxic fumes to a whole new level!

      The popular argument is that government regulation works better than to ban a dangerous product, because where a market exists, there will continue to be a supply. But it is hardly as easy to govern India as is the Netherlands.

What Ameena thinks

      In conclusion, I would like to thank Ameena, my friend, and house-help, for giving me a direction to write this article in. Before I started working on this, I asked Ameena what she thought of the prospective ban. She replied, “Nahi karenge kuch,” (they won’t do anything.) When I prodded on and asked her why, and to elaborate on what she thought, she told me that whether or not they ban commercial alcohol, it is of no consequence to the public. She went on to tell a story of how she saw alcohol being made in her area when she was younger. A ditch of water; out of which dogs and strays drank, people answering nature’s call nearby, garbage strewn all over; this was the same water used to make alcohol. Whether or not you fell ill drinking it didn’t make a difference. The only way the alcohol ban made sense to her is if it meant that this unhygienic desi daaru was done away with, and what an articulate thought it is!

Opinion: How I see it, is that alcoholism is as much of a priority as healthcare, education and the likes. From when I taught underprivileged children at Asha for Education, Powai (thank you, St. Xavier’s College, for making social involvement a compulsory credit for graduation,) I saw the pain in children whose parents were alcoholics, and extreme pride in children whose parents were not. Addiction to alcohol has the ability to break families and kill relationships; which is probably why we hear of so many stories of how women go out and work hard, only for their husbands to blow the money up in buying alcohol.

My goal in saying is that it is just as important as the aforementioned, is to say that it needs budget allocation too. Probably, one way of working things out could be, that alcohol permits be made mandatory, and work in a way that: no individual can buy more than a specified amount of alcohol in a specified amount of time, and be sold in some areas at prices as low as, or lower than, illicit alcohol. This may, gradually, lead to the death of the hooch industry.

      I have no research to back my suggestion, and this is purely a shot I the dark. Mayhaps, nothing will ever change. But I surely do hope that the seriousness of the issue isn’t lost in the extreme grief of going dry eternally in the state. I, for one, got to understand a whole new dimension while writing this article.  

The Party Has Begun (or, What Could Possibly Happen To Maharashtra after an Alcohol Ban)

Reports have surfaced about the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, making certain comments about the evaluation of the viability of banning alcohol in India. People aren’t happy – he may want to wait to see how well the three districts in Maharashtra (Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Wardha) that have already banned alcohol are faring, but most are already up-in-arms.

On the other hand, why not embrace this?

Let’s ban alcohol, and enjoy the revival of underground bars and bootleggers. Maybe we can see what India can do – I’m sure there will be a lot of authors struggling to write an Indian version of The Great Gatsby, at least.

Mahaan Mahesh – the story of a young bootlegger who had it all, but wanted more.

Okay, maybe that sounds horrible. But literary pursuits can never be boring, and if there’s no free-flowing alcohol in this state, then we’re going to need plenty of entertainment.

*

Imagine finishing work early one weekend: You sign out of your work email with a flourish before turning around to look at your colleagues. You stretch, grinning. It’s been a hard week.

“Let’s grab a drink,” you begin to say, before stopping and looking uncertainly at the people in front of you.

You can’t go ‘grab a drink’ anymore.

Your mind recalls hazy headlines in newspapers, and tweets written with capital letters about liquor being banned in the state of Maharashtra. You keep trying to repress the memory, but at times like this, you’re faced with the ugly truth.

You can’t have liquor in the state of Maharashtra. Seedy bars of your youth have become ‘family restorants’ and your ‘corner wala’ now sells Frooti.

The world is bleak, my friend, very bleak.

Suddenly, you hear a soft cough, and someone in the back of the group (it might be the office joker, it might be that shy girl who finishes her work on time, it might be that guy who smokes a little too much – you’re not sure) speaks up. “Guys,” they say, voice hushed, looking nervous. “I heard of a… place.”

Hope blossoms in your chest, and the group decides to follow this lead – this meagre source of a bright solution to parched problems. “It’s in Lower Parel,” your new best buddy says softly, and all of you eagerly agree to board Western Line trains despite the promise of office workers and rush hour madness.

You all know what’s more important.

At Lower Parel, you reach an innocuous-looking bookstore, and everybody stares at it doubtfully. If this is a prank, it’s not a good one, you think miserably.

But your friend enters the store and leads all of you to the non-fiction section, and you come to stop in front of an ‘out of order’ sign, and a bathroom door. Faintly, you can smell the typical scents connected to a public bathroom, and you wrinkle your nose. You can see that your other colleagues are beginning to regret this entire venture.

Your friend, however, with some sense of grim determination, leads the way into the loo, and… opens a small cupboard filled with pocha and phenyl. “Wha-” you begin to say, but your friend holds their hand up, and you stop.

