Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. ~ Aristotle.
I start with this famous quote by the great philosopher not as a means to justify the lifting of Prohibition or the NLTP Act 1989 from our state. Much has been said about the Prohibition Act and even newspapers had featured well-thought Editorials on this issue. But the debate continues, the smuggling and consequent seizures makes everyday news, and the rate of alcohol keeps on ever increasing in the society. Nowadays, in Mokokchung town, a bottle of McDowell Whiskey costs a whopping Rs 500. Most of the citizens don’t earn Rs 500 a day, but the thirst for a peg of alcohol still lingers, and so people still drink no matter what. And surely, it will continue, whether we call ourselves a Christian state or not.
I have no doubts that the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act was enacted by the Legislative Assembly in good faith to curb ‘alcoholism’ in the society. I am sure the NBCC and the women groups pressured the government to enact the NLPT Act with a noble thought to ‘save the young men’ from becoming victims of alcoholism, to save their life from destruction. Surely, it must have saved a lot of young people during the last more than twenty years since the act became a law.
But more than twenty years is a long time indeed. Over the past few years, there have been debates on whether to continue this Act or not. There has been strong justification from both the pro and anti-prohibition writers who have put forth their strong and well informed views and opinions on this issue. There has been this talk about revenue loss, the Act becoming a mockery and all from the anti-prohibition side, while the pro-prohibition maintains that alcohol use is harmful to health, it is against the principles of a Christian state and so on.
The pros and cons of Prohibition are evenly balanced, and it would be insignificant for me to say whether Prohibition should stay or be lifted because a lot of people – intellectuals, politicians and senior citizens etc – have already shared enough views on why the Act should be lifted or should stay. But what I genuinely feel is that, looking at the present scenario of alcohol use and alcohol flow into our state, it is time to do some brainstorming on the Act. Twenty-three years of the NLTP Act surely had had adverse effect, whether good or bad, on our society. But no one for sure knows whether the good effects outweigh the bad or the bad outweighs the good effects. Of course, the effects of NLTP Act or any other Government Act cannot be entirely good or entirely bad. But, when it comes to Prohibition Act, perhaps a time has come to do some assessment on the effects of the NLTP Act from a very pragmatic point of view.
If I may share my thoughts, this assessment shouldn’t be a discussion on the Act where the stakeholders like the NBCC, NSF, Naga Hoho, Naga Mothers or other tribal hohos meet together in a building and debate for a day or two. I feel it will be a futile exercise because the articles on this topic published in the local papers is proof enough that the lines are equally divided. Besides, when it comes to NLTP Act, whether we want it or not, the regular drinkers, the booze joint owners, the bootleggers are also a major stakeholder in the society, and their views and opinions should also be listened to.
Therefore, it would be good if the government or the Excise Department can constitute a committee of researchers headed by a respected academician and fresh post-graduates students to carry out a thorough research over a six month period. The government can give scholarship to the researchers during the research period and they will have to travel to every town and sub-divisions talking with as much people as possible. The researchers should be entrusted with one mission: to interview, to assess, to find out from every aspect of the society about the effects of NLTP Act from a very realistic and unemotional point of view. However, the researchers may or may not be allowed to come to a decision about their finding. The finding of the research can be published by the Government and sold at a minimal price, so that everyone can afford to read it, and the readers can come to their own conclusion. Who knows, if such a task is undertaken, then this research work will become a popular document for researchers and other state or national governments who are trying to tackle alcohol use or abuse in the society.
This is just a personal view sharing with a deep conviction that the NLTP Act has become a mockery. And when a law enacted by a government becomes a mockery, the government itself becomes a mockery. Alcohol is still flowing freely and there are drinkers everywhere. We cannot sit back and say that everything is all right when it is not. Perhaps, a thorough research into the effects of NLTP Act during the past twenty-three years would point to some other means like ‘regulation of alcohol sale’ and ‘not prohibition’ or maybe some other more effective solution. There has to be a starting point. We can start by think with an open mind and see the real situation of alcohol use or abuse in our society. We can start by questioning: Is prohibition that effective to deter drinkers in the society. For the last question, I can confidently say a big No. Prohibition or no prohibition, there will always be drinkers.
Along Longchar,
Mokokchung
