Pyaralal Raghavan / ToI
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has made a bold move by announcing a ban on liquor in the state from April next year to fulfil the promise made to the electorate before the elections. This is a major reversal of the liquor policy that his government had implemented in the earlier years which saw a substantial expansion of liquor shops.
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The major challenge before the Bihar chief minister is not the loss of revenue from the liquor ban but the problems associated with enforcing the ban. Given the popularity that liquor has gained in recent years it would be difficult to wean away the habitual drinkers without accompanying efforts to spread the message of temperance through social and religious organisations. This is all the more so because the law and order machinery in Bihar is far too inadequate to police the state and restrain any growth in production and sale of illicit liquor which is bound to happen as soon as the ban sets in.
Most recent numbers on the availability of police personal in the states for 2012 show that there were only 67 policemen for every lakh people in Bihar which is clearly insufficient given that other states like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had a much higher ratio of 162, 174 and 178 respectively. The ratio of policemen to population even in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were at a higher 89 and 98 respectively.
So the big question now is how the Bihar chief minister can implement the liquor ban given the insufficient law and order machinery and the rickety bureaucracy in the state even if he manages to find tap new resources to make for the loss of excise duty revenues from liquor which is only a minor part of his total revenues. more
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has made a bold move by announcing a ban on liquor in the state from April next year to fulfil the promise made to the electorate before the elections. This is a major reversal of the liquor policy that his government had implemented in the earlier years which saw a substantial expansion of liquor shops.
--- --- ---
The major challenge before the Bihar chief minister is not the loss of revenue from the liquor ban but the problems associated with enforcing the ban. Given the popularity that liquor has gained in recent years it would be difficult to wean away the habitual drinkers without accompanying efforts to spread the message of temperance through social and religious organisations. This is all the more so because the law and order machinery in Bihar is far too inadequate to police the state and restrain any growth in production and sale of illicit liquor which is bound to happen as soon as the ban sets in.
Most recent numbers on the availability of police personal in the states for 2012 show that there were only 67 policemen for every lakh people in Bihar which is clearly insufficient given that other states like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had a much higher ratio of 162, 174 and 178 respectively. The ratio of policemen to population even in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were at a higher 89 and 98 respectively.
So the big question now is how the Bihar chief minister can implement the liquor ban given the insufficient law and order machinery and the rickety bureaucracy in the state even if he manages to find tap new resources to make for the loss of excise duty revenues from liquor which is only a minor part of his total revenues. more
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