The high and mighty from across the globe made this place their favoured destination- Kings, Queens, scholars, religious personalities and royalty made a bee-line to obeisance before the Queen.

Then like all good things and times, the romance of the Queen with her countless lovers ended too- The romantic liaison that the British had with the Queen ended with them being forced out of India in 1947. The Queen was left behind like a ditched lover- sorrowful, dejected, unkempt and neglected. The new Indian Nation neither had the resources nor the interest to continue this romance.

The Queen was bored and lacked any form of entertainment and hence turned to a few clowns in an effort to stay amused and entertained. She had hoped that one of the clowns would one day mature and become King and help, both her and her palace, regain its past glory. Her kingdom and her subjects waited with abated breath waiting for this king to arrive but so innocent and gullible were her subjects that they hadn’t even heard of this old Turkish proverb which said-   WHEN A CLOWN ENTERS A PALACE, HE DOES NOT BECOME THE KING BUT RATHER THE PALACE BECOMES A CIRCUS.

This is exactly the state that the Darjeeling hills are at the moment. The Kings that we thought would lead us to the path of progress and across the beautiful and bright horizon, actually turned out to be Clowns in the guise of Political leaders, making this heaven on Earth a joke in the eyes of the world.

The issue we have is very simple- we in the Hills need a separate State of our own- keeping aside sentiments- we want it so that we are responsible for our own future, so that we ourselves can guild our coming generations into the path of progress and success, so that we ourselves are in control of what we want without making a detour vide the deep, dark, insensitive and often hostile corridors  of Nabanna. The issue is clear- we want a separate State of our own and ideally there should be no confusion in this.

This fact has been understood by the State and Central Governments very clearly. There is no confusion in their minds on what we actually want. The general public in the Hills too have no confusion on what it wants- it know that the thousands of lives that this place sacrificed was only for the cause of a separate state- nothing more nothing less- not for a DGHC or a GTA or a North Bengal State or a Simanchal Pradesh or for merger with Sikkim or for Tribal status for the remaining Hill communities. The sacrifice was solely for a separate State for ourselves.

Yet the Hills are in a confused state of mind not because the State or Central Governments are confused or the public is confused but because our clownish leaders are confused. So confused are they that each different political grouping seems to be demanding different things- some want North Bengal State, some advocate merger with Sikkim, some are demanding 6^th Schedule status and another set demanding PPS- whatever that may mean. It is hilarious to know that even those demanding PPS do not know what PPS is.  Isn’t this clownish? No wonder our place as turned into a circus- just like the Turkish Proverb quoted above.

What needs to be analyzed is whether many our leaders are born clowns or whether their clownish activities are a part of a larger game. I am not inclined to believe that they are clowns by nature but rather agencies working for the State and Central Governments have used the power of green dough to make them act in this fashion.

Harry S. Truman, the 33^rd President of the United States of America, once said famously -“If you can’t convince them, confuse them”. Truman, by the way, was the US President who authorized the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This strategy of his – confusing the masses when one cannot convince them, has been widely used by Politicians over the ages and I suspect that this is the precise strategy that the Central and State Government agencies are using to dilute our aspiration and demand.

So successful has this strategy been that the so called leaders of the Hills are running around in all directions like confused ants. Speaking of ants- like the countless working ants that constitute an ant colony, our leaders too, are now in countless numbers. Any person, who can go before a camera and speak a few words, starts thinking of himself or herself, as a political leader. There is a glut of Politicians in the Hills at the moment- each braying for the others blood- all while the world laughs at us. It is always better to be ruled by one Lion King than be ruled by a hundred clowns.

All this while people like me and all other hardworking, innocent and sincere citizens of this Queen of the Hills, desire nothing more than a separate state of our own. We can only hope that all of these so called leaders get together and at least demand just one issue rather than falling trap to the cunning strategy being employed against us.

If this is not a circus- then what is?

Let the clowns not turn the palace of the Queen into a circus.

The post OF THE QUEEN AND THE CLOWNS appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

The PIL was directed against non-holding of municipal elections to three Hill municipalities of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik for more than two years since the term of the last elected Board of Councillors expired in April 2022, without assigning any reason for such “inaction”.

The petitioner submitted that the process for holding elections was initiated in 2022 but was abruptly stopped for reasons best known to the state.

