Land in Gorkhaland Beskey

8/9/2019 Land in Gorkhaland Beskey

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The Land in Gorkhaland: Rethinking Belonging in Darjeeling, India

Sarah Besky, University of Michigan

Since the mid-1980s, regional separatist parties in the Dareeling district of !est Bengal

have "een agitating for the creation of an #ndian state of $orkhaland, %hich %o&ld comprise the

region'smaority of #ndian (epalis, or )$orkhas*+ #n the a&t&mn of 00 a ne%ly formed

political party, the $orkha .anam&kti Morcha, or $.MM, reignited the $orkhaland

agitation*Since then, $.MM leaders' arg&ments for statehood have often takenspatial form* /ea

and tim"er, Dareeling's t%o most a"&ndant nat&ral reso&rces, )flo% do%n the mo&ntain,+"&t

reven&e from these ind&stries rarely comes "ack &p* Since Dareeling's fo&nding as a British hill

station in the 180s, to&rists have come )&p the mo&ntain+ to enoy the cool air and imalayan

vistas, and to catch a glimpse of the region's nat&ral %onders2 red pandas, sno% leopards, and

cascading rivers* !ith a separate state of $orkhaland, the economic "oons of the region's

ind&stries3in partic&lar the )three /'s+ 4tea, tim"er, and to&rism53%o&ld circ&late "ack from

the plains to the mo&ntains*

/his spatial vision of in&stice is encaps&lated in the (epali ling&istic dynamic "et%een

oraalo 4do%nhill5 and ukaalo 4&phill5* imalayan scholars have long analy6ed the gravitational

and capital forces on reso&rces and people that force them to )go do%n+ 4itchcock 1971

Seddon et al 005* Stopping do%nhill-&phill circ&lation thro&gh general strikes, or bandhs

4literally )closed+5 %asa key tactic in the direct actions of the $.MM*Bandhs incl&ded not only

clos&res of all "&sinesses, "&t also the roads and rail%ays that connected Dareelingto the rest of

#ndia* D&ring "andhs, rallies, and fre&ent month-long )c&lt&ral programs,+ $.MM politicians

insisted that Dareeling residents, "oth %omen and men, %ear )traditional+ dress* :arty leaders

promoted performances of $orkha dance, song, and theater as a %ay of sho%ing to a %ider

p&"lic the e;istence of a distinct identity* /heir speeches %ere peppered %ith metaphorical

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references to the deep relationships "et%een $orkhasand the soil, flo%ers, and other feat&res of

the imalayan landscape3the same images that l&red to&rists to the hills*

D&ring field%ork from 008 to 011, # attended rallies and lived thro&gh "andhs %ith

$orkhas %ho s&pported the movement "&t %ho %ere not part of the $.MM vang&ard2 %omen

tea %orkers, la"orers in markets and resta&rants, st&dents, and recent grad&ates* Bandhs and

c&lt&ral performances are common e;pressions of "elonging in #ndian s&"nationalist movements*

/hese activities attest to an overlap "et%een placeand identity* /hey reinforce the notion that

s&"national movements are str&ggles for land "y a partic&lar gro&p of people*


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the region, %hile firmly rooted, is far from )nat&ral*+ ?&estions a"o&t the rights of $orkhas to

place are "o&nd &p %ith &estions a"o&t the ecological effects of tea plantation monoc&lt&re, the

s&staina"ility of forests, and the appropriateness of a spra%ling city in the high imalayan

foothills*

/o &nderstand ho% land fig&res into &estions of "elonging re&ires a move a%ay from

attention to strategic representations of people and place and to%ard analysis of everyday

e;perience* @fter offering some historical "ackgro&nd and framing, # track three str&ggles %ith

land* >irst, # e;amine the pro"lem of landslides on tea plantations, sho%ing ho% $orkhas %ere

implicated not only in the maintenance of a monoc&lt&re "&t also in %orking the edgesof tea and

forest* @s a res&lt of press&re on plantation land, as # sho% ne;t, $orkhas have "eg&n moving to

Dareeling to%n*


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/sing 400=5, calls the )ecological ordinary+3the )&otidian,+ historically and geographically

partic&lar interactions "et%een people, land, and nonh&man creat&res that tend to defy easy

political representation 4(i;on 0112 18=5*


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the crafting of an e;tractive landscape in %hich imported plantation crops 4tea, soft%ood tim"er,

cinchona5 %ere planted in vast monoc&lt&res, and in %hich a to&rist ind&stry gre% &p to

commodify the )nat&re+ that s&rro&nded the plantations* Dareeling is an )agrarian

environment,+ in %hich the conservation of nat&re and its capitalist c&ltivation have gone hand in

hand %ith the prod&ction of identity4@gra%al and Sivaramikrishnan 000 $id%ani 0005*

19th cent&ry British te;ts characteri6ed (epalis as )good %orkers2+ amia"le, "rave, and

ind&strio&s, in %hat :iya Ahatteree calls a )colonial ta;onomy of la"or+ 40012 -8 $olay

0075* #deas a"o&t (epali men and %omen 4as %ell as indigeno&s Eepchasand Bh&tias5 as

endo%ed %ith nat&ral proclivities to certain kinds of la"or %ere %oven into the colonial

economy* !hen British settlers esta"lished tea plantations in the mid-19th cent&ry Dareeling,

%hich %as then sparsely pop&lated, they recr&ited farmers from (epal's eastern hills to "&ild and

%ork them* (epali ethnici6ed la"or, ho%ever, is perhaps most apparent in the constr&ction of

(epalis as a )martial race+ and recr&itment for special )$&rkha+ army regiments 4see Des Ahene

19915* $&rkhas %ere valori6ed as loyal and "rave 4$olay 0075* /hese regiments %ere

dispatched to &ash independence revolts aro&nd #ndia, and into the far corners of the empire,

from ong Fong to >ii*

By the t&rn of the 0th cent&ry, (epalis4often %ith /i"etans, Bh&tias, and Eepchas5 "egan

forming social and political associations, representing themselves alternately as )(epalis,+ as

