The Liquor Question In India

White Ribbon, Volume 19, Issue 2, 1 March 1947, Page 9

The Liquor Question In India

Tne following very interesting exacts, given by the Opawa Union resident, Mrs. Gainsford, at the anuar> meeting of the North Canter)Ury Executive, were taken from “The national Christian Council Review” ot VtobtT, 1946, a monthly periodical isued by the Council. Alcohol: Lord Moynihan is quoted

„ a statement contrasting present medical treatment with that of fifty "ears ago. He says: “To-day medical science is of one mind that alcohol, w hile it has its uses, is unnecessary and often harmful in the routine treatment of disease.” Another statement “Insurance companies have found :hat the expectation of life is some three and a half years less for nonibstainers than for total abstainers.” The Committee for Health Planning m India recommends education of children in schools and of adults, in regard to the fundamental facts in relation to alcohol; the restriction of the sale of liquor; supply of non-alcoholic drinks, adult education in evening dasse\ strict Government enforcement oi controls provided by law; the treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics. In this last, social and religious workers should take an active part.

Prohibition in India: 111 accordance with their well-known policy, Prohibition is being introduced gradually by Congress Governments in different parts oi India. On October 1. 1940. both the Central Provinces and the Madras Governments inaugurated Prohibition in large areas. In the Central Provinces, about halt of the province

has been included, and in Madras at least one third.” This is no new experience, for the Congress Governments in various provinces made a grand beginning after they assumed office in 1937. We congratulate them for once again making an effort to carry out their policy, and we sincerely hope they will ultimately succeed in their noble purpose of bringing all India under the Prohibition Act. There are many well-known obstacles to be overcome, such as that of finding revenue from other sources, the everpresent menace of the black market, and the callous indifference and opposition of those who regard the policy as one of sheer fanaticism. We are quite aware that people cannot he made “good” by Act of Parliament, hut we do believe that the Government can and should protect its citizens by taking reasonable measures against the use of anything which in a potential danger to their moral, physical and economic welfare. Accordingly, we find ourselves in entire agreement with the remarks of the Madras Premier, which he made on October Ist, when inaugurating Prohibition in eight districts of the Presidency. He is reported as saying:— “The financial loss in administrative difficulties arc as nothing compared with the large-scale social and economic benefits that emancipation from the drink evil is hound to confer on the people, particularly the poorer sections. It is an experiment in social reform of far-reaching implications, which we have decided must be undertaken on its own incontestable merits.”