Initially the court was heard complaining that elections to other bodies, panchayats, cooperative societies and even student union councils had not been held in the state. They almost sounded helpless, against the non-compliance of their orders by the WB State administration.

Anand Bhandari the lawyer for the petitioner, drew the attention of the High Court (HC) to the SC judgement in Kishan Singh Tomar vs Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad [case no: Appeal (civil) 5756 of 2005, where the appellant had filed a Writ of Mandamus to direct the Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad and Gujarat State Election Commission to take necessary steps for holding elections for constituting the municipal corporation before the expiry of its duration.

The Bench of CJ Sivagnanam observed, the grievance expressed by the petitioner is fully justified and there can be no quarrel with the legal position that elections need to be conducted as per constitutional mandate.

The bench also observed that the Supreme Court, while dealing with the appeal in the mentioned case, took note of Article 243U of the Constitution which deals with duration of municipalities.

The Supreme Court judgment reads, “… for the independent and effective functioning of the State Election Commission, where it feels that it is not receiving the cooperation of the concerned State Government in discharging its constitutional obligation of holding the elections to the Panchayats or Municipalities within the time mandated in the Constitution, it will be open to the State Election Commission to approach the High Courts, in the first instance, and thereafter the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus or such other appropriate writ directing the concerned State Government to provide all necessary cooperation and assistance to the State Election Commission to enable the latter to fulfill the constitutional mandate.”

HC observed: “Despite the constitutional mandate and the observation of the Supreme Court, we find that the State of West Bengal has not taken any action to hold elections and form Board of Councillors for Kurseong and Kalimpong municipalities, and Mirik notified area.”

The court directed the Principal Secretary of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department to consider the representation of the petitioner and “take a proper and legal decision bearing in mind constitutional mandate and the Supreme Court decision”.

“It is high time the state notifies the election to be conducted. The directions shall be complied with within six weeks from the date of order. The authority should also take note of the mandate under the relevant provisions of the West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993,” the court ordered.

The post KURSEONG, KALIMPONG and MIRIK MUNICIPALITY ELECTIONS – Calcutta HC Gives 6 Weeks to WB Govt appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

The data, it turns out was used by their employer eKart Vendor CABT to take out loan without informing the victims.

We are fearful that what happened in Mirik is just the tip of the iceberg, and there is every possibility that the company’s extent of financial misappropriation, if it can be called that, or straight out financial fraud, may in fact be far wider. Involvement of App-based loan companies KarmaLife and InnoFin in this whole murky business exposes the dirty underbelly of FinTech start-ups, that may be duping thousands of victims, without their knowledge even.

The Mirik eKart Case

The story began to unravel on the 5th of January, 2023 when Nikhil Rai, a 19-year-old “wishmater” (a term used for the delivery executives of eKart) decided to get a loan sanctioned by some bank. He wanted to buy a car, as he was needed to travel often. Surprisingly the bank denied him loan, as he had a very low CIBIL Score.

Shocked, he sought details, that is when the Bank Staff explained to him that on proceeding with the preliminary formalities, the bank staff checked his CIBIL score – which is a measure of an individual’s credit health. The score ranges from 300-900 and higher the score, higher is the chances of you getting your loan approved. Nikhil’s score was low.

Surprised further, Nikhil inquired as to why that would be the case, as he had never taken out any credit. That is when the Bank Staff informed him that according to the records available with Credit Score rating agencies, he already had an outstanding loan of Rs 11 Lakhs on him. When Nikhil insisted that he had never taken any loan ever, the bank staff thought that it might be a technical glitch and made another check, but the result didn’t change.

Nikhil was still very sure that it would be a technical glitch, as would any other 19-year-old guy be on hearing the same. He then called on his friend and colleague to check his CIBIL once. Surprisingly, the friend had the same amount of loan amount reflecting on his CIBIL report too. It was slowly discovered that all of the 13 delivery executives or ‘wishmasters’ of eKart working in the Mirik Branch had loans withdrawn against their names with the amount ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 21 lakhs and averaging around Rs 10 lakhs.

What is interesting is that some of these loans were being repaid by some third party, also outside the knowledge of the employees.

