Liquor ban is overreach by Bihar government -Governance Now

Liquor ban is overreach by Bihar government

Sixteen deaths, reportedly caused by consumption of spurious liquor, have triggered a debate over the controversial liquor ban in Bihar.

Amol Parth | August 19, 2016 | New Delhi

#deaths #liquor ban #Bihar #Nitish Kumar

Since we ‘made our tryst with destiny’ and woke up “to life and freedom”, in every aspect of our lives, we have been trying to move towards a comparatively more open and liberal society, which gives people more and better choices. Lack of freedom to choose one’s basic eating and drinking habit is contradictory to this pursuit of a liberal society.

The April 1 liquor ban in Bihar and the ones existing in Gujarat, Nagaland and parts of Manipur are about limiting people’s choices and a question on their ability to make good decisions for themselves.

During framing of the Constitution, the Article 47, governing liquor ban, was included in the Directives Principles of State Policy, but most of the states eventually removed the ban on liquor owing to loss in Excise revenue, electoral loss, smuggling of liquor, deaths due to spurious liquor, bootlegging and loss of jobs.

Going back on this is politically convenient for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose rising popularity among women voters is crucial for his national ambitions.

Reports suggest that the women are happy with the ban.

Some claim that the number of accidents and crimes has come down. As if the crimes and accidents across the world happen primarily because of the drinking habits of the people. Isn’t this more about the government’s failure in implementing the rule of law, which prohibits drunk driving?

The efforts that the government is putting in framing and implementation of draconian liquor prohibition laws; had it been directed towards better law and order enforcement, the dawn of Jungle Raj 2.0 could have been avoided.

But, can the government interfere in people’s eating and drinking habits?

Let’s understand why we need government. As an individual, we can take decisions for ourselves on various aspects of our life, but as a society and a nation, there are issues which are of common interest to all of us, for example, foreign policy and national security. On these issues of common interest where one person cannot decide for all of us, we need a process for collective decision-making. Hence, we choose the government.

Drinking in public, drinking and driving, creating nuisance after drinking are issues of common interest, hence the government should and must interfere. But absolute ban on drinking per se is an overreach by the government.

Comments

Other News

IIT Bombay Racing to launch ‘EVoX’ tomorrow

IIT Bombay Racing will launch its 6th generation electric car ‘EVoX’ in the institute’s on Saturday. The racing car developed by Formula Student team from India based at IIT Bombay is designed to run at 100 km per hour in just 2.88 seconds. It is powered by 40 KW motors, titanium uprights

SAIL supplies 10,500 tonnes of steel in Kishanganga hydroelectric power project

SAIL has supplied 10,500 tonnes of steel for the 330 mega watt hydroelectric project, featuring three power generating units of 110 MW each. The enterprise’s steel supply consists of TMT rebars, structurals, plates and sheets. SAIL had also supplied around 70 percent steel used in the

Algerian Ambassador visits Goa Shipyard

The recent visit of Ambassador of Algeria to India H.E. Hamza Yahia Cherif to Goa Shipyard Limited has given a boost to the PSU’s ambition of receiving international orders from the Mediterranean region. CMD, GSL, Rear Admiral (Retd) Shekhar Mital apprised the Ambassador about various

IOCL posts Rs 21,346 crore net profit in 2017-18

IndianOil has clocked a net profit of Rs 21,346 crore for 2017-18 fiscal as compared to Rs 19,106 crore in the last fiscal. The reported revenue from operations for 2017-18 FY was Rs 5,06,428 crore as compared to Rs 4,45,442 crore in 2016-17. IndianOil’s reported revenue from operation

NTPC to help Bihar improve power sector

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was entered amongst Bihar government, Bihar State Power Holding Company Ltd. (BSPHCL), Bihar State Power Generation Co. Ltd (BSPGCL), North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd.(NBPDCL), South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd.(SBPDCL), Bihar State Power Transmission

ONGC team summits Mt Kanchenjunga

A team of ONGC has successfully scaled the third highest and most challenging peak, Mt Kanchenjunga. The first group comprising five ONGC employees completed the mission on May 20, 2018 while the second group of four employees and one Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) member summited the peak a day la

Current Issue

Video

Opinion

Twitter

Tweets by @governancenow