Based on the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's report of 1894-95, this article includes:
- My overview of cannabis usage in the Berar Province of 1894-95
- The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings regarding Berar
- The Berar Memorandum submitted to the Commission
- List of Berar witnesses who deposed before the Hemp Commission
- Individual witness statements of the witnesses from Berar.
Overview
(Image Source: Wikipedia)
Berar Province of 19th century India corresponds to the modern Amravati Division in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. During the time of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's study of 1894-95, the province was under British rule through a treaty with the Nizam of Hyderabad, hence the name 'Hyderabad Assigned Districts'. It was subsequently merged with the Central Provinces. The dependency on the Khandwa depot in the Central Provinces for its supply of ganja during the time of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's study of 1894-95 was eventually, I think, one of the primary reasons that led to Berar being merged with the Central Provinces in 1903. The districts of 19th century Berar included: Wun, Basim, Amraoti, Badnera, Buldana, Akola, Ellichpur, Kathapur, Yeotmal, Badnera, Khamgaon, Shegoon and Manjrul Pir.
Since Berar was administered by the British based on a treaty with the Nizam of Hyderabad, special rules were introduced with regard to cannabis regulation to bring it in line with the other British-controlled regions. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission states that 'the Abkari rules in Berar appear to rest upon the authority of a letter of the Government of India in the Financial Department, No. 3541, dated 10th October 1873. Berar is not British territory, and the rules constitute a special local law issued by the Governor-General in Council in virtue of specially acquired jurisdiction.'
With control over Berar now in British hands, the administration went all out to eradicate homestead and spontaneous growth of cannabis wherever it was found in the Berar province. The Hemp Commission reports that 'Under the regulations in force in Berar, the village officers are held responsible that all ganja of spontaneous growth is uprooted, and the cultivation of the plant is only allowed after license has been obtained. By these arrangements the spontaneous growth appears to be successfully kept under; for only one witness out of 38 can be found to say that it exists, and it may be doubted if he refers to the same plant.' The setting up of a preventive mechanism that punished the small farmers and homestead growers would have ensured that the majority of growers, who grew cannabis for their personal consumption or to bolster their meagre revenues, would have suffered immensely from this. Strict penalties and exorbitant fines were put in place for those found growing cannabis without license. Informants were offered half the fines collected as reward. It is certain that the bulk of the informants would have comprised the contractors with license to vend and the large farmers who obtained licenses to cultivate cannabis paying fees of Rs. 10 per acre, and their workers. The Berar memorandum states that 'Under these rules the village officers were bound to make immediate reports of unlicensed cultivation, and the Deputy Commissioners were authorized to cause the destruction of such crops and plants of spontaneous growth. Cultivators of unlicensed ganja and bhang crops were made liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees for each offence, and half the fines realized were made payable to informants as rewards.' The regulatory mechanism consisted of government officials and the police. A fine of Rs 100 for illegal cultivation would have meant that the informant got Rs. 50, an exorbitant sum in those days. The Berar memorandum states that 'The system of administration throughout the province is uniform. The central controlling authority is the Deputy Commissioner of the district. The administration is carried on by the tahsildars with the assistance of the village officers. The following are Abkari officers under the rules: Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, Tahsildars, Naib-Tahsildars, and Police officers of a rank not below that of Inspectors and chief constables in charge of police stations.' It is quite easy to visualize these officers to work, hand in hand, with the rich and powerful big farmers and wealthy contractors from the upper classes and castes. Ganesh Waman, Tahsildar, Wun, says, 'Only those who smoke ganja were in the habit of cultivating some plants in their private compounds. But even that is now put a stop to, as it has been disallowed by Government.'
Not only was the spontaneous and homestead growth eliminated, but field cultivation was drastically reduced, starting from 1875, when licenses had to be procured with payment of fees to cultivate cannabis. It is quite obvious that the first step of regulation, fees of Rs. 8 to be paid, irrespective of area of cultivation, would have eliminated the majority of the poor small farmers who grew a small number of plants, and possessed a little over an acre or two of farmland. It would have meant that only those farmers with larger holdings would have survived and benefited from the regulation. Once the small farmers and homestead growers were eliminated, new regulations were introduced that provided licenses at Rs. 10 per acre cultivated, again a measure that would have enabled only the large farmers to cultivate cannabis. Krishnarao Hari, Officiating Extra Assistant Commissioner, Buldana, says, 'The decrease may be attributed to the fact that although the produce of the hemp plant is lucrative in itself, yet the compulsion to the cultivators to sell the produce to the license vendors alone, and the prohibition to export the produce out of Berar, do not fetch for them good prices expected by them, to cover the expenditure incurred in paying off the license fee as well as in the cultivation of the hemp plant.'
The Hemp Commission report states that starting from 1878, cultivation of cannabis was restricted to only three districts, Akola, Buldana and Amraoti, with Akola being the largest producer of the crop. The Berar memorandum states that 'It is only confined to a small tract of the Akola and the Buldana districts in the vicinity of the town of Khamgaon and to some villages in the Morsi Taluk.' Krishnarao Hari, Officiating Extra Assistant Commissioner, Buldana, says, 'In the following villages of Mulkapur taluk of the Buldana district, the cultivation of hemp plant has hitherto been made for the production of ganja and bhang alone:- Ghamgaon, Sutale, Burti, Godhnapur, Mendhalu, Warkhed.' The method of cultivation in Berar followed similar practices to other areas in central and southern India, with sowing of seeds during the south-west monsoon. Post-cultivation processing of the crop was also similar. The Commission reports that the produce was insufficient to meet the local needs of the Berar people, so ganja had to be imported from outside to meet the deficit. The benefits to the administration of these regulatory measures are quite obvious. The preferred crops of the administration - cotton and tobacco - would be now cultivated by the farmers of Berar. In addition, the suppression of cannabis cultivation in Berar meant that more than half the demand of the province was met through imported ganja from the government depot at Khandwa in the neighboring Central Provinces, which always had surplus ganja, thus increasing the revenue of the British government and solving the problem of surplus Khandwa ganja. The Hemp Commission reports that 'The average area of cultivation in Berar is 60 acres, which by the Khandwa standard would yield something over 500 maunds of ganja. The imports, which come from Khandwa and Khandesh, are estimated at 800 maunds (Excise Memorandum). These supplies "are apparently sufficient for the requirements of the people who indulge in this drug."'
