India is a country with approximately 62.5 million people who drink alcohol at least occasionally. There has been an unprecedented rise in alcohol consumption in the last 3 decades. Alcohol consumption within limits should not be subject to moral judgment, though different governments deal with the issue differently. For example, it was banned in Bihar just a few months back, and it has long been so in Gujarat. Different regions and different communities in India perceive alcohol differently. Market wise, India is potentially the third largest market of alcohol consumers in the world, which is why so many international brands are keen on joining in.
What makes alcohol a potential threat today is India’s poverty coupled with the near absence of public infrastructure for social and mental support. While this also makes alcoholism often a taboo issue for many, talking about it on the crowdfunding sites in India would also ensure better awareness.
Here are a few ways in which alcoholism operates:
- A large number of the youth are unemployed, and this leads to a culture of collective frustration. In fact, the Indian youth are under more pressure than anywhere else in the world, hence the highest rate of suicides. There is unimaginable competition in the job market as well which contributes to alcoholism among the well-off youngsters.
- There is next to no support system in this country for any issue. Also, India as a developing country promotes this culture of toxic masculinity where everybody is expected to be silent about their problems and tough up in order to fit to the mould of being model citizens of an advancing nation.
- Alcoholism is intimately related to domestic abuse, meaning that the worst affected are actually the women and the children, who themselves grow up to be alcoholics and continue the cycle more often than not.
Where do the crowdfunding websites in India come in while dealing with alcoholism?
Alcoholism is damaging in every way. Not only does alcohol consumption often mean financial ruin for a large number of people, it also affects their ability to fulfil any social role, including working anymore for a living. Acknowledging alcoholism is closely related to guilt and blame. But what should be made very prominent in the crowdfunding websites is the acknowledgement of the victim’s role, their possible causes for sinking into alcoholism, and most importantly, their desire to get better and make lives around them better.
