Cannabis Usage in 19th Century India: The Central Provinces

Overview

The Central Provinces in 19th century India consisted of the following areas: Nerbudda, Nagpur, Jubalpur, Nimar, Hoshangabad, Wardha, Sonepur, Khairagarh, Bhandara, Kalahandi, Bilaspur, Damoh, Sambalpur, Chanda, Raipur, Saugor, Mandla, Warora, Chhindwara, Rajim, Narsinghpur, Hurda, Seoni-Chapara, etc. The areas in the Central Provinces were spread over the modern Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhatisgarh.

In the Bengal Presidency, we saw how the British colonists brought cannabis under strict regulation, greatly reducing the cultivated areas and imposing a system of sale through licensed wholesalers and retailers, thus usurping the cannabis plant that belonged to the people and making it a controlled commodity that earned revenue for the state. In Assam, we saw that local cultivation was greatly discouraged by the administration, in order to increase revenue through import of the Bengali baluchar variety of ganja, and also to ensure that the province focused on cultivation of opium - the preferred drug of the British. In the North-Western Provinces, we again saw local cultivation greatly discouraged and efforts to malign charas or cannabis resin - an important imported commodity for the people - as an evil drug used by the lowest classes, castes and foreigners. In the Punjab Province, we saw the inability of the administration to suppress the use of bhang obtained from the wild spontaneous cannabis growth that was widely prevalent across much of the Province and which formed an integral part of the Sikh religion. In the Punjab Province too, like in the North-Western Provinces, the administration and upper classes and castes sought to label charas or cannabis resin - used as extensively in Punjab as in the North-Western Provinces - as a harmful drug used by the lowest classes and castes.

As one moved southward from the Himalayas in the Indian subcontinent, the Central Provinces demarcated the area in the Indian subcontinent where the wild spontaneous growth of cannabis ceased to more or less exist. In the Central Provinces and further south, cultivated cannabis was the main source of ganja and the limited amounts of bhang and charas consumed. The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 states in its report that 'It is evident that in the Central Provinces the spontaneous growth does not occur, except very occasionally, as a weed in the neighbourhood of villages from seed accidentally dropped in suitable soil, and that there is no tendency for this spontaneous growth to reproduce itself.'

Gradual stifling of cultivation and rise of Khandwa ganja in the Central Provinces

For a number of years preceding 1894, starting from around the 1850s, the British administration of the Central Provinces gradually stifled cannabis cultivation in the state, taking it effectively out of the hands of the people - essentially the cultivators, working classes, lower classes, lower castes, indigenous communities and spiritual mendicants - to whom it had belonged till then, and turning it into a means of generating revenue for the state. This was similar to the steps taken in all other British-controlled regions in India. By the time of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's report, effectively only two districts in the Central Provinces carried out significant cultivation - Nimar and Nagpur. The Hemp Commission reports that 'Going back to the year 1872-73, the Excise Commissioner writes that "in almost every district a few hemp plants were to be found in the gardens of cultivators, and it was only in Raipur and Bilaspur that a license-fee was imposed on cultivation." This general and unsystematic cultivation was an impediment to excise management and to the control which the Government of India enjoined on the Local Governments as the result of the inquiries made in 1873. By special inquiries instituted in 1873-74, it was ascertained "that in every district, except perhaps Hoshungabad, Narsinghpur, Mandla, Chhindwara, and Bilaspur, the amount privately grown for home consumption was insignificant, while in Sambalpur it was nil, home-growing having been prohibited by executive order of the Deputy Commissioner." From this date the general restriction of cultivation was kept steadily in view, and before long a system of licensing cultivation was introduced. Penalties for unlicensed cultivation were ordained and enforced in many cases. The districts where regular cultivation has been chiefly carried on during the last twenty years are Nagpur and Nimar, but up to the year 1878-79 licenses for cultivation of small areas were granted in one year or other in twelve other districts, of which Wardha and Chhindwara were the most important. From this year cultivation was confined to Nagpur and Nimar.' By 1891, only Nimar district was permitted to cultivate cannabis. The Commission reports that 'It gradually fell off in the former of these districts, and since 1890-91 it has been restricted by law to the Nimar district. The Deputy Commissioner of Nimar now reports that "ganja is grown in sixty or seventy villages in Nimar. The cultivation is confined to the western half of the Khandwa tahsil."'

The soil in the Central Provinces not being as suitable as that in Bengal, extensive manuring to increase soil fertility had to be carried out in a particular field once in three years. Planting was done at the onset of the monsoon and cannabis was grown as a kharif crop, unlike in the Punjab where it was grown in both the kharif and rabi seasons owing to the suitability of growing conditions. The seed of Dhakalgaon, a village in Indore territory, was considered to be of the best quality. In his Note on Ganja Cultivation in Nimar, Mr. Robertson, Deputy Commissioner, Nimar states that 'Seed is raised in the villages of Karki, Punjhria, and Chhirbel in this district. But the best seed comes from Dhakalgaon in Holkar's territory. The latter gives a stouter and more branching plant than the local seed. Both seeds are used all over the ganja-growing tract, but Dhakalgaon ganja is more specially produced towards Dhangaon in the north. The price of ordinary seed is 8 annas a ser and of Dhakalgaon Re. 1. The production of the latter is limited, and it is much sought after and is therefore high-priced.'

The Hemp Commission reports that in Nimar 'The harvest begins in the first or second week of November. The flower heads, which the cultivators call mal or produce, are broken off with about twelve inches of twig, carried in baskets to the threshing floor, and spread out on it in a layer nine to twelve inches thick. Mr. Robertson states that on the first day a heavy roller is passed over them, but this detail is not contained in Mr. Drake-Brockman's report. The crop is exposed to the dew for the night. The next day the twigs are formed into heaps, and each heap is trodden in turn, and when not being trodden is turned over and exposed to the sun to dry. This goes on for four or five days, and results in the twigs being pressed flat and deprived of a great portion of their leaves and thoroughly dried. The produce is then removed to the cultivator's house, where it is built into a stack five or six feet high, and has heavy weights placed upon it. In about a week it is packed in gunny bags and removed to the storehouse at Khandwa.' Regarding why the Nimar district was favoured for cannabis cultivation, Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, says 'and if my information is trustworthy, there is no difficulty in understanding why the Khandwa tahsil has always been a favourite field for cultivation. The peculiar physical advantages enjoyed by that tahsil are as follows:- (1) the average rainfall is only 33 inches per annum, i.e., less than of any other district in the provinces; (2) the water-bearing stratum is in most parts within 20 feet of the surface; (3) at the same time the surface soil rapidly loses the monsoon fall by self-drainage. Great advantages of another kind are that ganja has been cultivated for generations, and that the value of manure has always been thoroughly appreciated.'

Khandwa ganja or pathar ganja, as it was also known, was considered inferior to the Bengali baluchar ganja. The Commission reports that 'In outward appearance the Khandwa ganja or pathar differs from that of Bengal or baluchar in being green in colour, and having a much larger quantity of leaf left in it. It does not bear any comparison in the appreciation of smokers with baluchar. The latter is a very special article, and no ganja will be found to compare with it in any province.'

The average outturn per acre of ganja cultivation was reported to range between 10 to 16 maunds. The Commission reports that 'Mr. Drake-Brockman gives 16 maunds as the average outturn of an acre of ganja cultivation (Memorandum on Cultivation). Mr. Robertson puts it at 12 to 15 maunds (Memorandum on Cultivation). These estimates must take account of a great deal of material that does not find its way on to the books of the Khandwa depôt. For paragraph 54 of the Excise Memorandum gives figures which would put the outturn at hardly 10 maunds.' Even though the average outturn per acre was more than 10 maunds, the farmer hardly got anything for it. He was forced to accept the buying price quoted at the Khandwa depot by a bunch of middlemen or 'dallals'. The ganja was then sold by the Khandwa depot at about 2 1/2 to 3 times this price to the wholesalers. Mr. R. Robertson says in his Note on Cultivation of Ganja in the Nimar District that 'The average outturn from an acre is from 12 to 15 maunds. The crop has in recent years been bought up by a corner of "dallals" at Khandwa, the ordinary price ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 7 per maund, according to quality. The average money outturn per acre is thus about Rs. 80 or Rs. 90, and the money cost of cultivation is estimated at Rs. 60. The selling price per mound at  the Khandwa storehouse is at present as high as Rs. 15 or Rs. 18 per maund.' Mr. Drake-Brockman, the Officiating Excise Commissioner, Central Provinces, states in his memorandum that 'The average outturn from an acre is 16 maunds, ad the average selling price at the Government storehouse, Rs. 4 per maund'.

The Central Provinces were regulated by the same Excise Act XXII of 1881 that was in force in the North-Western Provinces. In the case of the North-Western Provinces, the Commission stated that 'Under the rules now in force the cultivation of the hemp plant is free to all parties. There is no check therefore on the production of hemp drugs, and the possession of the drug without limit of amount is permitted to all cultivators, to owners of land in which the plant grows spontaneously, to licensed vendors, or to persons duly authorized to supply licensed vendors. This permission is also considered to apply to the sale of their bhang by owners of spontaneous produce. Restriction, therefore, only operates when the cultivator sells his produce, and there is practically little, if any, check on the supply of the drugs produced in the province. The Excise Commissioner states that ganja of fair or good quality can be made, and is made locally.' If that was the case, then why was cultivation in the Central Provinces only restricted to the district of Nimar with the produce having to be sold exclusively to the British-owned government depot at Khandwa? And why was it that numerous individuals were subjected to legal action for cultivating a few plants in their homesteads? In the North-Western Provinces we saw that the wholesalers were the chief informants to law enforcement regarding home cultivation because they viewed this as a threat to their revenue. Being powerful and influential individuals, these wholesalers possibly bribed law enforcement and the judiciary to work with them in eradicating home growing, even though the Excise rules did not state it. Was it the same case in the Central Provinces? Most likely, yes, because here it was a monopoly through the government-owned depot at Khandwa. With regard to the Central Provinces, the Commission states that 'In this province, however, advantage has been taken of the provisions of the law to prohibit the cultivation of the hemp plant except under license, and licenses are now only given in the Khandwa tahsil of the Nimar district. The plant does not grow wild, and illicit cultivation has for the most part been suppressed.'

A significant proportion of the ganja was lost or rejected in the process of cleaning at the government storehouse in Khandwa and at the storehouses of the wholesale vendors. On the emphasis given to clean the ganja and provide the highest quality to wholesalers, retailers and, finally, consumers, Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, says 'About 1/5 of the quantity stored is lost in cleaning when the drug is prepared for issue to the double-lock stores of wholesale vendors in the different districts. A further cleaning is effected when the drug is issued by tahsildars to wholesale vendors for sale to retail vendors, and this further reduces the quantity to about 45 per cent. of that originally stored at Khandwa.' 

The reduction of the cannabis culture in the Central Provinces to a monoculture supplied by government ganja from Khandwa in the Nimar district is something incredible. In a region where ganja had been consumed for thousands of years, and where there must have been many varieties of cannabis growing, the government intervention practically eradicated all other varieties of ganja except for the Khandwa ganja. The administration left people with no choice but to avail of the only variety that was legally available. The entire administration acknowledges that ganja was essential for the working and labouring classes as well as the spiritual mendicants. But it did not hesitate to gradually strangle and stifle usage, destroying the cannabis biodiversity in the process. To even get an inkling of the kind of damage done to the people, one would need to imagine what it would be like if all the varieties of beer brewed in England were banned, with the government only permitting brewing in one district and supplying this beer to the entire country. Not only that, imagine gradually raising the prices of this single variety of beer till it became unaffordable for the very classes that depended on it for their health and well-being - the working classes. Beer is a poor example because there is no spiritual significance to its consumption, whereas cannabis usage had social, medical and, especially, spiritual connotations...Banning beer in England would have been unthinkable because the beer-drinkers would have had the heads of the elites for dinner...In India, the cannabis-smoking communities were peaceful, voiceless and powerless...

Increased revenue with increased regulation

The government got a large part of its cannabis revenue from the renting out of storage space at the Khandwa depot. This revenue came from both the farmers who stored the crop awaiting sale, as well as the wholesalers who had purchased their stock from the farmer and were waiting to move the stock out into retail. The farmers were all from Nimar district, of course, whereas the wholesalers came from many places surrounding the Central Provinces. Regarding the functioning of the Khandwa depot, the Hemp Commission states that 'The harvesting of the crop in the Khandwa tahsil is supervised by a special establishment, and the cultivators are bound to bring the whole of their produce to a Government storehouse at Khandwa. The drug is purchased at the storehouse by the wholesale vendors of the province, the terms of the purchase being arranged between the cultivators and the wholesale vendors without interference on the part of Government. Wholesale vendors of other parts of British India and foreign dealers are also freely permitted to buy. No direct tax is imposed on cultivation, but the following fees are payable at the storehouse:— (1) A storage fee of 6 pies per maund per mensem payable by cultivators or purchasers of ganja kept in the storehouse. Cultivators and wholesale vendors of ganja in the Central Provinces are exempted from payment of this fee for 30 days. (2) Permit fees at Re. 1 per maund payable by all purchasers of ganja, other than Government licensed vendors, on account of all ganja for which permission to purchase is granted. (3) Registration fees at Re. 1 per maund payable by all purchasers of ganja, other than Central Provinces licensed vendors, on account of all ganja of which the transfer by sale is registered.'

Wholesalers were license-holders who purchased their ganja from the Khandwa depot and moved it to their respective storehouses in their own districts. From there they distributed it to retailers. The Commission states that 'The sole monopoly of wholesale vend in the province is granted by licenses to wholesale vendors approved by the Excise Commissioner. The licenses are given either for a district or for each tahsil. Tenders are invited annually for the licenses for wholesale vend, and the tenders must state what fee per sér, in addition to a direct duty of Rs. 2 per sér (except in Sambalpur and the south-east part of the Raipur district, where it is Re. 1 per sér), the applicants are prepared to pay for the privilege. The wholesale vendor is required to supply the retail vendors with ganja at Rs. 3 per sér (Rs. 2 in Sambalpur and the south-east part of the Raipur district). The ganja purchased by the wholesale vendor is conveyed under a transport pass or import license to a storehouse belonging to the licensee at the district or tahsil head-quarters, one key of which is kept by the Tahsildar, by whom it is issued according to the requirements of the wholesale vendor.' The wholesaler was given a single retail license that he could use to retail his stock. The Commission states that 'Every wholesale vendor of ganja is given a license for the retail vend of bhang free of charge.'

Retailers got their licenses through auctions done for individual shops. In large towns, however, a single retailer was given license to open a number of retail outlets. The government fixed the price at which the retailer bought ganja from the wholesaler across the province. The retailer was however free to fix their own retail price. The Commission states that 'The monopoly of retail vend is usually auctioned separately for each shop, except in large towns, where the shops are generally sold to one person. The localities of all shops are fixed by the Deputy Commissioner subject to the control of the Excise Commissioner. All retail vendors are entitled to be supplied with ganja by the wholesale vendor at Rs. 3 per sér, and may charge their own retail price to consumers. The number of shops is regulated by the demand for the drug. In those districts which are specially exposed to smuggling from foreign States, shops are licensed more freely.' Consumption on retail premises was not permitted. There were no restrictions on who the ganja could be sold to.

The Tributary States to the Central Provinces had to also rely on the Khandwa ganja and could not cultivate their own ganja like in the past. The Commission reports that 'The present state of affairs is thus described by the Political Agent, Chhattisgarh. It should be explained that his report refers to all the Chhattisgarh States, including the four Western States which are detached from those on the Bengal or Madras border: "The only States in which the hemp plant has never been cultivated for the production of drugs are those of Kawardha and Kalahandi. In the other twelve such cultivation was at one time fully indulged in, but in all it has now been completely suppressed."'

In terms of revenue for the state through the implementation of these rules, the Commission states that 'The revenue derived from this source has been Rs. 2,18,000, of which Rs. 1,36,500 has been from license fees, and the rest from fixed duty.' Mr. J. W. Neill, Judicial Commissioner, Central Provinces, states in his evidence to the Hemp Commission that 'Thirdly, I would draw attention to the fact that this increase of consumption has occurred, although the retail price of ganja is about five times as great as it was before the direct taxation of the drug and the restriction of cultivation in 1875-76.' Gangadharrao Madho Chitnavis, Honorary Magistrate, Nagpur, says 'The use of ganja and bhang both have been on the decrease by reason of its high price. I hear under the Mahratta government so long ago as 1853, ganja was very generally used by the lower classes. It was so common as to be used like straw for plastering purposes. Education has also much to do with its decrease. As regards the middle classes, the high price and restrictions placed on it have also had the effect of decreasing consumption. Common people cannot to indulge in a luxury which is every day becoming dearer.'

Evolution of the Excise Laws in the Central Provinces

1878 was the first year when the government took complete control over the cannabis produce of the Central Provinces. Having restricted cultivation to only two districts - Nimar and Nagpur - the government then put in further curbs on cannabis. Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces' memorandum states that 'The rules finally sanctioned provided (1) that cultivators of the hemp plant should give notice of intended cultivation, its locality, extent, &c., (2) that they should give similar notice of their intention to cut, (3) that their crop should be stored in Government godowns or in authorized private store-houses, and that it should only be removed therefrom on payment of the Government duty. The duty fixed by the Chief Commissioner after considerable deliberation was Re. 1 per seer, equal to Rs. 40 per maund.' These new rules resulted in confusion with neither wholesaler or retailers buying the produce. The government then stepped in and secured control over the entire produce of that year, around 6000 maunds. Having secured control over the produce, the government gave the rights to wholesale vend to persons that it chose, persons in positions of wealth and influence. Mr. Drake-Brockman states that 'The arrangements for raising the revenue in 1879-80 were peculiar, owing to the position in which Government found itself as holder of almost the whole provincial stock of ganja. In five districts the circles of vend were not sold at all, but farms were given to men of capital and position, who engaged to find retail vendors and to keep them supplied with ganja taken as it came in the uncleaned state from the Government stores, paying only duty at certain fixed rates on removal from the Stores'. All these measures led to an increase in ganja smuggled in from Sanawad pargana of Indore which was not under the Central Provinces. In 1880-81, monopoly of wholesale vend was given by the authorities to a single person, Kaluram of Kamtee. Mr. Drake-Brockman's memorandum states that 'Kaluram bought up so much of the Nimar and Katol crops of the season July to November 1879 as was in the hands of cultivators, and also all Government ganja left in the provinces on the 31st March 1880, except a surplus of some 5,000 maunds at Khandwa, which he agreed to sell on behalf of Government in return for a commission on sales. He was bound to apply the ganja he purchased for home consumption in the first instance: if any remained over, it might be exported, one-half of all profits realized in this way being payable to Government.' As a result of the government securing complete control over the cannabis crop, it began to dictate terms, setting prices for purchase that were much lower than that expected by the farmers. Even the wholesaler was reluctant to purchase the excess stock that the government held from the previous year. This led to the farmers becoming discouraged to cultivate ganja in 1881. Mr. Drake-Brockman states that 'All appear to have refrained from raising ganja in 1881 in consequence of their failure to obtain the terms they had insisted upon; their energies were directed throughout the year to agitating for reconsideration of the orders passed, and after unsuccessfully moving the Government of India they memorialized the Secretary of State.'

The Excise Act of 1871 was in force until 1881. It was found that this Act was inadequate in terms of not giving enough powers to the Chief Commissioner to prohibit cultivation and to punish import without licenses as well as cultivation, possession or sale without license. The Chief Commissioner recommended that the new Act rectify this to state "In the Central Provinces — (a) the cultivation of hemp, (b) the manufacture of intoxicating drugs, (c) possession of the intoxicating drugs, (d) the import, export, and transport of intoxicating drugs, are prohibited, except as permitted by this Act or by rules framed under this Act by the local Government, which may grant such permission absolutely, or subject to the payment of duty, or to any other condition."' The Excise Act of 1881 stated that 'Sec. 11.—The Chief Commissioner "may from time to time make such rules to restrict and regulate the cultivation of hemp and the preparation of intoxicating drugs therefrom as he may deem necessary to secure the duty leviable in respect of those drugs."' Section 22 of the Excise Act of 1881 reduced possession limits for ganja from 20 tolas to 5 tolas. It stated that 'Sec. 22.— No person shall have in his possession any larger quantity of such drugs than that specified in section 3, clause (k) [bhang, or any preparation or admixture thereof, one-quarter of a seer; ganja or charas, or any preparation or admixture thereof, five tolas] unless he is permitted to manufacture or sell the same.' This was aimed primarily at curbing smuggling which had become rampant in the course of the tightening regulation around cannabis in the Central Provinces. Whereas the Excise Act of 1871 only placed a fine for cannabis-related violations in the first instance, and subsequent imprisonment in a civil jail, the new Act of 1881 made these offences a serious criminal matter. The Memorandum submitted by Mr. Drake-Brockman stated that 'The new Act gave power to sentence in respect of all such offences, except those under sections 40 and 41, to imprisonment of either description extending to three or four months, in lieu of, or in addition to fine, and it contained no provision prescribing imprisonment in the civil jail for default of payment of fine.' The Excise Act of 1881 also made the Government Storehouse at Khandwa the single point of collection and distribution of all licensed ganja cultivated in the Central Provinces, which was by then mainly restricted to the Nimar district. At Khandwa, the ganja was cleaned so as to remove leaves, twigs and seeds and unwanted material. Section 55 of the Excise Act of 1881 stated that '(2) Ganja. Cultivation of ganja and disposal of crop.—The cultivation of ganja is restricted to the Khandwa Tahsil of the Nimar district. Harvesting is supervised by a special establishment, and the cultivators are bound to bring the whole of their produce to the Government Storehouse at Khandwa. The drug is purchased at the store-house by the wholesale vendors of the province, the terms of purchase being arranged between the cultivators and the wholesale vendors without interference on the part of Government. Wholesale vendors of other parts of British India and foreign dealers are also freely permited to buy.' No duties were levied on cultivation, but revenue was generated at the Khandwa depot, which became the single point of the majority of cannabis revenue collection in the Central Provinces. The Excise Act of 1881 stated that '(1) Storage fees.—Payable at the rate of 6 pies per mensem by cultivators or purchasers of ganja kept in the store-house. Cultivators and wholesale vendors of ganja in the Central Provinces are exempted from the payment of storage fees for a period of 30 days following the date of their storage or purchase for transport to other districts of the Central Provinces (as the case may be). (2) Permit fees.—Payable by all purchasers of ganja other than Government licensed vendors at Re. 1 per maund of the quantity, permission to purchase which is asked for. (3) Registration fees.—Payable by all purchasers of ganja other than Central Provinces licensed vendors, at Re. 1 per maund of the quantity of which the transfer by sale is registered.' An elaborate process was set up by which wholesalers purchased their ganja from the Khandwa depot and transported it to their tehsils and finally reached retail outlets. There were constant checks along the way. Passes had to be issued for each step. The stock of ganja was carefully monitored right up to the retail level. Movement of ganja from Khandwa to the tehsils was guarded by police escort. Retail licenses were auctioned or issued under tight control keeping in mind consumer density. All retailers purchased their ganja from the wholesaler at a fixed rate of Rs. 3 per seer except in Sambalpur where the rate was fixed at Rs. 2 per seer. The herb of the people had become the green gold of the government. So, in 1881 in the Central Provinces we get a glimpse of how future cannabis laws would look like, for the first time in India and, possibly, the world.

1882-83 saw the creation of separate wholesale vendors for each district rather than have a single wholesaler for the entire province. Even as revenue increased for the state, the price of retail ganja kept increasing and the number of retail outlets kept getting reduced during this period, making it more and more difficult for the consumer to access and purchase ganja. 1883-84 saw a steady increase in cultivation and revenue. Nimar was now emerging as a key export hub for ganja from the Central Provinces. The overall increase in production and revenue was attributed to the improved quality of ganja available. Wholesalers were responsible for ensuring that the quality was good, in return for which they were taxed leniently in order to ensure bigger profits for them. Mr. Drake-Brockman's memorandum states that 'The number of licenses for cultivation, the area cultivated, and the quantity of ganja deposited in the Central Stores were all unprecedentedly high in this year...Most of the increase was in Nimar, where a large export trade was developing yearly.' 1884 also saw the inclusion of the police in enforcing cannabis laws which were enforced by Excise officials till that point. This is a marked shift in cannabis related law enforcement. It is possible that this modification to the Excise Act of 1881, conferring powers on police officials to enforce cannabis laws, may have been the first instance in India, and the world, where the police took over the primary responsibility of enforcing cannabis laws. Mr. Drake-Brockman states that 'In February 1884 the Chief Commissioner had authorized Deputy Commissioners to appoint, under section 24 of the Act, any police officer to be an officer for the prevention of excise offences. The Government of India, however, held that Section 20, Act V of 1861, precluded the exercise by the Police of authority as preventive officers, even though they were appointed to perform such duties by the Collector under section 24 of the Excise Act in accordance with rules made by the local Government. The Excise Act was accordingly amended by Act VI of 1885, in order to give local Governments authority to confer preventive powers on the Police. In the Central Provinces the powers exercised are — (a) By all police officers, those conferred on Excise officers by section 27 of the Act. (b) By any police officer in charge of a station or of or above the grade of head constable, those conferred on Excise officers by sections 28 and 29 of the Act.' Possession limits were brought down from 20 tolas to 5 tolas for ganja.

