Bihar's women win against alcohol but lose to illicit liquor, drugs

On April 1, 2016, chief minister Nitish Kumar had declared Bihar a dry state, following in the footsteps of Gujarat, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep

Her husband tried his best to dissuade her but Sakshi Devi, 30, had made up her mind. Armed with sticks, vessels and brooms, nearly 150 determined women waited outside her home in a remote village in southwestern Bihar. Sakshi Devi (name changed) reached out for the belan (rolling pin) in her kitchen and marched out of the house to join them. “We had run out of patience,” she said. “The liquor shop near the village had to go.”

The liquor shop, about a kilometre from her home and in one of the bazaars on the outskirts of Sasaram town in Rohtas