Jan 17: Within days of reversing a 39-year old sexist law of 1979 that banned women from buying alcohol or working in places that sell or manufacture liquor, the Sri Lankan Cabinet yesterday took a U-Turn and decided to reverse the decision and re-impose the law, among other reformist decisions, because of the strong opposition from several groups, according to a report by PTI
A decision that would encourage anti-alcohol lobbies in India to step up their protests against the pro-liquor lobby, the Sri-Lankan government had announced on January 12lifting of the 1979 law that prohibited the sale of any type of alcohol to women on the island of 21 million people in an effort to strike off regressive laws from the statute books and reorganise them to meet the modern day needs.
The move had revoked sharp criticism from nationalists and Buddhist monks who termed it an attack on the Sinhala majority Buddhist culture. This made the Cabinet take a U-turn, and it decided to re-impose the 39-year-old sexist law banning women from buying alcohol or working in places that sell or manufacture liquor.
Minister of Ports and Shipping Mahinda Samarasinghe announced “The Cabinet has decided to rescind the gazette notification (on lifting of ban).” It also decided to reduce the extended opening hours for bars and pubs announced on January 12. Under new measures, bars and pubs can remain open an hour late- hold your breath- till 10 pm.
Addressing a public rally on Saturday last, President Maithripala Sirisena had said that he was against the move and wanted the gazette notification to be cancelled. He said he was against promoting alcoholism and demeaning the women by linking them to the alcohol business, according to a Report by PTI published in India.com.
Critics accused the president of not taking gender equality seriously.“This is not just about this archaic sexist law but the archaic sexist system in which this law is just one more tool of control,” the BBC quoted a Sri Lankan blogger as saying.
Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, in his budget proposals for 2018, had taken the progressive step of lower taxes on wine and beer as he unveiled steep tax rise on hard liquor, but greatly reduced tariffs on wine and beer; but he came under fire for this step. Announcing the measures, the finance minister had said that strict curbs on Sri Lanka’s licensed liquor manufacturers only encouraged a black market for spirits, and deprive the state of much-needed revenue.
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