Malwa
More actions
| Malwa | |
|---|---|
| ActiveGrown here in 2000 or later | |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 23.18, 75.39 |
| Gene Pool | South Asian Gene Pool |
| Country | India |
| Provinces/States | Madhya Pradesh |
| Area | 46,600 km² |
| Growing history | |
| Earlier names | Malwa; Western Malwa Agency; Bhopawar Agency |
| Conservation | |
| Populations | none documented yet |
Malwa is a landrace cannabis growing region on the Malwa plateau of western Madhya Pradesh, India. It is drawn on the districts where the sources place cultivation: Indore, Dewas, Ujjain, Ratlam, Mandsaur and Neemuch, with the Bhopawar growing area (Dhar, Jhabua and Alirajpur districts); it stops at the Nimar region to the south. In the 1890s the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission recorded ganja grown in the Indore State north of Indore, at two villages of Dewas and, by report, extensively at Ujjain; an agency surgeon told it that cultivation went on all over Malwa.[1] Since 2022 police have reported cannabis fields in Neemuch, Mandsaur, Dewas and Ratlam districts and in the Bhopawar districts.[2][3][4][5]
Geography
The Commission took Malwa to mean the south-western portion of the Central India Agency.[1] In the 1890s the districts of the region belonged to several states: the Indore State, Dewas, the Gwalior State, whose districts included Ujjain and Mandasor, the states of the Western Malwa Agency, among them Jaora and Rutlam, and those of the Bhopawar Agency.[6][7][8] The district administration of Ratlam places its district in the north-west of the state, in the Malwa region; that of Alirajpur places its district on the south-western margin of the Malwa plateau.[9][10] The region is drawn on the districts with recorded cultivation only; Agar Malwa, Shajapur, Rajgarh and the plateau east of Dewas are left out.
Cultivation in the 1890s
Indore
The Indore State's memorandum for the Commission confined the cultivation to a few mahals of its Nimar district on the Narmada and to Sanwer, a few miles north of Indore. Over twenty years the area under the plant had ranged from 66 to 354 bighas, about 181 on average. The State put no restriction on growing it, and the memorandum observed that the cultivator "has not found it to his advantage to grow it largely, although the plant is capable of thriving almost everywhere in the State".[11] The Narmada mahals now lie in the Nimar region; Sanwer is in Indore district. The return showed more than 300 bighas from 1873–74 to 1878–79, then a sudden fall below 100 until 1888–89.[1]
The State's Minister described the crop for R. H. Gunion's memorandum on Central India. Ganja was sown in July and August in light soil near villages, manured with cowdung and ashes, with seed bought through experts. The field was weeded and thinned, the male plants removed and the crop watered about three times after the rains, and men paid four annas a day or more inspected it every week to remove inferior plants. The tops were cut in November.[12] The Commission noted that the Indore cultivator, unlike the Khandwa one, relied on experts to buy the seed and remove the males.[13] Gunion put the State's yearly output at about 900 maunds of ganja and bhang together and reported a slight decrease, which the State put down to more drinking of liquor.[14]: 160[12] The Commission found that Indore exported more ganja than it imported: 1,318 maunds went out in 1892–93.[15]
Dewas
In Dewas the plant was grown for ganja on 39 bighas at one village and for bhang on 9 bighas at another. The State believed that no other soil in it suited the plant; its Superintendent called the soil of the two villages "dry, stony, elevated, loam".[12][14] The cultivators soaked the seed overnight, thinned the plants three times and, in a check called parkhai, rooted out what they called the bhang plants from among the ganja plants. The resin that stuck to the sickle and the cutters' hands at harvest was kept as charas by the labourers.[14] The yearly output was 156 maunds of ganja and 64 of bhang, and the area was reported to be falling slightly because more hemp was being grown in Nimar.[14]: 160[12]
Ujjain
Ujjain was a district of the Gwalior State,[6] which sent the Commission no return. Gunion heard that the plant was "extensively cultivated" there.[12] The Commission recorded bhang "of a superior quality" from Ujjain.[16] Two witnesses also tied Ujjain to the seed. Pandit Gopal Ram, who reported on the Gwalior crop, wrote that Ujjain and Khandwa seed was always sown at Antri;[17] Mahomed Hassein, a Lucknow drug contractor, said that the seed of self-grown plants in Ujjain and Malwa was gathered for sowing in Gwalior and Khandwa, and that Ujjain seed he had sown in Lucknow failed to give as good a bud as the Gwalior ganja.[18]
Western Malwa
R. Caldecott, Agency Surgeon of Western Malwa at Agar, told the Commission that "There is cultivation for the production of charas, bhang and ganja all over Malwa", that he could not say to what extent, and that it was confined more or less to tobacco growers, who generally grew hemp too.[19] The Commission cautioned that the mention of charas, a rare product in these parts, meant the statement had to be taken with care.[1] Gunion reported a ganja called gorakhi, said to be made from the wild plant in the Jaora State.[7]
Gunion found "no spontaneous growth of the hemp plant in Central India", and the Indore Minister wrote that a stray plant might be seen by a road or river or near the huts of fakirs, from seed dropped by consumers.[20] Caldecott wrote that wild growth was generally unknown throughout Malwa.[19]
Trade
The Commission named Indore, Gwalior and the Central Provinces as the main sources of ganja for Central India, Rajputana and the North-Western Provinces, and judged that Indore and Khandwa were being supplanted by Gwalior.[21] In Rajputana the ganja of Bundi went by two names, Indori and Shahbadi, the second probably that imported from Ujjain, and the "Indori ganja" of Shahpura suggested to the Commission that it was grown in the country west of Indore.[22]: 124
Since 2000
In November 2022 police in Neemuch district seized 8,200 ganja plants at Palda, under Rampura police station, where ganja and opium were growing on about 10 bighas.[2] Between December 2025 and January 2026 police in the Kukdeshwar and Rampura areas of the same district destroyed more than 22 quintals of cannabis plants in five operations; the Free Press Journal reported that farmers were growing it secretly in forests and on plateau land.[23] In January 2025 police at Bhavgarh, in Mandsaur district, found 670 plants growing among garlic and chia in a field.[3]
In October 2026 Dainik Bhaskar reported that police had seized 354 plants from about three-quarters of a bigha at Kachhi Gurariya, near Sonkatch in Dewas district.[4] In Ratlam district, police from Sarwan police station found 2,948 plants growing among cotton and maize on government land at the edge of a hill at Undar on 30 September 2026; Patrika reported that cultivation on that scale had come to light in the district for the first time.[5][24] Two more raids followed in the Shivgarh police station area, at Jambukudi on 9 October and at Gunja, where 880 plants were seized from a field of maize and cotton.[25] Patrika wrote in October 2026 that many cases of ganja cultivation and seizure had come to light in the districts of Malwa and Nimar over the preceding three months.[26]
Growing Areas
| Growing Area | Status | State |
|---|---|---|
| Bhopawar | Active | Madhya Pradesh |
Accessions
No accessions documented yet.
