Counting the cost of prohibition in Bihar

The alcohol ban in the state, in force for nine years now, has not impacted education spending much, but literacy outcomes leave a lot to be desired. An analysis by INDIVJAL DHASMANA

- INDIVJAL DHASMANA

Alcohol prohibition has been a contentious issue in India. Barring Gujarat, and to some extent Bihar, where the ban on liquor has been in place for nine years, a few states have attempted to enforce it but failed.

In the past, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh also imposed a ban on alcohol. In Haryana, the ban lasted for 21 months, from July 1996, before being lifted by the same coalition that had imposed it -- the Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party and Bharatiya Janata Party.

In Andhra Pradesh, the ban was in effect for a little over 26 months, starting January 16, 1995, under then Chief Minister N T Rama Rao (NTR) of the Telugu Desam Party.

His son-in-law and then chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, lifted the ban in 1997-98, although the ban on Arrack initially remained in force.

The prohibition on Arrack had been introduced even before NTR, in October 1993, by his predecessor K V Bhaskara Reddy, then chief minister from the Congress.

The Nitish Kumar government enforced a complete ban on alcohol in Bihar on April 1, 2016. Now in its ninth year, the ban may remain in force at least until the next Assembly elections in 2025.

Prashant Kishor, who previously helped various political parties win at the hustings, launched his own political party -- Jan Suraaj -- and promised to lift the ban if elected in the next Assembly elections. He estimates that the revenue ₹20,000 crore a year from alcohol would be used to overhaul the education system in the state over the next 20 years. He projected the total revenue from alcohol at ₹5 trillion over this period.