)illmen,+ and as )$orkhas*+ /he first call for administrative recognition of $orkhas %as

officially lodged "y the illmen's @ssociation 190 4hodes and hodes 0075*:re-

independence movements for $orkha recognition gave %ay to post-independence movements to

"reak the region off from Bengal* #n 19=, &nion leaders &sed $orkhas' senses of shared identity

as %ell as their concerns a"o&t deteriorating %orking conditions to initiate the first calls for a


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separate state of )$orkhastan+ 4S&""a 1995* /hose calls failed, and the Dareeling district

"ecame a part of the #ndian state of !est Bengal* @s a minority in their o%n state, and as a

gro&p kno%n for its loyalty to the British military, $orkhas remained marginali6ed*

@fter independence, leaders of the (epali Bhasa @ndolan 4(epali Eang&age Movement5

fo&ght for decades for lang&age recognition* #n 1971, (epali "ecame an official lang&age of the

Dareeling district 4S&""a 1995* @mid a series of high profile attacks on (epalis else%here in

#ndia, the 1980s sa% a rise in (epali political action*#n literat&re and political spheres, $orkhas

"egan artic&lating %hat they still call an )identity crisis+ 4see Sinha and S&""a 00 S&""a et al

0095* /hey are #ndian citi6ens "&t perceived as foreigners* @s Michael &tt 41995 descri"es

in his acco&nt of the (epali diaspora, "eginning in the 1970s, after a series of #ndo-Ahinese

"order disp&tes, tho&sands of (epalis and other )foreigners+ %ere e;pelled from (ortheast #ndia,

%here they had "een living for generations* By the end of the 1980s, tens of tho&sands of #ndian

(epalis had "een evicted from Bh&tan, a co&ntry to %hich the Fing recr&ited them generations

"efore for agric&lt&ral la"or, m&ch like the (epalis of Dareeling* !hen $orkhas %ent to (epal,

their "ehavior, especially the %ay they spoke (epali, marked them as o&tsiders as %ell* #t %as

against the "ackdrop of evictionsthat the 1980s $orkhaland agitation took hold*

>rom 1987 to 1988, S&"hash $hisingh, %ho gre% &p on a Dareeling tea garden, and his

political party, the $orkha (ational Ei"eration >ront 4$(E>5, led a revolt that ended %ith the

formation of a semi-a&tonomo&s Dareeling $orkha ill Ao&ncil 4$ang&ly 00 S&""a 1995*

/his agitation pitted$(E> activists against "oth the !est Bengal government and #ndia's

Aentral eserve :olice >orce* Memories of violence of the first $orkhaland%ere still vivid

d&ring my field%ork d&ring the second $orkhaland agitation, %hich "egan after a decade of

&nrest, as ethnic gro&ps in Dareeling petitioned for recognition &nder the 7th Sched&le of the

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#ndian Aonstit&tion 4see Middleton 011, 01a, 01" Shneiderman 01=5* #n late 00,

another tea garden resident, Bimal $&r&ng, and his party, the $.MM, re&venated the movement

for $orkha s&"national a&tonomy 4Bagchi 01 Middleton 0115*

Landscapes of !"nationalism

Most recent acco&nts of s&"national "elonging in #ndia foc&s on representational

practices2 lang&age, ethnic identification, and the formation of political parties 4see Singh 008,

0105* Dareeling's s&"national separatist politics have tended to take their most visi"le form in

three kinds of actions2 violent attacks on people and property "andhs and displays of c&lt&ral

difference* #n this, the $orkhaland movement is similar to other similar agitations2 in (agaland,

/elangana, Bodoland, Uttarakhand 4see Bar&ah 1999 (ag 005* Aritical analysis of these

movements has revealed the %ays in %hich politicians' and activists' claims of &ni&e ethnic and

ling&istic identities mask deeper comple;ities*


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other scholars' findings* ather, "y interrogating the land in $orkhaland, # hope to "ring

together several disparate &nderstandings of land in political and environmental anthropology*

Cne prominent %ay of &nderstanding land has "een to disc&ss landscape* /he term

landscape connotes aesthetic formation as %ell as a %orking 4and %orked5 socio-nat&ral

assem"lage 4Basso 1997 #ngold 000 Cl%ig 005* Both agrarian and )%ild+ landscapes fig&re

prominently in historical and representations of Dareeling, as %ell as in $orkha activists'

representations of the $orkhaland str&ggle* /he landscape3as a hegemonic vie%point and a

deli"erate formation 4Mitchell 199753is something %ith %hich $orkhas contin&e to str&ggle*

Eandscapes are %orked over %ith edges2 in Dareeling the s&ccessf&l c&ltivation of tea in

plantations re&ired plantation managers 4not professional foresters5 to maintain patches of

imalayan forest 4&s&ally a com"ination of )native+ and nonnative species5* #n anthropology

and other disciplines, land as landscape has "een conceived as "oth %hat (i;on calls an

)affective, historically te;t&red+ site of "elonging and an alienating e;pression of political or

capitalist dominance over people and reso&rces 4(i;on 0112 15* Belonging to or in land-as-

landscape is a &estion of representation and aesthetic framing*

@t another level, land can "e &nderstood in its physical sense2 as soil * Eand in this sense

is the material s&"strate for prod&ction 4&s&ally agric&lt&ral5* #n the interdisciplinary field of

political ecology, this connotation of land3as a reso&rce %hose management is essential for the

prod&ction of other reso&rces3has "een a g&iding concept* Seminal %ork in political ecology

hasanaly6ed land degradation and land &se in the (epal imalayas 4Blaikie and Brookfield

198 #ves 00= #ves and Messerli 19895* /he &estion of land degradation, ho%ever, meets

&ncomforta"ly, at "est, %ith the &estion of ethnic "elonging in in #ndia* #n fact, a recent article

in the ecology o&rnal Biodiversity and Conservationon tiger reserves in the (ortheast claimed

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that s&"national activism adverselyaffectedconservation efforts 4Gelho et al 01=5* #n Dareeling,

