Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Why the boom in coffee shops in India where few people outside the south drink coffee?

The average Indian drinks only ten cups of coffee in a year and most of that is consumed in the southern part of the country. So, why the enthusiasm for opening new coffee shops? Life style changes for the Indian middle class make it likely that the market for selling coffee will grow. For more, see here.

BBC interview with Amitav Ghosh, author of "Sea of Poppies"

The BBC recently interviewed Amitav Ghosh, author of Sea of Poppies, the first volume in a historical trilogy. For many years, 17-20% of British revenue in India came from opium. For the interview, see here.

Quinine Fraud in British India (article)

Patricia Barton, "'The Great Quinine Fraud': Legality Issues in the 'Non-Narcotic' Drug Trade in British India," Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 22/1 (Fall 2007): 6-25.

Novel about India's opium trade (book)

Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies (John Murray, 2008). It is the first volume in the Ibis trilogy about India's opium trade. For an interview, see here.

Café Coffee Day, a leading Indian chain, attracts customers in Vienna

Café Coffee Day opened its first coffee shop at Bangalore in 1996 and now has 952 shops in India. In 2005 it opened its first coffee house in Vienna, home of a distinctive European coffee shop culture (where melange, the Austrian cousin of Italy's cappuccino, is popular). Café Coffee Day now has three shops in Vienna and expects to add another five by the end of the current fiscal year. For more, see here.

Alcohol Atlas of India (book)

The Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance has published the Alcohol Atlas of India (2008). It consists of four sections, with the first devoted to a history of alcohol in India from ancient to present times. For more, see here.

Lavazza, the world's largest independent coffee company

Mark Baker interviews Guiseppe Lavazza in the (London) Independent, April 20, 2008. The Turin-based company produces nearly half of the coffee consumed in Italy. Although it is mostly a firm that sells coffee brands, Lavazza (founded in 1895) has begun to acquire some retailers, such as the the Baristra coffee house chain in India and the Fresh & Honest vending chain, also in India. For more, see here. According to Wikipedia, sixteen of the twenty million coffee-buying families in Italy purchase Lavazza brands.

Kashmiris take to alcohol

As violence has subsided in Indian-administered Kashmir, liquor shops have reopened. A perhaps unexpected result of peaceful conditions is that alcohol consumption has increased. For more, see here.

Communists and coffee houses in India

This is the 50th anniversary of the Indian Coffee House workers cooperatives that run 70 restaurants in Kerala state and a total of 300 throughout the country. When the Coffee Board in Kerala state decided to close its restaurants and lay off their employees, a Communist legislator proposed that instead the restaurants be owned and operated by workers' cooperatives. For more, see here.

Liquor in colonial India (article)

Indra Munshi, "On Drinking and ‘Drunkenness’: History of Liquor in Colonial India," in Mariam Dossal and Ruby Maloni, eds., State intervention and popular response: western India in the nineteenth century (Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 1999), 127-46. Written by a sociologist whose conference paper is condensed from a version that appeared in Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 30, no. 37 (September 16, 1995). Although not new, her article is worth mentioning since it is about a neglected topic. Based mostly on government reports.

Over 30,000 have a cup as India hosts the world's largest tea party

In order to break the record of Japan in the Guinness book of world records, an Indian newspaper arranged the world's largest tea party with over 30,000 drinking tea together. For more, see here.

Meth-laced ecstasy common in American schools near Canadian border

Meth-laced ecstasy has become common in American schools in the states near the Canadian border. Although the drugs are smuggled from Canada into the USA, the ultimate source for the drugs appears to be China and India. For more, see here.

China's growing taste for black tea

China's growing taste for black tea may force prices in Britain to rise 10%. For the first time in recent history China now consumes more tea than India. (China is also the world's largest producer, with India second.) Another factor forcing prices higher is the unrest in Kenya. The Chinese favor a black tea called Pu-erh which is fermented for three weeks, has a musty taste, and is supposed to help drinkers lose weight. All this is from a (London) Times, 16 February 2008, article that also says that 70% of the British drink tea daily, typically three cups. By the way, supposedly there are 1500 varieties of tea. For more, see here.

India hopes to fight Argentina for the American iced tea market

For success in the American market, India's tea exporters must compete in the category of bottled, canned, and packeted (iced) teas, 20% of the USA consumption, and growing even more rapidly than bottled water. Surprisingly Argentina provides nearly half of American tea, while China and Indonesia also sell more tea to the USA than does India. [It is not clear when the statement about Argentina applies only to tea sold in containers or to all imported tea in America.] The problem for India is that its tea becomes cloudy when chilled and smokes when refrigerated. For more, see here. By the way, apparently the only tea plantation is the USA is in South Carolina.

