350
in damp, exposure, forced abstinence, lead to the
use of the drug.
28.Two chataks.
29.Ingredients mentioned in my answer to
-question 15 above.
Dhatura is not known to be mixed here, except
in very rare cases. Equally rarely is also bachnag
mixed. The object is to increase intoxication.
Yes. It is sold in Bombay and other large
cities. For its ingredients vide answer No. 15.
30.It is a social vice and is generally indulged
in company. It is confined to males. Children
never consume it in these parts.
31.
(a), (b) and (c) Yes.
33.It is regarded with aversion. Children and
women are protected from it. It is socially con-
demned, though there is no religious objection.
The disrepute is due to its inducing insensibility
and is supposed to lead to impotency. No ; none
that I have ever heard of.
34.Yes, to Marwaris, mendicants and others
mentioned in my answer to question No. 20,
because once one gets addicted to the use of it, he
cannot take to another intoxicant, and suffers both
in body and mind.
Roughly they may come to about one or two
per cent. of the entire population, but this is a guess
only.
35, (a) No.
(b) Yes.
( c ) It can never be enforced.
(d) Yes.
(e) There would be no political danger.
(f) No.
36. Yes, good opium and good liquor are driving
it out of market.
58. I am acquainted with the present system of
excise administration in my province, and consider
it to be working well.
60. I think it sufficiently well controlled. There
are rules on the subject.
68.There are shops licensed for the sale of these
drugs and their preparations, but they are very
rarely or never consumed on the premises. They
do not differ from other ordinary shops.
69.The wishes of the people are not formally
consulted or considered, but a good District Officer
knows generally where to put and where not to put
these shops. If a particular shop is objected to, it
is generally removed. Yes, public opinion ought
to be consulted.
33. Evidence of YESHWANT VAMAN DIGHE, Pleader, Basim.
1. From information derived from ganja smok-
ers, traders and licensed sellers, and Berar Excise
Reports.
2. Yes. With the exception of charas and
round ganja, which are not known locally ; the
others are. The following are the additional names
by which the products of the hemp plant are
known, viz., bhangra or bhagar (male plant), buti
or kalhi (female plant).
3. Grows spontaneously everywhere, but not
abundantly.
4. The wild plant differs in appearance and
quality from the cultivated. It is not used as a
narcotic.
5. None.
6. Scattered.
7. (a) yes.
( b ) N o .
( c ) Yes.
( d ) N o .
See Appendix D to the Excise Report for 1880-
81. Cultivation limited to 29 villages at an en-
hanced assessment of Rs. 10 an acre, and area
under cultivation is on the average, during the
last nine years, 64 acres and 181/3 guntas. For the
last official year (1892-93) the area was 85 acres
and 39 guntas in Morsi, Akot, Khamgaon, Jal-
goan and Malkapur taluks.
8. No accurate data to go upon; but before 1881
any quantity of land could be sown on payment of
a fee of Rs. 8, but since that year the imposition of
Rs. 10 on an acre grown must in all probability
have produced a decrease. Only 125 acres and 39
guntas are shown as the area under the hemp
plant prior to 1884, when the average for seven
years is struck.
9. The method does not differ from that followed
in the cultivation of the staple products of Berar
(cotton and jowar). When the plants attain a
freight of a foot the male plants, called bhangra
or bhagar, are weeded out in order to prevent the
formation of seed in the female plant. It is sown
in the month of July in well -manured ground.
The plant grows from 3 to 7 feet high.
In Berar the leaves and broken pieces of ganja
of the plant are collected and sold as bhang, and
these are macerated in water to prepare the bever-
age that is drunk as such.
10, 11 and 12. No.
13. The only restriction is the payment of an
enhanced assessment of Rs. 10 an acre. Culti-
vation is confined at present to only three dis-
tricts viz., (1) Akola, (2) Amraoti, and (3) Bul-
dana.
No special conditions are necessary. But the
soil called pandhri in Berar is more favourable than
any other.
The latter requires good manuring. Cultivation
impossible on marshy and rocky land. A good
rainfall is required, otherwise artificial irrigation has
to be resorted to. It is also sown in well-manured
black soil.
14. (a Ye.
( b ) No.
( c ) Y e s .
The preparation is made by the cultivators of
the plant in those districts in which it is culti-
vated. The process is as follows :
—
After reaping, the small shoots of the plant are
cut off and left to dry for two or three weeks in the
field and are then trampled upon until the larger
leaves are eliminated, leaving the flowering top and
small leaves. These are then sold to persons hold-
ing licenses or to traders holding special passes,
either by weighment or pullies.
15. The wild plant is only used. as incense in
houses to drive away evil spirits and the effects re-
sulting from an evil eye, from which specially