Pavan K. Varma | Casinos, beef, prohibition: Get off the moral pedestal

Elections will come and go, and our great democracy will run on, but at the social level — and not unrelated to politics and economics — some issues need to be tackled head on. One of them is: Are we a nation of hypocrites? Or, to put it more gently, are we as a people, more accepting of the gulf between public posturing and private morality? Do we profess something, and even make it public policy, while in private know that it is all a sham? And, worse, have we forgotten the difference between the two, what we say we believe in, and what we practice in real life?

During the freedom movement, under the towering influence of Mahatma Gandhi, there was genuine acceptance of the need for simplicity in public life. Gandhiji popularised Khadi, and that became the livery of public leaders. But soon thereafter, while the livery, complete with Gandhi cap, remained for public consumption, private lifestyles, fuelled by shameless corruption, were marked by wealth, conspicuous consumption, and ostentatious living. Secure in their façade of Khadi, our political role models lived the good life — big bungalows, an army of minions, and every conceivable luxury. The tragedy is that they did, and continue to do so, oblivious to the deceit involved. The Central and state governments run Khadi production corporations, without serious thought to value addition and commercialisation of a genuinely fine product. In the shabby government outlets for Khadi, political workers are the first buyers.

Article 47 of the Directive Principles of State Policy of our Constitution recommends that the government should “prohibit the consumption of alcoholic drinks that are harmful to health”. Pursuantly, Gujarat adopted prohibition, Haryana and some other states experimented with it, and Bihar has most recently imposed it in 2016. Discouraging excessive alcohol consumption is a laudable objective. But both our leaders and the public know that prohibition is an unworkable solution. It increases rampant alcohol smuggling, creates powerful liquor mafias, coopts the administration in corruption, encourages the sale of lethal illicit spirits, and deprives the state of much needed resources. Yet, lip service continues to be paid to such a policy. I know so many politicians who drink nimbu pani in public and expensive Scotch in private, Coca Cola laced with unseen rum. In Bihar, alcohol is available everywhere, and the enforcement authorities are complicit in enabling it. The result of this hypocrisy is that even needed policy measures against alcohol abuse are not seriously implemented.

The policy of not allowing casinos is motivated by high ethical principles against gambling. But in our country, millions gamble in private, and some even consider it auspicious on Diwali, as an invitation to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Billions are spent by common people in betting on matka, cricket matches, and the results of elections. The networks for unauthorized gambling, are massive, pervasive and organised, functioning without any legal regulatory framework, and with the connivance of enforcement agencies. Indians flock to Kathmandu, London, Macao, Las Vegas — and world over — to casinos, to add to the tourist revenues of those countries, whose ethical standards — incidentally — are often superior to ours.

Casinos are legal in Sikkim, Diu and Daman and Goa. In Goa, our hypocrisy is such that they can run only on luxury boats anchored in the Mandovi river, not onshore, lest our high morality is not further diluted. Few people know or remember, that in 2002, the Haryana Assembly passed a law, the Haryana Casino (Licensing and Control) Bill, whose objective was to foster infrastructure growth, attract global investment, increase tourism and create new job opportunities. The Bill never received Central government clearance. In my view, that was an opportunity lost. What our country needs is alternative avenues of employment. Industry is an option, but with automation and Artificial Intelligence, and the need to cut costs, most of these are not labour intensive. The graduates and semi-trained army of the young we produce from sub-standard educational institutions — with a few exceptions — are largely unemployable in high-tech or exacting managerial sectors. In this situation, tourism has a very high potential for job creation. It does not require highly skilled or educated personnel. It is widely dispersed, not over-centralised in just a few states or clusters, provides employment opportunities at lower levels of the educational curve, and has ripple economic effects on a variety of other sectors.

Currently, tourism in our country is operating far below its potential and, in comparison with some other nations, including China, operating far below its actual potential. This is particularly unfortunate since there is almost nothing our country lacks in terms of tourist attraction. Our policy on casinos, based on duplicitous moral grounds, needs a rethink for these reasons, as the Haryana government courageously tried once, and not because I am in any way advocating the encouragement of gambling in general.

Vegetarianism is becoming another of our ‘moral’ fads, although reliable surveys show that even among Hindus, 52 to 56 per cent are non-vegetarians. Food habits are a matter of individual choice. Beef is not universally banned in India, but keeping the sentiments of Hindus in mind, cow slaughter is rightfully banned in many states. However, we have no qualms in benefiting from the exports of buffalo or ‘carabeef’, of which we are the world’s second largest exporter.

Governments have the solemn duty to encourage morality and prevent vice. Ideally, people should only be honest, wear Khadi, abstain from drink, shun gambling and eat sattvik food. But even if this was possible, any attempt to achieve it is deeply vitiated by our hypocrisy. Our national motto is: Satyameva Jayate. It is an inspiring clarion call, reflective of the loftiness and courage of our philosophical heritage. Let us honour it in real life, not by encouraging immorality, but by pragmatically recognising our own double standards where morality is concerned, especially where this hypocrisy is hurting the real needs of the people. Only if we get off from our make-belief moral pedestal, can we credibly, effectively and actually rectify such a situation.