A very good friend of mine has been in Sikkim last year, and when she came back she seemed to have totally fallen in love with Sikkim. She told me about what Sikkim is like and showed me pictures, and i realised why Sikkim is so unique and special. I can't believe that the Indian government is planning on destroying all of the beautiful nature and culture. I feel powerless being here in Holland and not able to do anything. The least i can do is tell you that i think what you all are doing over there is very brave. I have deep respect for your hunger strike.
I wish you lots of strength,
take care.
This morning .................................................... i realised that I was ignoring the earth to chase after psychic political phenomena. Like trying to find gold at the end of the rainbow....I do not have to concern myself with the cosmic world, the world of Gods,politicians, angels and devils.
I was losing track of the physical world i live in, and this will result in madness.
The test of my sanity is how directly i relate to earth. Anything else is a sidetrack.
I would like to remind viewers that i aint no expert but yeah...i do have a little opinion on things and they are based on reasoning and reading and more important than anything is my friends and my concern.
However i would like to invite people/experts with knowledge of various topics associated with the ongoing hunger strike like.......CLIMATE CHANGE, THE MELTING GLACIERS, RIGHTS OF INDEGENIOUS PEOPLE, HUMAN RIGHT and OTHER ECOLOGICAL ISSUES and any other realted issues to write.
We did have a beautiful article on the Tibetan mastiff and other disappearing alpine beings in Lhonak Valley posted in the old blog by one of our best expert on wildlife in Sikkim, Mrs Usha Lachungpa.
We're so sorry, we dont have it anymore....and my request to Mrs Lachungpa to post it again.
So dear people and friends......till then.....Keep Writin in.
One of the major social tensions today is between the demands of private capital and national governments for economic growth and globalization, the energy to provide it and the demands of local communities for security and livelihoods.
India is growing rapidly economically and hence it requires the power. Civilian use of Nuclear power is also in the cards with the Indian Government close to striking a deal with the American Government. The Governments of India, Sikkim, NHPC ,private companies and various other Government of India undertakings have argued that these dams coming up in Sikkim is Nation building.
These public sector companies have had a history of giving back nothing to the land and the natives where they exploit its resources for profit. Profit is the sole motive above other consideration. The profit they say will compensate for all the losses that are to be borne in social and ecological means.
Other than Sikkim, look at the people living in the vicinity of uranium mines and other places where hazardous elements are extracted like places in Jharkand, Bihar etc etc. every now and then we read newspaper or other reports where there is only denial of wrongdoing.Look at the recent protests against the move to mine Uranium in West Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. Some activists there have been booked under the State Terror Laws which is as bad as the erstwhile TADA with the authorities being able to detain anybody even for six months at a strech! Look at Assam. Its got the best resources in the country, Oil, Tea, water resources, fertile valleys but people there fight for their rightful share of the profits the state makes out of exploiting their natural resources. There are so many other examples like Narmada, tehri etc etc.
So what we mean here is that there are so many examples in history that the IndianState has failed in its duty to compensate losses caused by development projects that affect the environment and the rights of indegenious people living in far flung areas and defending their natural surroundings and way of life!
Environmentalists, conservationists and other citizens can argue otherwise and crib and the people taking the policy decisions to go ahead with the hydel projects will have equally number of data and points to prove people them wrong. They will argue the need for development and nothing but development.............
But in arguing things, solutions have to be thought of.
ACT too is talking the same thing. They have offered solutions like Mini hydels...even hundreds of those all over Sikkim because it doesent need Dams and 8 meter diameter tunnels being dug ranging from 17kms to 8 to 10 and thousands of tonnes of Dynamite to do it! etc etc The hills of Sikkim and the rivers and almost all the natural strems are being tamed , deforestation, people being displaced from their natural habitats and way of life.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION........
