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 · the crux, punishment versus prevention: Article 47 makes prohibition a constitutional aim tied to public health, yet raids treated illicit distillation as crime alone while poverty and clashes kept the stills alive.
Cover
- Stakeholders: victims' families, poor distillers, communities in conflict, women and youth, police and excise staff, the district administration and the State.
- Ethical issues: rule of law v. livelihood, the right to life v. arrest statistics, and the integrity of colluding staff.
- Options table: more raids (already failed), development alone (kingpins and deaths go on), enforce and uplift together (chosen).
- Approach: smart enforcement against kingpins, life-saving health protocols, community policing (Maithri, Mohalla Committees), peace committees with women.
- Livelihood convergence on the affected blocks, with Bihar's Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (2018) as a model; public campaigns like the anti-arrack movement (NCERT).
- Long-term: a district coordination committee tracking outcomes, and honest feedback on prohibition's reach while enforcing the law.
Close with · illicit liquor is a crime with social roots: strike at those who profit, lift those who are trapped, and live by the 2nd ARC's maxim that a citizen is a policeman without uniform.
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.”
- Bihar's Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana, approved on 26 April 2018 with Rs 840 crore for three years, gives income-generating assets to ultra-poor households traditionally engaged in making, transporting or selling country liquor or toddy before prohibition (April 2016).JEEViKA (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, Government of Bihar), 43rd Quarterly Progress Report, April–June 2018 ↗“Government of Bihar on 26 April, 2018, with a budgetary outlay of INR 840 crore for 3 years (2018- 19 to 2020-21). Objective of the scheme is to provide sustainable income generating assets particularly to those ultra-poor household which were traditionally engaged in production, transportation and sale of country liquor / toddy before the imposition of prohibition in the state in April 2016.”
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· 373words · Minimalist IAS
The crux is punishment versus prevention. Article 47 makes prohibition a constitutional aim tied to public health, yet raids treated illicit distillation as crime alone, while poverty, failing farms and community clashes kept the stills alive.
Stakeholders
- Victims' families; poor distillers and their dependants; communities in conflict; women and youth; police and excise staff; the district administration; the State.
Ethical issues
- Rule of law v. livelihood: the law must be enforced, but jailing the poorest link criminalises poverty while kingpins thrive.
- Right to life v. arrest statistics: spurious liquor kills, often unreported; saving lives must count for more than arrest figures.
- Integrity v. complicity: collusion of some police and excise staff keeps the trade alive.
Options
| Option | Merits | Demerits |
|---|---|---|
| More raids and arrests | Quick, visible | Already failed; hits the poor |
| Leave it to development | Tackles root causes | Kingpins and deaths continue |
| Enforce and uplift together | Hits supply, demand and causes | Needs coordination and time |
The new approach I will adopt
- Smart enforcement, at once: intelligence-led action against kingpins, raw-material suppliers and transporters, not mass arrests of the poor; methanol testing; asset seizure; strict action against colluding staff.
- Save lives: methanol-poisoning protocols in hospitals, prompt reporting of deaths, compensation for victims' families and de-addiction services.
- Community policing: the 2nd ARC's Public Order report cites Andhra Pradesh's Maithri and Bhiwandi's Mohalla Committees; enlist panchayats, women's groups, youth and faith leaders, with protected informers.
- Reconciliation: peace committees with fair representation of women, which the Home Ministry's communal harmony guidelines say could help contain riots.
- Then, livelihoods: persuade the District Magistrate to focus irrigation, skills, self-help group and schooling schemes on the affected blocks. Bihar's Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (2018) gives income-generating assets to ultra-poor households once engaged in the country-liquor trade.
- Public campaigns: NCERT notes that Eenadu reached the countryside by joining the anti-arrack movement of the mid-1980s; campaigns reach villages that raids cannot.
Long-term measures
- A district coordination committee tracking deaths, livelihoods and school enrolment, and honest feedback to the government on prohibition's reach, while the law is enforced as it stands.
Illicit liquor is a crime with social roots: strike at those who profit, lift those who are trapped, and live by the 2nd ARC's community-policing principle that a citizen is "a policeman without uniform".
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 1 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