Few important points to note here:

• eKart is the delivery wing of e-commerce giant Flipkart, that delivers products for the online shopping platform. But however, eKart is not directly operated by Flipkart, but it is done through a vendor – in this case a company named Creativity at Best Technology (CABT). So the victims were the employees of CABT Logistics.
• CABT paid the salary of these employees through an app called KarmaLife (karmalife.ai).
• The app or website required all of them to upload their personal information and documents on it for profile activation.
• The loans are showing to be sanctioned by a company named Innofin.
• InnoFin is one of the partners of Karmalife, where the employees were made to open their accounts.

On discovering the situation, the victims tried to communicate the same to the company employing them (CABT), to which they were assured that it was nothing but a technical glitch and that it would be fixed in few days’ time. The victims, however, were highly suspicious that it wasn’t a technical glitch and that their data and documents were leaked through the KarmaLife app, and later used to draw the said amount of loans by the culprits. It is important to note that the suspicion arises by the fact that the problem was only visible for all the delivery executives who used KarmaLife to receive the salary, whereas their colleagues doing the office work, who would receive their salaries in their accounts, did not have to face the same.

The victims together shut down the operations of Ekart in Mirik immediately. Following the graveness of the situation, Suman Malik, the area manager of CABT visited Mirik and met the victims and assured them that the issue will be resolved within the next few days.

Nonetheless the victims decided to report the case with the police and on the same day i.e. 7th January and a formal complaint was filed by them at Mirik Police Station. Later the victims also filed a complaint with the SDO, Mirik on the 10th of January.

Acting on the complaint, the area manager of Ekart, Sumon Roy was taken into custody immediately, however he was released on bail. The lawyers of the company also met the victims on the 9th of January and assured them that their issue will be resolved in a maximum of 4 days from then.

While corresponding with TheDC, the Mirik Police expressed that they have taken the case seriously from the very first day and that the investigation in continuing. The Officer-in-Charge (OC) maintained that all the necessary steps had already been taken, from filing of the FIR to forwarding the case to the court. He further said that the case was now being investigated by the Cyber Cell, and that even though cases of such nature need time to be resolved, they would do their best to get it resolved at the soonest possible time.

We also tried to contact KarmaLife for their comments, but till date we haven’t receive any response from them.

Modus Oprendi

We tried to understand the method of association of the delivery agents with the company going by the details provided by one of the victims named Subham:

Subham had got information about the job from one of his friends, who was already employed in the company as a delivery executive himself. After agreeing to take on the job, he received a telephonic call from the HR, who confirmed his employment. He had to submit copies of his Driver’s Licence, Aadhar Card, his phone number and personal details along with a photograph as a part of the official formality. He, however, didn’t receive any contract or document as a proof of his employment, except for an employee id.

He was told by the office that it was mandatory for him to open an account in KarmaLife app to receive his salary, as so were all the delivery agents. The instruction came down from the company’s management through the team leaders and the office operators.

According to him, he had to provide his own contact number to register an account at KarmaLife. Also, he holds that he had never shared any OTP with anyone, neither did he receive any message or email about any loan getting sanctioned on his name. However, loan had been taken out in his name.

After the case coming to light, several other Delivery Agents employed by CABT from Bijanbari and Sonada have also come up with the same complaint.

When we contacted the Area Manager of CABT, he did confirm that it was CABT that mandated the employees to register to KarmaLife App, but declined to provide any further details citing that the same could be taken from the company’s lawyers, who we failed to connect to despite our attempts.

Questions Galore

Now, there are few important questions that come up here:

• Why would CABT mandate its employees to have an account to receive their salaries in an app primarily providing loan services?
• How would KarmaLife or InnoFin Sanction Loans of such huge amount without KYC verification of the people concerned?
• How would loans of such amount be sanctioned in the name of such young people who did not have an extravagant income to match the amount of loan?
• Is it a case of identity theft and fraud, or also a case of large scale money laundering, as most of these amounts were getting paid as well in a rather very quick period of time?
• Is Mirik just a tip of the iceberg, with such cases possibly spread all over the district, state or even the country?

As of today, the case is yet to be heard in the court. The delivery boys have found that their loans were cleared.

However, what no one seems to know is, who took out the loan, and for what purpose?

