From the archives

April 07, 2015 01:31 am | Updated 01:31 am IST

The snippet, “Drinking among women” (“From the Archives,” April 3), on the conclusions of a survey of drinking habits in Delhi during 1964-65 being placed on the table of the Lok Sabha, was an eye-opener. That it said “though drinking may safely be presumed to be largely a male phenomenon in India... there was no interesting difference” between upper class women drinkers and women drinkers from the slums was interesting. Times have clearly changed through half-a-century. Interestingly, the Kerala High Court Order of March 31, 2015, makes a differentiation between rich and poor drinkers in as far as it prevents bar facilities for the latter. Democracy is about proportional equality among all but here it looks as though the rich enjoy extra-constitutional minority rights for drinking! For ordinary souls, if liquor is poison, it would be so for the rich and the poor. Or, is it assumed that the rich are rich enough to afford greater compensatory health care through their money power? Or, is it further assumed that those below “five star grade” are the ones responsible for family and social problems?

P.R.V. Raja,Pandalam, Kerala

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