Health activists and doctors are rooting for stringent laws against underage drinking. With alcohol often being served to underage drinkers, activists say that State government authorities have to draw up tough measures to curb the practice.
The legal drinking age for hard liquor in Maharashtra is 25 years. However, there are no strict checks on underage drinking in place. “In India, we don’t have an evolved culture or mechanism of age restriction. Enforcement of the law, therefore, is problematic. However, the government has to bring in measures to implement it,” said Dr. P.C. Gupta, head of HealisSekhsaria Institute for Public Health.
Dr. Gupta said there is a large amount of public health data that links alcoholism to cancers and many other diseases. He said, “After tobacco, alcohol is the biggest preventable cause of diseases. Besides the public health consequences, it also has social consequences.” Dr. Gupta said the government has to first stop the blatant promotion of alcohol and then ensure warning labels are displayed on bottles just like on cigarette packs.
He said, “Alcohol advertisements are now more direct. No one recognises surrogate advertising, everyone remembers the brand. Alcohol is also being depicted as a family drink. There are no warnings on alcohol bottles. It is up to the government to bring in such rules.”
Dr. Ravikant Singh, founder of Doctors For You, has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding necessary steps to stop alcohol from being served to underage drinkers. Dr. Singh said without such rules we are heading towards a disastrous future. He said, “Alcohol consumption is one factor that is connected to all the problems that we are facing today. In India, we have a very high burden of non-communicable diseases and alcohol is a major risk factor for many of them. A large number of crimes, violence against women, and road traffic accidents are also linked to alcohol consumption. By making it easily available to the young, we are putting our future at stake.”
His PIL states that the management and owners of the establishments serving alcohol to underage drinkers have not formulated any policy for preventing the practice and are in fact encouraging it. The PIL states, “The bartenders and staff are not given any clear instructions with respect to the same. In fact, there is no system of internal accountability.”