1885-86 saw a surplus of ganja produced. This resulted in crop prices falling drastically which in turn spurred greater retail sales. Mr. Drake-Brockman states in his memorandum that 'In Jubbulpur the retail price was lowered to 1 anna per tola, sales being enormously stimulated in consequence. In other districts the average retail price varied from 1 1/2 to 2 annas a tola, i.e., from nearly 3 to nearly 4 times the price prevailing in 1875-76. The sums bid for the monopolies of wholesale and retail vend also increased, and the total revenue demand on account of ganja rose by more than Rs. 30,000, the incidence per head of population going up from 3 to 4 pies. The districts in which the demand was greatest were:— Jubbulpur. Raipur. Nagpur. Balaghat. Seoni. Bhandara. Jubbulpur, as for years past, was far ahead of any other district, and Raipur now took second place in regard to both revenue and amount of ganja taxed.' 1886-87 continued to see a glut in ganja crop despite reduced cultivation licenses and area cultivated. So much surplus ganja was exported to the North Western Provinces (which relied on its ganja from Bengal and the Central Provinces), that the administration there considered introducing import duties. Mr. Drake-Brockman states that 'The losses incurred by cultivators in 1885-86 caused them in the following year to take out fewer licenses and to reduce the area under ganja; but in spite of this there was the large outturn of 9,290 maunds, which was ten times the quantity needed for provincial consumption and more than 2,000 maunds in excess of the quantity required for export and provincial consumption combined. As much as 6,000 maunds were exported to the North-West Provinces and Oudh, where the Government were considering the advisability of imposing an import duty on the drug.' The surplus in ganja in the preceding three years meant that the Khandwa depot was overstocked. The government decided to impose a storage fee at the government storehouses. It also decided to impose a permit fee on all wholesale vendors who came from outside the Central Provinces to purchase ganja from the Khandwa depot. The importance of the Khandwa depot had grown greatly in the preceding few years. Not wanting to miss an additional revenue opportunity, the Commissioner of Excise state that "The part played by the Khandwa store as an entrepôt for the supply of the ganja demand of those provinces is quite insignificant when compared with its use as a mart for the convenience of foreign purchasers. To it throng traders from Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ratlam, Dhar, Jodhpur, Oodeypur, Rewa, Panna, Baroda, and other States of less note, and licensed vendors from the North-West Provinces compete with contractors from Berar for the purchase of the cultivators' stock. Between 6,000 and 7,000 maunds of ganja have, on the average of the last four years, been annually exported from Khandwa to other provinces and to Native States. For the convenience thus afforded to them all these foreign purchasers pay absolutely nothing." 

The next five years saw the gradual fine-tuning of this stranglehold over cannabis by the state. Slowly, cultivation was restricted to only Nimar as it was found that this was sufficient for local consumption needs and export to other provinces. Another reason for restricting cultivation to Nimar only appears to have been the government's attempt to ensure that it secured all the stock of ganja from the cultivator. The supervision of crop harvest was tightened with an increased supervisory team when it was found that farmers were withholding some part of their harvest to sell in the illegal market instead of submitting it to the Khandwa depot. The time frame within which a farmer was to submit the produce from the time of announcing its harvest was reduced from 90 days to 30 days. The poor working classes, who were the main consumers of ganja, were left with no choice but to pay the price demanded even in years where they suffered hardship from the failure of their other crops. The prohibition to cultivate ganja meant that this was not an option even in times of financial and farming stress. The government had turned the Central Provinces into a mass production center for Nimar ganja which was tightly regulated like opium, ensuring that the government maximized its revenue opportunities from it. Which classes benefitted from these regulations the most is obvious - it was the upper classes, especially the wholesalers and retailers and the rich persons who could afford the ganja. A report was submitted by Mr. H. M. Laurie, Officiating Deputy Commissioner, Bhandara to the Hemp Commission in which he investigates and reports on the consumption of ganja by the Powars, who are considered upper castes. This report was a result of rumours that the Powars - who had been earlier not been major consumers of ganja - had now become excessive consumers. Mr. Laurie seems to refute these claims, but it is quite clear that the regulations imposed by the state had shifted the consumer base to the upper classes and castes as fewer persons from the majority lower classes and castes could grow, access and afford the government regulated ganja. The government had changed ganja from a widely cultivated crop into a strictly regulated commodity that only persons of means could afford. By prohibiting home growing and small scale cultivation, the poorest persons would have found their ganja cut off. The varieties of cannabis that went extinct due to the complete attention given to Nimar cannabis cultivation will never be known. The hardships of the cannabis cultivator - caught between the oppressive government regulations and the vagaries of the weather - were quite evident. The wholesalers bullied the farmer to sell at the lowest price and sometimes the farmer sold his crop in desperation at whatever price was quoted due to the surplus of produce. Speaking about 1890-91, Mr. Drake-Brockman states in his memorandum that 'The fall in 1890-91 was due to the market being overstocked with the large outturn of the previous year, and to the ryots having unsuccessfully combined to resist dealer's low prices: in 1891-92, the losses which had been sustained in this way and excess rainfall prevented any considerable extension of operations, besides damaging the crop raised on the area worked. In the latter year, however, cultivators realized high prices averaging Rs. 8 per maund, and were encouraged to sow more ganja in 1892-93, but the crop raised was again damaged by excessive rain, and the quality was generally inferior.' This was not something new but had occurred recurrently for the last decade. The government only looked to extract more and more revenue rather than easing the hardship of the farmer. For the consumer, consumption on the premises was prohibited. The opinion of locals when setting up a ganja retail shop was introduced. Despite alcohol retail requiring local permission, the number of alcohol retail outlets were said to number five time the cannabis retail outlets. It is understandable to give high importance to local approval and ban on-premise consumption for liquor outlets, given the violence, crime and public disturbance associated with it. But to seek local consent for setting up a ganja outlet and to prohibit on-premise consumption for ganja, a culture followed peacefully by the people for thousands of years, belies logic. It was the result of the anti-ganja propaganda that painted it as a harmful drug far worse than alcohol. Mr. B. Robertson, Deputy Commissioner, Nimar says 'A correspondence is at present going on regarding the system of purchase of ganja at Khandwa by the agents of the wholesale vendors. The system is briefly this. The agents buy up the ganja on their own account as a speculation frequently while the crop is standing. The whole outturn this passes into the hands of about a dozen men, who are then able to run up the price at the Khandwa storehouse to all except the wholesale vendors by whom they have been specially retained. Example: "A is the agent of B a wholesale vendor. A buys up 400 maunds of ganja on his own account. Out of this he can always supply B at a reasonable rate; but if an outside vendor, say from another province, sends to Khandwa for ganja, the has to pay a corner price as A is in league with all the other Khandwa agents, and all have combined to raise the price." The existence of the corner in no way affects the vend of ganja, as far as the this province is concerned. The wholesale vendors have to supply the retail vendors at Rs. 3 per seer, so that the latter, and through them the consumers, are not affected. But wholesale vendors from other provinces undoubtedly find it difficult to make purchases at Khandwa.'

High consumption areas

The Hemp Commission reports on the areas of consumption stating that 'It will be seen from these figures that the area of heaviest consumption is the group of four districts, Balaghat, Seoni, Jubbulpore, and Mandla; and among these Balaghat uses the drug at double the rate of the other three. Next in order come the districts of the Chhattisgarh Division. After these the other districts along the northern frontier, Damoh, Saugor, Narsinghpur, and Hoshangabad, with the addition of Chhindwara. Then follow the districts on the western and southern frontiers, Nimar, Betul, and Wardha, with Nagpur and Bhandara. And far behind comes the district of Chanda. The first two of the above groups consume the drug at a higher rate than one maund to 10,000 of the population; the last three at less. Saugor is is included in the second group in spite of its apparently light consumption, because the large difference between it and the neighbouring district of Damoh in this respect confirms the evidence of illicit import given by reports and witnesses. Nagpur is placed in the fourth group in spite of its heavy sale compared with the other districts of the same group, because the consumption is to some degree foreign to the district, being connected with the troops at Kampti and other people who are attracted to the capital of the province. The high rate of consumption in Chhindwara, Seoni, Balaghat, and Mandla may probably be associated with their physical characteristics and their very malarious climate, for they cover the central highlands of the province—a tract of mountains and dense forest.'

Only about 1/5th of the ganja produced in Nimar and stored at the Khandwa government depot was consumed locally by the people of the Central Provinces. The rest was exported to a number of surrounding places, making Khandwa one of the most important hubs for ganja exports in 19th century India, in addition to Bengal. The Commission reports that 'Of this export the North-Western Provinces take about 1,500 maunds, and the destination of the rest is indicated in a report of the Excise Commissioner of the year 1887 quoted at paragraph 41 of his memorandum: "The part played by the Khandwa store as an entrepôt for the supply of the ganja demand of these provinces is quite insignificant when compared with its use as a mart for the convenience of foreign purchasers. To it throng traders from Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Rutlam, Dhar, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Rewa, Panna, Baroda, and other States of less note, and licensed vendors from the North-Western Provinces compete with contractors from Berar for the purchase of the cultivator's stock." At that time the Commissioner of Excise states that the export was between 6,000 and 7,000 maunds. In making this calculation, he includes the figure of the year 1885-86, which reached the exceptional amount of 13,380 maunds. There is reason to suppose that a little business is done in the sale of seed from the crops grown at Khandwa for that product. There is information as to its being used by the hemp cultivators of Hyderabad, the Berars, Bombay, and Indore.'

Given that large percentages of the laboring and working classes consumed ganja, and that bhang and charas were relatively hardly used, it appears to me that despite all the measures taken to regulate and prohibit ganja, a significant number of the population still got their ganja from outside the government supply, possibly through clandestine home growing or diversion from harvested crops or from other sources outside the province. The spiritual mendicant classes are starkly missing in these reports regarding consumption by the population. Mr. J. W. Neill, Judicial Commissioner, Central Provinces, states in his evidence to the Hemp Commission that 'In 1882 the Commissioner of Excise, Mr. Anderson, again said: "Still we have much to learn as to the actual quantity of the drug which people consume." And in 1884 the same Commissioner said: "With our present knowledge it is really impossible to estimate with anything like certainty the probable yearly consumption of ganja in this province." I am not aware that since then the information acquired is such as would enable the Commissioner of Excise to express any confident opinion on the matter.' It does appear that the cleaned and regulated government-supplied ganja became more prevalent among the people, especially in places where illegal ganja was of inferior quality and there was no better choice for the consumer other than Khandwa ganja.

Regarding charas, the Commission reports that charas, the cannabis resin, is not produced or consumed as an exclusive cannabis product, unlike in the North-Western and Punjab Provinces where it is produced in small quantities and imported in large quantities from Yarkand and Bokhara.

Rise in use of western alcohol and opium

Among the urban-dwellers and the Indian upper classes and castes, western alcohol was steadily increasing as the restrictions on ganja and the price of ganja continually increased. Syed Mohamed Husain, Extra Assistant Commissioner; Diwan, Khairgarh State, says that 'The reasons why alcohol is being substituted for hemp drugs are - (1) alcohol is not so injurious; (2) the revenue from the sale of alcohol is daily increasing, while that from hemp drugs is decreasing; (3) alcohol is prevalent among the more civilized people, and as a rule the less enlightened people are their followers, and as they come more and more in contact with them, they adopt their habits; hence the increase in the use of alcohol.' Speaking about the increasing transition to western alcohol, led by the same upper classes who viewed ganja use with contempt and strived to please their colonial rulers, Mr. Raghunath Rao, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Damoh, says 'Yes, there are reasons for thinking that the use of these drugs is being substituted by foreign liquors by the educated people. This is due to modern civilization and association with liquor-using people. People must have something to make them gay and forgetful of the labours of the day. Ganja, bhang, opium, etc., are looked down and condemned by the educated people as well as by the higher classes of the community: consequently, those who can afford to pay for the costly foreign wines and spirits take to them. The number of such persons is very small, but it is on the increase. The large towns which are advanced in modern civilization will provide ample proof of this.' It is seen in the Central Provinces that, despite the steps taken to restrict cultivation to a single district, namely Nimar, and distribution from a single centralized government depot at Khandwa, and despite increasing the price of ganja repeatedly, the consumption continued to increase in the period studied by the Hemp Commission. This increase was attributed mainly to the affordability of ganja as compared to alcohol as well as an increased use by the jungle tribes. It is possible that severe restriction on cultivation forced indigenous communities and those who shunned alcohol to seek the government sold retail ganja in place of their own cultivated produce. Mr. J. W. Neill, Judicial Commissioner, Central Provinces, states in his evidence to the Hemp Commission that 'Compared with ganja, even at the present retail selling rates, the price of liquor is high, and while persons who drink country spirit have to take it at the shop like a dram unless that can afford to carry away a full bottle, which will cost them two annas and often more, the ganja-smoker can buy his pice worth at any time, carry it about with him, and smoke it when and where he likes.' 

The British desire to replace cannabis with opium throughout India, primarily because they preferred opium and it gave far greater revenue than cannabis, was evident from as early as 1871. At that time, opium generated more than twice the revenue of cannabis. Single licenses existed for retail of both opium and cannabis. The government desired to create separate licenses for both as well as greatly reduce the area under cannabis cultivation. Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, says in his memorandum submitted to the Hemp Commission that 'In the first year for which the Act was in force, i.e., 1871-72, the revenue from "drugs" was Rs. 70,713, that from opium being Rs. 1,71,316. "Drugs" included "madak," in spite of the fact that madak was known to be merely a preparation of opium. The monopoly of vend of "drugs," either for each district as a whole or for small areas, was everywhere put up to auction and knocked down to the highest bidder. The monopoly of the vend of opium was sold separately; but in most cases the same person took both it and the monopoly in respect of " drugs." From paras. 24 and 25 of the Excise Report for the year it appears that the desirability of separating receipts from ganja and those from madak was making itself felt, and also that proposals for restricting cultivation of the hemp plant were under consideration.' It must be remembered that it was the British colonists and the Indian upper classes and castes who had a preference for opium over ganja. The majority of the people - the working classes, lower classes and castes, indigenous communities and spiritual mendicants - wanted nothing to do with opium. Regarding why the working classes prefer cannabis over opium, Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, says 'Labourers whom I have inquired of say that they can manage to do their work well enough, even if they cannot get their usual smoke. In this respect there is a vast difference between consumers of ganja and consumers of opium; the katter are useless, unless they get their accustomed dose, and that at the accustomed time.' He further says 'Opium is not likely to be appreciated as a substitute for ganja by consumers of the latter who are labourers, for the reason that opium does not produce an intoxication which brings inclination for physical exertion, but is rather of an opposite nature.'

Religious, social and cultural traditions

Regarding the religious, social and cultural use of cannabis in the Central Provinces, as is to be expected, it does not vary greatly from other parts of India. Ganja formed an integral part of the major festivals such as Mahashivrathri, Holi and Diwali. In addition to this, the Hemp Commission reports particular uses by indigenous communities in the Central Provinces. It states that 'Regarding a custom of the Chamar caste, the Rev. Mr. Jacob says: "At Chanda, the Chamars use ganja dust in the preparation of a beverage called gulabpani, which is drunk at a ceremony called dadhi (the first shaving of the beard), when no liquor is permitted." Among the Gonds, Cowasjee Nusserwanjee Hattidaru describes the following custom as existing: "In the funeral ceremony amongst the Gonds of these provinces, kalli or flat ganja is placed over the chest of the dead body of the Gond, and when the funeral party returns home, a little of the ganja is burnt in the house of the dead person, the smoke of which is supposed to reach the spirit of the dead." Another Satpura witness, Hosen Khan, mentions a custom of offering "a little ganja at the Chitarai Debis, or collections of stones with rags tied to some tree above. They offer either a cock or a cocoanut or some ganja. It is a custom among travellers. These Chitarai Debis are in the open, and the travellers have a smoke at the same time."'

Besides ganja, the sweetmeat majum was also consumed in the Central Provinces to a small extent. Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, says 'Of ganja the only preparation in use for other than smoking purposes is majum, a sweetmeat of which the ingredients are (1) ghi, (2) that part of ganja known as desi bhang, (3) a syrup made of sugar and water. A dose of majum weighs about 1/4 tola, and can be had for 0-0-3 (3 pies): two of these doses is as much as any one can manage in one day. Very little is consumed at times other than the Holi festival.' He says further that 'Majum eating and ganja smoking produce pretty similar results in this respect, the intoxication caused by the latter being probably short-lived than that induced by the former.' This is similar to the effect of drinking cannabis as the beverage bhang which generally lasts longer than smoking the plant as ganja. 

The suppression of home growing

The administration had imposed such control over cannabis cultivation in the Central Provinces by 1894 that home growing was effectively completely banned. In this, law enforcement played a key role, eradicating home growing wherever found and taking legal action against the cultivator. All this was done at the behest of the powerful cannabis wholesale and retail vendors (often the same persons) who viewed home growing as a major threat to their profits and revenue. The Hemp Commission reports that 'The desultory and illicit cultivation, if carried on at all, is confined to gardens and backyards, and is never to be found in open fields. The authorities believe that it has been practically suppressed, and the Commission have heard so little of its existence that they must accept that view. The Inspector-General of Police and Prisons is the only witness who believes that it is common. Mr. Naylor, District Superintendent of Police, states that "about six or eight cases are annually reported of the ganja or hemp plant being grown in baris;" but he adds: "I think the illicit cultivation has now almost ceased."' The objective of practically strangulating the cannabis culture of the Central Provinces and ensuring that it was cultivated only in one district, Nimar, was so that the British Government of India could regulate this effectively and realize the goal of 'maximum revenue with minimum consumption'. All cannabis was to be supplied through the government godowns at Khandwa for not just the Central Provinces, but also neighbouring British controlled areas. Khan Bahadur Aulad Hussein, C.I.E., Assistant Commissioner and Settlement Officer, Jabalpur, said 'Formerly, when the matter was not looked after so carefully, it was the practice to cultivate the hemp plant in yards of houses. I do not find such cultivation now, and I am in the habit of visiting houses, and in a position to see such cultivation of it exists. I consider that the restriction is effectual. The cases of evasion are extremely rare.' Rev. O. Lohr. Medical Missionary, Bisrampur, Raipur District, says 'About 20 years ago, I used to see it growing in the gardens of Gonds. There is scarcely any grown now. Formerly it was cultivated for ganja alone being produced. I have seen it in both the Raipur and Bilaspur districts to a very small extent; but I believe that now it is hardly grown at all on account of its cultivation having been since prohibited.' Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, states that until 1872-73, 'In almost every district a few hemp plants were to be found in the gardens of cultivators, and it was only in Raipur and Bilaspur that a license fee was imposed on cultivation.' The retailers complained that home growing and small-scale cultivation was eating into their revenues and that they would be able to increase their contributions to the state if home-growing was completely removed. The government found that the bulk of the cultivation was done in Nimar and Nagpur and so proceeded to restrict cultivation in all places except under license. Mr. Drake-Brockman reports that 'The Commissioner of Excise then moved the local Administration to restrict cultivation to the Kotal and Khandwa tahsils and to impose a license fee on each acre cultivated.' At the same time, the British administration across India was working overtime to spread the propaganda that cannabis was harmful and looking at means of greatly reducing its cultivation and consumption. Mr. Drake-Brockman reports that 'Meanwhile the Government of India had been enquiring into certain allegations regarding the effects of ganja and other preparations of the hemp plant, and on the 17th December 1873 all local Governments were instructed to discourage the consumption of ganja and bhang as far as possible by placing restrictions on their cultivation, preparation, and retail, and imposing on their use as high a rate of duty as could be levied without inducing illicit practices.' In 1877, further penal rules were introduced to punish unlicensed cultivation. Mr.Drake-Brockman states that 'In this year a special penal fee on unlicensed cultivation was introduced: the Re. 1 rate was made applicable only to cases in which a license was obtained before sowing, and Rs. 10 was to be levied on every acre or fraction of an acre not so protected.' The new harsher rules imposing penalty on unlicensed cultivation found approval with the Government of India which encouraged imposition of further controls with the aim of completely curbing cannabis cultivation and consumption. Mr. Drake-Brockman reports in his memorandum that 'In reviewing the Provincial Excise Report for 1876-77 the Government of India remarked that they were prepared to consider any suggestion that might be made for restricting the use of ganja, and again in March 1878 they approved of the Chief Commissioner carrying out measures for restricting the cultivation of ganja and imposing on the drug gradually, or otherwise, as heavy fiscal burdens as it could be made to bear. Accordingly the subject had a large share of the Chief Commissioner's attention during the next 3 years.' The fact that home growing was the norm, till it was systematically suppressed to aid the ganja vendors and earn more revenue for the government, is evident from witness evidence. Lall Umed Singh, Zamindar, Bilaspur District, says 'In Sargooja every house has a plantation of ten or twenty trees in the compound, and besides this there are fields of it, but it is mostly grown in small patches round the houses.' Sargooja was a neighbouring area outside Bilaspur in the Central Provinces. From this evidence, one can easily infer that this would have been the case in the Central Provinces as well before regulation was enforced, taking the plant away from the people and placing it in the hands of the businessmen. In the Excise Manual of 1895, the rules prohibiting home-growing and small-scale cultivation in areas under one acre were formalized. Till then, this obviously means that the prohibition of home growing was not even legal but enforced illegally. Since the bulk of Indian farmers were small-scale farmers and home growing was an inherent part of the cannabis culture, these steps further took control of the cannabis plant away from the people and placed it more securely in the hands of the state. Mr. Drake-Brockman states that 'In April 1875 rules for controlling cultivation were sanctioned, the main object of which was to put a stop to the practice of growing for home consumption. Cultivation, except under license from the Deputy Commissioner, was prohibited, and no license was to be obtainable for plots of less than an acre in extent.' 

Increase in smuggling from neighbouring states

It is reported that smuggling was a menace from native states neighbouring the Central Provinces and its tributary regions. The use of a large law enforcement force was in place to curb this smuggling. The approach of the Central Provinces administration to sell Khandwa ganja to the entire population of the Central Provinces, and as much as possible to the neighbouring regions in order to maximize its own revenues went to absurd levels. Having made the regulation within the province more or less watertight, the administration found that the neighbouring regions now presented unforeseen problems. Ganja was smuggled in from across the border where there was no restriction on cultivation. The Central Provision government exerted pressure on neighbouring states to regulate cannabis cultivation and completely restrict wherever possible. It even moved the Government of India to levy taxes on Garjhat ganja from Bengal which was proving to be competition for Khandwa ganja in the surrounding regions. Through its exertion of influence, the Government of India brought about prohibition and regulation of cannabis cultivation in a number of regions in Central India in order to clear the way for Khandwa ganja. Regarding the rise in smuggling from neighbouring states due to the tight regulation on ganja cultivation in the Central Provinces, Mr. Raghunath Rao, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Damoh, says 'I am not in possession of any figures, nut I know that the ganja grown in foreign Native States finds its way into the province. The Boadh and Sarguja ganja finds its way into the Sambalpur district and the Feudatory States and zamindaries of the Sambalpur district and some of those in the Bilaspur district. In the Gurjat States, which border on the Chhatisgarh Feudatory States, Raugarh, Sakti, Korba, etc., ganja used to be grown and sold in the local markets like any other article of food. The consequence was that a lot of this ganja used to be smuggled into the Raigarh State. I had made enquiries and was assured that it found its way up to Korba, Bilaspur, and Sheornarain. Attempts were made to arrest its progress, and the authorities of Chhota Nagpur were moved to restrict its growth and sale. The consequence was that in 1892-93 the Raigarh State required more of the Government ganja from Bilaspur than it ever took before. The untaxed ganja of the Gurjat States was this superseded to a very large extent. Until the surrounding Feudatory States restrict the cultivation and sale of ganja, as it is done in this province and elsewhere, the ganja which is grown there will surely find its way in the khalsa, as it could be had much cheaper than the Khandwa ganja sold by Government contractors. Little or no duty is taken on ganja in the Native States, and the restrictions recently placed on its growth and sale are more nominal than real.' So, the success of the oppression of the people of the Central Provinces in order to maximize revenue from ganja and curb its use depended on all the neighbouring states of the Central Provinces also implementing such oppressive measures. The British government exerted pressure to increase regulation in these neighbouring states as well. This is a microcosmic view of how global cannabis prohibition happened. To implement prohibition successfully in one place, prohibition had to be implemented in all other places as well, so that cannabis from anywhere else did not find its way to the first place implementing prohibition. The absolute futility and absurdity of such attempts at abolishing something highly valued and essential by the people makes cannabis today the world's most consumed illegal drug, exceeding by far other drugs such as opium and cocaine. When the people know that something is good for them, no amount of propaganda and misinformation can stop them from consuming it. The amount of taxpayer money spent on cannabis prohibition worldwide till date is astronomical, and the damage done to the plant and the people of the world immense.

