It is a State where prohibition is in force. You are recently appointed as the Superintendent of Police of a district notorious for illicit distillation of liquor. The illicit liquor leads to many deaths, reported and unreported, and causes a major problem for the district authorities.
The approach till now had been to view it as a law and order problem and tackle it accordingly. Raids, arrests, police cases, criminal trials – all these had only limited impact. The problem remains as serious as ever.
Your inspections show that the parts of the district where the distillation flourishes are economically, industrially and educationally backward. Agriculture is badly affected by poor irrigation facilities. Frequent clashes among communities gave boost to illicit distillation. No major initiatives had taken place in the past either from the government’s side or from social organizations to improve the lot of the people.
Which new approach will you adopt to bring the problem under control?
Approach · directive: “which new approach”
What it asks · Propose a new approach beyond policing to control illicit distillation, combining enforcement, health, development and community partnership.
Open with · Raids and arrests treat the symptom; the case shows a social and economic problem behind the crime, so the Superintendent of Police must lead a district-wide, multi-agency response.
Cover
- Diagnose the root causes: poverty, joblessness, poor irrigation and farm income, low education, community clashes and demand for cheap liquor; policing alone treats symptoms.
- Smart enforcement: intelligence-led action against kingpins, suppliers of raw material and transporters, and against corrupt police and excise staff; forensic testing for methanol; asset seizure; a joint task force with the excise department.
- Health response: hospitals ready with treatment protocols for methanol poisoning, prompt reporting of deaths, and compensation for victims' families.
- Development: ask the district administration to converge schemes on livelihoods, irrigation, skills, self-help groups and schooling in the affected blocks, with NGO and CSR support.
- Community partnership: panchayats, women's groups, youth and religious leaders for awareness and de-addiction; reconciliation forums to reduce clashes; community policing with protected informers.
- Policy feedback: tell the government what enforcement shows about prohibition's reach and gaps, and suggest a review, while implementing the law as it stands.
- Monitor: a district coordination committee with clear indicators such as deaths, raids, livelihoods and school enrolment, reviewed regularly.
Close with · Treat illicit liquor as a social and economic problem as well as a crime: enforce firmly against suppliers, and invest in livelihoods, health and community policing so that citizens become partners in prohibition.
Add value (verified)
- Article 47 of the Constitution, a Directive Principle, asks the State to endeavour to bring about prohibition of intoxicating drinks except for medicinal purposes, as part of its duty to improve public health; prohibition is therefore a constitutional aim, not merely a police matter. The Constitution of India (2024 edition), Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice ↗“the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.”
- Second ARC, 5th Report (Public Order): community policing success stories include Maithri in Andhra Pradesh, Friends of Police in Tamil Nadu and Mohalla Committees in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. Second Administrative Reforms Commission, 5th Report: Public Order, para 5.15 Community Policing — DARPG (archived copy) ↗“Many states in India have taken up community policing in some form or the other. Be it ‘Maithri’ in Andhra Pradesh, ‘Friends of Police’ in Tamil Nadu, Mohalla Committees in Bhiwandi (Maharashtra), there have been several success stories from all over the country.”
- Second ARC, 5th Report: the principle of community policing is that a policeman is a citizen with uniform and a citizen is a policeman without uniform. Second Administrative Reforms Commission, 5th Report: Public Order, para 5.15 Community Policing — DARPG (archived copy) ↗“The basic principle underlying community policing is that ‘a policeman is a citizen with uniform and a citizen is a policeman without uniform’.”
- Ministry of Home Affairs, Guidelines on Communal Harmony: women help defuse communal tensions, and their fair representation in Peace Committees can help contain riots. Guidelines on Communal Harmony — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India ↗“Women, who constitute a very vulnerable group in the context of communal tensions /riots, play an effective role in helping to defuse communal tensions and to prevent riots. Their fair representation in Peace Committees could help in containing riot situation.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2018, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 375 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Article 47 makes prohibition a constitutional aim tied to public health, but raids and arrests have treated illicit distillation as crime alone. The district's poverty, failing farms and community clashes show a social economy behind the still, which policing alone cannot dismantle.
Stakeholders
- Victims' families; distillers and their dependants; communities in conflict; women and youth; police and excise staff; the district administration; and the State.
Why the old approach failed
- It punished the last link, the poor distiller, while poverty, joblessness, poor irrigation, low education and demand for cheap liquor kept replacing him; each raid displaced the trade without removing its cause.
The new approach
Controlling illicit liquor
- Smart enforcement: intelligence-led action against kingpins, raw-material suppliers and transporters, not mass arrests of the poor; forensic testing for methanol; asset seizure; strict action against colluding staff.
- Save lives first: methanol-poisoning protocols in every hospital, prompt reporting of deaths, compensation for victims' families and de-addiction services.
- Development convergence: persuade the District Magistrate to focus livelihood, irrigation, skills, self-help group and schooling schemes on the affected blocks, with NGO and CSR support, and offer alternative work to distilling families.
- Community policing: the 2nd ARC's Public Order report cites success stories such as Andhra Pradesh's Maithri and the Mohalla Committees of Bhiwandi; enlist panchayats, women's groups, youth and faith leaders for awareness and reporting, with protected informers.
- Reconciliation: set up peace committees with fair representation of women, which the Home Ministry's communal harmony guidelines say helps contain riots, to end the clashes that feed the trade.
- Social mobilisation: the Telugu daily Eenadu reached the countryside by joining the anti-arrack movement of the mid-1980s, which showed that public campaigns reach villages where raids cannot.
- Feedback and monitoring: implement the law as it stands, but report honestly on prohibition's reach; track deaths, raids, livelihoods and school enrolment in a district coordination committee.
Why this is the ethical choice
- It uses force proportionately, protects life, and treats the poor as citizens to be lifted, not criminals to be counted.
Illicit liquor is a crime with social roots: strike at those who profit, invest in livelihoods and health, and live by the 2nd ARC's maxim that a citizen is "a policeman without uniform".
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.