The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4) has shown a considerable reduction in the proportion of men who drink alcohol in Kerala while the number of women who consume liquor has increased.
A report by Malayala Manorama said that the percentage of men who drink in Kerala have also reduced to 37% from the 45.2% in the previous NFHS survey of 2005-06.
The survey also reveals that consumption of alcohol is more among rural men (40.8) than urban men (32.8).
According to the report, this change is in sync with the national trend as the proportion of men who consume alcohol in the country also declined slightly from 32 per cent to 29 per cent. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data also back the declining trend.
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But, women who consume alcohol in Kerala have increased from 0.7 per cent to 1.6 per cent. This is when the nation-wide data of women shows a decrease from 2 per cent to 1 per cent.
The survey shows that in Kerala, women who drink are slowly getting accepted, but still face stiff resistance.
When American television host Jimmy Kimmel retweeted the video of girls clad in Kerala saris dancing to the Jimmiki Kammalsong with the words “Love it”, it created an instant internet sensation. But the lyrics also tell another story—the story of a certain normalisation of the idea, and images, of women drinking in Malayalam films.
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In 2017, at least 2-3 films show women in a pleasant drunken haze, not to mention the mother who downs a whole brandy bottle in the song. In Angamaly Diaries, Lichi does a happy-go-lucky tipsy walk, while, in Sarvopari Palakkaran, a very pleased matriarch is poured a drink at the onset of marriage celebrations.
Kochi-based psychiatrist C.J. John says social drinking has been on the rise. “It’s quite normal for a woman to drink at a wedding, but compared to the metros Kerala is still not open about such behaviour. Most women have internalised the moral boundary and they restrict themselves. But this may be beginning to change.” De-addiction centres have only very recently—in the past two years—seen women joining, and the numbers are minuscule, just one or two, most of them middle-aged NRI returnees.
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The survey also shows that it is a wrong to assume that Kerala is a top alcohol consuming state.
Kerala is 18th in terms of alcohol consumption among men. It says that only 37 per cent men consume alcohol in Kerala while it is 59 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, 57 per cent in Tripura and 54 per cent in Telangana.
In 2014, the then-UDF government had announced a policy of phased prohibition, but it was reviewed after the LDF government under chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan came to power in 2016.