Being based out of Darjeeling, we have limited reach in financial journalism circles. However, if anyone with good enough reach wants to continue investigating this case, we would be more than happy to share the details we have unravelled so far. On our part we will emailed the details we have uncovered so far to the Reserve Bank of India, and the Ministry of Finance.

The post MIRIK “JAMTARA”: How eKart Vendor CABT Took Out Loan Using their Employees Personal Data appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

The report has been made public, only now.

The Committee constituted on the 13^th September 2021 has highlighted some of the prominent issues plaguing Darjeeling Tea industry and suggestive measures to overcome the problems with an aim to bolster the efforts of the government in achieving long-term sustainability of the performance and growth of the tea industry.

Here’s an overview of the report which we found it relevant to the people of Darjeeling Hills, Terai, and Dooars:

Land Rights to Tea Workers

The report takes note that “the tea garden workers in Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars do not have land or ‘Parja-Patta’ (land rights) on their ancestral tea growing lands. To dwell on their ancestral homes, they must send at least one family members to work for the tea company. On failure to send a family member for work, they lose their rights to live on their ancestral lands. Since the land rights are vested with tea company, there have been instances when the aged workers having no children were denied the right to even repair their houses on their ancestral lands.”

The Committee notes with dismay “the plight and deprivation of the tea workers and deplores the feudalistic set up in the region to alienate tea workers from their basic land rights despite seven decades of independence which starkly undermines the clarion claims of 7 successful land reform movements in the country”.

It further notes that “the perpetual struggle of tea workers to seek rights for their own lands not only for living but even for burying their dead family members is unfortunate and saddening.”

It strongly recommends the Government to immediately undertake a detailed scrutiny by a dedicated body of eminent persons on the present status of land rights or ‘Parja-Patta’ of tea workers of the region and take corrective reform measures to ensure land rights to tea workers.

The report recommends that “a specific legislation needs to be enacted which recognizes the rights and ownership of small and marginalised tea workers to their ancestral lands and resources.”

Decent Living Wages for Tea Garden Workers

The Committee takes strong note of the “merger wages being paid to tea workers of Darjeeling and other areas of North Bengal, which is below the statutory threshold of minimum wage in the country.” It notes with concern that “insufficient wages which are minimal to the extent of not meeting the basic needs of workers manifests a severe crisis in the tea sector.”

The Committee recommends that the Government must take all efforts for the upward revision and fixation of a minimum daily wage of tea workers. The threshold of minimum wage should be fixed only after a consensus has been reached between tea planters and tea workers’ unions which would ensure the workers an adequate wage that increases their purchasing power and keeps pace with the cost of living.

The Committee also recommends the Government to expedite the implementation of Code on Wages, 2019 which would give a legal force and clarity on ‘in kind’ components and monetised value of facilities in a wage component.

Welfare Measures for Tea Workers

The Report has noted the abject working and inhumane living conditions of tea labourers and the blatant violation of socio-economic justice wherein workers, with many female workers have to endure an abysmal and dismal life with no access to basic amenities and living standards.

The report views that inadequacy and lack of political will in executing Plantations Labour Act, 1951 has led to deterioration of working standards of tea labourers. 

It recommends the Government to endeavour for ensuring welfare measures, health and housing benefits and decent working conditions for labourers in tea sector and implementation of Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 which would stipulate obligations for providing welfare benefits in both cash and kind components to the tea labourers.

Small Tea Growers

The committed has taken cognizance of the emergence of Small Tea Growers (STGs) as primary stakeholders in tea sector and the need to bring them under the purview of promotional schemes of Tea Board. The committee has proposed that a policy review to be done for making specific regulations for STGs produced tea as GI registered product at par with 87 tea estates.

The report also recommends that “Proper channels for marketing of tea for the tea growers should be devised and an e-auction centre should also be established in the Darjeeling district.”

The Committee report also recommends several structural changes in the functioning of Tea Board, disbursal of pending subsidies to tea gardens, and that the role of Tea Board should be redefined as a facilitator instead of a licenser.

Another important recommendation noted in the report is that “the Department should prepare a database of plantation workers at the earliest for extending welfare facilities to the targeted beneficiaries through Government Schemes or Direct Benefit Transfer.”

It also recommends “speedy implementation of Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 which would stipulate obligations for providing welfare benefits in both cash and kind components to the tea labourers.”

