Gujarat has had a prohibition law since its formulation in 1960, but that hasn’t stopped residents from consuming alcohol. In fact, the high level of consumption is perhaps the state’s worst-kept secret. Bootleggers cover every locality, operating through WhatsApp messages or phone calls. Like food delivery networks, they deliver the alcohol of your choice to your doorstep in a quick time, and payment is made in cash or digitally.

During the state assembly’s budget session last year, it was revealed that liquor worth more than Rs 300 crore had been seized over the past two years in Gujarat. This is the proverbial drop in the ocean – the state is anything but dry. According to the data figures collected during the National Drug Use Survey in 2019 by AIIMS, 4.3 per cent of people had alcohol dependence. However, these are just the official figures and this statistic can be safely dismissed.

It’s a well-oiled network – the spirits are smuggled in from adjoining states and the process is lubricated with bribes to police and other officials. No wonder the punitive system doesn’t work – every year, thousands of prohibition violation cases are registered but conviction rates are low, which indicates a lack of motivation to enforce the law. Between 1999 and 2009, the conviction rate was a mere 9 per cent.

Prohibition also means a loss of tax revenue, which many estimates put at well over $2 billion, or Rs 16,000 crore.

Published on https://theprint.in/opinion/gujarat-a-dry-state-decriminalise-liquor-use-tax-revenue-for-development/1310697/ at 13 Jan, 2023