THE HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF AN AMBIVALENT DRINKING CULTURE
The period of rapid social change during the colonial era transformed a society which, barring a segment of the brahminical (priestly class) elite, had until then what appears to be a relatively
relaxed attitude to drink [1,2]. The emergence of an urban middle class, participating in the rapid industrial development of the 19th century, led to socio-economic empowerment of the lower rungs of the caste hierarchy. Changes in dietary practices were one of the means adopted by the lower strata to acquire higher social status. As a result of this phenomenon of Sanskritization [3], the growing middle classes embraced upper-caste norms of vegetarianism and abstinence from alcohol.
In parallel, the abkari (excise) policies of the colonial government, restricting manufacture of alcoholic beverages to licensed government distilleries, led to the rapid replacement of traditional alcoholic beverages by mass produced factory-made products, with greater alcohol content and less variety, which were progressively more expensive due to ever-increasing taxation [4]. The enormous increase in the number of distilleries and the practice of auctioning rights to distill and sell unlimited amounts of beverage alcohol led to increased consumption, drunkenness and crime [5]. This was increasingly viewed as an unpopular imposition of English rule and drinking acquired the stature of a peculiarly English vice [6,7]. Alcohol use came to be regarded by the power elite as an atavistic trait of the primitive and the poor (tribals and socially backward drinking to transcend their
miserable existence) or a licentious affectation of the upper classes [8,24–27].
Side by side, Gandhi and the nationalist movement harnessed the temperance aspirations of the middle classes into mass movements against drinking as a symbol of colonial oppression. Fired by the belief that the Indian nation should be ritually pure, they evolved a demand for total prohibition. The Constituent Assembly of independent India included prohibition as one of the Directive Principles of state policy [9].
In practice, alcohol policy devolved to individual states to formulate their own regulations and levy their owntaxes. Most states derive 15–20% of their revenue from taxation on alcohol, which is the second largest source of the states’ exchequers after sales tax [10]. This has created an ‘ambivalent’ drinking culture—neither dry nor wet. Alcohol use attracts social opprobrium at the same time that governments and alcohol manufacturers promote alcohol sales in pursuit of profit [11]. In several
states renewal of retail licenses are contingent upon meeting stiff sales quotas which are revised upwardly from time to time. The alcoholic beverage industry visibly influences the political process [12], with contributions to political parties and in the form of inducements to voters during elections. A few years ago, the Prime Minister designate of the country flew in for his investiture ceremony
in the private aeroplane of a prominent liquor manufacturer. Nevertheless, alcohol use for the majority is still stigmatized [13].
References
1. Dorschner, J. (1983) Rajput alcohol use in India. Journal of Studies on Alcohol , 44 , 538–544.
2. Hardiman, D. (1985) From custom to crime: the politics of drinking in colonial South Gujarat. In: Guha, R., ed. Writings on South Asian History and Society . Subaltern Studies no. 4, pp. 165–228. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
3. Srinivas, M. N. (1997) Social Change in Modern India , p. 6. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
4. Hurst, J. F. (1889) The temperance question in India. The Century , 38 (issue 3). Available at: http://cdl.library. cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid = ABP2287- 0038-93. Accessed 10 April 2005.
5. Saldanha, I. M. (1995) ‘On drinking and drunkenness’: history of liquor in Colonial India. Economic and Political Weekly , 16 September, 2323–2331.
6. Hassan, B. (1922) The Drink and Drug Evil of India . Madras: Ganesh.
7. Tekchand (1972) Liquor Menace in India. New Delhi: Gandhi Peace Foundation.
8. Thimmaiah, G. (1979) Socio-Economic Impact of Drinking, State Lottery and Horse-Racing in Karnataka , pp. 43, 120. New Delhi: Sterling.
9. Debate of the Constituent Assembly of India on Alcohol Prohibition 1948 Constituent Assembly of India—Volume VII. 24 November 1948. Available at: http://parliamentofindia. nic.in/ls/debates/vol7p12.htm. Accessed 10 April 2005.
10. Mahal, A. (2000) What works in alcohol policy? Evidence from rural India. Economic and Political Weekly , 35 , 3959– 3968.
11. Mohan, D. & Sharma, H. K. (1985) Alcohol and alcohol problems research, 6. India. International Review series. British Journal of Addiction , 80 , 351–355.
12. Manor, J. (1993) Power, Poverty, and Poison. Disaster and Response in an Indian City . New Delhi: Sage Publications.
13. Room, R., Janca, A., Bennett, L. A., Schmidt, L. & Sartorius, N. (1996) WHO cross-cultural applicability research on diagnosis and assessment of substance use disorders. an overview of methods and selected results. Addiction , 91 , 199–220.
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