Bihar's month-long war on substance abuse officially began on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, as Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary flagged off the 'Nasha Mukt Bihar Abhiyan' — a statewide anti-narcotics drive — at a formal ceremony held at the Adhiveshan Bhavan in Patna. The campaign will run through November 26, 2026, blanketing every district of the state.

The launch was hosted by Bihar's Madhya Nishedh, Utpadan evam Nibandhan Vibhag — the department responsible for prohibition enforcement and excise registration in the state. Speaking at the event, Chief Minister Choudhary formally inaugurated the drive, signalling the government's intent to press beyond the legal prohibition framework with active ground-level outreach across Bihar's roughly 38 districts.

A decade of prohibition — now backed by a month of action

Bihar's prohibition story traces back to April 2016, when the state enforced a complete ban on the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol — one of the most sweeping such laws in modern India. The legal architecture has remained in place, but successive governments have found that law alone does not change behaviour. Periodic awareness campaigns have become a companion instrument to the ban, targeting the demand side of addiction — schools, panchayats, women's self-help groups — rather than just supply-side enforcement.

The Nasha Mukt Bihar Abhiyan sits squarely in that tradition, extending the pattern into a dedicated 31-day state-wide drive. The excise department's direct role in organising the programme underlines that this is not a soft public-health advisory — it is a formal government operation with departmental accountability behind it.

What the next 31 days look like for Bihar

The abhiyan is expected to mobilise district administrations, enforcement units, and community outreach teams simultaneously. Families affected by addiction — historically among the strongest advocates for Bihar's prohibition regime — form both a key audience and a potential force-multiplier for the campaign's messaging.

The real test will come in the numbers: participation figures, substance-related incident reports, and enforcement data from the October–November 2026 window will determine whether this campaign moves the needle or remains symbolic. Bihar's government has staked credibility on the abhiyan at the highest level — the Chief Minister's own presence at the launch leaves no room for half-measures in execution.

Thirty-one days. Every district. The clock is running.