Today, the ex-army families have been served an ultimatum to leave the place by the Lisu (Yobin) Students body. The Lisu people span over territories of China, Myanmar, Thailand and claim this region as their ancestral lands. People of the Lisu community who are on the Indian side identify themselves as Yobin tribe, and have also been accorded ST status by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh only in 2018, which is yet to be ratified by the Union Parliament. Records show that Yobins too have come and settled in Vijaynagar, after the Gorkha ex-army families started to live there.

The Lisu people resent the ex-army settlers in Vijaynagar, who are mostly Gorkhas and have long been demanding that the Government resettle them elsewhere, so they can have their rightful claim over their ancestral land. This resentment against the ex-army families have led to frequent clashes and animosity between the Gorkhas and the Lisu people.

What is the contention?

This time, the reason was the announcement of the Panchayat elections in which a Gorkha lady was nominated for the post of Zilla Parishad Member by the ruling BJP party.

The Lisu/Yobin students body announced their protest against participation of non-tribal and non-indigenous people in the panchayat and municipal elections. Giving in to the pressure, the Government has deferred the polls in Vijaynagar, scheduled to be held on December 22 across the state.

The 500-odd strong mob, armed with daggers and sticks, burnt down government buildings including the Extra Assistant Commissioner’s (EAC) office, post-office, and also ransacked the local police station. Yesterday, on the 14th of December, the local media reported that 24 people have been arrested and four firearms seized in connection with the incidents.

On the 12^th of November, the Lisu/Yobin students body had issued threatening ultimatum which was widely circulated in the media ordering the authorities to “take away the settlers from Vijaynagar Circle within 10^th December at any cost. Otherwise, we will have to handle the settlers’ problem by our own standards that too without any delay, and within a week.” The language used is terrifying, and if the recent violence is any indication of the ‘their own standards’, it is outright criminal.

The real contention here is the issue of granting of Schedule Tribes status to the Gorkhas of Vijaynagar, which subsequent governments have promised umpteen times.

In 2019, when the Pema Khandu Government took steps to grant permanent resident certificate (PRC) to six non-Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe (APST) communities (Deoris, Sonowal-Kacharis, Morans, Adivasis, and Mishings, and Gorkhas of Vijaynagar), violence protests erupted across the state, led by All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU).

Succumbing to the pressure, the state government backed out and dropped all discussions on the PRC issue.

The Union Government Must Speak

As per the website of Vijaynagar All Settlers’ Welfare Association, the settlement of 200 families of Assam Rifles in virgin unoccupied, un-administered and remote border area (Vijaynagar) began under planned scheme of India, vide Letter No 210(11)/63 NI dated 22nd January 1964 (Annexure 2).

At the time, 200 families of Assam Rifles, almost all of them Gorkhas, belonging mostly to General Duty rank were sent to the hostile and inaccessible Vijaynagar ‘on line of duty’ in 4 batches and thereby grouped into 9 villages. The settlement was carried out till 1970-71 followed by demarcation of Indo-Myanmar International Border in this sector.

So, if the settlers were sent there officially by the Government of India for a purpose, is it then okay for a student body to threaten uprooting a whole community?

Is the Union Government aware that this is happening and planning to resettle the ex-army families elsewhere?

The case of the Gorkhas of Vijaynagar is different from other Non-APSTs as they did not come to this area by chance. The Ex-Assam Rifle families were forced by the then Government of India to settle in the area.

If not for these ex-army settlers, India could never have laid its claim on this unoccupied territory, it was certain that Myanmar would have made their claim on the area as a contiguous territory of Kachin state.

For India, vacating the army settlers from the region could also lead to a disaster as the Lisu people live on both sides of the demarcated boundary and share the close cultural relations with one another.

The BJP Government’s Hollow Assurance for Gorkhas

The BJP party, which is currently in power at the Centre proudly wears its nationalistic ideology as a crown and has never shied away from praising the Gorkhas and their sacrifices publicly. The Gorkha people, known for their contribution to our nation’s defence forces, has time and again used by political powers of the nation as an example of patriotism and sacrifice. At the national level, the present BJP Government’s ‘nation first’ idea has won the hearts and support of the Gorkhas living across India.

Ironically however, the Gorkhas in BJP-ruled states seem to be having trouble with the safety and security. Last year, it was the Gorkhas of Assam who suffered during the NRC exercise in the state. With a history of over 200 years and immense contributions in the process of its nation-building are still hoping that the Government will consider their request to be included under the ‘Original Inhabitant’ lists.

During the NRC exercise, many Gorkha families of freedom fighters and eminent people were left out and risk losing their voting rights, while others are still working on impressing the government to provide them the same rights and privileges at par with other citizens. Here too, the BJP ministers and leaders have not stopped giving their assurances to the Gorkhas, despite implementing the rules otherwise.

In Arunachal Pradesh today, the BJP Government has repeatedly given the assurances about providing permanent settlement to the Gorkhas of Vijaynagar and even announced of ‘New Year Gifts’. The case of Vijaynagar Gorkhas is different from other communities as they have been settled by the Government of India and sent on the ‘line of duty’ even for the retired soldiers. Such harassment of the retired soldiers and their families is unwarranted and the inaction of the State and Union Government towards providing security and safety to the settlers only reflects the lack of seriousness and insensitivity of the Governments.

In Darjeeling, Terai, and Dooars region, the apathy of the BJP party towards resolving the long pending demands of the Gorkhas, even after having mentioned in their Election Manifesto has forced the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, one of NDA’s oldest member to quit the alliance with BJP.

If at all these are any indication of BJP’s commitment towards the Gorkhas, it is perhaps time that the community starts building its own strategy and seek new alliances.

The post Ex-Army Families in Vijaynagar, Arunachal threatened of eviction – Union Govt Caught Napping appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Of course, many of those who are today fighting for the tribal status also don’t seem to be aware of this. They randomly say we want the “Hill Tribes” status back, but do not know when and how did we exactly lose the status. What most don’t seem to realize is that the Gorkhas’ demand for ST status is not exactly ‘inclusion’ but a ‘reinstatement’ of the lost tribal status.

The question to the government should be ‘why and how’ did the Gorkhas lost the status, rather than self-reassuring and cheering at public events saying “We are Gorkhas and We Are Indians.” I somehow don’t understand the sheer desperation to prove our ‘Indian-ness’ and looking for approval from fellow compatriots.

If the ST status wasn’t sneakily snatched away in the, the Gorkhas wouldn’t have to keep reminding the nation that “we aren’t immigrants and we came with the land” and wouldn’t have been called ‘foreigners’ in their own country. 

Today, the ST issue has also become an easy fodder for the politicians, who time and again claim “The government that you elected has started the process of your inclusion” or “The 11 left out Gorkha communities will be included under the Tribal list of India as soon as the Government comes to power,” and this line keeps repeating every 5 years when elections are around the corner.

But why do Gorkhas need ST:  A Common Perception

To be honest, I raised my eyebrows when I first heard about the demand for ST status for Gorkhas. Don’t get me wrong. As someone born and brought up in the Northeast, I very well understand the benefits of being an ST student – the 5% relaxation, scholarship money, job reservations, and even the legal immunity in many situations.

As a general student, when you see your ST friends availing these benefits and facilities, it is natural to complain and whine about the discrimination. However, it also made me realize very early not to keep any expectations from the government, administration, or the system. There was no other option but to pursue meritocracy in life and career. Looking back, it is indeed satisfying that I did not have to seek relaxation or reservation for anything in my life.

One day, some of us friends were discussing the issue of Gorkha ST and why it is necessary to demand ST status even after 75 years of our nation’s Independence.

ST reservations and benefits were a temporary thing to help ‘under-developed’ communities rise up in their socio-economic condition and bring them at part with the rest of the nation. Going by that logic, the tribal list should be reducing as we progress socially and economically, and not increasing.

Those speaking in favor of the ST demand, said promptly and in unison “don’t you know about the reservation in jobs, education, promotions, scholarships, and even the financial supports STs provided by the government.” Not something I wasn’t aware of.

