CENTRAL PROVINCES MEMORANDUM.
57
CENTRAL PROVINCES MEMORANDUM.
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 cpium. The monopoly of vend of
"drugs," either for each district as a whole or for small areas, was everywhere put up to auc-
tion 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 desir-
ability 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 re-
stricting 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 cultiva-
tion 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 Hoshang-
abad, 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 regard-
ing 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.
15