Chief Minister Nitish Kumar doesn't have a sales degree, but he has been an extraordinary salesman nonetheless, hard-selling Bihar as a dream business destination with a confidence that may even put a certain Rocket Singh to shame. Somewhat incongruently, Bihar's army of make-believe managers seems reluctant to highlight all success stories that Sushasan Babu, as Nitish is known, has delivered during his reign. For instance, the state's spirited success story, which shows stupendous revenue earnings from liquor sales, registering a staggering 350 per cent growth in the last four years. The revenue generated from the new liquor policy, however, found only a brief mention and that too on the last page of the state Government's report card titled Development with Justice that was released last year. Perhaps because it does not fit under either of the two banners Nitish claims he was game for, development or justice.
While the NDA Government may be shying away from claiming credit for the astounding revenue generation, the figures explain it all. In 2008-09, the amount generated as excise revenue was Rs 749.15 crore, which marked almost 40 per cent increase in realisation over 2007-08 and for the current financial year, the target is Rs 950 crore. In 2004-05 when Rabri Devi-led RJD government was in power, the state earned a mere Rs 272.47 crore as revenue from excise duty.
The turnaround in revenue happened under the Nitish regime which introduced the new excise policy in July 2007. For the first time, the settlement (legal permission to run a liquor shop at a particular location) of all types of retail excise shops was allowed through lottery in the state. The policy, which was purportedly introduced to eliminate the state's liquor mafia, and double revenue collection from sales, has ultimately ended up in providing more opportunities for consuming liquor. The new policy has so far not only almost doubled the number of liquor shops in the state, but it has also allowed opening of composite shops selling foreign and country liquor (even in village panchayats), besides legalising serving of liquor on their premises, if the vend owners pay an extra 10 per cent on the licence fee. The state today has close to 5,000 liquor junctions, meaning that each district has over 100 liquor shops, all of which are doing roaring business.
Bihar today has gradually started resembling a bar with liquor vends operating from almost all neighbourhoods and men sitting on the roads, drinking at shops and even at workplaces, eateries, almost anywhere; they are keeping their date with Bacchus and guzzling away with gusto at the expense of others. In an apparent zeal for maximising profit, the Government has even allowed these shops close to religious and educational institutions, and also in residential localities. The liberal liquor policy has not only made alcohol easily available and encouraged sales, but has also created social problems in plenty. High on alcohol, drunkards disturb the law and order situation in the neighbourhood. Last year, a group of alcoholics even attacked a deputy superintendent of police, Dilip Jha, in Patna when the officer asked them not to consume liquor in the open. There are other instances as well when the police had to arrest shop owners and tipplers for disturbing the peace close to an educational institution.
Though various citizens' groups have vehemently opposed this new policy, the state Excise Department that was earlier indifferent, has now been forced to reconsider some steps, following the Patna High Court's recent order whereby it directed relocation of an 'ON' liquor shop in Patna's Srikrishna Puri area after residents objected to its continuance. Such shops are a nuisance as they serve as roadside bar of sorts where people can drink in the open.
The high court passed the order following a report of a lawyers' committee that noted that the residents were against the continuance of liquor shops in their locality. "The high court has also agreed to look further into the matter. It has directed the state Government to obtain reports from district magistrates whether the excise rules were being followed in letter and spirit. The Government has to file a counter affidavit in this regard," says senior advocate SBK Mangalam.
The high court acted on a Public Interest Litigation that was initially a complaint filed by seven housewives from Patna-Asha Lal, Madhuri Devi, Rajni Kesari, Manjula Srivastava, Kiran Narayan, Sudha Sinha and Sunita Devi--objecting to the location of an 'ON' liquor shop in their neighbourhood and approached the court in July 2009. Mangalam, who represented the petitioner's, quotes various Excise Act rules to claim that state authorities too have openly violated many statutory provisions of the excise rules while granting licences to liquor shops in the state. "The high court's order giving decisive pre-eminence to citizens' consent in the location of a liquor shop is a defining moment. Now, government authorities across the state will have to mention in black and white if a particular shop has been approved by residents or not," he claims.
What the lawyer leaves unsaid is that this can make Nitish Government's overzealous excise policy fall flat on its face; as practically no shop has been settled in Bihar--now or before--by following all provisions of the Excise Act. For instance, Rule 48 of the Act stipulates that a prior notice must be circulated among residents to seek their concurrence before allowing settlement of a liquor shop in that area. The rule also has an elaborate list of places (bathing ghats, educational and religious institutions, hospitals, petrol pump, railway station, labour colony and places of public resort) close to which a liquor shop cannot be settled. "Over a dozen liquor shops which were earlier located near schools and temples have already been relocated," says Mangalam. Observers believe that the excise authorities have flagrantly violated many rules.
Social scientists, on the other hand, determine more pertinent economic and social factors with Bihar's growing obsession with the spirit. Though unemployment levels are high, thanks to the new policy, liquor is now affordable and easily available at one's doorstep. The social impact has already begun to be felt, especially in rural areas where the consumption of liquor by teenagers has risen. According to the Bihar Economic Survey, the share of revenue from country-made liquor in both 2006-07 and 2007-08 was more than what Indian Made Foreign Liquor generated during this period.
Traditionally, drinking was never really an integral part of Bihar's rural landscape despite its feudal hang-ups, but the recent spurt in availability of spicy country liquor is enticing the poor to splurge on it as an escape from depressing realities and in turn fall prey to it. Though the per capita consumption of liquor in the state is on the rise, the Excise and Prohibition Department still seems to be indifferent. The argument is that the new policy would help eliminate illicit liquor trade and there would be no spurious wine left in the market. This hasn't happened so far, as spurious liquor claimed six lives in November last year alone, and now with liquor being served freely, more innocent lives are at stake.
The Government, however, seems viewing the issue with soft bifocals. The state Excise Minister Jamshed Asraf appears hooked to Bihar's potential to "double the existing revenue." A section of activists, however, say that though the Government claims to spend the revenue generated from liquor sales on the welfare programmes, it seems to be ignoring the fact that the social fabric is under strain and citizens' health can be a casualty, thanks to free-flowing liquor. The state, however, counters the problem of alcoholism with dismissive sarcasm and black humour. Though the Excise Department commands a prominent position in terms of maximising revenues wherewithal, Nitish appears far from emulating his mentor, the late Karpoori Thakur, who had introduced prohibition during his tenure as the chief minister in 1977.
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