UPDATE

Hooch deaths in Tamil Nadu

FOR the third consecutive month, a "methanol tragedy" has struck Tamil Nadu. In the latest incident, near Panrutti in Cuddalore district, 50 persons lost their lives after they consumed methanol mixed with water, which was sold to them by bootleggers. Methanol, an industrial solvent, is a poisonous substance that comes under the purview of the Poisons Act, 1919.

On November 29, residents of nine villages, including Mel Arungunam, Manamthavizhntha Pudur, Natham, Rayar Palayam and Woriyur, near Panrutti, drank the concoction bought from the neighbouring Union Territory of Pondicherry. As they stumbled, complained of dimming vision and felt as if they were "going mad", they were admitted to the Government Headquarters Hospital, Cuddalore. In Woriyur village alone, 23 persons died. The police said 50 people died and 147 were in hospital, but according to T. Velmurugan, Panrutti's representative in the State Assembly, 52 persons died and 200 were receiving treatment.

A galling feature of the incident is the role played by women. Chinnaponnu and Adhilakshmi, who sold the brew, died after tasting their own concoctions. Mottaikalai, a suspect who was absconding, allegedly committed suicide at Ulundurpet in Villupuram district. Of the nearly 2.5 lakh persons arrested in Tamil Nadu this year for prohibition-related offences, about 52,000 were women. In 1999, about 95,000 of the 3.91 lakh alleged offenders were women. There were 88,000 women among more than 3.5 lakh persons arrested for such offences in 1998.

On September 9, 13 persons died at Menambedu village near Ambattur, a Chennai suburb, after they drank methanol mixed with water. Tragedy struck again on October 6 when 30 people of Kottur village, near Red Hills, about 30 km from Chennai, died after they drank methanol.

Partial prohibition exists in Tamil Nadu. While Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) is available in shops, the sale of arrack and toddy is banned.

Additional Director-General of Police (Enforcement) Paramvir Singh sees it as a complex problem. In the last three months there was a major drive against the sale of illicitly distilled arrack and rectified spirit. So there was a big demand for cheap liquor, and bootleggers took to selling lethal chemicals such as methanol.

Tamil Nadu has about 200 manufacturers of methanol, which is was often leaked out to unscrupulous elements. This happens either at the point of manufacture, at the stockists' premises or during transportation in tankers, says Paramvir Singh.

T.S. Subramanian

Taiwan's vote

TAIWAN'S parliamentary elections held on December 1 did not generate the same kind of interest as the presidential election held last year did. Also, this time, Beijing desisted from issuing fiery broadsides against parties advocating formal secession from the mainland. During the presidential elections held in 1996 and 2000, China's government and also media issued repeated warnings about the adverse consequences of a victory for candidates and parties that were in favour of independence. During the 1996 presidential election, there was military tension in the Taiwan Straits.

In comparison, this time the Taiwan Affairs Office based in Beijing, which is responsible for the handling of cross-straits affairs, issued just one statement warning that refusal by the Taiwanese government to recognise the island as an inalienable part of China would lead to "new tensions or even conflict".

SIMON KWONG/REUTERS
President Chen Shui-bian. His DPP emerged as the single largest party in the legislature.

Neither did Beijing react to the pro-independence rhetoric of the major parties in the fray. However, the Chinese leadership clarified that it would not accept an independent Taiwan. Besides, the situation on the ground precludes such a scenario. Today, Taiwanese entrepreneurs are big-time investors in mainland China. Big business houses in Taiwan are against formal secession. In fact, they seem to be silent votaries of the "one country, two systems" concept favoured by Beijing under which Hong Kong and Macao were reintegrated with the mainland.

There were no surprises in the election results. The Nationalist Party, or the Kuomintang (KMT), which had a virtual monopoly of power until recently, had splintered prior to the presidential elections in 2000. This helped the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led by the incumbent Taiwanese President, Chen Shui-bian emerge as the single largest Party by winning 88 of the 225 seats in the legislature. In the outgoing Assembly, the DPP held around one-third of the seats. The KMT, with 68 seats is the biggest loser; it had 123 seats in the outgoing Assembly. The Peoples First Party, a KMT splinter group led by one of its former leaders, James Soong, won 46 seats. The newly formed Taiwan Solidarity Union of former President Lee Teng-hui, another splinter group of the KMT, got 13 seats. In the mayoral elections, the KMT did better by winning nine posts - the same number that the DPP won.

The Taiwanese economy is facing a downturn and there is record unemployment. Chen Shui-bian is perceived by many Taiwanese as an inexperienced leader. The Chinese government has refused to engage him in official talks owing to his uncompromising stance on the question of independence. Chen will have to forge a coalition in order to run the government. The past year was marked by a legislative logjam as the KMT majority refused to cooperate with him. Earlier in the year, there was an attempt by the KMT-dominated legislature to impeach him. With the KMT's grip on the legislature loosening, he will be freer to pursue his agenda.

John Cherian