DEEP ECOLOGY, DAMS, & DZONGULAND LEPCHAS PROTEST- Narratives about their Threatened Land ............

Kerry Little is an Australian writer who is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Inquiry at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Her work involves recording traditional and contemporary Lepcha stories and examining how modernity and globalization has impacted the Lepchas' connection to their traditions.

She records Lepcha stories in the context of a major protest by Lepcha activists against mega-hydro-electric projects which are slated for the Lepcha Reserve in Dzongu in North Sikkim, north-east India.

Eco-philosophy and the deep ecology movement provides the framework in which Little understands the Lepchas’ (who are nature-worshippers) feeling for their land. Little`s PhD is non-traditional, enabling her to present her narrative-based work within the framework of creative non-fiction.

You can access this work of her's @
http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/article/view/1151/1452

Anti-hydel body formed in West Sikkim

( Darap Village, West Sikkim)
An anti-hydel forum has formed by the affected families of Darap and Salley in West Sikkim who have vowed not to let the establishment of Gammon India hydel power project at any costs.

The anti-hydel body, ‘Rangit Affected Families’ draws its members from the project affected families in Darap and Salley areas.

In a press release, the organization said the decision to oppose the power project was taken to protect their villages and the State. We will never give our land for the project as these lands belongs to our ancestors and will be inherited by our coming generations, the members of the organization said.