The famous sociologist MN Srinivas said prohibition of alcohol was actually a Sanskritic act, like cow slaughter. What he meant was that whatever justification was given, the Indian instinct to ban and prohibit came from a Brahminical, upper caste sensibility. It should therefore not surprise us that the makers of India's constitution debated these two issues -- beef ban and alcohol prohibition -- on the same day, 24 November 1948.