$orkhas,%hose topographical oraalo 4do%nhill5-ukaalo 4&phill5 disco&rse is central to

reckonings of landslides, &r"an %aste flo%s, and interspecies enco&nters, like%ise str&ggle %ith

ho% they might frame themselves in relation to land** @t times, they %illingly take &p a role as

ste%ards or g&ardians, "&t in the conte;ts of landslides and &r"an insta"ilities # disc&ss "elo%,

they have &st as often fo&nd themselves "lamed3as la"orers, as peri-&r"an settlers, and as an

overpop&lated demographic3for degradation*

istorically-minded political ecologists have st&died land as territory* #n this sense, land

is not &st living, managed soil "&t also the %ays in %hich states and comm&nities make claims

to it* , /he emergence of prod&ctive agrarian environments and conservation disco&rses in

colonial So&th @sia came alongside the formation of s&"national identities 4@gra%al 00

@gra%al and Sivaramikrishnan 0002 1-17 Sivaramikrishnan 1999 $&ha 19905* /he volatility

of indigeno&s and other kinds of s&"national land claims has emanated in part from the t%inned

pro"lems of o%nership and kno%ledge* Alaiming territory, as (adasdy 419995 notes, often

entails claiming )property,+ yet the political and practical &estion of sovereignty "ecomes

thorny %hen, as is the case of Dareeling, most of the people making claims have no formal

propertyrights and a ten&o&s ancestral claim to place*

@cross #ndia's margins, %here s&"nationalist movements are active, colonial and

postcolonial processes of territoriality have t&rned land into an a"stracta"le resource. $orkha

identity str&ggles have emerged amid the development of a partic&lar )reso&rce environment+ in

Dareeling 4ichardson and !es6kanlnys01=53an assem"lage of infrastr&ct&re, "odies, and

technology* @s political ecologists have arg&ed for some time, the long temporal scale of

colonial and capitalist transformation makes it diffic&lt to mo"ili6e against*


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movements fre&ently emerge %hen s&ch transformations take an &n"eara"le toll on "odies and

environments2 %hen ecological violence "ecomes too ac&te to ignore 4Fosek 007 :el&so and

!atts 001(i;on 0115* #n the #ndian state of @ssam, for e;ample, s&"nationalist activists have

recently "eg&n mo"ili6ing to oppose the state's constr&ction of hydroelectric dams, seeing in the

state's megaproect an &n&st capt&re of land4see Bar&ah 015*/he constr&ction of reso&rce

environments in #ndia has also raised the pro"lem of so-called )invasive+ species2 plants and

animals that enter landscapes thro&ghcapitalist c&ltivation and slo%ly overtake )native+ species

4.effery 01= c*f* o""ins 001, 00=5* #n settler societies, partic&larly @&stralia and the United

States, scholars have critically engaged the social divisiveness of s&ch narratives of species

)invasion,+ tied as it has "ecome to an;ieties a"o&t )alien+ peoples and c&lt&res 4affles 01=

C'$orman 01= Eava& 011 van Dooren 0115* @ttention to &estions of "elonging in settler-

dominated reso&rce environments enriches this criti&e"y calling attention to %hat Gal

:l&m%ood 40085 calls )shado% places*+* Dareeling is something of an internal settler colony

%ithin #ndia, %here )/he very concept of a sing&lar homeplace or Ho&r place' is pro"lematised "y

the dissociation and dematerialisation that permeate the glo"al economy and c&lt&re+ 4:l&m%ood

&oted in C'$orman 01=2 85*

Eand can also "e &nderstood as territory in a second sense* @s Ea&ra Cgden 40115 notes

in her st&dy of the >lorida everglades, slo%-moving human and nonhuman )territorial+ actions

help to give landscapes their shape and form 4see alsoose 199 /sing 00=5* /his notion of

land as a site of h&man-nonh&man interaction is central to my analysis* @s # descri"e the

e;perience of $orkhas in Dareeling %ith 4among other things5 landslides, &r"an decay, and pest

species, # dra% "oth on the notions named a"ove 4landscape, soil, and territory5 as %ell as ideas

from feminist political ecology* @ feminist approach emphasi6es the everyday environmental

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politics that to some e;tent float "eneath the s&rface of s&"national movements as portrayed in

the press and in m&ch scholarship* #n Dareeling, the )ecological ordinary+ revolved aro&nd

socio-ecological )edges+2 the "orders "et%een plantations and forests, "et%een city and to%n,

and "et%een species 4/sing 00=5* #n her %ork on interspecies enco&nters, Donna ara%ay

40085 speaks of )contact 6ones+ "et%een h&mans and other speciesas sites of partic&lar ethical

concern* #t is in these edges, ara%ay 40105 arg&es, %here people feel compelled to consider

the &estion of inheritance2 to devise %ays to )leave more &iet co&ntry+ for f&t&re generations

4see ose 1995* /o &nderstand land as an inherited relationship, then, # t&rn no% to the &estion

of soils and sta"ilities on Dareeling's iconic tea plantations and their forest edges*

#lantation and $orest Edge Effects

/he Dareeling district is a landscape of rolling imalayan foothills contained "y the

"orders of (epal to the east, Bh&tan to the %est, the plains of Bengal and Bangladesh to the

so&th, and the #ndian state of Sikkim to the north* @top one of the highest ridges in the district

sits Dareeling to%n* >rom to%n, "right green tea plantations and ri""ons of forest slope do%n

steeply into the valleys "elo%* /he $.MM "andhs made strategic &se of the region'stopography

and geopolitical significance* Bandhs halted the everyday movement of Dareeling residents

andammed the circ&lation of people and things to these adacent areas* /he $.MM effectively

sh&t do%n the district's tim"er ind&stry, a state of !est Bengal enterprise* Bandhs also crippled

the to&rist ind&stry* /ho&gh tea %as sometimes "ro&ght into the remit of "andhs, more often, it

%as &ietly e;empted*

/he e;ception for tea seems s&rprising, given the "everage's prominence in pop&lar

imaginaries of the region*Cne e;planation # often heard from Dareeling residents regarding the

e;emption of tea from "andhs%as that $.MM politicians %ere "o&ght off "y tea plantation

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o%ners* @nother e;planation had to do %ith a com"ination of instr&mental and sym"olic politics*

@t an instr&mental level, a total "lockade of tea %o&ld mean lost %ages for tea plantation

