Patna, June 17: If a study conducted by the think tank Asian Development Research Institute or ADRI is to be believed, sales of expensive sarees and dress materials have gone exorbitantly high after the liquor ban in Bihar. Not only this, two studies mandated by Bihar government claim that the number of criminal cases have gone down since the ban and that the people in state are using money to buy "better" clothes and food after the ban. The percentage increase is even more mind-boggling. Sale of sarees and expensive cloth material is reported to have seen a 1,751 per cent and 910 per cent increase respectively.

The increase in number is not just restricted to clothes alone. Honey and cheese, two preferred eatables by the people in Bihar, is also reported to have registered bumper sale. The reports claims that Honey saw a rise by over 300 per cent and cheese rose by around 200 per cent in the first six months following the liquor ban.

News agency Press Trust of India reported that the study also brings to light positive news for women in the state. 58 per cent women felt that their word and they were accorded more respect and say in household matters after the liquor ban. The study also says that there has been a fall in cases of kidnapping and ransom after the ban.

Bihar, then the country's emerging brewery hub, with local and foreign companies setting up plants, had to stop production, leading to more than 600 labourers losing their jobs.

The liquor ban was introduced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in April 2016. The BJP, which was then in opposition, because the JDU-RJD combine had a government in the state, had opposed the move saying that the liquor ban would create a crisis in the jails of Bihar as many would have to go behind bars if the strict rule was implemented. But the Bihar CM termed all those who were opposing the move at that time as "anti-poor" and had famously said that "Women are suffering more than anyone else due to increasing liquor consumption." The complete ban on liquor continued even after Nitish Kumar formed a government with BJP's support in Bihar after he quit the Mahagathbandhan in July 2017 citing issues with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Party.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 17, 2018 09:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).