Alcohol Industry and State Income
- Part 2 -

Chingakham Dina / Arambam Karamjit *

Imphal West Police's drive against Alcohol for preventing accident during New Year Eve on Dec 31 2015 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

How can we make better profit margin?

Current price of local alcohol in Manipur is Rs30-50 per litre. Here is price list of different brands.(Source: Tesco Lotus shopping mall, Thailand. 24 Dec,2015. All prices are converted roughly equivalent to Indian Rupee)

Johnnie Walker Black Label     500 ml     Rs 1770
Johnnie Walker Red Label     1000 ml     Rs 1718
Johnnie Walker Meridian     700 ml     Rs 430
Sierra Tequila     700 ml     Rs 1718
Wild Turkey (Bourbon)     750 ml     Rs 2478
Mekhong (Thailand brand)     750 ml     Rs 840
Sangsom (Thailand brand)     750 ml     Rs 550
Yu or Kalei (Manipur)     1000 ml     Rs 30-50

From the above price list, government needs to control and increase the price so that the local whisky maker will benefit more from it. Not only this, it will control the local consumer to some extent if the price is increased.

What benefits are behind alcohol industry?

The argument of destroying rice under alcohol making is undeniable fact. But the truth is, it is making another value added product. From iron raw material car makers convert iron to car and he gets profit out of the raw material by putting his skill, make a brand new product and value added so on so forth. Same thing in alcohol industry.

Rice is used but not destroyed without any purpose, converted to new product, get more value added to the product. Income, job, tax-revenue, animal rearing using the byproduct of the industry are underlying benefits from alcohol industry.

How many jobs could be generated in alcohol industry in Manipur?

There are 4702 families in Andro, Sekmai, Khurkhul and Phayeng all together in these four villages according to 2011 census. From these families, there are roughly 10,000 women who have skill of whisky and local beer making. In these communities, menfolk also knew the skill that family women are doing in whisky making. However men usually do not participate in whisky and local beer making profession. If we add another roughly estimated number of men in these villages, the number who have this skill will be around 20,000. Whisky and beer making also generate other job as well.

The remaining byproduct after whisky distillation is one of the best food for pig. It can mix with fodder to feed cow. Chicken and ducks can be fed out of the remaining byproduct from the industry. This will provide jobs to skilled farmers who have studied veterinary or agriculture who want to establish modern method of farming. For example, in Sekmai, a women who brews local beer and whisky can rear of pig on an average from 10 to 20 from the byproduct of whisky making.

In Thailand wine industry boosts the grape farming in Saraburi and Phuket province as an unprecedented wave of farming due to alcohol industry. In Manipur too, if the government manage this industry in a proper way, it will provide large number of jobs, income, revenue for the government. It is also another strategy for government to lessen the burden of waiting only the help from Delhi. We estimated about 20,000 jobs from only four villages mentioned before it the industry is managed properly.

There are more villages that have whisky making skills. Our youths want jobs and income unlike previous generation when father of the family will support whole family. Every family member works in Hong Kong, in Singapore, and in Thailand as well. Work and job is compulsory everywhere unlike whole family depend on father's income in Manipur. This industry will provide minimum 1 lakh job easily in Manipur. The skills are already ready up to the extent of employ-ability. No other training is required for this huge workforce population.

How to control alcohol business?

We have done enough to ban and to control by civil societies and by excise department. We have seen that it doesn't work. One family member went out to burn whisky and to destroy on the street and on the otherhand one member from the same family is partying with different kinds of whisky and foreign liquor. We could bring this total dilemma and transform to economic changes.

Thai, Japanese, French, English, German or any whisky or wine making countries are not victim of their own art of wine making. This brings too much economy and employment facilities. They produce, they promote, and they make money while we are still fighting about it where Thailand has started nearly one century years' ago. We buy, our people drink. Our money goes to support foreign liquor and foreign economy.

Despite of announcing dry state we never stop drinking. Legalization will minimize the curiosity of people and it indirectly will change people's drinking behaviour. Increase the price of alcohol with well design tax-revenue system. Bring the money to government for public work and development.

What policy from government and civil society?

Government started discussion about giving license. This is good move. Civil societies lobby people against it. We, people never change our perspectives. Some people see the policy as destroyer of our community. Only few people have seen the possible transformation of economic benefit from the industry. If you can control your family from touching alcohol we will succeed on banning alcohol. We don't need to go out and burn whisky on the road. Change will come only from our family.

But the history of struggle to ban whisky has not shown any sign of success. People are not convinced to stop drinking. People's appetite on food, thirst on drink will never go down as other countries around the world. Numerous incidents proved it is not possible to ban. Whether you ban it or not, still people don't stop, then why don't we look another angle of management. Just by changing our mindsets we can bring job, income, and revenue in an unprecedented way like the one seeing in another countries. Here is the thing we can do like in another countries:

Roles of government

1. Government should issue license openly. It will generate job and revenue so that we will not wait only Delhi as our source of annual budget.

2. Required license for bar or restaurant that serves alcohol. Collect tax systematically so that police should not harass business owner for extortion as side income from local business owners.

3. Issue license and have the alcohol transporters carry the license ID card everywhere with them when they deliver alcohol. Do it in professional attitude so that carrier should not be harassed again for extracting pocket money.

4. Provide breathe analyzer to police to check if there is suspicious of traffic rules violator with unacceptable alcohol level. Again be sincere from the authority's side. Otherwise people will not believe on authority.

5. Permit license to sell alcoholic to customer during specific hours in a day. In Thailand you cannot buy alcohol until 5 pm even though there is alcohol in the shop. Adjust our timing of selling for example from 4pm to 3am according to the suitability of our state.

6. Don't let anyone walk drunk on the street. Impose the rules strictly.

7. Focus foreign countries or other states as our target market and clients.

8. Control adulteration of alcohol.

9. Control alcohol price.

Roles of Civil society

1. Help to check the government rule implement successfully.

2. Inform to authority if someone violates the rule.

In this way we can get more income, more tax, more job and finally the tax you and I pay to government will contribute to road construction, electric supply, water supply, investment in education, healthcare etc. which is very much needed in our society.

Concluded ....