Published July 30, 2011 By HARISH MEHTA
THE Darjeeling hills are alive with the sound of Gorkha music and revelry involving the consumption of rakshi (rum) along with the much-favoured delicacy, blood sausage. These residents of the state of West Bengal are hoping that the colonial-era hill station of Darjeeling - located 2,042 metres above sea level - will be turned into a future Switzerland.
They are allowing themselves a bit of hyperbole as a respite from separatist violence that has arrested development in these hills for several decades.
There is, suddenly, an air of optimism following the signing on July 18 of a historic accord that caps a century-long struggle for self-rule of the Gorkha people of Darjeeling, while preserving the territorial unity of the state of West Bengal.
Its text acknowledges the fact that the Gorkhas have not abandoned their demand for a new state called Gorkhaland. The accord also acknowledges that the Indian central government and the state government of West Bengal have remained opposed to the demand for statehood.
It must be said, that the optimism may be a bit excessive because the project to turn the hills into a prosperous zone of plenty exists only on paper. And there are many obstacles ahead including the fact that the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists has taken over the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state. Many other groups will settle for nothing less then a separate state.
The current accord allows the Gorkha people to run their own administration under the autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) that will have control over health, education, tourism, agriculture, and municipal affairs, but within the state of West Bengal.
The ethnic Gorkha people speak Nepali or Gorkhali and reside in Darjeeling and the Dooars region in northern Bengal. They have named their proposed state Gorkhaland. Their demand for a separate administrative unit in this region has been going on since 1907 when the Hillmen's Association of Darjeeling submitted a memorandum to the then British colonial authority demanding a separate administration.
There has been enough blood shed. The July 2011 accord comes after years of violent agitation by the Gorkhas in the 1980s, initially for separate statehood, and later autonomy. Some 1,200 people were killed before settlement was reached this month.
Exhausted by the violence and lack of economic development, the Gorkhas themselves want prosperity for their long-neglected region, and the idea of being another Switzerland has captured their imagination. The Swiss analogy refers to an 'imaginary homeland', to quote novelist Salman Rushdie's formulation of the concept of home and belonging. The Gorkhas have constructed within their history and mythology (and in their literature and poetry) the idea of a homeland in these hills. Darjeeling is best known for its British colonial era tea gardens, public schools, and tourism. Yet, the idea of turning Darjeeling into Switzerland does seem a bit of a stretch.
The new chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, means well. It was her charisma and respect for diversity that persuaded the Gorkhas to sign the accord.
Development plans for the Darjeeling hills envisage turning the region into a hub for the IT industry; creating new schools, multi-disciplinary colleges, a Hills University, a medical college and multi-speciality hospitals; a hospitality and tourism management university; a nursing college; and a research and development institute for tea.
Apart from these major projects, significant infrastructure projects are on the agenda - creating a water supply system, and building bridges and roads. Funds to run the GTA will come from the Indian central government in New Delhi.
If they get even halfway to their economic and social development goals in a decade or so, they would be an example for the rest of India.
The Gorkha people, including those who remain opposed to the accord, ought to realise that the accord represents the best opportunity to bring some prosperity to the hills whose poverty is just thinly masked by their idyllic beauty.
There is also a regional subtext - the Gorkha leadership needs to connect the hills with the rest of economically resurgent India. The prospect of the construction of new bridges and roads are best understood metaphors of aspiration representing a change in the mindset of people in the hills.
When it all gets done, these links will serve to connect them to the many other races who make up India's population. So, perhaps the fact that the Gorkha leaders have settled for an autonomy package must be seen as a celebration of that idea.
Harish Mehta, a former BT correspondent for Indo-China, is currently visiting Kolkata.
Source: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/views/story/0,4574,449897,00.html
THE Darjeeling hills are alive with the sound of Gorkha music and revelry involving the consumption of rakshi (rum) along with the much-favoured delicacy, blood sausage. These residents of the state of West Bengal are hoping that the colonial-era hill station of Darjeeling - located 2,042 metres above sea level - will be turned into a future Switzerland.
There is, suddenly, an air of optimism following the signing on July 18 of a historic accord that caps a century-long struggle for self-rule of the Gorkha people of Darjeeling, while preserving the territorial unity of the state of West Bengal.
Its text acknowledges the fact that the Gorkhas have not abandoned their demand for a new state called Gorkhaland. The accord also acknowledges that the Indian central government and the state government of West Bengal have remained opposed to the demand for statehood.
It must be said, that the optimism may be a bit excessive because the project to turn the hills into a prosperous zone of plenty exists only on paper. And there are many obstacles ahead including the fact that the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists has taken over the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state. Many other groups will settle for nothing less then a separate state.
The current accord allows the Gorkha people to run their own administration under the autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) that will have control over health, education, tourism, agriculture, and municipal affairs, but within the state of West Bengal.
The ethnic Gorkha people speak Nepali or Gorkhali and reside in Darjeeling and the Dooars region in northern Bengal. They have named their proposed state Gorkhaland. Their demand for a separate administrative unit in this region has been going on since 1907 when the Hillmen's Association of Darjeeling submitted a memorandum to the then British colonial authority demanding a separate administration.
There has been enough blood shed. The July 2011 accord comes after years of violent agitation by the Gorkhas in the 1980s, initially for separate statehood, and later autonomy. Some 1,200 people were killed before settlement was reached this month.
Exhausted by the violence and lack of economic development, the Gorkhas themselves want prosperity for their long-neglected region, and the idea of being another Switzerland has captured their imagination. The Swiss analogy refers to an 'imaginary homeland', to quote novelist Salman Rushdie's formulation of the concept of home and belonging. The Gorkhas have constructed within their history and mythology (and in their literature and poetry) the idea of a homeland in these hills. Darjeeling is best known for its British colonial era tea gardens, public schools, and tourism. Yet, the idea of turning Darjeeling into Switzerland does seem a bit of a stretch.
The new chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, means well. It was her charisma and respect for diversity that persuaded the Gorkhas to sign the accord.
Development plans for the Darjeeling hills envisage turning the region into a hub for the IT industry; creating new schools, multi-disciplinary colleges, a Hills University, a medical college and multi-speciality hospitals; a hospitality and tourism management university; a nursing college; and a research and development institute for tea.
Apart from these major projects, significant infrastructure projects are on the agenda - creating a water supply system, and building bridges and roads. Funds to run the GTA will come from the Indian central government in New Delhi.
If they get even halfway to their economic and social development goals in a decade or so, they would be an example for the rest of India.
The Gorkha people, including those who remain opposed to the accord, ought to realise that the accord represents the best opportunity to bring some prosperity to the hills whose poverty is just thinly masked by their idyllic beauty.
There is also a regional subtext - the Gorkha leadership needs to connect the hills with the rest of economically resurgent India. The prospect of the construction of new bridges and roads are best understood metaphors of aspiration representing a change in the mindset of people in the hills.
When it all gets done, these links will serve to connect them to the many other races who make up India's population. So, perhaps the fact that the Gorkha leaders have settled for an autonomy package must be seen as a celebration of that idea.
Harish Mehta, a former BT correspondent for Indo-China, is currently visiting Kolkata.
Source: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/views/story/0,4574,449897,00.html