Prohibition Ban on Alcohol

The Nitish Kumar government  declared Bihar a dry State while imposing total prohibition on the sale and consumption of liquor, both country-made and Indian-Made Foreign Liquor, with immediate effect. Earlier, following an excise amendment law, the ban on country-made liquor had become effective across the State from April 1. The government will stick to the 1991 guidelines on the sale and consumption of toddy.

“Seeing the tremendous support from the people, particularly women and children, to the ban on country-made liquor in the State within just days of its prohibition, we decided to put a total ban on alcohol,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting.

“No new liquor licences will be issued to hotels, bars and clubs,” he said.

However, he said, Army cantonment areas would be exempt as they regulate sale and consumption of alcohol in their own way.

Asked about the fate of the liquor companies and factories in the State after the total ban, Mr. Kumar said they can continue to manufacture “but cannot trade in it within the State.” “They can use digital lock system and GPS monitoring equipment in vehicles transporting the liquor manufactured in Bihar to places outside the State for sale,” he said.

Earlier, the Bihar government had banned sale and consumption of country-made liquor across the State from April 1 with provisions of even death penalty for those involved in trade of hooch. However, IMFL initially planned to be banned in the second phase, was to be sold through 655 liquor outlets opened by Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited (BSBCL). But, when the BSBCL started opening its outlets and vends even in Patna both men and women came out on the streets in protest.

Earlier, legislators, policemen and employees of the State Secretariat had pledged not to drink liquor and even prevent others from consumption. Parents too had given written pledges in schools that they would not drink alcohol. Bihar will suffer an annual revenue loss of about Rs. 4,000 crore following prohibition.

BJP welcomes decision

Welcoming the decision, senior State BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted, “BJP and media compelled Nitish Kumar to declare total prohibition…BJP supports this decision of the government.

When Britons David and Uma Cresswell booked a Christmas holiday in the Indian state of Kerala two years ago, they imagined clean beaches, Ayurvedic massages and the prospect of sipping ice cold martinis and beers while watching traditional bamboo houseboats floating past.

But the resort the couple from Wanstead, east London, visited did not have a licence, so alcohol was officially off the menu.

"The hotel management would sneak warm alcohol into our room with strict orders to only drink it there, which we really did not like doing," said Uma Cresswell. "It really ruined our holiday as you couldn't just walk up to the bar and order drinks."

The Cresswells' experience is set to become the norm in Kerala India's wettest state – where residents drink 8.3 litres of alcohol per person each year, more than twice the national average – is about to go dry.

State leaders are forcing the immediate closure of more than 400 bars, with another 312 losing their licences by March. Retail liquor stores will be phased out gradually.

Only Kerala's 23 five-star hotels will be allowed to serve alcohol in the short term. Meanwhile, the state is expected to lose up to 100,000 jobs.

The end goal, chief minister Oommen Chandy says, is total prohibition by 2024.

"I urge the people of Kerala to wholeheartedly support the phased ban on alcohol," Chandy tweeted earlier this month, adding that "homemakers" were especially happy with the decision.

Kerala has seen an epidemic of alcohol abuse in recent decades. According to theAlcohol and Drug Information Centre of India, 69% of crimes, 40% of road accidents and 80% of divorce and domestic violence cases in Kerala are linked to alcohol and substance abuse.

For decades, Jacob Varghese, 44, of Trivandrum, was one of those statistics. "I had my first drink at an Easter celebration at the age of 10," he said. "By my teenage years, I was binge drinking every few days."

"Eventually, I lost my job and my home. I was severely depressed and had lost all hope."

Varghese has been sober for 14 years and runs Madhumukti, or Freedom from Alcohol, a programme that provides counselling, shelter and meals for addicts throughout the state.

He applauds the government's decision. "I see children even younger than 12 getting addicted," he said. "Some type of control is needed and I personally believe prohibition will help."

But critics argue prohibition has a proven history of failure. "Once the chief minister's dream of 'total prohibition' becomes reality, revenue will instead be directed to the pockets of dangerous criminals and corrupt officials," wrote Avinash Tharoor, contributor to The Prohibition Post, an international website reporting on drug and alcohol policy issues.

India has a long history of flirting with prohibition, originating with the view of the country's founder, Mahatma Gandhi, that alcohol was a social evil.

At present, three Indian states – Lakshadweep, Manipur and Nagaland – impose a total ban on alcohol despite ample evidence of illicit sales of unregulated liquor.

Two states, Gujarat and Mizoram, allow some people to drink some of the time.

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