THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-June 12, 2017- Topic 1
Pragmatic step:
Kerala's new liquor policy
The Kerala
government’s new liquor policy is a pragmatic
step that may help boost its revenue and retrieve lost ground in the tourism
sector. More important, it will end the discrimination in favour of five-star
hotels. Kerala’s erstwhile United Democratic Front government had restricted
bar permits to five-star hotels alone, resulting in more than 700 hotels of
other categories losing their bar licences. Under the new policy, hotels in the
three- and four-star category may also have bars that serve Indian Made Foreign
Liquor.
Two-star hotels are permitted to serve wine and beer. At the same time, the Left Democratic Front government in the State has sought to give a boost to the traditional toddy business by allowing hotel bars to sell toddy too. To partially offset criticism, it has raised the legal drinking age from 21 to 23. The new excise policy is, of course, no surprise as the LDF election manifesto had made it clear that it does not favour prohibition and would rather emphasise on voluntary abstinence. In a State that has a high per capita alcohol consumption, there is a case for a vigorous campaign about the ill-effects of being addicted to alcohol, as opposed to one that makes liquor scarce and encourages bootlegging. The government has waited for a year before unveiling the changes it wanted, lest it be seen as acting in undue haste. Politically, the LDF is on firm ground. The UDF regime’s hardline liquor policy was the result of an internal game of one-upmanship between factions, and that decision did not help it return to power.
Two-star hotels are permitted to serve wine and beer. At the same time, the Left Democratic Front government in the State has sought to give a boost to the traditional toddy business by allowing hotel bars to sell toddy too. To partially offset criticism, it has raised the legal drinking age from 21 to 23. The new excise policy is, of course, no surprise as the LDF election manifesto had made it clear that it does not favour prohibition and would rather emphasise on voluntary abstinence. In a State that has a high per capita alcohol consumption, there is a case for a vigorous campaign about the ill-effects of being addicted to alcohol, as opposed to one that makes liquor scarce and encourages bootlegging. The government has waited for a year before unveiling the changes it wanted, lest it be seen as acting in undue haste. Politically, the LDF is on firm ground. The UDF regime’s hardline liquor policy was the result of an internal game of one-upmanship between factions, and that decision did not help it return to power.
Some opposition to the new policy is expected
from influential religious groups as well as opposition parties. Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan has justified his decision to liberalise the sector by
describing the earlier policy, which had received the Supreme Court’s approbation as
well, as a ‘fiasco’, as the restrictions on the sale of liquor had brought down
tourism traffic, caused job losses and led to a spike in drug abuse. He will
now have to ensure that the purported positive outcomes, such as revitalising
the tourism sector and the hotel industry, boosting employment and ending the
brewing of hooch are actualised on the ground. The big challenge lies in
pursuing this policy without violating the Supreme Court’s ban on
having liquor outlets within 500 metres of national and State highways. News that a 1983 document of the Indian Roads Congress
has said all highways automatically become arterial roads or sub-arterial roads
while passing through urban areas gives a new dimension to the highway ban.
State governments may now consider examining this aspect to get the Supreme
Court to relax its highway ban in respect of hotels located within towns and
cities. As protests mount against relocating bars from highways to interior
residential areas, the situation calls for a pragmatic and holistic solution.
Vocabulary
Pragmatic: dealing
with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical
rather than theoretical considerations.
Example: A
pragmatic approach to politics
Synonyms: practical, matter-of-fact, sensible, down-to-earth, commonsensical
Retrieve: get
or bring something back; regain possession of.
Example: I
was sent to retrieve the balls from his garden
Synonyms: get
back, bring back, recover, regain
Erstwhile: former.
Example: His
erstwhile rivals
Synonyms: former, old, past, one-time, sometime, ex-, late
Toddy: the
sap of some kinds of palm, fermented to produce arrack.
Example: The
latest technology transfer under process is the process of making sweet palm
toddy or neera.
Abstinence: the
fact or practice of restraining oneself from indulging in something, typically
alcohol.
Example: I
started drinking again after six years of abstinence
Synonyms: teetotalism, temperance, sobriety, abstemiousness
Vigorous: strong,
healthy, and full of energy.
Example: And
the pope, we're told, kept up his full, vigorous schedule this Christmas Eve,
despite his frail health.
Synonyms: robust, healthy, hale
and hearty, strong, sturdy, fit, hardy
Approbation: approval
or praise.
Example: The
opera met with high approbation
Synonyms: approval, acceptance, endorsement, appreciation, respect
Purport: appear
or claim to be or do something, especially falsely; profess.
Example: She
is not the person she purports to be
Synonyms: claim
to be, profess to be, pretend to be, appear to be
Holistic: characterized
by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and
explicable only by reference to the whole.
Example: If
so, a paradigm shift to the holistic approach might be managed.
