Alcohol Abuse Advice

Women in Chhattisgarh, India successfully get the local liquor brewery shut down after a four day protest. Bhan Sahu is an active and passionate member of a women’s committee in Chhattisgarh and has been a part of many campaigns to protect and promote the rights of women. Through this video, she wants to share a success story about how the women of Mohla united and sat outside a liquor shop for four days in protest, until it was shut down. In India, the government issues distilling licenses to brew liquor at public auctions. Each state invites tenders, has a selection process and then sells licenses to vendors for a price. As a result there are several thousand local liquor brewing set-ups in little villages all over the country, and these are usually associated with social problems of alcoholism, bankruptcy and domestic violence. “It is the children who suffer the most,” Bhan Sahu said. “They aren’t able to go to school. Their fathers waste money buying alcohol. They take the gold, bangles, they take their wives’ jewelry and sell it. The wives are beaten up. Alcohol is the biggest problem in our community.” Led by Pramila Sharma, thousands of women got together in March 2009 to protest, which resulted in the brewery being moved elsewhere. The Director of Video Volunteers, Stalin K, has made a film called “When Women Unite: The Story of an Uprising” in Andhra Pradesh, where women re-enacted how they had thrown chili pepper into the eyes of the liquor sellers. Besides …