CORPORATE ETHICS, POWER POLITICS

AND
SOCIAL WELFARE

Group 1:

Sheikh Abdullah G1028697

Bilal Ilhan G1022251
Abuzar Hassaan G1020809
Abdul Hakim G1024861
 Introduction
 Tamil Nadu, is one among the 28 states of India with a
population of 72.13 million (5.96% of total Indian population)
with highest literacy rate in India.

 Two political parties DMK and AIADMK rule the state since
1967.

 Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation (India) had

canvassed total prohibition of alcohol.

 Constitution of India endorsed, adopted, and imposed total

prohibition in 1977.

 It lasted only two years .

 In Tamil Nadu, by 2004 all private outlets selling alcohol were either shut

down or taken over by the company Tamil Nadu State Marketing

Corporation (TASMAC) which has a monopoly.

 It is 100% owned company by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

 TASMAC has 6,823 retail outlets and 41 depots throughout the state for

uninterrupted sales of liquor.

 INDUCEMENT TO VOTE
 DMK 2006 state assembly election Manifesto:

 Rs.2 for 1kg quality rice

 free TV sets
 free gas stoves to poor women
 free electricity to weavers in addition to farmer
 waiver of loans in the event of farmers death etc.

 DMK's election manifesto is ‘The Hero of the 2006 election in Tamil

Nadu - The then Central Finance Minister P Chidambaram

 DMK gave these promises with the liquor revenue in mind.

 2011 STATE ASSEMBLY ELECTION MANIFESTO

 ADMK: Free laptop for all Higher Secondary students and Art &

Science college students, Free 20Kg Rice for all ration card holders,
Free cable connection, Free Mixer, Grinder & Fan for all households.

 DMK also announced similar promises but due to its record

corruption in the state and national level and also the party
president’s family members’ dominance in politics made aversion
among the people and the people voted ADMK to power.
AGGRESSIVE LIQUOR BUSINESS EXPANSION
 2010 - Free schemes - 100 b rupees, Revenue -150b

 To achieve revenue to 200b - Open shortly,‘Elite TASMAC club’.

 Opening time by additional two hours per day from 9am to 11pm.

previously it was 10am – 10pm.

 Tamil Nadu government rejoices over its “liquor achievements” but the

economy and health of tens of thousands of poor families in the state are
getting uprooted. Hundreds of thousands of women in the lower
income group suffer virtual torture in the hands of their drunken men
day in and day out.
ANNUAL REVENUE OF TASMAC: 2002 - 2011
 RECENT EVENTS OF TASMAC ‘EFFECT’
 In one of the recent events in the state on 11th Feb 2012, a
woman who killed her husband with a cricket bat after he
attacked her in an inebriated state and also attempted to
rape their daughter.

 The Madras High Court, on 9th Feb 2012 has held that the
future and safety of the children are more important than the
TASMAC earning revenue out of selling liquor and directed
TASMAC to close the shop in the Golden Enclave on
Poonamallee High Road, Kilpauk, Chennai.
“Liquor is Injurious to the State, Home and one’s Life”
But Dearer to Political Parties

 Overall, the state government’s liquor business causes drastic

damage in the productive labor force, increasing domestic
violence and divorce rates, road accidents, students become
rapists and murderers etc.

 There is an impending catastrophe of total human capital waste

among the vast majority of people and alarming rise in criminal
activities.

 The irony is, the state government sells the liquor with a caption,
“Liquor is Injurious to the State, Home and one’s Life”
 Q1. Is it ethical on the part of an elected government to run
liquor business? Can the welfare schemes justify the revenue
accrued from liquor business?
 No. It is unethical.

 Any govt. should give priority to its citizens’ physical, psychological

& economic welfare.

 Addiction to liquor will surely ruin the social fabric of the state.

 A govt. can run many businesses like Transport (Road, Rail, Sea &

Avian), Telecom, Electrical Power Plant, Textile, Dairy Products etc.

Such business not only essential but also as source of
employment to millions of people.
Welfare Schemes: Is the means justify the End?
No! Both means and ends should ethically compatible.

 Govt. should encourage the people to work and to lead

dignified life through their earnings.
 Govt. should not spend unnecessarily on irrelevant free
schemes. (eg. Laptops to School children, T.V.s to
households, Free Cable connection etc) So liquor revenue is
not necessary.
 It should extend welfare schemes on very essential things
like health care, that too not totally free but as non-
commercial to cover at least the operation cost.
 It has to expand employment opportunities. Then the people
will be self reliant.
 Q2. . Is the government fulfills its ‘social contract’ as the
monopolized owner of TASMAC company?

Social contract:
 An intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate

relationship between individuals and their governments.

 It Provides the individuals unite into political societies by a

process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common

rules and accept corresponding duties to protect themselves
and one another from violence and other kinds of harm.

 Political authority must be derived from the consent of the

governed people.
 INTOXICANTS & ITS ADVERSE EFFECTS
What are intoxicants?
General definition: Any substance which when taken into a body by
one mean or another produces a condition of diminished mental and
physical ability.

Medical definition: Any substance that poisons or produces

symptoms of poisoning in a body.

 Alcohol use and abuse is associated with serious medical

illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular problems, liver
cirrhosis, stroke, hypertension, and brain damage
 Alcohol dependence elevates the risk for depression as well
as all types of anxiety and personality disorders.
 SOCIAL ADVERSE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLISM

 Family Problems

 Increased family tension

 Increased levels of quarrelling and violence

 Destabilised relationships.

