NEW DELHI: Calling for nationwide prohibition on alcohol on the lines of Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday claimed that contrary to popular belief, the ban on liquor since 2016 has not made his state poorer. He claimed that not only has the state recovered from the modest initial losses but revenue from other household consumption items has gone up with income earlier spent on liquor now getting diverted to family requirements.

“Those who cite revenue loss as a justification for not going ahead with prohibition, I will say these are nothing but bogus claims,” Kumar said offering to states to study the Bihar experience. He also sought a pan India movement to seek a ban on online pornography and said that he has made his concerns on this known to the Central government too.

He was speaking at a convention of the Liquor Free India campaign steered by voluntary organisation Milita Odisha Nisha Nibaran Abhijan and other regional organisations. Deputy chairman Rajya Sabha Harivansh who is from Janata Dal (United) was also present along with Gandhian Radha Bhatt among others.

The Bihar CM shared that in 2015-16 the revenue from liquor was around Rs 5000 crores. A year after prohibition was implemented in 2016, an assessment of revenue loss on account of liquor was just about Rs 1000 crores. Kumar said that this revenue loss too was made up by over the years since then with the money the state earned from taxes on goods whose consumption increased because of the diversion of family fund which would earlier be used for liquor. “Revenue started going up on things like milk, mithai (sweets), clothes etc,” Kumar said. He said that the benefits of the ban have resulted in better health outcomes, decrease in domestic violence, more income coming into the house and fewer accidents. “The women have played a big role in making the implementation of prohibition a success,” Kumar added.

As of now prohibition on alcohol exists in Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland, Mizoram and Lakshadweep . To make his point on alcohol, Kumar shared that a team from Rajasthan recently visited Bihar to study the execution of prohibition. Rajasthan is ruled by a Congress government led by chief minister Ashok Gehlot .

The Bihar CM said that the experience since prohibition came into effect in Bihar in April 2016, has made his resolve firmer that till he is there he will ensure the ban remains in place. Bihar is set for assembly elections later this year and clearly Kumar sees prohibition of alcohol as an achievement of his government that he wants to showcase before the country.

He, however, admitted that there were challenges on the way to enforce the law and there were gaps and black sheep within and outside the system too. “To check these problems one has to be alert all the time and therefore the IG prohibition has been asked to review the implementation on a daily basis,” Kumar said. He also shared concerns over people going to neighbouring states for getting alcohol to evade the ban in Bihar.