Another important recommendation that the committee has made is that with women comprising the bulk of tea garden workers “warrants their empowerment by encouraging their participation in Tea Trade Unions and Associations. The presence of women labourers in decision making would thus ensure resolution of issues that concern their welfare and development. Also, anganwadi kendras for women and children, Ayush health and wellness centres, skill development centres and proper education facilities should be established and facilitated for the overall well-being of women labourers.”

It may be noted that Darjeeling MP Raju Bista was inducted as a member in the Committee constituted in 2021, and he has since actively pursued this Darjeeling and Dooars tea industry related issues in the Committee.

Besides representative of tea garden and planters’ associations, the following tea garden workers’ union and representative of Small Tea Gardens from Darjeeling Hills Teai and Dooars region have testified in the parliamentary committee meetings and their statements have duly been recorded and considered in the report.

• Darjeeling Terai Doars Chia Kaman Mazdur Union (DTDCKMU)
• National Union of Plantation Workers & Indian National Plantation Workers Federation (INPWF)
• Himalaya Plantation Workers Union (HPWU)
• Bharatiya Tea Workers Union (BTWU)
• All India Plantation Workers Federation & Cha Bagan Mazdur Union (AIPWFCBMU)
• Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers Associations (CISTA)

You can download the detailed full copy of the report below

The post Parliamentary Standing Committee Scathing Findings on Darjeeling and Dooars Tea Industry – Recommends Legislative Action for Ensuring Parja Patta Rights and Other Reforms appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

We, the CONCERNED YOUTH OF HILLS, would like to draw your attention towards one of the well known yet least cared issues of the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong (GTA region) : the problem plaguing the education system in the hills.

We all are well aware about the crucial role a good education system plays in shaping a good society. A well educated individual in any society is an asset who will go on to help in building a society, a state and the nation.

However, the current situation of the hills as to the subject matter is grim and gloomy. Few issues that we would like you to look into includes :

1. It has been more than two decades since the hills saw any official and formal form of teacher recruitment. The last time the hills had a recruitment agency was in 2000.
2. Present recruitment of the teachers are being carried out on the basis of the political party affiliation of the candidate.
3. Most of the candidates so nominated are not even eligible to teach as they lack required educational qualifications like B.Ed. or D.I. Ed., thus clearly violating the norms set by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE ).

All these issues and problems will ultimately have severe repercussions on the quality of education that a child receives. When quality is compromised parents (especially the poor ones) are likely to find it pointless in sending the children to schools reducing enrollment of the children.

This will clearly go against article 21(a) of the Indian constitution which provides for right to free and compulsory education to the children from age 6- 14 years.

Moreover, at the time when the government is trying to increase the enrollment ratio in schools such situation will act as a drag to the initiative.

Furthermore, article 16(i) of the constitution provides for the right to equal opportunities in employment. But when the education received itself is of poor quality how will right under the article play out is also a serious concern.

Therefore, considering all these issues and its consequences, we would like to place before you a sincere request to kindly look into these matters urgently. We would be more than happy to be included and provide our support in whatever plans and initiatives that you will devise to address these issues.

Thanking you,

Sincerely
Concerned Youth of Hills

The post OPEN LETTER to the Hon’ble West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee by Concerned Youth of Hills appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

“If one follows the current political status of hills, or is a social media enthusiast, every day or other one will see news of J.C.B. making some roads in some particular village, or some political party stating we have build roads and have so and such numbers of J.C.B. working round the clock.

Just, for enthusiasts who spend hours watching an activity as trivial as digging soil by J.C.B. it is actually named J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd and is a British multinational corporation, named after the initials of the name of its founder Joseph Cyril Bamford.

The administration and the government, which in fact should be doing such development works is the happiest after the villagers, because why bother there are these social workers party which will reach and do the work which is prerogative of authorities.

Building roads, providing connectivity in the name of social work, well and good, but, come this monsoon, their unplanned act in the garb of socio-politics will bring chaos in the villages where the machine has run.

The already fragile Darjeeling and Kalimpong Himalayan region, under stress due to rising population will be more affected due to the unplanned activities of the political party. When a J.C.B. moves it will definitely put more stress on the land (above and below), it is causing deforestation and most importantly soil erosion, which will have catastrophic consequences for the people as it is destabilizing the entire belt.