Modern Education, Knowledge based Human Resource coupled withvlarge scale ECO TOURISM could be one of the best alternatives to these sort of development projects. We could earn long time revenue, even beyond the span of 50 years of a dam and the revenue it generates. Even though critics would laugh and maybe ridicule such a suggestion and assumption, however, many an example would argue otherwise
As one of the best experts on Environmental matters and the pioneer of modernising Sikkim Forests, Mr K.C Pradhan says, "Within a 10 km of a crow flying range i.e about the size of Sikkim lies the entire flora and fauna of the world"!
The Eastern Indian Himalaya has been identified as one of the 25 global hotspots in terms of biodiversity. A part of this system Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya has tremendous biological diversity. Its complex terrain system, high humidity, varied aspects and abruptness of altitudinal variation are a few important factors that contribute to the immense wealth of biological resources of more than 6000 species of flowering plants, 500 species of birds, about 400 species of butterflies, 350 species of ferns and allies, more than 238 species of bamboos, 450-500 species of orchids, 144 species of mammals, and many species of reptiles. Thus, Darjeeling and Sikkim's biodiversity contributes significantly to the country's ecological heritage and to the global and national ecological balance.
Tourism is the largest economic sector in the world, generating almost 500 billion US dollars annually, excluding the approximately 65 billion US Dollars spent on international transport.
Tourism has become the symbol of opportunity in virtually every corner of the globe.
In Sikkim, lives have changed with tourism in just about every corner of the tourism itenary. everyone has seen it to beleive it. From the rich hotel owner, to the travel agent, guides, cooks, waiters, drivers, pan wallahs, shop owners, swanky restaurants to tea shops and to mention a lot of people across all sections of life.....
A very good example of reversing mega environmental projects and their impacts by switching to good and honest Eco-Tourism is the Central American country of Costa Rica.
COSTA RICA, a small country in Central America which is very rich in forests and biodiversity. It has a lot of tropical forests rich tropical vegetation very much like the ones in and around Dzongu and Sikkim.
In the nineteen sixties and early seventies, Costa Rica was facing huge environmental problems with the operation of many American Mining Companies in their forests and natural habitats. Much like local indigenous cultures here, they too had similar problems of huge impact of these massive mining projects.
The government finally after much debate and judging public mood decided to act and finally asked the companies operating to leave and eventually inviting the wrath of the American Government!
Next what the Government of Costa Rica decided to do was to declare a lot of places where mining had taken place in Costa Rica as protected national parks and promote it by ways and means Eco Tourism side by side. In doing so the affected land could regenerate by itself and protected.
Things couldn’t change overnight and one of the main changes that the policy makers did was improve the quality of education and the paramount change was also the introduction of Eco Tourism and other compulsory studies on the local environment as curriculum in all schools. It was done with a lot of hard work, earnestness and belief.
Therefore, in a matter of a just two decades, a whole young generation of young Costa Ricans who grew up knowing a lot about their country, their surroundings, ecology, environment and biodiversity and were trained to handle serious ecotourism.
So modern day figures and statistics show that eco Tourism is the biggest foreign exchange earner for a small country like Costa rica. As early as 1992, Costa Rica earned as mush as $ 421 of foreign exchange second only to the Banana Republics that that time. Imagine how much income they would generating now.At the same time it provided good employment for a lot of young people and supported majority of the families and the greatest thing is that the impact on the environment can be minimal and controlled.
The Electricity generated by the planned mega dams all over Sikkim is almost 55 times the amount Sikkim actually needs. It gives 26 times more to the rest of the country than it gets. Hills after Hills and rivers after rivers in Sikkim shall be tamed and huge tunnels dug across it being dug by blasting of thousands of tonnes of Dynamite and other explosives. The entire riverine ecology that is one of the richest in the world is lost forever. We will lose more than what we gain in the long term. If we argue that it shall provide sustainability and employment, it would not be the best of ideas because highly technical people are used to run it and Sikkim cannot provide the human resource and expertise to run it. Besides, It has various other possibilities of human displacement, land submergence, ecological impact and other unforeseen long term affects and catastrophes. Time is only a spectator and we will soon be confronted with these mammoth tasks of coping with our uncertain environmental future in our surroundings.
