Should the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act be lifted?

TUOPHEMA — Students debated on the controversial Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act, 1989, at the ongoing 30th biennial general conference of the Angami Students’ Union (ASU) at Touphema village on Saturday.

A debate on the topic: “Is it time to lift the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act?” was held in one of the segments of the conference.

Students speaking in favour of the motion asserted that it was high time to lift the NLTP Act, which totally prohibits possession, sale, consumption, export, import and manufacture of liquor in Nagaland.

They argued that despite the Act being passed 34 years ago by the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, liquor is available across the state and its consumption has only increased.

“It is high time we stop fooling ourselves,” said one student, adding that the Act has only given rise to more illegal activities “which is a mockery to our so-called dry state”.

The introduction of NLTP Act has led to increase in the price of liquor and quality compromised, they argued, adding that adulterated alcohol is harmful for human consumption, resulting in serious health hazards.

Claiming that the number of people in 15-49 age group in Nagaland who consume alcohol is higher than the national average and most alcohol-related deaths in the state are between the age of 30-50, they said many suffer from cirrhosis at a young age due to consumption of adulterated liquor.

There is a huge syndicate in the neighbouring state Assam who flourishes from the sale of alcohol in Nagaland, the students argued. ‘Each year, we lose cores of revenues to Assam due to the NLTP Act. It is doing more harm than good to our society as there has been no scarcity of liquor in our state since the time of prohibition,’ said one of the debaters.

It is impossible to implement the NLTP Act, said one, adding that ‘we need to accept the fact that the government and the church have failed to effectively implement it; the Act should be lifted as it has given birth to more corruption and hypocrisy’.

‘The authorities are corrupted; even if alcohol is banned, it will always find its way back in every nook and corner,’ said one of the participants. ‘If there is no demand, there won’t be supply.’

However, those speaking against the motion argued that legalization of alcohol is not going to be productive.

‘Selling of alcohol is not only the source of income. Government has seen lack of control in the people, so it framed the NLTP Act. Unemployment is rising due to consumption of alcohol among the youths and it is also affecting family relationships. The NLTP Act is saving premature deaths in Nagaland,’ asserted one student.

Those speaking against the motion also said that the genesis of the Act is fundamentally sound, arguing that it is logical to ban alcohol in Nagaland as a Christian state besides its ill-effects.

‘Getting drunk is sin. We cannot prioritize humans for economic reasons. Because of alcohol, youth are unable to achieve their dreams while domestic violence and majority of crimes are related to its consumption,’ one argued.

Claiming that alcohol consumption degrades human values, they asked why NLTP Act should be lifted when it has already been implemented.

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