Others talks about the lack of development among the Gorkhas, and some believed reservation will allow Gorkhas to have a bigger voice in policy-making as it would help produce more IAS officers and bureaucrats.

A friend who has just passed out from a top university also shockingly accused me of being ‘upper caste’ and inconsiderate, and bluntly said that ST inclusion was to stop the hegemony of the upper caste. I wanted to slap him, but again he would have perhaps accused me of curtailing his freedom of speech.

Another friend, while trying to console me said that even I will also benefit from the ST inclusion, because my caste also ethnically belongs to one of the proposed communities for inclusion.

I understood the concerns that at our community lagged behind in terms of socio-economic progress and development, but I was not convinced that the demand for ST and the benefits of ‘reservations and relaxations’ will deliver us from this situation. But, I felt it wise to keep quite rather than putting my ‘pointy upper-caste nose’ into it

Is the ST demand all About Jobs and Reservations?

Can the demand for ST status be boiled down to our ‘communal’ aspirations and desire for economic progress? Does it only mean benefits and reservations?

If that is the case, why would the Government add more tribal communities to the ST list after 75 years to independence? Doesn’t it expose the government’s failure to bring development and integration of people? And why would other ST communities support inclusion of more tribes in the list and let them eat away their benefits and reservations? Shouldn’t they protest?

There seems to be a lack of understanding the significance of the ST status among general public.

Being a ST community most importantly means that you are Indigenous to the land and that the land is yours. The maato—ragat (land and blood) connection is what the ST status will establish. When the land is yours, your life, culture, and traditions are tied to it, and nobody can question your rights for any political propaganda.

The ST status, to me personally will bring an end to the ‘identity’ issue the Gorkhas face in terms of being labelled as ‘foreigners’ or ‘citizens of Nepal’ – a ethno-political propaganda that led to disastrous consequences in the 1980s across the Northeast, Darjeeling hills, Terai, and Dooars. Many were killed and thousands of families uprooted in this politics of outsider/insider.

The ST status, to a great extent, will bring closure to the search for the Indian Gorkha Identity. A sense of relief that our ancestral lands and heritage will be protected. And more importantly, not to be called ‘foreigners’ and be at the receiving end of all political propaganda. And no more need to remind the country that even we are Indians.

This article was first published on East Mojo.

The post The Lost Gorkha Tribes appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

This is precisely the news headline that has kept Sikkim’s count on COVID19 positive case Zero till now, while other states of India are fighting hard to bring down their numbers. In fact, the Sikkim Government was one of the first states to announce complete lockdown of all state borders to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the state.

The Northeast, in general, has been able to contain the spread of COVID19 and have a relatively low number of cases. Early measures taken by the states have so far been effective in keeping the virus at bay. Given the fact that the region shares borders with China, the states took extra precautionary measures along the borders. The exact time and date of the origin of COVID-19 epidemic are still unclear. However, it is believed that a 55-year old Chinese from Wuhan in Hubei province could have been the first person to have contracted the viral infection in mid-November, 2019.  In India, a student from Kerala was the first COVID-19 case to test positive in January 2020. The government of India announced a nationwide shutdown on the 22^nd of March by suspending all incoming and outgoing passenger airlines, train services, and public movements.

Community Supported Self-Quarantine

The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably the most disruptive global event in recent times. We still don’t know the extent of damages by the COVID-19 virus on our socio-economic spheres. However, in all likelihood, the COVID19 crisis will certainly be a defining moment for the entire human society, not just in terms of the economic losses, but the very foundation of our existence – lifestyle, food habits, hygiene, and social interaction.

As the lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister, many localities across the Northeast had set up their barricades at the entry and exit points to restrict the movement of people in their localities. Perhaps the numerous strikes and lockdowns we have due to political disturbances in the region had provided the much-need preparedness and discipline for the lockdown.

Local clubs and volunteers organizations ensure that their localities are sanitized and emergency assistance is rendered to those in need. Public announcements and awareness were relayed to the people using microphones at churches, temples, and community centres.

While the size and less population of these states may have been an advantage for the northeastern states, the strict implementation and adherence to lockdown measure by the people is no less critical. Unlike the rest of the country, where violation of lockdown was even portrayed as a heroic act or rebellion against the government, the people of northeast already knew what is best for them.

Given the remoteness of the region and the logistic challenges, any outbreak of COVID-19 cases here can lead to a catastrophic scenario. In such circumstances, the far-sightedness and efforts of the citizens must be appreciated in making the lockdown a success. While the preparedness of the government is laudable, the most critical role of breaking the chain of virus transmission is fully credited to the people.

And the Results are Showing

Sikkim has not recorded a single COVID19 case so far. Manipur reported two incidents and both patients were cured and discharged from the hospital. Mizoram, Arunachal, and Nagaland reported one case each, and Tripura has two reported cases. Assam, with over 35 positive cases is the hardest hit among the northeastern states.

Today, the state governments of Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh are not just helping those who are living in the state but also those students and people who are living outside the states and are facing difficulties during the lockdown period. The government has been distributing rice and even transferring money to the stranded through Direct Beneficiary Transfer system.

Coronavirus Racism

While the Northeastern states have kept the virus at bay within their territories, people from the region living outside in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and other cities had to face racial slurs, abuses, and called ‘coronavirus’. In Mumbai and Delhi, there were cases of Northeastern people spat in public and abused just because they have mongoloid features like the Chinese.

Thankfully, the Ministry of Home issues a timely notification and directed the concerned state police authorities to ensure that immediate and strict action be taken any such cases of racism.

Such cases of racism was not just limited to the people from Northeast but also those from Darjeeling hills, Terai, and Dooars. The Gorkhas from this region were also subjected to racist abuse in Kolkata and other cities. I was surprised to read that people from Darjeeling and Kalimpong region were being subjected to racist abuse in Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal. What is most ironic is that the Gorkhas of Darjeeling and Kalimpong had to face racism in their own states. It’s surprising that while West Bengal claims that the Darjeeling and Kalimpong are an integral part of their state, they seem to be unable to accept or acknowledge the Gorkhas as their own.

The Left-out Northeast

While Sikkim has become a model state in preventing the spread of coronavirus, it is surprising that next-door Kalimpong which shares similar geography and border was declared a hotspot for COVID19.

When Sikkim and Bhutan shut their borders, tourists flocking to these places diverted to Darjeeling hills instead. Business went on as usual in Darjeeling hills, Terai, and Dooars with tourists and visitors continuously flowing into the region even when the neighbouring Sikkim and Bhutan remained closed. It was only when the local media started reporting the unchecked flow of tourist that the administration reluctantly initiated action due to the public pressure.

One major disadvantage for Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars are that the decisions impacting the region are made 600 km away in Kolkata. The local Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), despite all their good intentions could not effectively control the situation at an early stage because the order had to be issued from Kolkata. As a semi-autonomous body functioning under the state government, GTA officials cannot take any action without due permission from Nabanna. For example, while the GTA wanted the tea gardens to be completely shut during the lockdown, orders from Kolkata allowed partial functioning of the garden activities.  GTA had no option but to toe the line of the Kolkata, despite wanting just the opposite. The absence of local decision-making authority with the GTA has created a loophole in governance as every decision needs to be vetted from Kolkata. This was true even when Bimal Gurung and Co. were leading this body.

In an ideal scenario, the Darjeeling Hills, Terai, and Dooars region could have possibly acted timely if the decision making authority was localized, instead of having to wait for a nod from Kolkata. The region shares more in common with the Northeast than with rest of Bengal in terms of the culture, lifestyle, and geography. Perhaps, the COVID19 episode could be an eye-opener that the region could be better managed as s part of the Northeast council.

In Conclusion

Though Coronavirus has presented the world our biggest challenge, there is also an opportunity for the entire world to restart, reimagine and rebuild our future. I am hopeful that as an individual and a nation, our country will surge ahead with a different set of priorities and goals, then what previously defined us.

It is high time for our nation to acknowledge and learn from North East on sustainable living and how to be in harmony with nature.

