Jayalalithaa shuts 500 liquor shops -Governance Now

Jayalalithaa shuts 500 liquor shops

Liquor outlets in Tamil Nadu will now remain from noon to 10 pm

Shivani Chaturvedi | May 23, 2016 | Chennai

#Jayalalithaa #liquor outlets shut #prohibition #alcohol #election promise

J Jayalalithaa began her second term as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on Monday by announcing closure of 500 Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) liquor shops.

The chief minister also ordered that liquor outlets can be open only from 12 pm to 10 pm.

As Jayalalithaa moved towards implementing her election manifesto, political experts spoke of the challenges she may face.

Political analyst and medical practitioner and Dr Sumanth Raman says, “How is she going to make up the loss of revenue. Liquor sales brings in almost Rs 30,000 crore to the state.”

Introducing rehabilitation centres in the state will also be required, he adds.

Political commentator BR Haran concurs. “At the end of the previous tenure, the government had liability of Rs. 4 lakh crores. The state needs revenue. Without having strong alternative as the source of revenue for the state, she might face a challenge,” he says.

Professor S Janakarajan, an economist at Madras Institute of Development Studies, feels, “It is going to take a couple years to bring prohibition in the state. She needs to do a lot of ground work to bring in prohibition as there might be hooch tragedies. In this state, people have been drinking since 1967. It will just add burden to the state.”

“Also, the state’s loss of revenue has to be looked into when prohibition is introduced. Jayalalithaa needs to take a bold decision to levy some new taxes, such as to start with tax on diesel car vehicles,” he adds.

Comments

Other News

Green cities: A pathway to sustainability

As the world observes Earth Day on April 22, the imperative for sustainable urban development has never been more pressing. Urban areas contribute approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (UN-Habitat Report, 2023). In India, the urban population is projected to reach 800 million by 2050 (

A unique way of looking at nature, at people, at life itself

Another Day in Landour: Looking Out from My Window By Ruskin Bond HarperCollins, 220 pages, Rs 399 Landour is a q

‘Better than the entire world’: Here’s the ‘India book’ for ages

The Undying Light: A Personal History of Independent India By Gopalkrishna Gandhi Aleph Books, 624 pages, Rs 999 Vet

Why the youth’s ‘affair’ with stock market is usually tragic

Nine out of 10 individual traders in the equity Futures and Options (F&O) segment have incurred net losses, according to a recent SEBI study. What’s even more striking is that a significant portion of these traders are young individuals – students, early professionals and first-time earners

Why recognizing unpaid work makes sense

Across the globe, unpaid domestic and caregiving work remains an unseen yet essential contributor to economic and social well-being. Women, in particular, dedicate significant hours to household tasks and caregiving, yet this labour remains excluded from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculations, leading t

News broadcast needs to reinvent, innovate: Sudhir Chaudhary

Popular news anchor and veteran journalist Sudhir Chaudhary says the news broadcast industry has not reinvented itself in the last 20 years, leading to news consumption gradually shifting to other platforms. Unlike social media influencers with millions of followers, there are no stars in the news industry