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![]() Tuesday, March 31, 1998 Published at 13:08 GMT 14:08 UK ![]() ![]() ![]() Despatches ![]() Prohibition ends in Haryana, India ![]() Prohibition in Haryana led to the loss of many jobs in alcohol-related industries
Prohibition in the Indian state of Haryana just outside the capital, Delhi, is being lifted only 21 months after the newly elected government banned all alcohol sales and consumption. The ban cost the state treasury tens of millions of dollars in lost excise revenue, led to the loss of thousands of jobs in brewing, distilling and retailing alcoholic drinks and clogged the court system with charges against people caught intoxicated or in possession of liquor. Our India correspondent, Daniel Lak, says the end of enforced sobriety in Haryana is an abrupt transition in a state that was once proud to be dry.
But those who fell victim to the rigorously enforced prohibition laws, more than 1,000 people, are angry. They claim the government gave police clear instructions to harass them and tally up as many criminal charges for drunkenness or possession of alcohol as possible.
And there are women's groups who supported prohibition as a means of ending domestic violence by drunken husbands and the squandering of scarce family resources on drink. It didn't work.
Mahatma Gandhi wanted prohibition but he clearly lived in a different India from that of today.
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