Women bartenders in New Delhi

The Supreme Court of India recently overturned a 1914 law that had prevented women from working as bartenders in the national capital, New Delhi. Women previously worked as bartenders in some other Indian cities, often with rarely enforced restrictions. For more, see here.

Muslim graveyard in Indian tea shop

The New Lucky tea shop in Ahmadabad, India, is built over a Muslim graveyard. Painted green, the burial sites are shin-high and scattered throughout the restaurant. It grew from a simple tea stall at the edge of the cemetery. For more, see here.

Cocaine in colonial India (article)

James H. Mill, "Drugs, Consumption, and Supply in Asia: The Case of Cocaine in Colonial India, c. 1900-c. 1930," Journal of Asian Studies66/2 (2007): 345-362.

Coffee houses flourish in India

Coffee houses flourish in India as places for students and young professionals to meet. Although most of India is a tea-drinking country, there is not much of a tradition of comfortable tea houses. The largest Indian firm, Café Coffee Day, is opening twenty new coffee houses each month. The Italian firm, Lavazza, purchased the second largest Indian coffee house company, Barista, in March 2007. A British firm, Costa Coffee, has 32 coffee shops in Delhi alone. American companies have been slower to establish themselves in the subcontinent, although Gloria Jean is expected to arrive by the end of 2007. A so-called conservative estimate suggests that the coffee house market will grow by 40% annually. For more, see here.

India's Tata tea as a global player

Tata tea is the most global segment of India's Tata business group, particularly since 2000 when it acquired a much larger British tea company, Tetley. Tata is now the second largest company in the global branded tea market. It is shifting from loose tea and tea bags to ready-to-drink teas. In India itself Tata now occupies over 19% of the tea market as compared with only 3% in 1974.

Rajasthan limits government expenditures on tea, coffee, and cold beverages

The Indian state of Rajasthan has put restrictions (depending on the rank of the government official) for consuming tea, coffee or cold drinks at government expense. Tea can't be served at meetings of less than two hours. For more, see here.

Women tea plantation workers in India

Piya Chatterjee, A Time for Tea: Women, Labor, and Post-Colonial Politics on an Indian Tea Plantation (Duke UP, 2001).

True story

Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

The 40-strong herd uprooted an electric pole while looking desperately for food on Friday in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 240 kilometres west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.

"There would have been more casualties had the villagers not chased them away," said Dipu Mark, a local conservationist.

The elephants are known to have a taste for rice beer brewed by tribal communities in India's northeast.

The CBC reports.

Colonialism and 19th-cent. coffee plantations in south India (article)

Velayutham Saravanan, "Colonialism and coffee plantations: Decline of environment and tribals in Madras Presidency during the nineteenth century," Indian Economic and Social History Review 41/ 4 (December 2004): 465-488.

High tea, India style

The title refers to visiting the tea gardens in the Himalayas. For details, see here.

India's tea growers struggle against globalization and insurgency

India produces more tea than any country other than China, but brutal competition resulting from globalization (for instance, cheap tea from Kenya and Vietnam) and an insurgency in Assam that targets the owners of tea-gardens, as the plantations are called, have left the business only marginally profitable and dangerous. For more, see here.

Mocha: Selling coffee or addiction?

Mocha, a small upscale coffee chain in India, is under police investigation for mixing some coffee drinks with alcohol. Writing in MeriNews, 22 September 2007, Archana Roy contrasts tea-drinking Northeast Asia, including much of India, with coffee-drinking Southeast Asia, also including much of India such as the city of Chandigarh. Roy describes the kind of coffee drinks popular among affluent young people there: "mixtures of coffee, ice, chocolate or vanilla and milk blended together and then topped with whipped cream." For more, see here.

India: world's largest market for whiskey

India is the world's largest market for whiskey, consuming 60 million cases annually compared with the USA's 40 million. For more, see here.

The tee-total, non-smoking, vegetarian hotel

A new hotel which operates according to sharia principles has opened in Bangalore. The 252-room business hotel has opened on the city’s Hosur Road and has banned both smoking and drinking alcohol on the premises. In addition, the hotel’s restaurants only use organic vegetarian produce from neighbouring farming communities.

The Times (of London) reports.