%orkers, leading to an erosion of the $.MM's s&pport "ase* Most $.MM politicians had

families %ho depended on tea plantation %ages for s&rvival* @t a sym"olic level, Dareeling tea

3a nationally and glo"ally recogni6ed "rand3said %hat $.MM politicians alone co&ld not*

/he $.MM's o%n sym"olic displays fre&ently incl&ded images of tea leaves and tea pl&ckers

4>ig&re 15* /he do%n%ard flo% of tea, as %ell as of images of (epali tea plantation %orkers,

reinforced Dareeling's geographical and c&lt&ral )distinction+ 4Besky 01="5* @s a political

tactic in the str&ggle for land, the $.MM's caref&l manip&lation of &pIdo%n flo%s of "oth

commodities and sym"ols %as in keeping %ith s&"national land str&ggles else%here* #n "andhs

aimed at managing the oraalo/ukaalo flo% of reso&rces and people, $.MM politicians engaged

land in the territorial sense, in the reso&rce sense, and in the aesthetic sense* /his %as political

%ork on land* /ea plantation %orkers, on the other hand, had to %ork with land to manage flo%s

of thing and people*

/he disco&rse of oraalo and ukaalo had resonance in the everyday lives of plantation

%orkers,al"eit in a less geopolitical sense*


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/he plantation3the factory and other things3%ill "e the o%ner's, "&t the %hole land

"ecomes o&rsJ /hat means that the soil is o&rs too* /he o%ner %ill need to pay &s Kin

ta;esL* ***#t's like this, at that time Dareeling tea %ill "ecome Gorkha Dareeling tea,

"eca&se %e $orkhas are %orking* B&t the land is not the o%ner's*

>or tea %orkers, $orkhaland named not only a str&ggle for a&tonomy over reso&rces and a

means of controlling their flo% thro&gh territory, "&t also a str&ggle %ith the land underneathtea*

!orkers %ere %ell a%are of the pro"lems of plantation monoc&lt&re on steep imalayan

foothills, "oth %ithin and "eneath the )factory and other things*+

:lantation o%ners in the early 000s %ere intensifying prod&ction to meet increasing

international demand for Dareeling tea* /his demand came after decades of ind&strial decline,

in %hich over&se of pesticides and poor land management had made anti&e tea "&shes less

prod&ctive 4Besky 01=a5* #nstead of replanting old tea "&shes, %orkers fo&nd themselves "eing

asked to plant tea in areas %here they had never planted it "efore2 in recently c&t-"ack forest4tea

plantations incl&de forest "&ffers separate from tim"er plantations in other parts of the district5

and in steep g&llies 4 jhorās5*@mid this intensification, the oraalo/ukaalo disco&rse signaled a

different kind of precario&s "elonging3one of act&al soil, plants, and %ater* Cne geologist

%riting a"o&t landslides in Dareeling descri"ed the region as "eing in )&asi-&nsta"le

e&ili"ri&m,+ meaning that any amo&nt of rainfall co&ld res&lt in a landslide of any magnit&de

4Sarkar 0112 15* !orkers, too, e;perienced life on the plantation3especially at its edges, in

places like cleared forests and jhorās3in a kind of &asi-&nsta"le e&ili"ri&m* :lanting in jhorās

and clearing forests %ere recipes for disaster* /he &estion %as not if land %o&ld slide, "&t

%hen*

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/he most famo&s landslide inDareeling is located on @m"ootia /ea


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home* >or tea pl&ckers, the threat of landslides spoke to the impending loss of $orka land *

roehlich et

al 199 >roelich and Starkel 198 Starkel 010, 19 Starkel and Bas& 000 Starkel and

Sarkar 01=5* /hese st&dies do not disc&ss plantation agric&lt&re* #ndeed, %hile landslides are

perhaps the most prevalent socioecological threat to all Dareeling's people3on the plantation or

in to%ns3the tea ind&stry's role in preventing or ca&sing them remains controversial* Cn !orld


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$.MM took control in 00, no"ody came do%n to the plantation %hen )pro"lems+like

landslides str&ck*/ea %orkers kne% that that there %ere "right yo&ng people )&p in to%n+ that

might "e a"le to help, "&t the plantations took a "ack seat to other iss&es* /hey oked that the

$.MM leadership3in their "ig ne% SUGs and fancy ne% clothes3only )came do%n+ to look at

their pro"lems* :oliticians made a "ig spectacle of their visits, "&t the end res&lt %as largely the

same2

Bishn!2 !e kno% that that they are doing very %ell no% "eca&se, say, if %e have some

pro"lem they come do%n and they look * /hey look aro&nd*

%on!2 B&t %hat do they do for the landslide

Bishn!2 ight, %hat can they do for the people

%on!2 Nes* Nes* @ll the party did %as come aro&nd and look around *

Eandslides%ere a form of %hat (i;on calls)slo% violence,+ "oth distanced from centers

of po%er and )disco&nted "y dominant str&ct&res of apprehension+ 4(i;on 0112 175* /hey %ere

the res&lt of sim&ltaneo&s prod&ctive and destr&ctive %ork2 daily tea pl&cking and long-term

deforestation* Cn plantations, landslides3either reali6ed or imagined in the "ending ro%s of tea

3highlighted a sense of %hat (i;on calls +displacement in place2+ the condition of )"eing

sim&ltaneo&sly immo"ili6ed and moved o&t of one's living kno%ledge as one's place loses its

life-s&staining feat&res+ 4(i;on 0112 195* Eandslides reference an ecological,visceral sense of

%hat Middleton 401"5, %riting a"o&t Dareeling, calls )an;io&s "elonging*+ Eandslides, long a

concern of imalayan geography and political ecology, remain pro"lematic "eca&se they are

"oth a )nat&ral+ feat&re of high-gradient landscapes and tracea"le threats to already-marginali6ed

people, even as those most v&lnera"le are "lamed for their prevalence 4Blaikie and Brookfield

1985* #n Dareeling, landslides %ere manifestations of the parado;es of edge effects2 "et%een

