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| Edited By: |Source: DNA |Updated: Apr 09, 2016, 06:45 AM IST
Every ban comes with a host of possibilities for the enterprising bunch. As the Bihar government’s alcohol prohibition comes into force, bootleggers and smugglers are silently rejoicing. After an initial period of lying low, they would gradually come out of the woodwork and begin work. All they need to do is grease the palms of the police and government officials. Business will be brisk and profits would soar because tipplers will pay a premium to quench their thirst. Bihar will be no different from Gujarat and Kerala because bans of this nature serve to encourage cross-border trafficking and push operations underground. The other interesting fact has been the immediate effect of the embargo on alcoholics. Doctors in the state have their hands full treating patients showing withdrawal symptoms. Many of them have gone cold turkey. Imagine how drab the evenings and nights in Bihar will be at least for a while with bars and liquor stores shutting shop. The rewarding feeling of a high after a hard day’s work has been snatched away from people. When will the torchbearers of morality realise that alcohol-induced clarity is the other name for Enlightenment?
Yet again Pahlaj Nihalani takes the cake, this time topped with a cherry. The CBFC chairman has given the recently released Jungle Book a U/A rating as he feels that the ‘violence’ depicted in the film might disturb the children. While this has met with outrage, Nihalani’s desire to play the country’s moral guardian and nanny has assumed hilarious proportions. Nothing in the film can be remotely called disturbing even by the timidest of minds. But who can argue with a chairman whose mind belongs to the Jurassic Age? Oh no, that was a violent age when carnivores the size of a pine tree ate up most things moving on legs. On a sombre note, the government should think of utilising Nihalani’s earnestness to serve the country in some other field farthest from the world of films. Already, the chairman has sent shivers down the spine of the tinsel world with his antiquated and dangerous theories on what kind of films should be made. At this rate, in a few years’ time we will be left with insipid fare on Doordarshan tom-tomming the government’s achievements.
The Panama leak has thrown governments around the world into a tizzy but Iceland, particularly, seems to be in turmoil following the revelations. The Pirate Party which has already stormed the popularity charts has got a further shot in the arm as the country’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson battles to clear his name from charges of parking black money in the Panama tax haven. Now that the country faces the prospect of snap elections, the Pirates — a motley group of writers and activists who believe in the Robin Hood-style of justice — holding considerable sway over public imagination, stands to gain. The people are tired of the so-called politicians and their style of governance — in other words they have grown wary of corruption and nepotism nurtured and encouraged by mainstream political parties. A recent poll confirmed that the party enjoys the confidence of 36% voters. Gunnlaugsson hasn’t resigned as yet, but he is remote controlling the government through trusted aides. The situation is fluid but Birgitta Jónsdóttir, one of the Pirate’s three MPs and the current spokesperson, is confident about the Pirates’ success. The party’s radical thinking — evident in its support for loosening of drug regulations and pushing through a law to legalise blasphemy— has no doubt contributed to its mass appeal. Iceland isn’t quite in the pink of financial health after being hit by the 2008 sub-prime crisis. And the Pirate Party might well be the catalyst for change that Icelanders desperately want.