Morphine seldom available in India for the poor

Although India is the world's leading producer of legal morphine for medical purposes, it seldom is available for the poor people of India. Why is explained here.

Mumbai police ordered to stop chewing and spitting tobacco

In Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) the authorities have ordered tobacco-free police stations, a drastic reform in a city known for its tobacco-chewing police often depicted spitting in India's "Bollywood" films. For more, see here.

"Tsarbucks" to open in September 2007

After a decade of wrangling over its trademark, Starbucks will open its first Russian store in September 2007. It will be located at Mega Mall north of Moscow. Some observers note that Starbucks will have to cope with the absence of a Russian coffee house culture. Russia will be the 43rd country with a Starbucks as the chain recently opened shops in Brazil and Egypt (and next targets India). The British newspaper that provides the story mentions in passing that London now has over 200 Starbucks, so supposedly nobody in the UK capital has to walk more than five minutes to get to one. For more, see here.

India’s Whiskey-Drinking Elite Make Room for Wine

This is the title of an article in New York Times, 12 August 2007. The market for wine in India seems likely to grow enormously to the benefit of both imported and Indian-produced wines. This development reflects both the growing prosperity of India's upper middle class and its globalized tastes. For more, see here.

Gandhi manuscripts and temperance

In July 2007 a London auction house sold a lot of Gandhi manuscripts, drafts of articles and correspondence, that dealt with various topics including temperance. For more, see here.

Budweiser in India despite small initial market

Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser has entered India's marketplace despite the comparatively small and low profit margin beer sales there and strongly entrenched competitors. India consumes less than a liter of beer per capita annually compared with 18 liters in China and 85 liters in the USA (and a world average of 25 liters). Anheuser-Busch is attracted by long term prospects for growth. Already beer consumption in India has been increasing by 20% per year. For more, see here.

Commodities of Empire (from H-Empire)

Readers of ADHS may be interested in this post which appeared on H-Empire:

CFP: "Commodities of Empire" international workshop, London, July 13-14,
2007

The Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies (Open University) and
the Caribbean Studies Centre (London Metropolitan University) have
launched a collaborative research project entitled 'Commodities of
Empire'. Details of this project can be found on our website:
http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson-centre/commodities-of-empire/index.h
tml

We are organising an international workshop in London, 13/14 July 2007,
and would like to hear from anybody interested in participating. We
would particularly like to hear from researchers wishing to attend from
Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America who are working on any
historical aspects of the global movement of commodities (i.e.
industrial crops, foodstuffs and stimulants).

For more details, please contact either Sandip Hazareesingh
(s.k.hazareesingh@open.ac.uk) or Jonathan Curry-Machado
(j.currymachado@londonmet.ac.uk).

Dr Jonathan Curry-Machado
Research Fellow
Caribbean Studies Centre
London Metropolitan University

Addicts get daily fix of friendship

Ravi Padhye is director of the Maitree De-addiction Treatment-cum-Rehabilitation Centre. Perhaps the only one of its kind in Central India, the de-addiction centre is run by a group of people, mostly comprising reformed addicts. Maitree gets patients in the 22-70 years age group from not just Vidarbha, but Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It runs entirely on its own, without any help from the government whatsoever.

Read more here.

Café Coffee Day looks forward to Starbucks competition in India

Café Coffee Day currently has 400 coffee outlets in India and plans to open another 250 this financial year. It also has thousands of Coffee Day Xpress vending machines (and two subsidiary-owned coffee shops in Pakistan and, as its beachhead in Europe, three in Vienna). Café Coffee Day looks forward to the entry of Starbucks into the Indian market as it believes that Starbucks will persuade customers to accept much higher prices for coffee drinks. For more, see here.

Wine, tariffs, and India's middle class

The International Herald Tribune discusses a problem for the expanding Indian middle class. Middle class Indians, especially younger ones, are attracted to red wine instead of the British inheritance, whiskey soda. Unfortunately, tariffs make imported wine unaffordable. For more, see here.

India fails to name tea as national drink

The Government of India withdrew a proposal to name tea as the national drink. Several unnamed Indian states, probably in the coffee growing and consuming south, had objected. For more, see here. India has grown coffee since the mid-1600s and tea (chai) since the mid-1800s.

Starstrucks vs. Starbucks

According to Reuters, Starbucks fears a competitor in India even before entering the Indian market. A chain of coffee shops called Starstrucks is in the planning stage. For more, see here.

