our man Lalu is in the news once again...he plans to ban the sale of colas on trains...well...as much as i am against colas...sadly enough i don't think his plan may work..not just coz it may face widespread protests by those who swear by colas but also coz the stakes are too high...politically...also the 'free' media will never support it..(they are already up with arguments in support of lactose intolerant passengers who cannot drink lassi or buttermilk that is supposed to replace colas on trains...after all a sizeable amount of media revenue is generated by cola ads)
also coz i think in a scenario where we are supposedly 'free' to make our choices...it takes more than a ban to convince people about 'responsible consumption'...it takes more than a ban to ask people to question their choices...it takes an empowered people like those of Plachimada in Kerala who forced the closure of Coke in their village after they discovered that their groundwater level had dropped drastically after the bottling plant was set up...what millions of us educated Indians could not fathom..a few hundred (non Harvard returned) villagers laid bare...that "water..a life giving resource of this land belongs to the people of this land...and no one can commercialise it for their private gains...no one..." it didn't take an official ban for them to protect their resource...
If one cares to research a little bit..one would find out that cola bottling plants exploit the country's groundwater resources indiscrimately..leaving millions in rural areas thirsting forever... somewhere in a village far away from the maddening heights of consumerism that has enveloped our cities..thousands of women and children are walking miles to fetch a pot of brackish water..so that we may not be deprived of our bottle of fizz!!
the case against colas is not about 'Swadeshi' versus 'Videshi'...it's about appropriate technology..the whole case about large scale versus small scale...i think Gandhian socialism has been left largely ignored in the current context...(if anyone has a copy of EF Schumacher's Small is Beautiful..i am looking for one..)
i don't think it hurts to fill up a bottle of water from home everytime we step out instead of heading for the stall selling mineral water...
as for Lalu's ban on colas...it may be recalled that the hallowed portals of power (the Parliament) banned the sale of colas only when they were found to have high pesticide content...yet another evidence of self preservation i guess...
(for more on this will upload an article by a prof of mine...have to ask for permission...)
posted by Vibha @ 8:13 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
that's what i meant when i said Lalu's ban is about self preservation...
i think the awareness has to be two pronged...coz obviously consumption is higher in the urban areas...and that's why schools and colleges have to be targetted...coz bans will be fought legally...and the law can be immoral (as we have seen in the case of arguments doled out by 'activits' who root for slum demolitions)...so the whole question of 'moral consumption' can be invoked only when people are informed completely about the whole truth behind a bottle of cola...
the decision to reject a product has to come from the people of this land than be imposed upon them!!
"Baap ka Jageer" is what comes to my head when i read about politicians coming up with senseless bans; dance bars, alchohol ads, whatever.
My point is, there is something called Liberty. That i have the right to buy whatever i want with the money that i earned. about responsible consumption, well your just throwing General Equilibrium theory in the bin and saying "some of the smart comrades should decide whats best for the country's consumption", we have history to prove the impotency of a policy like that.
i know about the ground water depletion, but thats a problem that the local and state authorities have used to the wrong scale of measurement of distribution of the total share of water... and again so it is because, 'government' is supposed to do that...
water is a problem not only in areas of Bottling Plants. so that argument doesnt quite hold a strong case.
Alchohol is bad, so is sugar, and the local mithai, you are gonna ban all that? the local vadapao doesnt even meet the hygiene criteria, atleast the colas do.
i dont understand who is anyone to ban something unless its physically harmful... and to assume that the masses dont have brains.
schazeb...of course everyone is free to make their choices...so are you...which is why we opened up in the first place...
the point i am trying to make here...is that we don't realise that very often our consumption is at the cost of someone's necessity...water of this country belongs to the people of this country...why should we have a private party commercialise what belongs to all of us anyways just because they may have more money...i think right to water is connected essentially to the right to life...and i don't think i wanaa trade the right to life for a bottle of fizz!!
i am not saying that a few of us will decide what is good for the rest of us...but essentially that's what is happening even now...are we told the entire truth behind a bottle of cola?
which is why i talked about 'moral consumption'...i am just questioning the status quo... i have found my answer...your answers are for you to find...
I am very tempted to leave a comment....
Boss.. first of all i feel that the government can make use of this mindless consumerism displayed by "urban public".
Lets take a simple example...
You are talking about Coke having a "financial muscle power"..Okay here is how u can harness it..
1. Place a limit on the amount of ground water being consumed, simultaneously attaching a tax to amount of water being used. Also frame a law by which the company will be penalised heavily for every ml of water is consumes above the pre-defined limit
So... If I am the CEO of Coke, India. Such a law would force me to either shut down OR resort sourcing water by desalination of Sea Water based on a cost beifit analysis done by my able MBA employees.
See banning a particular product is very easy, but making the most of the mindless consumerism is what the government should think of. Which is like never gonna happen ....
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