Imagine Las Vegas, the famous city in the Nevada state of the United States, one day decides to prohibit the consumption of alcohol. The Government of Nevada would never dare to do that because the very identity of Las Vegas is due to its drinking culture, nightlife, hotels, resorts, restaurants, and so on. Moreover, the majority of the revenues of the city as well as the state government comes from these entertainment and booze businesses and, therefore, the Government of Nevada would risk going bankrupt if it prohibits alcohol- which sustains its other entertainment business. But, in India, strange things happen. And the governments do not give two hoots about individual freedom as long as some decision brings them the vote of a larger number of people. A few years ago in April 2016, the Nitish Kumar led Bihar government to put a complete ban on all types of liquor including beer which is less concentrated than even the country made liquor varieties like Taadi.
Patna, the city which is known for its drinking culture since the Mauryan Empire times, is dry under the rule of Nitish Kumar. Chanakya, the most famous Indian author on political economy, advocated for regulated sale and consumption of alcohol. Arthashastra advocates for production and sale of liquor by the state as it can be a great source of revenue. Even regulated prostitution is allowed in a Chanakyan state as it brings revenue to the treasury.
The great philosopher believed that people would do what is known as “sin activities” even if the state bans them- as one can see that illegal trade of alcohol is flourishing in Bihar and Gujarat- therefore it is better to regulate and earn revenue through these activities. But neither Nitish Kumar nor his protege, Sushil Modi, has the wisdom of the great philosopher; otherwise, Bihar would not have been a poor state despite their 15 years of rule.
On the drinking culture in Mauryan times- Chanakya was Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya- Magandeep Singh, the writer of ‘A short history of India’s drinking culture’ says, “Maurya’s times were one of the first periods in India when the sale of liquor was controlled and even taxed. Designated areas for drinking were created, and these were the early bars of our times. During festivals, public drinking was allowed for no more than four days, and anybody found flouting the rule on the fifth day would have been fined by the excise inspector.”
The city of Patna, which used to be known for bars and drinking culture since the time of Mauryas, is now dry. It is like Las Vegas putting a prohibition on consumption of liquor.
The poor state loses 4,000-5,000 crore rupees from the excise tax on alcohol every year, and in the last four years, more than 20,000 crore rupees have been lost in revenue due to the ban on alcohol. This money could have been used to finance infrastructure building activity in the state given the fact Bihar still has the worst infrastructure among the large states of India.
Given the fact GST revenues have dried due to lockdown, most of the states including neighbouring Uttar Pradesh used revenues from alcohol sales to compensate for that. But, the coffers of the dry state of Bihar remained dry while states like UP, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana earned thousands of rupees by increasing taxes on alcohol.
The ban on sale is benefitting the neighbouring states like UP, Jharkhand, and West Bengal from where the traffickers source liquor and sell at a double-triple price in Bihar.
Moreover, the liquor ban is putting extra burden on weak judicial infrastructure as more than 2 lakh cases related to illegal liquor consumption have piled up in various courts of the state. Patna High Court slammed Nitish Kumar government for banning liquor without creating adequate legal infrastructure to deal with the law.
The ban on alcohol in a state that has the city of Patna, the Las Vegas of India since Mauryan times, is unfortunate and it is leading the state further into poverty.