The new Ministry in Madras, under the leadership of Rajaji, has made its stand on prohibition clear beyond doubts.
Prohibition will remain in the State.
In Bombay the out-going Chief Minister has made an eloquent plea for retaining prohibition and it can be taken for granted that his plea will have the fullest response from the in-coming cabinet.
By now the arguments for and against prohibition have been fully put before the public.
The question is: will the scrapping of prohibition substantially help in bringing down the prices of food? A mere theoretical assertion will not take the country far.
The public wants substantial proof that the revenues from the liquor trade will materially benefit the people. Has prohibition benefited the people?
There can be no two opinions that by and large it has. The possibility of liquor revenue being available for constructive purposes, though tangible, raises more questions than it allegedly solves.
Prohibition has been an article of faith with the Congress.
It has been a boon to hundreds of families.The critics of prohibition are not the women and children whose lives have been infinitely bettered as a result of prohibition, but the trade interests and the arm-chair economists.
The question is: can human happiness be judged in terms of rupees, annas and pies?
On that depends the appraisal by every individual of the rightness of prohibition.
Even if prohibition has meant a loss of a few crores of rupees to the State Exchequer, it would have served its purpose if it has helped wipe out a tear from a mother’s eyes and bring more happiness in a poor family.
In the last analysis, prohibition must be judged in terms of budgetary exigencies.
(EDIT, April 17, 1952.)
