True of Gujarat too: Patna HC says, Bihar's liquor ban led to illegal liquor trade; cops, officials love it

By Rajiv Shah

A recent Patna High Court judgment on alcohol ban in Bihar can as well be applied to Gujarat. As reported by a legal news portal, under the title "State's Alcohol Ban Led To Illegal Liquor Trade; Police, Excise, Tax, Transport Dept Officials Love The Ban As It Means Big Money: Patna HC", the story by Malavika Prasad says that while quashing the penalty of demotion imposed on an inspector on the ground that he had been negligent in implementing the excise prohibition law, the Patna High Court observed that though the law was passed with the objective of improving public health, "for several reasons, it finds itself on the wrong side of the history".

Interestingly, one would only need to replace Bihar with Gujarat when the story says this: The court observed that the prohibition law in the State has, in fact, given rise to unauthorized trade of liquor and other contraband items, and that the police, excise, tax and transport department officials "love" the liquor ban as for them it "means big money". Isn't the same true for Gujarat?

The story quotes Justice Purnendu Singh's October 29 order which says, I quote, "The Article 47 of the Constitution of India while mandating the duty of the State to raise standards of living and to improve the public health at large and as such State Government enacted Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 with the said objective, but for several reasons, it finds itself on the wrong side of the history."

He added, "The prohibition has, in fact, given rise to unauthorized trade of liquor and other contraband items. The draconian provisions have become handy for the police, who are in tandem with the, smugglers. Innovative ideas to hoodwink law enforcing agency have evolved to carry and deliver the contraband. Not only the police official, excise official, but also officers of the State Tax department and the transport department love liquor ban, for them it means big money".

The court further observed that that the number of registered cases against the king pin/syndicate operators are "few" in comparison to the "magnitude" of cases registered against the "poor who consume liquor and those poor people and are prey of hooch tragedy", emphasizing that the life of the majority of the poor section of the State who are facing wrath of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act are "daily wagers who are only earning member of their family".

Surely, what's true of Bihar is also true for Gujarat. There have been large number of hooch tragedies in which the poor who consume illicit liquor have died. Despite the fact that the Gujarat government has progressively gone ahead with making the law strict, with strong punishment for those producing illicit liquor, I am personally witness to how in Ahmedabad's Khanpur vegetable market a woman sitting on the street with a box to sell tobacco, cigarette, bidi, paan masala etc. also sold liquor pouches. Individuals knew this woman, and she would just give away pouches from within the box quietly as and when they would approach her. I couldn't believe my eyes -- all this was happening as we were buying vegetables!

While I have never done it, as I don't drink, those who do tell me the spots from where one could buy "any brand". You just need to stop your vehicle at that stop, and someone would come asking what brand is needed. Is it authentic, I would query, and the answer would be, "It would seem so... And surely much, much cheaper than the liquor available in the designated shops that are allowed to sell it only to license holders." In fact, there is no dearth of people who say, you can get the delivery at home -- it's all a phone call away, and in less than an hour!

Recently, the Gujarat government declared the GIFT City area off Gandhinagar -- promoted as a prestige finance-IT hub project by Narendra Modi -- as prohibition free. I was talking to a person who is a license holder whether he would now buy liquor there, and the answer was, "No way ... It's very very costly! I wouldn't go there to buy a bottle there ever!"

Then there is another racket: The shops in army cantonment area in Ahmedabad are said to sell duty free liquor to army personnel. There are people who seek to befriend with such service personnel and "buy" the desired brand, fully authentic, from them -- at a price advantageous to both sides...

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog