CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH

BIHAR

GAYA 824236

“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society”.
Write in against of this motion

School of Law and Governance

Submitted to: - Name- Jata Shankar

Dr. Parijat Pradhan CUSB1713125017

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMNT

Every project big or small is successful largely due to the effort of a number of wonderful souls
who have always given their valuable advice and lent their helping hands.

I owe my sense of gratitude to almighty god for showing his blessing throughout the completion
of this project. I am highly indebted to “Dr. Parijat Pradhan” for his guidance and constant
supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project during class
lectures. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many
individuals and organizations. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my colleague,
librarian, and non- teaching staff who have willingly helped me out with their abilities. This
research would not have been possible without all mentioned above. The subject matter of the
project work is to deal with the alcoholism and it’s relation with the state’s economy.

Last but not the least I place a deep sense of gratitude to my family members who has been
constant source of inspiration during the presentation of this project.

Jata Shankar

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page2
 Content

Introduction, Research Methodology, Scope & objective

 Scope----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
 Research Methodology ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5-6

Experience from India------------------------------------------------------------------7-8

Cost associated with Alcohol use-----------------------------------------------------9-10

Inference

 Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------11
 References--------------------------------------------------------------------------12

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page3
CHAPTER I :- Introduction, Research Methodology & Scope

.SCOPE

This project talks about the concept of alcoholism in relation with economy as a whole, it was
not contended initially that the use of alcohol will not affect economy but with few empirical
research it was laid down that, a society without alcohol is more economically efficient than that
of opposite.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Subject: Sociology II
Topic: Alcoholic bans will not disturb the economy and leisure activity of society
The research method which I opted for doing this project is Doctrinal research from primary and
secondary sources. I researched on web database having articles and reports related to my topic.
In addition to that, I also referred books available on the relationship between alcohol use and its
effect on social economy. This research is descriptive and analytical in nature. Refrences have
been provided wherever needed to acknowledge the source.

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page4
Introduction

Alcoholism means an action of alcohol on the human system. It is a pathological effect of

excessive indulgence in intoxicating liquors. Alcoholism or drink habit is a state of ‘periodic’ or
chronic intoxication detrimental not only to the youth but also to the society. Its excessive use is
sign of moral degradation. Sometime this moral degradation tends to attain psychological
disruption in the society.

Article 47 of the Constitution enjoins that ‘state shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the
consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are
injurious to health’.

Economy of the society is aggregate of the financial outcome of a society; it differs from one
society to other. It depends on the social structure of the society. In a society invasion by alcohol,
the economic strata are highly infected detrimentally. Most of the economy is used in satisfaction
of society’s alcohol needs. It affects both financially flourished as well as financially weakened
society.

It will lead to growth of leisure in modern societies. Up to now, our ‘knowledge’ about the
effects of leisure has consisted largely of truisms and ideologically-loaded assertions. It is argued
that paying more systematic attention to the ‘effects of leisure, rather than being pre-occupied
with how leisure is ‘affected by’, will relocate and enhance the status of leisure studies within the
contemporary social sciences. It is argued

 that leisure plays an increasingly important role (positive or negative) in determining

levels of physical and psychological well-being;

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page5
  that the growth of leisure creates an increasingly prominent class division between leisure
workers and high spending consumers;

Ban in alcoholism will ultimately leads to increase in leisure activity, which is very important in
support of individual for introspection. The time which was wasted for drunkenness can be
utilised prerogative in other source of economy or in other sorts of activities.

Alcohol ban will ultimately leads to increase in efficiency of a society, as its prohibition will save
money. Many persons can say that its ban tends towards economical surge for the state
government, as most of the Excise tax is levied on alcohol. But this view is not an empirical
conclusion, if we consider the holistic method of research then the loss due to alcohol ban in
concerned state is lesser than the liability over the individuals in a society due to the use of
alcohol.

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page6
Experience from India

Evidence is gradually accumulating in India through indirect methods, about the economic costs
of alcohol use. For example, studies have been done with respect to costing of alcohol-
attributable components in Road Traffic Injuries, suicides, work-related aspects and cancers
where alcohol has been implicated as a causative agent. The different variables are being
delineated and costed. In India the problems are quite different from other developed countries.
Addiction towards indigenously made alcohol many time leads to death of masses because of
high intoxication level or some infectious substance. Due to lack of proper medical assistance
people in villages are more prone to threat to life.

Work-related alcohol problems have been estimated to cost approximately Rs 70 to 80 million.

The cost of managing alcohol-related cancer deaths has not been completely estimated. The cost
resulting from tobacco-related cancer deaths has been estimated to be about Rs 308 billion.
Using the tobacco-related cost matrix and best estimate of alcohol-related cancer deaths of 6%,
the cost of alcohol-related cancers for the Indian population of alcohol-users, can be estimated to
be about Rs 12.4 billion.

Shekar Bonu et al., analyzing nationally representative data, find an association between the use
of tobacco and alcohol and impoverishment through borrowing and distress-selling of assets due
to costs of hospitalization. The cost of managing RTIs has been estimated to be Rs 550 billion
and within this, the cost due to alcohol can be estimated to be Rs 80 billion. The unit cost of
deaths and serious injury due to road traffic crashes has been estimated in a population-based
study: urban deaths: Rs 28 863; rural deaths: Rs 6764; urban serious injury: Rs 30 275; rural
serious injury: Rs 17 240. The cost of managing a patient with brain injury in a tertiary health

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page7
care institution has been estimated to be about Rs 1506 per hour. While these are only a few
indicators, what is required is the collective impact on society due to alcohol. It should also be
noted that the burden is not uniform across rural and urban areas or among the poor and not poor.