The point is have they got the necessary N.O.C. from the authorities, do they have engineers who have plans in place for the use of the J.C.B. while building roads? Do they have Environmental Impact Assessment done? Do they have the plans for the most important thing while constructing roads: Drainage System? Are they prepared for the worst case scenario? The answer in all probability is NO

We have villages on hilltops, we have villages in the middle and we have villages at the bottom. Without a thought, just for the sake of garnering votes, some Foundation, “Our Party” or ” Their Party” is rampantly digging the soils of our hills. What if their rampant act of so called goodwill will bring an entire village situated on the top crashing down due to a landslide caused by their digging.

Unplanned acts of such use of J.C.B. should not be used by the learned, new age “Facebook Born Leaders” and also the age old cunning fox political parties, your acts of emotional blackmailing of the already emotional hill folks will have disastrous impact on the ecology.

Especially to the one new political party born after working for years under the mentorship of the Father of Gorkhas Lt. Shri Subash Ghishing, if you believe your song “Maya Nai Ta Ho” “Maya Nai Ta Ho” kindly think twice for the sake of our land!

A Concerned Citizen

The post The Politics of J.C.B appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

I had never noticed the thing, but then the sparrows were long gone from our place, or maybe we killed them ourselves. Sparrows were the most common birds around during my younger days and so I never paid a heed to notice them carefully. But then, in the pictures they looked more beautiful than they ever did.

I suddenly went back to the time when I was a kid who was in his lower classes of nursery school and of which I have only some faint memories left – the time when the street down my village was still to be carpeted. The good old years when snowfall was a yearly phenomenon and the sparrows, as I say, were to be seen abundantly.

I slowly started reconciling things and how the events unfolded to change everything around completely and this was the first time I was contemplating about it. The changes were moving too slowly under the shadow of time and things were too blurry for us to be thinking that something wasn’t okay; something wasn’t as same as it was yesterday.

I was growing up during the days when there were less than half the numbers of homes around our village than we have today, and I am sure it was the same for the rest of the town. A significant part of the village was green and things overall were very different – more like a John Denver song painting your thoughts under a starry sky over a glass of wine.

It is not only about the sparrows, it is significantly everything that I don’t see around our place today and the things that hold a massive chunk of my childhood memories. We would have a lot of pigeons around, and when I say a lot I seriously mean a lot. Now Chowrasta and the Chowk Bazaar are the only places left where you can see a considerable number of pigeons, while regular places and the house roofs are limited to rare visits by a few pigeons.

The Ruppees and the Doves can only be spotted if you walk through the very little forest like areas left around, and provided you have all the luck of the world. The persuasions were deep back then- Persuasions of going outside and play, to create a bond with the nature, the greenery and the trails.

Talking about the plants and trees, the only one to sustain the hard hit blow of development are the pine trees that even after losing too many of the ones in their family still manage to stand the ground. The Sisnu is trying its best to survive on the last remain patches of unused land, creeks and slopes or along the sides of the jhoras. I remember my first encounter with sisnu when someone had tricked me to hold its stem, leaving me in pain and tears. The same person later suggested me to apply my mucous on it for relief. Since then, they had been a part of my growing up. From creeping under a bush avoiding any contact with it while we walked through the “shortcuts” during our play time, to tactically slipping your hand inside the bush to recover your chungi or cricket ball – sisnu has stood it all. The epic memories however are of those threats from your parents and teachers to treat you with sisnu pani, that too “nangai paarera”.

Ban Maara and Tittey Paati on the other hand would be the instant remedial herbs for cuts and wounds sustained during the play. And similarly we would have Gol Patta for sore throat. They would be anywhere and everywhere throughout the hills. And these days when one has funeral at his place, he has to go around searching for tittey paati.

A few minutes of thought lead me to realise that the list was not limited to Banmaara, Tittey Paati, Sisnu or Gol Patta. Isskus, that would grow anywhere wildly, now only responds to cultivation. Gham Phul (small sunflower like flowers), Ghanti Phul, Powder Phul (small purple flowers with powdery white substance over them), Aiselo, Asera, Timbur, Aaru Cha, Aaru Bagara, Unyu (ferns), Bhadrasey, Thotney, etc are almost lost too or atleast are reduced to grow only at a handful of places. Even the Saipatri flowers these days are only to be seen at the market during the festive season and nowhere to be grown, except for a few privileged gardens of course.

