The Odisha Government seems to be toying with the wild idea of clamping prohibition like Bihar has done, obviously for populist reasons specifically to woo the womenfolk newly empowered with some knowledge and skills from engaging in ‘Self-Help’ activities. The harsh truth is ‘prohibition’ has worked in no civilised society; and never shall it yield any desired results in an age of mobile phones, internet and the social media facilities. People have gained a great deal of sense of freedom particularly in recognised democracies including India. What is critically important is a truly robust, failsafe regulatory mechanism. For instance, alcohol beverage seekers have to produce some age proof document at the outlets including bars. School kids can’t show theirs because teenage status would be known. Voter or Aadhaar card may be of use. Authorities achieve two important objectives: young people ensure they have an identity document, and the alcohol shops don’t get to spoil children. One should not worry about drinking hidingly like thieves as exception shall prevail in all situations.
Bihar of course is going to repeal the law sooner than imagined because they may have got to know already that liquor-smuggling and bootlegging crime is rising alarmingly. Nitish Kumar may lose sleep and appetite for trying to turn Bihar dry, which can never happen. If only the whole country is dried, maybe there is hope of getting some results. Or else, Bihar’s loss would be Uttar Pradesh’s gain beyond measure. Even Gujarat has failed.
More than 130 people died after consuming bootleg liquor in Gujarat only some time ago. liquor is often smuggled in from neighbouring States and people are forced to buy it at inflated prices. The poor who cannot afford to buy branded alcohol are forced to consume illicit liquor. Plastic pouches called ‘Potlis’ of illegally brewed liquor are available for as little as ten rupees. Gujarat’s prohibition policy has encouraged bootlegging. liquor barons argue that apart from revenue loss, illegal, unhygienic and unsupervised production of deadly cocktails keep claiming countless innocent lives. In the 1990s, Andhra Pradesh too had experimented. After suffering failure on all fronts including revenue, crime control and loss of lives, they woke up to realities and repealed the law never to try that again. Illicit distilling outfits rose alarmingly in number and rampant smuggling had made life of people and police miserable. Only criminals and corrupt officials became filthy rich.
In the United States, during the Great Depression, the prohibition policy was repealed 14 years later by which time irreparable damage was done to the nation. Prohibition in the US was a nationwide Constitutional ban on production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages which was promoted by the “dry” crusaders, a movement led by rural Protestants and social Progressives in the Democratic and Republican Parties and was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon league and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Prohibition was mandated under the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The legislation, the Volstead Act, set down the rules for enforcing the ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. For example, religious uses of wine were allowed. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol were not made illegal under federal law; however, in many areas, local laws were stricter, with some States banning possession outright. Nationwide, Prohibition ended with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment in December 1933.
As they realise today, a ‘drug-free world’, which the United Nations describes as a realistic goal, is no more attainable than an ‘alcohol-free world’; and no one has talked about that with a straight face since the repeal of prohibition in the US.
In the context of legalising use of marijuana, author and journalist Christopher Hitchens argues, “It’s beyond the competence of the state to decide and control what substance somebody puts in their own body. So, even if I thought that marijuana was poisonous, I would still say the government is not going to be able to stop it; so, it shouldn’t try.”
In New Delhi, you have to be above twenty-five years of age to be legally served alcohol in a bar. But hardly does anyone care.
In Gujarat, the wealthy and powerful have to only get a prescription from a recognised medical practitioner that alcohol is necessary for curing an ailment to get their choice alcohol beverages as freely as bottled water. No one questions this farcical arrangement.
Social researchers contend that the political failure of prohibition is attributable more to a changing historical context than to characteristics of the law itself. Criticism remains that prohibition leads to unintended consequences such as the growth of urban crime organisations and huge revenue loss. But organised crimes get the best boost from prohibition. Mafia groups abandon traditional activities like prostitution, gambling, and theft to concentrate on manufacturing and smuggling alcohol. Organised bootlegging emerges as highly profitable, often violent, business activity.
A study of more than 30 US cities during the prohibition years show that the number of crimes increased by 24 per cent. Additionally, theft and burglaries increased by 9 per cent, homicides by 12.7 per cent, assaults and battery rose by 13 per cent, drug addiction by 44.6 per cent, and police department costs rose by 11.4 per cent. This was largely the result of “black-market violence” and the diversion of law enforcement resources elsewhere. The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre produced seven deaths, considered one of the deadliest days of mob history. Furthermore, stronger alcoholic beverages surged in popularity because its potency made it more profitable to smuggle. To prevent bootleggers from using industrial ethyl alcohol to produce illegal beverages, the federal government ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols. In response, bootleggers hired chemists who successfully re-natured the alcohol to make it drinkable. As a response, the Treasury Department required manufacturers to add more deadly poisons, including the particularly deadly methyl alcohol. New York City medical examiners prominently opposed these policies because of the danger to human life. As many as 10,000 people died from drinking denatured alcohol before prohibition ended in 1933. New York medical examiner Charles Norris had believed then that the government was responsible for murder when they knew the poison was not deterring people and they continued to poison industrial alcohol (which would be used in drinking alcohol) anyway.
The Nitish Kumar Government’s blanket ban on alcohol had led to initial reports of tipplers having major problems in trying to deal with lack of alcohol in their system. Some tried eating soap while some lost their lives after consuming illicit liquor. That is when UP came to their rescue by providing a safe and legal for haven for guzzlers to quench their thirst. When the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016 came into effect from April 1, the Government wasn’t celebrating April’s fool; instead they put 5,500 liquor shops out of business in one stroke because that was a pre-poll promise. A complete ban on alcohol would rob the State of Rs 5,000 crore. The districts of UP separated from Bihar by Ghagra and Ganges rivers are doing brisk business ever since. Ballia, Ghazipur and Chandauli have seen a spurt in liquor sales over the past month. Many Biharis prefer to go by motorbikes while others take the evening trains to reach UP towns in just half an hour. Realising the importance of their new customers from across the border, enterprising locals have started small eateries to cater to “Chakhna” also referred to as “biting” or snacks in Gujarat.
Some reports indicate that Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFl) and beer shops in the border regions of UP are witnessing over 600 per cent growth in business in the past few weeks. As the Naveen Patnaik administration is managed by super sharp brains, the Bihar farce shall not happen in Odisha, believably. Odias are a docile, peace loving race. They will easily yield to a solid regulatory mechanism.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)