It is interesting to note that, according to the Berar memorandum submitted to the Hemp Commission, the average retail sales over five years was 800 maunds, i.e., the amount of ganja imported from the Khandwa depot in the Central Provinces, whereas overall ganja availability was 1,300 maunds if we include the 500 maunds locally cultivated in the Berar province. The Hemp Commission attributes this difference between the retail sale quantity and the total ganja available in Berar to a large amount of waste material in the crop, which when cleaned, according to the Commission, would have reduced the total ganja available for retail sales to 800 maunds from 1,300 maunds. This, I think, is inaccurate. In the first place, the ganja that was sold from the Khandwa depot in the Central Provinces was cleaned thoroughly before sale, this being one of the key features promoted by the administration in order to increase the sale of Khandwa ganja to as many places as possible in order to reap the greatest profits. The truth is likely to be: (a) The owners of the Khandwa depot and the Berar contractors who imported this ganja had enough muscle and influence to ensure that only their ganja was sold in the retail outlets in Berar; (b) the locally grown Berar ganja was being diverted out of the retail network to fill the pockets of unknown persons, i.e., there existed a black market for the local ganja where it was sold at cheaper rates than the Khandwa ganja, to the poorer sections of society, possibly by the influential Berar cannabis farmers and contractors, working in conjunction with members of the administration. The Hemp Commission reports that the ganja available at retail outlets in Berar were at one-fourth the price of what was available in the Central Provinces. This also indicates a strong motive to illicitly smuggle Berar ganja into the Central Provinces and other neighboring British-controlled regions.
It is mostly likely that the farmers who had the license to cultivate cannabis would also have procured the license through auction for monopoly to vend, thus enabling them to control not just the produce from the fields but also to control prices and open as many retail outlets staffed with their own workers, much like we saw in the Sind Province. The Berar memorandum confirms this, stating that 'The farmers are the wholesale and retail vendors.' The monopoly of vend enabled the wholesalers or contractors to sell both opium and cannabis. Opium, being far costlier than ganja, would have generated far higher revenues for both administrator and wholesaler, thus giving more incentive for the sale of opium over ganja. The records maintained reflect this, with figures only maintained for overall sales, and not for the specific sales of ganja. The Berar memorandum states that 'A monopoly of the right to vend is sold by auction each year by the Deputy Commissioners under the orders of the Commissioner, and the highest bidder usually obtains it and is licensed. The opium and hemp drugs farm being sold together, the proceeds are credited to opium and drugs. No information is, therefore, separately available as to the value of hemp drugs, and hence the columns requiring this information in the appended statement C are left blank.' With regard to this, the Commission recommended separate licenses for sale of opium and ganja.
The contractor was free to sell the ganja in his retail outlets at whatever price he chose. There was no regulation of prices or duty on sales by the administration. This meant that the contractor reaped vast profits at the expense of the ultimate consumer, who was often forced to pay whatever price was quoted at the retail outlets. The contractor had complete power if he also had the license to cultivate. The Berar memorandum states that 'No rate is fixed at which the drug must be supplied by the wholesale to the retail vendor. This is left to private contract.'
Cannabis was, first and foremost, the herb of the poorest sections of Indian society in the 19th century. Before regulations started, the poorest people were able to grow the cannabis to meet their own consumption needs as well as to sell or barter in order to supplement their meagre incomes and live sustainably. By completely stamping out home growing through the preventive administration, by requiring cultivation under license, by requiring the produce to be sold only to a licensed contractor, and by allowing the contractor to set whatever price he pleased to sell the cannabis from his retail outlets, the administration effectively took cannabis almost completely out of the hands of the poorest sections of society, to whom it belonged, and placed it firmly in the hands of the upper classes and castes who could not only afford to buy it at whatever price was charged at the retail outlets, but also now exclusively cultivate and sell it, thus profiting greatly from the increased regulation of the plant.
The daily limits on retail sales were similar to Bombay and the Sind provinces: 20 tolas for ganja and bhang, and 5 tolas for charas. There was no limit on personal possession. As in the case of Bombay and Sind, this led to witnesses recommending reduction in possession limits to 5 tolas for ganja and bhang as well, in line with the regulatory policies in Bengal and the Central Provinces, the two British-controlled areas where regulation was at its highest at the time of the Hemp Commission's study in 1894. The Hemp Commission recommended that regulations be brought in line with the Central Provinces, as it recommended in the case of Bombay, Madras and Sind as well. The Commission states that 'The Commission believe that there will be no difficulty, and there certainly will be some advantage in assimilating the system to that which exists in the Central Provinces, and which may ultimately be adopted in Bombay. Ganja is inadequately taxed, and it is unlikely that the pitch of taxation necessary to restrict the consumption can be reached otherwise than by a direct duty, or that a much heavier acreage duty will effect the desired object.'
