In 2016, when the Nitish Kumar-led government enacted a blanket ban on liquor in Bihar. It fulfilled the popular demand by women, especially in rural Bihar, who were bearing the brunt of alcohol abuse by men.
To that extent, prohibition has made a significant impact.
“Before the liquor ban, domestic violence was rampant, especially in rural households here. Even a walk down the street after sunset wasn’t possible for women without encountering harassment by alcoholic men,” said Rashmi Sinha, who works with hundreds of rural women in Madhubani district as part a women-centric NGO Sakhi. “Women here strongly support prohibition. Income that was earlier wasted on men’s alcohol consumption are now used for other necessary household expenses, including children’s education.”
The widespread alcoholism can be attributed to the excise policy of Nitish Kumar’s first term as Bihar’s chief minister between 2005-10. To aid Bihar's struggling treasury, his government decided to liberalise the trade of liquor. As a result, the number of wineshop licenses in the state increased from 3,436 in 2006-07 to 5,467 in 2012-13. Villages, particularly, reported an increase of over 200 percent. Bihar’s excise revenue jumped from Rs 500 crore in 2006 to Rs 3,217 crore in 2015.
So what happenned when alcohol was suddenly prohibited in a state where drinking was highly popular?
“Alcohol is easily available despite prohibition. The revenue from alcohol sales, which had earlier gone to the government's exchequer, now goes to an illicit parallel economy. From a police constable on the ground to a high-level politician, everyone works as part of a syndicate in the illegal trade of alcohol,” said Dr. B. N. Prasad, head of the sociology department at Patna’s A. N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies.
Bihar shares porous borders with Nepal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. None of these places have a ban on liquor, and they have become a source for mass alcohol smuggling into dry Bihar.
“This has made alcohol expensive and hard to access for the economically weaker classes. That’s why domestic violence, road accidents, etc, have fallen, because these issues were more prevalent in these deprived classes, and the impact of these issues was more apparent when alcohol was legal. People who can afford smuggled alcohol at higher cost anyway didn’t face much of these problems earlier. Neither were their household budgets affected by their alcohol consumption,” added Dr Prasad.
A statement issued by the Department of Prohibition, Excise and Registration said, "Officials concerned have so far seized 30.86 million bulk litres of liquor which includes country-made liquor as well. Till March 31, 2025, a total of over 900,000 cases pertaining to violation of prohibition laws have been registered by the department in which a total of over 1.4 million people have been arrested so far."
Bihar police destroying seized liquor in Gaya district (2023). Photo: @GAYAPOLICEBIHAR / X
Punishment under Bihar’s prohibition law was deemed harsh. Some of the law’s worst features were holding the entire family liable to imprisonment if any family member violated the liquor ban.
“While the densities of prison went up, the manpower of police and administration didn’t increase. This was a big corruption opportunity for police, politicians, and government officials,” said Dr Prasad.
The Patna High Court noted that the police as well as officials of the excise, tax, and transport departments were colluding with bootleggers and pointed out that the poor were becoming both victims of hooch tragedies and offenders under the law for consumption of liquor.
A total of 190 people lost their lives due to the consumption of illicit liquor in Bihar since prohibition was imposed, as per a statement by state’s Excise department in April 2025.
An Indian Express investigation in May 2018 found that more than two-third of a total of 1,22,392 people arrested under the prohibition law came from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.
Convicts and liquor seized by police at SSP press conference in Patna. Photo: Hindustan Times
“You will never hear a rich person getting arrested for flouting prohibition because they drink in the comfort of their homes. It is the poor who face police action. The worst victim of prohibition is the marginalised community,” added Dr Prasad.
Following criticism, Nitish government made amendments that loosened some of the act’s draconian provisions in July 2018.
In 2021, the then Chief Justice of India (CJI), N.V. Ramana, dubbed the Bihar liquor law an example of “lack of oversight”. “There are 300,000 cases pending in the courts. People are waiting for justice for a long time, and now the excessive cases related to liquor violations put additional burden on courts.”
Dr Prasad further said, “Addiction from non-alcoholic sources i.e. drugs like cannabis (ganja), charas, smack (heroin), brown sugar (adulterated heroin), doda (opium husk), etc has risen alarmingly in Bihar. Because these are cheap and easily accessible.”
When prohibition came into force in 2016, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) was in alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress as part of Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan. When Nitish switched sides to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 2017, prohibition in the state remained intact. This indicates that all the major political parties are in favour of the liquor ban. Largely because it is popular among the constituency of women voters.
However, it is not clear whether the high turnout of women can be attributed to prohibition.
“Politicians often cite the benefits that alcohol ban has brought to the women. But it is also alleged that ruling parties have filled their funds with corruption induced by prohibition, at the cost of state exchequer,” added Dr Prasad.
Poll strategist turned politician Prashant Kishor’s Jana Suraaj Party has taken a contrarian approach and vowed to lift the ban on liquor within minutes of coming into power. Kishor highlights the pitfalls of prohibition and proposes to use revenue from alcohol sale for welfare measures. “This sounds good for wooing votes but even when the state was earning taxes from liquor, the corruption in Bihar never allowed the state to develop. The condition of healthcare and education was pathetic then, and it is pathetic now as well,” said Dr Prasad.
Sharing the views of rural women she works with, Sinha said, “Women here are upset about the proposition to lift prohibition. They say they won’t vote for any party who promises to bring back alcohol.”
Prohibition is a multi-dimension issue and gains high political weightage ahead of the 2025 Bihar state Assembly elections.