Indian film star criticized for liquor ads

Indian film star, Mohanial, has been criticized for appearing in liquor ads in the southern state of Kerala which has the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the country. Although advertising alcoholic drinks is illegal in India, the law is often skirted. For more, see here.

Coffee: who grows it? who drinks it?

India's Financial Times, 5 Feburary 2007, reports on who grows and who drinks coffee. Although there are 25 kinds of coffee grown, two varieties dominate, (mostly) Arabica and (secondly) Robusta. The major producers are Brazil (33.16%), Columbia (11.65%), Vietnam (10.61%), Indonesia (5.97%), Mexico (4.59%) and India (4.60%) that combined produce about 70% of the world's coffee. The major consumers are the United States, Canada, Japan. Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Spain. As an Indian newspaper, the Financial Times mentions that India consumes 30% of the coffee that it grows. For more, see here.

Frontwide World, May 2003, lists the top 10 coffee-importing countries, in order of amount imported, as the United States, Germany (less than half that of the USA), Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Netherlands. Per capita the Scandinavian countries drink the most coffee, with Finland averaging more than four cups a day per person. This website lists the ten leading coffee producers, in order of amount produced, as Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Ivory Coast and Uganda. Nearly 25 million farmers grow coffee in more than fifty countries. For more, see here.

Young India high on liquor consumption

In India, an upwardly mobile young population with a propensity to spend is guzzling booze like never before. Consumption of beer has jumped 51% from 70 million cases in 2002 to 105 million cases in 2006 while consumption of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) grew 53% to 115 million cases during the period.

The Times (of India) reports.

Bangalore government likely to ban sale of arrack

In Bangalore, inebriated men by the roadside might soon become a rare sight.  The Karnataka government is contemplating banning the sale of arrack beginning in June 2007. Deputy chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa told reporters: "We are serious about it. We do not want to increase the number of arrack consumers and ruin their families on the pretext of mobilising revenue."

Find the full story here.

Coffee earned India 20% more in '06

The Times of India recaps the year in coffee exports for 2006. 

Opium in British India and Qing China (aricle)

David A. Bello, "Poppies without Borders: Notes for a Eurasian History of Opium," History Compass 3 (2005). Electronic journal.

Indian coffee chain opens shop in Pakistan

Through a local partner India's largest coffee house chain, Cafe Coffee Day, has opened its first shop in Pakistan at Karachi. Cafe Coffee Day sees great possibility for growth in an Islamic country which bans alcohol. It has 364 coffee shops (which it calls coffee lounges) in India. Other than the new Pakistan store, Cafe Coffee Day's only international coffee shop is located at Vienna, a symbolic foothold in one of Europe's traditional coffee centers. For more, see here.

Asia new source for meth in USA

As Mexico recently has cracked down on a crucial compoment for making meth, India and China likely will become major suppliers for the American market. According to the UN, a majority of meth users worldwide live in Asia. For more, see here.

"Champagne" of India's teas to be drunk in the Himalayas

According to the New York Times, 14 Dec. 2006, people who want the perfect cup of tea now can consume the "champagne" of teas freshpicked in the Himalayas combined with luxurious tea tourism. For those willing to accept a close second best at home, there is Silver Tips Reserve priced at about US$158/pound. For more, see here.

Feni liquor for India?

The Indian drinks company UB plans to promote Feni, a distilled liquor popular in Goa, as a national alcoholic beverage. Feni is made either from cashews or coconuts. For more, see here.

Underage drinking in India

"Give me a vodka and a jar of acne cream" is the title for the article by Megha Chaturvedi, Daily News and Analysis, November 16, 2006, about underage drinking in Mumbai (Bombay), supposedly India's party capital where a credit card is all that young people need to purchase alcoholic beveages. For more, see here.

Tougher laws are not always a deterrent

Laws against drunken driving or driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol vary from country to country. But while India allows a lower permissible limit of alcohol in blood than many countries, punishments in some countries for drunken driving can be harsher than in India.

However, stricter laws aren't always a deterrent.  The Times (of India) reports.

Rebellions in Assam, India's tea center

The (London) Times, 14 November 2006, reports on the violence in the northeast Indian state of Assam. Separatist groups sometimes extort money from tea plantations. There are 30 separatist groups including the United Liberation Front of Asom (variant spelling of Assam), founded in 1979. Assam produces a little over half of the tea grown in India, and India in turn is the world's third largest tea exporter (although it consumers more tea than it produces). For more, see here. Other major tea producers include Sri Lanka (Ceylon), China, Vietnam, Kenya, and Indonesia.

