January 22, 2026

Prohibition Has Failed In Bihar

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-12-20 07:28:48

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There is little doubt that prohibition has failed in Bihar. The regular hooch tragedies and the fact that liquor is freely available (even home delivered in many areas) prove that. More than 70 people have reportedly died in the incident of people consuming spurious liquor in Chhapra and 5 more died a couple of days later in neighbouring Siwan. With this, there have been over 200 such incidents where people have lost their lives after consuming spurious liquor. But chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has staked his political image on the booze ban, is not repentant - in fact he is combative. He has said that people will die if they consume such liquor.

But what does prohibition mean? It means that the government which introduces the booze ban will ensure that the prohibited items are not available in the state. It will take all such measures that are necessary to ensure that the prohibited items are not manufactured in the state nor are they imported from other states and sold in Bihar. That is the prime duty of the government which forces prohibition on the people. But has Bihar succeeded in this? No. On the contrary it has failed miserably. A corrupt administration has allowed a liquor mafia to come up and booze is freely available all across the state.

The government is losing revenue. People are dying. Local goons have got a new, more lucrative and recession-proof profession. Government and police officers have found a new method of earning bribes. Everyone is aware of this except Nitish Kumar who is given to call people who question his prohibition policy drunkards. Whatever political calculations Nitish Kumar is making in persisting with the booze ban, he must realize that unless the ban is strictly enforced by an honest administration, nothing will come out of it as it has not in the last 6 years. Kumar must take a call soon as the lives of the people are more important that cultivating an image or a vote bank.