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Folkata, or a"road 4%here many $orkhas go in search of %ork5, %as a common aspiration

among yo&nger tea plantation residents, "&t those %ho did get o&t faced forms of 4ecological and

economic5 marginali6ation similar to those that "eset the plantation* #n the "odies of )S&ndays,+

Dareeling to%n met Dareeling plantations, and the concerns of environmentalists a"o&t the

precarity of land met &ncomforta"ly %ith the &estion of regional "elonging*

@ high-visi"ility occ&pation of to%n %as key to the $.MM political agenda* Unlike the

previo&s incarnation of the movement in the 1980s, %hich held rallies in the Aho%k Ba6aar 4or

)Do%n Ba6aar,+ a market lo%er on the ridge5, $.MM activists held their speeches and events at

the top of the ridge, in a pla6a called Aho%rasta* !hile the Aho%k Ba6aar %as the social and

economic center of %hat is collo&ially called )do%nto%n,+ %here non-British settlers in

Dareeling lived d&ring the colonial period, Aho%rasta %as the center of )&pto%n,+ the all-%hite

section of Dareeling* /oday, tho&gh thegro%th of &r"an and peri-&r"an bustis has contri"&ted to

a "reakdo%n ofstark class and racial distinctions "et%een )do%nto%n+ and )&pto%n,+ Aho%rasta

remains, as in the colonial period, the to&rist center of Dareeling* >rom Aho%rasta, the

landscape seems vast* >oothills "lanketed %ith verdant tea "&shes appear to &nd&late for miles,

contained only "y misty imalayan peaks* B&t in the other direction, "ack to%ards the Aho%k

Ba6aar, the ridge is congested and finite2 so m&ch so that it is sometimes hard to see %here a

given edifice meets the gro&nd*

#n the recent $orkhaland agitation, most every $.MM rally "egan do%nto%n and snaked

&p the ridgeto Aho%rasta* Speeches "laring from speakers tied to "am"oo rigging cele"rated the

&nity of $orkhas and declared a shared sense of oppression and &nderdevelopment at the hands

of the state of !est Bengal* Beneath the veneer of these sym"olic claims to $orkha &nity and

their cooption of a racial and class-"ased &pIdo%ndivide, ho%ever, laid a messier

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politicswithinDareeling to%n* #ncreasingly, to%n %as itself a so&rce of danger and social

division* #ts decay raised &estions a"o&t the material possi"ilities of )"elonging+ in an

erst%hile colonial ref&ge*

Dareeling's %as a 19th cent&ry infrastr&ct&re s&pporting a 1st cent&ry pop&lation* /his

material disconnect has prod&ced some painf&l ironies in everyday life* !ater shortages are

chronic* /o%n residents3partic&larly do%nto%n3have no reg&lar access to %ater for m&ltiple

months of the year, despite the fact that Dareeling, on the )%et+ so&thern face of the imalayas,

has some of the highest rainfall of any%here in #ndia* /oday, the jhorāsthat lead do%n%ard, o&t

of the city and to%ards the plantations "elo%, are nearly constantly gl&tted %ith organic and

inorganic %aste*

>or over 10 years, colonial and postcolonial depictions of Dareeling for to&rist

cons&mption have portrayed the mo&ntain landscape as a space of leis&re, good feeling, and

rela;ation* :resent-day &pto%n maintains, in patches, a distinctly British feel2 ga"led /&dor

cottages and stone "&ngalo%s adorned %ith ginger"read ornamentation sit t&cked "ehind iron

gates and the dark shado%s of duppi trees 4cryptomeria japonica5that the British imported 4and

(epali la"orers c&ltivated5 to make Dareeling appear more in line %ith British ideals of a restf&l

and nat&ral landscape 4Fennedy 19975* D&ring my field%ork, ho%ever, spaces of &r"an

decayrevealed a landscape of %hat @nn Stoler 40085 calls)imperial de"ris+ 4from "&ngalo%

verandahs to strolling paths5* #mperial de"ris sat in tension %ith act&al de"ris 4from corn co"s, to

horse d&ng, to little plastic paan packets5*

#n late 009, st&dents from Dareeling's St* .oseph's Aollege prod&ced a series of short

films, omino&sly titled Black Darjeeling , that interrogated the parado; that #ndia's most famo&s

19


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mo&ntain ref&ge %as also a site of pressing environmental pro"lems 4St* .oseph's 0095* /he

films portrayDareeling as a)sleep%alking+ place, ca&ght in

a perpet&al holiday moodJand st&ck some%here in the middle of r&nning and sleeping

in the feigned rat race* Ahaos reignsJin dingy apartments and &nliva"le hygienic

conditions, KandL in the s&rprising lack of drinka"le %ater in this part of the %orld %here

the rainfalls are healthy 4St* .oseph's 0095*

#n her %ork on )contact 6ones,+ ara%ay 40085 disc&sses the ethical and political &estion of

ho% to )inherit+ &nsavory relationships* /ho&gh ara%ay speaks specifically of inter-species

relationships 4e*g* "et%een h&mans and dogs5, the St* .oseph's st&dents' invocation of

Dareeling's legacy as the historic site of colonial leis&re allo%s &s to e;tend her insights a"o&t

inheritance to non-living infrastr&ct&re as %ell* /he films in Black Darjeeling %hich tackle

pro"lems from landslides, to ed&cation, to %aste management, are &nited "y "oth a sense of

privileged t%enty-something angst and an appeal to an environmentalism that hinges on a sense

of shared responsi"ility* #n $ok&l Sharma's)!aste2 @ .o&rney /o%ard Ahange,+ the narrator

%anders thro&gh streets lined %ith clogged drains and "roken pipes and past gar"age-filled

jhorās, intervie%ing shopkeepers and gar"age collectors* /he film &;taposes scenes of

acc&m&lated %aste "elo% and the famo&s mo&ntain vistas on high, creating its o%n edge effect*

Sharmae;plains2

Dareeling is a place that appears to "e like an artists masterpiece*** a paradise* B&t

slo%lyJ# find that Dareeling as a paradise is &st an ill&sion* @s # %alk the streets each

day, # am enco&ntered %ith only %asteJ Dareeling lives on top of the %aste and pro&dly

calls itself the H?&een of the ills' 4St* .oseph's 0095*

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/he term )?&een of the ills+ dates "ack to 19th cent&ry colonial to&rist g&ide"ooks*

