Male youth deaths high in Mizoram

Addressing the high rates of deaths among males, particularly youths, in the Mizo society is a matter of great concern with social workers suggesting conduct of a research study as a crucial step in understanding the underlying causes and developing effective strategies to address the issue. According to the report of the Kristian Thalai Pawl (KTP), youth wing of the Presbyterian Church’s Mizoram Synod, the largest church denomination in the state, among the members of the KTP who died during last year, 87.68 per cent were males. The report presented in the ongoing conference of the KTP held at northeastern Mizoram’s Ngopa town on Friday said that of 552 KTP members who died during 2023, at least 484 youths are men while 68 (12.32 per cent) are females. According to the figure of the Presbyterian Church’s Mizo Synod, the KTP has 1,71,404 members in 217 pastorates and in 904 branches across the state.

The trend of more males than females among the youths being expiring in the state has been going on for a number of years which disturbed the social workers and the better-informed people amongst the general public. Some social workers attributed the deaths of more male youths to the prohibition being imposed in the state resulting in large number of young men resorting to consume locally brewed ‘Zu’ or liquor which are considered unfit for human consumption by the officials of the state Excise and Narcotics department.“Due to the unhygienic way of making local liquor due to the fact that manufacturing of liquor being outlawed in accordance with the dry law, unscrupulous clandestine liquor makers resorted to mixing dangerous substances to speed up the time of fermentation. Though even if those who consume the spurious alcohol do not die immediately, the liquor kills the drinker within a few weeks, months or years,” a senior official of the Excise and Narcotics department said.

With bootlegging becoming order of the day, surreptitious smuggling of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) from neighbouring states like Assam and Tripura as well as from Myanmar continues unabated. However, the prices of such smuggled liquor remain exorbitant compellingthe young people to opt for cheaper, but unhealthy local-made liquor. Some other social workers opine that widespread drug addiction among the youths and rampant cases of HIV/AIDS amongst the people of the state result in the number of youths being losing their lives. EOM