{"id":260030,"date":"2023-09-14T20:56:52","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T15:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=260030"},"modified":"2023-10-18T16:30:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T11:00:34","slug":"opium-history-and-economics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/opium-history-and-economics\/","title":{"rendered":"Opium, history and economics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cOpium,\u00a0history\u00a0and economics<\/strong>\u201d published in Business Standard <\/strong>on\u00a014th<\/sup> September 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: GS 1 \u2013 History \u2013 Modern Indian History<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>About opium production in India during the colonial period<\/strong><\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> The West usually credits its economic growth to factors like science, tech, entrepreneurship, and trade. However, recent scholars argue that imperialism, colonialism, slavery, and opium trade were also major contributors.<\/p>\n

The article explains how India was utilized as a colony for opium production, leading to substantial profits.<\/p>\n

What was the opium production history in India during the colonial era?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Under Dutch East India Company<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opium, used for centuries for medicinal and elite recreational purposes, saw a shift with the emergence of “smoking opium” in the 18th century.<\/p>\n

The Dutch East India Company’s introduction of this new form from East India to the East Indies led to mass consumption,<\/strong> substantial profits, and a monopoly on distribution.<\/p>\n

The Dutch were the first to use opium as a tool of colonialism<\/strong>, and India under British rule perfected this model, becoming heavily dependent on drug profits.<\/p>\n

Under British <\/strong>East India Company (EIC)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Purvanchal:<\/strong> After the East India Company (EIC) secured victories at Plassey and Buxar, they expanded their control westward to include Purvanchal (now Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern UP),<\/strong> a region where poppy was cultivated.<\/p>\n

In 1772, Governor Warren Hastings of Bengal<\/strong> decreed that opium produced in Purvanchal could only be sold to designated EIC Agents, creating a monopoly.<\/p>\n

In 1799, the East India Company (EIC)<\/strong> created the Opium Department (OD)<\/strong> with significant control over pricing and rules. The department dictated who could grow opium, how much, and at what price.<\/p>\n

The EIC used force to make farmers produce opium, and corruption was widespread. They set up a big surveillance system that caused trouble for everyone except EIC officials who made money from selling opium in Calcutta.<\/p>\n

The oppressive system lasted in Purvanchal for over a century, hindering the region’s progress.<\/strong> Another setback for the region came in the mid-19th century after the 1857 War of Independence.<\/p>\n

Before the war<\/strong>, Purvanchal supplied about half of the East India Company’s sepoys (Indian soldiers).<\/p>\n

However, after the British won the war, they began recruiting sepoys from other regions like Punjab,<\/strong> causing a decline in Purvanchal’s economic and social development.<\/p>\n

Malwa:<\/strong> Malwa was another significant poppy-growing area in the 18th century, which included parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.<\/p>\n

Unlike eastern India<\/strong>, in Malwa, small farmers voluntarily cultivated poppies and sold their products to traders from various religious backgrounds.<\/p>\n

This was possible because the East India Company’s influence was mainly restricted to Bombay in western India.<\/p>\n

The British East India Company attempted to halt opium production and sales in Malwa, but local merchants resisted. Eventually, the EIC chose to tax the Malwa opium trade.<\/p>\n

This decision led to the flourishing of Malwa’s opium<\/strong>, surpassing the amounts exported from Calcutta. Following the Opium Wars, British-Indian opium exports skyrocketed, becoming a significant part of global trade.<\/p>\n

The key <\/strong>difference<\/strong> between the Malwa and Purvanchal opium trades was that the Malwa trade benefited many<\/strong> farmers and numerous traders, financiers, and shippers in western India.<\/p>\n

Further, the success of private enterprise in western India, in contrast to the east, can be attributed to the Maratha kingdoms’ enduring resistance<\/strong>, vision and strategy against colonial exploitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cOpium,\u00a0history\u00a0and economics\u201d published in Business Standard on\u00a014th September 2023. Syllabus: GS 1 \u2013 History \u2013 Modern Indian History Relevance: About opium production in India during the colonial period News: The West usually credits its economic growth to factors like science, tech, entrepreneurship, and trade. However, recent scholars argue… Continue reading Opium, history and economics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[11880,10503,263,7977],"class_list":["post-260030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-art-and-history","tag-business-standard","tag-gs-paper-1","tag-history","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":3,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1698475909},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}