74
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
as to whether a gcod case could be made out for asking the Government of Bengal to pro-
hibit 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 Adminis-
tration 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 feuda-
tory 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 Appen-
dix 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 Jtaipur 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 zunindars 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 Commis-
sioner 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 consump-
tion 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 ap-
pointed. At first. Lis supervision was restricted to six States, viz., Bastar, Kanker, Kalahandi,
Patna, Sarangarh and Sonpur; but in 1888 four more, viz., Khairagarh, Nandgaon, Chhui-
khadan 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.