Prohibition class
Karnataka state temperance board (KSTB) chairman HC Rudrappa with Nitish Kumar at the chief minister's 1 Aney Marg bungalow in Patna on Thursday. Inspired by total prohibition in Bihar, a 31-member delegation of the KSTB came calling to take tips from Nitish on prohibition policy as well as implementation. Members of the delegation led by Rudrappa discussed various aspects of prohibition with Nitish, who told them: "Strong will is needed to take decisions like implementation of prohibition."Terming it a "socio-public movement" Nitish said that at first his plan was to implement prohibition in a phase-wise manner in Bihar. He changed his mind, he said, after protests against government liquor shops being opened erupted in urban areas across the state in just four days of the partial ban on liquor in rural areas. That, Nitish said, led to the government decision to enforce total prohibition on April 5, 2016.Narrating the sequence of events, especially the demand from women groups to ban liquor in the state, which led to prohibition, the chief minister added that the decision "might have led to a loss of Rs 5,000 crore revenue to the state, but it led to savings of around Rs 10,000 crore among the people who earlier used to waste it on alcohol.
TT Bureau
Published 03.11.17, 12:00 AM
Sunday, 25 May 2025