Sharma's ironic &se of it frames Dareeling as a city o&t of place*#n this depiction, Dareeling's

residents3living on top of one another, apathetic and insensitive to the pro"lems theycreated3

are perpetrating slo% violence &pon themselves* !hile Aho%rasta is still a to&rist destination for

sipping tea and ga6ing at mo&ntains, the infrastr&ct&res for se%age, %aste, and %ater have never

"een &pgraded* /he former is part of a colonial a-era imaginary, the latter a postcolonial

pro"lem* #n a material %ay, Dareeling3and its landscape of imperial de"ris3sat in the messy

edge "et%een colonial past and postcolonial present* !aste3matter o&t of place3%as s&"tly

linked to a pop&lation of people o&t of place* /he &estion of %ho and %hat sho&ld and sho&ld

not go )&p+ or )do%n+3a &estion that the colonial architect&re of the place %as designed to

ans%er3%as reignited in the %aste de"ates*

at!ration and easonalit'

#n her disc&ssion of the pro"lem of )sl&m+ ho&sing in Fathmand& river"eds, @nne

ademacher 40095 descri"es %hat one of her informants calls the pro"lem of ho% to manage

the )r&ral in the &r"an2+ the infl&; of d%ellers 4and d%elling practices5 that seem o&t of step %ith

the demands of space* #n Fathmand&, landless )sl&m+ settlers %ere cast as )o&tsiders*+ #ndeed,

(epalis spread r&mors that they %ere #ndians %ho did not "elong in Fathmand& at all, and %ho

misrecogni6ed the river"ed %here they lived as )land+ 4ademacher 0092 195* #n response,

planners in Fathmand& moved to reconstr&ct the river"ed as a %aterco&rse* #n the face of

Dareeling's %aste pro"lem, environmentalists made the case that overpop&lation and

)&ned&cated+ to%n d%ellers misrecogni6ed jhorās* @s the leader of the Save the ills campaign

told st&dents gathered for !orld


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*** the %ater &sed to percolate thro&gh the valley* !ater &sed to r&n off* B&t no% %ith

tremendo&s &r"ani6ation, all the %ater drains off into another drain, and it goes

event&ally into o&r jhorās* !hose jhorās are not meant to hold water. So the jhorās are

eating &p Kthe land aro&nd themL*

/he sense that contemporary to%n-d%ellers mis&nderstood the v&lnera"ility of the landscape in

%hich they d%elled %as central in s&chassessments of the conse&ences of rapid &r"ani6ation,

"&t %hen the slo% violence of %aste management morphed into the ac&te violence of disaster,

some $orkha activists linked environmental misrecognition %ith the &est for political

recognition*

Monsoon rains, %hich come May and r&n thro&gh Septem"er can and often do leadto

landslides, devastating ho&sing settlements precario&sly clinging to the slopes "elo% Aho%rasta*

?&estions of environmental "elonging came to a head in the aftermath of Ayclone @ila*#n early

Septem"er 009, Ayclone @ila sp&n aro&nd the Bay of Bengal, then "&rst north across the plains,

settling over the imalayan foothills* @ila %as a %ell-doc&mented event, ca&sing massive death

and damage in !est Bengal and Bangladesh* #n Dareeling, landslides destroyed infrastr&ct&re

and villages* /he most significant damages occ&rred in Eo%er /&ngs&ng village,on the "ackside

of Dareeling to%n, on land pop&larly descri"ed "y longtime to%n residents as )&n"&ilda"le*+

/hey said that British engineers had deemed it so "eca&se it %as not only steep "&t also covered

in loose soil and "ackfill from the constr&ction of )&pto%n+ Dareeling* /hose most affected "y

@ila %ere those living on the most intimate terms %ith everyday environmental and social

marginali6ation*

@ila str&ck d&ring the height of the $.MM's agitation, "&t in the aftermath, politicians,

environmentalists, and residents str&ggled over ho% to characteri6e the event* @ttempts to


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conte;t&ali6e the loss of land, ho&sing, and life "ro&ght &estions of ecological "elonging

together %ith &estions of political "elonging in ≠pected %ays* @s (i;on p&ts it, )Aontests

over %hat co&nts as violence are intimately entangled %ith conflicts over %ho "ears the social

a&thority of %itness, %hich entails more than simply seeing or not seeing+ 4(i;on 0112 175*

(e%s reports doc&mented deaths in Eo%er /&ngs&ng, "&t the &estion of the e;tent to %hich

h&man and nonh&man action co&ld "e "lamed for the disaster3a &estion that, like the &estion

of landslide etiology, has long "een prominent in political ecology3seemed diffic&lt to ans%er

4Blaikie and Brookfield 198 Blaikie 198 #ves and Messerli 19895* @fter all, cyclones,

earth&akes, and landslides have "een part of life in the hills since long "efore the $orkhaland

agitation*

@t one $.MM c&lt&ral program held in the aftermath of @ila, a leader of a (epali ethnic-

gro&p samaj 4organi6ation5 deployed a familiar middle-class disco&rse of collective

responsi"ility to link the landslides to the pro"lems of %aste and &ns&staina"le &r"an living2

/here %as an #ron @ge, a Stone @ge, an #ce @ge* No& kno% %hat o&r age %o&ld "e

called /he age of plastic litterJ B&t it is m&ch more than that* #n the cities plastic may

"e an aesthetic iss&e, "&t in the hill station, it is a Hlife iss&e*' #t is in the jhorās, in

ourjhorās, in o&r drains, in o&r landslides3the landslide in %hich people die* C&r hills

are choking %ith plastic litter* !e KareL making s&ch a thing that goes against Knat&reL

and that is dangero&s to nat&reJthe very thing %hich Dareeling has given &s*

#n the %ake of @ila, activists "ecame more %illing to %eave the insta"ility of land3and the

pro"lematic edge effects of r&ral and &r"an decay3into narratives of $orkha resistance to !est

