Kochi: The government should bring in a comprehensive law for the neera industry in Kerala and constitute a Neera Board which is an enabling and rational regulatory body with farmer’s representatives in it, Coconut Development Board chairman T K Jose has said.
In an interview to Deccan Chronicle here on Wednesday, Mr Jose said licencing, extraction, processing, packaging and marketing of neera must be taken out of the Abkari Act 1973 and brought under a comprehensive new law.
Mr Jose, who as CDB chairman organised over six lakh coconut farmers in the state under coconut producer societies, federations and companies for the production of neera, said the Excise department should continue to monitor the sector. Neera contains no alcohol but is auto-fermentable. “Hence Neera extraction should continue to be a disciplined activity and must be monitored by a force in uniform,” he said.
Mr Jose said the existing Abkari Act has wrongly defined neera as liquor. Section 3 (8) of the Abkari Act says “toddy means fermented or unfermented juice drawn from a coconut, palmyra, date or any other kind of palm tree.”
In effect, this section brings neera under the definition of toddy, and hence that of liquor, though it contains zero alcohol, he pointed out. “If the government wants to retain it in the Abkari Act, it should rename the beverage as a nutritious health drink instead of sweet toddy, as it has done now.”
Mr Jose said the government should take a relook at the constitution of the Neera Board. “It should be an independent and enabling institution, which should be able to maintain the discipline of the industry and help it grow.” It should be run on modern management and scientific principles which demarcates between developmental and regulatory institutions.
“I would favour a representative of the farmer community to be the chairman of the board to ensure that their voice receive the required attention, instead of filling it up with bureaucrats,” Mr Jose said.