The post India Fights COVID19: Northeast Leads the Way appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

The reasons for the exclusion could be anything; from clerical mistakes, not able to furnish documents as per the cut-off year of 1971, or inability to establish relationship and family continuity. Meanwhile, the issue has provided enough fodder for the political leaders who see it as an opportunity to display their badge of political allegiance.

Organisations and leaders aligned to the ruling parties are promising that Gorkhas need not worry, while those in opposition are claiming that Gorkhas are the target in the whole exercise. Whatever their political compulsions are, it is time that the community comes together to discuss and find a way forward for the future of the Indian Gorkhas as a whole. The bigger concern is not about supporting or opposing NRC, but ensuring that the authorities in power understand the deep-rooted history of the Gorkhas in India.

The NRC exercise, in essence, is for the benefit of our nation; to identify illegal infiltrators so that the country is secured. To dismiss the NRC exercise undertaken under the watch of the Supreme Court as a political agenda is naive, and to blindly support it because of any political compulsion is dangerous, especially for the Gorkha community.

The Gorkhas need to be wary of the exercise because we have always been seen as the ‘outsiders’ in the larger Indian context. For most people, it is easier to assume that the Gorkhas have come to India from Nepal, because we speak the same language, rather than try to understand the deep-rooted and complex history of the community. Although identified by their language and ethnicity, the Gorkhas living in different parts of India have their own unique history and its sense of identity with respect to the place they reside.

The Gorkhas of Darjeeling Hills, Terai, and Dooars

The history of Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars are complex, with multiple treaties between British India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet defining its pre-Independence status. This region was governed under various administrative regimens such as – Non-Regulated Areas, Scheduled District, Backward Tract and Partially Excluded Area. The Gorkhas of North Bengal are indigenous to the region and became part of the Indian Union along with the land, people, customs, and traditions.

The Gorkhas of North India

The Gorkhas of North India, namely Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and parts of Uttar Pradesh are as indigenous to the land as any other community there. As history speaks, the erstwhile Gorkha Kingdom extended up to Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. It was only after the Treaty of Sigauli 1816 that the borders were drawn between British India and the Nepalese Kingdom. There was no repatriation and the Gorkhas living in the territories were automatically absorbed in the land, the same way people of Indian ethnicity were absorbed in the Terai regions of Nepal.

The Gorkhas of North East

In documented history, the Gorkhas entered the North East as the British began to expand and penetrate into the resource-rich Northeast frontiers. The discovery of oil in Digboi, the coal mines of Meghalaya, the Anglo-Burmese Wars brought waves of Gorkha soldiers, agriculture workers, and labourers into the area. During the Anglo-Burmese war (1824-1826) the Gorkha soldiers formed an integral part of the British forces fighting to push back the Burmese troops advancing from the Northeast. The history of Gorkha settlement in the Northeast is well beyond 200 years and have contributed immensely in the socio-economic sphere of the region.

Soldiers who settled in India

Across the country, there are pockets of Gorkha people, especially the soldiers who chose to settle in India after retiring from their services. There are sizeable chunks of Gorkha people settled in UP, Jharkhand, Kashmir, Punjab, and even in southern Indian states. For the children of ex-servicemen, India provides good schooling, healthcare and better opportunities for the future.

Nepalese citizens who come in search of work

By virtue of the free borders and movement agreement between India and Nepal, many Nepalese citizens who come to India for work have also settled down in various cities across India. While many still hold their Nepali citizenships, there are others who have adopted India and have lived here for over two generations. Under the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016, they are today Indians like any other citizen.

The NRC process poses a huge challenge to the entire community as there is very little understanding of the socio-political history of the Gorkhas in the power corridors of Delhi. There is a story about a national leader who had visited Darjeeling some years ago and after seeing so many people with the trademark Dhaka Topi, speaking in Nepali, he supposedly remarked to his aide “Itney saarey Nepali kahaan se aa gaye yahaan” (where did so many Nepalese come from). Such is the tragedy of the Gorkhas and we must accept it as our collective failure that even after 72 years of independence, our fellow citizens and the country’s leaders do not know who we are.

It shows that we have not been able to tell our story to the people in power and the nation at large. The NRC process could be a chance to make sure that the Gorkhas are given their due as one of the original inhabitants of the nation. Given the history and contribution of the Gorkhas in the process of nation-building, it is pertinent to demand that the Gorkhas are not denied their right to belong and identity as proud citizens of India.

Together, we must approach the government to ensure that the Gorkha community, irrespective of where they live, are protected under the NRC process.

This article was originally published here.

The post NRC Issue: The Indian Gorkha Perspective appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

A report by EastMojo quotes LH Shanliana, IGP (Intelligence, Law & Order), that the Nepali girls rescued in Mizoram are believed to be heading to Southeast Asian countries via Mizoram for forced prostitution. They were rescued from Aizawl and Champhai near Myanmar border last week. A man named Lal Bahadur, who is now in police custody, is suspected to be involved in trafficking the women.

In another incident, a group of eight Rohingya women were arrested near the Assam border while en route to Aizawl. The women revealed that they were abducted by human traffickers from a refugee camp in Bangladesh and were being sent to Malaysia.

While the rescue is a huge relief for the security forces and the administration, the increasing trend of human trafficking from the remote Northeast states is worrisome. The Northeast region, until now had not featured in the trafficking route. There could have been trafficking even in the past, but the volume and number of cases coming to the ground recently are alarming.

Human trafficking, as is known in the Northeast, involves the disappearance of young people from the region, especially women. Hundreds of young people are taken to bigger Indian cities and other foreign countries where they are exploited sexually and even forced into prostitution. Every year, many trafficked young girls from the region are rescued from other places and brought back home. However, these new reports of human trafficking right at home is a cause of worry for the government and the security forces as well.

In most cases, the trafficking victims are smuggled into India through the porous India-Nepal borders in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Previously, the traffickers would directly take the victims to cities like Delhi, Mumbai and other Indian cities before flying them out of the country. However, as the security in the airports has become tighter, the traffickers are now opting for land routes, which means taking the victims all the way to states like Manipur and Mizoram from where it becomes easier to cross into Myanmar.

The security along these bordering states has been more concerned about drugs, arms, and illegally smuggled goods from Myanmar into India. It is only recently that cases of human trafficking are being highlighted from these border posts.

Mizoram, sandwiched between Bangladesh and Myanmar, shares more than 700-km long international boundaries and is highly vulnerable to human trafficking and is increasingly being used as safe passage by human traffickers. Moreh town in Manipur is notorious for illegal trades and smuggling, from cheap Chinese products to precious stones, contraband drugs, teak, gold, and arms.

The Manipur Alliance for Child Rights (MACR), an organisation involved in the rescue in Manipur, revealed that more than 300 Nepalese women have crossed into Myanmar from Moreh in recent months. The central committee of the Young Mizo Association (CYMA) reports that as many as 208 girls have been trafficked into Southeast Asian countries via Mizoram in recent years.

With the promise of India’s Act East Policy, the trade and mobility between India and Southeast Asia are bound to increase in the coming years. While the benefits of the economic development clearly outweigh the setbacks caused by such illegal trades, it is important that communities are sensitised about such issues surfacing in the region.

The authorities at the Integrated Checkpost (ICP) must be aware and remain vigilant of any such suspicious movements in the borders. There has to be a system for proper verification of IDs and travel document before people can pass, even for a short leisurely trip. While economic progress is welcome, there has to be a system in place to ensure that the progress does not come at the cost of humanity.

In the Northeast region, with 99% of its boundary being the international border, the problems and peculiarities are even more accentuated. The region is already fighting illegal infiltration which adds pressure on its economic and environmental resources. Moreover, the porous borders enable easy cross border passage for criminals, human traffickers, and smugglers. The region is economically weaker compared to other parts of the country.

Adding to the problem are ethnic violence, armed conflicts and political movements for autonomy that intersect and create an environment that is not conducive for steady employment and economic development. Such instabilities create an environment and a situation where the people, especially women and children, become highly vulnerable to human trafficking. Human trafficking is closely tied to poverty and unemployment, especially when coupled with a lack of social awareness.

