Kerala146;s Cola Karma

If Pepsi and Coke want to produce colas, let them go to Vietnam

What is common to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Alice8217;s Adventures in Wonderland, All Quiet on the Western Front, Animal Farm, Anne Frank8217;s Diary of a Young Girl, Arabian Nights, Black Beauty, Candide, Canterbury Tales, Catch-22, Communist Manifesto, Decameron, Descent of Man, Doctor Zhivago, Frankenstein, Gone with the Wind, Hamlet, Jude the Obscure, King Lear, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Oliver Twist, The Origin of Species, Silas Marner, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? They are famous books and we have enjoyed reading them. But that8217;s not what is common to them. The inclusion of Communist Manifesto should be a dead giveaway to our comrades in Kerala. These are all books banned at some point, in some country. Someone decreed we shouldn8217;t have the right to read these books. We shouldn8217;t have the right to choose. Because we have inadequate information. Or, even if we have adequate information, because we don8217;t know what is good for us. Because we are children need to be brainwashed. Perhaps by advertising. Someone else has to decide on our behalf.

Several things are bad for us, cola is just one. How can sugar and water be good for us, particularly if it contains caramel and caffeine, not to speak of vanilla, cinnamon or citrus? Indians are prone to obesity. Sugar, and even artificial sweeteners, should be taboo. The problem is all Indians aren8217;t sensible. Kerala8217;s high literacy levels haven8217;t been replicated elsewhere. In case you didn8217;t know, Kerala8217;s cola consumption is far below the national average. The average Keralite has three drinks of cola two with larger bottles a year. The average Delhi denizen has 55 drinks of cola a year. However, even in God8217;s Own Country, the devil has his acolytes. It is the Left Democratic Front8217;s responsibility to ensure that nothing is left of this affront and that these 8220;poisonous brews8221; are banned. There is a slight issue of inconsistency, but since when have comrades been consistent? Didn8217;t Oscar Wilde say consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative? Karl Marx wasn8217;t always consistent, was he?

First, it doesn8217;t need great imagination to figure out that cola is more poisonous than non-cola. So let8217;s allow non-cola by Pepsi and Coke, but let8217;s ban cola. After all, the name 8220;cola8221; itself suggests addictive kola nuts.

Second, misguided people will suggest multinationals are more sensitive to public criticism and scrutiny and tend to be more careful about standards. Don8217;t believe them. Local cola drinks have superior standards. Even if they don8217;t, it is better to be poisoned by Indian manufacturers than foreign ones. The culprit is cola by MNCs.

Third, let us not make the mistake of thinking this is about standards and pesticides and about the Centre for Science and Environment8217;s test results. Those are facts and can be disputed and then settled. Perhaps cola standards in India are lower than standards Pepsi and Coke follow in developed countries, because standards in India are lower in any case. Happens in other cases too, doesn8217;t it? Environment is an instance. As incomes increase, people place a higher premium on environmental standards. In such a situation, Pepsi and Coke won8217;t have violated the law, so you can8217;t take action against them. Not until the government raises the bar by setting higher standards. Hence, if we take recourse to standards, we may not have a leg to stand on. A poisonous brew still remains poisonous even if we have standards for poison. Far better to stick to fiction and imagination and ban the stuff, regardless of what the facts are.

Fourth, one shouldn8217;t expect consistency within the Cabinet either. Disparate voices are the hallmark of any democratic front. CM wants both production and sales banned. The Health Department is confused because food adulteration laws cover sales, not production. That apart, is cola 8220;food8221; and has there been adulteration? The industry minister wants production to continue. He doesn8217;t have as broad a vision as CM and doesn8217;t realise that even if there are no investments in Kerala, the economy will survive through remittance incomes. He is therefore stuck with a myopic view that employment will suffer and that Pepsi will move its plants to Tamil Nadu. In his limited vision, Pepsi should produce cola in Kerala and poison in Tamil Nadu, since there aren8217;t that many Keralites in Tamil Nadu. Someone should give him a history lesson about how coke was wooed to Kerala and then booted out because it was stealing villagers8217; water. Instead, he should figure out a way, after consulting Legal Department, about how the ban can be enforced on non-resident Keralites, including those in the Gulf. They should also benefit from the benign paternalism of the LDF. Why should they drink cola simply because they are abroad? Instead of 8216;emigration clearance required8217;, all such passports should now state 8216;cola clearance required8217;.

One wonders what the Centre will make of all this. Probably nothing. Central ministers may go to Davos and sell India8217;s reforms. They may even want to attract FDI. But make no mistake. With all this Left support, India is shining again and foreign investors are falling over backwards to enter India. After all, how many competing destinations are this attractive? So there is no conflict between the two NCMP National Common Minimum Programme objectives of doubling or trebling FDI inflows and controlling sectors they come into. We want FDI in infrastructure and export and employment intensive sectors, not in consumer goods, and certainly not in brewing poisonous stuff. If Coke and Pepsi want to come to India, let them build rural roads and run primary health centres and schools in villages. If they want to produce cola, let them go to Vietnam. True, we are only talking about Kerala now. But, sooner or later, this model will be applied to all of India. The Kerala model of non-development must be upscaled.

The writer is secretary-general, PHDCCI