The 'ganja is a different drug from bhang' myth and associated propaganda

The Central Provinces mark the clear demarcation between north and south India and the regions that called cannabis 'bhang' and 'ganja'. This appears to be the roughly the region of separation between the Sanskrit based societies that migrated to India at a later point - with their Vedic religions, Vaishnavism and the caste system - and the earlier indigenous societies that lived in India, the societies that spoke the proto-Dravidian languages and who appear to have been part of the earlier Indus Valley culture and the Sangam culture, worshipping mainly Siva and nature. To the north of the Central Provinces, bhang was the default name given to the plant, including the leaves and flowers. It was also the area where cannabis was consumed more extensively as a beverage, which was also called bhang. The Central Provinces, and the areas to the south of it, called the cannabis plant exclusively ganja. The few communities that drank cannabis as a beverage, like the Marwaris, were the exceptions that called the plant, bhang. We can thank the British botanist Dr. Prain, sitting in Calcutta, for formalizing the confusion by defining bhang as the leaves and ganja as the flowering buds, whereas for the people of India the cannabis plant was either just ganja or bhang depending on the cultural roots of the society concerned. Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise, Central Provinces, says 'The only narcotic obtained from hemp in the Central Provinces is ganja as defined by Dr. Prain. At harvest-time resinous matter, which is probably identical with "charas," exudes, and sticks to the hands of the reapers who cut down the plants; but this is not separately collected. The narcotic "bhang" is imported from Gwalior and the North-Western Provinces, and is locally known as "pardesi bhang." What is locally termed "desi bhang" is the refuse rejected when the ganja manufactured by cultivators and stored in the Government godown is cleaned for issue to wholesale vendors. The word "bhang" applied to this refuse seems to be derived from the Sanskrit root meaning "broken," and so to be identical with the ordinary signification of the word "chur,." But chur as a kind of ganja is not produced in the Central Provinces: I notice in this connection that according to Dr. Prain the quantity of chur obtained from flat ganja in Bengal is infinitesimally small, and as only flat ganja is manufactured here, this probably accounts for chur being locally unknown. The ganja raised in the Central Provinces, as well as that from Indore, is known in Upper India as "pattar," a word the etymology and primary signification of which I have not been able to discover.' Mr. Drake-Brockman also says '"Ganja" appears to be the only name by which the plant is known, and it is applied indifferently to the plant and to the narcotic produced from it.' In the Central Provinces we see, once again, the confusion of what is bhang and what is ganja. Contrary to the claims of the upper classes and castes, then and today, that bhang is only the leaves of the cannabis plant, we see that the people of the Central Provinces consumed the cannabis flowers - what is called ganja - as the beverage bhang, much like the Sikhs in the Punjab Province. The Commission reports that 'Bhang is not produced in the Central Provinces. Khandwa ganja is used instead for drinking purposes by the commoner sort of consumers. Well-to-do people import their bhang from Central India. It is, however, difficult to believe that the leaf and fragments resulting from the manufacture of Khandwa ganja do not pass into consumption at all. There is some evidence that they do. In Bengal the ganja cultivators could afford to throw away the leaves, for the wild bhang was to be got for nothing within a reasonable distance, and made better bhang than the cultivated leaf, which was consequently of no value. In the Central Provinces the case is different, and it may be doubted if the people are altogether careless of the leaf as a secondary product.' Lall Umed Singh, Zamindar, Bilaspur District, says 'Ganja and bhang are the produce of one and the same plant. Ganja is prepared from the leaves, bhang from the buds.' Adar Singh Gour, Kshattri, Barrister-at-law, Hoshangabad, says 'It is also called Ferbesina prostrata.' The witnesses to the Hemp Commission were almost all from India's upper classes and castes. These people had almost no direct experience of cannabis, and if they did, it was as the beverage bhang. Almost all the evidence they gave was based on hearsay, colored by their own prejudices and biases, as well as the prejudices and biases of the persons from whom they obtained this information. If this was not enough to create vast amounts of misinformation, we had the British, who were even more removed from the cannabis plant, adding their own spin to the narrative. As an example, we have Rev. I. Jacob, Church of England Missionary, Chairman, District Council, etc., Chanda, stating 'The hemp plant is known by different names, such as - (1) Cannabis sativa or ganja plant. (2) Crotalaria jaucea or "san." (3) Hibiscus cannabis or "ambadi." The fibres of the latter two are used for cordage. These three are distinct plants.'  The fact that bhang and ganja are one and the same has been completely blurred by the clash of cultures, languages, castes and religions, and the inputs of so-called experts who are far removed from the truth. 

Widespread discrimination and misinformation against ganja and its consumers

The beloved herb of Siva - used extensively for spiritual purposes by the religious mendicants, and for intoxication, health and well-being by the working classes, indigenous communities, lower castes, lower classes and the poor - was reviled by the upper classes and castes, who hypocritically consumed the very same herb as the beverage bhang which they considered to be worthy of their social status. Rev. I. Jacob, Church of England Missionary, Chairman, District Council, etc., Chanda, says 'But both Hindus and Muhammedans, as well as other religionists, consider ganja-smoking as bad and lowering, on account of the disastrous effects it produces on the physical and mental faculties of the smoker. "Ganjadi", "affeemchi," a"maddatti" are well known abusive and disgraceful epithets, used against idle and inactive moods and idiotic actions on the part of an awfully careless man.' Mr. Jacob, obviously, was ignorant enough to think that "ganjadi" and "affeemchi" were referring to the same ganja-smoking.  Rev. O. Lohr. Medical Missionary, Bisrampur, Raipur District, says 'The persons indulging in the drug (ganja) are mostly such as lead an idle life, like bairagis, Gonds, beggars and Rawats, who follow cattle and dance a great deal.' Rev. Lohr appears to dislike dancing as much as ganja, bairagis, Gonds, beggars and Rawats. Adar Singh Gour, Kshattri, Barrister-at-law, Hoshangabad, says 'Certainly, my idea of an average ganja-smoker is that he is a skinny, shrivelled, bare-boned individual, worn to a shadow, and that of a bhang-drinker a veritable Rip Van Winkle, probably not so weak-looking as the ganja-smoker but a candid waiter on Providence. I have never seen either of these individuals what I should call good eaters. They show, however, a decided partiality to things made with sugar and ghi. A ganja and bhang smoker is always a prey to asthma, pre-eminently the former. The action of the drug, when used in excess, is originally upon the brain and the spinal marrow, and secondarily upon the stomach and the bowels, which are as a rule irritated and inflamed. It, therefore, injures digestion and the normal appetite fails.' Adar Singh Gour further says 'The symptoms are dilated pupils, black lips, offensive breath and vacant look, also muffled, hoarse, husky and sometimes nasal voice. That the brain is affected is apparent from the fact that when a ganja-smoker or a bhang-drinker talks to you he is obliged to shake his head to arouse his brain nerve, which becomes inert, if not diseased and incapable of acting as when in a normal state.' Brain nerve, indeed...

Expert opinions and opposition to cannabis prohibition

Most medical experts seemed to be of the opinion that moderate use of ganja was not harmful, though almost all associated excessive use with illnesses like asthma, bronchitis, etc. As in the rest of India most of the medical experts examined were either Britishers or Indians belonging to the upper classes and castes, educated in the western medical system. Most medical witnesses did not have first-hand experience with cannabis, especially ganja, and much of their evidence was based on hearsay. Only one native Indian medical practitioner from the Central Provinces gave evidence, and he was himself a long-term user who would be classified as an 'excessive' user by the British and Indian upper classes and castes. The Hemp Commission states, 'One vaid was examined, 55 years of age, who had known hundreds of ganja smokers, and had never known a case in which it did any harm. He had himself been a steady ganja smoker for thirty years, consuming six to eight chillums daily.' This, to me, holds more weight than the combined evidence of all the other medical experts without direct experience with ganja. 

As in the rest of the British-ruled provinces, we see widespread opposition to cannabis prohibition. In the Central Provinces, only two witnesses advocated prohibition. The Hemp Commission reports that 'There are only two witnesses in the Central Provinces who advocate the prohibition of ganja. Honorary Surgeon-Major Harrison (38), on the retired list, employed in the Kalahandi State, advocates gradual prohibition, "which would cause discontent, but not any serious danger. The prohibition would no doubt be followed by recourse to alcohol and other stimulants." The other is a pensioned hospital assistant, who also advocates gradual prohibition.' From the overwhelming opposition to cannabis prohibition, the Commission reports what it regards as the most important evidence, given by witnesses of important administrative and social standing. The Commission states that 'The following is an analysis of some of the most important evidence against prohibition:— (1) Prohibition impossible or unnecessary, or could not be enforced without a large preventive establishment. (1) Mr. Neill, Judicial Commissioner. (4) Mr. Laurie, Officiating Secretary to Chief Commissioner. (2) Colonel Bowie, Commissioner. (9) Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Excise Commissioner. (39) Dr. Prentie, Civil Surgeon. (66) Rev. Israel Jacob, Missionary. (2) Prohibition would be strongly resented by religious mendicants, or would be regarded as an interference with religion, or would be likely to become a political danger. (1) Mr. Neill, Judicial Commissioner. (4) Mr. Laurie, Officiating Secretary to Chief Commissioner. (2) Colonel Bowie, Commissioner. (3) Mr. Anderson, Officiating Commissioner. (6) Mr. Duff, Deputy Commissioner. (27) Mr. Lowrie, Officiating Deputy Conservator of Forests. (17) Batuk Bharthy, Superintendent, Kalahandi State. (66) Rev. Israel Jacob, Missionary. (68) Rev. Oscar Lohr, Missionary. (22) Vinayak Balkrishna Khare, Excise Daroga. (59) Lall Noorpraj Singh, Zamindar. (47) Mir Imdad Ali, Honorary Magistrate. (3) Prohibition might lead to use of dhatura or other intoxicants worse than ganja. (1) Mr. Neill, Judicial Commissioner. (9) Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Excise Commissioner. (39) Dr.Prentie, Civil Surgeon. (64) Rao Sahib Balwantrao Govindrao Bhuskute, Jagirdar.'

The situation today 

The modern states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra remain firmly under the control of the anti-cannabis narrative propagated in the 19th century. The political classes and businessmen in these states, along with the religious orthodoxy, make up the upper classes and castes of modern India. The suffering that started for the working classes, indigenous communities, lower castes and spiritual mendicants in the mid-1850s continues unabated. In recent times, Madhya Pradesh has loosened its cannabis prohibition to a certain extent. It has legalized cannabis for medical and industrial purposes, essentially to aid the business classes to profit from cannabis while ensuring that the lower classes do not get unrestricted access to the herb. Madhya Pradesh has retail outlets where cannabis is available as the beverage, bhang. The upper castes and classes, who propagated the falsehood that cannabis as the beverage bhang is a different drug from cannabis smoked as ganja, have ensured that bhang is available whereas anybody who smokes cannabis as ganja is severely dealt with. India Times reported around some years back that 'Even as the Central Government is yet to decide on legalizing the cultivation of cannabis, Madhya Pradesh government has decided to allow the farming of hemp in the state.  Madhya Pradesh Law Minister PC Sharma, however, made it clear that the cultivation will be only for medical and industrial purposes.' Chhattisgarh has been a recent hotbed for conflict between the state and the indigenous communities. Many from the indigenous communities took up arms to fight for the land and rights that had been taken away from them in the name of development. They reportedly cultivated cannabis and traded in it to raise funds for their resistance to the state. Strategies used by the government to curb ganja include portraying ganja trade as a source of funding for anti-state armed activists like the Naxals and Maoists. The Hindu reported that 'Police officials alleged that increase in Maoist activity and rise in marijuana trading in areas of Nabarangpur district bordering Chhattisgarh had coincided during past one year.' Most of these resistance movements have now been suppressed by the state. To take up arms to fight against an enemy who is far superior in warfare can be termed as nothing but foolishness but this reveals the desperation that many of these indigenous communities face. These communities, like all the indigenous communities in India, have failed to use the most effective method to restore some semblance of equality and rights - the legalization of cannabis. If these communities worked in a coordinated and persistent fashion to regain their right to cultivate, trade and consume cannabis, it would uplift them socially, economically and medically. But this has not happened, for which I squarely blame their leaders for aligning with the anti-cannabis narrative and failing to recognize the potential of cannabis to enable them to secure their fundamental rights. In the US, many of the native American communities that have retained autonomy in terms of their self-administration have legalized the cultivation and trade of cannabis within their reservations. Why not legalize ganja and let the tribals have a sustainable means of livelihood, thus reducing the necessity of taking up arms? The official thinking still portrays ganja smoking as a habit practiced by primitive uncivilized communities who need to be reformed by taking away the ganja and educating the people about the harms of it. The harms done to the people through ganja prohibition remain a non-issue for the so-called reformists. The Hindu reported that 'Bringing the village into the fold of the mainstream — by issuing electoral cards, through developmental works, and by criminalising marijuana — might sound like a benign thing on paper, but the unthinking way in which it is carried out can have disastrous consequences. The war on drugs becomes a war waged by the state against its own people.' In Odisha, the cannabis culture appears to exist among the people, with the state not cracking down on it as brutally as it has done in other states. Cannabis from Odisha, as a result of this, finds its way into many other states, such as Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka. One of the MPs from Odisha, Tathagata Satpathy, was quite vocal for the legalization of cannabis sometime back. In an op-ed in the Hindu, he wrote 'In Odisha, where weed is still legal, people can buy marijuana for recreational use. The elderly people in my constituency congregate every Monday evening and do a puja called the Trinath Mela. They sit under a big tree and pray to the three supreme beings and smoke ganja in the open. It is a custom that has been in existence for hundreds of years; I see no reason for making it illegal. Laws should be made to suit people so that they do not break the law to maintain their lifestyle. Laws should weave around an existing lifestyle, not obstruct it. Or else laws will be broken. If you encourage people in their normal day-to-day life to break certain laws, the sanctity of laws breaks down.' In recent times, he has disappeared from the public arena, making me wonder if his support for cannabis legalization was not one of the reasons for his fading out in the political arena, especially as the BJP - the party of India's upper-caste Hindus - has been making inroads into the state's politics. Even in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP was opposed to the efforts being made by the Madhya Pradesh government to legalize cannabis for medical and industrial purposes. Why is the BJP opposed to cannabis legalization? It is because, essentially, the very same upper castes and classes who worked with the British to bring about the prohibition of ganja in the 19th century, so as to suppress the lower castes and classes and enable the British to sell their tobacco, western alcohol and opium, now form the BJP. Their role and objectives have not changed very much since the 19th century. Today, they work with the ruling upper classes of the western nations to keep India's lower classes and castes suppressed, and to promote the use and sale of opium, western synthetic pharmaceutical drugs and the latest addition to the bouquet of destructive offerings from the west - fossil fuels and petrochemicals. The majority of the people of the erstwhile Central Provinces who make up the working classes, indigenous communities and lower castes continue to remain as placid, ignorant and servile as in the 19th century, if not even more. A sample of the articles in the newspapers in recent times with regard to these matters are as follows:

• https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2015/mar/17/BJD-MP-Tathagata-Satpathy-Tells-How-to-Score-Weed-Legally-729852.html
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cannabis-ban-is-elitist-It-should-go-Tathagata-Satpathy/articleshow/46732106.cms
• https://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/make-cannabis-consumption-legal-ban-is-turning-people-alcoholic-tathagata-satpathy/
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/directorate-of-revenue-intelligence-nabs-seven-with-ganja-worth-of-rs-1-26-crore-in-madhya-pradesh/articleshow/71476255.cms
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mp-govt-plans-to-promote-hemp-cultivation-bjp-opposes-move/articleshow/72182339.cms
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/police-seize-10kg-cannabis-in-chhattisgarhs-kondagaon/videoshow/72367737.cms
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/indore/mp-dri-seizes-cannabis-worth-rs-3-1-cr-in-chhattisgarh/articleshow/74212523.cms
• https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/madhya-pradesh-govt-to-legalise-cannabis-cultivation-778282.html
• https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/Nabarangpur-tribal-pockets-emerging-transit-point-for-marijuana-smugglers/article14942661.ece
• https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/should-marijuana-be-legalised/article19466725.ece

In the following sections, I have documented, with regard to the Central Provinces:

•  the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings with regard to the Central Provinces
• the Central Provinces Memorandum submitted to the Commission by Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Commissioner of Excise
• notes from experts
• reports from the lunatic asylums of the Central Provinces for the year 1892
• list of Central Provinces witnesses who deposed before the Hemp Commission
• individual witness statements of the witnesses from the Central Provinces.

The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's findings 

THE EXISTENCE, PREVALENCE AND CHARACTER OF THE SPONTANEOUS GROWTH

Central Provinces. The wild growth does not exist.

51. There are only two witnesses in the Central Provinces who depose to having seen the hemp plant in spontaneous growth. One is Mr. Lowrie, Deputy Conservator of Forests, and he can only name one village. The other witness (52), Malguzar and Honorary Magistrate, saw it when ganja was allowed to be cultivated in his neighbourhood. Several witnesses make general statements, more or less of a hearsay character, that the plant springs up on heaps of village refuse from seed accidentally dropped. Mr. Drake-Brockman and many non-official and official witnesses, who ought to know, including Mr. Robertson, who has charge of the Nimar district, where ganja is cultivated and the escape from cultivation would be likely to occur, make more or less positive statements that the spontaneous growth is not to be found. The growth observed by Mr. Lowrie is the same kind of stray growth which is reported by other witnesses without having been actually seen. It was not in the jungles, and had probably sprung directly from seed thrown out of the houses. It is evident that in the Central Provinces the spontaneous growth does not occur, except very occasionally, as a weed in the neighbourhood of villages from seed accidentally dropped in suitable soil, and that there is no tendency for this spontaneous growth to reproduce itself.

Feudatory States.

52. There is no evidence that the plant grows spontaneously in the Feudatory States. The spontaneous growth, however, probably exists just as it does in the Province proper.

EXTENT OF CULTIVATION, AND ITS TENDENCY TO INCREASE OR DECREASE

Central Provinces. 
115. Going back to the year 1872-73, the Excise Commissioner writes that "in almost every district a few hemp plants were to be found in the gardens of cultivators, and it was only in Raipur and Bilaspur that a license-fee was imposed on cultivation." This general and unsystematic cultivation was an impediment to excise management and to the control which the Government of India enjoined on the Local Governments as the result of the inquiries made in 1873. By special inquiries instituted in 1873-74, it was ascertained "that in every district, except perhaps Hoshungabad, Narsinghpur, Mandla, Chhindwara, and Bilaspur, the amount privately grown for home consumption was insignificant, while in Sambalpur it was nil, home-growing having been prohibited by executive order of the Deputy Commissioner." From this date the general restriction of cultivation was kept steadily in view, and before long a system of licensing cultivation was introduced. Penalties for unlicensed cultivation were ordained and enforced in many cases. The districts where regular cultivation has been chiefly carried on during the last twenty years are Nagpur and Nimar, but up to the year 1878-79 licenses for cultivation of small areas were granted in one year or other in twelve other districts, of which Wardha and Chhindwara were the most important. From this year cultivation was confined to Nagpur and Nimar. It gradually fell off in the former of these districts, and since 1890-91 it has been restricted by law to the Nimar district. The Deputy Commissioner of Nimar now reports that "ganja is grown in sixty or seventy villages in Nimar. The cultivation is confined to the western half of the Khandwa tahsil." And he gives the following figures of area for the last three years:— Acres. 1890-91 477 1891-92 963 1892-93 984. The figures of cultivation in Excise memorandum to be corrected by figures given by Deputy Commissioner, Nimar.

116. Mr. Robertson's figures for the last twenty years frequently differ from those of the Excise Commissioner's tables, and he explains that they "represent the area actually cultivated, not the area for which the licenses were granted. The latter is almost always in excess, as the cultivator generally asks for a license for more land than he means to plant in order to ensure against his being proceeded against for excess cultivation." This explanation, applied to Nagpur as well as Nimar, may perhaps account in some degree for the abnormally high figures of cultivation shown by the Excise Commissioner in 1877-78, 1884-85, and 1885-86; but it will be seen that in 1884-85 the quantity of ganja deposited in the central stores was unprecedentedly high also (paragraph 32, Excise Memorandum). If the excess Nimar cultivation be deducted and the year 1878-79, in which the figures agree, be included, it will be found that the total area of cultivation has gone above 1,000 acres in only four years, viz.— Acres. 1877-78 1,605; 1878-79 1,285; 1884-85 1,166; 1885-86 1,659

117. Between these years of high figures will be found, after making similar deduction in 1882-83, a period of great depression, viz., from 1879-80 to 1882-83. The Excise memorandum shows that the whole of this period from 1877-78 to 1885-86 was marked by drastic changes in the excise arrangements, and it may be noted that it was coincident with extensive cultivation in the neighbouring Bombay district of Khandesh. Matters then settled down, and the normal demand under present arrangements seems to be met by cultivation closely approaching 950 acres. For 1891-92 the Deputy Commissioner's figures of 963 acres is taken in preference to the Excise Commissioner's 653 acres. Abnormally low figures are found in 1887-88 and 1890-91, which are probably to be accounted for by a surfeit of stock from previous years. 

118. The desultory and illicit cultivation, if carried on at all, is confined to gardens and backyards, and is never to be found in open fields. The authorities believe that it has been practically suppressed, and the Commission have heard so little of its existence that they must accept that view. The Inspector-General of Police and Prisons is the only witness who believes that it is common. Mr. Naylor, District Superintendent of Police, states that "about six or eight cases are annually reported of the ganja or hemp plant being grown in baris;" but he adds: "I think the illicit cultivation has now almost ceased." Some few witnesses state that hemp is sometimes raised from the seed of the wild plant, and in saying this they must have the irregular cultivation in view; but the same witnesses do not clearly depose to the existence of such cultivation in the Central Provinces.

Feudatory States.
119. The Feudatory States, most of which lie in the extreme east of the province, have agreed not to allow cultivation and to import their ganja from the Government godowns at Khandwa. It is possible that the yard cultivation which was formerly common has not been entirely suppressed in these States, for it is unlikely that the supervision in such remote and wild tracts can be very strict. But the responsible officers of some of them—Khairagarh, Sonpur, and Bastar—give assurance that the cultivation has been stopped.

METHODS OF CULTIVATION

Central Provinces.
184. The cultivation of the Khandwa tahsil has been described by the Deputy Commissioner of Khandwa and the Excise Commissioner. These papers, with the Commission's notes, furnish materials for the following account.

The regular cultivation.
185. The average rainfall of the tract in which ganja is cultivated is 33 inches. The soils which are considered most suitable to the crop are— Pandhar, or white soil—land near the village site which is largely mixed with ashes and sweepings from the village; Mand—a light yellow alluvium pervious to moisture; Kali—black soil or regur. The first two are the best; the last is too stiff if the season happens to be very wet. The seed is specially cultivated in fields apart from the ganja, and in this the practice differs from that of Bengal, where the seeds which fall from the ganja in the process of preparation are kept for sowing. The seed of Dhakalgaon, a village in Indore territory, is considered the best, and fetches double the price of other seed. It gives a stouter and more branching plant than the local seed. The same fields are used year after year for hemp cultivation, and it is thought sufficient to manure heavily once in three years. Here again the practice differs essentially from that of Bengal, where the land will only grow hemp every three years, and heavy manuring is required each time it is sown. The manure used in Khandwa consists of household refuse, cow-dung, and ashes, and is given to the land at the rate of sixteen to twenty cartloads per acre. The crop is sown about fifteen days after the first good fall of the south-west monsoon, i.e., in June or July. If the field is not under any crop, it is ploughed in January or February, and in any circumstances it is thoroughly worked up in April or May. The latter is the season for manuring if it is the turn of the field to be manured, and two ploughings and two applications of the bakhar—an instrument which serves the purpose of a harrow—are considered necessary between this time and the sowing. The seed is sown on a sunny day by means of a bamboo drill (sarta), which is used in combination with the bakhar. The seed germinates within a week, and in twenty days the plants have reached the height of about nine inches. The spaces between the furrows are then cleaned with the bullock hoe (kolpa), and between the plants in each row with the gardening hand-implement called khurpi, the plants being thinned out at the same time, so that they shall stand six or nine inches apart. The weeding process goes on for a month, and during it the lower leaves of the plants are removed. There is no transplantation at any time.

The detection and removal of male plants.
186. About six weeks after sowing the examination (parakhai) for eradication of male plants begins. The first plant to be detected and uprooted is the pure male called naria or bhangra. The cultivators recognise a variety of the male plant which they call sheoria, and this is treated like the naria. The male plant, either bhangra or sheoria, occasionally bears some female flowers, and is then called adnaria, with the addition of bhangra or sheoria according as it is supposed to belong to either variety. Naria of course means male, and adnaria half-male. It is to be noted that no mistake is made about the true sexes of the plant by the cultivators of Khandwa. So clearly do they understand the distinction that when asked the reason for removing the male plants, a cultivator replied by asking what would happen if a ram were let loose amongst a flock of ewes. The cultivators themselves undertake this eradication, and no specialist is required. But it is not done very perfectly, for when the Commission visited a ganja field on the 9th September male plants in full blossom were discovered without much difficulty. In September or October the field begins to be irrigated. It will be noted that the south-west monsoon has now nearly ceased, and that rain is henceforward harmful, as it washes off or otherwise dissipates the resin which has begun to accumulate in the female flower spikes. The crop ripens about the middle of November, maturity being indicated by a brownish appearance in the flower spikes.

