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The Orissa government's recent decision to open up hundreds of liquor shops all over the state comes as a rude shock to women activists who have fought a long hard battle against liquor consumption and sale in their villages
Women's groups in Orissa have been waging a war against liquor, forcing local liquor vendors to shut shop and pressing the state government to re-impose prohibition. Many groups, both in urban and remote villages in Balasore, Kalahandi, Koraput, Sundergarh and Bolangir districts, have succeeded in making their respective hamlets liquor-free -- to the extent of destroying liquor supplies and punishing bootleggers.
With the Orissa government's recent decision to open up hundreds of liquor shops all over the state, these women feel betrayed. In a single move, they say, the government has managed to reverse all their hard-earned successes. "All our efforts to curb this evil seem to be a waste now," says Arati Palei of Jaleswar, Balasore district, who was participating in a rally in Bhubaneswar against the government's decision.
The government hopes to add 1,822 new country liquor shops to the existing 722, all over the state. The idea is to boost revenue collection, though doubts have been raised in several quarters about the government's faulty excise policy resulting in poor earnings from the excise sector.
"This is a great setback for those who are protesting against the liquor menace and trading. The government doesn't have the right to play with the lives of women in Orissa who constitute half the population," says Taposi Praharaj, president of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), Orissa state committee. "The government is not concerned about the lack of safe drinking water in many villages but is more concerned about providing easy access to liquor."
"When World Anti-Liquor Day was being observed, on June 26, our government took a decision that would help spread the use of liquor in the state," says activist Pushpanjali Das, AIDWA secretary. "The government is more interested in promoting alcoholism in the state by opening up more liquor shops and thereby affecting the livelihoods of people in general and the interests of women in particular."
Hundreds of anti-liquor women activists feel the decision is detrimental to the status of women and children in Orissa. The Orissa Nari Samaj (ONS), an apex body of over 50 tribal organisations, says the move will spell doom for tribal women in the state. The men, some of whom are already addicted to liquor, will now consume more and make the family even poorer, says ONS convener, Karomi Besra. The organisation is also dissatisfied with the licensing system imposed on mahua (an ingredient used to make liquor in the tribal belts; it is also used for medicinal purposes), as this will encourage liquor traders to make more liquor leaving little for medicine production. Following the state government's decision to issue licences to mahua traders, the country liquor trade has flourished in Orissa's villages.
With pressure mounting on the Orissa government to reconsider its decision, it remains to be seen how seriously the demands and protests of the anti-liquor activists will be taken in the days ahead.
-- Elisa Patnaik
InfoChange News and Features, November 15, 2004
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