Five years of Prohibition: Govt counts its benefits, Oppn counters with black market charge - Hindustan Times
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Five years of Prohibition: Govt counts its benefits, Oppn counters with black market charge

Apr 03, 2021 10:21 PM IST

PATNA Munni Devi, a 30-year-old woman from Santhal tribe, lives in a small hutment along with her husband Yogendra Soren (37) and two sons Apit 9 and Sagar in Dharhar Jamunia village in Dhamdaha block in Purnea district

PATNA

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Munni Devi, a 30-year-old woman from Santhal tribe, lives in a small hutment along with her husband Yogendra Soren (37) and two sons Apit 9 and Sagar in Dharhar Jamunia village in Dhamdaha block in Purnea district.

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Traditionally involved in toddy trade, which served as their only source of income, Munni Devi had to stop selling toddy after Prohibition came into force in Bihar on April 6, 2016.

After facing initial hardships, she, aided by self-help group Jeevika, opened a small grocery kiosk in 2018. Recently, Munni Devi took 10 kathas of land on lease and started cultivating maize. She has been linked with a maize producer company. She has also enrolled both her children in school and is able to earn 5,650 per month.

She is not alone.

Ranjan Devi has been running a small grocery shop for two years in her village Khutaha in Kumarkhand block of Madhepura district. With a total investment of about 78,000, she manages to earn about 7,500 per month. Her family, traditionally involved in toddy sale, too faced initial hardships after the ban on sale of liquor was imposed. “It was difficult to even arrange for two square meals a day for the family of seven,” she recalls.

As Bihar completes five years of Prohibition, there has been a raging debate over the success of its implementation amid reports of easy availability of liquor and deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor.

However, the Nitish Kumar government has stood firm amid calls for easing total Prohibition. In fact, the Bihar government has intensified its campaign against the illegal trade and started targeting big suppliers instead of small-time smugglers.

In the last four months, no less than 15 big liquor suppliers from Haryana, Punjab, Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand were arrested by the state police.

Kumar recently fended off criticism that Prohibition had failed to make any impact and said it would continue in the state in a more stringent manner. “The Prohibition in Bihar was enforced from April 6 in 2016 in the larger interest of the society and it is set to continue. Strong action will be taken against violators,” the CM said at a recent event.

Excise and prohibition minister Sunil Kumar, a former director general in Bihar Police, says the ban on liquor has had significant positive impact as far as women empowerment and domestic violence are concerned. “The objective was empowerment of women who were the most vulnerable group alcoholic related violence. As per a World Health Organisation report of 2018, 39% of women faced violence in 2016, which came down to 25% in 2018,” he said.

Prohibition has left more money in the hands of families and women and incidents like eve-teasing have virtually stopped, the minister claimed.

Saloni Subha, a student of one of Patna’s prominent girls’ colleges, agrees. “The ban on liquor has affected our life in a positive way. I remember that during my school days, when alcohol was not banned, people used to create nuisance on roads and on public transport and misbehave with girls. But now we don’t face all these problems and can move freely,” she says.

“We cannot forget the days when most of our family income was spent on liquor. That had changed after Prohibition. However, things are now back to square one now, albeit illegally. The ban has remained only on paper and liquor smuggling is rampant,” said Phudena Devi, a woman who took active part in the anti-liquor agitation at Konar village, located 12 km away from Sasaram district headquarters.

“The environment was scary earlier. Women would face violence at home as well as in the village. Drunk men would harass us when we went out into the fields to relieve ourselves. We wouldn’t let girls’ study earlier. Our honour is everything for us. But after Prohibition, there is security for women. And there is more money for food and education,” says Ranjan Devi.

Meanwhile, under fire from all quarters on the easy availability of liquor in state, the NDA government in the state has intensified its crackdown on the liquor mafia since it took charge in November 2020. “Since January till March this year, 4,41,053.76 litres of liquor have been seized; 2,788 people have been arrested and 877 vehicles used in carrying liquor seized,” said excise commissioner B Kartikey Dhanji.

However, the Opposition is not impressed. “No less than 50 lakh litres of IMFL has entered Bihar ever since Prohibition was imposed in the state. A parallel economy is running in the state,” said RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, also the leader of Opposition.

The excise minister concedes there are shortcomings. “It’s a social legislation. There will be violations. We are now trying to hit the supply chain,” said the minister.

“By and large, the five years of Prohibition have been effective. It has helped the state on various social parameters. Domestic violence has come down, women empowerment has increased and women have started feeling safe. But the government needs to curb illegal supply of liquor and become stricter while imposing punishment on violators,” said Gyanendra Yadav, associate professor and head of sociology department, College of Commerce in Patna.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Vijay is chief of bureau, Patna. He has spent 21 years in journalism and covers political beats and public affairs.

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