In a significant step and amidst decades of heated debates over the Nagaland Total Liquor Prohibition (NLTP) Act 1989, the state Excise department has prepared a report on the objective of the temperance movement behind legislation of the dry law and the factors that have made implementing an unimplementable act a difficult task over the past three decades.
The department had put forth facts over the inability to fully implement the Act which was highlighted in a brief report titled “Prohibition status in the state of Nagaland and issues thereof” , a copy of which is available with the Nagaland Post.
In the report, the department stated that NLTP Act was “a culmination of a sort of temperance movement” spearheaded by the church and women organisations. Despite more than 30 years of Act, the department said the state mechanisms had not made much stride as far the efficacy of the Act itself and its implementation was concerned.
“More than thirty (30) years have lapsed after the enactment of the NLTP Act without much success in its implementation due to myriad factors both external and internal contributing to its state of affair,” stated a “review on the status of the NLTP Act by the state government”, in a report by the Excise department.
The report noted “wet neighbouring states”, “porous nature of border with Assam”, and “stakeholder participation” as some of the major impediments in enforcement of the prohibition law. It said one of the major impediments in the enforcement and effective implementation of the liquor law was the prevalence of widespread availability of alcohol from the neighbouring contiguous states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
“It has been observed that liquor prohibition in a state centred on demand reduction alone is often unsuccessful as the supply-side aspect of the issue from across the border is not holistically taken into consideration,” stated the report. The department also noted Nagaland’s 512.10-km border boundary with Assam, a “porous and susceptible to influx of migrants and smuggling/trafficking of various contrabands”, as one of the main reasons why prohibition law was undermined.
On stakeholder participation, the department stated that in the absence of sustained mass public initiative/civil society participation, such state-imposed legislations had their roles cut out to a limited extend as far as bringing about socio-transformation and ushering major social change was concerned. It pointed out that Mizoram’s successful prohibition regime in the past was attributed to the proactive role played by YMCA and the church.
In the report, the department also noted “lack of concomitant statist measure” such as acute shortage of personnel, and resource and logistics. The department acknowledged that its manpower strength was disproportionately low to effectively make a positive impact while enforcing the Act. The department said this was evidently apparent as it had been operating on a cadre of pre-NLTP sanctioned posts.
The report stated that the Excise Department had a meagre workforce of 336 field personnel and officers to cover the entire state. While Mizoram had 559 personnel with a personnel-population ratio of 1: 2,272 (12.7 lakh population), Nagaland’s ratio was 1:6,636 (22.3 lakh population).
The report also compared the length of border shared by the two states with Assam, a prominent wet state in the north-eastern region – Mizoram-Assam border was 165 km, while Nagaland-Assam border was 512 km.
It admitted that the challenges faced by the Nagaland Excise was “insurmountable” against the backdrop of such “numerical deficits and physical constraints”.
In terms of resource and logistics, the department said it was not adequately geared up for the task in terms of equipment and machinery as modernisation of the department could not be effectively carried out due to prevailing financial situation of the state.
Despite having to confront the notorious smugglers and traffickers on a daily basis, the department claimed that it was “poorly equipped with antiquated and outdated .303 rifles and British-made vintage Sten guns”, often preventing it to make incisive gains from the operational point of view.
The report also noted that the department had only one pool patrol vehicle for field detection duty, adding that acute lack of pool vehicles and outdated weaponry did not instil much confidence or boost the morale of the enforcement agency personnel.
The report stated that while the state’s excise revenue declined from Rs 5.5 crore in 1988-89 to Rs 3 crore over the past few years, Assam had been “cashing in on our situation” by earning Rs 2,526 crore in 2022-23.
Quoting 14th Finance Commission Evaluation of State Finance of Meghalaya, the report stated that the excise revenue of Meghalaya for 2013-2014, 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 stood at Rs 162.66 crore, Rs 151.13 crore, and Rs 170.05 crore respectively.
The report stressed “early death due to adulterated and spurious liquor”, “diversion to deadlier substitutions”, “cross border resurgence of mafiosi/criminal syndicates”, “rise in AIDS incidence”, “unemployment scenario in the state”, “adverse effect on sectors of the economy” and “mushrooming of syndicate and bootleggers” as pertinent issues and factors for consideration vis-à-vis NLTP implementation.
The report claimed that there were medical data and evidences pointing to an increase in the death of young people due to the consumption of spurious liquor owing to lack of quality control regime in place.
It stated that a serious review of the Act could pave the way for stricter regulations in the denatured spirit content of alcohol and to ensure quality in all forms of liquor, thereby saving the public from the hazards of spurious liquor. The department emphasised that this was the only way to address the issue of spurious, sub-standard, adulterated and illicitly distilled liquor that was having a fatal impact on the health of drinkers.
In the absence of liquor, the report noted that many youth had taken recourse to other substances such as drugs and narcotics, adding that the alarming rise in drug abuse (sunflower) among the younger generation today was a disturbing indication of the perilous direction of the society.
Terming states such as Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as sources of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) consignments, the report stated that taking advantage of their proximity to Dimapur, the economy of townships like Lahorijan in Assam were based on liquor supply to Nagaland.
It claimed that “illicit liquor mafiosi and criminal syndicates of various sorts catering to the demands of the neighbouring state have set up bases for their operations”.
The report also attributed the spurt in the incidence of AIDS in Nagaland (with prevalence rate of 0.76% among adults) as a direct result of liquor being confined to the dark fringes of the society.
With the state facing unemployment issue, the report emphasised capitalising on the available means of employment generating mechanism to develop human resource and infrastructure. The department said a revisit on prohibition would be an important step towards the direction.
It claimed that the prohibition had badly affected and stifled the growth potential of income and employment generating sectors such as tourism, hotel industry, hospitality, and horticulture.
On mushrooming of syndicate and bootleggers in Nagaland, the report admitted that the prohibition regime had provided a fertile ground for the exponential growth of such groups, which was detrimental to the law and order situation in the state.
In its report, the department also noted the recent clamours for review of prohibition, especially in the light of the availability and accessibility to spurious liquor in the black market despite the ongoing preventive efforts of the state enforcement agencies.
As the demand for lifting NLTP Act grows, it remains to be seen whether the state government would lift the contentious Act taking into consideration the loss of precious young lives to adulterated and spurious liquor, its inability to effectively implement the prohibition, and the crippled economy.
