Prohibition on Cannabis hits livelihood in Malana village in Himachal Pradesh as tourism declines

Following the police’s cannabis abolition crusade in past three years around 382 families of Malana are facing difficulty in living their livelihood with the fall of tourists in the village.

Famed for its charas, the people of this Himachal Pradesh village have commenced moving out of the village as the police have tightened the security on the production of cannabis in the area. 

According to the locals, the climatic condition of Malana is not favorable for the production of other crops and due to the government lethargy they are rundown of revenue basis. Paras Ram, villager of Malana who is going through a financial crisis in many years says ‘the condition of starvation is near’. 

     

He added, “Police and the administration all are after our cannabis plantation, the nation treat us as we are a different country. The government doesn’t even bother about finding a source of income for us”. According to the local residents, the number of foreign tourists who once used to visit this place in large number for the best charas in the world has declined in current times. 

  

“Cannabis was our main source of income, it was by selling cannabis we used to fulfill our basic essentials and also educate our children. Now, time has come that people treat us like criminals,” said Buddh Ram, another resident of Malana village. Now, tourists are maintaining distance from our village, he added.    

  

Cannabis should be legalized as it not only draw tourists but will also help to generate income for the government, stated Anup Thakur who is a retired DIG and president of Manali Hoteliers Association. 

Only a few varieties of vegetables including peas, grains can be grown in the time period of about 6 months and after that winter comes creating difficulties for the production of these crops. Peas were generated at high amount but it was offered less price and thus it was eventually ended by the farmers. Since then villagers has stopped growing vegetables in commercial basis. 

Some villagers have planted apple siblings but it will take years for them to fruit. According to Pars Ram, the villagers urged the government to commence bus service to Malana from the Jari village as they have to spend an ample amount up to Rs. 1, 000 for renting a taxi for one way journey every day. They also lament the transportation connectivity for this.

 Even the condition of the electricity is the same, street lights are out of order, drinking water sources are less, and same is with the telephone connectivity. The administration has planned to set up a ropeway to our village but nothing has been done so far.   

  

Perched at a height of 10, 000feet above the level of sea, once the NGO’s came forward to aid the villagers in income generation by knitting, embroidery, preparing jams and pickles but the villagers neglect it by saying that the income from this work is not enough to live the livelihood in the difficult conditions of the village. 

Ref:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-11-13/india/44028583_1_malana-villagers-income-charas