72
REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEMP DRUGS COMMISSION, 1893-94.
[APP.
Present retail prices.
55. The average retail price in most districts for small quantities of ganja is 2 annas per
tola, but where the full amount of which possession is allow-
ed by law, viz., 5 tolas, is bought, a rate of 0-1-6 per tola is
generally taken. In the districts open 'o smuggling from Native States on the north and
west, rates on the border are as low as 0-1-3 and sometimes even 1 anna per tola. In rural
areas in the Sambulpur district and also in the Drug and Simga Tahsils of Raipur the rate is
1 anua per tola: in the Sheorinarain Tahsil of the Bilaspur district it is 0-1-3 per tola.
Local option.
56. A system of modified local option in respect to the licensing of country liquor shops
was introduced into the Central Provinces under the orders of
the Government of India in 1889: such shops are more than
six times as numerous as those for the sale of ganja, and no orders for consulting the residents
in places where ganja shops are to be licensed have yet been issued. The Administration has
all along shaped its policy in regard to the licensing of ganja shops on the assumption that the
drug is extremely deleterious, and it is a standing order that no more should be licensed than
are necessary to meet the demands of consumers who, if a licit supply were not obtainable,
would probably supply themselves illicitly. Moreover, the location of drug shops is a matter
of comparatively little importance now that consumption on the premises has been prohibited.
Upset prices are not fixed, but no shop is licensed unless a reasonable bid is forthcoming.
Wild hemp.
57. It is believed that the hemp plant does not grow wild
in any part of these provinces.
Summary of present system of
control.
58. An endeavour has been made in the foregoing paragraphs to trace the development
of the present excise system in respect to hemp-drugs in
the Central Provinces, and to notice the most striking varia-
tions from year to year in the area under the ganja-produc-
ing plant, the outturn therefrom and the revenue raised by means of taxing consumption of
the two preparations in use, viz., ganja and bhang. It remains to give in a brief yet com-
prehensive form an account of the system as now worked: the necessary information has been
embodied in Appendix R, which follows closely Chapter V of the Excise Manual drawn up
in 1885 by Mr R. C. Anderson, when Commissioner of Excise, and includes also the instruc-
tions given In a few important subsidiary circulars.
Untaxed cousumption.
Section 20.
59. This Memorandum will now be brought to a conclusion with a brief statement of the
difficulties in the way of realizing a tax on all ganja con-
sumed within the province and of the chief mesures for com-
bating them which have been taken from time to time.
Small quantities of ganja not exceeding 5 tolas may bo legally possessed by any one, and
inasmuch as the Excise Act, 1881, only authorizes regulation
of import and transport when effected by persons intending
to supply licenced veodars, there is nothing to prevent a smoker carrying about, no matter
whenc obtannes, as much as will suffice an habitual moderate consumer for 15 or 20 days.
A glance at the map which accompanied the Excise Report for 1889-90 will show that the
Central Provinces are cut off by Native Males and Chiefships from the rest of British terri-
tory except in the extreme south and south-east, in the extreme west and in the north-
west, where the herder runs for comparatively short distances with those of the Lalitpur,
Khandesh, and Godaveri districts respectively
Starting from the extreme south and working
along the Western border, we had first the Nizam's Dominions, separated from the Sironcha
and Atul tahasils of the Chanda district by a water boundary consisting of the Godaveri and
its tributaries, the Pranhita, and Wardha rivers. Until August of the current year the Siron-
cha tahasils, owing to its inaccessibility and the cheapness of ganja in Hyderabad territory, was,
as already remarked (para. 26), exempted from the direct tax on comumption introduced in
1880-81: is has now been experimentally brought under the system prevailing elsewhere in
the Khalsa proper, information having been received that in consequence of certain fiscal re-
forms the price of ganja has risen in Hyderabad. The Resident has been addressed with the
object of ascertaining the nature of the alleged reforms, and his reply is still awaited.
60. Proceeding northwards we find the Berars marching with the Mul and Warora
tahsils of Chanda, all three tahsils of Wardha, the Katol tahsil of Nagpur, the Saosar tahsil
of Chhindwara, both tahsils of Betul, and lastly the Burhanpurtahsil of Nimar. The revenue
from ganja, is raised by (1) levying, a license fee of Rs. 10 per acre or part of an acre on
cultivation and (2) auctioning the right of retail vend; but the retail price is nowhere higher
than 1 anna per tola, while in the Wun district it is only 3 pies, and elsewhere generally 6
pies. In 1888 the Chief Commissioner authorized the Commissioner of Excise to consult the
Commissioner of Berar with regard to the cultivation of ganja in that province and the
possibility of checking its carriage across the Central Provinces borders: the Commissioner was
accordingly asked to consider the possibility of raising the retail rate to that prevailing in
these provinces and imposing an import duty. The objection at first raised against taking
action in the direction thus indicated was that it would lead to smuggling into Berar from
the Bombay Presidency, where ganja was selling at the rate of Rs. 2 per seer, but subsequent-
ly, in pursuance of orders received from the Resident at Hyderabad, a set of draft rules for
regulating the import, export, and transport of ganja and for prohibiting its cultivation was
prepared. These rules are still under consideration.