. How colonial government forced Indian farmers to grow opium

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Ans: i. In the rural areas of Bengal and Bihar, there were large numbers of poor peasants.           From the 1780s, such peasants found their village headmen (mahato) giving them money advances to produce opium

ii. Unwilling cultivators were made to produce opium through a system of advances. When offered a loan, the cultivators were tempted to accept, hoping to meet their immediate needs and pay back the loan at a later stage

iii. But the loan tied the peasant to the headman and through him to the government. By making 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