how was the anti arrack movement became a women's movement in andhra pradesh
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Arrack is low cost liquor that is generally consumed by poor people. The anti-arrack movement started as a spontaneous movement in a remote village in Dubagunta in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It was a women's movement which saw the articulation of the issue of family violence in a public forum. The movement questioned notions about the political apathy of suffering masses and inability of women to take initiatives on their own without men's help. It is through this movement that rural women in the state of Andhra Pradesh created history. The movement grew out of the awareness brought about by the literacy mission the National Literacy Mission (NLC) was officially launched in Nellore District in January 1990.
As a result of the mission mass-literacy campaigns being organized in the state, women often got together and discussed their problems. They found that all of them had a common problem at home- alcoholism. Together, they decided to take a stand against all those who sold the liquor that ruined their families' lives. But gradually they have risen suddenly in revolt against the local bureaucracy, police officials and the Chief Minister. They had a simple demand complete ban on selling of Arrack.Liquor contractors have emerged as the most powerful people as they had resources and with political patronage gradually these contractors become politician. With earning from the sale of arrack they could bride the police excise officials etc and maintain gang to people to dismantle any kind of agitation raised against them. After bribing officials whatever funds they had they invested in real estate, construction, finance and donations to cultural and religious institutions. The revenue of the government as excise duty from the sale of arrack was high it was Rs 390 million in 1970-71 that increased to Rs 8.12 billion in 1991-92. This high revenue on part of government was a cause of government not doing anything substantial to stop the sale of arrack.
Renuka Chowdhary of the Telugu Desam Party, then the opposition party in the state, and other women's organizations called for a meeting of all women fighting against arrack to form a common platform. And thus a Joint Action Forum of women was formed to press for 'total prohibition' and a memorandum seeking prohibition was submitted to the Chief Minister.
When the response from chief minister was not satisfactory, they decided to collect signatures, arrange meetings in the slums, and organize rallies, marches and picketing. At a rally on 2nd October 1994, N.T Rama Rao of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) proclaimed that if his party was elected to power he would declare total prohibition. Elections to the state assembly were held in December and the TDP was elected to power with a thumping majority.
In the beginning, the political parties were a bit wary of this commitment made by Rama Rao as it was the same N.T. Rama Rao who had introduced the Yarun Vahini scheme, making liquor available in people's homes by selling it in sachets, now emerged as a leader to demand prohibition. In fact, each and every political party from Right to Center to Left, be it the Telugu Desam Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Communist Party of India or the Communist Party of India (Marxist), made prohibition an issue during the elections. The women had achieved their victory.
About the movement:
The movement had characteristics of social movement as it mobilized the women involved in it to struggle for a specific goal and objectives. Here the goal to be achieved was the ban on sale of arrack and women as a whole participated for the cause.
As a result of the mission mass-literacy campaigns being organized in the state, women often got together and discussed their problems. They found that all of them had a common problem at home- alcoholism. Together, they decided to take a stand against all those who sold the liquor that ruined their families' lives. But gradually they have risen suddenly in revolt against the local bureaucracy, police officials and the Chief Minister. They had a simple demand complete ban on selling of Arrack.Liquor contractors have emerged as the most powerful people as they had resources and with political patronage gradually these contractors become politician. With earning from the sale of arrack they could bride the police excise officials etc and maintain gang to people to dismantle any kind of agitation raised against them. After bribing officials whatever funds they had they invested in real estate, construction, finance and donations to cultural and religious institutions. The revenue of the government as excise duty from the sale of arrack was high it was Rs 390 million in 1970-71 that increased to Rs 8.12 billion in 1991-92. This high revenue on part of government was a cause of government not doing anything substantial to stop the sale of arrack.
Renuka Chowdhary of the Telugu Desam Party, then the opposition party in the state, and other women's organizations called for a meeting of all women fighting against arrack to form a common platform. And thus a Joint Action Forum of women was formed to press for 'total prohibition' and a memorandum seeking prohibition was submitted to the Chief Minister.
When the response from chief minister was not satisfactory, they decided to collect signatures, arrange meetings in the slums, and organize rallies, marches and picketing. At a rally on 2nd October 1994, N.T Rama Rao of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) proclaimed that if his party was elected to power he would declare total prohibition. Elections to the state assembly were held in December and the TDP was elected to power with a thumping majority.
In the beginning, the political parties were a bit wary of this commitment made by Rama Rao as it was the same N.T. Rama Rao who had introduced the Yarun Vahini scheme, making liquor available in people's homes by selling it in sachets, now emerged as a leader to demand prohibition. In fact, each and every political party from Right to Center to Left, be it the Telugu Desam Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Communist Party of India or the Communist Party of India (Marxist), made prohibition an issue during the elections. The women had achieved their victory.
About the movement:
The movement had characteristics of social movement as it mobilized the women involved in it to struggle for a specific goal and objectives. Here the goal to be achieved was the ban on sale of arrack and women as a whole participated for the cause.
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