 Partners may become anxious, depressed, socially

withdrawn and may drink excessively themselves
 Detrimental effects on the children leading to
behavioural problems and underperformance at
school
 Increased rates of divorce.
 OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS OF ALCOHOLISM

 Deterioration in performance

 Conflict with colleagues

 Increase in workplace accidents

 Poor attendance

 Dismissals

 Unemployment
 Consumption of alcohol is totally harmful to

human body and society.

 The state is against the definition of social

contract.

 The state has to protect all citizens from any

kinds of harm and violence.

Q3. Is the society responsible for the outcomes of welfare
schemes and the revenue of liquor?

 India is the largest Democracy in the world

 People should not sell their vote for freebies

 They have to be self reliant with earnings through their

work

 They should use all democratic means to protest

against TASMAC shops and pressurize local

authorities to close them down

 NGOs should conduct study on the cost of Alcoholics
causing to their health & society and raise awareness
among the people and to the policy makers (Govt)
 The people should resort all legal avenues through High
Courts & Supreme Court of India.
 Ballot paper is the biggest weapon to correct the
political parties in democratic setup.
 They can exercise negative/neutral vote (Rule 49-O) to
reject all the candidates of a constituency. This will
show the resolve of the people against unethical
policies of political parties.
Q4. What alternative from an Islamic perspective do you suggest for
these two major political parties, DMK & ADMK for the welfare of people
of the state?

 Islam approaches a holistic way of life.

 It values the moral and spiritual health of a nation as much as its

physical well-being.

 It considers anything that interferes with the normal working of the

mind, numbs our senses, thereby reducing our level of shame or
responsibility, control on behavior or clouds our perception as
harmful.
 EVIL & HAZARDOUS EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL
 Mankind has not suffered any greater calamity than that brought about by the
use of alcohol.

 It causes mental disorders, delirium, tremors, nervous breakdowns, hepatitis,

cirrhosis of liver, suicides, homicides, bankruptcies, sales of properties, broken
homes, traffic accidents, crimes etc.

 In America, everyday on an average 2,713 rapes took place. The statistics tell us
that the majority of the rapists, were intoxicated while committing the crime. The
same is true in cases of molestation.

 8% of Americans commit incest i.e. one in every twelve to thirteen persons in

America is involved in incest. Almost all the cases of incest are due to intoxication
of one or both the persons involved. (National Crime Victimization Survey Bureau of Justice, U.S.
Department of Justice, 1996)
THE WAY ISLAM DEALT WITH INTOXICANTS

 The Arabs during the period of jahiliyyah were very fond of wine and
drinking parties.

 To eradicate this pervasive evil from society, Allah adopted a wise

course of education and training, prohibiting it in three measured
stages.

 First Stage: The harm of drinking wine is greater than its benefits,
“They ask you about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: In both
of them there is a great sin and means of benefit for men, and their
sin is greater than their benefits”. (Al Quran 2:219)
 THE WAY ISLAM DEALT WITH INTOXICANTS Contd.
 Second stage: Allah told them not to come to Prayer (Salaat) while
intoxicated, “Believers! Do not draw near to the Prayer while you are
intoxicated until you know what you are saying…” (Al Quran 4:42)

 Third and Final stage: Allah revealed the verse which prohibited it totally
and decisively: “O you who believe! Truly, intoxicants and gambling and
divination by arrows are an abomination of Satan's doing: avoid it in order
that you may be successful. Assuredly Satan desires to sow enmity and
hatred among you with intoxicants and gambling, and to hinder you from
the remembrance of Allah and from salaat. Will you not then desist?” (Al
Quran 5:90)
 PROPHET’S ADMONITION ON INTOXICANTS

 "Every intoxicant is khamr, and every khamr is haram." (Muslim.)

 "Of that which intoxicates in a large amount, a small amount is haram." (Abu
Daud, and al-Tirmidhi.)

 "If a bucketful intoxicates, a sip of it is haram." (Abu Daud, and al-Tirmidhi.)

 "God’s curse falls on ten groups of people who deal with alcohol. The one
who distills it, the one for whom it has been distilled, the one who drinks it,
the one who transports it, the one to who it has been brought, the one
whom serves it, the one who sells it, the one who utilizes money from it, the
one who buys it and the one who buys it for someone else." (Sunan Ibn-I-
Majah)
 ESTIMATING SOCIAL COST OF ALCOHOL

1. What kind and scale of health-care services are necessary to deal with
alcohol related problems and how much do these services cost?
2. How many people die prematurely as a direct and indirect result of
alcohol misuse?
3. What are the economic consequences of these premature deaths?
4. What effect does alcohol misuse have on individual output at the
workplace?
5. What is the scale of alcohol-related crime in society?
6. How much does society have to spend to protect itself from alcohol
related crime, enforce the law, and punish the offenders?
7. How much does society have to spend in response to alcohol related
crime in terms of lost output destroyed property and the pain and
suffering of victims of crime?
 RECOMMENDATIONS & CONCLUSION
o Risks and costs to society and government outweigh the benefits from
taxation on alcoholic beverages.

o The situation is going worse and will eventually cause a collapse in human
capital of the state of Tamilnadu.

o The political parties in Tamilnadu, DMK & ADMK should not resort to the
revenue from Alcoholic beverages to gain the power of authority to rule the
state by wooing the electorate with freebies in the name of social welfare
scheme.

o The state government should act prudently to safeguard the health and
welfare of the people by gradually implementing total prohibition of alcoholic
beverages, the way Islam had implemented.