ANSWER:-
MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)
(a) The opium cultivation in the country is carried out as per United Nations conventions on drug matters and NDPS Act 1985 for the purpose of medical use of opium and alkaloids present in it. Earlier opium gum produced by farmers was used for extraction of alkaloids for domestic use as well as for export to various countries. However, now importing countries are fulfilling their medical requirement through extracting of alkaloids from Concentrate of Poppy Straw (CPS) instead of opium gum. Therefore, at present opium is produced in our country for extraction of alkaloids for domestic use only, which has led to less requirement of opium gum. Since opium gum can be produced as per requirement only therefore area under cultivation varies every year. The State-wise details of area (in hectare) for opium farming in the country during the last ten years is at Annexure I.
(b) & (c) :- Opium Cultivation as per international convention and NDPS Act 1985 is carried out to obtain alkaloids particularly Morphine, for medical purpose. Accordingly criteria of issuing license for cultivation of opium has been changed to Morphine content present in the Opium tendered by the farmer. The amount of Morphine is scientifically measured through machines and having minimal human interference. It also takes care of both quality and quantity issue of opium tendered by farmer. On the contrary, an average basis criterion which was used earlier, measures opium in terms of its weight only as minimum qualifying yield (MQY) for licensing. However, it requires more human interference and was comparatively less scientific. Since the present method is more scientific, has led to improvement in quality of opium tendered and has also led to reduction in number of farmers disqualified for not meeting the criteria of minimum qualifying yield, Government intends to continue with the present system.
(d) The details are at Annexure II.
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ANNEXURE I
Sl. No. Crop year Name of State Area Harvested
(in hectare)
1 2012-13 Madhya Pradesh 3084
Rajasthan 2529
Uttar Pradesh 6
Total 5619
2 2013-14 Madhya Pradesh 2825
Rajasthan 2503
Uttar Pradesh 1
Total 5329
3 2014-15 Madhya Pradesh 2576
Rajasthan 2846
Uttar Pradesh 1
Total 5423
4 2015-16 Madhya Pradesh 76
Rajasthan 477
Uttar Pradesh 4
Total 557
5 2016-17 Madhya Pradesh 4511
Rajasthan 4171
Uttar Pradesh 39
Total 8712
6 2017-18 Madhya Pradesh 2600
Rajasthan 2088
Uttar Pradesh 23
Total 4711
7 2018-19 Madhya Pradesh 3065
Rajasthan 2925
Uttar Pradesh 118
Total 6107
8 2019-20 Madhya Pradesh 2242
Rajasthan 2326
Uttar Pradesh 232
Total 4799
9 2020-21
Madhya Pradesh 2495
Rajasthan 2730
Uttar Pradesh 181
Total 5406
10 2021-22
(Estimated) Madhya Pradesh 2850
Rajasthan 3142
Uttar Pradesh 201
Total 6193
ANNEXURE II
1. The details of opium production during the last five crop years are as under:-
Year Quantity of opium produced (at 70 consistence) (in Tons)
2016-17 560
2017-18 280
2018-19 405
2019-20 287
2020-21 315 (Provisional)
2. The details of codeine phosphate imported from abroad during the last five years are as under:-
Year Quantity of Codeine Phosphate imported by Government Opium factories (in Kg.)
2016-17 NIL
2017-18 15000
2018-19 12500
2019-20 20000
2020-21 11000
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