In September 2018, Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir said that India’s Northeast has emerged as the hub of human trafficking in India where unemployment, poverty, migration for jobs are some of the reasons of human trafficking. Voicing concern on the human trafficking, the Chief Justice called for collective responsibility of stakeholders, state legal services authority and police to take care of the rights of the children and save them from being exploited.

At this juncture, it is also important that the Gorkha communities living across the Northeast are involved and made aware of the perils of such activities. Wide public awareness needs to be created to ensure that people do not end up collaborating with such heinous criminals, knowingly or unknowingly. While we must congratulate the police, NGOs, and local authorities involved in such rescue operations, it is high time that the communities also shoulder the responsibility of keeping a check on any such suspicious activities in their neighbourhood.

After the Manipur rescue operation, I had published a report, ‘Human Trafficking at Moreh, Manipur: A concern for Northeast India’, that received wide coverage in the regional media. The new cases have only confirmed my deepest fears and it is high time for both the government and civil societies to step up the fight against the growing menace.

The post Alarming cases of Human Trafficking via NE States is Worrisome appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

A reluctant student of Bioscience, Bishnu Thapa, wanted to take up Physics or Chemistry to brighten his job and career prospects. “It was not until my Masters Degree program that I realized what I was studying is actually a part of the environment I was living. Establishing the connection between my academics and real-life situation allowed helped me to understand how I could use my studies to help my place and community.” From what began as a humble effort to revive streams in his village, Bishnu Thapa is today collaborating with the WWF to rejuvenate 5 water bodies each in Kalimpong and Darjeeling areas.

For his contribution towards preserving the environment, Thapa was recently honored as a Local Environment Champion by Scavengers Darjeeling, a leading platform for supporting various youth-led initiatives in the region. TheDC spoke to him to know more about his projects and share his inspirational work for society.

TheDC: Congratulations on the recent honours as Local Environment Champion. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I was born and brought up in Lanku valley, Sitong-3, under Kurseong sub-division. After finishing my primary schooling from the village, I attended the Scottish Universities’ Mission Institution (SUMI) in Kalimpong for high school.

After graduating with B.Sc Honors in Botany from Darjeeling Government College and a Masters Degree from North Bengal University (NBU), I followed it up with a B-Ed course.

At present, I am a teacher at Panchabatti Higher Secondary School, Sitong. I feel fortunate to be in the teaching profession which allows me to interact with young people and the community to exchange ideas and undertake different initiatives at the ground level. In school, we organize a workshop every month on different environmental issues where students actively participate in the discussions.

TheDC: What led you to choose this untrodden path as an environmental activist?

Having born and lived in a rural environment, I have always been drawn towards nature and observe it more closely. Living in in a place like Darjeeling naturally creates a close bond and we are fortunate to witness both its wrath and beauty of nature from close quarters. 

To be honest, like many other students, Bio-science was my last choice of subject for graduation and wanted to study Physics or Chemistry honours. But as fate would have it, I ended up B.Sc Botany honours subject. It was not until my Masters program that I understood how my education related to the plants, trees, and the eco-system around which we lived. This new perspective brought me closer home to nature and I could relate my education to a larger purpose that can benefit the society as well. 

The change was organic within me and I began to share my concerns about the dying rivers and environment with friends and people in the village. Drying water source is today the most critical issue faced by the entire Darjeeling Hills at the present. But, there is very little awareness about why the sources are drying. In most cases, it is human beings who have contribute most to the problems.

Lanku Valley Society for Bio-Diversity Conservation

Together with some friends and people from the village, we registered an NGO called Lanku Valley Society for Bio-Diversity Conservation and started taking up small initiatives at the local level. We started working on reviving the local streams and water sources in the village. Gradually, we were able to build a network with individuals and organizations working in similar fields.

Meanwhile, I attend ‘Environmental Awareness Program’ and also worked for a project for the Ministry of Environment. We conducted environment awareness programs in various schools across Darjeeling Hills for about three years.

Then, we collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in a project to create nurseries for sapling production and to distribute them around the villages. Along with some friends, we created the nurseries in our own backyards and undertook the plantation activities. Altogether, we planted about 33,000 plants in about the three years during the project.

WWF stopped funding the project as we could not maintain and scaled up the nurseries. Many friends quit midway as the task was and it became difficult to sustain without enough land, resources, or proper infrastructure setup for the nurseries.

TheDC: What are some current projects you are working on?

The is no dearth of work to be done if you are working on environmental issues. With very few people working on the ground, there is always so much work waiting to be done.

Besides working on initiatives for our NGO, I also work in close collaboration with various individuals and organizations working in Darjeeling Hills. It is rewarding to work together with like-minded people on initiatives like the Zero Waste Himalaya towards raising awareness on the impact of pollution on the environment. I am also in constant touch with WWF and engaging them with ideas that are favorable to implement in the region.

Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC), Kurseong

In 2016, we formed the Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) Kurseong, a government body under the West Bengal state Biodiversity board. According to a UN mandate and under the guidelines of India’s Biodiversity Act 2002, biodiversity committees are formed at every administrative block of the government to look into environmental issues.

When I checked online I found that there were BMCs formed in Mirik, Kalimpong and other places, but not in Kurseong. I immediately took up the proposal with the BDO office and we formed Kurseong BMC with the help of the district administration. I am currently the Chairman of the committee comprising representatives from local administration, government officials, MLAs, MPs, and prominent local environment activists and organizations.

One of the first projects we took after formation BMC was preparing of People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR), a comprehensive document with every information on biological resources; right from plants, insects, micro-organisms; their genetic characteristics, climatic adaptation, and all traditional knowledge associated with the biological eco-system of the place. The report must be prepared at every gram panchayat level.

Our BMC will be eligible to apply for funded projects only after the PBR is prepared. For Sittong valley, I have completed documentation for plants, mammals, birds, and fishes; and currently working on other species with the help of some volunteers.

Biological diversity Heritage Site tag for Namthing Pokhri

The one important mission we are working towards is to get Namthing lake declared as a ‘Biological diversity Heritage Site’ which will pave ways for various ecological conservation projects around the lake.

The Namthing lake, as you may know, is one of the last homes for the rare and endangered Himalayan Salamander. As one of the most primitive living species, Himalayan Salamander is a highly sought after pre-historic specimen studies by biodiversity researchers. To get the heritage site tag for Namthing, would mean protecting the lake against human invasion and offer huge potential for conservation activities and research projects in the area.

During the WWF plantation project, we did some plantation activities around the lake. At present, we are working to raise awareness about the lake, organizing workshops and site visit for students. Recently, I also invited people from the state biodiversity board in Kolkata to video-shoot and make a documentary on the lake. We keep appraising the authorities and local administration about the fragility of the ecosystem and need to protect the area.

The District Magistrate, who is the highest authority of the BMC has assured us help and forwarded the request. I am hopeful that we will soon hear some positive developments for the lake.

Spring-shed Development Programs

I am currently implementing Spring-shed development programs in Kalimpong and Darjeeling. Spring-shed development program focuses on reviving small streams, water bodies, and innovative practices of groundwater augmentation. The idea is to reduce surface runoff of rainwater and allow more water percolates down to recharge the underground water. In the mountain regions, it is a climate adaptation strategy for the villagers dependent on springs for their water needs.

When I was undergoing the training for spring-shed development program in Dehradun, I came to know that the project has been successfully implemented across most Himalayan states of India, including Jammu-Kashmir, Himachal, Uttarakhand, and North-east. In most of these states, the government funded 100 days rural employment scheme (MNREGA) was being successfully used to build large-scale water-she projects. In neighbouring Sikkim, the program is known as ‘Dhara Vikas’ and has proven to be great success. 

Motivated by all the inspiring change stories, I went to meet our local BDO in Kurseong with a proposal to implement similar projects in Himalayan regions of the state. However, it seems the officer was unaware of such projects and rejected my proposal despite pleading request. I was deeply hurt, humiliated, and the discussion ended with a bitter note.

