<b>Alok Chandra:</b> Taking wine places

Wine is a low-alcohol beverage that’s farmer-friendly and good for health. This was the caption of my pitch made to the Karnataka government in mid-2003 while advocating that the state come up with a wine-friendly policy, along the lines of what had been enacted in Maharashtra two years earlier. 

This eventually led to the enactment of the Karnataka Wine Policy in 2008 which, among other things, allowed the issuance of licences for Wine Boutiques (wine-only retail shops), Wine Taverns (wine-only bars), and the setting up of several new wineries in the state.

Karnataka and Maharashtra are still the only two states in