The Trade of opium in Colonial India

Malwas was the most important opium producing region in colonial India. Opium is an important crop in the world economy since last two centuries. The opium trade considerably effected the economic and social life of colonial India. The opium trade in Malwas was a private enterprise and largely an Indian enterprise. Opium was an economic mainstay for a large number of Indian Princely states in central India and Rajasthan These ranged in size from the largest in territory and population such as Indor, Mewar, Bhopal, Jaipur, Marwar, Gwalior, Alwar and Bikaner to smallest states that dwindled to the size of Sitamau in Malwa with its few thousand inhabitants and one principal town opium department agent, who weighed and inspected packed opium chest and levied a pass fee at 10 central sites in the region. British Government had restricted the import of Indian opium to stop the illegal trade of opium in colonial India. British Government adopted many policies regarding opium legislation, cultivation, trade and its export to foreign countries. The present paper deals with the relation of Government policies in colonial India and the growing illicit cultivation in colonial India and trade in Malwas, which has turned the opium belt into opium mafia belt.