'Draft regulations for commercial utilisation of hemp'

Moving towards facilitation of industrial hemp cultivation in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has already directed officials to draft regulations for commercial utilisation of hemp (Bhang). The horticulture department has also been directed to establish two hemp seed farms as pilot project to develop seeds with level of psychoactive ingredient Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) under permissible limit of three per cent. However, experts and even some officials point out that attempts to facilitate industrial hemp cultivation have been underway in Uttarakhand since 2010 during the term of the BJP-led State Government. In the six-year period since then, the BJP-led State Government and the current Congress-led State Government have perpetuated a cycle of technical deliberations and procedural tasks without achieving the aim till date.

Now at the fag end of the current Government’s term, the Chief Minister Harish Rawat has directed focus on tasks similar to past efforts aimed at facilitating hemp cultivation for commercial use. Recently in a meeting, officials had informed Rawat that Bhang grown in the Himalayan region provides very good quality fibres. But, since THC content in Bhang growing naturally in Uttarakhand is generally beyond permissible limit it become ineligible for commercial use. Rawat called for coordinated research involving Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry, Bharsar along with the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and the Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan (VPKAS), telling officials to import the seed if needed. A big change can be brought about in rural economy if the Bhang seed with permissible THC content is developed in Uttarakhand, the CM had opined.

However, skeptics question the intention/efficiency of the authorities. Earlier in January this year, chief secretary Shatrughna Singh had said that the State would draft regulation and manual for commercial hemp cultivation. More than six months later, the CM states the same thing in absence of any concrete progress.

Observers recall that in 2010 during the term of the BJP-led State Government, the then agriculture Minister TS Rawat had initiated planning to facilitate industrial hemp farming on about 30,000 hectares of land barren in Uttarakhand at the time. The fiber and wood pulp from this hemp was to be used for manufacturing paper and fabric in the initial stages. 

If executed timely as planned, the first batch of industrial hemp was to be sown in May 2010 on 40 hectare barren land in Satpuli and Khirsu areas. The State Khadi and Gram Udyog Board was expected to pay a minimum support price of `35 per kg for the raw fiber obtained from industrial hemp cultivated on barren land.

A processing unit was also planned for processing of raw hemp fiber and pulp. Various other steps were either planned or taken in the six years since then with little being achieved in the project. On condition of anonymity, a senior official said, “Bhang has been used traditionally in Uttarakhand for different purposes. For generations, mountain communities have using bhang fibres and high-protein seeds from plants with little THC content. Ignoring this, successive State Governments insisted on ‘developing’ seeds which would entail expenditure of crores of rupees. It now remains to be seen whether the current Government’s plan is actually executed or deferred for the next government to tackle,” said the official.