The butterflies no longer are seen sprinkling their bit of beauty over the place, neither does the dasai kira feels itself homely with us. The kids no longer may catch lady buds from among the bunch of flowers and the friends may not be able to stick up the sticky wild leaves on each other’s back.

They certainly won’t know the feeling of sitting under an aiselo bush and enjoying the sweetness of the yellowish or orange berries on it. They won’t be loading their bamboo pyaat-pyaateys with aseras and timburs to hit each other. The wild yellow flowers won’t be a part of their play.

We have sadly killed the sparrows, the pigeons and all the unique plants we had. I don’t remember if the sparrows made a sound, but then its absence adds on to the silence in a distinct way. Our good luck now remains limited only to the milk containers these days as a pair of Ruppee would never make its way back to our home. The butterflies if alive should be missing all the flowers and the dasai should be missing the dasai kira. There are no stories of hunting down Kalej into the jungles, neither are there the mesmerising songs of Gauthali. No paraal and no khar. The only khar ko ghar to be seen anywhere would be the one below the tea stalls of Chowrasta, serving the photo interests of the tourists.

The post The Lost Charm of Darjeeling: Of Bhangera and Aiselo appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Before the agitation,in the mid eighties, Mirik was a well planned town with sewage lines laid all over the town area along with the lake and the tea gardens, which was considered to be one of the finest. Many felt that the Tourism department then was one of the most organized and uncompromising department with strict legal action taken against encroachment and even cutting of tree branches in the area.

However, with urbanization the hamlet is gradually losing its green cover and beauty, with encroachment on tourism land having become a major issue. Many have even started to occupy the lake and have started filling it with mud and sand so that they can build houses on it. In the past NGOs and social organization did come forward to protest against it but their efforts were in vain with the encroachers aided by political influence.

In the year 2012 a huge number of dead fish also turned up in the lake. Due to the wide spread panic of the locals, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration took steps to clean up the lake following which the labourers who took up the task developed rashes and other diseases. The then GTA chief also summoned all the stakeholders of Mirik and declared the lake water as toxic and saw the need of cleaning it as early as possible. A pandemic starting from the lake was also feared, as most of the houses around the lake area does not have a septic tank and the effluents along with waste water from washing clothes and dishes contaminating the lake.

Shops, hotels and houses have mushroomed in and around Mirik lake without any proper drainage or sewage line.

A multi-crore project for a Sewage Treatment Plant was also sanctioned, while work for it has started it remains to be completed.

Before the first Covid lock down, the Fishery Department had also started a project to clean the lake but later on it was handed over to the Mirik Municipality. The civic body only ended up making the pathway narrower on the already encroached lake.

Our readers have sent us a photo of human waste floating on lake, showing the present pitful scenario.

The ruling government had promised to make Mirik a model town but it’s a sorry state of affairs that nothing much has changed.

Hope the administration looks into it and takes some course of action.

Writes: Yawan Gurung

The post Mirik Lake (Sumendu Lake) is Turning into a Sewage Dump appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Within the 2nd month of agitation, I was ready to set a new venture of life in a new city. I did not know the experiences here would change my whole perspective of Gorkhaland. The subject of my master was Folkloristics. Now I am pretty sure that brings a lot of questions to your mind.

Folklore studies, also known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folklife studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. (Source: Wikipedia)

“Folklore generally refers to cultural expressions, such as narratives, jokes, beliefs, proverbs, legends, myths, music, songs, dances, costumes, food, and festivals, through which individuals and groups shape and disseminate a shared identity.” (Source: Sanja Magdalenić, 2008).

Everything I learned within those two years, I compared almost every culture to our culture. “Darjeelingey Culture”. Being from the early ’90s, I have seen the world change. How those rough, dry, and cracked hands playing “Deep Goli” has changed to smooth-sanitized scroll the phone hands. Guilty much? You won’t be after reading this all.

With this coming of different Boards such as Mangars, Lepchas, etc. People have been aware of their culture, to become tribal for the privilege of ‘quota system’. For the love of my ancestors and the land, I started digging, I still am and I pray it’s worth a diamond to crown our hills once again with it.

