Kamal Ghorui
Mahua means cheap liquor — at least that’s what it means in cities. For tribals, this tree is like a wish-fulfilling tree (Kalpavriksha), from which food, oil, and liquor are all derived. The liquor is also used for purification at the beginning of every religious ritual. Tribals often welcome their guests with mahua liquor.
When the British arrived in this country, they cast a covetous eye not just on the forests but on mahua too. The British quickly realized that if mahua liquor became popular in cities, the sales of their whisky and Scotch would decline — so they banned the collection of mahua flowers and the making of mahua liquor.
It was a similar ban on salt that led Gandhi to launch the Salt Satyagraha and the Dandi March. But the tribals have yet to find their Gandhi. Although Nehru did repeal the salt law when the country became independent, it is a separate story that Nehru reimposed a tax on salt in 1953, which was only removed in 2017.
Mahua is found across 12–13 states of central India, and a large part of this region became “free” on 31st March 2026. The question now is: will mahua also be “liberated” with this new “freedom”? Just as salt was important for the entire nation — which is precisely why Gandhi chose it — mahua is equally important for tribals.
Excise revenue is today a major source of income for most states, and it could transform the tribal economy too. Gandhi did not approve of alcohol, which is why states like Gujarat still prohibit it. But to transform the tribal economy, liquor needs to be linked with Gandhi’s ideas of Sarvodaya and cooperatives.
In places like Bastar, there has been a sharp debate between mahua and mining. But if mahua liquor is also produced in a centralized manner, its benefits will flow only to capitalists or the government — just as happens with mining today. In Madhya Pradesh, the government did grant permission some years ago to tribal self-help groups to produce mahua liquor.
But the economy will only change when that liquor is actually sold and the profit reaches the people. The previous Congress government in Chhattisgarh signed an MOU with a company to produce mahua liquor — an arrangement that would not benefit people much. After the change of government, local opposition also ensured that the factory never opened.
It is important to understand why the experiment with tribal self-help groups making mahua liquor in Madhya Pradesh did not succeed. People say that selling milk is difficult, but selling liquor needs no effort. Yet in Madhya Pradesh the liquor experiment largely failed, while Amul’s cooperative dairy experiment in Gujarat succeeded.
The first reason cited for Madhya Pradesh’s failure is that the government did not invest adequately in marketing mahua liquor. Beyond airports and five-star hotels, mahua liquor is rarely seen in ordinary shops. There are likely other problems too that need to be better understood.
Rahul Shrivastava makes and sells mahua liquor in Paris. He says, “The laws and taxes around mahua in India are so unrealistic that it may sound strange, but producing mahua liquor in France is actually cheaper than in India.” He adds, “Mahua can become India’s national drink, and we should look for markets in Europe and America.”
Mahua finds mention in the Atharvaveda and in numerous texts related to Ayurveda. Tribal leader Arvind Netam says, “When I was a Union Minister, I had Indira Gandhi amend the law so that tribals could make mahua liquor for their own use — but selling it is still illegal.”
Excise is a state subject in India, and Madhya Pradesh along with several other states have amended laws in this direction. Desmond Nazareth produces mahua liquor in Andhra Pradesh and sells it in Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. He too says, “Just like Russia’s vodka, Mexico’s tequila, and Scotland’s Scotch, mahua can be India’s national drink. Work must be done on this.”
A senior official in Chhattisgarh says, “Here, liquor shops are under government control, so we can sell mahua liquor through them. We won’t face the same problem as Madhya Pradesh.” But just like Madhya Pradesh, selling Chhattisgarh’s mahua liquor in other states will require separate agreements with each of those states.
Therefore, laws need to change not just at the state level but at the national level too. First and foremost, a system of geo-tagging and patents for mahua liquor should be established, and it should be granted heritage liquor status across the country. This would make it easier to sell mahua liquor both locally and nationally, and initially it should also be given tax exemptions.
There were also some issues with the taste of mahua liquor in Madhya Pradesh — those too need to be addressed proactively. Today, tribals sell mahua flowers for ₹30–40 per kilogram. But if, following the Amul model, they were to make liquor from the mahua flowers instead of selling the raw flowers, and sell it through an Abujhmad Mahua Union Limited (AMUL) or B(Bastar)MUL, their income would multiply several times over.
The Amul experiment had the leadership of figures like Vallabhbhai Patel alongside managers like Kurien. Experiments like AMUL and BMUL will also need the most modern talent in marketing, branding, and quality control. The government will need to ensure all of this in the beginning, until these experiments are able to stand on their own feet.
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