That cannabis was vital for the poorer sections of Indian society was acknowledged by a number of witnesses appearing before the Commission. In Berar, we see Mr. J. R. O'Grady, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Badnera, provide numerous examples of the importance of cannabis for India's poor working classes and spiritual mendicants. He says 'Ganja is resorted to where the necessity arises for the display of great endurance, or for the support of pain, fatigue or hunger; also sometimes to nerve a man to do a daring or cruel act. It is by the use of this drug that the "tigers," and "majnoons" and other masqueraders are able to stand such an extraordinary amount of incessant exertion and continued want of sleep during the ten days of Muharram.' Mr. O'Grady, gives further examples of its importance to the poorer sections of society, stating that 'I have known a servant of mine once administer majum to a child of ten before subjecting her, as a cure for persistent fever, to a most fearful cautery on the small of the back with a piece from the neck of a broken earthen waterpot which had been made red hot over live coals. At an execution by decapitation at Hyderabad, which I witnessed many years ago, the executioner resorted to his ganja chillum several times before he worked up sufficient courage to administer the fatal stroke. At Nawabnagar in Gujarat in 1868, a Habshi retainer of the Raja's murdered his own wife and daughter and defied arrest. He was tried ex parte and condemned to death. A half-breed Arab volunteered to put the sentence into execution, and, approaching the Habshi under pretence of being unarmed, but with his naked sword hanging behind his neck, cut the man down in front of his own door. I reached the place a few days later and spoke with the Arab, who assured me that the Habshi being an extraordinarily powerful man and very ferocious, he felt afraid to approach him until he had had recourse to hashish or ganja. As examples of endurance under influence of the drug, I might mention the following few instances out of a large number:- An artillery sepoy of one the Contingent batteries, whom I knew very well, as he was my father's orderly for a number of years, retired as such, was a confirmed smoker of ganja, and drank bhang also. He did this from a spirit of economy of time and money, to save the expense of provisions, and the two or more hours per diem which he had to spend in the culinary and ceremonial functions he had, as a Pardeshi Brahmin, to go through daily in the preparation of his food. He ate only twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays, military holidays, supporting himself during the interval upon small handfuls of chabina (parched gram) and other grains, and several smokes a day of ganja. He drank bhang as an appetiser and digestive on the two days set apart for cooked food. He was none the worse for this, and discontinued his fasts only after having, like most Pardeshis in Berar, acquired a certain competency. He, however, kept to the ganja and bhang even after the alleged necessity for indulgence had ceased. The case of a railway porter, and a sepoy of the Hyderabad Contingent Infantry, and of several Tapaswis (Hindu ascetics practising austerities) who were under a vow to eat no solid food, cooked or uncooked, for various terms of years, seven to fourteen, and had the reputation of having kept their vows on cow's milk and fresh fruit and ganja...I shall refer to the case of only one of the Tapaswis - a man in the "Khaki-baha Math" at Hingoli, who was under vow of standing upright, night and day, for fourteen years, on milk and fruit, assisted by ganja. I saw him when he had done ten or twelve years. He was pale, but plump and healthy on the enormous quantities of fresh fruit, milk and sugar which he consumed daily. A medical friend who accompanied me to the Math examined the Tapaswi and found that he had completely lost the power of flecting the knees, ossification of the joints having supervened through long disuse. The man assured us that the torture at first was horribly intense, and he was enabled to endure it only by consuming large quantities of bhang and ganja, etc. His mode of spending the night - in the day he shuffled painfully about without bending the knees - was by suspending the upper portion of his body from the arms upwards on a rude grass pillow which was placed between the pendant ends of the roots of a large Budd tree under which he had taken up as his residence, night and day, fair weather or foul. I saw him repeatedly, once during the heart of a severe monsoon. Exposure and bad circulation had produced a great swelling of the legs, which a hadjam had attempted to relieve by deep scarification from knees to toes with his razor. There were scores of these cuts, which had festered into deep, irritant, painful sores. The Tapaswi, however, only smiled with a look of good-tempered indifference; but kept applying himself vigorously to his ganja chillum or lota of bhang, of which he consumed astonishingly large quantities.' Mr. N. R. Cumberlege, District Superintendent of Police, Amraoti, says 'And I would instance Maenas, Bhuddocks, and others of the Bowei class, inclusive of Sansis, and Hurburahs, many Garorees, most Afghans and Purbeahs, coming to Berar as moderate habitial consumers, with all the class of Muhammadan fakir coiners, and very many of the Deccan Musalmans also, the want of it being felt when not obtainable by all such consumers.' We see instances of the use of cannabis in cooking. Abarao Jauroo, Maratha, Karbhari Patel and Special Magistrate, Khamgaon, Akola District, says, 'Ganja is mixed with some kind of dal and made into pies; some prepare dishes with mutton.'
In addition to the oppressive regulations, the usual myths - that cannabis caused crime, insanity, was harmful to health, was used only by the lowest castes and outcasts, etc., - were propagated by the British colonists and the Indian upper castes and classes. S. Baijnath, Medical Officer, Mady Hospital, Badnera, says , 'I have seen in the lunatic asylums at Poona and Ahmedabad (Guzerat) that about 75 per cent. of the lunatics were, before their coming into the asylum and before becoming a subject fit for that place, ganja and charas smokers, formerly the former.' The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission clearly proved that much of the data in the lunatic asylums of India were incorrect, that police officers and medically unqualified persons put the cause of insanity as 'ganja' for their convenience, and that this inaccurate data formed the basis of the myth that 'ganja caused insanity.' There were intelligent witnesses who, however, spoke accurately. Regarding the myth that cannabis causes crime, Mr. J. R. O'Grady, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Badnera, says 'The drug, considered in its relation to crime generally, occupies, I think the position rather of an agent or tool than its primary cause; Indian criminals using it the same way that a "Bill Sykes", or a "Moonlighter" would use gin or whisky at home, to work up "Dutch courage' for the commission of acts which had been determined beforehand, and which they would put into execution, ganja or no ganja.'
