Analysis of Liquor Prohibition in Bihar, India

Liquor ban in Bihar was one of the important decisions taken by the Chief Minister of Bihar in the favour of weaker section of society of the state. This decision has helped in saving the income of poor people and utilized it in the development of family. A lot of money was being invested by the poors in the name of liquor intake which results in women violence, street nuisance and obstacle in the path of children education. According to a survey People of Bihar are so addicted of liquor that they still after ban bring the liquor from the neighboring states and people are still engage in supplying the liquor in the state. Survey done by a NGO ‘PRAYAS’ Gramin Samiti, Anisabad, Patna clears that liquor ban in Bihar helped the village women in saving monthly income of her husband and promoting deposit of income with the help of JEEVIKA groups. At present they are not only depositing money but also they are creating granary deposit to help them in starvation cases.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has imposed total prohibition on liquor. The prohibition came to effect from 1 April, 2016. The new prohibition law has a jail term up to seven years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for the consumption of alcohol. In addition, the new law has the provision for capital punishment for those who engaged in manufacturing or trading of illicit liquor if its consumption leads to casualty. The law is termed draconian. Reports suggest that the liquor ban will bring a loss of a whopping Rs 6,000 crore to Bihar’s exchequer. Prohibition is a fulfilment of the poll promise made by Nitish Kumar ahead of the 2015 Assembly elections. Bihar had also tried to implement prohibition when Karpoori Thakur was the Chief Minister in 1977-78, but failed.

It’s never an easy decision for a state government to declare a ban on alcohol in India. That’s primarily because liquor revenues are not easy to ignore and have consistently formed the bulwark of government funds. Therefore, when Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that he was going for complete prohibition of alcohol in the state, it surprised many as the action would lead to huge financial loss to the poor state. According to a report, the state government may face a loss of up to Rs 6,000 crore in the absence of sales of country liquor and IMFL. But the Chief Minister strongly said there was “overwhelming response” from women and children to the ban and it‟s tough to ignore that. The decision on the ban was also a fulfillment of Kumar‟s election promises that he made in 2015. Nitish Kumar described the decision of his government as historic. He said, “The government will lose more than Rs 4,000 crore revenue annually but it is not a revenue-driven decision” People will now use the money invested in liquor to add nutrition to their plates, avoid disease and economic ruination. That offsets all revenue concerns.” No hotel, bar or club would be allowed to serve drinks though army personnel have been exempted for the time being. A ban on toddy drinking in public places was also imposed. The state will implement guidelines that allow consumption of neera, the drink derived from palm trees before sunrise. The same juice from palm trees acquires alcoholic properties after sunrise and is sold as toddy. Though consumption of toddy was not banned, it will no longer be sold openly in places like rural market places.

To provide the substitute of liquor, the Government of Bihar has tied up with COMFED to supply NEERA (a product prepared by Palm Necter) to the state people. He has also tied up with the TAMIL NADU NEERA BOARD to provide technology for producing NEERA in the state. JEEVIKA has taken the responsibility of surveying the toddy tree in the state and provide the number of producers of toddy in the districts of Bihar. For this purpose NEERA plant has setup in Nalanda and Nawada for pilot project. Training was also given to the producers (pasi community people) to produce NEERA products like gur, neera, jeli, peda etc. Licence was also given to the producers. A survey done by the ANSISS, Patna clears that although training was given to the producers but due to hard schedule of extracting NEERA (taken off before sun rise, inner painting of vessel by lime powder and changing of vessel after one extraction) it seems difficult for the producers to produce it. Since a NEERA plant can be operated less than 1000 litre of Tari. So the Nalanda and Nawada plant has stopped working. The producers are also reporting that there is neither facility of keeping it on right temperature at local level nor any facility was provided by the Plant officials to reach it at chilling centre in time. In the light of these problems Tari is not converting into NEERA and producers are forced to sell it directly to the customers. In spite of it the cost of NEERA product like Gur has decided by the COMFED is Rs. 900/- per kg which is also un-applicable of purchasing by the ordinary people. Thus this programme has seems to fail in Bihar and thus a hope of liquor-substitute has also lasted.

July 9, 2019 Muzaffarpur police has seized a large amount of liquor kept secretely in the pond of Lakshminiya village. It was captured with the help of fishermen. During the search operation many bottles and cans of bear was also captured. Begusarai Police Station In-Charge R.B. Prasad has seized 5 carton of liquor in the police barrack at night. Police and Excise department jointly captured about 8000 litre of liquor in Muzaffarpur and begusarai district on November 8, 2019.

1. Addiction of youth – Prohibition of alcohol limits prevents alcohol addiction among youth. This particular addiction can easily ruin people’s lives, including their jobs, their friends, their families, and obviously themselves too.
2. Health – Alcohol, especially in large quantities, can damages people‟s kidneys and livers, and can eventually lead to death.
3. Crime – There is direct correlation between alcohol consumption and an increase in crime. Violent crimes, assault, and disorderly conduct are most common with persons who are intoxicated.
4. Drunk Driving – Prohibition reduces the causalities and damages through drunk driving.
5. Cost – Alcohol can be very expensive habits.
6. Religion – Some religions such as Islam, Mormonism, and some Pentecostal Christians expressly forbids the consumption of alcohol.

Conclusion

Bihar has become the fourth state after Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram states to impose a blanket ban on liquor.The Chief Minisiter of Bihr, Nitish Kumar described the decision of his government as historic. He said, “The government will lose more than Rs 4,000 crore revenue annually but it is not a revenue-driven decision” People will now use the money invested in liquor to add nutrition to their plates, avoid disease and economic ruination. That offsets all revenue concerns.” Critics have said that a total ban will lead to revenue losses in a poor state such as Bihar and will give rise to black market and underground production activities. The state Finance Minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui said, 'In the name of revenue collection we cannot allow poison to be served to people,' He further said, “Families have been destroyed, as a large number of rural youth took to drinking due to the proliferation of cheap local liquor stores,' The minister, however, said that to make up the lost revenue the government will bring more sectors into the tax net. The social and cultural fabric of the state was under threat due to rapid increase in drinking habit among youth in particular and people in general. It appears that imposition of total ban on the sale of all forms of alcohol in the state will lead to significant social and cultural change in Bihar.