NIF plan puts country liquor on a high

The Ahmedabad-based National Innovation Foundation (NIF),chaired by former Director-General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) R A Mashalkar and vice-chaired by IIM-A Professor Anil K Gupta,has begun collecting information and samples of locally brewed liquor from the farthest corners of India.

Dr Vipin Kumar,NIF’s National Coordinator (Value Addition,Research and Development),said about 40 types of country-brewed liquor from the North-East,the Leh region in Jammu and Kashmir,Himachal Pradesh,Kerala,Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have been identified by the NIF.

From the test results,five types of liquor will be ultimately taken up for quality control to make sure they are mass-produced safely and,finally,sold through interested companies or distributors.

“All the varieties are brewed,without exception,by tribal communities,” said Kumar.

The reasons for sampling country-brewed liquor are not a craze for alcohol,however,and neither are the inspirations whimsical.

The NIF has had two experiences with traditional formulations — one a cactus fruit drink from a village in Rajkot,Gujarat,and the other a method of organically ripening bananas by a tribal man in Orissa.

The cactus fruit drink developed by the residents of Jesdan village,and for which NIF has filed a patent in their collective name,was analysed by the Central Food Technological and Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysore. The results showed high contents of calcium,iron and vitamin C,enough for the requirements of a pregnant woman.

The herbal banana ripener developed by Budhadeba Sahu of Angul,Orissa,was also validated by CFTRI. In terms of total and reducing sugars,the test found Sahu’s formulation superior to commercial methods of ripening using chemicals and various other organic methods.

As far as country-brewed liquor is concerned,Kumar said NIF scouts had often reported how locals claim to have gained tremendous strength and improved health after drinking them.

A few years ago,Kumar and NIF’s national coordinator for business development Lalmuanzuala Chinzah were scouting for grassroots innovations in the North-East when they chanced upon a particular type of country-brewed liquor near the Assam-Nagaland border.

“I was skeptical at first,but it was the best drink I’ve ever had,” Kumar said,adding that was when they came up with the idea for the current project.

The NIF will follow the same process of developing and marketing the country-brewed liquor as it has for other innovations — patents will be filed for the individuals or communities who came up with the brews,marketing strategies developed in their behalf and all remaining proceeds from sales channeled to them.