The impact of cotton on cannabis
Among the factors that were responsible for the increasing regulation of cannabis in 19th century India, and its eventual prohibition, we see quite often, in various reports including the Hemp Commission's, that western alcohol, opium, tobacco, and myths such as cannabis causes crime and insanity, cannabis is used by the lowest castes and classes, etc., as major factors. One factor, hardly spoken about, that played a significant role in the eventual snuffing out of the cannabis culture is the emphasis by the British colonists on the cultivation of cotton
Cotton has been associated with civilization in India for thousands of years, and it was one of the major raw materials for India's textile industries in the 19th century. Manual processing of cotton constituted a significant small-scale industry in India and sufficed to meet the needs of India's population. When machines were invented for the mechanized processing of cotton in Europe and the US, it sparked off a race, especially between the US and Britain, for dominance over the world cotton markets. The creation of cotton-processing machinery aided in turning it into a large-scale industry. Raw cotton grown by black slaves in the US and poor farmers in India served as the raw material for the cotton mills in the US and Britain, where this cotton was converted into textiles and sold at great profits for the mill-owners. In India, the Bombay and Berar provinces cultivated the bulk of the cotton, and the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies exported this cotton to Britain. According to Wikipedia, 'Indian cotton textiles, particularly those from Bengal, continued to maintain a competitive advantage up until the 19th century. In order to compete with India, Britain invested in labour-saving technical progress, while implementing protectionist policies such as bans and tariffs to restrict Indian imports. At the same time, the East India Company's rule in India opened up a new market for British goods, while the capital amassed from its rule was used to invest in British industries such as textile manufacturing and greatly increase British wealth. British colonization also forced open the large Indian market to British goods, which could be sold in India without tariffs or duties, compared to local Indian producers, while raw cotton was imported from India without tariffs to British factories which manufactured textiles from Indian cotton, giving Britain a monopoly over India's large market and cotton resources. India served as both a significant supplier of raw goods to British manufacturers and a large captive market for British manufactured goods, though it took in only a small fraction of Britain's textiles and almost no other. Britain eventually surpassed India as the world's leading cotton textile manufacturer in the 19th century.' Wikipedia states that the American Civil War of 1865 firmly established the cultivation of cotton in India. It was precisely during this period that the British administration was vastly reducing cannabis cultivation in the areas controlled by them in India through increasingly tighter regulatory measures. The precious cannabis crop, intrinsic to India's social, cultural, economic and spiritual fabric, was gradually replaced with cotton. Indian industrialists from the upper castes and classes set up cotton mills in the Bombay and Gujarat regions, employing vast numbers of the lower classes and castes to work under oppressive conditions to create wealth for the mill owners. The cannabis plant - which provided soil remediation, used less water and other resources, and provided income, medicine and intoxication to the poorest classes of India - was replaced by a plant that served only one purpose - which was to create textiles. In the process, cotton cultivation depleted the soil, consumed vast amounts of water and, increasingly, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It drove large numbers of poor Indian farmers into bondage, either on their own lands and the lands of the upper castes, or as workers in the cotton mills owned by the upper castes. New Frontier Data reports that - 'The 1793 invention of the cotton gin suddenly made cotton far and away the most competitive natural fiber in the world, and marked the start of hemp’s long commercial decline.'
The British promoted cotton cultivation in India, at the cost of cannabis and the poor Indian farmer. To ensure that the poor farmers continued to cultivate cotton and increase its cultivation, a crop like cannabis, which was much more profitable for the farmers, had to be suppressed. Increasing regulations and hurdles on cannabis ensured that farmers had almost no choice but to switch to cultivation of crops like cotton and tobacco for the rich British and Indian upper-class industrialists. The degradation that this brought about was not just to the soil and environment, it also caused economic and social degradation where cannabis once brought sustenance to soil, economy and society. The role that the decision to increase cotton cultivation and reduce cannabis cultivation played in the famines between 1850 and 1900, that killed millions in India, is worth pondering over. Wikipedia states that, according to the historian Sven Beckert, the price paid for increased cotton cultivation was that in the famine of 1900, nearly 8.5 % of the population died, with the most deaths occurring in districts most specialized in cotton production, such as Berar.
The Indian upper castes and upper classes saw cotton as another way in which they could consolidate their positions in Indian society, as well as further oppress the weaker lower castes and classes of Indian society and deprive them of their precious cannabis. When the subject is seen through this lens, the continued opposition to cannabis by India's upper castes, can be better understood. In this oppression of the lower castes and classes, it is disturbing to see the role played by India's most prominent freedom fighter, M. K. Gandhi, also known as the Mahatma - a staunch Vaishnavite and supporter of the caste system and, most certainly, a supporter of cannabis prohibition. We see that on his return to India from South Africa, he opportunistically plunged into the agitation between the cotton millworkers and mill owners. Displaying the hypocrisy that Ambedkar spoke about in Gandhi's character, Gandhi projected himself as a protector and spokesperson for the mill workers, when in fact he was working on the side of the millowners. Gandhi's main sponsor and patron till the end of his life in India was the mill owner and fellow caste compatriot, G. D. Birla. Arundhati Roy writes in her essay, The Doctor and the Saint, 'To honour the returning hero, a leading Indian industrialist (and a fellow Bania), organised a grand reception in Calcutta. The Birlas ran an export-import business based in Calcutta and Bombay. They traded in cotton, wheat and silver. G. D. Birla was a wealthy man, who was chafing at the bit, offended by the racism he had personally encountered at the hands of the British. He had had several run-ins with the colonial government. He became Gandhi's chief patron and sponsor and paid him a generous monthly retainer to cover the costs of running his ashrams and for his Congress party work. There were many other industrial sponsors as well, but Gandhi's arrangement with G. D. Birla lasted for the rest of his days. In addition to mills and other businesses, G. D. Birla owned a newspaper, Hindustan Times, where Gandhi's son, Devdas, eventually worked as managing director. So the Mahatma who promoted homegrown khadi and the wooden charkha was sponsored by a mill owner. The man who raged against the machine was kept afloat by industrialists. This arrangement was the precursor to the phenomenon of the corporate-sponsored NGO.' To repay his patron and sponsor, Gandhi agreed to intervene in the dispute between the mill workers and the owners. Arundhati Roy, writes in The Doctor and the Saint, 'In February 1918, millworkers in Ahmedabad were on strike. To mediate the dispute, Ambalal Sarabhai, president of the Ahmedabad Mill Owners Association, turned to Gandhi, who had set up his