question_answer

Write a paragraph on why the British insisted on farmers growing opium in India. Or How were the Indian peasants made to produce opium? Or How were unwilling cultivators made to produce opium in India?

Answer:

 (a) The peasants were made to produce opium through a system of advances. The government opium agents advanced money to the village headman who in turn gave it to the cultivators. (b) By taking the loan, the cultivator was forced to grow opium on a specified area of land and hand over the produce to the agents once the crop had been harvested. (c) By the early 1820's about 10,000 crates were annually smuggled into China. The Chinese soon became addicted to opium. As China became a country of opium addicts, British trade in tea flourished. The returns from the opium sale financed the tea purchases in China. (d) For this purpose, the British required a ready supply of opium which they wanted to cultivate in India. Thus when the British conquered Bengal, they made a determined effort to produce opium in the lands under their control. By 1870, the government was exporting about 50,000 chests annually.