Events & Issues
New Delhi, 14 May 2020
Long for
Freedom
LIQUOR
SHOPS UNDER LOCKDOWN
By Dr S Saraswathi
(Former
Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
The Madras High Court
on 8 May directed the State Government to close all 3,850 liquor shops run by
TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) till lifting of the lockdown for
failure to observe the lockdown rules regarding social distancing. Shops were
opened in Chennai city on 8 May and in other districts in Tamil Nadu a day earlier.
The court reversed its order of 6 May to reopen liquor shops which were closed
when lockdown was first clamped.
However, the court
order permitted introduction of online sale and home delivery of liquor and
employment of contractual employees of TASMAC for the purpose. Some other
States – AP, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal – had already started the system of
home delivery. Maharashtra is selling liquor exclusively online. The judges
were appalled at the crowd in the shops and complete breakdown of lockdown
norms. They observed that, “what worries this court is this mad rush for liquor
will only lead to new clusters as opined by epidemiologists and public health
experts”.
Opening liquor shops is
presently considered only in the light of chances for emergence of a new
COVID-19 cluster of liquor patrons and violations of lockdown norms. Only two
days earlier, the court refused to stay reopening of the shops on the principle
that courts cannot interfere in policy decisions of the government. The
principle had to be given up because of the unruly behaviour of the customers
and utter failure of lockdown. Increasing cases of domestic violence due to
compulsory “stay at home” were pointed out by the Bench in this connection to
emphasise the need for keeping liquor shops closed.
The order is on the
lines of that of Supreme Court on the same day refusing to allow a PIL seeking ban
on sale of liquor for breaching social distancing norms and instead suggesting
home delivery or indirect sale of liquor. Tamil Nadu government has appealed to
the apex court.
The most important relaxation
allowed after the end of the second phase of lockdown on 3 May – if press
reports can be taken as an indication – seems to be the opening of liquor shops
which were closed with COVID-19 lockdown in non-containment areas in all zones.
Reopening of shops was allowed after ensuring 6 feet social distancing, and
allowing not more than five persons at a time in the shop. Bars were not
allowed. The relaxation was obviously made in response to the demand of several
State governments. The subject of intoxicating liquors falls in the State List
of powers.
The mad rush of
customers at liquor shops across the country pushed sales to an unbelievable
extent raising hopes of recovery from financial losses due to lockdown for the
governments in particular. Liquor made the addicts forget even the coronavirus surrounding
them. Reopening of liquor shops seems to have satisfied the longing for freedom
of sizeable sections of population forced to stay at home, but it opened the
danger of a new cluster taking shape like the wholesale market at Koyambedu in Chennai
which suddenly turned out to be a super-spreader of the deadly infection in and
around the State.
Liquor is one of the
most contentious issues in listing open and closed items in the different zones
during lockdown. It is also concerned with health and disease apart from business
revenue. Liquor trade, both by its presence and
absence, creates law and order problems. When the trade is banned, there is
spike in smuggling and illegal hooch industry and spurious drugs come to the
rescue of addicts in many States. Liquor mafia comes into operation in far
flung areas increasing the problems of the police. Liquor theft becomes common
and black marketing thrives.
Rush of customers was
seen in all States when liquor was removed from the list of prohibited items
under lockdown in all zones – red, orange, and green except in containment
areas. In Mumbai, shops had to be closed as customers ignored physical
distancing. Liquor sales in Karnataka registered an all time record despite
heavy hike in excise duty. AP raised the prices of liquor.
On the reopening day,
it is reported that a record sale for Rs.175 crore took place in Tamil Nadu.
The machinery for controlling law and order and for enforcing lockdown
regulations miserably failed. It is hard to believe that it was not
anticipated.
Do all people agree
to disregard lockdown and risk contracting the deadly disease to satisfy the
thirst for drinks of some people? Can drink lovers force their preference on
others to nullify the effect of social distancing practiced by others? Will the
law enforcing authorities confess their inability to maintain lockdown
regulations blatantly broken by alcohol addicts? Will the government bear
responsibility for loosening restrictions and inviting virus for the sake of filling
its treasury?
Rajnikanth, the new
face in Tamil Nadu politics, lamented over the decision of the government to
reopen liquor shops and made a remark that the party in power “can forget coming
back to power”. Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu including those instrumental
in lifting prohibition in 1970s and even some of the allies of the ruling party
-- the DMK, BJP, PMK, DMDK, MDMK, Congress -- united to criticise the
government for reopening liquor shops while fighting a pandemic.
Ultimately, the loss
of revenue seems to be the crucial element in government decision for opening
liquor shops in any State. In Tamil Nadu, the total revenue from liquor sales
in 2019-20 was over Rs.31,000 crore. It
is indeed a “cash cow” worshipped in financial circles.
Liquor, like water,
can flow from the place of plenty to scarcity areas. A common argument against
prohibition is that it cannot succeed in a State when liquor is available in
other States. So also, zone-wise rules cannot work when “mad rush” is the rule.
The over-worked police will not be able to control the surging crowd; nor is it
fair on the part of the government to entrust such an unnecessary and huge load
after opening the gates for violation of lockdown.
The Government of
Tamil Nadu can ignore the couplet in Tirukural
which depicts the habit of drinking liquor as a “mighty, despised sin of
endless woes”, but cannot escape the feeling of hypocrisy in issuing Policy
Notes of the Prohibition Department on government paper bearing Tiruvalluvar
picture – a sad irony.
In India, only five
States – Bihar, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, and Nagaland have prohibition
laws. Gujarat law provides for death penalty for manufacturing and sale of
home- made liquor that causes fatalities. Article 47 of the Constitution which
says that “The State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of consumption
except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are
injurious to health” has been thrown in the dustbin long time back. State
trading in liquor goes on in many States.
The haste and
eagerness with which liquor shops are opened in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere is a crude
manifestation of an unsocial longing for freedom from the fetters of lockdown
imposed in public interest.—INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
New Delhi
12 May 2020
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