BENGAL MEMORANDUM.
3
Regulation II of 1793, section 7, and
clause 10 of section 8.
Act II (B.C.) of 1866, sections 18 to
24.
Act IV (B.C.) of 1866, sections 35 to
41.
BENGAL MEMORANDUM.
1. There is a uniform system throughout the Lower Provinces.
2. Hemp drugs, of which ganja is the principal, constitute one of the chief sources of
excise revenue in Bengal.
3. In excise matters there is one central controlling authority, which is vested now in the
Commissioner of Excise, acting under the general control of the Board of Revenue. The ex-
cise department of each district is managed by a selected Deputy Collector under the personal
supervision of the Collector, who is primarily responsible for the administration of the excise of
his district. In the more important districts there is a Special Deputy Collector mainly for
excise work. With the appointment of a Commissioner of Excise under section 33 of the
Bengal Excise Act, VII of 1878, from the 4th April 1889 the connection of Divisional Com-
missioners with excise ceased, but recently (from 1st April 1893) they have again been brought
into touch with the department by executive arrangement, in accordance with which annual
and other reports and proposals involving any change in principle and policy pass through
them.
4. The Excise Commissioner is assisted in the work of inspection by two Deputy Collec-
tors under the designation of Inspectors of Excise. The subordinate district agency consists
of Superintendents, Deputy Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors, clerks, jamadars, and peons, who are
variously employed in the management of central distilleries, in the inspection of shops, in
the collection of revenue, and the compilation of statistics, and in the detection and preven-
tion of excise offences, and who are controlled by the Excise Deputy Collector acting under
the orders of the Collector.
The system of excise on hemp-drugs is based on the
Bengal Council Act, VII of 1878, and the Regulation
and Acts noted on the margin, as well as on the Board's
Excise Manual and the circulars issued by the Board from
time to time.
5. The following sections or parts of sections of the Bengal Excise Act relate specially to
hemp-drugs:—
4, 15, 16, 35, 54, 62, and 63.
The following Board's rules have special reference to those drugs:—
Sections XIX, XX, and XXI of the Board's Excise Manual, 1891.
6. The wild hemp plant is found in nearly every district, and it grows abundantly
in several places. No ganja or charas is made from the wild plant, as the narcotic element,
which is essential to the preparation of either drug, is entirely absent or very imperfectly
developed in the uncultivated plant. But the green leaves of the wild plant are dried and,
under the name of bhang, extensively consumed, especially in Bihar. The cultivation of hemp
plants, except under a license, is strictly prohibited, so are unlicensed sales of hemp drugs, includ-
ing bhang, and their unlicensed possession in any quantity in excess of 20 tolas. (In the case of
charas and Garhjat ganja the limit is 5 tolas.) The use of untaxed bhang is general, and the
facility with which bhang can be made from wild plants baffles all effort to bring it under ade-
quate taxation. Most of the licensed shops are situated in the urban areas, but, excepting in
about half a dozen districts, the townspeople also would seem to use untaxed bhang. For in-
stance, in the Rajshahi Division not a single license is taken for the sale of the drug. It is also
suspected that licensed shops do not always confine their business to the duty-paid drug. An
attempt was made lately to get the wild plant extirpated with a view to bring the cultivation
of bhang under proper control, if possible; but the plant grows so abundantly that the attempt
was considered impracticable, and has since been abandoned under the order of Government.
Although wild hemp is so very common everywhere, bhang is prepared for the market in only
three districts, viz., Monghyr, Bhagalpur, and Purnea, where the plant growing luxuriantly in
the alluvial char lands of the Ganges is considered to yield a superior quality of leaves. Whole-
sale dealers are allowed to collect the leaves under permits granted by the Collector. They
next bring the drug in bags to the licensed golas, where it is weighed and stored in the pre-
sence of a responsible officer. It is then allowed to be exported to other districts or issued for
retail sale under the same rules as ganja.
7. It will be seen that bhang does not really come under excise control until it is collect-
ed and stored in golas, and the rules so far are defective. But the difficulty of introducing a
stricter system lies in the fact that the plant, as it stands on the ground, has very little
marketable value. If it is growing on waste land, any one can have it; on the other hand,