Armed with courage - born out of suffering - and driven by the desire to change the course of their lives, women in rural Odisha are fighting a lone battle against liquor dens in their villages. Mocked by their husbands and jeered by society, all that they have is each other's support as government help continues to elude them.
Sasmita Mallick
from Kendrapada, who had taken a bullet in an alleged police firing on a group of women who had tried to set ablaze a licensed foreign liquor shop at
Namatara
on Women's Day, seven years ago, still walks with a limp. But the 30-something, whose husband used to be a drunkard, is firm in her resolve to have every liquor shop shut in her village, one day. According to unofficial figures, there are about 5,000 liquor shops in the state.
Though Covid slammed the brakes on Mallick's public meetings and gatherings over the last two years, she is now preparing to go from door to door, create more awareness and make fervent appeals to other villagers and the authorities concerned until such time that she, and many like her, is heard.
"We have a long way to go. But we are determined to give our children a better life. Our daughters should not suffer like we did. We want to raise our sons to become responsible men," says Mallick, the stepmother of one and a daily wager.
Padmabati Kisan
, 43, whose surroundings compelled her to join an anti-liquor movement at Kuchinda in Sambalpur district in 1995, says, "Instead of supporting us, the police tried to stifle our voices and kill the movement. We were beaten up, but we did not give up and the police were eventually forced to close the liquor manufacturing units in our area."
Kisan
, now a housewife, is cautious. "Those liquor making units have started operations in full swing again," she says.
She had earned the title 'anti-liquor queen' when she was barely 19, while trying to make her village free of alcohol. On what made her do this, Kisan says, "I have seen people in my locality suffer, husbands beat up their wives and children and waste the hard-earned money - all because of addiction to alcohol. I have felt the suffering, helplessness and desperation of these women through my growing up years."
Surekha Bhue
, 43, moved from village to village in her district (Bargarh) putting up road blockades to force liquor dens to shut shop. "We faced lathis and all forms of resistance, but the women of my village supported me. Had it not been for them, I would not have been able to stop the sale of liquor in some villages at least," says Bhue from Garvana village in Bargarh district.
These sporadic protests found support from people like Indumati Sahoo. Sahoo, 50, who stitches clothes for a living, has spent most of her life helping poor women with alcoholic husbands, and educating their children. She is part of a voluntary organisation, Milita Odisha Nisha Nibaran Abhijan, which has about 100-120 members across the state, and pools in money to buy books and stationery for children of such families.
"Liquor flowed in every panchayat of the state during the recent rural polls. Even during the pandemic, when everything else was shut, these shops were allowed to function," Sahoo says.
Dolly Dash, part of voluntary organisation Mada Mukti Abhijan Committee, says it has been demanding the implementation of the 1956 Liquor Prohibition Act, which allows consumption of liquor only on the production of a duly certified medical prescription. She claims that it could significantly bring down consumption, and consequently production. "But the government has not paid heed to our pleas so far. It has not taken any initiative to stop the production, propagation and trade of liquor," Dash says.
However, Ashis Singh, the state excise commissioner, claims Odisha has the lowest number of liquor shops compared to other states. While it has 1163 IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) and foreign liquor off-shops, there are 262 countrymade-liquor shops. The number has remained stagnant for the past four-five years, he says, thanks to a well-established law under the Excise Act.
(With inputs from Subrat Mohanty in Sambalpur)
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