Europe complains about India's tariffs on alcoholic drink

The European Union may complain to the World Trade Organization about India's high tariffs on imported alcoholic drinks. India's basic tariff is 150%, while for whiskies it is 550%. For more, see here.

Around the World in eight hangovers

The task: investigating the 'cultural and traditional aspects of alcohol around the world'. In other words, getting very drunk in six of the world's most formidable drinking capitals. The man for the job? The Independent's Dom Joly.

Foothold in Vienna for Indian coffee chain

In 2005 an Indian coffee chain, Coffee Day, opened a shop in Vienna, sometimes regarded as the world's coffee capital, and added a second in 2006. Coffee Day has 250 outlets in India. Although there has been a slight decline in coffee houses in Vienna recently, there remain about 2800 places to buy a cup of coffee, many of them in the city center. To accommodate local tastes, the Indian coffee shop added sacher cake, apple strudel, and "melange" (strong coffee with hot milk and milk foam), to Indian specialities such as chai and curries. Another outsider has had only limited success in Vienna. When Starbucks opened its first Vienna outlet in 2001, it hoped to have a total of sixty in five years. It has been forced to settle for nine in Vienna and vicinity. Its Italian-influenced, vanilla-flavored coffee has not displaced traditional Vienna coffee styles. Coffee in Vienna often has a cinnamon flavor (as French coffee sometimes includes chicory). For more, see here.

Starbucks sets sights on Russia, India, elsewhere

US coffee shop chain Starbucks said it plans to opens stores in Brazil, Russia, India and Egypt during 2007, creating a presence in 40 countries outside the United States.

The Turkish Press reports.

Drinks and tobacco makers must tread softly on the subcontinent

One in four of India's 1.1 billion population consumes tobacco, lighting up 108 billion cigarettes a year. Beer and branded liquor sell nearly 200 million cases a year. But, as the National Post reports, while India, and its growing young population, looks like an attractive market for global drinks and tobacco makers looking to expand, the tight rules make life difficult.

Asian drinks, change and continuity

Economic and cultural globalization challenges Asia's traditional beverages. An article in the (London) Observer "All the Tea in China" is framed around the challenge posed by coffee (there are 47 Starbucks in Shanghai), but the article in fact focuses on tea, both Chinese and South African rooibos. For details, see here. The (London) Sunday Times looks at the taste of youthful middle-class Indians for wine, "Clink of a Wine Revolution in Kingfisher Land." (Kingfisher is India's major beer and spirits company.) For details, see here.

increased coffee drinking in India, Indonesia, Mexico?

The International Coffee Organization plans an advertising campaign aimed at increasing coffee consumption in India, Indonesia and Mexico by more than 25 percent in the next three years. The three countries are major coffee producers which lack a strong coffee-drinking culture. For details, see here.

Coffee

BusinessLine reports on the state of the worldwide coffee industry here. Brazil looks poised to boost production, and India and China and identified as the next big markets.

opium trade in 19th cent. Bombay (book)

Amar Farooqui, Opium City: The Making of Early Victorian Bombay (Gurgaon: Three Essays Collective, 2005; paperback, 2006).  Farooqui, reader in history at the University of Delhi (Hans Raj College), previously published Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants and the Politics of Opium, 1790-1843 (New Delhi: New Age Inernational, 1998; reprinted Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2005).  Farooqui is the leading authority on the history of opium in Mumbai as Bombay is now called officially.

Indian tea industry (article)

Gupta, Bishnupriya. "Collusion in the Indian tea industry in the Great Depression: An analysis of panel data." Explorations in Economic History 34, no. 2 (1997): 155.

Indians drinking more coffee

The traditionally tea-drinking people of India, especially in the north, are drinking more coffee. In the south, coffee always has been popular. For details, see here

Indian whiskey not Scottish

Scots cheer a court ruling prohibiting deceptive labeling practices from an Indian whiskey producer. April 25 story here from the Times online.

Beer delivery

Home delivery of fast food is passe. The in-thing in Chandigarh, India now is to pick up the phone and get a bottle of your favourite whisky or beer delivered to your door from the nearest liquor vend.  And while you're at it, charge it all to your credit card.

Read more.

Kingfisher Airlines

Vijay Mallya, billionaire liquor baron, chairman of United Breweries and purveyor of Kingfisher beer, is not cut from the same humble, homespun cloth of most Indian businessmen. Known for his ostentatious lifestyle — opulent homes, personal jets, racehorses, yachts and legendary parties — Mallya delights in shattering traditional attitudes.

