Raising the Drinking Age in India
Head for the west coast of India now for this Geo Quiz. The Indian city on our radar is the capital of the state of Maharashtra. One notable thing about this city is its population of over 12.5 million people. That puts it among the world’s top ten most populated cities.
And while its hot economy ranks this city as the richest in India, it’s not so easy to buy a drink. Local authorities just boosted the legal drinking age to 25 as part of an attempt to battle addiction to drugs and alcohol.
The policy isn’t going down so well with some young people.
“I’ve never been asked for an ID, I have friends who have been, at times, but then you get away with it anyway. And purchasing alcohol has never been an issue, even a 10-year-old could buy alcohol. You give them money, they give you alcohol, that’s the way it works.”
The city we’re looking for is Mumbai. It happens to be home to many of India’s vineyards and alcohol distilleries. So it came as a surprise when the government there raised the legal drinking age. Chhavi Sachdev reports.
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