The Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act of 1989 (NLTP Act, 1989) has become a subject of heated debate again amongst the Naga public after Nagaland government hinted to revisit its Act. Conflicting opinions were poured from various groups including educated and uneducated, secular and religious communities, church leaders and government officials, all of whom belong to the same religious Christian group (Baptist majority). Knowing the fact that the Act has been ineffective for more than three decades, many Nagas identified as Christians and are deeply aware of the moral principles and the destructive impact of alcohol in the modern Naga society think that the ban of liquor is not for the church to support. The church (NBCC) is often been criticised as if it has failed to serve the society. This issue has prompted to question once again, has the government failed to enforce the Act because they see it as the church responsibility or has the church fallen short because they believe it is the government\u2019s duty? This caused to examine the stance and ask which direction to take if continues to enforce. What will be its stand? What will be the policy and effects if lifted? How will we honour God in a land called \u201cNagaland for Christ\u201d?
The root of this Act can be traced back to the earliest missionary period who brought the transformative gospel of Jesus Christ to the Nagas. Historically, brewing of traditional rice beer is one of the oldest cultural practices of the Nagas, carried out without restrictions especially before the pre-Christian era. It was considered as nutritious drinks. Consumption was relatively moderate and drinking related issues were minimal then. Initially, when E. W. Clark started his Christian mission work in 1872 among the Nagas, he gently advocated the abstinence of rice beer, instilling the Christian understanding of right and wrong to the new converts. But after the arrival of Perrine and Haggard families in the 1890s, they imposed strict abstinence of drinking as the basic condition for baptism and church membership. They were not willing to compromise their stand on teetotalism firmly asserting that drinking alcohol was sinful. This stance likely became the one of the popular teachings among the missionaries in Nagaland. Thus, the temperance movement is seen having its roots in the efforts of American Baptist missionaries, who had earlier promoted abstinence from drinking. What began as an internal church matter has however, evolved into a broader social issue in the state following the enactment of the Act.
Subsequently after the statehood of Nagaland, the emphasis on the temperance and abstinence grew even stronger, due to the influx of large quantities of liquor, often used as a political tool to influence the Naga people, especially during the early days of the electoral system. More licenses were issued and wine shops began to appear in every town. In such context the effects of liquor negatively resulted to widespread of chaos in the society and disharmony in many homes. Domestic violence, premature death, immoral activities, inappropriate video screenings in parlours, lack of modesty and decency and so on which deadens moral sensibility in the social, religion and personal level. In short, when the restrictions on alcohol were relaxed, it opens the door to many unexpected and unwanted problems which one could do nothing. Realizing the severity of the situation and the serious impact of alcohol in the Naga society, the Church declared that Nagaland will not be a \u201cWINELAND.\u201d The Church firmly opposed the use of liquor as the primary cause of social ills affecting society, the church itself and the government. So, the Act was primarily inspired by the strong moral belief of the community that Nagaland as a young Christian state should embody Christian values by considering both spiritual and physical well-being. As early as 1962, it appealed to the governor to abolish immediately the sale and use of liquor in Nagaland and divert the fund of political rum to some other welfare project. Further steps were taken for the prohibition of liquor shops and bars. Ultimately, in March 1989, Church organized a hunger strike protest rally and demonstration involving thousands of people, demanding the State Government to pass a Liquor Prohibition Act. As a result, the State Legislative Assembly passed the \u201cNagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1989\u201d on 29 March 1990. But without the necessary political and administrative will, the Act was destined to fail. For many years, the enforcement of the bill was largely neglected, with no effective administrative measures or political commitment in place.
Today the Act has been desperately defined as a failure and tagged outdated. Organisations and individuals accused the Church as hypocritical, calling to lift the Act, criticising that it hinders potential state revenue through liquor and infringes on individual rights. But the fact on the other side of the painful effects brought about by the use of alcohol is well-known globally and the context such as Nagaland is no exception. Not to debate about sinners and saints, sin and righteousness over the use of alcohol but the impact and the consequences it will bring- Wherever alcohol is prevalent, issues like crimes, suicide, mental disorders, unusual death, sexual immorality, broken families, infidelity between men and other men\u2019s wives and vice versa often arises. Alcohol does no contribution in making home a \u201cSweet Home\u201d nor help make ideal society. Instead it hinders and degrades individual\u2019s life. It obscures one\u2019s vision of holy things and weakens one\u2019s religious interests. In challenging times like these, the unrestricted availability can only lead to relive the painful experiences of the past again. What is more important, therefore, is perhaps collective efforts to revive what has been inactive and passive for many years, rather than opting to relaxation of measures.
The historical reason of the act is clear and the failure of the act is not because of its irrelevance but due to the people\u2019s resistance to change? Just as the government has its duty to uphold the law, the Churches as moral guardians, have struggled for more than three decades to stand on this act. No debate and theory can win this issue but lifting of the act will make it more challenging than now to find solutions in a state where Baptist Christian population has the highest percentage in the world. Despite the numerous criticisms regarding issues of alcoholism across both the old and new generations, the NBCC\u2019s dedication to upholding a Christian dry state reflects a divine vision for a safer future. This commitment to proper approach will eventually yield positive results and create a legacy worth sharing.
\u201cI have seen ships lost through collision because the captains had been taking a \u2018little wine.\u2019\u201d Dr. Wilfred Grenfell.
Ideuraibe Putlang<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act of 1989 (NLTP Act, 1989) has become a subject of heated debate again amongst the Naga public after Nagaland government hinted to revisit its Act. Conflicting opinions were poured from various groups including educated and uneducated, secular and religious communities, church leaders and government officials, all of whom belong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}