Both Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party appear to be in a bind over the issue of prohibition. While the former has announced to impose ban on liquor after himself introducing the New Excise Policy on July 1, 2007 the saffron party has meekly welcomed the step taken by the new government.

Critics, on the other hand, are apprehensive as to how would the state government overcome the annual loss of about Rs 4,000 crore, which it accrues from excise duty after the ban. The share of excise revenue has touched 18 per cent of the state’s own taxes, which had come down considerably after the carving out of Jharkhand, the mineral-rich part of the erstwhile Bihar.

The Nitish government’s excise policy was the one which could have been made a big election issue by the BJP, as it created more problem than minimise it. But the saffron party failed to expose the real darker side of the New Excise Policy, 2007 because the BJP was alliance partner of the JD(U), when it was implemented.

Against the general perception created by the media––and the BJP itself for the first seven and a half years––women were much unsafe during the Nitish Kumar’s 10 years tenure than the previous governments.

No doubt the girls got bicycles and enrolment in schools increased––even though the education standard went down––and women got 50 per cent reservation in urban and rural local bodies; yet to say that women were much safer during the Nitish Kumar regime is travesty of the fact.

True, there is nothing for Lalu-Rabri regime to boast about on the law and order front and Nitish did take some steps in this direction in the first couple of years, yet when taken as a whole one can say without any hesitation that women were less safe in the 10 years of Nitish rule than 15 previous years.

As the post-Mandal media, along with the rival political parties, were busy painting everything in the blackest of colours and not prepared to see any virtue in the previous government it was impossible to explode the myth of women’s safety then.

Now that both the rivals––Lalu and Nitish––are back as good friends it is easy to make an objective analysis without being accused of partisanship.

Women were less safe during the 10 years of Nitish rule because of his government’s New Excise Policy. No police data would help one understand the real situation as crime, violence and atrocity on women increased manifold within the four-wall of the houses. Rampant rise in booze culture can easily be attributed to the increase in such cases.

It is not that all the Biharis were teetotaller in the past. But there is no denying the fact that consumption of alcohol has increased manifold in the last eight years, especially in the rural areas.

The increase in consumption of liquor can be gauged from the number of vendors which shot up from 3,436 in 2006-7 to 5,467 in 2012-13. Its increase was more in rural areas––from 779 to 2,360 during the same period.

True the excise revenue jumped to Rs 3,560 crore in 2013-14 from Rs 525 crore in 2007-08, yet there is no assessment of the social cost––the money spent by families as well as the government on health of those suffering from diseases caused by alcoholism.

Nobody in the media did a detailed story on torments women had to undergo, especially of the economically weaker section.

While crimes committed in public or on the streets against women or anyone else get reported and FIR are lodged those committed within the family––and that too in the far-off rural areas––are hushed up.

The anger against this policy of the Nitish government never got its due coverage in the media because of another reasons. One should not feel shy of saying that many in the Fourth Estate see no wrong in rampant rise in booze culture as they are part of it.

They under-reported a rally of women in Patna organized by Rashtriya Mahila Brigade on the very first day when the New Excise Policy was implemented. The media largely blacked out the news of how the former minister Hind Kesari Yadav was beaten black and blue by the liquor mafia in Muzaffarpur some years ago.

However, when Nitish Kumar was on July 9 last forced by a large number of women self help group volunteers at S K Memorial Hall in Patna he promised that he would impose prohibition.

But his government now faces a big challenge as it is difficult to impose prohibition after eight years of New Excise Policy, which gave a big boost to this culture. It would have been much easier to impose ban before July 1, 2007.

Many within the ruling establishment are of the view that it is a big challenge for the government to find ways to overcome the annual loss of over Rs 4,000 crore.

Anyway women are taking a sigh of relief as in the last eight years thousands of them had to pay a heavy price with nobody to wipe their tears.