KOCHI: President Pratibha Patil has raised concern about the increasing alcoholism in Kerala—known for its remarkable achievements in universal education and quality of life index comparable to the developed countries.
“It’s a State where the female population is over 51 percent and the literacy rate of females is 88 percent, the highest in India. However, I am surprised to learn that in spite of this, alcoholism is rampant and women are the worst sufferers,” she said while addressing lawyers here.
At 8.3 liters, the southern state currently leads in per capita alcohol consumption in India pushing Punjab (7.9 liters) to the second and in suicides and sale of liquor is a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped provincial government.
“I’m concerned about the debilitating effect on individuals, families and societies of alcoholism and drug addiction,” she said inaugurating the All India Federation of Women Lawyers meet.
She however appreciated the AIFWL for its choice of Kerala as the venue of the national conference considering the state’s record in women’s empowerment and active role played by women in the judiciary.
“Dr. Anna Chandy, the first woman High Court Judge in India was from Kerala. Justice Fathima Beevi, the first woman Judge of the Supreme Court of India was also from Kerala,” she said.
She ended her speech calling upon women and the youth to “take up the challenge to eliminate these social evils and work toward changing social attitudes and social mindsets.” Sale of liquor is a monopoly of two state-run agencies and four-fifths of the turnover directly goes to its coffers as excize duty, sales tax and profit margin on retail sales by the Beverages Corporation (Bevco) and Consumerfed.
According to reports, the state is expected to record the highest ever sales of liquor for a month in December and it is estimated to cross Rs4.5bn. Liquor sales touched Rs440mn on the eve of Christmas, an increase of 26 percent from last year, as the tipplers went on a stockpiling spree. The New Year eve is expected to break this record.
Bevco, the sole wholesaler, estimates total sales to cross Rs53bn this fiscal year, up from Rs46.31bn. Rise in prices and increase in arrival of domestic tourists also contribute to the overall turnover.
The Kerala High Court had the state government to change its decision to keep liquor shops open on September 1 on the Onam eve this year. Tipple sale was banned on the first of every month a few years back by the then chief minister AK Antony, who had during his previous tenure banned the arrack and made the liquor prices prohibitively high by raising taxes.
But that didn’t dampen the spirit of guzzlers celebrating the local harvest festival. The Bevco a, recorded an all-time high single-day sales of Rs341mn (Rs34.13cr) the previous day as tipplers went on a stockpiling spree.
Liquor attracts 100 percent excize duty, 90 percent sales tax and 10 percent turnover tax on the supply price besides the Bevco’s wholesale margin of 36 percent and retail margin of 20 percent.
According to the Bevco officials, more than 700,000 customers are dealing with it every day through 400-odd retail outlets, more than 500 bars and 16 warehouses spread across the state.
A study has shown that 72 percent of the 42,365 road accidents in the state this year were because of drunken driving and domestic violence induced by alcoholism is on the rise.
