The Socio Legal Impact of Prohibition and Excise Laws in Bihar a Critical Study

Abstract

Article 47 of the Constitution of India prescribes a duty to the state towards raising the level of nutrition, standard of living and to improve public health. The article imbibes the utilitarian idea of maximizing the pleasure while minimizing the pain. This article may have varied interpretation based on convenience of the interpreter. One of the two ideas says that the article provides for two different kinds of duties, (i) Primary Duty of raising the level of nutrition, standard of living of its people and improvement of public health; and (ii) Secondary Duty - to endeavor to bring about prohibition of the consumption, except for medicinal purposes, of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health. Both classifications can be attributed to the debate leading to an amendment (of Article 38 of the draft constitution) and interpretation of the words quotin particularquot contained in the article. It is debatable whether the members of the Constituent Assembly of India wanted the prohibition to be implemented, in particular, for improvement of health or improvement of health was an act which was to be implemented with priority, as against a particular deed of striving for prohibition.