ashram in Sabarmati, just outside Ahmedabad. It was the beginning of Gandhi's lifelong career as a labour union organiser in India. By 1920, he had managed to set up a labour union called the Majoor Mahajan Sangh - which translates as the Workers and Mill-Owners Association. The English name was the Textile Labour Union. Anusuyaben, Ambalal Sarabhai's sister, a labour organiser, was elected president for life, and Gandhi became a pivotal member of the advisory committee, also for life. The union did work at improving the hygiene and living conditions of the workers, but no worker was ever elected to the union leadership. No worker was permitted to be present at closed-door arbitrations between the management and the union. The union was divided up into a federation of smaller, occupation-based unions whose members worked in the different stages of the production process. In other words, the structure of the union institutionalized caste division. According to a worker interviewed by the scholar Jan Breman, Untouchables were not allowed into the common canteen, they had separate drinking water tanks and segregated housing.' Positioning himself as a representative of the mill-workers speaking for them to management, Gandhi effectively prevented the workers from directly engaging with the mill owners. He regarded the mill workers as being of a lower intelligence and urged them to suffer silently. He protected the interests of the mill owners while speaking to the mill workers as their leader, and they trusted and believed him to be so. Arundhati Roy writes in The Doctor and the Saint, 'At the time [1925] a large section of the workforce in the mills were Untouchables, many of them Mahars, who were employed only in the much lower paid spinning department, because in the weaving department workers had to hold thread in their mouths, and the Untouchables' saliva was believed to be polluting to the product... Since Gandhi's main sponsor was a mill-owner and his main constituency was believed to be the labouring class, Gandhi developed a convoluted thesis on capitalism and the working class: "The mill-owner may be wholly in the wrong. In the struggle between capital and labour, it may be generally said that, more often than not, capitalists are in the wrong box. But when labour comes to fully realise its strength, I know it can become more tyrannical than capital. The mill-owners will have to work on the terms dictated by labour, if the latter could control the intelligence of the former. It is clear, however, that labour will never attain to that intelligence... It would be suicidal if the labourers rely upon their numbers or brute-force, i.e., violence. By doing so they would do harm to the industries in the country. If on the other hand they take their stand on pure justice and suffer in their person to secure it, not only will they always succeed, but they will reform their masters, develop industries, and both masters and men will be as members of one and the same family."' Regarding Gandhi's silence on his son not taking up his ancestral calling based on his caste, and his advice to the lowest castes, including the millworkers, to perform the work assigned to them by the upper castes without protest, as a duty and divine will, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar writes in reply to Gandhi's criticism of his essay, Annihilation of Caste, that 'His youngest son - I take the one who is a faithful follower of his father - was born a Vaishya, has married a Brahmin's daughter, and has chosen to serve a newspaper magnate. The Mahatma is not known to have condemned him for not following his ancestral calling. It may be wrong and uncharitable to judge an ideal by its worst specimens. But surely the Mahatma as a specimen is no better, and if he even fails to realise the ideal then the ideal must be an impossible ideal, quite opposed to the practical instincts of man.'
Looking at events from a cotton perspective, Gandhi was not just the first corporate-sponsored lobbyist, he was also one of the earliest and most effective influencers the world has ever seen. He extolled the people of India to reject the finished cotton products coming from Britain. Instead, he urged Indians to take up hand spinning of cotton using the wooden charaka. Many Indians followed his edict. How many of them successfully hand wove their own clothes and textiles is unknown, but surely the large majority of Indians would have continued to procure whatever cheap apparel was available for them, including imported British cotton material made from raw cotton exported from India. As a result of Gandhi's symbolic rejection of British-made cotton fabrics, British imports of finished cotton products to India is said to have fallen drastically, for a short time at least. But the cultivation and export of raw cotton from India to Britain did not reduce. Neither did the export of finished cotton products reduce from Britain to other parts of the world, of which the export to India was only a small fraction, making Britain the leading exporter of cotton at the time.
Gandhi's role in this whole matter reflects the behavior of the Vaishnavite upper castes who worked closely with the British to benefit both parties. He marched for the salt industry and the indigo industry but never ever spoke a word in favour of cannabis, the divine herb of Siva, the medicine, intoxicant and elixir of India's vast population of spiritual mendicants of all religions, of the working classes, of the lowest castes, of the indigenous communities that inhabited India long before the Vaishnavite arrived. To Gandhi, like with most upper castes following Vaishnavism and the Vedas, cannabis would have been ganja, an intoxicant and social evil to be shunned like alcohol, since it was allegedly against the scriptures, besides the most convincing reason for the upper castes that it was used by the lowest castes and the Muslims.
Today, in 2026, India is the second largest producer of cotton after China, according to Statista. The devastation caused by cotton is immeasurable, whether to humans or nature. The centuries of oppression of the Black slaves and the poor Indian farmers remains lost in history. Today, finally, the world is waking up to the destruction of nature caused by cotton. It is also slowly waking up to the realization that cannabis can serve equally well as cotton, if not better, as the raw material to the textile industry. According to Sourcing Journal - 'Hemp is an attractive alternative to cotton due to its comparably low-resource cultivation. It takes about 2,600 gallons of water to produce 1 kilogram of cotton — or a pair of jeans and a shirt — compared to just 80 gallons to 130 gallons for the same amount of hemp. According to a report by the Stockholm Environment Institute commissioned by the BioRegional Development Group and Worldwide Fund for Nature – Cymru, industrial hemp is “low maintenance.” Hemp also has a short grow cycle, about 110 days to cotton’s 150-day growing season. As there are more calls for organic agriculture, hemp also boasts the benefit of being naturally pest-free and therefore pesticide-free.' Sourcing Journal also says that - 'Along with the sustainable and breathable benefits of hemp denim, Madewell is touting the fabric as a soft yet durable addition to closets, noting that the material is three times more durable than cotton.' Westword reports that - '"Hemp takes very little water, as opposed to cotton, which takes a lot to grow. Hemp also doesn't really require pesticides, and is an easy thing to grow organically," Auman says. "On the work-wear end, hemp is the strongest natural fiber on the planet, and with work wear you want fibers to be as strong as they possibly can be."' Nepal Times reports that - '“Hemp fabric is stronger, more absorbent and has better insulation against heat and cold than cotton,” Dahal explains. “Hemp is environmentally friendly.” Given that half the pesticide sprayed worldwide is in cotton plantations, hemp is a nature-friendly alternative fabric. The plant also prevents soil erosion on mountain slopes because of its thick deep root system, and the fabric can be made into at least 100 types of products.'
