I have had a few questions in regards to the term 'dry city' - what it is and why they exist in India. The main reason I can see for instilling this concept, is the increasing rise in alcoholism in India. The alcohol related statistics in India are quite scary:
1. Over 15% of alcohol users develop a dependence in India and most alcoholics are never treated in India.
2. Alcohol consumption in developing countries such as India has been increasing over the last 30 years, whereas in first world countries usage has been decreasing.
3. When drinking, the tendency to drink to excess is greater in India for some reason
4. There are over 65 million alcohol users in India. And given that most women don't drink and for religious reasons, a lot of others don't drink, the percentage of lifetime abstainers is 89.6% - this leaves a staggering number of males drinking to excess.....
5. 80% of alcohol consumption is of hard liquor or distilled spirits which obviously have a greater alcohol concentration.
6. The age when people start drinking in India has also dropped from 24 years old in the 1960's to 18 now. The younger people start, the harder it is to stop, as the habit of binge drinking takes hold at such a young age.
The changing social norms in India and the increased availability of alcohol have greatly increased the alcohol usage. Of course, alcohol taxes are a large part of state revenue and it is hard to convince governments to prohibit alcohol sales with the resulting reduced income. There are 4 states which have prohibited alcohol sales: Gujarat, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland. Kerala is also in the process of 'going dry' but it appears it will take up to 10 years to fully implement - closing bars, implementing no drinking on Sundays, only high end hotels selling alcohol - it will all take time ..... Kerala has the record of the highest per capita alcohol consumption and has had a number of public issues related to alcoholism, in particular drink driving.
Certain states have 'dry days' where you cannot purchase alcohol at all - election days, republic day, religious celebrations. Most dry cities and states still have alcohol available but only at state liquor house, with limited supplies and only available to purchase at the high end hotels. People are concerned about the effect these restrictions will have on tourism in the long term.
My experience here in India, is that the men do drink a lot and they tend to drink spirits - brandy, whisky, and often home brewed spirits, and they also seem to drink to excess more often than not. You often hear of stories of the husband drinking all the salary. Most women speak of their husbands as 'mean when drinking' - which indicates that a lot of the domestic violence in India is alcohol related. You see 'wine shops' (they actually sell mainly brandy and whisky) and 'drink houses' spotted along all the roads, and they are open most of the day and always have customers.
When we visited Pushkar we went to one of the State Liquor shops and purchased some wine - but only Indian wine was available which is 'not great' (read: disgusting!) and spirits. We had to drink in private in our room and we felt concerned about disappointing our gracious hosts if they saw us drinking. In fact, I did get caught with my flask of gin and I felt very bad for not following their house rules. They didn't say anything but if they got reported tot he authorities, they could be shut down. ( I didn't realise this at the time....)
In Varanasi, we took our own wine with us from home, and the guest house was very happy for us to drink in their restaurant. I think if we started to cause a disturbance after drinking, things would have been different but they were ok with us having wine with our dinner. One of my friends who had visited previously, said that they would warn us if any authorities came and we would need to hide it.
I hope the implementation of the above measures helps with the reduction in binge drinking in India. I believe it would help with the domestic violence rates and the number of road accidents. I hope this helps with some of the questions I have had. x
1. Over 15% of alcohol users develop a dependence in India and most alcoholics are never treated in India.
2. Alcohol consumption in developing countries such as India has been increasing over the last 30 years, whereas in first world countries usage has been decreasing.
3. When drinking, the tendency to drink to excess is greater in India for some reason
4. There are over 65 million alcohol users in India. And given that most women don't drink and for religious reasons, a lot of others don't drink, the percentage of lifetime abstainers is 89.6% - this leaves a staggering number of males drinking to excess.....
5. 80% of alcohol consumption is of hard liquor or distilled spirits which obviously have a greater alcohol concentration.
6. The age when people start drinking in India has also dropped from 24 years old in the 1960's to 18 now. The younger people start, the harder it is to stop, as the habit of binge drinking takes hold at such a young age.
The changing social norms in India and the increased availability of alcohol have greatly increased the alcohol usage. Of course, alcohol taxes are a large part of state revenue and it is hard to convince governments to prohibit alcohol sales with the resulting reduced income. There are 4 states which have prohibited alcohol sales: Gujarat, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland. Kerala is also in the process of 'going dry' but it appears it will take up to 10 years to fully implement - closing bars, implementing no drinking on Sundays, only high end hotels selling alcohol - it will all take time ..... Kerala has the record of the highest per capita alcohol consumption and has had a number of public issues related to alcoholism, in particular drink driving.
Certain states have 'dry days' where you cannot purchase alcohol at all - election days, republic day, religious celebrations. Most dry cities and states still have alcohol available but only at state liquor house, with limited supplies and only available to purchase at the high end hotels. People are concerned about the effect these restrictions will have on tourism in the long term.
My experience here in India, is that the men do drink a lot and they tend to drink spirits - brandy, whisky, and often home brewed spirits, and they also seem to drink to excess more often than not. You often hear of stories of the husband drinking all the salary. Most women speak of their husbands as 'mean when drinking' - which indicates that a lot of the domestic violence in India is alcohol related. You see 'wine shops' (they actually sell mainly brandy and whisky) and 'drink houses' spotted along all the roads, and they are open most of the day and always have customers.
When we visited Pushkar we went to one of the State Liquor shops and purchased some wine - but only Indian wine was available which is 'not great' (read: disgusting!) and spirits. We had to drink in private in our room and we felt concerned about disappointing our gracious hosts if they saw us drinking. In fact, I did get caught with my flask of gin and I felt very bad for not following their house rules. They didn't say anything but if they got reported tot he authorities, they could be shut down. ( I didn't realise this at the time....)
In Varanasi, we took our own wine with us from home, and the guest house was very happy for us to drink in their restaurant. I think if we started to cause a disturbance after drinking, things would have been different but they were ok with us having wine with our dinner. One of my friends who had visited previously, said that they would warn us if any authorities came and we would need to hide it.
I hope the implementation of the above measures helps with the reduction in binge drinking in India. I believe it would help with the domestic violence rates and the number of road accidents. I hope this helps with some of the questions I have had. x
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