Lepchas agitate for separate council

KOLKATA/ DARJEELING: A new unrest is brewing in the Hills. Days after the formation of the Gorkha hill council, Lepchas, the ethnic group of the Himalayas, are fighting against the "marginalization" of their community.

Groups of Lepchas from Darjeeling held a series of demonstrations under the banner of Lepcha Rights Movement (LRM) in Kolkata last week, demanding protection. With the Gorkha Territorial Administration now under formation, representatives of LRM feel time has come to raise their issues.

On Thursday, LRM submitted a memorandum to the Darjeeling district magistrate, demanding a separate Lepcha Development Council for the protection of their language, culture and economic development.

Lepchas had a nominated representative in the former Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, but this did not help the community, an LRM leader said. Being scheduled tribe, they also want a reserved seat for themselves in the West Bengal assembly.

They complain that their identity and culture are being swamped by people of Nepalese origin. They want the introduction of Lepcha language in schools of Darjeeling. Though land owned by Lepchas, being scheduled tribe land, is protected, they say transfer of their land under different pretexts has taken place.

"The Lepcha Development Board will have nothing to do with the GTA and will function as an independent body to safeguard the Lepchas in West Bengal. As far as the introduction of the Lepcha language in the education system is concerned, we want it to be introduced in primary schools," LRM spokesman Samden

Lepcha said.

He said the government policy on Lepchas needed to be amended. "There are policies in place for the Lepchas but they are not right. The policy decision for Lepcha habitat is taken without the slightest protection measure. It is also without considering the daily plight of the Lepchas. There has to be a new policy in place for the Lepcha community for their uplift and to save the community from extinction."

Unlike the Lepchas of Darjeeling who are spread all over the Hills and Kalimpong subdivision having a larger concentration, Lepchas of Sikkim have Dzongu reserved for themselves. But, the plan to

set up a number of hydel projects in Dzongu, located in north Sikkim, has alarmed them. The arrival of a large number of immigrant labourers for the construction of these projects has threatened their habitat.

Lepchas are not numerically strong. According to the ACT website, their number in Sikkim was about 40,000 in a population of over 5,40,000 in the 2001 census. In Darjeeling, the number of Lepchas is estimated to be small, many of them having merged with the larger Nepalese community.

Times of India

Lepcha lexicon’s new edition

Siliguri, April 13: Children attending the 40-odd Lepcha night schools in the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling will find a treasure trove of knowledge about their community in the second edition of the Lepcha-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary that will be introduced in the institutions soon.

The book was published in October last year.

“The first Lepcha-English dictionary was compiled by General G.B. Mainwaring, an Englishman, in 1898. However, the first dictionary compiled by an indigenous Lepcha, K.P. Tamsang, was published in 1980. The book went out of stock and we undertook the task of coming out with the second edition by adding more words about the community’s religion, flora and fauna and natural resources,” Lyangsong Tamsang Lepcha, the editor of the second edition, told The Telegraph today.

The book includes the mening of almost everything that is relevant to the Lepchas, he added.

“The state despite our continuous demand has not introduced Lepcha language in the government schools. We are undeterred by this indifference and have started night schools to teach the children of our community their language, culture and literature. The dictionary will be supplied to these night schools so that children can refer to them,” said Tamsang.

He added that the book will also be helpful to anthropologists, scholars and writers interested in studying the community.

Tamsang along with two others started compiling Lepcha words and their meanings in both Lepcha and English from October 2008. Within a year, 1,100 copies of the second edition were published. “We have made an addition of around 500 Lepcha words to the existing 26,000 words,” Tamsang said.

The words and their meanings are written in Rong, the Lepcha script, and in English.

“Michael Way, a British national, who is interested in studying the Lepchas has helped us financially to publish the book,” Tamsang said.

Source: The Telegraph

Projects on Lepcha Reserve Review

Gangtok , Sikkim : The Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) has written to Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling asking for an independent quasi-judicial committee to review all projects including those proposed in the Lepcha reserve of Dzongu.

In the letter, the ACT members thanked the chief minister for his pledge to uphold the sanctity of Dzongu and added that they had always sought an amicable and peaceful solution to the problem.

“Since negotiations with the authorised committee seem to have reached a stalemate, we seek your direct intervention in this matter,” read the letter signed by ACT president Athup Lepcha and other senior members.

The ACT members have demanded that the composition of the committee would have to be agreeable to both sides. They have also demanded that all activities related to the Panan hydel project in Dzongu, including land acquisition, be kept in abeyance.

A meeting between the chief minister and ACT seems likely tomorrow, according to some of the mediators.

The hunger strike led by ACT general secretary Dawa Lepcha and 20-year-old Tenzing Lepcha has entered the 35th day today. The two are continuing their fast at Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial Hospital where they are admitted. Both are suffering from high fever, headaches and nausea, sources said.

Source: The Telegraph

Lepchas to clean Teesta river

Kalimpong: A cleaner Teesta river may soon be on view, thanks to a group of nature worshippers.

Rong Ong Prongzom, a Lepcha youth organisation, plans to conduct a clean-up drive on the Teesta river banks at Triveni and Reang on Sunday. It will be part of the preparations for Tendong Lho Rum Faat, the annual Lepcha puja of Thedong Hill near Namchi, Sikkim, held on August 8.

Triveni, the confluence of the Teesta and Rangeet rivers located 16 km from here, is a favourite spot for picnickers. Reang at 27 Mile on NH 31A, on the other hand, is where the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation is currently executing Stage III of the Teesta Low Dam Project.

“Both places are heavily littered, which is why we want to clean them, especially since the Teesta is our holy river,” said Azuk Tamsangmoo, an adviser to the youth organisation and coordinator of Pum Sezom, the apex body of the community.

The nature-worshipping Lepchas are the original inhabitants of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills. According to figures available with the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, there are about 40,000 of them in the Kalimpong subdivision and another 35,000 or so in Sikkim.

“No Lepcha marriage is solemnised without invoking the name of the Teesta. We won’t be able to do so anymore if we continue to destroy the river as we have been doing till now,” said the coordinator.

Apart from cleaning the riverbed, the youth organisation will also conduct an awareness campaign against the desecration and destruction of the Teesta. “We will put up signboards near the river, urging people not to litter the place,” said Tamsangmoo.

Source: The Telegraph