The female plant with abnormal male blossoms.
187. The Commission inspected some fields in this month, and found that those in which the crop was pure ganja contained a number of plants which the cultivators called by the name of moria. These had generally at the ends of the branchlets composing the spikes one or two male blossoms. They are said to be deficient, though not wanting in resin. They are therefore regarded as inferior, but the Khandwa cultivator does not appear to recognise the mischief that they do in the ganja crop. He, however, attributes to them a specially noxious character in that their seed invariably produces plants of the same kind (moria). They are therefore ruthlessly eliminated from the seed field, while they are sometimes allowed to remain, as was seen, in the ganja field, and are in that case harvested with the good ganja (mal). These appear to be the plants referred to by Dr. Prain as those which "the poddar could not possibly have foretold," and which the Bengal cultivator roots out for himself after the poddar's visits have ceased. They do not appear to be, as Mr. Drake-Brockman supposes, the khasia plant of Bengal, but it is possible that the latter is included in them. The khasia form of the plant is not recognised by the Khandwa cultivator.

The seed crop.
188. The processes in cultivating the seed plant seem to be the same as those above described as regards preference of soil, manuring, and tilth. It may be mentioned, however, that irrigation is not invariably practised for either ganja or seed crops. In the case of the seed crop, plants bearing flowers of both sexes are as far as possible eliminated. The process is rational. The blameless female is the more likely to reproduce her own kind. The evidence gives no information of peculiar methods followed in the homestead cultivation. There is no special class of cultivators.

Tributary States.

189. There is no information of the methods of cultivation, if any still exists, in the Tributary States.

PREPARATION OF THE RAW DRUGS FROM THE CULTIVATED AND WILD PLANT

Central Provinces. Preparation of ganja.
247. The method of preparing Khandwa ganja is described by the Deputy Commissioner of Nimar and the Excise Commissioner. The harvest begins in the first or second week of November. The flower heads, which the cultivators call mal or produce, are broken off with about twelve inches of twig, carried in baskets to the threshing floor, and spread out on it in a layer nine to twelve inches thick. Mr. Robertson states that on the first day a heavy roller is passed over them, but this detail is not contained in Mr. Drake-Brockman's report. The crop is exposed to the dew for the night. The next day the twigs are formed into heaps, and each heap is trodden in turn, and when not being trodden is turned over and exposed to the sun to dry. This goes on for four or five days, and results in the twigs being pressed flat and deprived of a great portion of their leaves and thoroughly dried. The produce is then removed to the cultivator's house, where it is built into a stack five or six feet high, and has heavy weights placed upon it. In about a week it is packed in gunny bags and removed to the storehouse at Khandwa.

Khandwa ganja inferior to that of Bengal.
248. In outward appearance the Khandwa ganja or pathar differs from that of Bengal or baluchar in being green in colour, and having a much larger quantity of leaf left in it. It does not bear any comparison in the appreciation of smokers with baluchar. The latter is a very special article, and no ganja will be found to compare with it in any province. Bhang is not produced in the Central Provinces. Khandwa ganja is used instead for drinking purposes by the commoner sort of consumers. Well-to-do people import their bhang from Central India. It is, however, difficult to believe that the leaf and fragments resulting from the manufacture of Khandwa ganja do not pass into consumption at all. There is some evidence that they do. In Bengal the ganja cultivators could afford to throw away the leaves, for the wild bhang was to be got for nothing within a reasonable distance, and made better bhang than the cultivated leaf, which was consequently of no value. In the Central Provinces the case is different, and it may be doubted if the people are altogether careless of the leaf as a secondary product. There is no evidence of charas being prepared in the Central Provinces. The ganja, having passed into the Khandwa godown, is picked before issue to contractors, and again picked before issue from the tahsils, so that about 45 per cent. only finds its way into the retail shop.

Feudatory States, Central Provinces.
249. The Feudatory States prepare no drugs.

TRADE AND MOVEMENT OF THE HEMP DRUGS

Central Provinces.
302. The Central Provinces grow their own ganja, consume no charas, and import a trifling amount of bhang.

Central Provinces. Quantity of ganja produced.
303. Mr. Drake-Brockman gives 16 maunds as the average outturn of an acre of ganja cultivation (Memorandum on Cultivation). Mr. Robertson puts it at 12 to 15 maunds (Memorandum on Cultivation). These estimates must take account of a great deal of material that does not find its way on to the books of the Khandwa depôt. For paragraph 54 of the Excise Memorandum gives figures which would put the outturn at hardly 10 maunds. The quantity of ganja brought to store and the quantity exported since 1888-89 are given in that paragraph as follows:—

Mr. Drake-Brockman writes that only one-fifth of the crop is locally consumed, but this statement does not take account of waste. The average recorded consumption, including that of the Feudatory States, is shown to be 1,282 maunds. The column headed "difference" represents this provincial consumption, together with waste in cleaning, principally the drug consumed in the province, but also to a less degree that which is exported.

Central Provinces. Export of ganja.
304. Of this export the North-Western Provinces take about 1,500 maunds, and the destination of the rest is indicated in a report of the Excise Commissioner of the year 1887 quoted at paragraph 41 of his memorandum: "The part played by the Khandwa store as an entrepôt for the supply of the ganja demand of these provinces is quite insignificant when compared with its use as a mart for the convenience of foreign purchasers. To it throng traders from Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Rutlam, Dhar, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Rewa, Panna, Baroda, and other States of less note, and licensed vendors from the North-Western Provinces compete with contractors from Berar for the purchase of the cultivator's stock." At that time the Commissioner of Excise states that the export was between 6,000 and 7,000 maunds. In making this calculation, he includes the figure of the year 1885-86, which reached the exceptional amount of 13,380 maunds. There is reason to suppose that a little business is done in the sale of seed from the crops grown at Khandwa for that product. There is information as to its being used by the hemp cultivators of Hyderabad, the Berars, Bombay, and Indore. There is some smuggling of ganja from the Native States on the borders of the province, but it does not seem to be considerable enough to materially affect the licensed trade. Bhang is imported from Central India to the extent of about 10 maunds for the use principally of Marwari traders. It is difficult to believe that the leaves of the hemp cultivated at Khandwa and the fragments from ganja manufacture do not pass into use as bhang; but there is no evidence that they do. The Excise Commissioner thinks that the high maximum (20 tolas) for legal possession of bhang affects the licensed import by enabling consumers who travel to bring in the drug for themselves. "Considerable quantities," he says, "are introduced by post also."

Feudatory States, Central Provinces.
305. The Feudatory States and some zamindaris administer their own excise. These are all under engagement to buy their ganja from British wholesale vendors. Their imports are steadily growing, and amounted in 1892-93 to 273 maunds (paragraph 66, Excise Memorandum). Khairagarh and Sonepur alone have sent reports, and they show that their imports are increasing, and are now over 20 maunds each. None of them apparently exports any ganja, though from the position of some of them on the frontier, and the presumably superior quality of Khandwa ganja over that of ganja yielded by ruder methods of cultivation, they might have been expected to do so. But the Native States and Madras zamindaris beyond the frontier all more or less grow their own ganja, and the Dewan of the Sonepur State says that the locally grown article is preferred. There may, however, be some petty export to the Chota Nagpur States, for the British authorities of that division have succeeded in restricting cultivation in them.

EXTENT OF USE AND THE MANNER AND FORMS IN WHICH THE HEMP DRUGS ARE CONSUMED

Central Provinces. The statistics of 1892-93 relied upon.
376. The figures of consumption of ganja given in paragraph 52 of the Excise Memorandum show since 1887-88 increase in every district except Hoshangabad and Narsinghpur. The decrease in these two districts is small; the increase in several districts is large. There may have been some increase in the habit in this period—a point which will be discussed later on; but the reports and evidence leave no doubt that the bulk of the increase in registered sale is due to improved administration and success in suppressing the use of the unexcised drug. This being the case, the figures of the last year, 1892-93, furnish a better basis for a survey of the consumption throughout the province than do the figures of any other year or of an average of years.

The following table contains the material statistics of 1892-93:—

 

Central Provinces.
377. It will be seen from these figures that the area of heaviest consumption is the group of four districts, Balaghat, Seoni, Jubbulpore, and Mandla; and among these Balaghat uses the drug at double the rate of the other three. Next in order come the districts of the Chhattisgarh Division. After these the other districts along the northern frontier, Damoh, Saugor, Narsinghpur, and Hoshangabad, with the addition of Chhindwara. Then follow the districts on the western and southern frontiers, Nimar, Betul, and Wardha, with Nagpur and Bhandara. And far behind comes the district of Chanda. The first two of the above groups consume the drug at a higher rate than one maund to 10,000 of the population; the last three at less. Saugor is is included in the second group in spite of its apparently light consumption, because the large difference between it and the neighbouring district of Damoh in this respect confirms the evidence of illicit import given by reports and witnesses. Nagpur is placed in the fourth group in spite of its heavy sale compared with the other districts of the same group, because the consumption is to some degree foreign to the district, being connected with the troops at Kampti and other people who are attracted to the capital of the province. The high rate of consumption in Chhindwara, Seoni, Balaghat, and Mandla may probably be associated with their physical characteristics and their very malarious climate, for they cover the central highlands of the province—a tract of mountains and dense forest.

 

Central Provinces. Estimate of individual consumption of ganja.
378. The evidence fixes the daily ration of ganja at about one-fourth of a tola. Making allowance for the custom of smoking in company, a lower rate ought probably to be adopted. And, on the other hand, the comparative cheapness and inferiority of the drug suggests a higher allowance than was thought appropriate for the Bengal calculations. The allowance of 64 tolas in the year, costing Rs. 5 to 8, or 50 consumers to the maund, appears to be a just medium. At this rate the number of consumers in the province would be about 60,000. A considerable share of the excise ganja is used as bhang under the name of desi bhang. It seems to consist of the leaves and bracts, and often perhaps of the flowers themselves, picked off the ganja stalks. A reduction has to be made on this account if the number of smokers only is to be ascertained. On the other hand, some addition has to be made for the use of smuggled ganja. It will perhaps be sufficient to regard 60,000 as the number of smokers of ganja, for the estimate does not pretend to exactness. This gives a percentage of .6 on the population of 10,000,000.

Central Provinces. Increase of use of ganja.
379. The evidence on the point of increase or decrease of use is very contradictory. In full view of many of the witnesses is the fact of the great and steady increase of the revenue and registered consumption in seven or eight districts, and their opinion as to the growth or decline of the use are doubtless affected by it. It has been stated above that the Commission attribute this increase for the most part to improved administration. Many witnesses hold this view, and none controvert it. But there are some who think that the extended use of the drug has materially contributed to the enhanced revenue. The Judicial Commissioner, Mr. Neill, has discussed the matter rather fully. He believes that the use has increased because (I) he is so informed by natives of sound and sober judgment; (2) the consumption and revenue have been steadily growing up to date, whereas "if it was only that taxed ganja was substituted for untaxed and illicitly obtained ganja, the great increase would have shown itself in the earlier years after cultivation of the ganja-bearing plant was placed under restriction, imports watched, and all illicit cultivation severely punished;" (3) the increase has occurred notwithstanding that the price of ganja has been raised to five times what it was in 1875-76; (4) as high a still-head duty as possible has been placed on liquor, and ganja is comparatively a cheap and convenient, because portable, stimulant; and (5) the excise arrangements have advertised the drug and made it popular, and supplied a superior quality of it. These arguments include nearly all that have been urged by other witnesses, except the one that with those who seek a stimulant, the hemp drugs have the advantage over liquor that they are not prohibited by the Hindu religion. But after all Mr. Neill, like the vast majority of the witnesses all over India, appears not to speak from personal observation of the use. The evidence of Colonel Doveton, Conservator of Forests, is important as bearing upon the use of ganja among the jungle tribes. He describes this as more common than formerly. It is to be regretted that more information has not been furnished to explain the extraordinary high consumption in the Balaghat district, which must have a large population of the jungle tribes, and, it may be added, the great increase of the sale in the last five years. The construction of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway must have had considerable effect in the consumption of the districts through which it passes east of Balaghat. Special enquiries are being made by the Central Provinces Government regarding the increased consumption in the districts where it is most marked.

Central Provinces. Increase on the balance of evidence.
380. There are not wanting witnesses to assert that the use is on the decrease, and many believe that there is neither increase nor decrease. The statistics show that in ten districts there is either decrease or no very remarkable increase in the retail sale in the last five years. But the Commission, looking to the balance of evidence supported by the statistics, cannot resist the conclusion that increased use accounts in some measure for the general growth of the revenue and registered consumption. They note that in more than one place the increase of revenue is attributed in part to the supply of a superior quality of drug. That the Khandwa drug is superior may be the case, but there is evidence that the local produce is preferred in the extreme east of the province, and it is in these regions that the greatest increase has occurred.

Feudatory States. Extent of use.
381. The supply of Khandwa ganja to the Feudatory States and zamindaris has steadily increased during the last ten years from 80 maunds to 273 (paragraph 66 of Excise Memorandum). The final figure represents a consumption by 13,650 smokers by the standard used for the calculations of the province. There is no evidence to show that the use has increased or decreased. The zamindars and feudatories had an ample supply of ganja of local growth before the Excise Department undertook to supply them, and it is possible that the old sources of supply of local growth are not yet quite closed, though the evidence shows the contrary.

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS

Central Provinces.
441. The evidence as to social or religious customs in the Central Provinces is somewhat discrepant, but on the whole points to the existence of customs akin to those existing in the North-Western Provinces. The use of bhang at the Holi and Diwali festivals and at marriages and such occasions, and of ganja or bhang in connection with the worship of Siva, is frequently mentioned by the witnesses. A few local customs are also mentioned by some witnesses. Regarding a custom of the Chamar caste, the Rev. Mr. Jacob says: "At Chanda, the Chamars use ganja dust in the preparation of a beverage called gulabpani, which is drunk at a ceremony called dadhi (the first shaving of the beard), when no liquor is permitted." Among the Gonds, Cowasjee Nusserwanjee Hattidaru describes the following custom as existing: "In the funeral ceremony amongst the Gonds of these provinces, kalli or flat ganja is placed over the chest of the dead body of the Gond, and when the funeral party returns home, a little of the ganja is burnt in the house of the dead person, the smoke of which is supposed to reach the spirit of the dead." Another Satpura witness, Hosen Khan, mentions a custom of offering "a little ganja at the Chitarai Debis, or collections of stones with rags tied to some tree above. They offer either a cock or a cocoanut or some ganja. It is a custom among travellers. These Chitarai Debis are in the open, and the travellers have a smoke at the same time." One witness states that he has heard of the hemp plant being worshipped in the Berars, but this is not corroborated by any of the witnesses from these districts. Another has heard that the Gonds in their hill homes are worshippers of the plant.

EFFECTS - PHYSICAL

Central Provinces.
504. In the Central Provinces three commissioned officers, one Honorary Surgeon-Major, and two senior apothecaries were examined. All these officers are of long service and considerable experience. One, an officer of forty years' service, did not discriminate between the effects induced by moderate and excessive use of the drugs, and his replies to questions dealing with the moderate use are consequently valueless. One witness stated that the moderate use of ganja and bhang does not ordinarily produce any noxious effects, but that ganja sometimes causes chronic catarrh. A second witness stated that no evil effects are induced; then added that bronchitis and asthma may be caused by ganja smoking, but not dysentery. Surgeon-Major Quayle (witness No. 37), who had resided four years in a district where the drug is extensively cultivated, and where it is easily procurable in the adjoining Native States, alleged that he had no evidence that the moderate use of the drug produces any noxious effects-physical, mental, or moral. Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel McKay (witness No. 36), after twenty years' service in the country, gives no reply to the Commission's questions dealing with the effects of moderate or excessive use of the drugs. Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Gaffney, after 25 years' service as a Civil Surgeon in the Central Provinces, stated: "I do not think the moderate use produces any of these ill effects."

One assistant surgeon was examined in the Central Provinces, a man of 22 years' service, who was of opinion that, while the moderate use of bhang would not cause bronchitis, dysentery, or asthma, these remote effects might be induced by ganja. One hospital assistant who was examined stated on cross-examination: "I have never seen an asthma, bronchitis, or dysentery case arising from ganja." Another pensioned hospital assistant was of opinion that the moderate use of ganja, charas, and bhang does produce noxious physical, mental, and moral effects; ganja causing dysentery, bronchitis, and asthma; bhang making a person unusually fat, affecting the urinary system, and causing bronchocele and hydrocele.

One vaid was examined, 55 years of age, who had known hundreds of ganja smokers, and had never known a case in which it did any harm. He had himself been a steady ganja smoker for thirty years, consuming six to eight chillums daily.

THE POLICY OF HEMP DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Central Provinces.
Opinions in favour of the prohibition of ganja.
578. There are only two witnesses in the Central Provinces who advocate the prohibition of ganja. Honorary Surgeon-Major Harrison (38), on the retired list, employed in the Kalahandi State, advocates gradual prohibition, "which would cause discontent, but not any serious danger. The prohibition would no doubt be followed by recourse to alcohol and other stimulants." The other is a pensioned hospital assistant, who also advocates gradual prohibition.

Central Provinces. Opinions against prohibition of ganja. 
579. The following is an analysis of some of the most important evidence against prohibition:—

(1) Prohibition impossible or unnecessary, or could not be enforced without a large preventive establishment. (1) Mr. Neill, Judicial Commissioner. (4) Mr. Laurie, Officiating Secretary to Chief Commissioner. (2) Colonel Bowie, Commissioner. (9) Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Excise Commissioner. (39) Dr. Prentie, Civil Surgeon. (66) Rev. Israel Jacob, Missionary. (2) Prohibition would be strongly resented by religious mendicants, or would be regarded as an interference with religion, or would be likely to become a political danger. (1) Mr. Neill, Judicial Commissioner. (4) Mr. Laurie, Officiating Secretary to Chief Commissioner. (2) Colonel Bowie, Commissioner. (3) Mr. Anderson, Officiating Commissioner. (6) Mr. Duff, Deputy Commissioner. (27) Mr. Lowrie, Officiating Deputy Conservator of Forests. (17) Batuk Bharthy, Superintendent, Kalahandi State. (66) Rev. Israel Jacob, Missionary. (68) Rev. Oscar Lohr, Missionary. (22) Vinayak Balkrishna Khare, Excise Daroga. (59) Lall Noorpraj Singh, Zamindar. (47) Mir Imdad Ali, Honorary Magistrate. (3) Prohibition might lead to use of dhatura or other intoxicants worse than ganja. (1) Mr. Neill, Judicial Commissioner. (9) Mr. Drake-Brockman, Officiating Excise Commissioner. (39) Dr.Prentie, Civil Surgeon. (64) Rao Sahib Balwantrao Govindrao Bhuskute, Jagirdar.

EXISTING SYSTEMS DESCRIBED

CENTRAL PROVINCES. 
Law in force.
616. In the Central Provinces Act XXII of 1881 is in force (see North-Western Provinces).
Supply of the drugs.

617. In this province, however, advantage has been taken of the provisions of the law to prohibit the cultivation of the hemp plant except under license, and licenses are now only given in the Khandwa tahsil of the Nimar district. The plant does not grow wild, and illicit cultivation has for the most part been suppressed. Charas is hardly known. If imported, it pays a duty of Rs. 10 per maund. No bhang properly speaking is produced, but the refuse ganja is used as bhang.

The supply of ganja is amply sufficient for the provincial consumption. Import of ganja from other provinces or Native States is not permitted. There is a certain amount of illicit import from Hyderabad, Berar, Indore, the Bombay Presidency, Gwalior, and the Tributary States of Orissa, and this constitutes the principal difficulty of the ganja administration in this province. A little bhang is imported from the North-Western Provinces under passes.

Khandwa ganja.
618. The harvesting of the crop in the Khandwa tahsil is supervised by a special establishment, and the cultivators are bound to bring the whole of their produce to a Government storehouse at Khandwa. The drug is purchased at the storehouse by the wholesale vendors of the province, the terms of the purchase being arranged between the cultivators and the wholesale vendors without interference on the part of Government. Wholesale vendors of other parts of British India and foreign dealers are also freely permitted to buy. No direct tax is imposed on cultivation, but the following fees are payable at the storehouse:— (1) A storage fee of 6 pies per maund per mensem payable by cultivators or purchasers of ganja kept in the storehouse. Cultivators and wholesale vendors of ganja in the Central Provinces are exempted from payment of this fee for 30 days. (2) Permit fees at Re. 1 per maund payable by all purchasers of ganja, other than Government licensed vendors, on account of all ganja for which permission to purchase is granted. (3) Registration fees at Re. 1 per maund payable by all purchasers of ganja, other than Central Provinces licensed vendors, on account of all ganja of which the transfer by sale is registered.

Wholesale vend.
619. The sole monopoly of wholesale vend in the province is granted by licenses to wholesale vendors approved by the Excise Commissioner. The licenses are given either for a district or for each tahsil. Tenders are invited annually for the licenses for wholesale vend, and the tenders must state what fee per sér, in addition to a direct duty of Rs. 2 per sér (except in Sambalpur and the south-east part of the Raipur district, where it is Re. 1 per sér), the applicants are prepared to pay for the privilege. The wholesale vendor is required to supply the retail vendors with ganja at Rs. 3 per sér (Rs. 2 in Sambalpur and the south-east part of the Raipur district). The ganja purchased by the wholesale vendor is conveyed under a transport pass or import license to a storehouse belonging to the licensee at the district or tahsil head-quarters, one key of which is kept by the Tahsildar, by whom it is issued according to the requirements of the wholesale vendor. Duty is only charged on cleaned ganja, the refuse being destroyed both at the Government storehouse at Khandwa and at the district or tahsil storehouse.

Retail vend.
620. The monopoly of retail vend is usually auctioned separately for each shop, except in large towns, where the shops are generally sold to one person. The localities of all shops are fixed by the Deputy Commissioner subject to the control of the Excise Commissioner. All retail vendors are entitled to be supplied with ganja by the wholesale vendor at Rs. 3 per sér, and may charge their own retail price to consumers. The number of shops is regulated by the demand for the drug. In those districts which are specially exposed to smuggling from foreign States, shops are licensed more freely. 

Every wholesale vendor of ganja is given a license for the retail vend of bhang free of charge. Licenses for retail vend of bhang are not granted to other persons, and no wholesale vendor may import without a written permit from the Deputy Commissioner. A duty of Rs. 2 per sér is levied on all foreign bhang sold, and the rate of sale to the public must not exceed Rs. 3 per sér. Stocks of bhang are kept under control in the same way as ganja.

Consumption on the premises is prohibited by a clause in the retail licenses. There is no restriction as to the persons to whom ganja or bhang may be sold. Local opinion as to the opening of shops is not ordinarily taken, but objections, if raised, are considered.

Statistics.
621. The average area of ganja cultivation at Khandwa during the past five years has been 785 acres; the average outturn about 8,000 maunds, of which about 5,000 have been exported and 1,000 consumed in the province, the remainder having been destroyed as unfit for sale. The revenue derived from this source has been Rs. 2,18,000, of which Rs. 1,36,500 has been from license fees, and the rest from fixed duty. There is no revenue from charas, and from bhang only about Rs. 1,000.

SYSTEMS OF THE NATIVE STATES

Tributary States of the Central Provinces.
730. In the Tributary States under the Central Provinces the cultivation of ganja has been stopped at the instance of the Local Administration, and a supply of ganja is now furnished to these States from the Government storehouse at Khandwa. The system is that the drugs are supplied to the chiefs at cost price (the cost going to the wholesale vendor, and the Government realizing nothing), and that the chiefs must adhere to the provincial price of Rs. 3 per sér in their sales to the retail vendors. The only exception is in the case of the three Western States of the Raipur district, in which under special arrangement half the duty goes to Government. Elsewhere the whole of the duty is realized by the chiefs. The present state of affairs is thus described by the Political Agent, Chhattisgarh. It should be explained that his report refers to all the Chhattisgarh States, including the four Western States which are detached from those on the Bengal or Madras border: "The only States in which the hemp plant has never been cultivated for the production of drugs are those of Kawardha and Kalahandi. In the other twelve such cultivation was at one time fully indulged in, but in all it has now been completely suppressed. The system in force may be summed up in a word as being identical, so far as the local circumstances permit, with that which prevails throughout the Central Provinces. The principles observed are practically, though not in all cases formally, based on the provisions of Act XXII of 1881 and of the Central Provinces Excise Manual. Bhang and charas are unknown in the Feudatory States, except in Nandgaon, where a little bhang is consumed." This complete arrangement suffers, however, from the smuggling of ganja into some of the Feudatory States from the States or Agencies in Bengal and Madras. The Political Agent says: "The States of Raigarh, Raira Khol, and Sonpur all complain bitterly of the smuggling into their territories of ganja from the adjoining Bengal States. The reports from the Patna State have been somewhat conflicting. There seems no doubt that there has been in former years considerable ground for a similar complaint here; but it seems that the evil has of late been considerably reduced by improved police arrangements. Both Kalahandi and Bastar complain of smuggling from the Jeypore State in Madras."

