by control_zenuser | Apr 24, 2023 | In the news
Even as average per capita consumption of alcohol has more than doubled from 2.4 litres to 5.7 litres between 2005 to 2016 in country, the Government is yet to wake up from its slumber to take note of this growing menace and take measures to regulate its intake at an individual level.
A report ‘Policy measures to reduce per capita consumption of alcohol in India’ released on Thursday flags the menace as it enlists several recommendations including policy measures aimed at disincentivizing consumption of high alcoholic beverages; and, creating consumer awareness to regulate intake at an individual level.
It is a known fact that excess of consumption of alcohol is not good for health and there is a need to regulate its consumption by creating awareness among people about its ill-impact, Ashim Sanyal, Chief Executive Officer, Consumer VOICE told reporters at a press conference held here to share details of the report prepared in collaboration with Gateway Consultancy.
It comes days after WHO warned that there is no ‘safe limit’ to alcohol consumption, and even a small amount may increase the risk of cancer and other NCDs. “Between 2005 and 2016, India’s per capita consumption of pure alcohol almost doubled from 2.4 liters to 5.7 liters.
Most of this consumption was from beverages with high alcohol-by-volume content or hard liquor such as whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, IMFLs and country liquor.
Sharing more details of study Sanyal said, “With alcohol consumption in India seeing its highest growth in 15-30 age group, we are concerned about excess per capita consumption of alcohol and its consequences.
India does not have a central level policy to reduce consumption and is among the few countries which does not have guidelines on safe consumption.”
Tushar Gandhi, Chief Executive Officer of Gateway Consulting added: “The report highlights the increasing per capita consumption of pure alcohol in India and highlights that high alcoholic beverages are most cheaply available and are consumed most. But, on the other hand, globally consumers are moving towards low alcoholic beverages.
Drinking patterns indicate that people drink to ‘get intoxicated’ and engage in excessive and binge drinking, added Hemant Uapadhyay, from Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education.
Heavy Episodic Drinking, which is defined as consumption of 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the last 30 days, declined in a total of 164 countries and remained unchanged in nine countries. However, India is amongst the few countries across the world where heavy episodic drinking has increased, he added.
With this background, it is imperative that the government considers broader social aspects to include higher healthcare and social care costs while making alcohol policies. The report aims to trigger a debate and engage stakeholders with an objective to moderate alcohol consumption through policy measures and awareness campaigns.
by control_zenuser | Apr 24, 2023 | In the news
Consumer VOICE , a Voluntary Action Group of Academicians, Professionals and Volunteers, working to raise awareness amongst Indian consumers about their rights, has demanded that the government should involve health authorities and formulae a central level policy to moderate consumption of liquor in India, which incidentally has seen a steep hike in the past few years, specially among the youth.
As per an Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and PLR report in 2016, India’s average per capita consumption was the highest in the world at 13.5 litres of pure alcohol from hard liquor (whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, IMFLs and country liquor) in comparison to just 1.1 litres of pure alcohol from beer.
However, in most other countries, beer consumption was far higher than hard liquor. In Australia, it was 5.3 litres vs 1.7 litres; in Brazil, it was 11.9 and 6.6 litres; in Canada, it was 6.2 and 3.6 litres and in the USA, it was 6.4 and 4.8 litres.
Pure alcohol is the actual alcohol content, which varies across beverages. For instance, in mild beer (650 ml)— 32.5 ml of pure alcohol is used while in red/white wine (750 ml)—97.5 ml of pure alcohol and 321 ml of pure alcohol is used in IMFL (750 ml bottle of whiskey, vodka, gin, rum etc).
by control_zenuser | Apr 24, 2023 | In the news
As India does not have a central policy to reduce alcohol consumption and is among the few countries which do not have guidelines on safe consumption, there is an urgent need for the government to recognise this issue and introduce cost-effective actions, including increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, said a consumer rights group.
Urging the government to consider a complete ban on the sale of alcohol in all forms of ultra-small packs or miniatures, sold in tetra, plastic or glass bottles, below a certain quantity, Consumer Voice said what is worrying is that consumption has increased among the age group of 15-30 years.Quoting the World Health Organization (WHO), Ashim Sanyal, the chief executive officer of the organisation, said that between 2005 and 2016, India’s per capita consumption of pure alcohol almost doubled from 2.4 litres to 5.7 litres.Most of this consumption was from beverages with high alcohol-by-volume content or hard liquor such as whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, IMFLs and country liquor, he added.
by control_zenuser | Apr 16, 2023 | In the news
A simple search on Google’s News section yielded about 75,00,000 results; the top news being Google and Amazon scheduled to attend a White House forum on Quantum Technology.
by control_zenuser | Jan 30, 2023 | In the news
By Rudra Saxena and Jiyen Khullar, 27 January 2023
In June 2022, India was able to achieve its ethanol blending target of 10 percent, also called E10, five months ahead of schedule. The government’s next target is to achieve a 20 percent blend or E20 by the end of 2025. To lessen India’s reliance on fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, ethanol has been identified as an essential biofuel.
Ethanol is a renewable fuel and burns cleaner than petrol1 , resulting in lower particulate matter (PM 2.4 and 10) and tailpipe emissions, contributing to reducing air pollution. According to a NITI Aayog report, an E20 blend leads to greater reductions in carbon monoxide emissions, which were 50 percent lower in two-wheelers and 30 percent lower in four-wheelers. Compared to regular petrol, ethanol blends have a 20 percent reduction in hydrocarbon emissions at a 20 percent blend rate.
In addition to contributing to the environment, ethanol has several other benefits. For instance, it provides additional income to farmers, reduces dependence on oil imports and benefits consumers as it naturally has a high-octane number.
Ethanol blends well with petrol and can be used in most gasoline engines without any alterations, at the current 10 percent blend levels. However, to achieve the ambitious blending of 20 percent, there are two key areas India will need to achieve – to increase ethanol production capacity from the current 700 to 1500 million liters and to ensure new and existing vehicles are compatible with a 20 percent blend.
Similar to Brazil, the Indian government plans to introduce FFVs, or Flex Fuel Vehicles, which can run on zero to E85 blended fuel (an ethanol-petrol blend that contains 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent petrol). This will go a long way in reducing emissions and saving on India’s crude import bill. Once the country achieves 20 percent ethanol blending, India will be the second-highest ethanol blending country behind only Brazil – which currently blends at 27 percent.
Rudra and Jiyen are students at the Ashoka University, majoring in Economics and Finance, and Computer Science.
