Prohibition Has Failed In Bihar
The India Commentary view
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-12-20 07:28:48
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The India Commentary view
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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.
