Mizoram gives up dry state status after 17 long years hoping to earn Rs 30 crore more revenues

GUWAHATI: Drive up from Lengpui, the airport that connects India's remotest state, Mizoram, to its capital Aizawl as the sun starts to set. As you approach the foothills of the capital, you'll notice shacks raised on stilts by the roadside, with hundreds of motorbikes parked alongside.

In a state that prohibited the sale of alcohol 17 years ago, these shacks are the watering holes, where young men ride down, to drink copious amounts of zu, the local brew, and munch on snacks.

These shacks could be endangered soon. Last week, Mizoram passed a bill allowing the setting up of wine shops under strict regulation.

With this move, the state hopes to earn Rs 30 crore more revenues every year through taxes on the sale of liquor.

Defying the powerful Presbyterian church and organizations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the Congressled Mizoram government tabled the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Bill 2014, which replaced the existing Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act (MLTP), 1995.

Six Opposition MLAs which included five from Mizo National Front (MNF) and one from Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) staged a walkout just before the vote was taken in the 40-member state Assembly on July 10.

Grape growers have been vocal in demanding the lifting of the ban. The government has allowed local grape wine making in Hnahlan and Champhai areas, where the grapes are grown. The wine produced from the Lubrusca variety, also known as Bangalore Blue, is branded as 'Zawlaidi' or 'love potion' in Mizo.

In Hnahlan village, 80% of the total population of 670 families is engaged in producing grapes and 325 in Champhai area.

Zawlaidi was launched in 2010, after 13 years of prohibiting grape cultivators from producing wine.

Samuel Rosanglura, former horticulture director in Mizoram told ET, "It cannot be said with certainty as how the lifting of ban will help different groups including farmers. However the tendency in Mizoram is to get high. In local wine the alcohol content is just 11% that does not give a kick to many consumers."

The Mizoram Synod, the highest administrative body of the Presbyterian church, the largest denomination in the Christiandominated state had fiercely opposed the change in the law.

The Presbyterian church, which has 50% of the state's population in its fold had protested and organized mass prayers in all the member churches this year demanding that the dry law must remain in place.

A conciliatory chief minister Lal Thanhawla has said the new law is not meant to create trouble between the government and the churches. In its defence, the government borrowed from the findings of a study group on the MLTP Act, headed by H Raltawna, a former IAS officer. This said that prohibition had failed in the state and that because demand was high, many people were forced to settle for consumption of spurious liquor, affecting their heath.

In the 17 years of prohibition, the state has also seen a rapid rise in addiction to heroin, cannabis, methamphetamine, adhesives, codeine-heavy cough syrups and painkillers.

The methamphetamines and other synthetics drugs are manufactured by warlords who rule the northern, mountainous parts of Burma and finance their operations through the drug trade. These find their way to the global market through Thailand, but a lot of it is also smuggled into India through Mizoram, which has alarmingly high rates of addiction.

Explaining the strict regulation that would accompany the opening of shops in the state, excise and narcotics minister R. Lalzirliana said only a licensed person would be allowed to open a retail wine shop and sell liquor in the state. In case of violation of the law, there could be imprisonment up to five years and fines.

The state produced around 20,800 tonnes of grapes in 2012-13. The Indian Made Foreign Liquor industry in Northeast India is worth Rs 1400 crore selling 7 million cases annually and registering year on year growth of 7 to 8%.