We should be looking to sustain the ecology we have by striking a balance with our need to generate revenue and live in harmony with nature. Everything and everything in Sikkim is about the nature. From the Great Guru who attained enlightenment 8 years after the death of the Buddha, the people of Sikkim, the surroundings, the history, the folklores, the beliefs, the lasting peace, the goodwill etc etc.............everything in Sikkim is about the nature. Without it being the way it is and we would have nothing.
We are unique to the country and to the world. Even the Supreme Court on numerous occasions protecting Article 371 F has said time and again that" SIKKIM IS TRULY UNIQUE" It is a shame that our policy makers don’t want to take initiatives to preserve our uniqueness which has everything to do with the sustaining and saving the environment. They rather believe that our we are safe in the hands of a few private hydel corporates who have only profit as their motive. 35 years is all that will take to lead us to utter ecological barrenness.
Policy of preserve should be given strict priority. Dams are a strict no. Cultures are dying with the languages as the editor of an english daily in Gangtok keeps writing about, time and again.
Lets preserve the last thing we have left, our beautiful rivers, ecosystem and our sacred hills............lets start with Dzongu which is truly unique!
I have seen the site myself and was apalled to see the destruction of the hills and river i didn't expect see the destruction of this scale i am with you all who are protesting against it
"Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
Cree Prophecy
IN LOVING MEMORY OF Ms CHUKIE TOPDEN - 26th November, 1954 -6th April, 2009
A Social and Environmental activist, Member of SAFE (Sikkim Association for Environment), and a dear friend of Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT). She never feared to speak the truth to save Sikkim from the dangers of Environmental degradation and against mega hydel projects threatening our landscape. She will always be remembered and respected for her dedication in highlighting the most pertinent environment and social problems that all Sikkimese people face in these times and in the days to come.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF ACT (Affected Citizens of Teesta)
We would also like to clarify that http://weepingsikkim.blogspot.com/ is not the official website of ACT(Affected Citizens of Teesta) and we do not have any political affiliations or belong to any political party or any other group as such. Its just our simple concern about the state of our environment policies in Sikkim and the wrong direction that we have been asked to trod.
The blog began the day our friends Dawa, Tenzing and others decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike last June to pray and appeal to the Government of Sikkim on the dangers of mega hydel dams and the ecological degradation and social impact that it would bring to Sikkim and Dzongu in particular. It is dedicated to them and the courage and conviction they have had in standing up for a noble cause and going hungry all those days. Dawa and Tenzing went hungry for 63 days in the record first indefinite hunger strike earlier and and even longer one of 96 days months later in the second indefinite hunger strike.
The issue still remains the same and Sikkim is on its course in having more than 26 big dams being built all across it and the biggest among them in and around Dzongu.
Of course, there is a need to develop in these modern times and harness resources for energy for the sake of it and we would be hypocrites to say that our lives don't revolve around electricity to an extent!........
At the same time, we strongly believe that there are various other modes of development which can blend with various other alternative and sustainable ways & sources of harnessing energy and ways to generating income for Sikkim's prosperity and future.
We are not at all convinced about the projections and perceivable impacts shown in the present scheme of things.
In disagreeing, we have tried to argue and have tried to give suggestions and alternatives in our limited but honest sense of intellect earlier too at:-
26 or more mega hydel project being sanctioned across all of Sikkim is not the most appropriate of ways to so called industrially develop as we feel. It is nothing but heading Sikkim towards major environmental disasters and negative social impacts in the very near future. This has been widely expressed by environmentalists, conservationist, and people from many other walks of life. Similarly, various examples of such journeys and tasks taken in the said direction earlier has shown that harnessing energy in such large destructive scale for profit has manifested in bad experiences and possible disasters in many parts the world. A major debate and serious understanding is needed and should be intended here in Sikkim.
It concerns us as normal citizens of Sikkim to be a little selfless at such an hour to not to turn or look away but rather show concern to a humanitarian, social and ecological cause in our own surroundings.
As normal citizens of Sikkim, we have the right to see our rivers and forests and natural resources protected and preserved for the present and the future.