MEMORANDUM ON HEMP DRUGS IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES, BY MR. H. V. DRAKE-BROCKMAN, OFFICIATING COMMISSIONER OF EXCISE 

The period for which the Hemp Drugs Commission require statistics begins with the year 1873-74, when the Act in force in the Central Provinces regulating excise matters was No. X of 1871. The only section of that Act which authorized the levy of a duty or tax on hemp drugs (then included with opium in the term "intoxicating drugs") was section 24, which provided as follows: 

"Whenever a license for the retail sale of intoxicating drugs is granted under this Act the Collector may demand, in consideration of the privilege granted, such tax or duty, or a tax or duty adjusted on such principles, as may from time to time be fixed by the chief revenue authority." 

1871-72.
2. In the first year for which the Act was in force, i.e., 1871-72, the revenue from "drugs" was Rs. 70,713, that from opium being Rs. 1,71,316. "Drugs" included "madak," in spite of the fact that madak was known to be merely a preparation of opium. The monopoly of vend of "drugs," either for each district as a whole or for small areas, was everywhere put up to auction and knocked down to the highest bidder. The monopoly of the vend of opium was sold separately; but in most cases the same person took both it and the monopoly in respect of " drugs." From paras. 24 and 25 of the Excise Report for the year it appears that the desirability of separating receipts from ganja and those from madak was making itself felt, and also that proposals for restricting cultivation of the hemp plant were under consideration. 

1872-73.
3. In this year madak was not classed with ganja, and the revenue from the latter fell from Rs. 59,625 in 1871-72 to Rs. 55,824, or by nearly 7 per cent. The bids for the right to retail madak in 1871-72 had fetched Rs. 11,087, and that and the opium monopoly were sold together for the first time in 1872-73. In almost every district a few hemp plants were to be found in the gardens of cultivators, and it was only in Raipur and Bilaspur that a license fee was imposed on cultivation. The right of retail vend of ganja was, as before, auctioned by circles, the circle sometimes being as large as a tahsil, sometimes much smaller. The expediency of restricting cultivation was still being considered. The number of shops in the year was 987. 

1873-74.
4. For some years past our retail contractors had complained that the extensive cultivation of ganja for home consumption by private individuals seriously interfered with their profits and prevented them from paying to Government as high a revenue as they otherwise might. In December 1873 Deputy Commissioners were accordingly asked to report on the following points:— 

(1) whether the people would be inconvenienced if the cultivation of ganja was prohibited except under license and in the vicinity of tahsils where existing establishments could check the produce and see it stored; 

(2) whether the ganja sold under existing arrangements by retail contractors was home-grown or imported. 

The reports received showed that all retail contractors except those of Bilaspur obtained their ganja from either Nimar or Nagpur, and that in every district, except perhaps Hoshangabad, Narsinghpur, Mandla, Chhindwara, and Bilaspur, the amount privately grown for home consumption was insignificant, while in Sambulpur it was nil, home-growing having been prohibited by executive order of the Deputy Commissioner. The Commissioner of Excise then moved the local Administration to restrict cultivation to the Kotal and Khandwa tahsils and to impose a license fee on each acre cultivated. 

Meanwhile the Government of India had been enquiring into certain allegations regarding the effects of ganja and other preparations of the hemp plant, and on the 17th December 1873 all local Governments were instructed to discourage the consumption of ganja and bhang as far as possible by placing restrictions on their cultivation, preparation, and retail, and imposing on their use as high a rate of duty as could be levied without inducing illicit practices. 

Acting on these instructions, and recognizing that section 40, Act X of 1871, only authorized such supervision of cultivation as might be deemed necessary to secure the duty leviable on the manufactured drug, the local Administration directed the Commissioner of Excise to prepare rules limiting cultivation to licensed fields in localities where existing revenue establishments were available for purposes of supervision, and fixing such a rate of license fee as would be a sensible impost on the value of the produce. 

The financial results of the year were not satisfactory, the revenue falling from Rs. 55,824-2-9 to Rs. 50,707-12-0 in spite of the fact that in Sambulpur the monopoly of retail vend was sold for the first time and brought in Rs. 325. Shops numbered 1,133, but their distribution was palpably faulty. 

1874-75. Ch. VIII of Excise Manual, 1875.
5. In April 1875 rules for controlling cultivation were sanctioned, the main object of which was to put a stop to the practice of growing for home consumption. Cultivation, except under license from the Deputy Commissioner, was prohibited, and no license was to be obtainable for plots of less than an acre in extent. Moreover, each cultivator was bound to obtain from the Tahsildar a license to cover the possession of his gathered crop until its sale to a licensed vendor or exporter, and stocks were made liable to inspection by Excise officers of all grades at all times. The rules also provided for the levy of a fee per acre on cultivation, but no fees were fixed till the year 1875-76: in Raipur and Bilaspur the old rate of fees, viz., Rs. 0-8-0 an acre, remained in force. For facility of reference Chapter VIII of the Excise Manual, 1875, has been reprinted and annexed as Appendix B* to this Memorandum. 

The revenue of the year was derived, as before, by auctioning the monopoly of vend, and competition at the sales resulted in bids rising from Rs. 50,707-12-0 to Rs. 56,263-2-1, or by nearly 11 per cent. Shops numbered 1,261, or 1 to every 6,478 of the population served; in Nagpur City and in the interior of Hoshangabad there were 18 and 141 respectively, allowances which were declared in the Resolution on the Excise Report for the year to be "inordinate." The acreage fees on cultivation in Raipur and Bilaspur amounted to Rs. 819-8-0, and these have been shown as fixed duty in Appendix A. 

1875-76.
6. The rules of 1875 were in force throughout the year 1875-76, but they did not influence the revenue of the year which was settled at the auction held before their issue. That revenue was Rs. 54,245-10-11, excluding acreage fees on cultivation, which amounted to Rs. 807-8-5. 

The acreage fee was fixed tentatively for one year at Re. 1 per acre; the amounts realized are shown as fixed duty in Appendix A. Receipts under this head were very small in Raipur and Bilaspur compared with those for the preceding year, and probably indicate that scattered cultivation had considerably diminished. The statistics of area cultivated and number of licenses granted are not quite complete, but it may be taken as certain that, only in the Khandwa and Katol tahsils was ganja produced in any large quantities; the districts of the Nerbudda Valley with Sangor and Damoh drew their supplies from Khandwa, while the hill districts of Betul, Chhindwara, Seoni, and Mandla and the entire Nagpur and Chhattisgarh Divisions imported from Katol. The terms on which licensed vendors of different districts obtained their supplies appeared to have varied greatly, but a uniform retail price of 1 pice weight for 1 pice prevailed all over the provinces. Retail shops numbered 1,254, or 7 less than in 1874-75; 12 had been closed in Hoshangabad, where the allowance had been condemned by the Chief Commissioner as excessive, but Nagpur City was still left with 18. 

Looking to the total population, the incidence of revenue from ganja per head fell at the rate of 1¼ pie, or less than would suffice at that time to buy an ordinary smoker one day's supply of the drug. 

1876-77.
7. The old system of raising the revenue was adhered to in 1876-77, viz., (1) selling the farms and allowing the contractors to make their own arrangements for obtaining the drug, (2) levying an acreage fee on cultivation. These sources yielded respectively Rs. 58,995-12-5 and Rs. 1,630-4-0. The improvement in bids for the right, of retail vend appears to have been due to rising confidence in the arrangements for the control of cultivation, but the Administration recognized that, no matter what precautions were taken, much ganja must be reaching consumers which had paid little or no duty, and that bidding would not be keen until every crop raised was taken under direct control. 

In this year a special penal fee on unlicensed cultivation was introduced: the Re. 1 rate was made applicable only to cases in which a license was obtained before sowing, and Rs. 10 was to be levied on every acre or fraction of an acre not so protected. The penal rate was realized in '33 cases in Jubbulpure and in a few cases in some other districts. The effect of the restrictions which had by this time been placed on the right to cultivate freely was most marked in Raipur and Bilaspur, if the increase in the amounts bid for the right of retail vend in those districts was due to it, as appears to be the case; but the decline in the number of licenses applied for and the amount of fees levied was so sudden and rapid as to justify a suspicion that unlicensed cultivation of small plots must have been going on undetected. The table below, bringing together statistics for three years, will make the above remarks clearer:—

The number of permanent retail shops open during the year was 1,226, but of these 123 (in Bilaspur 102, Nursinghpur 4, and Bhandara 17) were open on bazar days only. In Hoshangabad the number had been again reduced till each shop had an average population of over 5,000 persons to serve. The incidence of revenue per head of total population rose from 1¼ to nearly 1½ pie. Of consumption no satisfactory estimate can be made: in the Excise Report of the year 1,000 maunds was stated to be the probable amount. 

1877-78.
8. Similar arrangements to those of 1876-77 were in force in the Khalsa. The most important measure taken during the year was the extension of the Khalsa rules regarding the cultivation and possession of ganja to the zamindaris both feudatory and non-feudatory, of the Chhattisgarh Division. Very little, however, was done towards assimilating practice in those zamindaris to that in the Khalsa, the order on the subject having issued only a short time before the cultivating season began. 

The revenue of the year was raised in the same way as that of 1876-77. Bids for the right of retail vend improved from Rs. 58,995-12-5 to Rs. 62,894-14-10, all districts except Narsinghpur and Sambulpur contributing to this result. The penal rate of acreage fee (Rs. 10 per acre) was in several districts vigorously exacted, and collections under this head amounted to about. Rs. 4,000: including fees at the rate of Re. 1 per acre, the tax on cultivation yielded Rs. 6,368-2-9. Statistics of area cultivated are not available for 2 (Wardha and Balaghat) out of the 15 districts in which fees were levied, but it is safe to say that in none except Nagpur and Nimar was the quantity produced at all considerable. 

It would appear from the statements for the 2 years that (Appendix A) 82 more retail shops were worked in 1877-78 than in 1876-77; but in the latter year there were 102 bazar shops in Bilaspur, which are not included in the total given in the statement, although they have been taken into account in the remarks in paragraph 7 of this Memorandum, while the number of such shops in 1877-78 is not ascertainable. 

The total revenue of the year fell at the rate of rather more than 1½ pie per head of population. 

Statistics of the amounts sold by retail are not available, and no trustworthy estimate of consumption can be made. From figures in statement No. VI appended to the Excise Report for the year it appears that 3,419 maunds of ganja locally raised were exported to different parts of the Central Provinces, while imports from other British territory and foreign territory amounted to 532 maunds, so that in all 3,951 maunds were imported. Adding for the undermentioned non-importing districts the amounts which were probably consumed as well as raised in them respectively, viz.:— Nagpur 1,000 Seoni and Chhindwara 200 Nimar 300

a consumption of nearly 5,500 maunds seems to be accounted for. But much ganja was doubtless consumed in Chanda which had been illicitly brought from the Nizam's Dominions, while in the Chhattisgarh Division a considerable portion of the demand must have been met by the produce of the bordering zamindaris and feudatory States. Raipur and Chanda between them imported under due authority* (* Paragraph 6, Chapter VIII of Excise Manual, 1875. (Appendix B).* Paragraph 33.) 374 maunds, but Bilaspur and Sambulpur made no such importations. On the whole it would be safe to put consumption at 6,000 maunds as a minimum: the estimate in the Excise Report for the year is apparently about 5,000 maunds, but from it are excluded imports into districts of the Central Provinces from elsewhere than Nagpur and Nimar. 

In reviewing the Provincial Excise Report for 1876-77 the Government of India remarked that they were prepared to consider any suggestion that might be made for restricting the use of ganja, and again in March 1878 they approved of the Chief Commissioner carrying out measures for restricting the cultivation of ganja and imposing on the drug gradually, or otherwise, as heavy fiscal burdens as it could be made to bear. Accordingly the subject had a large share of the Chief Commissioner's attention during the next 3 years. 

1878-79.
9. In November 1878 a new set of rules under paragraph 2 of section 40, Act X of 1871, was issued. 

The Judicial Commissioner, to whom a draft for concentrating cultivation of the hemp plant in the Katol and Khandwa tahsils and for the imposition of a prohibitive acreage tax on cultivation elsewhere had been submitted, pointed out that as the Act of 1871 merely authorized supervision of cultivation, cultivation without a license, even if the licenses were granted gratuitously, could not legally be prohibited, nor could any acreage tax be imposed. The rules finally sanctioned provided (1) that cultivators of the hemp plant should give notice of intended cultivation, its locality, extent, &c., (2) that they should give similar notice of their intention to cut, (3) that their crop should be stored in Government godowns or in authorized private store-houses, and that it should only be removed therefrom on payment of the Government duty. The duty fixed by the Chief Commissioner after considerable deliberation was Re. 1 per seer, equal to Rs. 40 per maund. 

These provisions seemed to be workable enough, especially as in only 2 districts was there anything like systematic cultivation of the hemp plant. Unexpected difficulties, however arose in the disposal of the produce by cultivators to wholesale dealers and licensed vendors. The Commissioner of Excise was present both in Nagpur and Nimar on the occasions when sellers and buyers met for the disposal of the produce. At Nagpur the wholesale dealers held aloof, being uncertain of the effects which the enhanced duty demanded on the drug might have on consumption, while the retail vendors were not prepared to purchase direct or otherwise than in previous years from the wholesale dealers. In Nimar also sellers and buyers failed to come to an understanding. Accordingly it was found necessary, in order to guard the cultivators against loss and to secure to Government the control of the entire crop to purchase on behalf of Government 1,856 maunds of ganja in Nagpur and some 5,000 maunds in Nimar at a total cost of nearly Rs. 50,000. These quantities together represented nearly the entire crop of the year in the Central Provinces, so that practically Government obtained a monopoly of the drug. 

The small cultivation of ganja in districts other than Nagpur and Nimar was specially dealt with. The Wardha crop was taken over by the Deputy Commissioner and forwarded to the Nagpur Store, to be there dealt with like the produce of the Katol Tahsil. In Betul, Chhindwara, Narsinghpur, and Raipur the whole produce was put up to auction and sold to licensed vendors, the upset price fixed being Rs. 36 per maund: the cultivator's share of the proceeds was fixed at one-seventh. 

10. The revenue was Rs. 83,144-0-3, of which Rs. 1,727 was collected on licenses to cultivate, a source of income which had now to be finally abandoned in accordance with the opinion of the Judicial Commissioner on the draft rules as first drawn. 

Bids for the right of retail vend increased by Rs. 18,522-1-5, Mandla and Chhindwara being the only districts which did not contribute to this improvement. The auctions had been held much earlier than usual in order to give licensed vendors generally a fair opportunity of buying their supplies direct from producers: hitherto the principal ganja crops had been for the most part bought up by a few persons for purposes of wholesale vend. Another probable cause of the improvement was the selling of the monopolies as far as possible in small circles, instead of in lump or by tahsils or large circles, as had previously been the practice in several districts. 

The incidence of revenue rose to very nearly 2 pies per head of population. The number of retail shops which worked during the year is not ascertainable, but was probably much the same everywhere as in 1877-78. 

11. With a view to administrative efficiency as well as economy the district formerly known as "Upper-Godavery" was abolished in this year, a small portion being transferred to the Madras Presidency and the remainder being constituted a sub-division of the Chanda district and styled "Sironcha." For the sake of preserving uniformity throughout Appendix A, the statistics relating to the Upper-Godavery district have all along been included in those of Chanda.

1879-80.
12. The arrangements for raising the revenue in 1879-80 were peculiar, owing to the position in which Government found itself as holder of almost the whole provincial stock of ganja. In five districts the circles of vend were not sold at all, but farms were given to men of capital and position, who engaged to find retail vendors and to keep them supplied with ganja taken as it came in the uncleaned state from the Government stores, paying only duty at certain fixed rates on removal from the Stores: those rates were as under:—

In the remaining district the monopoly of retail vend was sold in the usual way, at first for 3 months and then for the rest of the year. The plan tried in the 5 districts above named, though not an absolute failure, was soon found in practice to be open to serious objections: the farmers, not being bound to work in earnest in order to be able to pay stipulated instalments to Government, did very little towards ensuring an adequate supply to the public. For the last nine months of the year, therefore, in the remaining 13 districts the retail monopolies were left in the hands of the men who had bought them for the preceding quarter at the old monthly rates of license fees and on the condition that they purchased only at a Government store or from distributing agents appointed by Deputy Commissioners. Wholesale vendors were employed as distributing agents on a commission at rates varying from 9 pies to 1½ anna per rupee on the fixed selling price of Rs. 2-14-0 per seer: this price included both the cost to Government and the fixed duty. 

13. The ganja issued for consumption in the year was for the most part raised in the season July to November 1878, and in respect of that season's crop no difficulty in realizing duty under the arrangements just described was experienced. But at the close of the preceding year there were stocks of old ganja, the produce of the autumn of 1877, and on these a duty of Rs. 30 a maund was made leviable under the Chief Commissioner's orders: where these stocks in the hands of any one person exceeded 1 maund, a special rate in excess of Rs. 30 a maund was exacted; but in several districts payment of duty was evaded, licensed vendors having been allowed, in spite of orders to the contrary, to purchase, after the close of 1878, quantities largely in excess of what was necessary to carry them on to the end of March 1879. 

14. " Bhang" (foreign) was taxed this year for the first time, but statistics of receipts under this head are not available till 1882-83. The rate first fixed was Rs. 8 per maund, and any licensed retail vendor was permitted to import what he required on prepayment of duty at that rate. At the same time a rate of Rs. 10 was imposed on charas. The rate on bhang was raised in July to Rs. 8 per maund less than that charged for ganja, i.e., to over Rs. 100 per maund, taking the ordinary ganja rate to be Rs. 2-14-0 per seer. The cost price in Rajputana and other sources of supply was Rs. 10 to Rs. 12 per maund. From records in this office it appears that in the preceding half of the year 1879 about 7 maunds were imported into Nimar, Hoshangabad, and Jubbulpore, and that in those districts and also in Chanda, Seoni, Saugor, and Raipur there were old stocks amounting in all to 22 maunds 24 seers. The only districts in which there was any licitly imported charas was Jubbulpore, and the amount there was 37½ seers only. 

On "local bhang," or refuse ganja, a duty of 3 annas per seer was, imposed, the article being issued to licensed vendors at this rate from the Government stores. The chief use of this was as medicine for cattle to get them into good condition. 

15. In this year Ganja License Forms VII and X, prescribed by Notification No. 4627, dated the 5th November 1878, were cancelled, and licenses published with Notification No. 996 dated the 12th March 1880, substituted therefor. This step was taken at the instance of the Commissioner of Excise with the object of protecting our revenue against smuggling by rail from foreign territory or from British territory beyond the Central Provinces. Ganja was cultivated in particular in the Indore territory south of the Nerbudda, 7 villages in which the plant was raised forming a group round Sanawad on the railway line between Khandwa and Indore and constituting what was almost an island of foreign territory within the Nimar district. The amount of ganja raised annually was about 1,500 maunds, and this could be bought on the spot at from Rs. 2-4 to Rs. 2-8 a maund, no pass or permit being required. The badness of the roads and the insecurity of life and property throughout Central India rendered it practically impossible for traders in this ganja to reach a market otherwise than by rail and therefore by passing through British territory. It was obviously essential to keep a watch on consignments so sent, and rules 7 and 8 of the Notification of November 1878 were meant to be read, with Forms VII and X, as requiring imports from outside the Central Provinces to be taken to a Government store-house under one license (Form VII) and then exported under another (Form X). But Form VII merely required that imported ganja should be delivered at the Central Store, "to be there disposed of according to the orders in force for the produce of cultivators resident beyond the Central Provinces." It was therefore found necessary to provide specifically for the examination of consignments booked to railway stations within the Central Provinces, and the revised Form VII contained the necessary conditions. At the same time Form X, which in its original shape was practically useless, was altered so as to render all ganja, whether purchased within the Central Provinces or in course of transit through them for sale in other parts, liable to examination by any Provincial Excise officer at any time. 

16. The gross receipts under ganja for the year were Rs. 89,937, but the arrangements for securing payment of the newly imposed direct duty cost Rs. 6,636, so that net receipts were only slightly in excess of those for 1878-79. 

The quantity of ganja sold retail was nearly 600 maunds, representing some 800 maunds of uncleaned hemp, but it would not be safe to conclude that this represents anything like the quantity actually consumed during the year. In Nimar only 6 maunds 24 seers of ganja were sold under the sanctioned arrangements, but there can be no doubt that this amount was quite insufficient for the wants of the district, and smuggling from the Sanawad pargana of Indore is known to have gone on to a great extent. Retail prices everywhere ruled much higher than they had ever done before, the cost price to licensed vendors being nowhere less than Rs. 2-12-0 per seer, or about 2 pice for one pice weight. The total number of retail shops rose to 1,223, but the figures for districts differ greatly in many instances from those of 1877-78 and 1878-79, and no satisfactory explanation of the differences can be given. In Bilaspur and Sambulpur bazar shops appear to have been included in the enumeration: elsewhere there were generally fewer shops, to judge from statement IV appended to the Excise Report for 1880-81. 

It is difficult to believe that only 252 acres were under ganja in the year in Nimar, but enquiry on the point has failed to bring any other statistics to light. The produce of the Katol Tahsil amounted to 250 maunds, but the area cultivated cannot now be ascertained.

1880-81.
17. The Government of India, in sanctioning disbursement of the money which had been spent in 1878-79 in purchasing the crop of that year and also old stocks left in the hands of certain dealers whose licences expired on the 31st March 1879, and were not renewed, remarked that they were not disposed to favour the permanent creation of a Government monopoly of ganja. Accordingly, for 1880-81 the monopoly of wholesale vend for the whole province was granted to a single contractor (Kaluram Marwari of Kamptee), who agreed to pay a direct duty of Rs. 2 per seer on all ganja sold by him to retail vendors and to issue the drug to retail vendors at Rs. 3 per seer. Under the agreement, the text of which will be found in Appendix D,* hemp drugs other than ganja were to be supplied to retail vendors at certain fixed rates per seer: those rates and the corresponding rates of duty payable to Government were:— 

Charas and foreign majum were never actually imported. For local majum, a confection made of sugar, ghi, and local bhang, separate retail licenses at the same rates as those for sale of ganja were required. In the first 8 months of the year local bhang was taxed at the rate of 0-2-0 a seer, the right of selling it by retail being limited to the wholesale vendor of ganja and his agents, but in November 1880 the Chief Commissioner directed that clean ganja only should be issued from the Government stores, all refuse, including local bhang, detached in the process of cleaning being systematically destroyed, and further that at any subsequent cleaning which might be found necessary the additional refuse should be similarly dealt with. 

18. Kaluram bought up so much of the Nimar and Katol crops of the season July to November 1879 as was in the hands of cultivators, and also all Government ganja left in the provinces on the 31st March 1880, except a surplus of some 5,000 maunds at Khandwa, which he agreed to sell on behalf of Government in return for a commission on sales. He was bound to apply the ganja he purchased for home consumption in the first instance: if any remained over, it might be exported, one-half of all profits realized in this way being payable to Government. 

Distribution to retail vendors was provided for by requiring Kaluram to appoint and maintain an efficient and respectable agent at the head-quarters of each district and the headquarters of each tahsil except Sironcha, which was supplied from Cocanada in the Godaveri district of the Madras Presidency and from the Nizam's dominions. 

The right of retail vend was disposed of in a new way: instead of auctioning the monopoly by circles, monthly licenses were issued at fixed rates varying according to the size of the town or village and without limit as to the number of licenses existing in one place. 

19. The gross revenue of the year was Rs. 92,850-12-8, or more by 3.2 per cent. than that of 1879-80. Sales by retail vendors under the sanctioned arrangements rose from nearly 600 maunds to 839 maunds 19 seers, or by 40.1 per cent., and the amount of direct duty realized by Rs. 5,228, or 8.8 per cent. only. 

License fees for the right of retail vend fell off by Rs. 2,315, or 7.5 per cent. 

It will be readily understood, however, that the statistics of the two years cannot be satisfactorily compared. In 1879-80 no amounts quâ license fees proper were realized in 5 districts, while in the rest the charge of Rs. 2-14-0 per seer made to licensed vendors included the cost of the ganja supplied as well as direct duty, though the whole has been shown in column 34 of the statement in Appendix A under the latter head: moreover, old stocks which never paid duty and consequently were left out of the account of consumption must have found their way from the hands of the contractors who owned them into those of the smoking public. 

Accurate information as to the exact number of retail shops worked is not forthcoming. In several districts the returns fail to distinguish sufficiently between licenses issued and shops opened. 

1881-82.
20. The arrangements for this year were shaped by the necessity of getting rid of the Government stock of ganja, amounting to 3,000 maunds (uncleaned), which remained in store at Khandwa. 

Accordingly, the representatives of Kaluram, the wholesale contractor for 1880-81, were given a contract for supplying the whole province on condition of their taking over this stock for Rs.18,000, besides purchasing the crop raised in 1880 in Nimar only: that crop was estimated at 2,500 maunds. 