However, I continued to look for options in my own capacity. Thankfully, the WWF has come forward to support us and we are working hard to make it happen.

TheDC: We mostly hear about Darjeeling’s ecological environment being extremely vulnerable. How bad is our situation and what are the major problems?

Darjeeling biodiversity health is not just fragile today, it is in ICU. We are hanging on a loose knot, not knowing when the cardboards will collapse on us. Sadly, very few people and organisations are concerned about the environment issue. The issue is yet to become a political  concern and the nature continues to be exploited unabatedly. 

Everybody knows of the water problems in Darjeeling, the glaciers are drying, and the underground water level has gone down. If you are from Darjeeling, you will understand when I say that the snow-clad Himalayas in the background of Darjeeling have changed its color over the years. 

In the name of tourism development, the continue to cut down trees. Politicians and bureaucrats who are in a rush for development do not realise the impact of unplanned construction on the environment. Recently, even in Darjeeling there was a proposal to beautify the Chowrasta by clearing parts of it for constructions. It sounds very interesting on paper but the consequences of such decisions on the environment will be irreparable. Thankfully, people protested and they stopped the destruction.

In the past, people have built swimming pools over natural habitats of salamanders leading to their extinction from the region. The arrival of the unplanned concrete structures drove the pre-historic salamanders to extinction, along with a thousand other species of plants, insects, and micro eco-systems. The idea here is not to be critical of development but emphasizing on the need to do proper impact assessments and minimize the risks. We cannot not be destroying a natural water source to build swimming pools and compromise our own existence. If we do not realize it now, we will end up exploiting Namthing lake as well.

As an environmental activist, it is disheartening to see such blatant exploitation of nature every day. Many varieties of insects, birds, and animals we saw as kids are no longer seen. Look at the Red Panda, Snow leopards, or the Hornbills we saw as kids. Our children only seem them in pictures now.

TheDC: What do you think is lacking in our approach to the environment? What are some challenges you have encountered in your journey?

The biggest need of the time is a change in India’s Environment Policy of India. People who are framing the policies are unaware of the ground realities. The disconnect is the precise reason for the idea that constructions and buildings are the only indicators of development. If you ask me, our bureaucracy and political leadership must be educated on such issues. It must be a mandatory learning as part of their job orientation.

For me personally, convincing people to change had been a major challenge. Unlike other fields where your returns is tangible and immediate, the returns of any investment in nature remains largely intangible. Most people prefer to invest their time and knowledge in something that gives them monetary and immediate returns. Like being a politician, doctor, engineer, or even a soldier. What is the point of wasting time planting 100 tress which seemingly doesn’t yield any personal benefit?

In villages, people are innocent and many people take undue advantages for them. Suddenly, they would stop supporting an initiative because someone spread a rumor against it, or people stop attending programs, and some even go to the extent of stopping a project. Here, we need to be flexible enough to adapt our goals and objectives as the situation demands.

Unlike doctors, engineers, writers, religious and political leaders, there is very less reward and recognition for an environmentalist.  In fact, we are considered as impediments to development many times. It is ironical that our environment, on which everything else stands, is in such critical situation, but still hasn’t made it to the discourse of the mainstream policies and politics. 

TheDC: What message do you want to give to the youths and people reading this interview?

The point to understand that we are all working in different fields to find peace and comfort in our lives. But ultimately, what we need for survival is the air, water, and the ecological system around us. No amount of development and progress will make sense unless we have the environment intact.

We must not forget that our environment and nature is the basis on which all of us exist and stand. Without a supporting environment, all our success and ambitions are meaningless. So, we must all try to be a little more conscious about the nature around us and must personally do out bit. We are enjoying our lives at the cost of natural resources. Buy 2050, as some experts feel, human actions will be wiping off most of the earth’s marine life and will be running out of oil and gas.

It is high time we realize that human ambition and greed has almost rendered the earth hollow. We must correct our wrongs by doing whatever is possible at our own personal level. If you cannot do much, we can begin by carefully disposing our waste, save water, and natural energy.

TheDC once again congratulates Bishnu Thapa for his pioneering initiatives in Environment preservation and wish him best of luck for his efforts.

The post Bishnu Thapa: Scavengers Darjeeling, Local Environment Champion appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Today, the school is in its thirteenth year of operation and the first batch of students are in Class X. Recently, Premmala was recognized as an Environment Champion by Scavengers Darjeeling to honor local environment heroes on World Earth Day. TheDC spoke to Premmala Allay to know more about her work and bring forward the stories of our local heroes.

TheDC: Congratulations on being honored with the title of Darjeeling Environment Champion. As critical as the issue of the environment is, we would like more people to know more about such positive stories. Perhaps it can inspire us to do our bit as well. Could you tell us a little more about your childhood and schooling?

Thank you very much. My dad was serving in the British Gurkha army which took us to various places depending on his postings. I spent part of my childhood in Hongkong before moving back to BSMI school, Darjeeling for a while, and then to Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh. I did my schooling from Sri Sathya Sai School and followed up with a B.Com degree from the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Anantpur.

TheDC: What were the influences in your life and your journey to becoming an educationist?

Having lived around Puttaparthi Ashram during my formative years, it is natural to develop a sense of social work, voluntary services, environment care, and a spiritual outlook to life. The learning and experiences from the Ashram, school, and college during the formative years helping in moulding my way of life and perspective of the world.

My parents are the biggest influence in my life, my mother especially with whom I share a close bond. From them, I have learned the true value of service, humility, love for humankind, and care for the environment. Even today, they continue to serve in the Puttaparthi Ashram.

I returned to Darjeeling after my marriage in the early 2000s and founded the Darjeeling Montessori House of Children in 2005. My son was just about three months old when we began the first academic sessions in 2016. Our family, especially my father-in-law, Late Prem Kumar Allay was my rock support and helped out with everything to get me started, right from construction, renovation, and setting up the school. Having been an active worked during the Nepali Bhasa Aandolan as the president of Nepali Bhasa Samiti, he understood the need and importance of education and encouraged me all the way.

TheDC: Can you tell us more about your projects and work you have undertaken?

Managing a school in Darjeeling is a compelling but very challenging proposition. Darjeeling is an education hub with a history tracing back to the British days and still attracts students from across the world. The traditional British schooling system is deeply ingrained in Darjeeling making it one of the best destination in the country for English education.

So, when I decided to introduce a Montessori system school, it was like riding against the current. In the beginning, nobody could imagine a school without uniforms, books, and practical learning system. Montessori system encourages experiential and unconventional learning methods which were still not the accepted norm in Darjeeling.

The entire process of building a school and making it thrive in the true sense of the Montessori philosophy has been a long series of projects for me. It has already been thirteen years now and the first batch of our pre-primary students are now in class ten. It is a rewarding experience to retrospect and sees how far we have come along in the journey.

It feels good to be recognized by the community as the local Environment Champion. To me, the idea of the environment is inclusive of plants, human beings, animals, and everything in our universe. As individuals and collectively as a school, we are also part of the same environment and we are bound to take care of each other. In our school, we encourage our students to be conscious of the people, place, and the world around them.

In our school, try to inculcate the values of serving the society and volunteering initiatives, which they self-organize and manage themselves with little guidance from the teachers. The idea of Experiential learning is the core of our philosophy and we strongly encourage students to understand, interact, and appreciate the environment around them.

Outdoor learning trips, nature treks, volunteering initiatives are part of our curriculum. We also encourage students to celebrate festivals and fundraising events for community service. Rather than announcing a holiday on festivals, we encourage students to organize all festivals together as a community. Celebrating the festival makes it easy for the children to understand the festival rather than reading it on books.

Sometimes, it becomes difficult to track the number of things they are self-organizing. I remember once, they had raised some money selling Easter eggs and bunnies. With the collected money, they purchased foods and groceries for three different needy households. As the kids were managing everything themselves, some of the kids were very moved by the plights of a particular family that had many blind members.  They came up to me with a request to offer free education for one small girl from the family. Even though we are already overstretched with resources, we were all proud of the children’s gesture and did not want to disappoint their feelings. We took the girl in and decided to support her education within our means.