So, when he couldn't advertise his alcohol in India, he decided — in the tradition of Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson — to wed his lifestyle with his brand by putting his brand on the side of an airline.  The Sunday Times of London reports.

Pakistan, Egypt eye India's tea

Drought in Kenyan is forcing the Pakistan and Egyptian markets to look to India for tea, and a Pakistani delegation is likely to visit India in mid-April to look at options for importing Indian tea.

Read more.

Anheuser-Busch planning to tap market in India

America's largest brewer has its eyes on the world's second-largest country. Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. is engaged in talks with mid-sized breweries in India, according to a report published this week in India's Economic Times newspaper.

The St Louis Business Journal reports.

Opium-licensing scheme mooted

Rather than eradicating opium crops in Afghanistan, the growing of opium should be regulated to manufacture medical drugs like morphine and codeine, which developing countries have limited access to, said an international think tank in Vienna on Wednesday.

Read more.

Coffee table book on tea

The latest window to Assam’s tea gardens promises an insider’s view into what drives the industry which brews 53 per cent of the country’s morning cuppa. Tea — Legend, Life and Livelihood of India, a coffee-table book, has been written by one of the most well-known faces in Assam’s tea circles, Gautam Prasad Baroowah.

The Telegraph (India) reports.

Internet 'pharmacies'

Legal prescription drugs are being trafficked illegally over the internet, the UN's anti-drugs body has warned. The BBC reports.

Drunkard arrested for selling his daughter

The Times of India reports that a habitual drunkard sold his 13-year-old daughter for a few thousand rupees to a 45-year-old man who wanted to marry her, Bihar Police said. Both the men have been arrested.

Phudan Sao, a 44-year-old resident of Shivpuri in Nalanda district, which happens to be the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, sold his daughter Babita (name changed) to Munni Lal for Rs 4,000 only.

Police official B.N. Mehta said Sao sold his minor daughter to Munni Lal, the father of one, about five months ago in return for money to buy more alcohol. But police were informed only a few days ago.

Munni Lal forcibly took the girl away from her father's house, local people said, and married her in a temple.

"When we were informed by local people, we first inquired and found the complaint true and arrested both Sao and Munni Lal," Mehta said. Police has conducted a medical examination of the girl and questioned her.

Global wine producers prepare to lift Indian spirits

Wine makers from around the world are looking at India as an emerging market. At Mumbai's recent Great Wine Festival, wine makers from Uruguay, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Spain, and elsewhere used the opportunity to introduce their products and hopefully break into India's market.

Read more.

'We didn't realize it was the image of a Hindu goddess,' says Brown-Forman's vice president of corporate communications

Alarmed by the protest mail that had begun pouring over its telephone lines and into its e-mailboxes, the makers of a popular brand of whiskey-flavored liqueur earlier this week removed an offending window display in an Athens, Greece, bar carrying the image of Goddess Durga sitting on a tiger holding bottles of the beverage in all her eight hands.

Indiawest Online reports.

Wine in India

Turns out that India is catching up with traditional wine drinking countries like Italy and France. The industry holds a huge potential in the Indian market as more and more Indians are exposed to different cultures of the world. Once they return, they search for the same tastes and products in India.

The Hindustan Times reports.

Doping birds and animals

Roosters, prime bulls, buffaloes, and birds in Guwahati, India are being trained to fight for the mid-January Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu festival.  They're also being doped — with alcohol mixed with marijuana and other locally-available herbal steroids — to make them more violent. 

Animal rights activists have been protesting the practice, but the conservatives do not want anyone to upset the tradition...Sangeeta Goswami, local representative of the People For Animals, believes hiding behind tradition is an excuse to promote cruelty against animals.

The Hindustan Times reports.

A trunk full of vodka

Indian elephants preparing to perform in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator are drinking daily doses of vodka to help them survive temperatures as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius, local media said on Friday.

Read more.

Indian women 'can serve alcohol'

The High Court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has overturned a law which banned women from serving alcohol in public places. The BBC reports.

Smokers kick the habit, but tobacco firms buck the trend

The smoking bans that have been introduced in countless countries around the world would presumably bode ill for the global tobacco industry, yet shares in major cigarette companies have performed well over the past year, and some are trading near all-time highs. The Independent explains why.

