Brewing battle in Tamil Nadu

The BJP is keen to strike a mortal blow to what is a cash cow for the Tamil Nadu government—the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation, or TASMAC. The government entity, which has a monopoly over wholesale and retail sale of liquor in the state, generates close to Rs 44,000 crore annually. Over the years, it has been accused of corruption, mismanagement and exploitation of employees. An alleged nexus of politician-owned distilleries and TASMAC is also said to complicate the regulation of alcohol supply in the state. Some 5,000 outlets are known to charge 2 per cent more than the MRP, amounting to at least another Rs 8,000 crore—money that allegedly enriches politicians and other private players.This is not all. TASMAC workers are alleged to have been forced to participate in illegal liquor sales; ill-paid and working in poor conditions, they don’t mind making quick money on the side through ‘cuttings’—opening a bottle and selling contents by the ‘peg’. The alleged practice is particularly prevalent in TASMAC outlets in remote areas. It can result in adulteration, but officials have been silent. The target-oriented sales strategy at TASMAC acts as yet another spur to corruption. Then there is the festering canker of spurious liquor. The state BJP chief K. Annamalai, who is on a statewide tour, En Mann, En Makkal (My Land, My People), from July 28, met Governor R.N. Ravi on July 26 and presented a comprehensive document on ‘liquor policy reforms’. Annamalai had wanted to hand chief minister M.K. Stalin the dossier, but failed to get an appointment. The 369-page document—the BJP calls it a ‘white paper’—details the problems caused and faced by TASMAC and the way forward to gradually close liquor shops and reduce the state’s dependence on liquor revenue. The dossier presents a roadmap to shut down 75 per cent of TASMAC shops in a phased manner and explains how to make good the loss in revenue by bringing mining under government control, or developing the electronics industry, among other measures.Creating an economically viable Rs 1 lakh crore toddy industry will be a steady source of revenue, provide employment to affected TASMAC employees and generate income for farmers tending to the toddy palms, the BJP’s document says. Since Tamil Nadu has around 50 million out of India’s 80 million toddy palms and toddy’s alcoholic content is far less than liquor made out of molasses, the document urges the government to lift the ban on toddy tapping. It also demonstrates how the existing policy is an alleged money-spinner for politicians of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) or those connected with it.Despite the state’s declared position to gradually move towards prohibition—excise and prohibition form a single department—Tamil Nadu has seen a continuous increase in the number of liquor stores. With TASMAC having the sole right to sell alcohol, it has also led to the state’s increasing dependence on liquor revenue. According to experts, alcohol addiction in Tamil Nadu, aided by state patronage of burgeoning TASMAC outlets, is now assuming dire proportions. More importantly, TASMAC has been unable to curb clandestine production of hooch and illicit liquor. Former Tamil Nadu Director General of Police Sylendra Babu has pointed out that an alarming 140,649 cases were registered in connection with spurious liquor production and sale in 2022 in the state.A recent official communication from TASMAC managing director S. Visakan to district managers and zonal officers also reveals a rotting innard—consumers being charged extra, expenses like rent and electricity charges shouldered by staff, and bribes allegedly paid to police officers and politicians. Also clouding the chain of accountability is the fact that the government does not divulge the amount of liquor procured from private breweries and distilleries and the prices at which they are supplied to TASMAC.Furthermore, the TASMAC Employees Union alleges that some workers collect money from outlets for prohibition and excise minister S. Muthuswamy. On July 17, the minister stated that people who consume alcohol in the morning are mostly involved in physical labour and should not be called ‘drunkards’. He also suggested that TASMAC outlets be opened in the morning for such workers’ benefit.The BJP has long been protesting against TASMAC and the state government’s liquor policy. Annamalai’s determined campaign against it—as he travels through all 234 assembly constituencies over the next 200 days to expand the saffron party’s footprint—may yet stir a debate. There are many who argue that attempts to limit alcohol consumption and sale would hit the Tamil Nadu exchequer, impacting its ability to fund social welfare schemes. “Such arguments reinforce the need for urgent and decisive actionâæthe administration has come to believe its need to perpetuate, promote and enable this social evil in the name of shoring up revenues,” says Annamalai in a riposte.Accordingly, the BJP dossier includes steps to stem the alleged irregularities in TASMAC (see above Agenda for a Dry Future). “Tamil Nadu’s infamous record of devising scientific methods of corruption proves to be a greater threat to the economy than the closing down of a few thousand liquor outlets. This deadly cocktail of corruption, alcoholism and political scheming has to end for the state to prosper and thrive,” says Annamalai.“The expectation is not for reforms but for reintroducing total prohibition, especially since the ruling DMK had promised it before the 2016 assembly polls,” says political commentator N. Sathiya Moorthy. TASMAC was brought under full state control under the AIADMK government of Jayalalithaa in 2003.“If the state restricts the sale of liquor, the first victims will be the politicians and corrupt bureaucracy, not the people or the state exchequer,” says political analyst Ramu Manivannan. “The idea of revenue loss is a fear of uncertainty and unpreparedness to explore leasing and licensing the manufacturing with control and accountability.” He believes that only phased prohibition—creating TASMAC-free zones, with a 10 per cent reduction in the number of shops as well as working hours, year on year—could help the state overcome its alcohol problem.

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