At least half a dozen folks died in Siwan, Bihar after consuming spurious liquor. Prohibition was introduced in the state in April, 2016. The liquor ban was shoved into the throat of the citizens, but a thirsty Bihari would always find solace to his dry mouth, thanks to the illegal bootleggers. Only tangible outcome happened so far is the depletion of the state coffers and the enhancement of coffers of the black marketers, hand in glove with the corrupt government officials, not to mention periodic deaths.
Prohibition has a long history of failures. It failed miserably when the faddist Morarjee Desai implemented it as the Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Maharashtra, which then included the present state of Gujarat. N T Rama Rao implemented it in Andhra, only to see the real beneficiaries being the bootleggers and bars in townships bordering the state (one of them was the border Town of Barhampur, Odisha) where folks flocked in drove to quench their parched throat.
Gujarat is officially a dry state, being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and it is no exception there. It doesn't make sense to enforce this token Gandhian value at the cost of the exchequer, when we have long since deviated from all his principles. My friends studying in REC Surat used to tell me there was a phone number the Engineering students which they mockingly referred as being used to "Dial D for DAARU (liquor)". The voice at other end will ask you the brand and quantity needed, which would later be delivered for the right price.
Prohibition has a history of failure elsewhere in the world too. America once experimented with it in early 20th century and failed miserably. However as a blessing in disguise, some famous Bourbon Whiskeys as a byproduct from that era were produced by the innovative Americans.
It's inherently human to indulge in curiosity, like smoking, drinking and sex which invariably starts during youth. It only amplifies when we are prohibited from accessing the things we aspire for. When we used to play afternoon gully cricket in Bhubaneswar, there were couple of guys who would join us, only when their martinet dads were out. Often it would happen so, while batting (Cricket in India is batsman dominated, everyone eagerly waits for his turn to bat), no sooner they hear the sound of their dad's approaching scooter from the horizon, than they would throw away their bats and start running towards home.
It's always a desperate race against time, attempting to sneak into their home through backdoor before the dad enters through the front door. The man usually takes his time to take off the helmet, elongate the folded stand of the scooter using his hind leg, park and lock it before turning the handle couple of times ensure that the lock is secured. That provides the scared kids precious little time to be at their table, pretending to be studying.
If unfortunate enough to get caught, they would be severely reprimanded, often thrashed. One was even beaten with his father's thick leather belt on regular basis. This was to suppose to prevent him from becoming a CHHATARA (a girl chasing vagabond) or BAZAARI (a free roaming guy in market). Eventually it would happen so when the son went out to live in a hostel. He was now a cage free bird and really went wild fitting perfectly into a well defined CHHATARA and BAZAARI. This is another example of the failure of self imposed "Social Prohibition" which can backfire big time. Bottom line - Prohibition has never worked in history, it never will.
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