Question

'After accepting money advances the cultivators had no option but to grow opium'. Explain

Answer 1

(i) When the British government started the system of advances, many cultivators became ready to grow opium. They thought that they would fulfill their immediate needs with the loan and would pay back it at a later stage.

(ii) But the loan tied the peasants to the government. By taking the loan, they were forced to grow opium on a specified area of land and hand over the produce to the agents once the crop had been harvested.

(iii) They had no option of planting the field with a crop of his choice or of selling their produce to anyone but the government agent. And they were bound to accept the low price offered for the produce.