Bengal, if only for a time*


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/he political approach to land degradation in the region remains largely one of

spectac&lar response rather than deli"erate prevention 4recall Bishn& and Mon&'s criticism of the

party for coming after the fact and merely )looking aro&nd+5* #t %as over relief that

environmentalists and $orkhaland activists converged after @ila* #n the %ake of the disaster, the

!est Bengal government responded %ith financial and material reso&rces* /his relief, ho%ever,

failed to acco&nt for the ecological distinctiveness of Dareeling* Cne $.MM activist and retired

civil servant %ith e;perience in the (ortheast e;plained2

Disaster management plansare made in the !riters B&ilding, so they do not kno%

anything a"o&t the Dareeling* !e are totally different &p here* ere, %e need %arm

clothes* #n the past they have even sent cycles K"ikesL* K/heL %hole disaster management

plan %as prepared in Aalc&tta, it %as not prepared "y local people* KSendingL a cycle,

KsendingL dhotis Kskirt-like light cotton %rapsL, this is a very casual approach to disaster

management*

@fter @ila, $orkhaland's o&t%ard manifestation as a str&ggle for land "egan to merge, if only

"riefly, %ith the everyday str&ggleswith land* /he same activist contin&ed2

Cnce %e get a state of $orkhaland, the decision making process %ill "e here in

Dareeling, not in Aalc&ttaJ #n disaster management, it is not sympathy, it is empathy

Kthat is neededL* "t is about place* Aalc&tta %ill not "other, "eca&se it is not their

"rothers* So empathy means3s&ppose # am the Secretary concerned and %hatnot, and #

kno% my people are dying* /hey are my relations, so # %ill %ork faster* /he disaster

management plan %ill "e prepared "y Dareeling people, %ho have e;perience %ith ho%

to handle the landslides, so they know that dhoti is not the item, or a cycle is not the item*

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/he idea of $orkha disaster management, ho%ever, %as a minority c&rrent in the

movement* C&t of the $orkhaland agitation, a ne% hill co&ncil formed in 011, %hich promised

increased a&tonomy and local control over Dareeling's reso&rces* B&t in the s&mmer of 01,

years after the disaster, many residents of Eo%er /&ngs&ng had yet to see any material or

monetary relief, %hile others had received pittances for their destroyed ho&ses* /he party

contin&ed to come do%n and look aro&nd*

+noing -at!re, +noing #ests

/he o&t-of-place-ness of to%n and people sits in tension %ith imagesof )nat&ral+

mo&ntain landscapes2 Fanchen&nga, sno% leopards, rivers, and tea "&shes* /hese images %ere

prominent "oth in environmental programs like Black Darjeeling and those organi6ed "y ($Cs,

"&t also in $.MM depictions of $orkha )heritage+ and nationally-distri"&ted images of $orkhas*

/he endangered red panda %asa partic&larly prominent 4and pec&liar5 sym"ol 4See >ig&res and

5*

#n a lect&re at the 008 !orld


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preservation of endangered species had "ecome the responsi"ility of the local governments

%here those species %ere indigeno&s* Being )native+ to the region necessitated caring for

)native+ species* She e;plained2

/his means the red panda m&st "e in Dareeling* /hey cannot "e kept in the 6oo in

Eondon, "eca&se %e find red pandas in Dareeling, @r&nachal, and Sikkim* @nimals m&st

"e kept %here they are fo&nd* !e cannot keep them in the Folkata Ooo* !e do not find

red pandas in Folkata* !e do not find red pandas in Eondon* !e do not find red pandas

in United States*

#n the presentation, as in $orkha political rallies, )saving+ the panda and protecting

$orkha )heritage,+ %ere co&ched as a shared cosmopolitan responsi"ility, &st as it %as a shared

responsi"ility keep %aste o&t of jhorās* /he ca&ses of "oth environmental iss&es %ere

amorpho&s, "&t &ltimately gro&nded in )overpop&lation+ and )&p%ard+ migration*

/alk of the conservation of megafa&na, like talk of %aste management,revolved aro&nd a

distinctly moral, middle-class aesthetic conscio&sness2 an &pto%n sensi"ilitythat plantation

%omen also mocked %hen they referenced the $.MM politicians' SUGs, fancy %ardro"e, and

concerned ga6e* Aonservation narratives hinged on the image of Dareeling as an edenic

)garden+ ref&ge* #n %hat (i;on 40112 18=5 calls an )eco-archaic+ disco&rse,those species that

"elonged needed to "e conserved, parado;ically, alongside the remains of colonial architect&re

4Besky 01="5* (i;on &;taposes the eco-archaic to the )ecological ordinary3those &otidian

interactions "et%een h&mans and nonh&mans that move "eyond the raciali6ed theatre of the eco-

archaic+ 4(i;on 0112 18=5* !hile environmentalists railed a"o&t the shared responsi"ility to

care for endangered red pandas and to protect the valleys from gar"age, poor to%n-d%ellers lived

in a different kind of relationship to these nonh&man elements of the landscape*

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ere, ara%ay's artic&lation of6ones of inter species contact and inheritance is more

relevant* #n Dareeling, residents rarely sa% red pandas face-to-face, "&t they had almost daily

enco&nters %ith less charismatic megafa&na2 maca&e monkeys and stray dogs* Unlike red

pandas, these specieshad no tro&"le reprod&cing* /hey %ere pro"lematically n&mero&s*

Dareeling's maca&es live at the B&ddhist-ind& Mahakhal /emple, the site of an old

monastery on the highest point in to%n, &st a"ove Aho%rasta 4as %ell as other temple aro&nd

to%n5* /he monkeys are sacred and their home predates "oth colonial and (epali settlers* >or

$orkhas, ever mindf&l of the need to appeal to primordial "elonging in the hills, maca&es are

deeply pro"lematic* /he maca&es cannot "e e;cised from the landscape "eca&se they are in

some sense the living descendants of its oldest residents* /hey are living reminders that $orkhas

are not the original inha"itants of the area*

/heir more recent role, as annoying pests %ho ro&tinely attack to&rists and to%nspeople,

has rendered them into moving manifestations of colonial and postcolonial &nderdevelopment*

