Sharmila shuns Anbumani over alcohol

NI Wire

New Delhi

Sat, 03 May 2008: 

Anbumani Ramadoss does not seem to savour good with his rhetoric who has been recently shunned by Central Board of Film Certificate (CBFC) chairman Sharmila Tagore for his alleged attack on film personalities over alcoholism.

Tagore in her reaction suggested Union Health mister to focus on real issues like fake drug, she said: “First it was about smoking, then he spoke about chips and now alcohol.

I think what is primarily very important now is that he should focus on real issues like fake medicines. There are lot of drugs that are fake and it's a known fact, which is actually causing a lot of problems.”

However, she also made it clear that she is not against the health minister but maintained that though people have an option to choose alcohol but in case of fake medicines they are left with no choice.

“The minister should take into consideration the views of people involved in the film making business,” she added.

Reportedly on Wednesday Ramadoss barbed that it is unfortunate that movies are showing drunken scenes as tool of humour and while targeting Shahrukh Khan (his most favourite star whom he like to have a dig every now and then) in Om Shanti Om in which he played role of a junior artist who indulged in alcoholism to get relief from sorrow.

Recently Ramadoss has described alcohol as “the mother of all public health problems in India”, and had proposed to devise the India’s first “national policy against alcohol” to curb alcoholism by restricting liquor shops, raising taxes and creating public awareness.

While releasing the Alcohol Atlas of India prepared by Alcohol Policy Alliance recently, Ramadoss also asked media to play an important role tackling the problem of alcohol abuse. The appalling study by (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences) NIMHANS showed that the average age of initiation has reduced from 28 years during 1980s to 20 years in the recent times.

Also National Survey (study sponsored by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2004) revealed that among adult men, about 21% were current drinkers and about 17% were regular user of alcohol, and among those seeking treatment about 44% were alcohol users. The most recent data on alcohol use is available from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2007) Data collected in 2005-06, published in September 2007. It showed that about 32% were current users of alcohol and between 4 and 13% were daily users. The proportion of users among rural and urban population is very similar (32% and 31% respectively).

He also stressed on India being the largest beverage industries in the South East Asia producing up to 65% of the total beverages in the region and that in another 5-7 years, majority of Indians will start drinking at the age of 15.