As the textbooks and elders tells us that the Eastern Himalayas and adjacent hill states of India are not only biologically richest in the Indian Subcontinent but also one of the richest in the world. This region has been rightly recognized as one of the 18 Biodiversity Hot spots in the world. Out of seven Endemic Bird Areas identified for the country, three extend to this region, so therefore, preservation is the need of the hour.
We have a fragile ecosystem endowed with unimaginable lengths of biodiversity and a characteristic and unmatched natural scenery. In this highly volatile and fast changing modern world, we stand to lose what nature has endowed us with here in a much shorter time imaginable. This blog is therefore, our honest effort of intending debate, reasoning and understanding in this critical issue pertaining to our times and of Sikkim's. Many thanks to this amazing modern means of this of communication ..........the internet!
We strictly do not claim to be experts in the any field of environmental studies but we would like to believe what a famous poet singer once said," You do not have to be a weather man to say which way the wind blows".
In the days gone by of the blog, we have had the pleasure of reading into matters of environmental importance for conservation regarding Sikkim and the Eastern Himalayas. A lot of internet viewers from different walks of life have also written in and shared their views and knowledge too. Thank you very much!
Besides, I sincerely hope that the web links and other materials provided and feedback in the comments column is useful to viewers who need them for awareness and research.
This blog is a forum to express environmental and other concerns regarding our natural surroundings We would be grateful to viewers, emailers, fellow bloggers and surfers who would want to share anything of significance through the blog.
Lastly, we are delighted with the response and appreciation of concerned people from all over the world.
Its been a week now............thats 7 days hungry...!!
DAY 6 !
Day 6!
DAY 5.......Its still on.....!!!!
DAY 5.......Its still on.....!!!!
DAY 5
DAY 4
DAY 4
DAY 3..............
DAY 3..............
DAY 1.............EVENING
DAY 1.............EVENING
DAY 1
Day 1....Wednesday,20th June, 2007
ongoing hydel project on the Teesta at Kalijhora
ongoing hydel project on the Teesta at Kalijhora
Dear friends…….........
In my endeavour to keep alive the satyagraha of people wishing to impress upon the mighty powers that be........................ to listen to their prayers and demands,........... I call upon all the people of the world to write in......................
Its now days since they went hungry……….......................For me............................even 4 hrs in unthinkable!!!
So please give it a thought....................... about........................ why would a normal human being have to endure such an arduous task to be heard for an entire race?
Ladies & Gentlemen....please call upon your conscience.
Whether it is development vs sustainibilty, isolation vs submergence or globalisation, change vs inertia, or momo over thukpa............its just time for a thought!
I would like to remind you that this is an open democratic forum for people to air their views out of the incident of ACT Members going on an indefinite hunger strike to press for their demands of scrapping and reviewing the ongoing Hydel projects in the state and to bring attention to the projected and perceived ecological degradation of Dzongu and Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve/Khangchendzonga National Park.
I am open to all views here and will publish them, whether the comments intend to support the cause of ACT or not. The important thing is to write and please do.
DO WRITE IN
No invitations have been sent to individual email addresses to write in. However, anybody wishing to write in may do so on any of the comment links at the end of each article or photograph posted. I shall then have it published in the front page as and when it is updated from time to time.
At the same time, i would like to request and remind people that this is a genuine concern of the publisher/editor to highlight the environment and ecological issues of importance to Sikkim and to create awareness and solutions to the problems of the effects of too many hydro electric projects . Also, this blog exists out of my love and responsibility to Sikkim, the land of my birth and my home.
So..... i would like to appeal to the viewers and people writing in to avoid using foul language and not to attack people, personalities etc ....personally but rather put argumentative thoughts and ideas to this present impasse of different ideologies and perceptions regarding the subject. This blog has no negative issues of colour, race and ideology of political parties .
This is purely a humanitarian and ecological concern.This is Satyagraha!India's answer to centuries of various forms of colonialism.............It means non violence even in thought!
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