Theheli Thonger
Student in Mezhur Higher Secondary School
I saw an ordinary shop today. Never knew the deep secrets it hid. On the outer surface, all I saw was Lays chips hanging around, a Britannia biscuit, and a crate of mineral water. Asked for a bottle of water, it was given. Ask for a bottle, I received liquor.
The sharp irony of NAGALAND is that it proclaims to be a state for Christ and a dry state. But by dry, do we mean our Christian life? Because in terms of liquor, it's flowing in all its different flavours, rates, and brands.
Nagaland put into force the NLTP Act in 1985. Nearly 35 years later, the reality remains the same—liquor is accessible. The noble intentions of the NBCC and civil societies have become a joke. An act without proper enforcement becomes a theatre.
Look at your surroundings. When we allow illegal activities to prevail, who is it really hurting? It's the family with a drunk father. It's a child without tiffin, getting late for school because his parents lay drunk.
It's the old parents who are constantly harassed for money by their own children. And many more stories.
Truth be told, violation of the NLTP does not hurt the privileged or the rich—they have the money to sustain any sickness and problem in the family. But it is the poor and the downtrodden who would suffer the most.
Moreover, since the liquor is being sold illegally, no protection to the consumer can be offered, nor can the age be regulated. Young underage children can easily obtain liquor from a shop that just sells "bottles of water and chips."
The act itself is a failure—with no enforcement, no future plan on what to do with those punished under the act, and no remedies for the addicts. The act in all its form is a failure with no vision.
Today, we have the choice to decide what to do. Whether we will stand up as responsible citizens and guardians of the future, and enforce the act ourselves, or watch our state drown in liquor, debts, and broken families.
The government has its duty, and greater still is our duty as citizens and civil societies—to report, re-enact laws, and reinforce stricter punishment. That is the solution.
Removal of the act is not the solution.
Thus, let us come together in one spirit, mind, and body as citizens of a state which is proud to be called "Nagaland for Christ," and face this evil now.
