Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said earlier this week that tribal people will be granted permission to make liquor from mahua.

It is a fragrant flower that grows in abundance in the forests of Madhya Pradesh (and other states). It is collected by forest dwelling communities and is used in the kitchen, rituals, and several other ways and occasions, from birth to death. The flower is also used for making traditional spirits.

He added that cases registered against them that are not of serious nature would be withdrawn.

He was speaking at the ‘Janjatiya Sammelan’ in Jhabua district.

Chouhan is quoted as saying: “Tribals will be able to sell mahua and toddy liquor. I don’t support alcohol, but if tribals make or drink alcohol for the sake of tradition, then there is no harm in it".

Chouhan reportedly added, referring to the lives and traditions of the vanvasis, that there is a "need of liquor on many occasions like birth, death, and worshipping too as it’s a part of culture of tribes (sic)."

He further said that permission will also be given to make liquor from mahua and a new excise policy will be drafted.

In 2017, there was a growing buzz that the tribal areas will also lose their traditional rights to brew spirits in their dwellings as the government was mulling the cutting down of mahua trees. Even back then, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan clarified that it was not true.

He was undertaking the Narmada Seva Yatra in tribal district Mandla in eastern MP reportedly and told the people that he was in fact planning to take up the planting of more mahua trees.

"I know that you (tribal families) use the flowers to make laddoo, kheer and medicines," Chouhan was quoted as saying. He had reportedly promised Rs 30 per kg support price for the mahua flowers.

Forest dwelling communities are spread across the state — particularly western and eastern Madhya Pradesh. This report says that "47 of the 230 assembly seats in the state are reserved for tribals".