Prof Selwyn Ryan, Dr Indira Rampersad, Dr Lennox Bernard, Prof Patricia Mohammed and Dr Marjorie Thorpe were commissioned by government to produce an analysis of the state of increased violence in T&T's society and to make recommendations as to how to combat some of these ills. This document is now a source of great debate and disagreement with the acting Commissioner of Police questioning the committee's findings of over 40 per cent of corrupt officers in the local police force.
The Maha Sabha has paid special attention to the report's finding of alcoholic consumption in the Hindu community by both male and female and the consequent violence against woman.The report quotes a senior superintendent who has made a number of observations about central Trinidad, with special reference to Felicity, a predominantly Hindu village.
We quote: "He emphasised, however, that alcohol consumption is most prevalent amongst the Hindu community in Felicity as it is in the rest of Central. Everyone is consuming alcohol," he affirmed. "One may even argue that women are consuming more than men."
The superintendent observed that the bars and pubs are frequented by more women than men as "every man has a few women around him in these drinking places." The lower classes tend to frequent the less luxurious "rum shops" but the more affluent can be found in the posh pubs which have sprouted up throughout Central in recent times.
"The crisis amongst East Indians then, is generally one of alcohol abuse and domestic violence. This is compounded by a burgeoning middle-class spawned by the education achieved by the generation of parents of today's youths. The parents of the current generation of Indo-Trinidadian youth sacrificed tremendously to ensure that their children do not suffer the hardships they did when they were growing up."
The consumption of alcohol with the consequent social disruptions, is an age-old problem in the Hindu community. The Maha Sabha recognised this problem more than 25 years ago and we commissioned Pundit Dr Rampersad Parasram, then a senior psychologist at the St Ann's Medical Hospital, to conduct research for us and to advise what we, as preachers of religion, can do to combat the problem.
Some writers have even suggested that excessive alcohol consumption could arise as a result of the genes some of us inherit. But no solid medical evidence has come forward to substantiate this finding. We do acknowledge that this is a problem in our society and our pundits, teachers and social workers constantly remind the followers of Hinduism about the dangers of alcohol abuse and the use of drugs, including marijuana.
Across the country we have made all our schools and temples available, free of charge, for the conduct of meetings of the Alcohol Anonymous groups (AA) on a regular basis. We note that some have benefited from AA, while others have reverted to their old drinking habits.
I am writing this article two days before the 2013 phagwa celebrations and wish to record, as a youth growing up in the village of Caroni, that on the night of the burning of Holika (the bonfire), our elders would conduct an all-night chowtal Sameleaan–the singing of phagwa songs, and there was always a pot of boiling "bhang."
This was a mixture of marijuana, milk and other ingredients that produced "a head" to the participants. The period I speak about was when marijuana, also known as ganja, could have been bought legally across the counter.
Some students of Indian and Hindu history of T&T also point to one of the causes of violence and even death that our woman folk suffered at the hands of their husbands. During these early days of indentureship, women were not brought together with men folk in equal numbers. Extreme jealously was spawned and women who committed adultery lost there lives.
History pointed to the fact that although Indians started arriving in Trinidad in 1845 with all-male cargo of humans, ten years later in 1855, it was stipulated that "at least thirty three, later forty women should be brought for each hundred men." And although most of the men brought from India were between the ages of 18 and 25, none could bring his wife, consequently a great disparity between the sexes continued for a long time.
In India itself, alcoholism has posed a challenging problem and even the venerable Mahatma Ghandi is reported to have issued, "several strong statements against the sale and consumption of alcohol."
According to writer Monica Arora: "Prohibition is incorporated in the Constitution of India among the directive principles of state policy." Article 47 says: "The state shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and standard of living of its people as among its primary duties and in particular, the state shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the use, except for medicinal purposes, of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health."