when was the anti liquar agitation launched
Answers
protests that happened in Madras Presidency of the British Raj during 1937-40. It was launched in 1937 in opposition to the introduction of compulsory teaching of Hindi in the schools of the presidency by the Indian national congress government.
I am not sure about the answer..
But demand for a complete prohibition of alcohol in the state of Karnataka is not an unique one in the country. Several states including the neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Mizoram and Manipur have seen such protests in the past. Mentioning the anti-liquor movement in Andhra Pradesh in 1990’s, Kancha Illaiah wrote, “Rural women in Andhra are making history. Illiterate women, whose minds and bodies appeared to have been crippled under the heavy weight of hard labour, landlord and market exploitation, social and domestic oppression, and who have been 'public goddesses' and 'private sex objects', have now suddenly revolted against their husbands, the mandal officer, the police sub-inspector, the collector and superintendent of police and the home minister and chief minister. Their demands are simple—no drinking or selling liquor.”
The movement in AP started in Nellore where women in an unprecedented way, stepped out of their homes and got onto the street and, as Illaiah writes attacked all those who were responsible for the liquor availability in the district. The movement mainly aimed at stopping the auctioning of the liquor shops.
Similarly, writing about an anti liquor movement spearheaded by women in Uttar Pradesh, Bharat Dogra said, “Pather village of Saharanpur district has emerged as a major symbol of the anti-liquor movement in western Uttar Pradesh. For nearly three months, the people of this village, assisted by a voluntary organisation Disha, carried out a grim struggle for the removal of the liquor vend from the village...The liquor vend at Pather had at one time become the number one problem of the people of this village.”
As Dogra writes, even in Pather the women fearlessly stood up against domestic abuse and the economic stress that the consumption of liquor had caused them.
These movements even though focusing on anti-alcoholism, have been fighting other issues as well. One such example is the Meira Paibi, which was started by Meitei women in the late 1970s against alcoholism and drug abuse. Presently, the Meira Paibi also focuses on the protection of human rights in their community and fight against the injustices of AFSPA (Armed Force Special Protection Act).
Swarna acknowledging all of these movements noted that the governments which actually care for women’s rights will take prohibition of liquor seriously. Rubbishing the claims that prohibition would give rise to illicit market, she said, it is the duty of the government to design a policy and implement it.