The havoc liquor is wreaking

The alcohol menace keeps coming up on the media radar and is pushed back every time

The Y S Jaganmohan Reddy-led government’s decision to introduce prohibition in Andhra Pradesh has once again exposed an ostrich-like head-in-the-sand attitude of our opinion shapers. By and large, they maintain a conspiracy of silence on the nation-wide menace of rising liquor consumption. But as soon as someone proposes prohibition, they all wake up and attack it as an unworkable and populist measure, without quite acknowledging the problem or ever bothering to advocate an alternative solution.

After CM Reddy announced his plans for prohibition in a phased manner, editorials in the English media were quick to dismiss this as a populist move,