Garo Hills
More actions
| Garo Hills | |
|---|---|
| ActiveRecorded as grown here since 2000 | |
| Hierarchy | |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Growing Region | Shillong Plateau |
| Geography | |
| Country | India |
| Province/State | Meghalaya |
| Districts | West Garo Hills District, East Garo Hills District, North Garo Hills District, South Garo Hills District, South West Garo Hills District |
| Coordinates | 25.57, 90.42 |
| Landscape | |
| Area | 8,150 km² |
| Terrain | Approximately the five districts of the Garo Hills; village plots at Kuligoan and Bhoiragopi, South West Garo Hills |
| Growing history | |
| Documentation | |
| Appellations | 0 |
| Accessions | 0 |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Garo Hills is a cannabis growing area in the Garo Hills of western Meghalaya, in north-east India.[1] It takes in the districts of West Garo Hills, East Garo Hills, North Garo Hills, South Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills. The Border Security Force, with the police and district officials, has destroyed cannabis plots at Kuligoan, about 5 km from the border with Bangladesh, in 2018,[2] and at Bhoiragopi in 2020, both in South West Garo Hills.[3] It is one of the growing areas of the Shillong Plateau growing region.
Geography
The Garo Hills are the western edge of the Shillong Plateau. They reach about 1,400 m, drain to the Brahmaputra and carry heavy forest under very high rainfall. Rice and cotton are grown, sal, bamboo and lac are among the hills' main products, and most of the people are Garo.[1] South West Garo Hills, formed on 7 August 2012, is the smallest district of Meghalaya. The Koch and the Hajong live there alongside the Garo.[4]
History
Excise shops were kept at Tura, the headquarters of the Garo Hills district, but in 1893 the Commissioner of Excise, J. J. S. Driberg, told the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission that the government interfered as little as possible with the people in excise matters and kept no shops in the interior.[5] An Assam circular of 1882 named the Garo Hills among the hill districts from which untaxed ganja and bhang were to be kept out of the plains.[6] G. Godfrey, Commissioner of the Assam Valley Districts, knew of no ganja coming into Goalpara from the Garo Hills while he served there.[7] W. W. Hunter's statistical account of the district, published in 1879, said that the Garos did not use opium, ganja, charas or other intoxicating drugs.[8]
Cultivation
In October 2018 a joint operation of the Border Security Force, the police and the South West Garo Hills district administration found 14 patches of land under cannabis at Kuligoan, under the Mahendraganj police station. It destroyed three of them, which held about 400 plants of about 3 m in height, before the light failed. A release said the crop was grown for smuggling.[2] In December the force, under the supervision of the district's additional magistrate, destroyed 2,500 to 2,600 plants in 32 patches at Kuligoan. Sources in the force said that the destruction of 40 to 45 more patches would be arranged with the deputy commissioner.[9]
On 31 December 2020, on a tip-off from the Border Security Force, its troops and the Zikzak police burnt cannabis growing on more than half an acre at Bhoiragopi. The plants were at the final stage of their growth.[3]
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for the Garo Hills yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Garo Hills". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sentinel Digital Desk (28 October 2018). "Huge quantity of raw hemp destroyed in Garo Hills, Shillong". The Sentinel. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "BSF, Meghalaya Police destroy hemp cultivation". The Shillong Times. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ South West Garo Hills District Administration. "About District". South West Garo Hills District, Government of Meghalaya. Retrieved 19 October 2026.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. J. J. S. Driberg, Commissioner of Excise and Inspector General of Police and Jails". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Assam witness no. 2, p. 532 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Assam Memorandum: Circular No. 28, Shillong, 26 October 1882". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 21 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of Mr. G. Godfrey, Commissioner, Assam Valley Districts". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. IV: Evidence of Witnesses from Bengal and Assam. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Assam witness no. 1, pp. 529–530 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Hunter, W. W. (1879). "Statistical Account of the Garo Hills". A Statistical Account of Assam (PDF). Vol. II. London: Trübner & Co. p. 150 – via Wikimedia Commons.
- ↑ NE Now News (14 December 2018). "BSF destroys cannabis cultivation in Garo Hills of Meghalaya". NE Now. Retrieved 19 October 2026.