The agreement entered into with the firm will be found in Appendix F.* 

It will be observed that the wholesale supply of ganja, &c., was left entirely in their hands, and that they were required to maintain an agent at the head-quarters of each district and tahsil (except Sironcha, where the existing arrangements were allowed to stand). With a view to avoiding unnecessary loss to the firm from cost of carriage of refuse stuff, it was arranged that the cleaning of the ganja should ordinarily be done at Khandwa or at Nagpur, but where the journey was likely to produce considerable injury to the drug, Deputy Commissioners were instructed to arrange for its being cleaned at its destination. The stocks maintained by the agents were to be examined by the tahsildar, or in his absence by the naibtahsildar, every fortnight. The examining officer was required to deduct the amount of the closing balance for the fortnight from the total of the opening balance and of any subsequent additions to stock: on the difference so ascertained and verified, which represented the amount sold by the agent, duty had to be paid. Each agent of the firm was provided with a license for the wholesale vend of ganja, foreign bhang, charas, and majum, and also for the retail vend of the last mentioned article. 

In most districts retail vendors held their shops as in 1880-81, i.e., on monthly licenses at rates which varied in different localities and without restriction as to the number of licenses granted in any one place. In Seoni and Saugor shops were auctioned on the old system, and there was a large increase in receipts from license fees in those districts.

21. The revenue of the year was made up as under— 

Sales to retail vendors increased from 838 to 869 maunds, but the increase was not general, for in seven districts, and particularly in Bilaspur and Seoni, sales declined. Receipts from license fees were larger than in 1880-81 in 8 districts only: the system of monthly licenses, which had by this time been given an extended trial, was found to be unsuitable, accurate information having still to be collected as to the approximate consumption in different localities.

22. Statistics of cultivation in Nagpur for the 3 years 1879-80 to 1881-82 are not forthcoming. It will be remembered that Government bought up the crops of 1878, and Kaluram those of 1879 in both Nimar and Katol. The Nimar crop of 1880 was purchased by the firm which succeeded to Kaluram's business, and that, together with 3,000 maunds purchased from Government, made it quite unnecessary for them to have any dealings with the Katol cultivators. Great difficulty had been experienced in coming to terms with the Katol men in respect to the crop raised in 1879; they had sold the produce of 1878 to Government at rates varying from Rs. 7 to Rs. 10 a maund, but for that of 1879 they held out for Rs. 30 per maund. Eventually, after the Chief Commissioner had been petitioned in the matter, the Commissioner of Excise was requested to settle the price in a manner which would leave the cultivators no ground for complaint, and in the end payment at the rates given in the preceding year was agreed to by all concerned, the cultivators being at the same time distinctly warned that if they chose to grow ganja in the future they would do so at their own risk, as there was no chance of the Government again arranging for its purchase. In spite of this experience, about 1,100 maunds were brought to the Nagpur Store-house at the close of 1880, and this the firm of Jaitram Mahadeo declined to buy, having, as already remarked, obtained a fully adequate supply in Khandwa under the terms of their agreement with Government. The cultivators then demanded that their entire stock should be purchased by Government, but as they had received fair warning that they would have to make their own arrangements for finding buyers their petition was rejected. Many continued to hold out for the purchase of their produce in lump, but some were in the end induced to part with it in lots to different dealers. All appear to have refrained from raising ganja in 1881 in consequence of their failure to obtain the terms they had insisted upon; their energies were directed throughout the year to agitating for reconsideration of the orders passed, and after unsuccessfully moving the Government of India they memorialized the Secretary of State. No certain explanation of the sudden diminution of area under ganja in Nimar can now be given: it is, however, known that the Indore crop of 1879 was unusually large (4,000 maunds against 1,000 in the preceding season), and that exports from Nimar in 1880-81 did not exceed 75 maunds, and the knowledge of these facts and of the existence of a large stock in the hands of the provincial contractors must have made cultivators doubtful whether a local crop, if raised in 1881, would find any purchasers. 

No licenses to cultivate were granted in these 3 years, inasmuch as the rules of November 1878 did not provide for this formality: any one might cultivate, provided that he gave written notice of his intention to do so. 

Excise Act, 1881.
23. During the early part of the year 1881-82 the Bill which eventually became the Excise Act, 1881, was under consideration. The Act of 1871, so far as it related to hemp-drugs, had been found wanting in three important particulars, viz.:— 

(1) It only empowered the Chief Commissioner to place cultivation, preparation, and store under supervision—section 40. (2) It did not make the mere importation without a license, irrespective of the quantity of the drug imported, punishable—section 63. (3) The punishments for illicit manufacture, sale, and possession were inadequate—sections 62, 63, 64. 

The Chief Commissioner proposed to remedy the first and third defects by means of a special clause worded as under:— 

"In the Central Provinces— 
(a) the cultivation of hemp, 
(b) the manufacture of intoxicating drugs, 
(c) possession of the intoxicating drugs, 
(d) the import, export, and transport of intoxicating drugs, are prohibited, 
except as permitted by this Act or by rules framed under this Act by the local Government, which may grant such permission absolutely, or subject to the payment of duty, or to any other condition." 

The Bill, however, was considered by the Government of India to give all the powers required for controlling cultivation, manufacture, and storage, and the second para. of section 11 of the Act corresponds word for word with that in the Bill; the wording is as follows:— 

"In the other territories to which this Act extends, the chief revenue authority may, from time to time, make such rules to restrict and regulate the cultivation of hemp and the preparation of intoxicating drugs therefrom as it may deem necessary to secure the duty leviable in respect of those drugs." 

As for importation, it appears to have been thought that reduction of the quantity which might be sold by retail and possessed by a private person from 20 to 5 tolas in the case of ganja would meet all the requirements of the case. In the Bill as first drawn the limit of quantity in respect of bhang also was reduced from 20 to 5 tolas, but in the Act the old limit of 20 tolas is retained. The law as to import is therefore in the same state as under Act X of 1871, the only difference being that a penalty is now provided (sections 20 and 42) for breach of rules "to regulate the grant of licenses or passes to persons possessing or transporting intoxicating drugs for the supply of licensed vendors," whereas formerly no punishment was provided for breach of such rules. With regard to penalties, the Act of 1871 had made offences in respect of hemp drugs punishable by fine only in the first instance, and imprisonment in default of payment was in the civil, not in the criminal, jail, except in the case of permitting drunkenness, etc., on shop premises. The new Act gave power to sentence in respect of all such offences, except those under sections 40 and 41, to imprisonment of either description extending to three or four months, in lieu of, or in addition to fine, and it contained no provision prescribing imprisonment in the civil jail for default of payment of fine. 

1882-83.
24. In February 1882 rules regarding the cultivation, sale, transport and import of ganja were made by the Chief Commissioner under sections 11, 13, 20, and 55 of the Act of 1881. They are printed as Appendix G* to this Memorandum. Cultivation was thus definitely restricted to the tahsils of Katol and Khandwa, and cultivators were required to obtain licenses and to deposit their crops in the Government store-houses at the head-quarters of those tahsils. 

The arrangements for raising the revenue in 1882-83 were in strict accord with these rules, and, as they have not since been materially altered, it is worth while to give an account of the main principles underlying them. In the first place the interests of cultivators demanded that the monopoly of wholesale vend should no longer be left in the hands of a single firm: accordingly wholesale vendors were appointed for each district separately. Next to protect wholesale vendors, in case cultivators should combine for the purpose of exacting unfair prices for their produce, import under passes from extra-provincial markets was permitted. Thirdly, in order to ensure supply to retail vendors of a good marketable drug for consumption by private persons, the rule introduced in 1881-82, that ganja, before being issued for retail sale, should always be cleaned to the satisfaction of the Deputy Commissioner, and that all resulting "bhang" or refuse should be immediately destroyed, was maintained. Monopolies of retail vend were in most districts auctioned, the locality and number of shops being fixed beforehand, and none being allowed except where a reasonable demand for the drug was proved to exist. It will be remembered in this connection that the system of monthly licenses at fixed rates issued without limit as to the number of shops at any one place had not generally answered, the reason being that sufficient data for deciding what fee might fairly be fixed in each case were not available. 

The sale of foreign bhang was no longer permitted to retail vendors of ganja: wholesale ganja contractors and their agents were constituted sole vendors of the drug. The bhang imported had to be stored in the same way as ganja, and a direct duty of Rs. 2 was made leviable on each seer sold. No fee was payable for a license for retail vend of foreign bhang. 

Charas and foreign majum had never been imported, so no provision for their sale was required. The case of local majum appears to have been overlooked when the rules were framed; but the plan started in 1880-81 of licensing separate shops for its sale continued to be followed in practice. (See para. 17.) 

25. Advantage was taken of the opportunity afforded by the breaking up of the monopoly of wholesale vend to obtain some revenue from wholesale license fees. The arrangement with the firm of Jaitram Mahadeo had been to levy duty at Rs. 2 per seer on the cleaned ganja issued, and to allow them to sell that ganja at Rs. 3 per seer to retail vendors. The terms of that arrangement were more favourable than the circumstances of most districts justified, and each wholesale vendor had henceforward to pay a certain amount per seer in addition to the direct duty of Rs. 2, the rate varying in different districts and being generally determined by tender. 

26. The Sironcha sub-division of the Chanda district had from the first, as already remarked, been excluded from the system of supply prevailing in the rest of the province. Retail vendors had always supplied themselves with ganja from the Hyderabad and Madras country. The rules of February 1882, however, only permitted import by wholesale vendors, and licenses could only be granted by the Deputy Commissioner and with the sanction of the Commissioner of Excise. To meet this special case, a rule was added empowering the Assistant Commissioner of the Sironcha sub-division to grant import licenses to any authorized vendor of ganja. 

27. The gross revenue of the year, excluding credits to Government on sales of ganja to certain feudatory States in the Raipur district, was Rs. 1,11,095-6-1, made up as follows:— 

The amount of taxed ganja consumed was a few seers short of 600 maunds. Besides this, about 56 maunds were supplied by a wholesale vendor to feudatory States and zamindaris. Retail sales decreased in all districts except Chanda and Damoh, and the fall was very marked in Raipur and Bilaspur, where, however, the statistics given for 1881-82 include sales to feudatories and zamindaris. The pressure of the higher retail rates was now being generally felt by consumers, and smuggling and illicit cultivation had to be contended with in consequence. In some districts, too, the wholesale vendors had supplied old and inferior ganja; to guard against a repetition of this they were required to supply in 1883-84 none but ganja of the crop raised in 1882. 

In Sambulpur the revenue had always been insignificant, and the rate per seer for issue to retail vendors was reduced from Rs. 3 to Rs. 2 for that district, in order to give our taxed drug a chance against that smuggled from the Tributary Mahals of Orissa and the States of Chutia Nagpur; at the same time the direct duty was lowered to Re. 1 per seer. Similarly, in the case of the Raipur district, the south and south-east portions of which suffered from the illicit introduction of ganja from Bastar, the rate of issue to retail vendors in the Sihawa Pargana was reduced to Rs. 2, on condition that none should be sold for consumption beyond the limits of that pargana. 

For this year and onwards satisfactory statistics of cultivation in Nagpur and Nimar are available. The total amount of the roughly manufactured drug deposited in the Government stores was 4,021 maunds, nearly 5-6ths of which was raised in Nimar. 

The number of retail shops was considerably reduced, the most important change being in Balaghat, where the allowance in 1881-82 had been far too large in proportion to population. The average incidence of revenue was a little more than 2 1/4 pies per head. 

1883-84.
28. There were no important administrative changes in 1883-84. 

The total revenue from the Khalsa proper was Rs. 1,29,207-2-6, made up as under:—

In all districts except Hoshangabad and Chhindwara the wholesale ganja contract was given to a single contractor: in the two districts named, the contracts were given by tahsils, as in the preceding year. 

29. The amount of ganja sold by wholesale vendors to retail dealers increased by 157 maunds, and there was a consequent rise in the direct duty levied. Wholesale vendors, however, paid on the whole less for their monopolies, the reason being that in some districts a lower rate per seer had been accepted, with the object of leaving the contractor a good margin of profit and so encouraging him to supply good ganja and maintain efficient agents at tahsils. 

The lowering of the price to retail vendors from Rs. 3 to Rs. 2 in Sambulpur was supplemented by special efforts to repress smuggling from feudatory States, and by enforcement of the agreement with the wholesale vendor that only good, clean ganja should be supplied: the result of these combined forces was that sales went up from nearly 5. maunds in 1882-83 to 21 maunds, the total revenue being at the same time more than doubled. Other districts in which sales improved considerably were Nagpur, Jubbulpur, Seoni, Raipur and Bilaspur. In Nimar sales fell off largely, but the retail license fee demand more than doubled, circumstances which are explained in the Excise Report for the year by the breaking up of gangs of labourers employed in the preceding year on the G. I. P. and Rajputana railways and by reckless bidding at the sales by two rival contractors who had quarrelled. 

No material change took place in the number of shops anywhere except in Sambulpur, where the larger sales of taxed ganja demanded an increase in the number of licensed places of vend. 

The incidence of gross revenue per head of population was 2 2/3 pies. 

30. The amount of ganja taken by feudatories and by zamindars who controlled their own revenue from hemp-drugs was 80 maunds against 56 in 1882-83. The improvement was due to the success in Raipur and Bilaspur of the arrangements made in 1880. The Sambulpur feudatory Chiefs, on the other hand, did not co-operate cordially in the suppression of ganja cultivation, and they took from the district wholesale vendor less than half of the amount taken in the preceding year.

1884-85
31. In 1884-85 a new form of wholesale license was introduced. The form prescribed in 1882 was not found to be sufficiently complete, and it was supplemented in practice by a separate agreement. The Gazette Notification publishing the substituted form is reproduced as Appendix J* to this Memorandum. 

32. The number of licenses for cultivation, the area cultivated, and the quantity of ganja deposited in the Central Stores were all unprecedentedly high in this year. The figures for 3 years are subjoined:— 

Most of the increase was in Nimar, where a large export trade was developing yearly. In Nagpur cultivation had apparently been resumed by those who in 1881 refused to come to terms with the provincial wholesale contractors: there was a substantial demand for them to meet, as the locally produced drug was then preferred in the Nagpur country to that imported from Nimar. 

33. The revenue of the year was made up as follows:— 

The amount of taxed ganja consumed in the Khalsa proper rose by 11 per cent. and the total revenue demand by 25 per cent. This all round improvement was attributed in the Excise Report for the year to the improved quality of the drug supplied, and the case of Sambulpur, where retail license fees had risen by nearly Rs. 1,000, consumption had almost doubled, and supplies to the surrounding feudatory States had gone up from 4 1/2 to 13 1/2 maunds, was cited as proving the correctness of this explanation. 

The total number of shops for retail vend increased from 851 to 921. All except 5 of the additional shops were opened in the Nagpur district, where the retail monopolies were auctioned for the whole year instead of being given out from month to month as in 1883-84, when the average number of licenses issued monthly was only 45. 

34. In the Excise Report, written by Mr. L. K. Laurie, the year's statistics are remarked upon as follows:

"While in most districts of the province the number of ganja shops remained stationary, the consumption of taxed ganja increased, in despite of an increase of prices which in some districts followed the enhancement of the license fees for retail vend. The probable explanation is that the improved quality of the issues of the drug attracted anew the consumers who had been driven to seek their supplies elsewhere by the poorness of the stuff sold by Government licensees in 1882-83. In 1882-83 the consumption of ganja decreased in all districts except Chanda and Damoh. In 1883-84 the consumption increased in all districts except Nimar. In the year under report the increase continued in all districts except four (Nagpur, Mandla, Damoh, and Saugor). The quantity of taxed ganja consumed in the years 1881-85 was as under. It is not possible to carry back the distinction between the Khalsa supply and supplies to feudatories earlier than 1882-83:—

These figures show that in the year under report the rebound from the depression caused by the inferior issues of 1882-83 has carried the Khalsa demand to what it was in 1881-82, and probably beyond. It is worthy of note that the check in consumption which occurred in 1882-83 did not affect the fees for wholesale and retail vend. These have in almost every district steadily increased since 1881-82."

"The incidence of the total demand per head of population was 3 pie, as compared with 2 pie in the preceding year. As last year, the incidence was highest in the Jubbulpur, Seoni, and Balaghat districts. The demand in Seoni and Balaghat stands at nearly the same figure as the demand in Raipur, which (following Jubbulpur and Nagpur) is the third highest in the provinces. This position in the list has been maintained by these two districts for several years past." 

35. Before passing on it is necessary to note that the powers of police officers under sections 27, 28, and 29 of the Act of 1881 were modified during the year. In February 1884 the Chief Commissioner had authorized Deputy Commissioners to appoint, under section 24 of the Act, any police officer to be an officer for the prevention of excise offences. The Government of India, however, held that Section 20, Act V of 1861, precluded the exercise by the Police of authority as preventive officers, even though they were appointed to perform such duties by the Collector under section 24 of the Excise Act in accordance with rules made by the local Government. The Excise Act was accordingly amended by Act VI of 1885, in order to give local Governments authority to confer preventive powers on the Police. In the Central Provinces the powers exercised are— 

(a) By all police officers, those conferred on Excise officers by section 27 of the Act. 
(b) By any police officer in charge of a station or of or above the grade of head constable, those conferred on Excise officers by sections 28 and 29 of the Act. 

1885-86.
36. The profits made by cultivators on the crop raised in the autumn of 1884 resulted in a still larger number of licenses to cultivate being taken out in 1885. The quantity (18,971 maunds) of the drug deposited in the Central Stores was also much larger than in any previous year, and, despite the fact that exports to other provinces increased enormously, a considerable percentage of the stock remained unsold. The market having been thus glutted, wholesale prices fell from Rs. 7 to Rs. 2 and Re. 1 per maund, and most of the cultivators suffered in consequence. 

37. The wholesale contract for the three districts of the Chhattisgarh Division was given in lump to a single contractor, as in the two preceding years: this arrangement had been necessitated by the fact that men would not tender for the contract of those districts owing to the difficulty of transporting the drug from the Central Stores, the railway line extending at that time only as far as Raj-Nandgaon. 

The quantity of taxed ganja sold increased by 160 maunds, one-half of which was contributed by the districts of the Chhattisgarh Division and almost a quarter by the Jubbulpur district. Unlicensed cultivation in feudatories and zamindaris had generally diminished, and in the Raipur district over 200 temporary shops had been established at bazars where illicit ganja used to be secretly sold. In Jubbulpur the retail price was lowered to 1 anna per tola, sales being enormously stimulated in consequence. In other districts the average retail price varied from 1 1/2 to 2 annas a tola, i.e., from nearly 3 to nearly 4 times the price prevailing in 1875-76. The sums bid for the monopolies of wholesale and retail vend also increased, and the total revenue demand on account of ganja rose by more than Rs. 30,000, the incidence per head of population going up from 3 to 4 pies. 

The districts in which the demand was greatest were:— Jubbulpur. Raipur. Nagpur. Balaghat. Seoni. Bhandara. 

Jubbulpur, as for years past, was far ahead of any other district, and Raipur now took second place in regard to both revenue and amount of ganja taxed. Balaghat and Seoni occupied the fourth and fifth places, as in 1884-85, but in reverse order. 

1886-87.
38. The losses incurred by cultivators in 1885-86 caused them in the following year to take out fewer licenses and to reduce the area under ganja; but in spite of this there was the large outturn of 9,290 maunds, which was ten times the quantity needed for provincial consumption and more than 2,000 maunds in excess of the quantity required for export and provincial consumption combined. As much as 6,000 maunds were exported to the North-West Provinces and Oudh, where the Government were considering the advisability of imposing an import duty on the drug. 

39. An important executive order was issued in this year. In 1880 (see para. 17) the Chief Commissioner had directed that ganja should be issued from the Central Stores in as clean a state as possible; but in 1881-82 (see para. 20) and subsequent years the place of cleaning ganja had been left an open question, and it was found that this resulted in tahsildars being overburdened with work in supervising the separation and burning of refuse. It was now made obligatory in all cases to effect a partial cleaning at the Government Store-houses before packing for despatch to tahsils. At the same time the use of "hampers" instead of bags was recommended, and the practice which started thereupon was subsequently enjoined by condition 6 of the form of wholesale license as finally modified in 1891. 

40. The consumption of taxed ganja in the Khalsa fell off by 141 maunds, and was only slightly in excess of that in 1884-85. The decline was most marked in the cases of Nagpur, Bhandara, Jubbulpur, and Sambulpur, and it appears to have been due partly to the failure of crops and partly to a further advance in license fees for the right of retail vend. In Sambulpur the monopolies of retail vend were auctioned for the first time, so that retail prices must have been specially affected in that district: up to this time the system introduced in 1880-81 of licensing shops at fixed rates and without restriction as to number had been adhered to, the idea being that smuggling from the surrounding feudatory States would best be combated by placing no limit on the number of licenses that might be issued. 

Retail shops increased by 70. There was a nominal increase of 34 in Sambulpur, where the figures for previous years are really those of average number of licenses issued monthly. 13 new shops were opened in Raipur, where the allowance had always been short, having regard to the growth of population and consumption. Of the 8 additional shops in the Narsingpur district only 3 were actually worked: all were on the Bhopal frontier, and were licensed with the object of checking smuggling from that State. 

The provincial incidence of revenue per head of population rose from just 4 to nearly 4 1/2 pies. 

1887-88.
41. The outturns of ganja in Nimar had been so large in the years 1884-85 and the two which followed it that additional accommodation had to be hired and the market was overstocked In order to obviate the inconvenience which had thus been found to result from over-production, a storage fee of 6 pies per maund per mensem, payable quarterly in advance, was imposed upon all ganja deposited in a Government store-house. This impost appears to have brought about the desired result, for the area under cultivation and the outturn were each little more than half of what they had been in 1886-87. Storage fees amounting to Rs. 472 were realized in the course of the year. 

In October 1887 another source of revenue was invented, a permit fee of Re. 1 per maund being made leviable on all purchases of ganja effected by persons who, not being licensed vendors under the Excise Act, resorted to the Government Store-house at Khandwa for their supplies. In proposing the imposition of this fee the Commissioner of Excise wrote as follows:— 

"The part played by the Khandwa store as an entrepôt for the supply of the ganja demand of those provinces is quite insignificant when compared with its use as a mart for the convenience of foreign purchasers. To it throng traders from Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ratlam, Dhar, Jodhpur, Oodeypur, Rewa, Panna, Baroda, and other States of less note, and licensed vendors from the North-West Provinces compete with contractors from Berar for the purchase of the cultivators' stock. Between 6,000 and 7,000 maunds of ganja have, on the average of the last four years, been annually exported from Khandwa to other provinces and to Native States. For the convenience thus afforded to them all these foreign purchasers pay absolutely nothing." 

Permit fees amounting to Rs. 1,028 were realized before the close of the year, and this sum alone more than sufficed to cover the cost of the additions to the store-house at Khandwa, which it had been found necessary to make. 

42. In June 1887 the Government of India sanctioned a substantial increase in the rates of duty on round and choor ganja in Bengal, and the Chief Commissioner thereupon requested the Commissioner of Excise to report whether the duty should be raised in this province also. 

In reply the Commissioner reported that the effect of raising the duty of Rs. 2 a seer would be to lower the bids for retail vend monopolies, and that it would be specially inappropriate to raise the duty just when consumption had declined owing to the losses which had followed on the failure of harvests, in whole or in pars, for two successive years. Accordingly, the rate was left unchanged. 

43. Two other suggestions for improving the ganja revenue were submitted, though not recommended for adoption, by the Commissioner of Excise, Mr. L. K. Laurie, in this year, viz., (1) to abolish wholesale vendors, Government purchasing and retailing the drug through its own agents, and (2) to economize establishment by closing the store at Nagpur and prohibiting cultivation in the Nagpur district altogether. The Chief Commissioner agreed with Mr. Laurie in thinking that, on the whole, Government agency was unsuited for purchasing and selling the drug to retail vendors, and that it was best to postpone suppression of cultivation in Nagpur, until the effect of imposing a storage fee upon the extent of that in Nimar had been well ascertained. 

44. Supervision of harvesting, drying, and storing of the ganja crop was introduced this year, and has been exercised annually ever since. A case had been brought to light of a cultivator having a considerable quantity of the drug in his possession at his village-home, and there was thus reason to believe that many of the complaints of smuggling were due to secret disposal of ganja illicitly kept back by cultivators. The following establishment was accordingly entertained for the Khandwa tahsil:— 

Rs. 25 peons at Rs. 5 each for one month  - 125 
5 supervisors at Rs. 20    "              - 100 
                                      Total 225 

This precautionary measure was not adopted in the Nagpur district, as the area under cultivation and the number of licenses taken out were comparatively small. 

45. The total revenue of the year was Rs. 1,92,028-12-1, made up as follows:— 

The amount, of taxed ganja consumed tell off by nearly 33 maunds, but receipts from wholesale license fees remained at almost the same figure as in 1886-87, viz., Rs. 14,700 in round numbers. 

Under retail license fees there was a total decline of about Rs. 17,500, but nearly Rs. 17,000 of this occurred in the districts of Nagpur, Jubbulpur, and Raipur. This was due in the first two districts to a relapse from the high bids of 1 886, and in Raipur, where rice is the staple food, to the partial failure of two successive rice crops. 