The collusion between the Indian upper castes and the ruling administration did not end with the cotton industrialists of the early 20th century. On the back of the wealth accumulated through the trade of cotton, tobacco, western alcohol, western medicine and opium, Indian industrialists from the Gujarat and Maharashtra region embraced petrochemicals when it arrived. With petrochemicals, they greatly increased their bouquet of offerings to now include synthetic fabrics, synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and non-biodegradable plastics. The pattern has not changed much from the early 20th century to today. In place of Gandhi, a Bania Vaishnavite with his roots in Gujarat, working for the benefit of the millowners in the early 20th century, we have, today, Narendra Modi, another Bania Vaishnavite also with his roots in Gujarat, working for the Ambani and Adani clans. Gujarat and Maharashtra are the hubs of cotton, petrochemicals, synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, illegal synthetic drugs, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and synthetic fabrics and fibers. As long as the ruling upper castes of the region that was a part of the former British provinces of Bombay, Berar and Sind of the 19th century do not recognize the benefits of cannabis, and the harms of the choices they have made to replace it, these regions will remain one of the major sources of the destruction that is happening to the environment, economy, society, health, and spirituality of India. As before, the crime is still the same, the criminals are still the same, and the victims are still the same.
The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings
THE EXISTENCE, PREVALENCE, AND CHARACTER OF THE SPONTANEOUS GROWTH
EXTENT OF CULTIVATION, AND ITS TENDENCY TO INCREASE OR DECREASE.
And it has been confined to three districts in all but the first of these years, the figures for the last year, 1892-93, being—
Akola has always had the greatest area under the crop, the second place being taken by each of the other districts in different periods. There appears to be a tendency for the cultivation to increase in the last three years, which is probably connected with the fact that in some talukas foreign ganja is being imported, showing that the present production is not sufficient for the home market. Illicit cultivation hardly exists at all.
METHODS OF CULTIVATION AND MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH.
PREPARATION OF THE RAW DRUGS FROM THE CULTIVATED AND WILD PLANT
261. The official memorandum gives the following description of the preparation of ganja in Berar. It is very imperfect, and Berar. the process probably resembles closely that followed in the Deccan or Khandwa: "The small outer branches are stripped off and put in towards the centre of the plant, which is then pressed with the foot (to flatten the heads), made up into sheaves, and stacked in a shed under pressure, the heaps being opened and the sheaves moved now and then to prevent their getting too hot. The leaves fall off when the plants are tied into bundles. They are collected and called bhang. The bare stalks remain with the heads in them." One witness (23) mentions the preparation by burying, which has been mentioned elsewhere. Witnesses (10) and (9) say that the crop is trodden by bullocks, which seems very improbable. It is clear that the bhang locally prepared is simply the refuse from the manufacture of ganja.
TRADE AND MOVEMENT OF THE HEMP DRUGS
323. The average area of cultivation in Berar is 60 acres, which by the Khandwa standard would yield something over 500 maunds of ganja. The imports, which come from Khandwa and Khandesh, are estimated at 800 maunds (Excise Memorandum). These supplies "are apparently sufficient for the requirements of the people who indulge in this drug." No exports are recorded, and it is stated that there are none. The cultivation in Khandesh has become so reduced that it is doubtful if any ganja comes from that district now. Charas does not appear to be used and no sale of bhang distinct from ganja is recorded.
EXTENT OF USE AND THE MANNER AND FORMS IN WHICH THE HEMP DRUGS ARE CONSUMED
SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS
EXISTING SYSTEMS DESCRIBED
PROVINCIAN SYSTEMS EXAMINED
BERAR MEMORANDUM A.
In the excise report for 1880-81 Mr. Jones has given a list of villages in which ganja was cultivated in that year, but since then the cultivation has decreased and all the villages mentioned there do not now cultivate ganja.
The list given by Mr. Jones is appended:—
The manner in which the plant is cultivated for the production of drugs and the method of preparing the manufactured drug from the raw product whether the wild or the domesticated plant.
As already stated, hemp is cultivated in only three districts— Akola, Buldana, and Amraoti. The Deputy Commissioner of Akola describes the manner of cultivation in the following words:—
"For the ganja plant garden land is required; ordinary black soil is apparently too stiff, and an admixture of organic matter is necessary. The soil is twice deeply ploughed and is given as much manure as the cultivator can afford (one tehsildar says 10 cart loads per acre), is then harrowed two or three times before sowing. This is done at the beginning of the rains, at the same time as cotton is sown, and the seed is planted by means of a tiphan or plough drill. It seems to be the practice to mix ambadi (Hibiscus canabinus) seeds with the ganja seeds. The young hibiscus plants are pulled up a fortnight after they have come up, and the reason of the practice appears therefore to be to save seed and preserve a sufficient space between the ganja plants. When they are about a foot and a half high, the plants which are unisexual are examined and the male ones (called bhangia) are picked up. If the rains fall favourably, no irrigation is required till about October, when the plants are maturing, when apparently they always require to be watered. In November the plant, which is then 5 feet high, is cut. The small outer branches are stripped off and put in towards the centre of the plant, which is then pressed with the foot (to flatten the heads), made up into sheaves, and stacked in a shed under pressure, the heaps being opened and the sheaves moved now and then to prevent their getting too hot. The leaves fall off when the plants are tied into bundles. They are collected and called bhang. The bare stalks remain with the heads on them.
"The wild plant is not indigenous in Berar. Plants come up near the huts where gosains and other regular consumers live, and if watered and tended, can be used for the preparation of ganja, but are weaker and not so good as the cultivated kind; if not tended, the heads are said to be only fit for smoking like tobacco."
The manner of cultivation described by the Deputy Commissioners of Amraoti and Buldana is similar to the above.
Charas is not known in Berar. The resinous substance of the hemp plant is allowed to dry with it.
The only drugs manufactured in Berar from the hemp plant are "bhang" and "ganja."
Extent to which wild plant can be used for the preparation of drugs, whether in the milder or the more noxious forms.
The rules restricting the ganja cultivation (referred to in a separate memorandum submitted) make it obligatory on the village officials in Berar to destroy any plants of spontaneous growth. Hence wild plants are an impossibility in Berar, and so they are not used for the preparation of drugs.
Full particulars should be obtained regarding all the different forms of the drug which are commonly used, especially ganja, charas, and bhang, and regarding the classes of the people by whom and the extent to which each is used. The only forms of the drug that are used by the people are ganja and bhang. Charas is not used. Other preparations that are known are these:—
"Majum," "gulkand," and "yakuti."
