Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill, 2016 passed

A stringent Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill, 2016, was passed today in the state Assembly by voice vote amidst boycott by Opposition over the state government's rejection of their proposals in the over three hour-long debate on the legislation.
Though the new legislation for total prohibition incorporated provisions like production, marketing and consumption of toddy - a livelihood of the Pasis, a Dalit community, the state government allowed them to carry on with their traditional business till a mechanism was put in place for processing 'Nira', an unfermented drink made out of toddy juice.
The NDA members, who had unsuccessfully moved 17 amendments to the Bill, and vociferously opposed it in its current form, trooped out of the House ahead of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's reply.

They later took out a protest march to the Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramnath Kovind in this regard.
Earlier, state Excise and Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan introduced the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill, 2016 for consideration and passage by the Assembly in the post-lunch session.
Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary put all 100 sections of the new prohibition law for discussion by the members during which opposition BJP members introduced 17 amendments, all of which were rejected by the House by voice vote.

The BJP members had sought division of votes on two of their amendment motions. But both were rejected by the House with the opposition getting 46 votes compared to 150 against after counting of votes on the amendment in section 17 of the Bill, while the amendment motion on section 32 was voted out by the treasury benches with 153 against and only 45 in its favour.

During the debate on the Bill, senior BJP MLA Nandkishore Yadav, HAM (Secular) President Jitan Ram Manjhi and RLSP MLA Lalan Prasad and CPI (M-L Liberation) MLA Mahboob Alam spoke against it.
They pleaded with the state government to not press for its passage in its current form and described the stringent provisions under it as "draconian", particularly in view of one which sought arrest of all adult family members of a house in the event of recovery of a liqour bottle.
Kumar took exception to the opposition charge that the
new prohibition law will arm the excise, police and other official machinery to harass the common man, particularly the poor people. He said stringent provisions have been made in the Bill to deter government servants from harassing the people on fake charge of consumption of liqour or carrying a liqour bottle with them or at their house.

The previous Bihar Excise (Amendment), Act, 2015, passed by the state legislature during the budget session earlier, had provision for three months imprisonment and fine upto Rs 10,000 if excise and police officials harassed people on fabricated charge of consumption and possession of liqour.
Under the new law, a stringent provision has been made to increase the quantum of imprisonment to three years, besides penalty of Rs one lakh, he said.
Slamming opposition parties, particularly BJP for spreading "false propaganda" against the state government over the new prohibition law being "anti-poor and aimed at ushering in 'police raj' in Bihar", Kumar cited the example of dismissal from service of seven excise officials recently for slapping a fabricated charge of possession of liqour bottle by a motorist travelling to Kolkata.

In addition, provisions have been incorporated for initiating action under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act against those excise and police officials found guilty of harassing a common man on fake charge of liqour consumption and carrying liqour bottles, he said.
"There will be no police raj in Bihar," he said and put up a strong defence on the need to bring a new law on prohibition.
Kumar said legal experts had detected several deficiencies in the previous law and suggested amendments but the state government has gone for a total overhaul by bringing in a new legislation.

The old prohibition law will be repealed once the new law comes into being, he said.
On the toddy issue, which the opposition parties had harped on, Kumar clarified that those engaged in the business of producing and selling toddy drink for their livelihood will continue to do so till a new mechanism comes in place for processing of 'Nira'.
This mechanism will be in place by next summer, he said
i(Reopens CAL 6)
Kumar said with better harnessing of toddy produces, the lives of those depending on production and marketing of toddy juice will change for good with the marketing of other produces like jam, sweetmeat, jaggery from it.

Brooms, mats and fancy items from branches and leaves will fetch good money for them, he said.
On the provision of arrest of family members in the event of liqour bottle being found at their house, the CM said only adult members will be penalized on the premise that somebody in the household must be knowing as to who has brought the liquor.
To the charge that the state government was allowing production of liqour in Bihar but did not want people to drink and penalise them for doing so, Kumar said the manufacturers were doing legitimate business on licence given by the excise department earlier on an agreement which cannot be scrapped.

But no fresh licence was being issued and the manufacturers have been told to market liqour produced at their plants in Bihar in GPS-equipped vehicles with escorts outside the state, he said.
With the opposition BJP claiming that there were fissures in the ranks of the ruling Grand Secular Alliance constituents on the prohibition law, Kumar said all legislative and governance-related matters are discussed by RJD, JD(U) and Congress before taking a decision on it.
"You (BJP) have made false impression about wedge among the grand alliance constituents on the new prohibition law.... There is none between us," he said.

Kumar said the government also tried to take the opposition on board to seek consensus on the new prohibition law by sending three ministers to meet senior leaders of rival parties last night but the offer was rejected.
Stating that a lot of public good, particularly that of the poor, was involved in enforcement of prohibition in Bihar, Kumar said he has been visiting other states to impress upon them to ban liqour.
On charges by BJP that he was seeking cheap publicity by touring other parts of the country to plead for enforcement, Kumar said there was no harm in doing so.

The total prohibition has been enforced in Bihar as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the centenary of his Champaran March in 1917, he said.
"I would also like RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify their stand on prohibition ... Modi, in fact had continued with prohibition in Gujarat during his 13 years stint as chief minister," he said.
Defending prohibition in Bihar, Kumar said crimes like rape, murder, dacoity, road accidents, theft and extortion had come down since April this year even though there has been sharp rise in cases registered under the excise law.