A fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi
A fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi
By Debkumar Bhadra | Musings of an Islander | South
Andaman
Another news item appearing during the same time read Rajinder Singh (48) of Shadipur village died while driving under the influence of liquor on September 20, 2016. Police said, Rajinder Singh and Rohit consumed liquor near Corby’s Cove and while driving back to Port Blair, Rajinder Singh his lost control over the bike and hit a wall near the Dargah at Mazar Pahad. Grievously injured Rajinder Singh was rushed to GB Pant Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.
Certainly none would want their school going children to
fall prey to the intoxicating drink, nor would anyone imagine Rajinder Singh’s
life would be cut short in such a tragic manner. But given the number of Bars
and Liquor outlets operating in the city, such instances are merely a speck in
the vast plethora of problems that alcoholism brings with it. A look at 2013
NCRB report (data for deaths due to alcohol influence has been
stopped since 2014) suggest Rajinder
Singh is not the only unfortunate one in the list of
alcohol related deaths. An India
Spend analysis of 2013 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data reveal he is one among 15 persons who die every
day from the effects of drinking alcohol in India. This translates to one death
every 96 minutes due to alcohol in our country.
Such
an alarming rate of death due to alcohol caught attention of the country so
much so that Nitish Kumar announced complete prohibition in the state of Bihar
immediately after assuming Chief Ministership of the state. Similarly J
Jayalalithaa shut down 500 state owned TASMAC liquor shops on the first day of
her fourth term as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. On the other hand Kerala
resolving to implement prohibition in a phased manner restricted sale of liquor
to five-star hotels in the state. Conseuently more than 700
bars has been shut down since policy change in Kerala. Gujrat and Nagaland
are the other states where complete prohibition on alcohol is in place.
Lakshadweep is the only Union Territory that has banned sale and consumption of
alcohol.
ANIIDCO
at the fore front
The situation in Andaman and Nicobar Island
is completely different. In a scathing blogpost in The
Light of Andamans, Zubair Ahmed writes, the extent of
damage is beyond imagination. With a population of 4 lakhs and a couple of lakh
tourists, the islands consumed not less than 52 lakh litres of liquor in
2015-16, an increase of 2.21 lakh litres from 2014-15. ANIIDCO, the sole
distributor of IMFL sold liquor for Rs 150 crores last year and made a profit
of Rs 16.36 crores from liquor sales alone out of Rs 19.03 crores net profit of
the Corporation.
All other heads including POL,
milk, steel, air ticketing and tourism activities combined made a profit of
just Rs 2.66 crores. Out of total sale of 52 lakh litres, 37.11 lakh litres of
hard liquor, 15.17 lakh litres of beer and 0.39 lakh litres of Ready to Drink
(RTD) alcoholic beverages were sold in 2015-16.While South Andaman consumed
35.58 lakh litres, other Islands from Campbell Bay to N&M
Andaman consumed 17.10 lakh litres.
It is ironical that a nation which takes
pride in invoking the contribution, ideals and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, it
resorts to pick and choose when it comes to translating those ideals into
practice. Use of state machinery to fuel liquor trade in the country is one
such example where the state appears to be at variance with the ideals of
Mahatma. It is therefore well justified that Humane Touch, a NGO based in South
Andaman is organizing a March for Alcohol Free Andamans on the eve of Gandhi
Jayanti ie on 1st October, 2016 from ITF Ground to Tiranga Park at 3 PM. I take
this opportunity to urge fellow islanders to participate in the initiative in
every possible way and make it a grand success.
In a day we shall be celebrating Gandhi
Jayanti. Therefore if we, as a nation, wish to pay tributes to Mahatma in true
sense, total prohibition could be a fitting tribute.
This post was carried in the Port Blair Edition of Echo of India dated 2nd October 2016
This post was carried in the Port Blair Edition of Echo of India dated 2nd October 2016
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