Can it be? The group leans forward as one, and the soft strains of old Dev Anand songs come wafting into the air.

Encouraged, you walk into the ‘cupboard’ and push the back wall, which gives way and shows a small (really, really small) corridor. Everybody squeezes into it recklessly (jokes are passed about those extra vada pavs at lunch), and shuffles forward, then down a flight of stairs, while the music grows louder and louder…

It’s beautiful.

You walk into a room, vaguely conscious of the fact that you’re possibly in some sort of basement or dungeon, and you take a deep breath.

“Gin!” a colleague says delightedly, and everybody makes their way to a semi-circular bar, set on the side of a warm room decorated to look like a speak easy from old Prohibition Era Hollywood movies.

In one corner, a large system plays Dev Anand songs while patrons (studiously avoiding the faces of every stranger in the room) sit comfortably at tables and drink merrily.

A young woman comes towards you with a beam, ushering your group to a table. “Welcome,” she says warmly, before fishing out a sheaf of papers from her pocket and handing them over.

A waiter discreetly waves for her, and the girl – she owns this place, you realize with a shock – turns to him. “Call me when you’ve signed,” she says, disappearing.

Nonplussed, you unfold the papers and scan the words printed neatly in front of you.

“It’s a non-disclosure agreement,” you say softly, wonder in your voice.

“What are the terms?”

You read through the document, but you already know what you’re being asked to do.

“Keep things quiet, and be a regular member,” you finally say, handing over the document to the group. It gets passed around before reaching you again.

With some sort of unspoken agreement, you and your colleagues sign the document solemnly, after which it is whisked away quickly by the smiling proprietor.

“How old are you?” You ask curiously, stopping her in her tracks.

“Old enough,” she says cheerfully. Later, from a waiter, you learn that college students and young entrepreneurs had turned to bootlegging sprits from neighbouring states and setting up illegal resto-bars after the liquor ban in Maharashtra.

“We don’t like to think of it as ‘illegal’, though,” the waiter says, plying you with whiskey (god, you’ve missed this) and sounding more like an MBA grad than a typical waiter. “It’s just good business. And we’re creating jobs.”

He doesn’t say more, and you realize that the quiet efficiency of the wait-staff is underscored by alert tension.

What they’re doing is dangerous.

But you swig your whiskey and make up your mind to return, because it’s better than the alternative.

Sure, you may get found out, and you may go to jail. But the ‘bar’ does a good job of creating a sense of calm. You feel lulled into a sense of security and complacency – how many such bars can the police raid anyway?

“If one exists,” you mutter to the table, “there must be thousands around the city.”

Your words are met with agreement, and you eye the manager, her hair drawn into a ponytail. You imagine her quietly paying off police inspectors and IAS men.

It’s just good business.

Political Strategy: The Bihar Elections

      Election time in India is the time when everyone starts coming up with theories and opinions of their own. No. Actually, election time in India is the time when various opinions, which are formed in the pre-election season, reach their destination, of whether the opinions formed stand correct or not. It’s like how a lottery ticket works. You buy a lottery ticket, and then go hang it around in the temple of your God, waiting for the almighty and luck to combine their forces and make you victorious on the result day. Similarly, opinions formed in the pre-election period are formed, discussed and then kept bhagwaan-bharose to see whether they stand correct or no. Amidst various opinions which are being formed and kept bhagwaan-bharose around the Bihar Elections, I too have tried to form my opinion on how Bihar Election can be a major step towards Congress Mukt Bharat. Let me state my opinion first, and then try to explain it.

My take: Just like Delhi, BJP here in Bihar, doesn’t seem to be keen on winning the elections. They wouldn’t mind losing any state, as long as they keep Congress out of that particular state, and the winning regional party supports the BJP government in the Rajya Sabha, where they are in minority.  

