From a hefty trade deficit to shocking child malnutrition, there is no dearth of social or economic problems to be dealt with in India. Yet in the midst of all these issues, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission has, in his wisdom, decided to wage a beverage war in India.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia wants to declare tea as the national drink of India by next year to commemorate the birth anniversary of India’s first indigenous tea planter who was also part of the 1857 mutiny against British rule.