Patna: The state government in Bihar is facing tremendous pressures from various quarters to end total prohibition some six years after it was enforced to tame the sudden spurt in the incidents of domestic violence, especially the wife beating by the alcoholic husbands.
A week after the state president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sanjay Jaiswal sought for a review of prohibition law, top liquor body — the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverages Companies (CIABC) — has urged Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to lift liquor ban to put an end to supply of spurious liquor, check revenue loss and control the rise of crime syndicates. CIABC is the representative body of leading Indian Alcohol Beverage Companies.
According to reports in the local media, around 100 people have died after consuming spurious liquor in the state in the current year. Of them, some 40 people died in November itself after consuming toxic liquor, raising a big question mark over the success of prohibition law.
“Bihar is paying a heavy price for its prohibition policy in the form of proliferation of unlawful and spurious liquor, hooch tragedies, the rise of crime syndicates and loss of legitimate government revenues,” CIABC director general Vinod Giri said in a letter to the chief minister.
Stating that the liquor prohibition has caused major damage to the state’s economy and potential investments, thus hitting job creation, the CIABC has suggested the Bihar government to impose special cess on sale of liquor to fund alcohol de-addiction and rehabilitation centres. The top industry body also suggested the state government to direct the alcohol factories to hire 50 per cent of their workforce as women to economically empower the female class.
The letter also stated that the state is losing huge revenue every year due to enforcement of total prohibition. According to an estimate, the state has been losing around Rs60 billion every year due to the ban on sale of alcohol in the state but the state government says the prohibition has worked wonders as it has been able to put a check on the incidents of domestic violence.
Prior to the CIABC, state BJP chief Jaiswal had made a similar appeal saying prohibition law needs to be “reviewed” now as several people have died due to consumption of spurious liquor in the state in the aftermath of liquor ban. “There is a need to review this law. This law was enacted six years ago and I believe that its success and failure should be reconsidered,” Jaiswal had told the media last week. He also alleged liquor mafia was active in the state in connivance with the police and the administration as a result of which prohibition law has failed.
Why was ban imposed?
Bihar imposed total prohibition in April 2016 succumbing to the massive state-wide protests by women who sought for banning liquor to check incidents of domestic violence. Many alleged their husbands had been exhausting their daily income by drinking alcohol and back home in the evening they had been assaulting them badly under its influence. Such was the impact of the protests that the state government put a blanket ban on sale of both country-made and foreign liquor at the same time while the government had earlier planned to ban sale of foreign liquor after some time.
Bihar chief minister Kumar has gone on repeatedly saying that total prohibition has worked wonders in Bihar in many ways. According to him, the liquor ban has not only put a check on the cases of domestic violence but also drastically brought down the incidents of road accidents and criminal incidents.
“The incidents of routine crime and road accidents have sharply come down after enforcement of liquor ban. Earlier, the people used to drive vehicles after drinking,” the chief minister told the media at the end of his weekly interaction with the masses on Monday.
He added that his government would launch a fresh campaign to make the masses aware about the ill-effects of liquor consumption. “Liquor consumption is causing more deaths than those caused by tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and diabetics. According to a WHO report, alcohol contributes to around 200 diseases,” said a Bihar government advertisement carried in a local newspaper on Tuesday.
The advertisement also stated that 27 per cent of road accidents, 18 per cent of suicide cases and 13 per cent of epilepsy cases are caused by alcohol consumption while death rate among the youth is more than the old due this very factor. “13.5 per cent of youths in the age-group of 20 to 39 die after consuming alcohol,” claims the Bihar government advertisement.=
The chief minister in the meanwhile has urged all the political parties to highlight the fact that liquor consumption is very dangerous for health and life. “Piyoge to maroge (You are bound to die after consuming liquor).This should be widely publicized among the masses,” the chief minister said.
