ALCOHOLISM IN GUWAHATI CITY: INSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL IMPLICATION

Alcoholism is addiction to alcohol. Alcoholism is the global phenomenon that involves adolescents and adults throughout the world. The widespread use of alcoholism has become a human tragedy throughout the world. The growing trend of alcoholism also has becoming a serious problem associated with gradual growth of the city. The neo-trend of alcoholism is not only prevalent in the city at present, but also influenced the peripheral rural areas. This study deals with the institutional and legal implication of alcoholism in Guwahati City. This study is an attempt to find out the growth of alcohol outlet in the city. Purposively designed questionnaires were used to carry out the primary survey. The major nodes of Guwahati city, viz. Paltanbazar, Panbazar, Bhangagarh, Ganeshguri, Zoo Road, Sixmile, Maligaon and Narengi has been considered to carry out field survey. Apart from it GPS technology was used to portray the spatial context of the alcohol outlets and to show their spatial diffusion over time and space. The findings revealed that most of the newly emerge alcohol outlets does not follow the legal institutional framework set by the authority and violating the norms in different parts of the city especially in Bhangagarh area.