Explanation: With 2014 General elections safely in their bag, BJP started to look at a bigger picture. Though they have a comfortable majority in Lok Sabha, BJP didn’t have (still doesn’t) a majority in the Rajya Sabha. As all the bills passed by the Lok Sabha are forwarded to the Rajya Sabha, it is important for them to have a majority in the Rajya Sabha as well, so that their functioning becomes smooth. For this, they now had to win states. And, with their aim of winning states, they merged the picture of Congress Mukt Bharat. Having packed Congress off with 44 seats in the general elections, their next target was to pack them off from all their ruling states, and not give them a chance to even fight in the states where they are not the ruling party. So they started their campaign with Maharashtra and Haryana. Both these states were ruled by Congress. BJP campaigned aggressively. The Prime Minister too campaigned aggressively.  BJP won both the states, while Congress lost both the states. Then it was time for Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. J&K had a combined government of the National Conference and Congress whereas Jharkhand had never seen a Congress government. BJP won quite a good number of seats in J&K, and formed a government in alliance with PDP. In Jharkhand, BJP again won a majority. By winning these states, BJP started progressing towards their dream of a Rajya Sabha majority and Congress Mukt Bharat.  
      A great philosopher in our time had once said, “When everything seems to work well, there is something which is not working well somewhere, but is not visible with the naked eye.” That is what happened. For us, everything was working well with the BJP. Running high on the winning opium, BJP now had the Delhi election to fight. Unlike 2013, this time their major opposition was the Aam Aadmi Party, and not the Congress. One thought that BJP will go all guns blazing behind AAP to win Delhi. But No. Surprisingly, the entire BJP campaign for Delhi elections looked like a Fuski bomb. BJP looked like a bunch of final year Mass Media students who thought of themselves as too elite to study for exams. Unlike their campaign in previous states, they even appointed their Chief Ministerial candidate (Kiran Bedi), so as to fight this election under her leadership, and not under Modi’s. Prime Minister, himself, took little interest in campaigning. The stage was all set for BJP to lose, and lose, they did! Everyone thought that the BJP would be very disappointed. But in my personal opinion, BJP wasn't at all disappointed. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, compared to other states, Delhi attracts Media the most because it is the Media capital of the country, so any small ‘idhar ka udhar’ will bring the government under attack, and secondly, BJP lost to AAP and not Congress, who got zero seats in Delhi. So in all, their mission of Congress Mukt Bharat did not stop, and it actually got more fuel. 
      My mind smells a similar Delhi-like BJP attitude in Bihar too. The recently merged Janata Parivar of political heavyweights has already started its campaign under Nitish Kumar, whereas BJP is nowhere in the scene. It is still fighting with its allies on several issues. On the other hand, the main BJP leadership is busy coping up with few major issues in form of Lalit Gate and Vyapam scam. And again like Delhi, Bihar is a fight between BJP and Janata Parivar, and Congress is out of the game. So I guess Modi and BJP might not even care much to campaign here in Bihar though it is termed as a big Modi vs Nitish fight. After all, they won't lose much if they lose Bihar.  Congress Mukt Bharat is anyway happening, and burden of governing one more state won't be there.
      As I mentioned earlier, Rajya Sabha is an important aspect for BJP. Winning states helps them get Rajya Sabha seats. So what if they lose Delhi and Bihar? They won’t get Rajya Sabha seats. But it doesn't matter if the winning party is willing to lend them support in Rajya Sabha. It’s like being back in school. You take cake in your tiffin box one day, and your greedy classmates will ask for a bite. You agree to give them all a bite each but on one condition that whenever they bring a cake to school in future, they will have to give you a bite too. There is only one difference. In school you could get away by not fulfilling the promise but in Politics, you cannot. The cake will come to haunt you someday or the other, with more icing on it. 
      So take this simple equation: BJP agrees to give AAP Delhi, in return for its support in Rajya Sabha to pass key bills. Though AAP is not a part of RS, it soon will be.  Similarly, BJP asks for Janata Parivar’s support in Rajya Sabha and in return the Parivar asks them to back out of Bihar. Possible? Why not? 
      Next Year we will have the West Bengal elections and the Tamil Nadu elections. A year later we will have elections in UP. All these three states have a strong regional party ruling the state and BJP won’t mind them winning, and take their support in the Rajya Sabha. Currently the BJP led NDA’s strength in RS is 64 seats out of 245 seats. Congress led UPA is at 70 seats. The Janata Parivar stands at 30 seats, TMC has 12 and AIADMK has 11. When you add these three with the NDA tally, the number comes up to 117, which is quite close to the half-way mark. A few nods from the other independent members, and the government will sail through easily in the Rajya Sabha too.
      Makes Sense now?
      In conclusion, I would like to say that even though I am serious about my calculations and opinions, they are not to be taken seriously. It’s just a mere opinion of a 19-year-old guy, who sees politics everywhere; even in the college washroom when a random guy uses the fifth urinal from the left instead of the third one from the right even though it’s empty (Jokes). On a serious note, I am keeping this opinion piece bhagwaan-bharose, so that even if a part of this is proved correct, it will encourage me to opine more in future. So let’s wait for the Bihar elections, and see how it turns out to be. If I am right, the cake is on me and if I am wrong, the cake will still be on me. 

The Western Coast— To road or not to road?

