Bihar Liquor Ban - Is Prohibition the solution to kick the bottle?
The grim reality of this technocratic world is the 'cultural lag' marked between how things transform quickly and the snail's pace at which people change their mentality. In India, people need to be pampered a lot for accomplishing a noble deed. Keeping in view the above scenario, the landmark judgement of imposing liquor ban in Bihar was the only way out to establish a 'dry state'. It will finally break the beeline of the Biharis near liquor shops and bars and save the dwindling families.
The nitty-gritty of the ban is that alcohol is one of the potent factors triggering incarcerations such as battery, homicide, sexual harassment, child abuse, family disorganisation, etc. Studies reveal that more than 40% of the crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol. Furthermore, there exists a high risk of fatal diseases like cancer, liver damage, ulcer and many more. So in order to eradicate this cancerous alcohol menace, prohibition is the best medicament.
In context to the present backdrop, education, awareness programmes, advertisements and other pedagogic efforts become impotent because this trend is itself in vogue among the elites other than the lower class. Prohibition is the only unsurpassable warrant to seize the perpetrator- alcohol.
Strolling down history's lanes, prohibition had opened a new era of change, bringing about a paradigm shift by killing the draconian social evils. Prohibition on sati pratha, child marriage, purdah system, polygamy has carved a new horizon of development, women emancipation and social mobility. Similarly, prohibition will automatically shut down the production of alcohol and the accessibility to the bottle will be cumbersome and expensive.
A cursory glance to the expenditure of our country unveils that they exhaust lakhs of pelf on liquor trade which contrarily can be utilised for holistic progression. Once the prohibition is imposed centrally, it will be like getting blessed with a 'Midas touch'. There will be left no window open to access the bottle and unseal a giant door to invest crores of capital for building a refined, developed and alcohol free India.
Prohibition backed by law commands awe and reverence and makes citizens law abiding. Any disobedience to it is sternly penalized. Prohibition will smoothen the track to kick the bottle and prevent deaths due to drink-driving. Prohibition will discontinue the usual practice of just slapping fines on tipsy motorists and castigate them with imprisonment for any misconduct. Eventually, the law fearing citizens will abstain from consuming alcohol.
Primitive society was governed by informal social control such as religion, customs, mores which essayed a powerful role to control human excess. But in the contemporary scenario it is felt that informal social control can be more effective if it is backed by law. Law is the robust mechanism of social control. Law pressurises the individuals to conform to the societal norms. Law has the power to set the society in an apple-pie-order. Its norms are prime for the welfare of the society.
In a nutshell, the hydra-headed monster of alcohol can be tackled audaciously and intelligibly by imposing prohibition. Prohibition will prove to be emblematic of the welcome change in the states of India, sweeping away all odds. A sincere cooperation on behalf of citizens, their unimpeachable courage coupled with law can strengthen the prohibition. Quoting Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, "We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us".
- Kriti Bhatt
