Opium Production - Peasants & Farmers : Notes - Class 9 PDF Download

PART-III THE INDIAN FARMER AND OPIUM PRODUCTION

Q1.Why did the East India Company persuade the Indian farmers to grow opium?
Ans. The English East India Company was buying tea and silk from china for sale in England. As tea became a popular England drink, the tea trade became more and more important. This created a problem. England at this time produced nothing that could be easily sold in China. In such a situation, how could they balance their trade? They searched for a commodity they could sell in china, opium was such a commodity. It was used in china for medicinal purposes. English traders began an illegal trade in opium. While the English cultivated a taste for Chinese tea, The Chinese became addicted to opium. To feed this booming export trade, East India Company persuaded the Indian farmers to grow opium.
 

Q2. How were the Indian cultivators made to produce opium?
Ans. The unwilling cultivators were made to produce opium through a system of advances. Peasants never had enough to survive. Their village headman gave them advances to produce opium. The loan tied the peasants to the headman and through him to the government. Government agents were appointed to advance to the village headman who used to forward these to the farmers. 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 crops had been harvested. He had no option of planting the field with a crop of his choice or of selling his produce to anyone but the government agent.
 

Q3. ‘The Confucian rulers of china were not willing to allow the entry of foreign goods in China.’ Give reasons.
Ans. The Confucian rulers of China, the Manchus, were suspicious of all foreign merchants.They feared that the merchants would meddle in the local politics and disrupt their authority. So the Manchus were unwilling to allow the entry of foreign goods.
 

Q4. What was the impact of opium trade in china?
Ans. Impacts were:
1. The traders start meddling in local politics.
2. Illegal trade started outflow of treasure from China.
3. The Chinese became addicted to opium. 
4. People of all classes started talking drugs.
5. People of all classes took to the drug-shopkeepers and peddlers.
 

Q5. Mention any two methods used by the Britishers to increase the land revenue.
Ans .method are 
1. A regular system of land revenue was established.
2. Revenue rates were increased.
3. Area under cultivation was increased.
 

Q6. Explain the major features of the Indian countryside in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
OR how was the rural landscape of India radically transformed under the colonial rule?
Ans. 
1. Introduction of regular land revenue system: the British saw land revenue as a major source of government income. So to build the resources of the state, efforts were made to impose a regular system of land revenue increase revenue rates and expand the area under cultivation.
2. Increase in area under cultivation and its impact: as cultivation and its impact: as cultivation expanded, the area under forests and pastures declined. All this created many problems for peasants and pastoralists. They found their access to forests and grazing lands increasingly restricted by rules and regulations. And they struggled to meet the pressures of the government revenue demand.
3. Variety of crops: in the colonial period, rural India also came to produce a range of crops for the world market. In the early eighteenth century, indigo and opium were two of the major commercial crops. By the end of the century, peasants were introducing sugarcane, cotton, jute, wheat and several other crops for export to feed the population of urban Europe and to supply the mills of Lancashire and Manchester in England.
 

Q7. Explain the major factors responsible for the conflict between the British government, peasants and local traders.
Ans. Major Factors are:
1. The agents of the government were offering very low prices to the farmers.
2. The government was forcing the farmers to grow opium only.
3. Many cultivators began selling their crops to travelling traders who offered higher prices. 
4. The British government had established monopoly in the opium trade. 
5. The government had instructed its agents posted in the princely states (areas under Indian rulers) to confiscate all opium and destroy the crops as there were giving tough competition to the British traders. 
 

Q8. Why the British insisted on growing opium in India? 
Ans. the British insisted to grow opium in India because
1. In the late 18th century, the English east India Company was buying tea and silk from China for sale in England. 
2. As tea was gaining popularity in England, its demand rose from 15 million pounds to 30 million pounds.
3. England at that time produced nothing that could be easily sold in China.
4. This means an outflow of treasure from England to China.
5. Merchants wanted to balance their trade.
6. So they searched for a commodity they could sell in china.
7. Opium was such a commodity which had a demand in china, as it was used in medicines.
8. So to balance their trade and to earn huge profits they persuaded Indian farmers to grow opium so that the British traders could sell it in China.
 

Q9. Why were Indian farmers reluctant to grow opium?
OR why did Indian farmers reluctant to grow opium? Explain any five reasons. 
Ans. Reasons were:
1. The crop had to be grown in the best land, on fields that lay near villages and were well manured. On this land peasants usually produced pulses. If they planted opium on this land, then the pulses could not be planted there.
2. Many cultivators owned no land. To cultivate, they had to pay rent and lease land from landlords. And the rent charged on good lands near villages was very high.
3. The cultivation of opium was a difficult process. The plant was delicate and cultivators had to spend long hours nurturing it. This meant that they did not have enough time to care for other crops.
4. The price the government paid to the cultivators for the opium they produced was very low. It was unprofitable for cultivators to grow opium at the price.
5. The government was forcing the farmers to grow opium only.