Say No to the Coastal Road! - At the Public Meeting

      The 19^th of July, Sunday, just when the sun was setting over the low tide. A table, seating 5, put up on the dais of the Carter Road Amphitheatre, with neat rows of around thirty-odd chairs arranged facing it. Standing all the way at the back, one could see rows of salt-n-pepper heads, all listening intently to the five people on stage. The breeze was coming in from sea, passing through the shallow mangroves. The abundant Sunday crowd, gathering along the walkway, trying to grab a sentence or two of what the experts on stage were trying to say, would disperse just as fast as they came.“This road isn't just going to affect the environment, it is going to affect you all! The fresh air that brings you here every evening for your walks? Soon, it will be poisonous air from the road!” declared Darryl D’Monte, ex-Editor of The Times of India. D’Monte, and a bunch of other like-minded individuals, were gathering to protest the Maharashtra Government’s Coastal Road plan. In an elaborate meeting that lasted for a little less than two hours, D’Monte and his panellists went through how the coastal road, one of the city’s most ambitious projects, would alter their daily lives, why they should care and how not many people did, and what they can do to help. Nearly every resident in the audience stood up to ask questions and express their concern. One resident even urged the by-standers to make a move and sign their petition form. The movement needed them, and they needed Carter road. Although her monologue did urge a few to go ahead and show their support for the movement, most just went along minded their own business.  The meeting concluded with an appeal from the organisers to please support the cause in any way they could, and that more such meeting will be conducted across the coastal suburbs. All-in-all, the meeting was deemed a success.So, what was a man of Darryl D’Monte’s stature doing spearheading a Bandra Residents Association meet? Not that nothing phenomenal has come out of Bandra Residents Association meets (in the past, the association has managed to revoke the BMC’s order to label one of its Koliwadas a slum), but why is he fighting the coastal road project? And why is he getting so detailed? Do we know? Should we? Here’s why.

The Coastal Road Project

      The Maharashtra Government has received clearance to build a coastal road, running from Nariman Point in the south to Kandivali in the North. The road is to be approximately 35kms long, and allow vehicles to travel at up to 90 kmph. The project is said to cost about ₹8,500 crore, inclusive of the cost required for land reclamation. In a tweet about the project, Devendra Fadnavis said “Coastal road will decongest traffic in Mumbai

and create 91 hectares of green space.”

      In a report by the Joint Technical Committee (Govt. of Maharashtra) from December 2011, apart from saving time, the coastal road will also cut down on transport related pollution. This would be a boost for the infrastructure of the city, and be a boon to many!Why would anyone ever wish for this project to not take off?

Why not? Here’s why.

      According to a flyer handed out at the protest, there are multiple reasons why we wouldn't want this, as a community.

• The sea, which brings fresh air, will now bring toxic fumes from the coastal road.
• Coastlines, beaches, gaothans and koliwadas will be destroyed forever.
• Mangroves, that protect Mumbai from flooding, and produce twice as much oxygen as most trees, will be wiped out in stretches.
• It will have a damaging effect on the livelihood of coastal communities, which includes 50,000 fishermen.
• It will cut off historical monuments, and result in the loss of diversity of waterfronts and public spaces.
• The current cost of the coastal road is ₹12,000 crores [sic]. Experts have shown that in less than half the cost, traffic can be eased out by implementing a comprehensive transportation policy. 45% of Mumbai travels by train, 22% by bus, 16% by two wheelers, and 7% use cars. Focus should be shifted on improving modes of transportation for 93% Mumbaikars.

      Not to be the old lady from around the block who cribs about everything, this protest meeting involved a dialogue of what the residents thought could be solutions and alternatives to this problem that they were faced with. Several suggested that water transport be explored, while others spoke about enhancing the existing public transport. One idea that stood out of the lot, was to verticalise the railway lines; to build a corridor just above the existing railway lines, and utilise the pre-existing route in a creative manner.

So, where do we go from here?

      What do we think? How much of what either part is saying makes sense to us? What we do know, is where Mr. Darryl D’Monte is taking this fight. In conversation, Mr.D’Monte happened to mention that he wants to be able to speak to as many people about the cause as possible. He said, that although the movement was getting maximum support from the English media, Marathi media seemed to be driving in the absolute opposite direction. He did, although, seem positive that the scene would change, and soon.





Opinion: Personally, I believe that the project isn’t well prioritised. It is false that this will be the fastest way to get from the south to the north. Trains are just as fast. The only thing trains lack is the luxury factor, and the prioritising of the rich, urban class seems to be prioritised in our policy making, more often than not. The only valid argument that the pro’s of the project hold, is the reduction of transport related pollution, thus effectively cutting down several respiratory problems in the city. But is the traffic the only source of pollution for us? We all know the answer to that. *cough* Wadala *cough* Darukhana *cough cough*. So as an undergraduate student, if I can say that cutting down the mangroves, the lungs of our city, in order to reduce air pollution, some really messed up logic is at play here.
      Besides, I haven't even started talking about the number of people who will be forced to beg on the streets, thanks to the destruction of their livelihood. It’s a shame that the people in question are such culturally rich people too!
      Where do we go from here?
      That’s a really tough question to answer!