I was a Mangar who had no self belongingness to my tribe. I never got the chance either and neither did my parents. I never learned my language which comes with our scripts. The truth is most of us living in towns and cities do not have the native tongue. Not proud, but, the amalgamation of so many tribes in our hills gave birth to a new culture “Darjeelingey”. We don’t have Dhokas, Jhyaal, Dai, Taal, Doong-ga and so many much more. Nonetheless, In the process of forgetting our culture and language, we gave birth to “Darjeelingey”, creole or pidgin is yet to be seen.

When the life was beyond looking at the screens and torches were of woods. We all have had that storytelling session with the eldest member of the family. Boju’s are the best, no doubt. They tell stories that have happened to them, their friends, or foaf (friend of a friend). During my dissertations, I decided to work on the same. Since then I like to call myself a ” Safekeeper of Stories”.

Darjeeling on a serious note, needs more scholars, researchers, healers, storytellers/keepers, dreamers, and believers now more than ever. If you still do not spend time with your parent’s generation, the last of Story-Tellers will be gone. You will be left with “memes” and I seriously do not want that.

I am not sure if there are any Folklorists at Darjeeling as of now. But I assume this will suffice you to become one.

Writes – Aditya Mangar, If any further queries regarding the subject I would be happy to help – Facebook, Instagram.

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Sadly with modernization, plastic crèches/cots have replaced the simple organic Kokroo and with it so has the practice of placing the two deadly weapons forgotten.

In the Hindu-Buddhist, shamanistic ritual system, roughly consisting of Jhakri, Dhamis, “Mata Utreko” and many others, Sishnu was the ultimate weapon to defeat the evil spirit.

Both the possessed and the Shaman would chant and shake vigorously, on the rhythmic beats of the dhyangro (drum) and bells, while the room filled with the unbreathable smoke coming out of the burning juniper. Achheta (rice grains)would be blessed by the shaman and thrown at the possessed.

“Apuuii”!! still the evil spirit didn’t leave the innocent, “tesko bajey ko ta” “lu khaa” out came the ultimate weapon: “Sishnu-Pani ko chutai”. With the treatment of the Nettle-Water combo, the evil spirit would take the route of “taap-singh”(run away) and never bother the innocent natives.

Sishnu was the Brahmos Missile, and more powerful than the Iron Dome of Israel that could combat and control spirits, ghosts, and witches.

I don’t mean to keep up the superstitious customs, nor am I demeaning the shamanistic cultures (anthropological) but just want the readers to travel back in time when life was more simpler and pure like the Kokroo and hill folks merrier!

Ahh! Let’s change the topic, it’s getting too complicated, let’s walk down memory lane now. Going to swim in the khola (rivulet) would be the best pastime during our childhood and plucking ripe oranges, guavas, aruchas or any seasonal fruit from the orchards of others would be the accompanying ritual. Now doing this meant trouble as sooner or later one would definitely encounter a brush with the sishnu and screams of pain “aatha polyoo” would be heard loud and clear. The only thing that would undermine/heal the pain and the “damra” of the sishnu “poling” would be the ultimate winter medicine: Signan(snot)flowing naturally due to the sting. If the one who got stung, didn’t have the required dose of the Signan there would be a perennial Signaney friend in the group whose waterfall never stopped cascading from his red nostrils, his medication would come in handy for everyone. Such were the times folks!

Old-timers would say the flower of the Sishnu “sishno Ko daal” was very helpful in controlling high BP and studies on the common Himalayan nettle prove them to be true, also, from a nutritional standpoint that Sishnu has more calcium than a glass of milk, they say!

Sishnu and the culture of our hills and its people are so much intertwined, we too are similar to the Sishnu as a community, sturdy and brave protecting our country from invading enemies we sting when it’s needed. We people of the hills are too emotional and the modern-day countless jhusuley’s attack us every season, eating our leaves, yet we as a community are sturdy as the nettle, remain here.

By the way, if the politicians are fooling us now and again show them the part from this article where the evil spirit runs away at the sight of the sishnu-pani Ko chutai! Especially those who might fool us again in the name of Tripartite Talks!! Hopefully, they won’t hai!!

Happy Dasain Folks!!

Writes: Diwas Chettri

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