Dr Sedevi Angami
There has been much debate on prohibition of late. The debate will continue and it will be difficult to really find out who wins or who is more convincing. The majority will definitely vote for removing prohibition because all of us have some corruption within us and a secret desire to booze.
I would like to discuss the issue that many learned people in the state have raised.
Q1 – Has prohibition worked in Nagaland?
The answer is both yes and no. This will depend upon on how you define – failure or success.
Yes – the official booze shop is closed. People have greater difficulty getting the booze and therefore the usage of alcohol has definitely come down. To do an official count is going to be difficult since we do not have pre and post prohibition statistics. As a child, I saw the famous cigarette brands- More, 555, Marlboro etc in almost all small pan dukans. They no more exist. All my classmates in Sainik school Imphal, smoked. I was the only unfortunate one who did not smoke because I could not retain the smoke in my lungs though I tried my best to join the gang. Lung Cancer has greatly decreased from Nagaland since Legislation came into being. Chronic bronchitis is very rare in Nagaland because very few people smoke anymore. Prolonged campaigning has worked marvelously in India as far as smoking is concerned.
After prohibition came into being, I do not see the large number of drunken brawling people on the streets that I used to see in my childhood. School kids today do not just go to the booze shop and get their bottle easily so the temptation to booze definitely has come down.
No – a lot of illicit brew abounds. Illegal wine sellers make a fortune and their patrons even more. So the flow continues.
Q2 – Hasn’t prohibition failed in the past in many places where it was tried?
Depends on how you read history or who interprets it. The debate is not yet over. When somebody famous writes that prohibition is a failure – you will need to question his credentials, world view, political inclinations etc before swallowing his views. The internet continues to feature a rich amount of debate on the issue which you can relish at leisure. Just google ‘prohibition debate’ and enjoy the reading. What applies to Tamil Nadu or America as so called failures in prohibition may not be the same in Nagaland. We will have to chart our own course and decide what is best for us. Do not throw away your wisdom and common sense by paying obeisance to some wise writer somewhere in USA.
Q3 – Why has prohibition failed in Nagaland?
There is no political will. Most bureaucrats booze. Most police officers booze. Many politicians booze. They all love their booze too much to lift a finger against the illegal stuff going around. There needs to be a passion about your job for this kind of thing. The newspaper pictures of IMFL being caught is encouraging and somebody is definitely doing his job. There is however a huge leak in the system which is not yet plugged. Big fish do not get caught. Neck tied organized crime Lords do not go around driving small mini trucks. They are usually deacons in our churches.
Q4 – Doesn’t prohibition increase corruption?
Yes – it increases corruption in the particular dept that deals with it – guardians of the law.
No – Corruption anyway is part of the fabric of our society and so it is just another way of expressing our creativity in dishonesty. By removing prohibition, our society is not going to get better or more honest.
Q5 – What about loss in revenue? Couldn’t we generate that income for development of the state?
If Nagaland govt earned 50 crores in revenue from the booze market, I doubt whether that money would be used meaningfully for development. Anyway many times that amount has been gobbled up by our leaders and so loss of revenue is a poor argument for lifting prohibition. Profits from revenue earned would be lost in medical expenses incurred treating alcoholic related diseases of the liver, heart, nerves and accidents.
Q6 – Should the church be involved in this issue?
Definitely. Whatever concerns living on earth concerns the church – the instrument that Christ created for bringing His involvement with human beings. The manner in which the church interacts on this issue can be debated. The church can teach its members about alcohol and its ill effects on family, society and health. It can discipline its members – who are wayward. It can pray for those in authority. It can rebuke the authorities too – Herod was rebuked by John the Baptist. Most Nagas are Christians and therefore can be disciplined by their pastors – even the powerful ones are supposed to be subject to the authority in the church – which is the elders of the church. Pastors must exercise their God given responsibility to correct their congregation. Judge righteous judgment. NBCC cannot and should not legitimately threaten the government but the pastor of the local church can rebuke the chief minister or chief secretary if he or she is part of his congregation. The Pastor of Ao, Angami or Sumi church has full authority to share his views to the police chief or excise chief commissioner if that person belongs to his church.
Q7 – What would Nagaland look like if prohibition was lifted? Would it be a better place to live in or worse?
The day prohibition is lifted; there would be a huge party. Many accidents would happen like New Year’s Eve and a lot of people would die. There would be a lot of brawls on the street as people celebrate the draconian law being lifted.
The hospitals would pile up with alcoholic hepatitis and liver disease coma patients so much so that hospitals would overflow – bringing a lot of income to the doctors, pharmaceuticals, coffin makers and auto rickshaw drivers who have to bring the patients to hospital.
The municipal councils will now have to arrange for more pickup trucks to collect glass bottles instead of plastic bottles. Many vehicles will suffer tyre punctures due to broken bottles on the streets thus bringing added income to tyre merchants and repair shops.
The illegal wine sellers will have to close shop and so their business will be badly hurt. They will have to find other means of livelihood if they have not saved some money in fixed deposits from the money they have earned so far.
Wine shops will mushroom over all the towns and villages thereby creating employment and increasing the transport income.
Many people will lobby to get licenses for wine shops. This will increase corruption as they will have to pay bribes to get their licenses. Ministers will get licenses for their relatives and party people. The money that used to go to policemen will get diverted to excise dept and other registering authorities. Corruption will actually increase.
The economy of Khatkhati will crash, thereby creating an exodus of brilliant crooked refugees into Nagaland thus creating more law and order problems in Dimapur.
There will therefore be a mixed picture of the economy of Nagaland. It is anybody’s guess how it would look like.
Q8 – Isn’t Nukli IMFL and illicit brew more harmful to the body than legal booze?
Whether it is illicit or legal, booze in large quantities destroys your body. Methylated alcohol kills almost instantly. I have not seen a case of hooch/ bootleg / night shine poisoning in Nagaland but it could very well happen.
Till date I have not seen a comparative trial of legal alcohol versus illicit brew being studied to see which brew is worse for the body. It would be unethical to do such a trial and the duration of the trial would possibly be too long to pursue. Common sense would tell you that alcohol brewed in an unhygienic way will land you in big trouble.
Q9 – So should prohibition be lifted?
Definitely NO.
My simple reasoning is that – more people will die because of free flowing liquor than if there is some restriction however imperfect it is. If life has a value – I guess the quantity of life versus death will tilt the balance towards reinforcing prohibition rather than lifting it.
If you want to see who is right – do a very controlled experiment of lifting prohibition for 6 months. Compare the following variables - how many people have died, had accidents, hospital beds occupied for alcoholism, broken families (churches can measure) in the period before and after lifting prohibition. That will give you your answer. It will be a costly exercise – but that may be the only way to prove the point.
If you do not have the courage or the ability to conduct such a trial, I would allow the status quo to remain and try to see how we can work together to curb the menace of alcoholism in our society.