The labouring population, who are the Target class of drug consumers, were placed in exceptionally hard circumstances at the beginning of 1887-88 as the following extract, from the Chief Commissioner's Resolution on the Revenue Administration of the Central Provinces during the year ending the 30th September 1887 sufficiently indicates:— 

"The seasons resembled in their character those of the preceding year in which the rice crop was a very poor one and the linseed crop an almost total failure. Owing to the partial failure of the rice crop and to the inferiority of the crop of the preceding year there was a good deal of hardship in the rice-growing districts. A considerable portion of the labouring population was undoubtedly pinched for food to an extent rare in these provinces, and the pressure extended to the poorer cultivators. In the northern districts the continuous high prices have unfavourably affected the condition of the labouring poor." 

The past quinquennium.
46.  During the period of 5 years, the statistics of which remain to be discussed, several important administrative changes were made. 

In the first place a registration fee at the rate of Re. 1 per maund was made payable on all sales of ganja to purchasers other than licensed vendors of the Central Provinces, the object being to enhance the charge on exports to Native States and Berar which had been introduced in October 1887, and to obtain from licensed vendors of other parts of British India some return for the conveniences afforded them at the Government Store-house, Khandwa. The "permit" fees had not especially affected export to foreign territory, which were about 3,000 maunds in 1887-88 against 3,800 maunds in 1886-87, and buyers from both foreign territory and the North-West Provinces were inconveniencing our wholesale vendors by forestalling them in the market and by raising the price. 

47. Next the period of 50 days allowed to cultivators of ganja, under the rale for removal of their crop to the Government Store-house after permission to cut had been granted, was found excessive and reduced to 30 days on the recommendation of the Deputy Commissioner, Nimar. It was found that cultivators took advantage of the long period allowed to keep their crop in the villages as long as possible, thus entailing increased expense on Government for watch and ward and securing great opportunities for pilfering and illicit transfers. 

48. 1889-90 was the last year in which cultivation was permitted in the Katol tahsil. The cultivators there had never been able since the introduction of the system of levying a direct duty in its existing shape to obtain a fair price for their produce, the reason apparently being that it was of inferior quality. Moreover, it was by this time certain that the amount raised in Khandwa was far in excess of provincial requirements, and would suffice to meet them even in a year of bad harvest. Accordingly, in May 1890 notices were issued to the Katol cultivators that they would not be allowed to raise ganja any more. The formal notification restricting cultivation to the Khandwa tahsil of the Nimar district was not issued till July 1891, the opportunity being taken of revising generally the rules of 1882. 

49. The revised rules are printed as Appendix O* to this Memorandum: they are for the most part identical with those of 1882 as amended up to date, but include in addition one (3) relating to the practice of conducting harvest operations under Government supervision and two (6 and 7) calculated to ensure payment of registration and storage fees: a rule (10) was also added prescribing payment of storage fees and at the same time exempting cultivators and wholesale vendors of the Central Provinces from liability to such fees for a period of one month from dates of storage and purchase respectively. A minor change was made in respect of the authority to grant through transport passes, which were to be obtainable only from the Commissioner of Excise, instead of from the Deputy Commissioner of either Nagpur or Nimar. 

50. In 1891 rules for the management of the Khandwa ganja store-house were drawn up, and were finally approved of by the Chief Commissioner in December of that year. Those rules are printed as Appendix P* to this Memorandum: they are full and explicit, and do not call for any comment here. 

51. Lastly, the conduct of retail shops has been sensibly altered in two ways. In August 1890 the Chief Commissioner directed the insertion in all retail licenses to be thereafter granted for the sale of any intoxicating drug of a condition that consumption on the premises should not be permitted: this condition has been enforced throughout the Central Provinces since the 1st April 1891. The other change consisted in recasting the form of license for retail sale of ganja, and including in it a prohibition of sales on credit and by way of barter and a requirement that purchases shall be made direct from the wholesale vendor for each shop separately, shall be entered in the pass-book of the shop for which the ganja is intended, and shall then be taken to that shop and to no other: the amended form is printed as Appendix Q* to this Memorandum. 

52. The total revenue from hemp-drugs has risen during the past 5 years from 2 to over 2 1/2 lakhs, and is now considerably more than double what it was in 1882-83, the year in which the present arrangements for supply of ganja to retail vendors were initiated. 

The following table shows how the position of districts has altered during this quinquennium in respect of consumption of taxed ganja and receipts on wholesale and retail licenses for the sale of that drug: the revenue from bhang and majum being comparatively insignificant is not taken into account:—

The most striking feature of the statistics is the rise of the districts of the Chhattisgarh Division to the position which, in view of their population, they would naturally be expected to occupy. These districts account for more than half the increase in consumption of taxed ganja since 1887-88, and the chief causes at work have been (1) improvement in administration in feudatory States and (2) extension of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, and in Raipur the construction of water-works. Relations with feudatory Chiefs and with zamindars who enjoy the right of making their own arrangements for retail sale in their estates will be discussed when the subject of smuggling is taken up. Nimar and Betul continue to be the districts where the consumption of taxed ganja is most noticeably short: in the former district cultivators can no longer secrete much of their crop, but ganja is still largely grown in Indore, while in Betul much Berar ganja is undoubtedly consumed. Wardha and Nagpur and in a less degree Chhindwara also are, like Betul, exposed to smuggling from Berar, where the average retail price of ganja is only 6 pies per tola. Seoni and Balaghat have always stood high as contributors to our revenue from ganja: in the latter district licit sales have increased enormously. In Bhandara, where also sales have greatly improved, it is said that the habit of ganja-smoking is no longer considered disreputable, and that the chief cultivating class have taken to it. The Chanda district sales do not include those of the Sironcha tahsil, where retail vendors, owing to the remoteness of the tract, were allowed until the current year to supply themselves under import licenses from foreign territory: the consumption in that tahsil is probably about 6 maunds per annum. The steady rise in the provincial consumption of taxed ganja attracted the special attention of the Chief Commissioner in 1892, and in the Resolution on the Excise Report for 1891-92 the Commissioner of Excise was directed to make enquiry as to whether that drug was ousting either country liquor or opium. This enquiry is still in progress, and until the Chief Commissioner has had the results before him and recorded the conclusions to which they lead, further comment on the statistics just dealt with will serve no useful purpose. 

53. Sales of foreign bhang do not fluctuate much from year to year: the average of the past quinquennium is about 12 maunds per annum. This drug is not sold at all in the districts of Chanda, Seoni, and Mandla, and very little in Bhandara and Wardha. Most is sold where Marwaris are most numerous, i.e., in Nagpur, Jubbulpur, Narsinghpur, Hoshangabad, Raipur, and Bilaspur. 

54. Statistics of area cultivated and quantities stored and exported for each of the past five years are as under for the Nimar district:— 

The fall in 1890-91 was due to the market being overstocked with the large outturn of the previous year, and to the ryots having unsuccessfully combined to resist dealer's low prices: in 1891-92, the losses which had been sustained in this way and excess rainfall prevented any considerable extension of operations, besides damaging the crop raised on the area worked. In the latter year, however, cultivators realized high prices averaging Rs. 8 per maund, and were encouraged to sow more ganja in 1892-93, but the crop raised was again damaged by excessive rain, and the quality was generally inferior. It may be mentioned here that consumption in the Central Provinces themselves has little, if any, effect on the area cultivated, for the reason that only about one-fifth of the crop is consumed locally: during the past five years local consumption, including that of feudatories and zamindaris, has ranged from 1,123 to 1,468 maunds, the annual average being 1,282 maunds. In 1888-89 and 1889-90 there was a little cultivation in the Katol tahsil of the Nagpur district: in the former year 79 acres yielded 377 maunds, the corresponding figures for the latter year being 39 acres and 312 maunds. 

During the same period fees at the Government Store-house, Khandwa, aggregated Rs. 46,399. The yearly receipts are not included in the statements in Appendix A for the reason already stated in the footnote to para. 45 of this Memorandum. 

Details of the total revenue under this head are:— 

Present retail prices.
55. The average retail price in most districts for small quantities of ganja is 2 annas per tola, but where the full amount of which possession is allowed by law, viz., 5 tolas, is bought, a rate of 0-1-6 per tola is generally taken. In the districts open to smuggling from Native States on the north and west, rates on the border are as low as 0-1-3 and sometimes even 1 anna per tola. In rural areas in the Sambulpur district and also in the Drug and Simga Tahsils of Raipur the rate is 1 anna per tola: in the Sheorinarain Tahsil of the Bilaspur district it is 0-1-3 per tola. 

Local option.
56. A system of modified local option in respect to the licensing of country liquor shops was introduced into the Central Provinces under the orders of the Government of India in 1889: such shops are more than six times as numerous as those for the sale of ganja, and no orders for consulting the residents in places where ganja shops are to be licensed have yet been issued. The Administration has all along shaped its policy in regard to the licensing of ganja shops on the assumption that the drug is extremely deleterious, and it is a standing order that no more should be licensed than are necessary to meet the demands of consumers who, if a licit supply were not obtainable, would probably supply themselves illicitly. Moreover, the location of drug shops is a matter of comparatively little importance now that consumption on the premises has been prohibited. Upset prices are not fixed, but no shop is licensed unless a reasonable bid is forthcoming. 

Wild hemp.
57. It is believed that the hemp plant does not grow wild in any part of these provinces. 

Summary of present system of control. 
58. An endeavour has been made in the foregoing paragraphs to trace the development of the present excise system in respect to hemp-drugs in the Central Provinces, and to notice the most striking variations from year to year in the area under the ganja-producing plant, the outturn therefrom and the revenue raised by means of taxing consumption of the two preparations in use, viz., ganja and bhang. It remains to give in a brief yet comprehensive form an account of the system as now worked: the necessary information has been embodied in Appendix R, which follows closely Chapter V of the Excise Manual drawn up in 1885 by Mr R. C. Anderson, when Commissioner of Excise, and includes also the instructions given in a few important subsidiary circulars. 

Untaxed consumption.
59. This Memorandum will now be brought to a conclusion with a brief statement of the difficulties in the way of realizing a tax on all ganja consumed within the province and of the chief measures for combating them which have been taken from time to time. 

Section 20.
Small quantities of ganja not exceeding 5 tolas may be legally possessed by any one, and inasmuch as the Excise Act, 1881, only authorizes regulation of import and transport when effected by persons intending to supply licenced veodars, there is nothing to prevent a smoker carrying about, no matter when quantities, as much as will suffice an habitual moderate consumer for 15 or 20 days. A glance at the map which accompanied the Excise Report for 1889-90 will show that the Central Provinces are cut off by Native Males and Chiefships from the rest of British territory except in the extreme south and south-east, in the extreme west and in the northwest, where the border runs for comparatively short distances with those of the Lalitpur, Khandesh, and Godaveri districts respectively Starting from the extreme south and working along the Western border, we had first the Nizam's Dominions, separated from the Sironcha and Atul tahasils of the Chanda district by a water boundary consisting of the Godaveri and its tributaries, the Pranhita, and Wardha rivers. Until August of the current year the Sironcha tahasils, owing to its inaccessibility and the cheapness of ganja in Hyderabad territory, was, as already remarked (para. 26), exempted from the direct tax on comumption introduced in 1880-81: is has now been experimentally brought under the system prevailing elsewhere in the Khalsa proper, information having been received that in consequence of certain fiscal reforms the price of ganja has risen in Hyderabad. The Resident has been addressed with the object of ascertaining the nature of the alleged reforms, and his reply is still awaited. 

60. Proceeding northwards we find the Berars marching with the Mul and Warora tahsils of Chanda, all three tahsils of Wardha, the Katol tahsil of Nagpur, the Saosar tahsil of Chhindwara, both tahsils of Betul, and lastly the Burhanpurtahsil of Nimar. The revenue from ganja, is raised by (1) levying, a license fee of Rs. 10 per acre or part of an acre on cultivation and (2) auctioning the right of retail vend; but the retail price is nowhere higher than 1 anna per tola, while in the Wun district it is only 3 pies, and elsewhere generally 6 pies. In 1888 the Chief Commissioner authorized the Commissioner of Excise to consult the Commissioner of Berar with regard to the cultivation of ganja in that province and the possibility of checking its carriage across the Central Provinces borders: the Commissioner was accordingly asked to consider the possibility of raising the retail rate to that prevailing in these provinces and imposing an import duty. The objection at first raised against taking action in the direction thus indicated was that it would lead to smuggling into Berar from the Bombay Presidency, where ganja was selling at the rate of Rs. 2 per seer, but subsequently, in pursuance of orders received from the Resident at Hyderabad, a set of draft rules for regulating the import, export, and transport of ganja and for prohibiting its cultivation was prepared. These rules are still under consideration. 

In 1880-81 two special peons on Rs. 5 per mensem were entertained, one by Government and the other by Kaluram, the wholesale contractor, for the purpose of detecting smuggling on the western frontier of the Betul district, but they proved a failure, and their services were dispensed with after a few months. The fact is that salaried detectives are of little or no use, as they are liable to be bribed by the very men whom they are paid to watch. 

61. The Khandesh Collectorate of the Bombay Presidency succeeds the Berars as conterminous territory, and it is the Burhanpur tahsil of the Nimar district which is on the Central Provinces side of the boundary. Reference has already been made to the extremely low price of ganja throughout the Bombay Presidency: cultivation of the ganja-producing hemp plant is not restricted in any way, though manufacture and sale of the intoxicating drug is required to be covered by licenses, and the revenue, which is under 1 1/2 lakhs, is derived from annual farms of retail monopolies and from permit fees at the rate of Rs. 5 per 10 maunds on imports exports, and transport. Cultivation is largely practised in Khandesh and also in Ahmadnagar and to a less extent in the Broach, Sholapur, Surat, Satara, and Poona Collectorates: ganja is one of the few articles of export of these comparatively poor districts, and it would appear that Government is accordingly unwilling to lay any very heavy tax on trade in the drug. 

62. Next to Khandesh comes Indore, in the Sanawad Pargana of which ganja is largely grown. That pargana divides the Kanapur-Beria tract from the rest of the Nimar district, and there is thus a considerable area into which introduction of the untaxed drug is practically inevitable. In 1879 the Commissioner of Excise, with the approval of the Chief Commissioner, suggested to the Agent to the Governor-General in Central India that exports from Holkar territory should be taxed and only permitted under formal pass; a duty of Rs. 7 per maund was accordingly fixed by the Darbar. 

Other States under the Central India Agency which bound the Central Provinces on the north-west are Bhopal and Gwalior; in both of these local transit duties are levied, but they are not sufficiently high to check transport into the neighbouring British districts, viz., Hoshangabad, Narsinghpur, and Sangor. In Gwalior the export duty is, so far as can be ascertained at present, Rs. 2-12-0 per maund: the Maharaja is said to be bound by special agreement to prevent export into British territory. 

In the Resolution on the Excise Report for 1889-90, the Chief Commissioner declared his intention of referring for the consideration of the proper authorities the question of limiting or taxing production in the Central India States: the result of the action taken has not been communicated to this office. 

63. Damoh is probably the district the revenue of which suffers most from consumption of untaxed ganja. There are villages belonging to the Panna State scattered up and down the Hatta tahsil, and in one village belonging to that State and only a few miles from the head-quarters of the district ganja is freely grown; in all these villages the drug is sold at 10 annas or 12 annas per seer. Complaints have been made to the Darbar from time to time, but without much effect. The injury to our revenue from country liquor as well as to that from ganja which is caused by the existence of these facilities for obtaining a cheap supply of the latter, will be better appreciated when it is remembered that, whereas the Provincial percentages of revenue from the two intoxicants to the total excise demand were respectively 60.6 and 8 9 in 1892 93, they were in Damoh 33 and 28.8. There is comparatively little competition for country liquor monopolies, but a fair sum is realized from licensing ganja shops, as illicit ganja can be sold under the licenses without much risk of detection. 

Ganja is grown in Rewa, and some is doubtless introduced into the Murwara tahsil of Jubbulpur and into the Dindori tahsil of Mandla. 

64. That portion of the border of the Central Provinces which runs from the north-east corner of Mandla to the extreme east of Sambulpur, and then south-west to the point from which we started, divides them from a series of Tributary States and Mahals in Chutia Nagpur and Orissa and from the Jeypore State in the Madras Presidency. For many years past the absence of restriction on the cultivation and sale of ganja in these territories has very materially affected the sales of taxed ganja in Bilaspur and Sambulpur and in the feudatory States on the east. Most trouble was caused by smuggling from Gangpur and Boad, and in 1883 the Commissioner, Chutia Nagpur, and the Superintendent of the Tributary Mahals in Orissa were addressed on the subject. The first mentioned officer thereupon issued parwanas to the Chiefs of Gangpur, Udaipur, Surguja, and Lakhanpur, informing them that they must not allow ganja to be grown by any one without their permission, that they must keep lists of those who grew ganja, and see that no one either grew more than they needed for home use, or sold to others. The Superintendent of the Tributary Mahals, Orissa, however, was unable to do more than request the zemindar of Boad to warn his people that it was an offence punishable by our courts to carry ganja into the Central Provinces. In Chutia Nagpur the action taken by the Commissioner was for some time effective, but by 1888 the special attention of the Chief Commissioner had been drawn to the matter, and the Commissioner of Excise was directed to consult the Commissioner, Chhattisgarh Division, as to whether a good case could be made out for asking the Government of Bengal to prohibit cultivation in those States, as had been done in the similar Chiefships attached to the Central Provinces. The Commissioner of Excise, having complied with the order, reported that it was clearly expedient to have the cultivation of ganja in the said States prohibited, and the Government of Bengal was addressed accordingly by the local Administration. In reply, it was contended that the Garhjat ganja was much less noxious than that raised in the Central Provinces, was prepared and consumed in a different way, and consequently could not really compete with it.

Local enquiry made with the object of testing the truth of this contention led to the conclusion that the drug which was smuggled into the Sambulpur district from Boad and from Gangpur was ganja proper; differed little from that grown in Nimar; was, like it, smoked, and so far from being less harmful, actually produced more lasting intoxication. The Bengal Government was informed of this result, and it then suggested the levy of a duty on all Garhjat ganja imported into the Central Provinces. 

In reporting on the merits of this suggestion, the Commissioner of Excise pointed out that, owing to the wild and unexplored character of the frontier and the portable nature of ganja, smuggling into the Khalsa and feudatory States of the Central Provinces was easy, and could not be checked by the imposition of an import duty, unless the local Administration entertained a preventive establishment, the cost of which would be prohibitive and altogether disproportionate to the results possible of attainment. 

The Chief Commissioner, after satisfying himself that the cultivation of ganja had been practically suppressed in the local feudatories, referred to the Government of India the question of suppressing such cultivation in the border States of Madras and Bengal, but was informed in reply that the local Governments did not see their way to adopting the course proposed. The only course now open, so far as the local feudatories are concerned, is to reduce the maximum of 5 tolas which may be legally in possession of any person, and this the Chiefs of Bamra, Rairakhol, and Sonpur have already expressed a desire to do. The Chief Commissioner has recently directed that the question of reducing the said maximum should be taken up for all the feudatory States concerned, and that if a reduction is decided on, it should be uniform for all. 

65. The injury caused to the Khalsa revenue by unrestricted cultivation in the feudatory States within the Central Provinces and in the zamindaris the proprietors of which enjoy the privilege of administering excise arrangements themselves has already been noticed. Nothing came of the extension to those estates of the rules made in 1875 (see para. 8) and in 1880 special arrangements were made, which will be found set out in Part 2 of Appendix R to this Memorandum. Each Chief and zamindar was required to take the ganja required for consumption by his people from the wholesale vendor of a given Khalsa district, and it was stipulated that they should prohibit cultivation and issue the drug to their retail vendors at a rate at least equal to that at which issues were made to retail vendors in the neighbouring Khalsa. In the case of Bastar alone no attempt was made to arrange for supplying ganja from the Khalsa: the hemp plant was widely cultivated there, and Government did not deem it expedient to interfere. It was because of their proximity to Bastar that the Ranker state and the Khariar and Bindra-Nawagarh zamindaris were to be supplied at rates more favourable than those fixed for the other States and zamindaris in the Kaipur district respectively. These arrangements were fairly successful in Kaipur and Bilaspur, but in the Sambulpur States—those under Government- management excepted —and in the Chuikkadan State in Raipur, little or nothing was done towards suppression of cultivation. 

In 1887, when revision of the tributes paid by the Chiefs and of the settlements with the zumindars was impending, a special enquiry was made as to whether illicit cultivation had been surpressed in the feudatories. In, was found that all the Chiefs, except those of Sonpur, Rairakhol, and Chuikhadan, had carried out their undertaking in this respect; a severe warning was conveyed to the Chiefs of those States, and Rs. 3 per seer was clearly laid down for all feudatories as the minimum rate of issues to contractors or consumers. 

With regard to Bastar the Commissioner, Chhattisgarh Division, was directed to discuss the question of cultivation there with the Raja himself. The action taken by the Commissioner resulted in unlicensed cultivation being prohibited from 1890 onwards and licenses being granted to a few persons only each year. The object in view was to ascertain precisely who cultivated. Quite recently cultivation was entirely stopped, and ganja is now being supplied by the wholesale vendor of Raipur. 

66. It was remarked in para. 52 that more than half of the recent increase in consumption of taxed ganja in the Khalsa proper occurred in the districts of the Chhattisgarh Division, and that it was due in great measure to improved administration in feudatory States. Until the year 1887 each State was under the supervision of a Deputy Commissioner, but in that year a whole-time officer, with the title of Political Agent, Chhattisgarh Feudatories, was appointed. At first, his supervision was restricted to six States, viz., Bastar, Kanker, Kalahandi, Patna, Sarangarh and Sonpur; but in 1888 four more, viz., Khairagarh, Nandgaon, Chhuikhadan and Rairakhol, were added. Bamra and Raigarh followed in 1890, and Kawardha and Sakti in 1892, so that all fourteen feudatories are now controlled by the same authority. 

The following table shows the amount (in maunds) of ganja issued to feudatory States and zamindaris by wholesale vendors of the Khalsa during each of the past ten years:—

In 1891-92 there was a considerable decrease in the amount of ganja bought by the Makrai State in Hoshangabad; that State was taken under Government management in December 1890, and 8 1/2 maunds were then in stock. Supplies in previous years had been of uncleaned ganja, but for the past two the drug has been supplied in a thoroughly clean state. The Chhindwara statistics do not require any special comment. Those of the Chhattisgarh Division have already formed the subject of some general remarks, and it only remains to note that one reason why more Nimar ganja is now being bought by feudatory Chiefs and zemindars is that greater care is taken to ensure the supply to them of nothing but a good fresh article. 

Smuggling. 
67. Ganja is not, as a rule, smuggled in large quantities. Unlike opium, it is bulky in proportion to its selling value, and its peculiar and easily recognized odour makes the packing of it difficult, if concealment is desired. Very few cases of large seizures are on record. The most recent one of which this office has information was made in 1892, when 40 seers were found buried in a house in Parseoni, in the Ramtek tahsil of the Nagpur district. Parseoni is said to be a hot-bed of smuggling on a large scale; but, if this is the case, important captures should be more often effected. 

The quantity (20 tolas) of foreign bhang which any person may lawfully have in his possession is so large that it can hardly be worth while to smuggle that drug; but for the same reason the amount on which duty is paid must be far short of what is actually consumed. The chief consumers are Marwaris and Hindustanis: the former class travel a great deal, and can easily bring back the maximum quantity of 20 tolas, which is sufficient for 40 doses, whenever they return from visiting places where bhang is manufactured, e.g.,  Ujjain, Ajmere, and Bahraich. Considerable quantities are introduced by post also.

H. V. DRAKE-BROCKMAN,
NAGPUR; Offg. Commissioner of Excise,
The 11th November 1893. Central Provinces.

APPENDIX R.

Present system under which revenue is raised from hemp-drugs.

1.—KHALSA.

(1) Sections of the Excise Act, 1881, relating to hemp-drugs.

Sec. 11.—The Chief Commissioner "may from time to time make such rules to restrict and regulate the cultivation of hemp and the preparation of intoxicating drugs therefrom as he may deem necessary to secure the duty leviable in respect of those drugs." 

Sec. 12.—"No intoxicating drug shall be sold except under and in accordance with the terms of a license granted under the provisions hereinafter contained. 

Provided as follows: 
(d) Any cultivator of the hemp plant may sell any intoxicating drug prepared from his plants to any person licensed under this Act to sell the same, or to any person authorized to purchase the same by the Collector's order in writing." 

Sec. 13.—Subject to rules made by the Chief Commissioner under the Act "the Collector may grant licenses for the retail sale of intoxicating drugs within his district or any part thereof or at any place therein." 

"Licenses for the sale........ of intoxicating drugs wholesale shall be granted only by such officer as the local Government from time to time appoints in this behalf." 

Sec. 20.—The Chief Commissioner "may from time to time make rules to regulate the grant of licenses or passes to persons possessing or transporting intoxicaling drugs for the supply of the licensed vendors of such drugs." 

Sec. 22.— No person shall have in his possession any larger quantity of such drugs than that specified in section 3, clause (k) [bhang, or any preparation or admixture thereof, one-quarter of a seer; ganja or charas, or any preparation or admixture thereof, five tolas] unless he is permitted to manufacture or sell the same.

Sec. 55.—The Chief Commissioner may make rules (a) as to the period for which licenses shall be granted, (b) as to the fees payable for licenses, and the times of payment, (c) as to the security to be given by licensees, (d) as to the forms and conditions of licenses, &c.

(2) Ganja. 

