134
I consider the system is capable of improvement.
My opinions relate to ganja only. I am not
much acquainted with charas and bhang.
59. The system is capable of improvement in
the direction of bringing it more thoroughly
under the control of Government. As at present
worked, the system is controlled by Government
on the one hand and by the three outside factors
on the other: viz., (1) the cultivator, (2) the
wholesale vendor, and (3) the retail vendor.
These three factors are more or less independent
of Government control. They can each in his
own sphere influence the final cost to consumers.
The truth of the following proposition seems
undisputed:—
"Fluctuations in the cost (for a given quantity)
to consumers has a tendency to increase consump¬
tion." This proposition is based upon the follow-
ing theory which embodies the result of long
experience.
The ratio in which a man's desire to indulge in
an intoxicant increases with a given ratio of in¬
crease in the facility of gratifying it, is greater
than the ratio in which his desire will decrease
with an equal ratio of decrease in the facility.
Thus if a man's consumption of ganja increases
in the ratio of 8 to 10, while the cost decreases
from 12 to 8, his consumption will only decrease
from 10 to 9 when the cost increases from 8 to 12.
The net effect of the double fluctuation would be
an increase of consumption from 8 to 9, while
everything else outside of him has come to its old
position. The avowed object of the present system
of Excise Administration being to reduce consump¬
tion and thereby to improve public morality, its
duty is to prevent as far as possible any fluctuation
of the kind referred to above. The cost to con¬
sumers should be slowly, but steadily, increased, so
as to effect a corresponding slow but steady de¬
crease of consumption. Increase one year and
decrease in the next is most harmful to the con¬
sumers. A year of cheap ganja will have the
effect of increasing the desire for gratification, and
a year of dearness will accustom the consumer to
increased cost of gratification. It is possible
therefore by a clever alteration of cheapness and
dearness in successive years to enormously increase
consumption and effect the ruin of the people. It
is impossible to regulate consumption if all the
factors that influence it are not brought under the
complete control of Government. The cost to
consumers must be steadily increased and con¬
sumption steadily decreased. Two points require
notice in this connection.
(1) It is not enough to say at the end of a
number of years that the consumption is less at
the end than it was at the beginning of the period.
But it must be shown satisfactorily that during
the period the consumption has never increased
even by the smallest quantity at any point of
time. Each succeeding year, month and, if pos¬
sible, day should show a decrease of consumption,
however small, but always decrease and never
increase. This decrease should be participated in
by all the divisions, and if possible by all the dis¬
tricts; what ordinarily takes place is increase in
some divisions and decrease in others one year,
and decrease in the first mentioned and increase
in the last mentioned divisions in the next, or
something of the kind. This shows that the
fluctuations in each locality are great, which in
its turn proves fluctuations of a serious kind in
the cost to consumers, and the entire absence of
Government control. Government is in fact at
the mercy of the cultivator, the wholesale vendor
and the retail vendor on the one hand, and to
local agricultural prosperity or otherwise on the
other, Its own control is virtually nil.
(2) The increase of cost should not merely be
in the absolute amount as measured by the
currency of the Empire, but it should be a real
increase, offering a real check to consumption.
Thus, if the cost was Rs. 20 in 1875 and it is Rs. 40
now to an individual, there has been no real increase
if the man's income has doubled in the meanwhile;
and if he is an agriculturist, surely his income has
nearly doubled during this period by the mere
operation of the currency changes over the world
as between gold and silver. General progress of
wealth has also perhaps increased his ability to
spend more money on luxuries. To determine
what would constitute an actual increase in the
cost to consumers in any province would be a most
complex problem involving many considerations.
Government having the entire control of the ad¬
ministration (of excise) would hardly be able to
discharge its responsibility satisfactorily. How
much less should it be able to discharge it when
half the control is not in its hands at all ?
For the improvements I propose see answers to
questions 60, 63 and 64.
60. Ganja is produced in my province. A
tract of country including parts of the Rajshahi,
Bogra and Dinajpur districts is selected for the
cultivation of ganja for the supply of the whole
province. I was in charge of one of these dis¬
tricts, and am of opinion that the cultivation is
not adequately controlled. The staff employed
for supervision does not appear to be sufficiently
strong and well-paid, and the system itself seems
faulty. I believe about 10 per cent. of the actual
outturn goes into consumption direct from the
cultivator's hand without paying duty. A por¬
tion is probably also stolen from the fields, to the
loss alike of the cultivator and Government. It
is noteworthy that in a very large area round the
ganja tract there is no ganja shop and none can
be opened. The reason can only be that the
people smuggle and steal, having facility to do
so. In fact, they have only to go and ask the cul¬
tivators, in order to have an adequate quantity
for the year's consumption. If the cultivators
can pass out ganja to their relatives and neighbours,
why should they not be able to pass it out to
licensed exporters without the Subdivisional
Officer of Naogaon ever knowing of it ? Indeed
the exporters are more dangerous than the thieves.
The cultivator influences the cost to consumers
to a considerable extent. The wholesale price which
he charges varies from Rs. 10 to 100. This is a
large variation and cannot but influence the cost to
consumers.
The system on which ganja is grown and manu-
factured and stored might be modified on the
following lines:—
(1) Experiments should be made in an honest
spirit to ascertain if ganja can be grown
on hill-sides on the system on which tea is
grown. If this succeeds, the present system
should be abandoned and the tea system
introduced. If the experiment does not
succeed, the present system should be con-
tinued with the following improvement:—
1. The area for which licenses to cultivators
are given should be measured, mapped
and recorded.
2. The supervision over the fields should be
increased.