Has prohibition really worked ? Defeating the ‘dry’ status
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 02 2015 -

Indian Made Foreign Liquor put on sale :: Pix - TSE

The Government seems to be more than willing to lift the dry status on Manipur.

Chief Minister O Ibobi is not the first man to advocate such a move and while the debate over this will be endless, it stands that though Manipur may be a dry State officially, the reality tells a different story.

There was a reason why the then Government led by the Manipur People’s Party decided to make Manipur a dry State back in 1991.

The decision of the Government came at that point of time when alcohol consumption had wreaked havoc with the lives of quite a large number of people.

There were many broken families and alcohol induced crimes in society were growing at an alarming pace.

Much before the Government came up with the decision to make Manipur a dry State, a large number of women had decided to launch a ‘war’ on alcohol consumption and thus was born the Nisha Bandh movement.

Not an unusual sight it was then to see womenfolk converging at certain earmarked points in every locality to keep a watch out for drunks who may be heading back home or loitering around in the evening.

It was also at this point of time that a number of armed groups launched a crackdown on alcohol consumption and the number of ‘sengdokchabas’ (clarifications) in the local newspapers demonstrated how deep rooted alcohol consumption had become.

A number of local clubs and organisations also woke up to the gravity of the situation and started keeping vigil in numerous localities.

Suffice it to say that the ban, the official ban as well as from the social vigilantes came at that point of time when alcohol abuse or consumption had begun to threaten society as a whole.

Almost everyone welcomed the ban but there still remains the question of whether the ‘dry State’ decision taken by the Government has led to a decrease in the consumption of alcohol or not.

With the decision of the Government and the move initiated by numerous voluntary organisations not having the desired impact, social vigil groups like AMADA and CADA emerged, which specifically dealt with alcoholism and drug abuse.

The check on alcohol and other intoxicants also co-incided with the increase in the number of rehabilitation centres all over the State, particularly in Imphal.

All testimonies that efforts have been in place to deal with issues related to alcoholism and abuse of drugs.

The official ban continues and so do social vigils, but interesting to note that there is nothing much to suggest that there has been a check on alcohol consumption.

On the other hand the prohibition imposed by the Government may be said to be responsible for the rise of the liquor cartel, which has been making easy money by greasing the palms of the few powerful and influential people.

This may also explain the sale of adulterated alcohol or adulterated Indian Made Foreign Liquor, which has only had a deteriorating impact on the health of numerous alcohol consumers.

The same thing may be said of the local brew, whatever the brand it may come under.

The debate may go on, but it stands that prohibition has not really worked and on the contrary it has only created opportunities for some to make easy money.

The question whether prohibition should continue or go is however yet to be answered.