The smoker takes a head of the plant, places it on his left palm, puts over it a little water, and mixes it by the pressure of the right thumb. This process of wetting and pressing is repeated, says the Deputy Commissioner of Akola, 121 times over. Then it is pressed and put into a piece of cloth, and the moisture squeezed out. A small quantity of tobacco is added to enhance its effects, the mixture is then put into a chillum (pipe) and smoked.
There is another preparation similar to the above and is called the gulab shakri majum. It is the same as the above, but is coloured red by mixing a small quantity of hingul.
Gulkand.— Essence of ganja prepared just as it is done for majum and mixed with sugar and rose flowers or seranti flower becomes gulkand.
Yakuti.— Appears only to be another name of majum, but it must necessarily contain rich spices above mentioned. Majum can be made even only by mixing sugar with essence of ganja prepared as above stated.
Bhang.— Besides being drunk in the above mentioned manner a preparation of bhang is eaten. Bhang is first well boiled and washed clean and then dried. It is then pounded without water and is mixed with a powder of lavang, vilaichi, jaiphal, etc., and saffron. A small quantity of this powder is mixed with sugar and eaten by some people.
These are the only forms of the drug commonly used in Berar. Charas is not at all available and is not imported, being considered very costly.
Ganja is smoked chiefly by Kahars, Hamals, Kolees, Tellees, Gossaees, Bairagis, Mahomedans, and people of any caste living a vicious life, such as prostitutes, etc. Any Hindu may smoke it but it is not generally smoked by people of respectability. Ganja smoking is considered to be a social stigma by people of good society.
Bhang is drunk chiefly by Pardeshis from Hindustan and Marwaris. This drug is not considered to be so bad as ganja is. Respectable people sometimes drink it without hesitation. Habitual consumers of this drug, however, are not respected in society.
The quantity of ganja and bhang required for a consumer differs according to the liking of each man. Generally a habitual consumer requires from 6 mashas to two tolas of ganja er day, but amongst Bairagis and some other people we might find men who consume even up to 8 or 10 tolas per day.
The proportion of the population addicted to ganja-smoking is estimated to be about one per cent., but there is no reliable data to come to an approximately correct estimate.
Similarly, no estimate can be formed of the proportion of bhang consumers.
He further says:— "The use of ganja when it is accompanied by a proportionate amount of substantial food is considered to be harmless and conducive to a healthy constitution for a time, but ultimately its natural effects begin to tell on the consumer; he becomes asthmatic and phlegmatic. Ganja consumption is said to be beneficial to persons living in cold countries or at places where water is poisonous."
The other forms of the drug, majum, gulabshakri, gulkand are not habitually consumed. They are only luxuries and are taken at times.
Administrative arrangement in force in Berar for controlling the growth of the plant, the manufacture and sale of the drug and their importations from other provinces or from Native States, and for imposing duties on cultivation and sale. Please see memorandum drawn up under instructions received from the Secretary, Hemp Drugs Commission, in his letter No. 28, dated 11th August 1893.
Danger resulting from prohibition or restrictive measures of a stringent character. Would it give rise to serious discontent and be resented by the people as an unjustifiable interference with long-established social customs?
The Deputy Commissioner of Akola says: "The smokers of ganja, when compared with the total population, are not a large number, and so if the cultivation is stopped, of course the smokers will suffer for a time and they will show discontent, but it will wear off in course of time: probably the ganja-smokers would be driven to other stimulants."
The Deputy Commissioner, Buldana, says:— "If the total prohibition of the growth, consumption, or importation, is enforced, it will, no doubt, give rise to serious discontent, but that will prevail only among the consumers of the drug, who are so few in proportion to the total population of the district that the discontent will scarcely be politically felt. However, if it be necessary, restrictive measures even of a stringent character may be introduced, provided that the consumers have sufficient time allowed them to become accustomed to the effect of those measures, so that eventually they will not be felt by them at all."
The consensus of opinion appears to be that no danger will result from prohibition.
"The favourite way of taking the drug is made up in a sweetmeat called majum. Mahomedans who by their religion are not allowed the use of alcohol are given to using majum, but now-a-days majum is made cheaper and just as good by using the root of the jawari plant. So by stopping the use of the drug those who use majum would not suffer. The only people who might be discontented would be mendicants and a few Marwaris, who would console themselves with opium as a substitute, which would be beneficial in comparison to the drug, which is injurious."
BERAR MEMORANDUM B.
The administration of hemp drugs in the Hyderabad Assigned Districts is regulated by the Abkari rules, copies of which have been sent to Secretary, Hemp Drugs Commission. Opium and hemp drugs in the Hyderabad Assigned Districts are treated in one farm, and where opium shops exist, hemp drugs are allowed to be sold.
This farm is worked uniformly throughout all the districts in the Hyderabad Assigned Districts by the Deputy Commissioners through their tahsildars. There are no separate Excise officers to control the vend of drugs. A monopoly of the right to vend is sold by auction each year by the Deputy Commissioners under the orders of the Commissioner, and the highest bidder usually obtains it and is licensed. The opium and hemp drugs farm being sold together, the proceeds are credited to opium and drugs. No information is, therefore, separately available as to the value of hemp drugs, and hence the columns requiring this information in the appended statement C are left blank. It is, however, supposed that the revenue from hemp drugs is about one anna in the rupee, or 1/16th of the value of the whole farm auctioned. This statement is based on enquiries made of the farmers, and as nothing certain can be obtained, I have omitted these figures from statement C.
The question of separating the sales of hemp drugs from opium has been very recently taken up, and it has been decided to separate them from the 1st April 1894.
I now turn to the points mentioned in the note accompanying letter No. 28, dated 11th August 1893, and take them seriatim.
Under these rules the village officers were bound to make immediate reports of unlicensed cultivation, and the Deputy Commissioners were authorized to cause the destruction of such crops and plants of spontaneous growth. Cultivators of unlicensed ganja and bhang crops were made liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees for each offence, and half the fines realized were made payable to informants as rewards.
The effect of these rules was that the cultivation of ganja was confined to a very few villages in the Akola, Buldana and the Amraoti districts, the villages in the first two districts being mostly in the vicinity of the town of Khamgaon and those of the Amraoti district in the Morsi taluk of that district. Table A appended to this will show the extent of ganja cultivation in the Hyderabad Assigned Districts between the years 1877-78 to 189293, inclusive, and from the figures it will be observed that it has been very limited.
