Chennai: PMK leader and Dharmapuri MP Anbumani Ramadoss has urged the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to introduce total prohibition in the country by exercising powers under Article 47 of the Constitution. “There have been incidents in Tamil Nadu, where four year and five-year-old kids were forced to drink alcohol and such videos went viral in social media. I request you to kindly take efforts to implement total prohibition”, he said in a letter.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its recent report on alcohol and health quoted that in India, 32.10 per cent of men and 10.60 per cent of women, both above the age of 15, consumed alcohol. The report had also highlighted a rising trend due to the lack of a national alcohol policy. The former Union health minister also pointed out that about 18 lakh in India died every year directly and indirectly.
And annually another 10 lakh people died due to tobacco. While all communicable diseases put together took a toll of up to nearly seven lakh people every year, alcohol was the biggest killer in the country, he said.
Apart from posing a threat to the lives of citizens, alcohol was turning out to be a colossal threat to our culture and civilisation. If this trend persisted, it will indeed become a factor of major obliteration to our future generation.
