Liquer Policy of Kerala State

There has been a lot of discussion about the liquer going on in Kerala now. This is in fact a continuation of the discussion which happened during the rule of the previous LDF Govt when many people died consuming illicit liquer supplied by liquer barons of Kerala.

The current discussion is centered around the distribution and allocation of toddy shops and contracts - either to societies or private parties. A prominet lobby involved here ironically belong to the SNDP leadership. A casual onlooker from abroad might expect SNDP to be on the side opposite to liquer, but this is not to be so. This means the problem is complex, decided not just by slogans or moral issues, but of economic, social and political underpinnings.

The current discussion, glimpses of which have appeaered here in this forum too (Liquer) seems to be confined to the allocation of contracts. This is too narrow and in fact, in our view, is not about alcohol consumption but about the distribution only. Nobody is bothered about "what" is being distributed! There is not much meaning in taking up a discussion on "Should the poison be distributed by Govt Socities or by private contractor?".

We broaden the issue to include "what" is being drunk here. We will also discuss the implications - social, moral and community wise. Also the role of SNDP will be crucial here because of Guru's own words as well as the close links between the manin SNDP community and liquer production in Kerala.

What is being consumed here?

The main alcohol consumption in Kerala [Not in any order]

Let's look at the Liquer production in European Countries

What a difference!!! In Western countries where alcohol is an acceptable table drink, all the drinks are based on agricultural products. Some of them, like wine, form the whole basis of grape farming in thousands of acres. In our Kerala, once upon a time toddy used to be based on cococuts; it is no longer the case because it is impossible to find clean toddy in Kerala. According to a report which appeared in Mathrubhumi, they found pure toddy only in two shops in the whole Kerala! Synthetic stuff is added to give more kick to toddy. The toddy tapper may or may not get the benefit. Some do get a share of the money earned by selling illegal liquer. Obviously this is not teh right way to support our agriculture and the community!

How and where we drink it?

Drinking is not an acceptable table custom in India. ie We do not serve alcoholic drinks with dinner. Neither as an apertiff nor as a dessert. Drinks are considered 'bad stuff' by the society. So it is to be consumed either at the toddy shop or bar or 'secretly' at home. Mostly women are excluded from this 'affair'. Usually the people who take drinks are heavy drinkers. They do consume hard liquers like arrack or 'Indian Whisky, brandy or rum' in large quantities until the person is fully intoxicated. Food may be taken but not neceesary. In Indian drinking food is a subordinate entity.

Those who take toddy or beer only are a little better, but not much. This is because our guys consume both of these in very large quantities. So beer is normally bottled in Western countries in 330 ml, our beer bottle is 700 ml or more.

Drinks in the West

In the West, drinks are part of standard dinner, at least on occasions and parties. But here what is served alongwith the food is normally wine or beer, and not hard liquer. [Any beverage which contains more than 40% alcohol is classified as hard liquer]. Unlike India, the beer is also available in a variety of alcohol content. It can be 0% alcohol, 2.8% (class II), 4.6% (III or pilsner or lager) and 8-10% which is called export or class A. All except the class A is sold in the normal grocery shops. Table wine can contain 7-12 % alcohol. Apertiffs (Campari, Martini ) may contain upto 21%, but these are consumed in small quantities ins pecial glasses.

Whiskey is normally not served part of the food. Some may take it after the food. Cognac (high class French Brandy) is served part of dessert alongwith coffee. Congac is taken in special glasses in small quantities, straight.

Scotland and France - Centres of Hard Liquer

The most important Western hard liquers are whisky and cognac - whisky from Scotland and cognac from France - a virtual monopoly on a worldwide basis. There at least 50 companies (some small, some big) in each of these countries manfucaturing these items according to age old traditions and cleanliness. The product is carefully bottled and marketed. One can trust the label for the quality!

Italy, Spain, France - Large wine producers

These countries produce wine in large quantities. California, Australia, South Africa, Chile etc also have their own wine industry. Again the product is carefully prepared and bottled. One can trust the label!

Denmark, Holland and Germany - Beer

Most countries do produce their own beer. But Danish brands like Carlsberg and Tuborg are known world over for their quality and name. Dutch brand Heinekan is also a world level product. Germany also has some small local 'pubs' (called beer garden) which produce their own local beer and sold locally straight from the 'factory'.

Non-alcoholic Beer

Beer being an agricultural product is a better drink than Coca Cola. Those who do not want to have alcohol there is non-alcoholic beer. The German Brand Clausthaler is the most popular one. Here is a label :

Other Liquers

Apart from all these, there are a variety of other drinks produced in the Western Countries.These include Martini, Campari, Pernod, arctic berry liquers, aquavit, Gammel Dansk (heavily herbal - tastes close to strong Dasamoolarishta), apricot brandy etc etc. Most of them are again based on a berry or fruit and are sweet. Drinks like pina colada are made from coconuts in the Caribbeans.

Indian / Kerala Scene

We have some known brands for 'foreign liquers'. We also have some good beers. But all these are monopolized by certain companies. Hard liquer sold is of questionable quality. Recently it has been shown in Kerala that many drug barons produce their own 'foreign liquer' including the 'Produce of Scotland' stamp! Liquer producers have a monopoly over the production. Since the whole thing is done secretily undre the covers, the public doe not have a clear picture of the business at all.

As for toddy and arrack, we do not have any bottling. Toddy is still sold in dirty caskets kept in the 'toddy shop'. Hygeine is questionable. Arrack may contain posinonous methyl alcohol or even traces of deadly chemicals like phenobarbitol or paramer, added to give kick. The Government, politicans, the liquer producers and the contractors together form the worst liquer mafia we can find anywhere in the world. In no other country we see liquer barons occupying such a high positions in the society. The politicans in Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are puppets in the hands of these drug lords.

The difference is obvious!

One doesn't have to an economist to see the difference here - between the drink culture of the West and the drink culture of Kerala! Our drinks are not based on the agricultural products at all. Agricultural communities or products do not play any crucial role in the production of these drinks. In the West, exactly opposite is true. Wine production is intgerally connected to grapes farming. It also guarantees that grapes get a reasonable proce all the time.

In the West, Govt collects tax through the normal channels for the drink also. There are no special contractors for the job. In some countries the Govt shops monopolizes the sale of hard liquer (Norway, Sweden, Finland for example). In any case there is no mafia or liquer barons.

In Kerala, liquer distribution has created the mafia of the state. It doesn't contribute anything to the agricultural or industrial progress of the state at all! Since agricultural products (like coconut, mangoes, jack fruit etc) are not converted to any industrial products, the farmers do not get any price for these either.

The situation had been worse to start with (1960). Congress led Govts were for prohibition which did not work. Besides, the leftist parties used this to turn the toddy tappers against Congress. CPM led United Front Govt lifted prohibition. But did nothing to modernize the liquer industry. Instead new mafias were automatically created. This continued for the next 30 years by the LDF/UDF Govts. There was no difference because both were puppets of the liquer barons. Gulf money and the drinking habit imported from the Gulf saw the emergence of 'BARS' in ecery village in Kerala.