Apart from all the debates mentioned above, when a person starts to redress his question, like,
why alcohol? Then the answer is never a satisfactory one. Why a drink which is proved to be
injurious is still prevailing in the society? The answer is still not the satisfactory one. The only
reason is it’s a mechanism which levy excise tax to the government.

It is imperative that most of the crimes in India are instigated through intake of alcohol which is
fatal for a developing country as well as the morals of the society which cannot be measured
financially.

As per UN, India has the largest number of youth, which is asset for our socio-economical
development. But the addiction of Alcoholism is not far away from the concerned youth.
Sometime the addiction is of such a level that they are psychologically and physically endowed
in drinking beverages. This exploits their leisure time which can be used otherwise in other
useful aspects of life.

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page8
Costs Associated with Alcohol Use

Alcohol imposes a high economic cost on society. However, the effort of costing depends on the
extent of monetizing the economic impact of alcohol use and should include both direct and
indirect costs, tangible and intangible costs as well as private and external costs.

Private costs and benefits are those that accrue to the drinker themselves. The most obvious
private benefit is the pleasure the drinker gains from drinking. Private costs include the suffering
associated with ill health (as opposed to costs of treating these ailments in taxpayer-funded
healthcare systems), or negative effects on their earnings. External costs and benefits represent
the ‘spillover’ effects of a person’s drinking on others. If a person is more enjoyable to be around
when drinking, this could represent an external benefit. External costs include concerns such as
violence and crime suffered as a result of drinking, or the cost of treating health problems that
others incur as a result of drinking.

External costs are significant because they are not willingly chosen, but are imposed upon third
parties without their consent. Consequently, there is general agreement that they offer a
justification for government intervention. Standard economic theory posits that external costs
should be reflected in alcohol taxes, so that consumers bear the full price of the social cost of
their drinking, and not just the private cost.

The direct costs include: medical costs – acute and long-term and lost earnings due to death, and
disability. The indirect costs include loss of work, loss of school time, loss of savings, loans
taken, cost to the employer/society, low self esteem, social costs of postponed events and lost
productivity, vehicle and property damage and legal costs.

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).] Page9
The calculation of the monetary impact of these items depends on the availability of nationally
representative data from different sources like hospitals, the transport department, the police
department, legal services, repair costs, insurance costs, etc. It is difficult to put a precise
monetary value on intangible costs of alcohol use like death, pain, suffering and bereavement.
Similarly the monetary value of reduction in pain and suffering is difficult to estimate. Bernard et
all derived mechanism for coming to a conclusion that there is vast economy loss due to
alcoholism in a society.

Thus, if all costs are comprehensively examined and calculated for all events, the economic
impact would be much higher than the conservative estimates noted above. In the final analysis,
Indian society might be losing more than it is reportedly gaining.

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).]
Page10
CHAPTER V: - Inference

Conclusion:

The history of mankind is full of stories of alcohol consumption. This is equally true in countries
of the South-East Asia Region especially India, where its use has been glorified in poems and
literature, and in recent days in both the print and visual media. These findings illustrate the
increasing burden that the health, social and economic sectors will have to face in the years to
come, which ultimately leads to lower living standards. Alcohol use is no more just an
individual’s choice of drinking or not drinking. Alcohol use can be described as the sum total
effect on the individual, family and society.

In the final assessment, it is not just the individual who suffers but the family and society too. It
is not merely a question of who gains or who loses. The critical point is how we leverage the
gains and devise mechanisms to reduce the losses. For a long time, the debate on alcohol control
policies has revolved around economic issues rather than health issues. Consequently, revenue
generation and income is seen to be more important while health and socio-economic impact has
been down played. For example, on a conservative basis, while the revenues in India are
estimated to be Rs 216 billion, the losses are estimated to be 244 billion, apart from
immeasurable losses due to multiple and rollover effects of alcohol use.

Thus, there is a need for consensus building for a shared vision on promoting health of
individuals and families and to protect them from the ill-effects of alcohol. Multiple agencies
need to come together to list strict ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’. Each sector must identify its specific role
and list out its responsibilities. The health sector needs to take the leadership in this public health
endeavor.

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).]
Page11
References:

BOOKS: -

 Isaac M. Contemporary trends: India. In: Grant M. ed. Alcohol and emerging markets,
patterns, problems and responses. Taylor & Francis, 1998. pp. 145–176.
 Saxena S. Country profile on alcohol in India. In: Riley L, Marshall M. eds. Alcohol and
public health in 8 developing countries. Geneva, World Health Organization, 1999.
 Myneni. S. R, Sociology, Youth and Society pp. 515-517

INTERNET –

 Ray R. The extent, pattern and trend of drug abuse in India: National survey. Ministry of
social justice and empowerment, Government of India and United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, 2004
 National Crime Records Bureau. Crime In India – 2003; Ministry of Home Affairs, New
Delhi, 2003
 Burden and socio- economic Impact of alcohol WHO( South East Asia, New Delhi)

[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).]
Page12
[“Alcoholic bans will disturb the economy and leisure activity of society” (against).]
Page13