The best part of the whole exercise was that all the kids involved in the initiative learned their basic transactional skills when raising money, buying groceries, and managing funds for the activity. They additionally learned about planning and management skills.

During the Kerela flood last year, the students had run a campaign called Ek Mutthi Daan, meaning ‘a handful of grains’. Every kid collected a handful of rice and pulse in their ‘collection containers’. In about 4 months, they had collected about 4000 Kg of grains including rice and dal. However, we didn’t know that sending the collected goods to Kerela is a bigger challenge. Again, the students organized an exhibition charging Rs 50 entry fee for visitors. With some struggle, we did finally manage to send the collected items there.

The most rewarding experience for kids was to see 200 people being fed with the grains they collected and sent.

TheDC: I am sure returning to Darjeeling after long years and starting out with an unconventional idea must have been challenging and a long learning experience. How do you overcome these challenges?

For a person who believes in the unconventional education system, the challenge begins with the whole school system and education policy of our country. Our school system is deeply rooted in the bookish and textbook-oriented knowledge system.

Everybody wants a change and talk about reforming the archaic system, integrating ancient Indian knowledge into the curriculum, and many things. However, the fact is that all our reforms and changes are targetted only for textbooks and not the education system as a whole. It is not a holistic approach to solving the issue.

Today, there is a huge disconnect in terms of what students learn and what happens in the real world. The point of education reform is to help children realize their full potential. It is essential that our school curriculums are not just limited to accumulating bookish knowledge, but also includes life-skills, volunteering, and community service into academic learning.

In our own limited ways, we strive hard to provide holistic education to our children in their formative years. For us to have a better environment and peaceful world, it is important that the children understand the importance and the true meaning of education. Changing the system is outside of our means, but we try to do our best within our school community.

TheDC team once again congratulates Premmala Allay and the entire DHMC family for their inspiring work.

The post Premmala Alay: Scavengers Darjeeling, Local Environment Champion appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Utsow was recently honored as a Local Environment Champion title by Scavengers Darjeeling – a youth-led initiative in Darjeeling. TheDC team spoke with Utsow to know more about him, his ideas and his journey.

TheDC: Congratulations Utsow on being conferred the title of Environment Hero for your pathbreaking work towards environment awareness. Can you share a little about yourself, your work, and what drew your attention towards nature and environment?

I was born in Kurseong and studied at the Goethel’s Memorial School. After studies, I went looking for jobs in Delhi where I stayed for a couple of years. From Delhi, I moved to Hyderabad to join an education start-up in the e-Learning industry. I was working as the Product Head of the company overseeing production and delivery of learning across the country.

Growing up in the 80, we got a chance to play in Nature. During the winter holidays, we used to go swimming to Hussel Khola (local river) in Kurseong. Even during the dry winters of December, there used to be abundant water flowing in the river for us to go swimming, but the river now dries up by October-November.

On every visit, I saw the Hussel khola drying up slowly. The river was something close to my childhood memories and I felt a strong pinch to see it every year. That concern always remained in the back of my mind but I remained busy with work. At that point, I was managing multiple projects across the country for the company. The job was exciting, I was professionally growing, learning and discovering new opportunities in life. The idea of a drying river back in my hometown was something that hadn’t registered strongly in my mind at the time.

During vacations and job-breaks, backpacked extensively across the Himalayan regions in Uttarakhand, Himachal, Jammu-Kashmir, and Nepal. However,  I couldn’t help noticing the dying ecology everywhere, no matter how well you manage your carbon footprint or avoid creating waste. 

The first step is not always the easiest

In 2015, I finally quit my job, sold off my apartment, and backpacked across the Himalayas and Northeast region. I wasn’t sure about what I would do next until I landed in Uttarakhand a few months later. There, I attended an introductory course on permaculture at the Himalayan Farm Project.

The philosophy of permaculture completely resonated with me and I was inspired by what was happening in the field. I realized that the idea of Permaculture was not something new; it was more about building a natural harmony with the understanding of the environment around you. That resonated with me; it was something that I identified with.

Following the course, I found out through my friends about the Permaculture Design Course (PDC) offered Darjeeling itself by Rico Zook along with Darjeeling Prerna for about 15 years now. The PDC is a 14-day course that provides a detailed immersion into the philosophy of permaculture.

Designing and Developing a forest

After the course, I decided to start a Permaculture farm in a family-owned piece of land. It was an abandoned factory site for hollow blocks set up by my father during the 1980s. The site was not an ideal choice for a farm or nature project as it stood right next to the highway point, was crowded, vehicles passing, polluted, noisy, with a drying river passing right through the farm site. But, we didn’t have a choice.

Along with some friends, we set up the base and started working on the design. The first objective was to clear the wasteland, remove plastic pollutants, and revive plantation. We decided to pick up the most wasted part of the farm and began clearing up the area. It was true horror what we witnessed there, nothing short of molestation and disgrace of nature. The place was strewn with plastic, to that extent that we found plastic bags wrapped around the roots of a tree growing 3 feet under the ground. So far, we have collected over 3700 packets of plastic waste and planted over 500 trees in the first phase.

River Cleaning Project

The next step for us was to revive the stream that passed through the farm. Cleaning the river required larger public participation and willingness from the neighbors. When we moved in here, most people living around this area did not have a septic tank for toilets. Even human waste from the toilet was directed straight into the stream. After consultation with the people, we helped in building septic tanks for all households. From the collected waste in the tanks, we have built a system to generate compost and cooking gas.

TheDC: Is TIEEDI Forest Garden a social initiative or an NGO?

No, we are not an NGO. Very consciously, we have registered TIEEDI as a private company to make it sustainable and help people make a livelihood and support local entrepreneurship ideas. The general philosophy around the idea is that you can even convert shit into compost and find a lucrative idea with it.

The TIEEDI Earthy Dwelling farm listed on TripAdvisor has some terrific reviews of your eco-tourism project. Some people call it a spiritual experience and most of them vouch on your hospitality and authentic Darjeeling experience. Can you tell us more on this?

The eco-tourism project was a small experiment that has become quite popular with young travelers. We have received good reviews on TripAdvisor that brings us the opportunity to connect, host and meet wonderful people from around the world. We train local youth in different eco-tourism vocations and trades like homestay, hiking, and guide service to help them earn a livelihood.

While we are reviving the place, we also started exploring eco-tourism ideas and began with building small mud-huts in the site. We are currently researching ideas to revive traditional building methods using bamboo, mud, and natural resources. We are excited to learn about the indigenous tradition of treating construction bamboos with Haldi (turmeric) and Chuna (Limestone powder).

We have recently started working with local organic farmers in the region and helping them to organize under different co-operatives. We participate in the weekly Sunday Haat market in Siliguri where we sell locally grown organic vegetables, fruits, local handicrafts, home-made pickles, and different local items. We also speak to ‘conscious’ buyers and try to promote the products.

TheDC: As a full-time profession to permaculture farmer, how challenging was the job switch from the corporate to the agriculture sector?

For me, the biggest challenge was to try and change people’s mind. Most people were bemused and some thought we were acting smart having lived in the cities. Even though we were from the same place, we were still outsiders when it came down to convincing people to change something they have been doing all their lives.

So, from the very beginning, we were conscious not to take a moral high ground on anything, even though it was seemingly wrong. The idea is to inspire people to engage rather than force feed them the ‘right way’.

TheDC: What is the Next Big Project you have in mind?

We have launched a project called ‘Save 8 Mile Khola’ project, a community initiative towards rejuvenating and restoring one of Darjeeling’s last living rivers. It will be a catastrophe for the already fragile ecological system if this critical river dies. As part of the project, we regularly clean up the river beds, clear off the plastic waste,  and educate people.

But to take up a project as big as cleaning 8-Mile river is too big for the community alone. The government agencies must intervene in the efforts and meet the public mid-way. Both the public and the government need to shoulder the responsibility to bring about this change.

