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Mumbai's hike to the drinking age inspires anger and fierce rebuttal
The Maharashtra government has set the legal age for drinking hard liquor at 25, but they haven't drowned everyone's spirits just yet.
As of June, Mumbai has one of the highest drinking ages in the world at 25 years old. While the battle over government corruption rages on the national level, the state of Maharashtra has its own bizarre battle brewing over an issue people are just as vehement about -- booze.
The hot debate of summer 2011 is, who’s allowed a stiff drink, how much should they pay for it and do the sober people shaping social welfare policy know what they’re doing?
Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Social Welfare Minister Shivajirao Moghe are the brains behind an unpopular liquor law passed this month raising the legal drinking age from 21 to 25.
Beer and wine are legal at 21, but no hard liquor.
“This would be a good time to point out that by the age of 25, you could have voted the Maharashtra government seven times over, and been married four years -- which, as most married folk will testify, is as good a reason for needing a martini or 14,” says comedian Rohan Joshi.
More on CNNGo: The guys who made Mumbai's new drinking law must have been drunk.
Maharashtra now has one of the highest drinking ages in the world.
That’s insane. Mumbai is a global capital? Who are we kidding?
Disgruntled drinkers
Not only has the drinking age spiked, so have prices for alcohol.
Those over 25 are also going broke, as nights out have become about 50 percent more expensive.
In April, an increase in excise duty and manufacturing costs of bottles drove the prices of booze in Maharashtra up by 40 to 60 percent.
"While our bars run empty, every evening there is a long queue of well-dressed people outside wine shops," says Rajan Parab, a hotel owner from Andheri. "They consume their alcohol at the counter itself because being seen with a bottle of [cheaper] country-made liquor would be shameful to them."
“Penal action has been proposed for those violating this [drinking age] norm," said a spokesperson for a popular city lounge in DNA newspaper. "But visit any nightclub in the city and you’ll find the crowd mostly between the age group of 21-25.
"That whole section is going to be wiped out from clubs. We anyway don’t get much support from the government, whether it’s the neighbors complaining or real estate pricing increasing. This move has nailed it. It’s just sad.”
Policy makers
Somewhere, something is not clear. The intention of the state is blurry.
The Maharashtra government has always had drinking issues.
The city has lived under archaic restrictions since the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949, which is enforced rarely and sporadically.
Going by the rule book, residents need a permit to drink. In fact, they need a permit just to move alcohol from one place to another.
“Alcohol is an old tool in the hands of politicians,” writes journalist Bala Murali Krishna in a piece for Asiancorrespondent.com.
“It is used creatively, and almost always to good effect, by politicians seeking to woo one half of the electorate," Krishna says. "Southern states like Tamil Nadu, and briefly Andhra Pradesh, have used prohibition to great benefit at the polls, winning over women voters."
In Maharashtra it seems alcohol is the political pawn du jour.
“Maharashtra’s decision [with regards to the new drinking age] marks the first time politicians are trying to use ‘science’ to back their actions,” Krishna writes.
He adds, “Maharashtra claims its decision is based on ‘scientific’ evidence that addiction in later life is the result of early drinking. Consequently, ‘transformation of minds’ is necessary… [Social Welfare Minister] Moghe cites social effects of alcohol -- 40 percent of accidents and 90 percent divorces -- to defend his policy.”
Unlikely hero
"I am raising this debate on a personal level, not as a star,” says actor Imran Khan, on the formation of the Power to Youth community.
However, an unlikely lobbyist for young drinkers has emerged.
On June 16, 28-year-old Imran Khan, one of young Bollywood's most popular actors, issued a long statement to the press, followed by the launch of a Facebook community called Power To Youth, where he states his case:
“I am troubled by a growing perception that young people need to be 'handled' or 'managed'. That we are incapable of making rational, informed decisions for ourselves … As members of a democratic society, it is our right, and sometimes our duty to stand up and ask if our government is doing the right thing.
“The recent decision ... is, in my opinion, illogical and counterproductive."
“It is my opinion that this law is in violation of our constitutional rights,” Khan says.
He says he plans to file Public Interest Litigation against the regulation passed by the Maharashtra government.
Imran Khan may be a young and sexy Bollywood star, but he may also be just the right guy to front the drinking community's collective counter-punch.
Between politicians, disenfranchised drinkers and a celebrity crusader, it will be interesting to see who ends up being the last one standing in this drinking game.