Cultivation of ganja and disposal of crop.—The cultivation of ganja is restricted to the Khandwa Tahsil of the Nimar district. Harvesting is supervised by a special establishment, and the cultivators are bound to bring the whole of their produce to the Government Storehouse at Khandwa. The drug is purchased at the store-house by the wholesale vendors of the province, the terms of purchase being arranged between the cultivators and the wholesale vendors without interference on the part of Government. Wholesale vendors of other parts of British India and foreign dealers are also freely permitted to buy.

No direct tax is imposed on cultivation, but the following fees are payable at the Storehouse.

(1) Storage fees.—Payable at the rate of 6 pies per mensem by cultivators or purchasers of ganja kept in the store-house. Cultivators and wholesale vendors of ganja in the Central Provinces are exempted from the payment of storage fees for a period of 30 days following the date of their storage or purchase for transport to other districts of the Central Provinces (as the case may be). 
(2) Permit fees.—Payable by all purchasers of ganja other than Government licensed vendors at Re. 1 per maund of the quantity, permission to purchase which is asked for. 
(3) Registration fees.—Payable by all purchasers of ganja other than Central Provinces licensed vendors, at Re. 1 per maund of the quantity of which the transfer by sale is registered.

Wholesale vend. 
2. Disposal of wholesale vend contracts.—Under the rules in force Deputy Commissioners are authorized to grant licenses for wholesale vend, but the practice is for them to report for approval by the Commissioner of Excise the names of the persons to whom and the terms on which they purpose to give the wholesale contracts.

The sole monopoly of wholesale vend is given either for the whole district in lump or for each tahsil separately. If a single contractor is licensed for an entire district, he must keep an agent at each tahsil to sell on his behalf to retail vendors. 

Tenders are invited annually in each district by the 1st November: they must state— 

(1) what fee per seer, in addition to the direct duty, the applicant is prepared to pay for the monopoly of wholesale vend; 
(2) that the applicant is acquainted with and is prepared to comply with all the conditions of the wholesale license;
(3) what security he is prepared to furnish for the due execution of his contract. 

The right of refusing the highest or any tender is always reserved and the acceptance of a tender by the Deputy Commissioner is, as noted above, subject to the confirmation of the Commissioner of Excise. 

The direct duty is Rs. 2 per seer, except in Sambalpur and the S.-E. part of the Raipur district, where it is Re. 1. 

3. Supply of ganja.—As soon as the acceptance of a tender for the wholesale ganja contract of any district has been confirmed by the Commissioner of Excise, the Deputy Commissioner, Nimar, is informed of the name of the contractor, the district to which his contract relates and the average annual consumption of ganja in that district. The contractor is then permitted to buy his ganja at the Khandwa store. The purchase by any individual vendor of an unnecessarily large stock, especially towards the close of a year, is reported to the Commissioner of Excise. 

When a registered wholesale vendor applies to the moharrir of the store for leave to take out ganja from his stock, the excise darogha, Nimar, or in his absence, the tahsildar of Khandwa or his naib, is at once informed of the fact. The official who receives the intimation proceeds as soon as possible to the store, and with the assistance of a retail vendor or of another wholesale vendor and in the presence of the person whose ganja is to be issued selects from the latter's stock such ganja as seems fresh and of good quality (as compared with the average of the year's supply) up to the quantity which the owner desires to despatch. The selected ganja is then given out for immediate cleaning. All refuse resulting from the process is destroyed. 

The moharir and the police guard are responsible that only ganja thus passed for issue by the excise darogha, tahsildar or naib-tahsildar, is cleaned and prepared for despatch. The cleaned ganja is sealed up in hampers, which are weighed and numbered in the presence of the tahsildar or other official appointed by the Deputy Commissioner to supervise weighment and packing: the consignment is then forwarded to its destination under a transport pass, duplicate of which is sent to the tahsildar of the tahsil for which the ganja is intended. 

After a consignment of ganja received at the head-quarters of a district or tahsil has been weighed and checked with the invoice, the tahsildar, before placing it in store, examines the quality of the consignment. If any hamper is found to contain ganja which is not fresh or is of bad quality, it is carefully marked and a report of the fact is submitted to the Commissioner of Excise through the Deputy Commissioner. No issues are made from these hampers so long as there is good ganja in stock sufficient for the local demand. Ganja finally set aside is kept until the close of the year, when it is disposed of in accordance with the orders of the Deputy Commissioner, under condition 12 of the wholesale license. Ganja condemned at the Khandwa store-house is disposed of under the orders of the Commissioner of Excise. 

4. Realization of duty and check of wholesale vendor's stock.—Under the conditions of the license all ganja brought by the wholesale vendor into the district must be covered by a transport pass or by an import license: the ganja so brought is lodged in a store-house belonging to the licensee, one key of which is kept by the tahsildar, and it is issued from time to time to him or his agent by the tahsildar. His stock of ganja is therefore completely under control, and none of it can escape paying the duty leviable on it, such duty being the fee per seer (including the direct duty) which he has agreed to pay. 

The wholesale vendor is required to maintain a register of his outside balance and of his sales of ganja. This is examined and compared with a corresponding tahsil register from time to time by the excise darogha, in order to obtain information as to the quantity taken to the several shops. 

Ganja is issued once a fortnight. It is well cleaned before being given out, and the stalks and other refuse separated in cleaning are at once destroyed. The quantity so issued constitutes the outside balance of the wholesale vendor for current sale to retail vendors. On each occasion on which a fresh supply of ganja is issued it is the duty of the tahsildar (1) to verify the outside balance by actual weighment, and see whether it corresponds with the balance shown in the wholesale vendor's sale register, (2) to verify the balance under double lock by counting the hampers, and (3) to realize the duty on all ganja sold by the wholesale vendor to retail vendors since the issue of the last fortnightly supply.

Although ganja is cleaned before issue, the mere fingering of it in the process of sale to retail vendors causes a residue of crumbled fragments to form. This residue, or refuse, as it is commonly called, though it is by no means useless, is small in quantity, and is not allowed to accumulate. It can be easily amalgamated with subsequent issues, if not allowed to collect and grow stale by keeping: when it amounts to a seer or upwards it is treated as consumed ganja, and is destroyed by burning, duty being levied as if it had been sold. 

At the end of June and December in each year the balance of ganja under double lock is verified by the tahsildar by actual weighment. 

When ganja is sent by road, it is escorted by one or more police constables, whose pay while on this duty is recovered from the transporter. Each tahsil must be supplied direct from the Khandwa Central Store, and the amount in stock must never be less than will suffice for two months. Transport passes to cover removal of ganja from one tahsil to another are only granted in cases of urgent necessity. The quantity of ganja produced in the Khandwa tahsil is far in excess of what is required for consumption in the Central Provinces, and there has never hitherto been any necessity for granting an import license.

Retail vend. 
5. The number of shops to be licensed in each district is fixed by the Deputy Commissioner subject to the control of the Commissioner of Excise. Ordinarily only as many shops are licensed as are necessary to meet the demands of consumers who, if a licit supply were not obtainable, would probably supply themselves with the drug illicitly. None is established in any place merely for the benefit of one or two occasional ganja smokers. In those districts, however, which are specially exposed to smuggling from foreign States shops are licensed more freely. 

The localities of all shops are definitely fixed, sale at other localities being prohibited. The monopoly of retail vend at each locality is auctioned separately, but in large towns the shops are generally sold in lump: temporary bazar shops are generally attached to the nearest permanent shop and sold with it. The general rule is that retail shops are to be auctioned, but with the sanction of the Chief Commissioner shops can be licensed on payment of a fixed yearly or monthly fee. 

All retail vendors are entitled to obtain from the wholesale vendor as much good, fresh and well cleaned ganja as they require at Rs. 3 a seer, except in Sambulpur and the south-east part of the Raipur District, where they are supplied at Rs. 2 per seer. 

In order that the consumption of ganja at the retail shops may be watched, and that the retail vendors or their servants may be secure from molestation when taking their supplies to their shops, they are furnished with a pass-book in which the wholesale vendor enters up every purchase of ganja made from him. 

(3). Foreign bhang. 

The consumption of bhang is not general, being chiefly confined to Marwaris. Every wholesale vendor of ganja is given a license for the retail vend of this drug free of charge. Licenses are not granted to any other persons, and no wholesale vendor may import without a written permit from the Deputy Commissioner. A duty of Rs. 2 per seer is payable on all foreign bhang sold, and the rate of sale to the public must not exceed Rs. 3 per seer. 

Stocks of bhang are kept under control in the same way as ganja.

(4). Majum. 

Majum is a confection prepared from ganja, ghi, and sugar, and the use of it is for the most part confined to the Holi and Moharam festivals. Shops are sold by auction, and ordinarily the right to make and sell this preparation is restricted to the Holi festival.

(5). Registers and Returns. 

A register is kept in the district office of monthly sales and duty receipts in respect of ganja and bhang. The tahsildar is required to submit the necessary information at the end of the month, and obtains it from a similar tahsil register. This information is eventually embodied in the monthly and annual returns submitted to the Commissioner of Excise.

2.—FEUDATORY STATES AND ZAMINDARIS. 

Raipur District.—Ganja is supplied to all the feudatories (a) except Kanker, at Rs. 2 per seer through the wholesale vendor of the district. Of the price paid, Re. 1 is taken by the wholesale vendor, and the remaining Re. 1 is credited to Government. Kanker is supplied at Re. 1 (b) per seer, and the whole of the price paid is taken by the wholesale vendor. 

The non-feudatory zamindars generally are supplied at Rs. 3 (c) per seer (the rate of supply to licensed vendors in the Khalsa), but Khariar and Bindra Nawagarh are supplied (d) at Rs. 2 per seer. All the zamindars make their own arrangements for the retail vend of ganja within their respective estates, and enjoy the revenue from this source. 

Bilaspur District.—The feudatories are supplied through the wholesale vendor of the district at 12 (e) annas per seer, the whole of which goes to the wholesale vendor. 

The non-feudatory zamindars are supplied at Rs. 3 (f) per seer, and, as in Raipur, make their own arrangements for the retail vend of ganja, and enjoy the revenue from this source. 

Sambalpur District.—Here, as in Bilaspur, all the feudatories are supplied at 12( g) annas per seer, the whole of which is taken by the wholesale vendor of the district. 

The non-feudatory zamindars do not enjoy the revenue derivable from the retail vend of ganja, all the arrangements for its retail vend in their estates being made by Government, the revenue resulting from these arrangements also going to Government. 

Hoshangabad District.—The feudatory Chief of Makrai is supplied with ganja through the wholesale vendor of the district, at Rs. 12 (h) per maund, the whole price going to the vendor. 

The retail vendors in the Chater and Pagara Jagirdaris are supplied at Rs. 3 per seer (the rate of supply to Khalsa licensed vendors), of which Rs. 2( i)a re put to the credit of the jagirdars, the balance of Re. 1 going to the wholesale vendor. The jagirdars are, therefore, practically supplied with ganja at Re. 1 per seer. 

Chhindwara District.—The arrangement (j) with the jagirdars of this district is similar to that made with the jagirdars of Chater and Pagara in Hoshangabad.

Notes by Experts

NOTE BY MR. B. ROBERTSON, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, NIMAR, ON CULTIVATION AND PREPARATION OF GANJA IN NIMAR.

Locality and climate. 
Ganja is grown in 60 or 70 villages in Nimar. The cultivation is confined to the western half of the Khandwa Tahsil. The rainfall at Khandwa may be taken as an average for this tract. During the last 25 years this average has been 32.76.

Soil.
2. The soils in which ganja is grown are known locally as— 
" Pandhar "—land near the village abadi, which is largely mixed with ashes and sweepings from the village (see Nimar Settlement Report, paragraph 307). 
" Mand "—a light yellow alluvium previous to moisture (see for description, Nimar Settlement Report, paragraphs 13 and 306). 
" Kali"—black soil. 

The first two are the best. In very wet seasons, the third kind retains too much moisture near the surface.

Seed.
3. Seed is raised in the villages of Karki, Punjhria, and Chhirbel in this district. But the best seed comes from Dhakalgaon in Holkar's territory. The latter gives a stouter and more branching plant than the local seed. Both seeds are used all over the ganja-growing tract, but Dhakalgaon ganja is more specially produced towards Dhangaon in the north. The price of ordinary seed is 8 annas a ser and of Dhakalgaon Re. 1. The production of the latter is limited, and it is much sought after and is therefore high-priced.

Ploughing and manuring.
4. The land is plentifully manured about every third year. There is no rotation of crops, ganja being grown in the same fields year after year. The manuring takes place in April or May. The manure is spread on the surface, and mixed with the soil by " bakharing." There are in all two ploughings and two " bakharings " before the soil is ready for the seed.

Sowing.
5. Sowing takes place about 15 days after the rains have broken. The seed is sown by means of a hollow bamboo used along with a " bakhar." There is no transplantation in Nimar. The seed germinates in three or four days after sowing.

Weeding.
6. Weeding is commenced about 20 days after sowing. A hoe (kolpa) drawn by a pair of bullocks is passed along the furrows to clean the space between the rows of plants. Ordinarily this bullock " hoeing " takes place twice. The spaces between the plants are cleaned by means of a " khurpi," or small hand-hoe. About the same time, the lower leaves of the plants are broken off, leaving the lower part of the stem bare. The whole of this weeding and cleaning process goes on for about a month.

Eradication of male and useless plants.
7. Next takes place the eradication of the male and certain other useless plants. The word used is "parakh," meaning examination. The first plant eradicated is the male, known as " naria" or "bhangra." Then comes another plant called "adnaria," a hermaphrodite showing signs of both sexes. Other plants are known as "seoria" and "moria," both of which are generally uprooted. The " moria" is, until 15 days or so before cutting, undistinguishable from the female plant. The flower of the female plant never opens, while the "moria" flower at this time assumes a yellowish or reddish tinge and opens out. A certain amount of ganja can be obtained from the "moria" plant, and it is sometimes allowed to stay on in a crop of "mal" or good ganja. It possesses the faculty of fertilising itself, for it produces a seed, the result of sowing which is a crop of nothing but " moria " plants. It is needless to state that it is ruthlessly weeded out of ganja which is being grown for seed. 

The "párakh" process begins about a month after sowing. About this time both the male and female plants begin to flower. All the cultivators possess the faculty of recognising the noxious and useless plants, and no special class is employed for the purpose. The male and " adnaria" plants first manifest themselves. " Moria " plants, as has been noted, are not distinguishable until shortly before the crop is ripe.

Watering.
8. In September, three months after sowing, the crop is irrigated. Three waterings are given at intervals of 10 to 14 days.  

Harvesting.
9. About the first or second week of November the crop ripens, the flowering heads assuming a brownish appearance. Dhakalgaon ganja ripens 15 days later than local ganja. The twigs which bear the flowering heads are broken off, collected in baskets, and carried to a threshing-floor. There they are spread out, and a heavy roller is passed over them. This is done only the first day as a rule; after that, as the twigs begin to dry, they are pressed under foot for three or four days. By this process the twigs are almost entirely cleaned of their leaves, and only the flowering tops remain, the latter being flattened out. The produce is then known as " kalli." The "kalli" is afterwards taken to the cultivators' houses and there stacked in heaps, which are kept pressed down by a heavy weight. It remains like this for a week, after which it is packed in gunny bags, each containing from 2 to 3 maunds, and taken to the Khandwa storehouse.  

Outturn
10. The average outturn from an acre is from 12 to 15 maunds. The crop has in recent years been bought up by a corner of "dallals" at Khandwa, the ordinary price ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 7 per maund, according to quality. The average money outturn per acre is thus about Rs. 80 or Rs. 90, and the money cost of cultivation is estimated at Rs. 60. The selling price per mound at  the Khandwa storehouse is at present as high as Rs. 15 or Rs. 18 per maund.

MEMORANDUM BY MR. H. V. DRAKE BROCKMAN, OFFICIATING COMMISSIONER OF EXCISE, CENTRAL PROVINCES, ON THE CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF GANJA IN THE KHANDWA TAHSIL OF THE NIMAR DISTRICT.

Ganja is sown yearly in about 100 villages, and about 600 or 700 licenses are issued each year. Seed is locally raised in the villages of Lohari, Karki, Panjhria, and Chhirbel; this seed produces a comparatively thin plant which does not branch off so freely as that raised from the seed obtained from Dhakalgaon in Indore. Dhakalgaon seed is sold at a minimum price of Re. 1 per ser; it has, on several occasions, gone as high as Rs. 2 per ser. The ordinary price of local seed is Re. 0-12-0 per ser. Seven or eight villages in the Dhargaon station-house circle use Dhakalgaon seed, and the ganja raised in them commands the best price at the Government storehouse.

2. " Pandhar " (chalky), "mand" (black with an understratum of yellow clay), and "kali" (rich black) are the soils most suitable for ganja rearing. The first two are the best; the last is also good, but in seasons of more than average rainfall retains too much water close to the surface.

3. Irrigation and plentiful manuring being indispensable, the same fields are used year after year. A single manuring produces an effect which endures for two or three years, so that there is no inducement to practise rotation of crops.

4. The land selected is well manured every third year in Baisakh (April to May), 16 to 20 full cart-loads being allowed per acre; the ordinary household refuse, cowdung, and ashes are used, and if the home supply is inadequate, more is purchased at the rate of Re. 1 per cart.

5. If gram or masur is not grown in the field, it is ploughed over once in January or February. In any case the ground is in Baisakh (April to May) turned over with the " hal" (" nagar" or earth-turning plough) to expose it to the sun, and then well " bakhared" to make it smooth and to break up all large clods. If it is the turn of the field to be manured, the manure is spread after the ground has been turned over, and is then worked in with the "bakhar." When the ground has been well soaked, i.e., about 15 days after the setting in of the rains, it is again turned over with the " hal " and levelled with the " bakhar." Seed is sown on a sunny day in the latter half of Asarh (June to July), i.e., 20 to 25 days after the setting in of the rains, an instrument called " sarta," which is worked along with a " bakhar," being used for the purpose.

6. For six days after sowing, a strict watch is kept, otherwise birds would do great damage when the seed germinates, which it does four days after sowing. Twenty days after sowing, i.e., when the plants are about 9 inches high, weeding of grass and thinning of plants begin; an implement called " kolpa" is used for the former purpose. A space of 6 to 9 inches is cleared between each plant and the next, the intervening plants being uprooted and thrown away. About six weeks after sowing, the first examination (párakh) takes place. All the male plants (" naria " or " bhangern ") which can at that stage be recognised as such are picked out and thrown away. The cultivators appear to be able to distinguish the pollenbearing sacs (" ghungri ") of male flowers even at this early stage. This examination is repeated daily for about two months. Then comes a second examination with a view to eliminate those plants which combine the signs of both sexes ("adnaria"). These " adnaria " plants seem to be identical with the "abnormal female plants with some male flowers on them," of which mention is made in Chapters II and VI, Part I of Dr. Prain's Report.

7. There is yet another class of plant which is eliminated; this is called "moria," and is said to be identified from its bearing a cluster of flowers on the top. The " moria " plants are not injurious to others, but are eliminated because they are useless for the purpose of ganja manufacture, their flowering heads being devoid of resin, and consequently of intoxicating power. Sometimes they are allowed to remain in the field; if removal is determined upon the necessary action is taken a fortnight or so before cutting begins. These plants probably correspond with those termed " khasia " in Bengal-see Chapters I (page 2) and II (page 5) of Dr. Prain's Report.

8. During the fourth month, i.e., in October, the plants are irrigated; rainfall will from this time onward injure them by washing away the resinous juice they contain; whereas irrigation increases the amount of this juice. Three waterings are given, an interval of seven days being allowed between each. It will be understood that irrigation is only beneficial if effected after the rains have entirely ceased.

9. About four and a half months after sowing, i.e., generally about the 20th November, the flowering heads assume a brownish appearance, which is a sure sign of maturity. Cutting then begins. Only the "bhuttas," i.e., twigs about 12 inches in length which bear the flowering heads, are picked; they are collected in baskets and emptied into a "khala" (threshing-floor). At night the whole of the day's cutting is spread out in a layer, 9 to 12 inches thick, and left exposed to the dew till the following morning. The next step is to press the pickings flat; this is done by men treading them under foot. Several heaps are formed, which are worked upon in turn, each being turned over and left to dry in the sun while another is being pressed. This process goes on for four or five days, and the ganja is then taken to covered sheds where it is stacked to a height of 5 or 6 feet, and kept down by heavy weights. After remaining in this state for about a week, it is packed tightly in gunny-bags, and taken to the Government storehouse at Khandwa.

10. Seven days previous notice of intention to cut the ganja crop has to be given to the Tahsildar, and the whole crop must be removed to the Government storehouse within 30 days of the date on which permission to cut is granted.

11. The following is an estimate of the cost of cultivating an acre of ganja and of manufacturing the crop into the article supplied to wholesale vendors:-

It must be understood that the above estimate is drawn up on the assumption that hired labour is employed for all purposes. As a matter of fact, however, the cultivators and their families themselves do almost all the work, and cash payments are limited in practice to the following:-

The rates adopted are those prevailing in the immediate vicinity of Khandwa; elsewhere the cost of cultivation would be somewhat less. The average outturn from an acre is 16 maunds, ad the average selling price at the Government storehouse, Rs. 4 per maund.

12. The method employed for the cultivation of the plant for seed is precisely the same as for the production of the ordinary ganja ("mal") as regards preparation of the soil. Male plants ("naria") are of course essential in this case; most, however, are eliminated. " Adnaria" plants are all eliminated, as in a field of "mal" ganja. When the seeds have set the plants are cut down, tied in bundles and dried in the sun. The seed is then threshed out by hand. Irrigation is not required, and comparatively little attention is paid to the crop.

REPORT BY MR. H. M. LAWRIE, C.S., OFFICIATING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, BHANDARA, CENTRAL PROVINCES, ON THE CONSUMPTION OF GANJA AMONG THE POWARS.

In accordance with the instructions contained in your office letter No. 4259, dated the 10th September last, I have the honour to report that a careful inquiry has been made by Mr. Gokhle, Extra-Assistant Commissioner, as to the alleged increasing use of ganja among the Powars. The conclusions arrived at by Mr. Gokhle are as follows:- 

2. It is true that there has been an increase of ganja consumption among Powars in this district, but not more so than among other classes. The increase of consumption among Powars may have attracted greater notice than that among others on account of the higher position of this caste in the social scale. It is perhaps erroneous to say that Powars had a prejudice against the use of the drug: what prejudice they may have had was merely that entertained by people generally, and might be more correctly described as want of familiarity with its use than any objection to it. 

3. Purchases by Powars do not always represent consumption by them. There are a number of Powars who are large rice cultivators, and who in the transplanting season have to supply their labourers with some stimulant. Finding ganja to be cheaper than country liquor and quite as acceptable to their workmen, some Powars appear to have in this way made large purchases of ganja-not for their own use. The character and habits of Powars have not varied at all, so far as can be ascertained, in consequence of the more extended use by them of ganja. It has been mentioned that there is now a saying among Powars that a man who does not take ganja is nothing but a girl, but it does not appear that the taking of ganja has made these people more manly. It does not mean much more than that to take ganja is looked on as the sort of thing a grown man does, just as in England among boys smoking is sometimes looked on as a sign of emancipation from the school-room. It may to a certain extent refer to the supposed aphrodisiac qualities of the drug. 

4. From the accompanying statements which Mr. Gokhle has had prepared, it will be seen that while the increase of ganja sales in shops where there are many Powars from 1891-92 to 1893-94 is only 31 per cent., that in shops where there are comparatively few Powar customers is, for the same period, 42 per cent. In the case of shops where there are no Powar purchasers the increase is only 12 per cent.; but this does not appear to be connected with the fact of the absence of people of this caste, but to be dependent on other circumstances. Among Powars, as among people of other castes, there has been an extension of the use of this drug in the last ten years; but the figures given in Mr. Gokhle's Statement II must not be taken to show a real increase in consumption to the extent of the increase in sales, since there is no doubt that a considerable amount of the increase is to be accounted for by the better arrangements now in force for the prevention of illegal ganja consumption. It is said that in the zemindaries on the south-eastern border of the district there used to be a good deal of ganja cultivation which has now been stopped, and that this ganja used formerly to be introduced into this district. But Mr. Gokhle's enquiries lead him to believe that, during the last four or five years in particular, the use of ganja has become more familiar to Powars, as well as to members of subordinate castes. 

5. The reason why the report was not submitted by the date mentioned in the concluding portion of your letter was partly the fact that Mr. Gokhle was temporarily transferred from the district for two months in the close of 1893, and the enquiries on this subject consequently interrupted. Recently Mr. Gokhle has been on tour in the Tirrora tahsil, which is under his charge, and where the Powars are in great number, and he has thus had a good opportunity of ascertaining by personal enquiries how the matter stands.

FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION ON EXAMINATION OF THE ALLEGED HEMP DRUG INSANITY CASES OF 1892 IN THE LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCES.

Reports from the Jubbulpore Lunatic Asylum

Reports from the Nagpur Lunatic Asylum

Central Provinces Witnesses to the Hemp Commission

Questions from the Hemp Commission to the Central Provinces Witnesses

Individual Witness Statements to the Hemp Commission.