WINE-CULTURE IN HARYANA

SEQUEL TO WINE-CULTURE IN HARYANA

A simple comparison of the data on the revenue collected by the Excise department of both Punjab and Haryana on sale of liquor -Desi Daru as well as IMFL, revealed that the figures have crossed the Rs.2000/- crore mark. This is just from the collection of excise duty on wine; it may be astounding if figures of consumption of wine and its total value is computed. In Haryana and Pubjab those that consume wine don't seem to 'take and enjoy' within limits but almost 'drink' the intoxicating substance in enormous quantity. They hardly realize that it is both a personal loss of monetary resource, reason for household tensions and loss to personal health. Unwarranted consumption in huge quantity on a daily basis as habit causes fat to get deposited in the the liver, causes cirrhosis of the liver and ultimately death. The liver, kidneys and heart suffer a lot due to degree of ethyl alcohol present in the liquor manufactured by our distilleries. It also puts enormous cost to our health system and also to the society at large. The total economic loss has been computed by certain NGOs. In view of this the vision of Gandhi of wine-free India has dashed to the ground. Even in Gujarat, home state of Gandhi Baba, I have seen liquor being served on the sly in hotels, obviously in connivance with the government officials. 

In Haryana, the youth has taken to consumption of wine on a large scale and it came to be known that they visit malls, certain hotels along the highways and bars run by private hoteliers as well as Haryana Tourism department motels/hotels etc. The hordes of these youth drive in these venues and spend lavishly on wine and food at these bars and often make big business deals at such merry-meets- almost on daily basis. No doubt these venues function under licence from Govt. and maintain certain standards but the point to ponder is if the youth follow standards in deciding how much wine to consume. I am not averse to consumption of wine and have seldom done so, but the cause of worry is as explained in my earlier note on the subject posted on the FB. Govt. says that it doesn't want to stop either production of wine nor ask the consumers to avoid taking alcoholic drinks but will spend a small amount on educating people about the ill-effects of consuming the wine. What an irony for us in a welfare state! Way back in early 1990s, I had published an article in Jansatta on the subject and recall that the value of the wine consumed in terms of money in Haryana at that time was about Rs. 600 crores. One can easily imagine a ten times ascend in the value. Isn't it frightening for people with simple and 'satwik' habits?

Another phenomena came to be realized nowadays is that at the time of assembly of marriage parties, lots of vehicles are parked along side the roads that leads to the venue. It seems to be OK but if we visit the site again in early morning we may witness a scorching of the space and see a huge number of disposable tumblers, wine bottle wrappers and cartridges, caps, empty glass bottles and plates littered on the road side. Obviously, those who arrived in the parked cars/vehicles had consumed wine and littered the space. Nobody cleans this garbage the next day: not even the Banquet owner or the PWD. Amazing!

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