TheDC: How do you assess Darjeeling on the front for environmental fragility?

The situation of Darjeeling is extremely fragile due to the unplanned urbanization, dying water bodies, and rivers, changing climatic conditions. Recently I was attending a conference where the experts were discussing the pollution level in Darjeeling, which surprisingly was worse than Kolkata on many measures.

The problem is not just the creation of waste, it is also the disposal of waste. In most Indian municipalities, we simply dump waste from one place to another. But the waste is never disposed-off completely but ends up piling in another place. We recently met with the bureaucrats and municipal officials to work out on a long-term solution to the waste disposal issue in Darjeeling, rather than finding a new dumping site to temporarily fix the issue.

In our farm, we collect about 100 kgs of organic waste ever alternate day from the nearby areas to use in our compost. But, besides the little organic waste we collect, there is a huge amount of other wastes. That will require an industrial level of waste disposal and processing system which only the government can help with.

TheDC: How do you involve the community such such initiatives?

For us, the journey has been a fantastic earning experience and wouldn’t have been possible without the goodwill and support of many good-hearted individuals and organizations. People have gone out of their way to accommodate us. We collaborate closely with Salesian College to conduct public awareness campaigns, workshops, and train students on various aspects of environmental protection.

We love working with the students as they always bring some fresh perspectives and great learning opportunity on the table. Their young energy and unique project ideas are always fun to implement and impactful. Recently, we launched the ’Plastic eco-Bricks’ project where we went around different villages encouraging people to collect plastic wastes. For every 300 grams of plastic packets collected, we would pay Rs 5 we collected through donations from amongst us only. The initial findings from the project are exciting and highlight the promising potential for such community-led initiatives in Darjeeling Hills.

We also have support from businesses like  Himalayan Java Cafe who donate us their ground coffee waste for the compost. Local mill owners provide us rice husk and many other people who help us in different ways every day. My basic understanding is for any social idea to succeed, it has to grow organically from within the community. Force-fed ideas or good and bad doesn’t work until the people see the change for themselves.

TheDC: What message do you want to deliver to the youth and the community at large?

The change has to be self-motivated which only comes when people understand the gravity of the situation. Awareness and self-realization happen only when people begin to see the change happening around them.

The Darjeeling Hills, as we know is already grappling with various issues, political, social, economic, and thousand others. One critical issue in the list is concerning Ecology and Environment protection. We must not forget that the biggest resource we have here is our environment, the flora, fauna, and the natural eco-system in the Hills. The environment is the foundation on which everything stands for us. If we must make sure that the ground where we are standing is solid, many other problems will be reduced if we have this taken care of.

Once, after a tiring workshop in Darjeeling, a group of students from Salesian College had recorded a song called ‘Haamro Darjeeling’ at the end of the day. The beautiful lyrics and music were composed on the spot and published on Youtube. It is a simple song but resonates the kind of ideas we discuss and the strong connection we feel with our Darjeeling Hills.

TheDC wishes to thank Utsow for his contribution to the society and we are sure that his efforts will inspire many young people to do their bit towards the environment and community at large.

The post Utsow Pradhan: Scavengers Darjeeling Local Environment Champion appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

The most recent example of the ‘Born in Nepal’ jibe comes from none other than senior BJP leader, SS Ahluwalia, who ironically is the sitting MP from Darjeeling constituency, a Gorkha-majority region of West Bengal. Although Mr Ahluwalia promptly issued a clarification that the jibe was intended towards specific people and not to the entire Gorkha community. 

However, the point remains why such a senior and respected parliamentarian can casually use the nationality card against Gorkhas just to score a few political points against his opponents. It reflects the mentality of the mainstream political parties and leaders towards the people of our community. It also exposes how rooted the bias against Gorkha community is within the political establishments and Indian bureaucracy. 

In 2017, during the Gorkhaland agitation, Pawan Khera, spokesperson of Congress party called the Gorkha’s demand for statehood as a separatist movement on national television. Mr Khera also apologized for his comments, but the point here is not about the apology, but how could people in power and position allow such a biased mindset to exist and thrive. 

In February 2019, there was a video being circulated in the social media where an MLA from Meghalaya was seen threatening local Gorkhas in Langpih to ‘go back to Nepal’ because of a border dispute between Assam and Meghalaya. It is surprising that politicians could go and threaten people to leave a place, instead of resolving a political dispute in the spirit of the constitution.

The West Bengal government has time and again used the nationality card to sabotage the Gorkha statehood demand and accused it as a secessionist agenda. By conveniently playing the nationality card, the government continues to deny the constitutional right for self-rule and demand for a state within India’s democratic framework. 

Throughout the history of Independent India, the Gorkha community has been a victim and continue to suffer because of the political biases and untrusting leaders who conveniently play the ‘Nepali’ card to suppress the demand for constitutional protection of the Gorkhas. However, the fact remains that the demand for Gorkhaland state has always been a demand for constitutional protection of the Gorkha community within India.   

Historically speaking, the Nepali-speaking community was integrated into India after the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816 between the British Indian government and Nepalese King. Territories were negotiated including Darjeeling, Sikkim to the east, Nainital to the south-west and the Kumaon Kingdom and the Garhwal Kingdom to the west. People living in these areas became part of the new political Indian territory because the borders shifted for them without having to migrate anywhere. Following the treaty, huge numbers of soldiers were recruited from both India and Nepal to serve in the British government. 

During the Anglo-Burmese war (1824 – 1826) the Gorkha soldiers formed an integral part of the British forces fighting to push back the Burmese troops advancing from the Northeast. The Kingdom of Manipur was liberated from the Burmese king after seven years when the British and the Burmese signed the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826. 

With the settlement of the British soldiers in the region after the war, more Gorkhas were brought into the region to work in construction projects, forest, mines, agriculture workers, and local security forces. Grazing fields and the land was allocated for workers and their families to settle. Today, you will find small pockets of Gorkha community in also every part of the Northeast region. Most of the families trace back their roots to the grandparents who had come to the region as a soldier, farmer, or as labor in construction and mining fields.

A Historical Bias

Thanks to media, movies, and popular culture, the word Gorkha is today a synonym for soldiers and bravery. The legends of Khukuri have become even more potent than a nuclear weapon. The Gorkha troops have been at the forefront of nation’s security, be it representing India’s contingencies during the World Wars, wars with Pakistan, China, or India’s peace-keeping missions and UN troops. Thousands of Gorkha people drafted into the INA forces, while others joined the civil movement against the British occupation under Mahatma Gandhi. 

Sadly, however, after the Independence of India, Delhi’s political and personal biases have always clouded policymakers and bureaucracy. The biases are not new and have run deep well in the architects of modern India. The correspondence of Sardar Vallabh Patel to Prime Minister Nehru in 1951 with regards to Tibet and the Eastern mountain regions speaks volume about such prejudices. In 1979 Prime Minister Morarji publicly declared Nepali as a ‘foreign language’ to a request for inclusion of Nepali language in the Eighth Schedule of the constitution. In 1992, finally the Nepali language was included in the constitution as a scheduled Indian language.

In the 1980s, thousands of Gorkha families were forcefully evicted and displaced during the ‘Bhumiputra’ movement that swept across the Northeast region. Since then, the Gorkha community has been at the receiving end of all ’nativity’ propaganda that began primarily against illegal immigration from Bangladesh. The mass exodus gave rise to fear that the Gorkha community will gradually be evicted from across the country without the protection of a state of their own within India. Subash Ghisingh, leader of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led an armed uprising demand a separate state of Gorkhaland for the protection of Gorkha people and preserve their cultural identity in India. More than 1300 people lost their lives trying to prove their belongingness to India and demanding their constitutional right to self-rule.

A Stateless Identity

From the ominous beginning of the new political wave in the Northeast region in the 1980s, the Gorkha community has gradually been excluded from active political participation, jobs, education support, or welfare benefits. You can ask any Gorkha living in the Northeast about how discriminated they feel in their respective states, how they are treated by their fellow citizens and leaders. The ‘you are from Nepal’ jibe is an everyday living reality for the people and become political fodder for opportunist leaders and parties.