The above rules remained in force without any change till the year 1884, when they were modified by increasing the fee for cultivation from Rs. 8 per license to Rs. 10 per acre or part of an acre cultivated. This had the effect of further curtailing the cultivation of ganja, vide figures in Table A. From the year 1885-86 the cultivation has gone down immensely.
At the time these modifications were made the Commissioner made it obligatory on the vendors of ganja and bhang to keep accounts of their receipts and disbursements.
These modifications were originally introduced as a tentative measure, but have since been continued. As it is, the amount of land cultivated is very insignificant: on an average of the past seven years it is about 55 acres per year in the whole province.
The rules of 1875, therefore, with the modifications of 1884, are the rules at present in force, and so far as is known works satisfactorily.
The local produce is not sufficient for the wants of the province, and therefore ganja is imported usually from Khandwa in the Central Provinces, sometimes from Khandesh in the Bombay Presidency. No duty is levied on importations. On an average it is estimated that about 800 maunds of ganja is annually imported into the Province; this with the ganja locally produced is apparently sufficient for the requirements of the people who indulge in this drug.
There is no means of ascertaining what portion of the population indulges in hemp drugs; therefore any calculations require us to deal with the entire census population or the total of the male and female adult population. The Hyderabad Assigned Districts' total population by last census is 2,897,040; the adult population, male and female, is 1,794,174. Now 800 maunds are on the average imported per annum, and about 500 raised locally, which gives a total of 1,300 maunds. If this were all consumed, it would mean on the whole population 14 tolas per head: on adults 23 tolas per head per annum. The 500 maunds estimated as on the average to be locally raised is arrived at by assuming that the 55 acres, the average of the past seven years, under hemp gives 10 maunds per acre.
In reality the farmers' returns of consumption (column 42, statement C) are wholly unreliable; therefore I have taken the whole produce raised locally and imported, to calculate the incidence per head of consumption, as a safer guide.
No fee is levied on the licenses for importation. They are granted free to the licensed vendors.
The above information applies to ganja and bhang. Charas is not used in the province. There is only one kind of ganja in the province, and that is the flat ganja.
(a) The system of administration throughout the province is uniform. The central controlling authority is the Deputy Commissioner of the district. The administration is carried on by the tahsildars with the assistance of the village officers. The following are Abkari officers under the rules: Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, Tahsildars, Naib-Tahsildars, and Police officers of a rank not below that of Inspectors and chief constables in charge of police stations.
(b) Wild hemp is not found in the province.
(c) As above stated, the cultivation of the hemp plant for the production of ganja or bhang is prohibited except under a license. It is not restricted to any particular locality. It is evident that as the area locally under hemp is small that it is more paying to import the drug than to cultivate it.
(d) The opium and drug farmers are the only importers of ganja and bhang. No charas is imported.
All the Abkari officers mentioned above have power to inspect the shops established by the farmers, and to check the actual balance with the entries in the books kept; and if any irregularities are discovered, the farmers are liable to be prosecuted under the Abkari Rules, section 43.
All importers of ganja or bhang are required to take out a pass from the Deputy Commissioner. No arrangements are made for controlling the storing or transport of these drugs.
(e) The farmers are the wholesale and retail vendors. Those in the retail trade keep books showing their sales, and they are prohibited from selling more than 20 tolas of ganja and bhang to one person and are forbidden to allow the drug to be smoked on the premises. Their shops are occasionally inspected by Abkari officers to enforce these orders.
(f) The only direct or indirect tax on ganja in this province is the money paid by the farmer and the fee paid by the cultivator for a license. The latter is recoverable as arrears of land revenue and cannot possibly be evaded. The former, if not paid, is recoverable under rule 15 of the Abkari Rules by attachment and sale of moveable property of the farmer within the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commissioner. At the time of the sales precautions are taken to ascertain that the farmer's securities are men of substance, and that they possess moveable property sufficient to cover the amount tendered by the farmer for which they go security.
(g) Up to the present wherever an opium shop was permitted there hemp drugs could be sold. In future, guided mainly by the requirements of the trade, Deputy Commissioners have fixed hemp drug shops in a few localities; in all 229 shops will next year be open. This on an area of over 17,000 square miles means one shop to every 74 square miles of country.
There is nothing in the nature of local option; but if the people of any certain locality object to have a shop in their midst, the Deputy Commissioner, as against the trade, considers their objections.
(h) No rate is fixed at which the drug must be supplied by the wholesale to the retail vendor. This is left to private contract. The average retail price to consumers varies from Rs 2 per seer to Rs. 2.4 in the Amraoti District. The Deputy Commissioner of Akola gives the prices in his district as below:—
Ganja 6 pies per tola. Bhang 6 pies per 5 tolas. Majum 6 pies per tola. Gulkand 5 annas per pound.
The prices do not vary much in different districts.
(i) The maximum amount fixed for retail sales is 20 tolas or quarter of a seer for ganja and bhang and 5 tolas for charas when sold. There is nothing laid down as to the amount of possession, and no minimum price is fixed on the drug.
(j) The smuggling of ganja has seldom been detected. There is no illicit cultivation of ganja; the inspection of crops raised is too close to admit of this.
(k) The only change in the present system is the separation of the farm of hemp drugs from the opium farm.
(l) A statement in the prescribed form, marked C, has been prepared and submitted. From it will be seen that there is very little ganja cultivation in the province, and that no ganja or bhang is exported from Berar. The number of shops and the quantity of ganja and bhang imported and sold retail can be seen from this statement. The figures are taken from those in the printed reports. From these figures it will be seen that on an average about 1,300 maunds of ganja and bhang are annually consumed in the province.
The figures in column 9 of statement C are not correct as figures of actual import for the reason given in the column of remarks of that statement. The columns showing the revenue from hemp drugs are left blank, as the information, for reasons already explained, is not obtainable.
(m) I can think of nothing further worth mentioning to make the account complete.
Questions by the Hemp Commission to Berar Witnesses
List of Berar witnesses who deposed before the Hemp Commission
Individual witness statements of the witnesses from Berar