Recent news
No news items are recorded for this growing region yet.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. IV, "Extent of cultivation, and its tendency to increase or decrease", paras. 142–146, pp. 55–56 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 FP News Service (24 November 2022). "Neemuch: Ganja crop valued at Rs 5 crore seized". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mandsaur News:लहसुन और चिया की फसल के बीच गांजे की खेती,आरोपी गिरफ्तार [Mandsaur News: ganja cultivated among garlic and chia crops, accused arrested]. Amar Ujala (in हिन्दी). 29 January 2025. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 गांजे के खेत का ड्रोन VIDEO...20 लाख के पौधे जब्त: देवास में सब्जियों की बाड़ में छिपाई फसल; एक आरोपी पकड़ाया [Drone video of a ganja field, plants worth 20 lakh seized: crop hidden behind a vegetable fence in Dewas; one accused caught]. Dainik Bhaskar (in हिन्दी). 2 October 2026. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kamal Singh (30 September 2026). कपास और मक्का के बीच हो रही थी गांजे की खेती, 2948 पौधे जब्त [Ganja was being cultivated among cotton and maize; 2,948 plants seized]. Patrika (in हिन्दी). Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Gwalior State". The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. XII (New ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. p. 429 – via Digital South Asia Library.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. XVII, "Systems of Native States", paras. 703–710, pp. 346–348 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Bhopawar Agency". The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Vol. VIII (New ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. pp. 145–146 – via Digital South Asia Library.
- ↑ District Administration, Ratlam. "About District". District Ratlam, Government of Madhya Pradesh. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ District Administration, Alirajpur. "About District". District Alirajpur, Government of Madhya Pradesh. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Indore State memorandum". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 164 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum by Mr. R. H. Gunion on hemp drugs in Central India". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 158 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. V, "Methods of cultivation and matters connected therewith", para. 215, pp. 82–83 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memorandum by Mr. R. H. Gunion on hemp drugs in Central India". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. p. 159 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. XVII, "Systems of Native States", para. 704, p. 346 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. XVII, "Systems of Native States", para. 705, p. 347 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Memo.—Ganja cultivation in Gwalior State, by Pandit Gopal Ram". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. III: Appendices, Miscellaneous. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. pp. 42–43 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). "Evidence of M. Mahomed Hassein, Drug Contractor, Lucknow". Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. V: Evidence of Witnesses from North-Western Provinces and Oudh and Punjab. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. witness no. 253, pp. 341–342 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1895). "Evidence of Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel R. Caldecott, Agency Surgeon, Western Malwa, Agar". Supplementary Volume: Evidence of Witnesses from Native States. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. Central India Agency, witness no. 7, p. 87 – via Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. III, "The existence, prevalence, and character of the spontaneous growth", para. 78, p. 32 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. VII, "Trade and movement of the hemp drugs", para. 331, p. 125 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1894). Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1893–94. Vol. I: Report. Simla: Government Central Printing Office. ch. VII, "Trade and movement of the hemp drugs", para. 330, p. 123 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ FPJ News Service (12 January 2026). "MP News: Neemuch Police Smash Ganja Empire By Destroying 22 Quintals In A Month". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ कपास और मक्के के बीच ऊग रही थी ऐसी चीज, रतलाम पुलिस के भी उड़े होश [Such a thing was growing among the cotton and maize that even the Ratlam police were stunned]. ETV Bharat (in हिन्दी). 1 October 2026. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Jaydeep Gurjar (18 October 2026). रतलाम में फिर मिला कपास-मक्का की फसल के बीच उगाया गांजा, 880 पौधे किए जब्त [Ganja grown among cotton and maize found again in Ratlam; 880 plants seized]. Naidunia (in हिन्दी). Retrieved 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Swatantra Mishra (16 October 2026). Cannabis : पग-पग रोटी, डग-डग नीर…अब खेतों में लहलहा रहे नशा के पौधे! [Cannabis: bread at every step, water at every pace… now narcotic plants flourish in the fields!]. Patrika (in हिन्दी). Retrieved 21 October 2026.