Even after 50 years since the violence of 1980s for Gorkhaland statehood demand, the fear and the issue of constitutional protection still remains unresolved. Although the Gorkha state movement withstood the test of time and remains uncorrupted by the various allegations, people leading the movement have often crumbled under the West Bengal’s propaganda and administrative pressures. 

The Gorkhaland issue to this day remains as relevant as it was in 1907 when the Hillmen association for the first time submitted a memorandum seeking separate administration for Darjeeling hills. With politicians and people in power, time and again raising the question of nationality to push their personal agenda, the threat to Cultural and Political Identity of the Gorkhas in India is still a big reality. Excluded from active political participation in most states, the Gorkha community continues to wait for justice to be delivered and inclusion into the political identity of the nation.

The post The Politics of Nationality and the Gorkha Statehood Movement appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

2014 was a game-changer for the country’s political landscape in many ways. BJP’s convincing win proved that the country has shed its Congress-centric governance and bureaucratic system. More importantly, it was the rise of Narendra Modi’s development-centric politics that sought to provide an alternative to the change-starved youngest democracy of the world.

The rise of Narendra Modi as the solution for India’s socio-economic problems also changed the political narrative of the NorthEast region, which traditionally shares very little of mainstream India’s political concerns or narrative. Since independence, politics in this region has mostly found itself aligning to the powers in Delhi. Very few had anticipated such an overwhelming response to Modi wave given to his affiliation with BJP. Today, the BJP is in power or coalition with almost every state, except for Mizoram.

However, the shift of power, one must remember, is not an ideological shift but a convenient arrangement for a promising future. And true to the promises of Modi’s development agenda, more people today have access to gas connections, electricity, better roads, than ever before. However, the recent protests against the government on the controversial CAB Bill, NRC issue of Assam, ILPs, and the reaction of the government against political dissent raises several questions as to what is it that the NorthEast wants?

Are the problems of Northeast just limited to economic concerns? Or is there something more than the economic aspect? Protests here, unlike the rest of the country, are very intense and sees wide participation from every section of the society. What is it that Delhi doesn’t understand about Northeast?

The Delhi Dilemma: Trivializing Local Issues over National Interest

Historically, the Northeast had never been emotionally integrated with the larger Indian union, and the region passed onto India’s hand because the British didn’t know anything else to do. By the time, the Japanese fighters crossed into India through the North-east, the region has already established itself as a strategic point for India’s security. It was that hot piece of bread the new Indian Union put in its mouth, but couldn’t chew because of the heat, nor could it spit out.

The new Indian bureaucracy, which simply took over the reins from the British didn’t have much idea about the region or its complex political dynamics. All decisions were made in Delhi and simply executed through the army in the region, most of the time without any understanding of the ground situation. Any political dissent was labelled an act of separatism and the army had a free hand to deal with dissent, both social and political.

The high-handedness of Indian bureaucracy and Delhi’s myopic views about the region pushed the region to a corner from where the only option to fight back was retaliation against India (symbolized by the army). Things have definitely changed over the past few decades, but the bureaucracy is still hung-over Delhi, for whom local concerns do not matter much in the wake of national priorities or interest.

Policy makers, seating in Delhi think that the problems of the North-east is purely economic. They are convinced that with development and economic progress, problems facing the region will simply vanish into thin air. Nothing can be further from the truth that such naivety. For the policymakers seating in Delhi, it is only the beautiful landscape, cultural uniqueness, and the hospitality of the people that stands out. No wonders, tourism is the most heavily promoted industry from the region and all ideas of economic prosperity woven around tourism.

Land and Belongingness: The Crux of the Issue

‘Land Rights’ and ‘Territorial Jurisdiction’ are perhaps the most important keywords that explain the underlying political current of the region. Be it the insurgency problems, ILP issue, CAB, NRC, anti-immigrant, citizenship, and every other US v/s THEM issue is a by-product of the land-rights related issues.

• Manipur: With over 40 different armed groups, the ‘fight for independence from occupation’ or to defend one’s community from external threats is a strongly territorial phenomenon. To this day, the insurgent groups are a huge stakeholder in the social, economic, and politics of everyday life in Manipur. The state holds the record for the longest highway blockade when the Naga and Meitei communities had their disagreements with regards to the territorial jurisdictions of each. The Nagas in Manipur were also engaged in a bloody civil war against the Kuki community during the 1990s because one community alleged the other one of encroaching upon their ancestral land. With three major stakeholders claiming territorial rights over the tiny state, the ‘land’ is an integral part of the ethnic identity and no amount of free gas connections, development projects, and free aids will stand in comparison when it is the question of the land.
• Nagaland: The Naga issue began with the idea that the ‘Naga people’ are different from India and have a unique history and culture. The ongoing Peace Process is part of Nagaland’s everyday socio-political narrative. Beginning with the bloody civil war waged by the NSCN and other Naga armed groups against India in the 1960s, the Naga freedom movement has been the torchbearer of all armed conflict in the region. Most other secessionist movements in the region owe their allegiance – ideologically, logistically, and arms supply. The effect of the movement is directly felt in the Naga-inhabited regions including Assam, Manipur, Arunachal, and even in Myanmar territories. Today there is peace in the Naga areas, only for the hope that the NSCN and Government of India are approaching a peaceful resolution to the long pending issue. Any threat to the peace process threatens to disturb the peace, not just in the Nagaland but across the Northeast region.
• Mizoram: The Mizo National Front in the 1960s, waged one of the bloodiest civil wars against India and seeking its own independence. The Indian Airforce carried out bombing across Mizoram to quell the uprising. While the Mizos dropped came forward for peace and reconciliation after the bombing, it went into a reclusive state trying to cope with the post-traumatic stress. In its isolation, it has emerged as one of the most forward thinking and peaceful state in India. However, the issue of land rights, fear against outsiders, and cultural issues have become ingrained in the psyche of the people. Mizoram is one place that doesn’t shy away from bringing up the secession topic as we recently witnessed in the protest against CAB Bill. Brus and Chakma refugee issues are already a huge political issue here.
• Tripura: Tripura is often cited as an example of what happens when migration is unchecked. The indigenous people, having outnumbered by migrant population, are today seeking greater autonomy and self-rule calling for statehood for the indigenous tribes.
• Arunachal: A border state, Arunachal is heavily militarized and have suffered the wrath of the Chinese during the 1962 invasion. A state with the Inner Line Permit system is implemented since independence, Arunachal has strict rules prohibiting any outsiders from purchasing property, applying for jobs, and getting welfare benefits. The government’s decision to grant permanent residence certificates to a few ethnic communities living there for decades had created social unrest, leaving 3 dead and several injured during violent protests.
• Meghalaya and Sikkim: The most popular states among tourists, Meghalaya and Sikkim strictly implement the 6^th schedule act that prevents any outsider to buy property in the state. While Sikkim has its unique history of accession into Indian Union, Meghalaya as the capital of erstwhile Assam State has seen its fair share of influxes, riots, and ethnic problems in the 1980s.
• Assam: As the ‘big brother’ of Northeastern states, what happens in Assam today follows across the region tomorrow. Be it the ‘Bhumiputra Aandolan’ of the 1980s, ULFA’s ‘freedom struggle’, or the citizenship issue, Assam has been the torch-bearer for the region’s political consciousness. Having suffered the onslaught of unchecked migration right from Sylhet referendum to Bangladesh Liberation War, and until this day, people in Assam are very sensitive towards issues of Land Rights, Citizenships, and external Migrations.

The point here is that the individual concerns of each state in the Northeast are paramount when it comes to local politics. The issue gets even more complex with the huge ethnic diversity within every state, village, and district. Yes, the region is lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of development and industrialization. But, at no point in history has the region voted only for development. This is a major reason why national parties do not flourish much in the region and local/regional parties are integral to any government that is formed. 

It is high time that the central government learn to take off its Delhi lenses and look at the region’s problem in isolation, understand the complexities, and do not trivialize their concerns as merely a development or economic issue.

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