Socio-Economic Impact Of Drinking

“My husband would come home drunk after work and take his anger out on me. He would shout at our kids. Sometimes, his anger was expressed through physical abuse. My children would get scared of their father and keep away from him. It was very hard for us. So I decided to work and earn a living” Dola Thakur, a 32 year old housewife and houseworker told BE.

- Isha Chakraborty

Alcohol doesn’t only affect an alcoholic person but people related to him. Dola Thakur is the wife of a person who used to drink every single day and would casually miss work the next day giving the reason that he was not feeling up to it. This problem affects all sections of society. There are believed to be 62.5 million people in India who at least occasionally drink alcohol. Over the recent years the amount of consumption of alcohol has increased tremendously causing havoc to society

Rise in alcohol related deaths and diseases

There has been a significant rise in the number of people dying because of alcohol abuse. Reports of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) over the recent years have shown that there has been a rise of about one person dying every 96 minutes under the influence of alcohol. People are sold tainted liquor even from licensed shops which after consumption can cause intoxication, change in the nature or cause violence as well and finally can kill a person. People have claimed that alcohol reduces stress on their body and thus calms down their system finally providing them relief. Majorly affecting men the data showed as little as 5% of alcohol consumers are female.

Dr. Priti Bhombe, Director- fundraising and correspondence, Snehalaya, an NGO in Ahmednagar, said, “Alcohol addiction has been endemic in the major parts of India. On an average about 3.3 million deaths in India occur due to alcohol consumption or diseases due to alcohol consumption.”