Just when a war is on in Kerala’s ruling Congress party, over the issue of reopening the 418 sub-standard bars whose licences have not been renewed, statistics on sale of India-made foreign liquor (IMFl) are indicating that boozing levels may be coming down in God’s Own Country, which has topped the list of states in alcohol consumption for a long time.
This is the first time in Kerala’s history that liquor sales are showing a decline. As per figures available with the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco), the State-owned monopoly booze distributor, there had been a fall in sale of 3.66 lakh cases of liquor in 2013-14 in comparison with the figures for 2012-13. A case of IMFl contains nine litres.
The annual statement Bevco had handed over to the State Excise Commissioner at the start of this month shows that the volume of liquor sold through the bars and retail outlets of the Bevco and Civil Supplies Corporation in the year that ended on March 31 was 240.67 lakh cases whereas Kerala had witnessed a sale of 244.33 lakh cases in the previous financial year.
The Excise authorities are claiming that the fall seen in liquor sales — and thereby in consumption — is an indication of the effectiveness of its awareness drive against liquor consumption. The department had started the awareness campaign in 2012 with film star Mammootty as its brand ambassador.The drop in sales by 3.66 lakh cases of IMFl has not brought down the revenue of the Beverages Corporation. In fact, the annual sales turnover of Bevco increased from `8,819 crore in 2012-13 to `9,350 crore in the last financial year. But this increase in turnover is said to be the result of the increase in liquor prices because of additional taxes imposed through the State Budget.
Though this is the first time that the volume of liquor sold in a year had shown a fall from that in the previous year, the downward trend in sales and consumption had been obvious since 2010. It is pointed out that there had been a decline in the rate of increase in annual sales of liquor in the past three years though the turnover kept climbing.The sales in 2010-11 had shown an increase by 16 percent from the previous year. But the rate of increase in liquor consumption had fallen by 11 percent in the following year. When the sales had grown to 244.33 lakh cases of IMFl in 2012-13 from 241.78 lakh cases in the previous year, the increase was just by one percent.
An examination of statistics of liquor sales in Kerala from mid-1980s reveals that it had gone up by 40 percent in some years. Boozers had hooked on to IMFl in a large way after then chief minister AK Antony banned arrack, the colourless, cheap spirit sold through tiny outlets situated at every street corner, in 1996.A section of sociologists say that awareness campaigns for bringing consumption down could be more effective than going for Prohibition. “Total ban may cause serious social disturbances but the current trend seems to be more effective. However, the decline in sales seen in two-three years cannot be considered as a trend,” said Mohan Kumar, an anti-liquor crusader in Kochi.
A senior priest of the Catholic Church, whose Kerala Catholic Bishop’s Council is leading a war against the menace of liquor in Kerala, said it was heartening to hear about the fall in liquor consumption at a time when even the High Court was the other day forced to express concern at how liquor was available even to school students.
