by Subhash Arora
 
India has released its first Atlas on Alcohol, which gives a snapshot of how alcohol is produced, distributed, sold and consumed, and its socioeconomic impacts, among other aspects. Prepared by the Indian Policy Alliances (IAPA), a three-year old government initiative to discourage alcohol consumption, it was released  by Anbumani Ramadoss, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare.

The Atlas shows that 21% of adult Indian males drink alcohol, 17% of them regularly, with the average age of initiation down to 19 years, from 28 years in the 80s. This is expected to fall to 15 in the next five to seven years.

The rising income level of young people is one of the major reasons for increasing alcohol consumption, experts observed during the release of the Atlas, which also offers evidence of greater social acceptance and more consumption by women. About 10% of adult females drink alcohol and around 62.5m people altogether imbibe alcohol.

India hass one of the largest alcoholic beverage industries in the world, producing about four million tonnes of alcohol, representing 65% of the total production of South East Asia and contributing to about 7% of the total alcohol beverage imports into the region, says the report.

The state of Kerala accounts for the country's highest consumption of alcohol, followed by Maharashtra and Punjab. The prevalence of alcohol use in men has been highest in Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Sikkim. Jammu and Kashmir records the lowest alcohol consumption, which is possibly because of religious factors. Alcohol consumption is also noted in the state of Gujarat, where alcohol is prohibited.

The government will soon come up with a National Alcohol Policy even though prohibition is a state subject, said the minister. Barring four states - Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Mizoram - no other state has a policy on alcohol.

The minister has appealed to the film industry to desist from showing alcohol being consumed on screen, but has been widely criticised by the media and the industry for trying to impose personal dislikes and prejudices.