Question

When did the British government in Bengal establish a monopoly to trade in opium? How did people react to it and what steps were taken by the British government to control it?

Answer 1

(i) By $1773$, the British government in Bengal established a monopoly to trade in opium. No one else was legally permitted to trade in the product.
(ii) The government wanted to produce opium at a cheap rate and sell it at a high price to opium agents in Calcutta, who the shipped it to China. But the prices given to the peasants were so low that by the early eighteenth century angry peasants began agitating for higher prices and refused to take advances. In regions around Benaras, cultivators began giving up opium cultivation.
(iii) To control the situation the British instructed its agents posted in the princely states to take away all opium and destroy the crops. This conflict between the British government, peasants and local traders continued as long as opium production lasted.