Patna: Thirty persons have died in three days in three districts in Bihar. And all these deaths have been caused by spurious liquor in a state where the government has introduced total prohibition.
This is not the first time that this kind of tragedy has occurred.Going by the current trend , it is unlikely to be the last.
No other state in the country has put a total ban. Prihibition has been introduced by some other states as well but it is partial. Liquor is available, for example, in Gujarat, the first state to introduce prohibition, if the hotel management gives a certificate that you are on a temporary visit and that you have checked in in that hotel.
In one southern state only country liquor has been banned. In another starred hotels serve liquor. None of them has faced Bihar- like situation.
The Bihar government is yet in defensive mode but the Hooch tragedy only indicates that five years of ban neither has changed the drinkers nor has improved the social conditions. Habits die hard.
More than a lakh have been sent to jail and domestic violence is yet to decline.
All this is also indicative of the fact that the prohibition policy has failed to achieve the desire result.
Some other countries including America had also gone for it but there was policy revision after it was found to be ineffective.
The Bihar government has also called for a review in the light of developments last week. The hope of a rational approach , therefore, is not totally lost yet.Wait and watch.
