Bihar is taking unconventional steps to make prohibition work but who is it helping, really?

The Bihar Government is intent on making its prohibition law work, the growing criticism of its impracticality notwithstanding. To that end, it has decided to rope in additional forces to catch illegal liquor consumers. It has now directed principals, teachers of Government schools and “all persons associated” with them to identify liquor consumers and suppliers in their areas. In return for their services, their identity will be protected. The Government realises that the criminal elements and black-marketeers will not tolerate attempts to disrupt their operations. The call to the teachers comes when the Government is defending itself against judicial criticism of its prohibition policy. The courts are clogged with nearly 3.5 lakh cases and four lakh people arrested till last October. Over 20,000 bail pleas are pending disposal and jails are overcrowded. The Government plans to de-clog the courts by introducing bailable offences and fines for spot disposal of minor cases. It is also under pressure over the frequent deaths of people after consuming poisonous hooch or adulterated liquor. What started as a noble experiment by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to relieve family stress of women by making irresponsible drinking illegal has turned into a controversial exercise with the Opposition charging him with imposing an impractical law. The Government would do well to analyse why the first attempt at prohibition in Bihar in 1979 failed.

Is prohibition aimed at cutting off people’s access to liquor to end addiction? High taxes can also serve the purpose. Or can it make people consume liquor responsibly, without destroying families? The former is a law and order approach. The latter has a social outlook. The present situation is that lakhs of people are caught in legal tangles. Most can ill-afford the legal fees. Many would have lost their jobs. Smuggling of liquor has not been stamped out. People manufacture spurious liquor and sell it in stealth. Or they go across the Bihar border to satiate their thirst. The police force and the excise machinery are stressed out. Now lakhs of teachers are being drawn into it. If trained police are unable to detect smuggling, how can teachers be expected to succeed? Some time back, they were asked to spy on open defecators. This approach is inexorably leading to a point of no return. And at the end of it all — the policy came into force in 2016 — has the situation improved? Why are reports of corruption and smuggling on the rise? In reality, the State’s people have stopped consuming liquor because it is not available and many do not wish to take risks to procure it. It would be interesting to know how many became teetotallers because of a change of heart brought about by the law. Drinking is not a crime; alcoholism is. Should responsible drinkers be punished while trying to reform compulsive drinkers? Also, if the prohibition is for all, why are Army liquor canteens exempt in Bihar? The issues are piling up.