Indian beer boom predicted

On December 6, 2005, the BBC reported (here, on a Turkish website) that brewing companies are targeting India. Cobra Beer company founder expects Indian beer consumption, which is now small, "to increase 40-fold during the next 25 years."

India gets a taste for wine

Get ready for Bangalore Nouveau. Best known for its teas and spices, India now aims to place its wines on supermarket shelves in Europe and the United States. Reuters reports.

Tea: the new 'healthy soft drink'

The cuppa that cheers is soon going to hit the market in attractive containers – bottles, cans, who knows, even tetra-packs – as a “healthy soft drink” to win over youngsters who have turned their back on the brew. After hogging the headlines for their innovative “tea tablet,” scientists at the Jorhat-based Tocklai Experimental Station (TES) of the Tea Research Association (TRA) have evolved a formula for a tea-based soft drink. The Statesman reports.

As a general rule: never trust a pimp

A pimp and his accomplice have been arrested from Dwarka with 43 pills of the ‘party drug’ Ecstasy and 10 grams of cocaine, in a raid that senior officers say points to increasing evidence of links between drugs and sex rackets in the city. Delhi Newsline reports.

The price was right...but, unfortunately, the alcohol content wasn't

Free alcohol distributed by village politicians to win votes in India's largest state has killed 19 people over two days and was found to be laced with insecticides and other potent chemicals. Five people died overnight and 20 others were taken ill in Gorakhpur, 155 miles south-east of Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, said government spokesman Narendra Sinha.

"It was a free for all. Villagers came in hordes to have free alcohol and food. Within hours, people started vomiting. Before they could be shifted to hospital five persons died," Sinha said. Some were in serious condition, he added. The Independent reports (21 Oct 2005).

Indian Made Foreign Liquor pushing out country made liquor in Uttar Pradesh

The liquor market in Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a radical change these days, with distilleries engaged in the production of country made liquor being pushed out by Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) units.

The New Excise policy of the UP government for promoting investment in distilleries has sparked off the process of a shake up in the liquor industry. Existing distilleries were either closing down or changing hands following the new policy fixing cap of a minimum investment of Rs 100 crore.

With the IMFL consumers in UP increasing due to brand awareness, the distilleries engaged in production of country made liquor were facing several problems triggered by the declining demand. Besides, abolition of contract system in the liquor industry, has forced the country made distilleries to cut down production.

Read more at WebIndia123 here.

Opium Smuggling in India (Book)

Amar Farooqui, Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants, and the Politics of Opium, 1790-1843 (Lexington Books, 2005).

Glue-based beer found to be surprisingly unhealthy

The Times of India reports (2 Oct 2005) that seven people died after consuming spurious alcohol in Assam, taking the toll to 23 on Sunday as 200 more were hospitalised, an official said. On Saturday, 16 people had died and 23 others were hospitalised.

According to Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman, four people selling illicit brew were arrested and around six excise officers suspended. Those who were taken ill were admitted to Guwahati Medical College.

"Substances like dendrite and other adhesives are mixed in the concoction that apparently gives an extra kick," local police official said, adding eleven people died within hours of drinking the spurious liquor sold by the vendors.

Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance (Special Issue)

The Globe, issue 2, 2005, is a special issue, "Launch of Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance."  A few statistics: 62.5 million users of alcohol in India; per capita consumption up 106.7% over 15-year period; sale of alcohol growing at 8% a year; 270,000 people die each year due to use and abuse of alcohol

Gandhi & Prohibition (Article)

David M. Fahey and Padma Manian, "Poverty and Purification: The Politics of Gandhi's Campaign for Prohibition," Historian 67/3 (Fall 2005): 489-506.  Padma Manian formerly was known as V. Padmavathy.

Comeback or glut?

The International Herald Tribune reports (31 August 2005) that India, overwhelmed by a glut of tea, has begun burning the product to deter producers from selling inferior-quality leaves and to help stop falling prices, an industry official has said. Find the full story here. Sify Finance, on the other hand, reports (31 August 2005) that India's tea industry, besieged by un-remunerative prices for the past five years, is staging a comeback at the hands of high-quality teas. Find that story here.

Alcohol sales in India

Cybernoon reports (22 August 2005) that Indian Made Foreign Liquor has recorded a 27.5 % increase in sales during the quarter ending in June. Improving significantly on the produce and profits after several quarters of decline, beer and alcohol companies in the country have posted the "highest" profit margins for June quarter. Read more here.

