Women’s battle against bottle intensifies in Uttarakhand hills

ALMORA

: Kailash Barakoti (name changed) is a 36-year-old labourer in Narayan Ghut in Bageshwar district. He admits to being an alcoholic and has not been able to give up the habit even after spending a few months at a rehabilitation centre in Haldwani. “I started drinking with friends when we were teenagers. There wasn’t much to do in the village – no work, no college,” Barakoti, who has studied up till Class XII, says. Barakoti’s mother is one of the many women protesting against opening liquor shops in villages. “We have lost two generations to alcohol; we don’t want to lose any more,” says Neeta Devi.
Barakoti spends his entire earning on alcohol and also asks money from his pensioner mother and wife, who works as a teacher in a private school. “From domestic violence to verbal abuse, Barakoti has been the reason for his household troubles,” says Sarita Devi, the gram pradhan of Narayan Ghut.

Sarita Devi has been leading the campaign against liquor shops in Bageshwar. Along with 500 women from different villages, she camps in front of liquor shops every day with sticks and sickles to ensure that they stay closed. The Narayan Ghut gram sabha has three liquor shops and until the women began their stir, local men could be spotted at these shops at all times of the day. “Two of these shops opened just eight months back. We spend hours farming, collecting water, fuel and fodder, while men just sit and drink,” complains Sarita. “We will not let these shops open. There will be no liquor shop within 5km radius of our village,” she adds. Thankfully for Sarita, after several efforts, her husband has given up drinking.

Scores of women in Kumaon have a similar story to tell. From Almora to Nachni, women have been up in arms for past two weeks against the government’s move to shift liquor shops to villages. To prevent wine shops from opening, women camp outside them and also hold dharnas and demonstrations outside government offices. Their resolve is so strong that some women in

Nachni

area of Pithoragarh have even threatened to commit suicide if a wine shop is opened there, while near Ranikhet, women have locked the existing liquor vends. “Men who drink are also supporting our cause. Probably they realize if these shops are shut, they will be able to give up the habit. Liquor has ruined our lives and devastated families in the hills,” says Geeta Devi from Pithoragarh district.

Uttarakhand

has over 500 liquor shops 80% of them are located on highways. However, after the Supreme Court’s recent order, the government has decided to denotify some state highways.