Vaccum flasks replace tea kettles in Kashmir

Keralanext.com reports (30 July 2005) that the traditional Samovar, a container used for making tea, is fast losing its charm in Jammu and Kashmir with the ubiquitous mercury vacuum flask taking its place. Find the full story here.

Beer-drinking is in decline in developed countries

The Times Online reports (13 June 2005) that the shares of brewing companies with big and expanding businesses in emerging markets will perform better than those whose main markets remain in the developed world, according to new research from Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank. The bank predicts that the shares of three global brewing groups — InBev, SABMiller and Molson Coors — will outperform brewers whose main businesses are in developed countries. Beer-drinking is in decline in developed countries, where populations are ageing. Read more here.

It’s hard to detect drug particles

The Deccan Herald (16 June 2005) discusses whether drugs, banned under India's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 (amended in 1989) can easily be taken out of the country in small quantities from under the nose of the customs officers? The answer, says an officer at the City airport, is yes. Find the full story here.

Liquor act

The Telegraph - Calcutta reports (19 June 2005) that the Mizoram government has agreed to amend the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act in favour of the grape growers. “Grapes are grown abundantly in the Hnahlan region of northeast Mizoram. The amended act will allow grape growers to set up wineries in the vineyards. The amendment will hopefully aid the economic growth of the state,” said excise minister Lalzama on Friday. The decision has come as a blessing for the desperate grape growers who are mainly concentrated in Hnahlan village.

India tightening licit opium diversion controls

India Daily reported in March 2005 that India, the only country authorised to produce opium gum for pharmaceutical use, is stepping up efforts to prevent diversion of licit opium crops for production of heroin for domestic and international narcotics markets, the US has said. Find the full story here.

India (bibliography)

Dutta, S.C. “History of Soma and other Spirituous Liquors of India.” Asian Agri-History 4:3 (2000), 203-220. [On the history of the divine liquor, soma, and other spirituous liquors that thrived in ancient India.]

These citations originally appeared in recent “Current Literature” sections of The Social History of Alcohol Review. Jon Miller and David Fahey compiled and edited them. They were also available on the Alcohol and Drugs History Society’s old website, http://athg.org.

Unterstein, K. “Him Heel Breweries Ltd.: A ‘German’ Brewery in India.” Brauwelt International No. 1 (1999), 56-58.

Jammi Naidu, S., and M.K. Misra. “Production and Consumption of Wild Date Palm Sap and Country Liquor in Two Tribal Village Ecosystems of Eastern Ghats of Orissa, India.” Bioresource Technology 63:3 (1998), 267-273.

Niimura, Yoko. “Igirisujin no ahen boekikan: Bengaru ahen ‘jiyu boeki’ ka ronso o chushin ni.” Rekishigaku Kenkyu 4 (1998), 18-34. [In Japanese; on Indian, British, and Chinese views of the opium trade in the 1860s and 1870s.]

Saldanha, Indra Munshi. “On Drinking and ‘Drunkenness’: History of Liquor in Colonial India.” Economic and Political Weekly 30:37 (1995), 2323-2332.

Library of Congress Office, New Delhi. Prohibition in India: Part 1. New Delhi: Library of Congress, Office, 1996. [Eleven microfiches, a collection of pamphlets published during 1962-1994.]

Unsigned. “Prohibition in India.” Economist 339:7971 (1996), 64.

Tata Tea forays into economy segment

The Indian Express reports (15 April 2005) that, announcing its intention to focus on the broader, economy segment of the tea market, Tata Tea launched low-priced packet tea dubbed Tata Tea Agni. The new strategy is driven by the saturation of the premium and popular segments, said Tata Tea Managing Director Percy Siganporia. ‘‘The economy segment is growing every year by 1-2 per cent. Keeping in mind the tough competition from loose tea market, we have packaged the tea suiting the requirement of the consumer.’’ The total tea market in India is 650 million kg. Of this, dust tea comprises a large portion of the market. The rest is the leaf tea market, of which CTC tea constitutes 70 per cent. Branded tea comprised 300 million kg of the Indian market. Find the rest of the story here.

Liquor prohibition is hypocrisy

The Express Hotelier & Caterer (30 May 2005) reports that India's former minister Arun Shourie, on his visit to Gujarat recently, called the state government's stance on the prohibition of liquor in the state of Gujarat a hypocrisy. Talking at a meeting organised by the Federation of Gujarat’s Industries (FGI) in Vadodara (Baroda), Shourie mentioned that it was in the best interest of the state to remove the ban on liquor to hel