Maca&es are "oth detrimental to infrastr&ct&re and a part of it2 they occ&py space and cro%d &p

against people, "&t they also feed on %aste* Shopkeepers ro&tinely clash %ith maca&es, "&t

they cannot remove these )sacred+ creat&res from the landscape* #nstead, they have to try to

manage them*

/o manage monkeys, to%nspeople %ork %ith local dogs* Dogs are the messengers of

Namara, the god of death 4@cross (epal and Dareeling, people cele"rate F&k&r :&a, Dog :&a,

on the second day of /ihar* Stray dogs are %ashed, tikka-ed, and garlanded*5 Eike monkeys,

dogs mediate the relationship "et%een people and the sacred2 dogs connect people to an afterlife*

B&t in Dareeling, dogs also help manage maca&es* @ local veterinary ($C only ne&ters

female dogs, not males* /o%n residents prefer males h&ngry and territorially aggressive* #n this


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state, they corral maca&es in space, keeping them from coming )do%n+ "eyond the temple site*

Despite their &tility in controlling monkeys, stray dogs are, like monkeys, a danger to people*

/heir "ackgro&nds are tro&"led* /hese are the dogs of colonial occ&pation2 %elsh corgis,

terriers, ott%eilers, Ea"radors*

/he everyday %ork of mediatingrelationships "et%een monkeys, dogs, and h&mans amid

a fragile, overcro%ded mo&ntain landscape, forged a sense of "elonging )&p+ in to%n* /hese

enco&nters3a kind of ordinary, slo% interspecies territorial violence3pro"lemati6e analytical

categories common to "oth ecology and the anthropology of #ndian s&"nationalism2 terms like

)nat&ral reso&rce,+ alien and indigeno&s species, and even )sacred+ and )profane*+ /o%n-

d%elling $orkhas inherited the str&ggle %ith %aste and %ith pests, m&ch as they inherited the

anti&ated streets and jhorās # the)contact 6ones+ in %hich they met* /hese contact 6ones %ere

so em"edded in the land of $orkhaland that they seemed to resist political representation* Dogs

and maca&es manage %aste even as they threaten life and livelihood* /he territorial clashes

"et%een dogs, maca&es, and $orkha people &nderscore the degradation and ecological

v&lnera"ility of to%n 4Cgden 0115* /he strapped commodity-prod&cing landscapes "elo% and

the mo&ntains "eyond have p&t to%n-d%ellers4people, monkeys, and dogs5 into &ncomforta"le

pro;imity*

.oncl!sion: Being/s0 1!t of #lace

Dareeling is "est kno%n for t%o things2 tea and separatist politics* # have tried to attend

to the config&rations of people in the spaces "et%een these pillars of agric&lt&re and

ethnonationalism* By "ringing together Dareeling's primary material and representational forms

3as %ell as the peopleand things that travel do%n and &p the mo&ntain3# have %orked to

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f&rther an ongoing disc&ssion of the meaning of "elonging in #ndian s&"nationalism* Eandslides,

&r"an %aste, and inter-species enco&nters in Dareeling speak to the e;istence less of a coherent,

&nified )homeland+ than to a )shado% place,+ dislocated "y the flo%s of things and ideas a"o&t

those things and the people and places the prod&ce them 4:l&m%ood 008 C'$orman 01=5*

Dareeling's e;istence has long "een predicated on the provision of goods and services for

places-else%here3from the colonial metropole to the glo"al market*

/he presence of $orkhas in this shado% place is marked "y ecological insta"ilities that

e;ist in tandem %ith feelings of )an;io&s "elonging,+ or precario&s senses of #ndian

citi6enship4Middleton 01"5* By giving a material sense of that an;iety, this paper's

contri"&tion is to prompt a closer consideration of the meaning of land in s&"national politics*

.&st as %e sho&ld never take identity for granted, %e sho&ld not take the gro&nd on %hich people

contest and re%ork sym"olic representations of themselves as sta"le or &niform* $orkhas, the

tea %orker # &oted a"ove told me, are concerned a"o&t the fate of the )%hole land+%ith %hich

they %ork* B&t &st as concerns a"o&t ethnic or national identity are inflected "y conflicts over

framing, tactics, and kno%ledge, concerns a"o&t land are complicated "y the overlap "et%een

environmentalism, postIcolonial infrastr&ct&re, and even the stat&s of places and animals as

sacred, dangero&s, or )nat&ral*+

Eand in Dareeling defies easy categori6ation* Aertainly, it is a kind of political territory,

%here )state+ and )comm&nity+are often artic&lated interdependently from one another 4@gra%al

and Sivaramikrishnan 0005* B&t the creation of a $orkha stateremains evocative* Dareeling's

is an intentionally crafted landscape3a living image of colonial prod&ctivity and leis&re no%

occ&pied 4an;io&sly5 as a s&"national homeland* Dareeling, as an agrarian environment, is th&s

an appropriate site not &st for rethinking "elonging "&t for e;amining the processes "y %hich

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people enco&nter the temporally pro"lematic )edge effects+ of colonial monoc&lt&re, &r"an

&nderdevelopment, and perhaps even %hat it means to live in )&asi-&nsta"le e&ili"ri&m+

4Sarkar 0115* $orkhas, as # have arg&ed, have inherited these edge effects, and the %ays in

%hich they confront them can enrich anthropological and relatedapproachesto &stice and

in&stice in agrarian environments* Stopping the do%nhill loss of land and people %as not &st a

strategy of $.MM political action, "&t also a desire of nearly all $orkhas %ith %hom # talked*

Belonging is relationship "et%een $orkhas and "oth material and metaphorical land* /hese

material and epistemological framings of land &ndermine clean claims to territory and &niform

re-shapings of landscape*

Bi"liograph'

@gra%al, @r&n* 00* $nvironmentality% !echnologies of Government and the &aking of'ubjects* D&rham2 D&ke University :ress*

@gra%al, @r&n and F* Sivaramakrishnan* 000* )#ntrod&ction2 @grarian


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----------* 01="* )/he Ea"or of !erroir and the !erroir of Ea"or2 $eographical #ndication on

Dareeling /ea :lantations*+ (griculture and 3uman 4alues* 14152 8-97*

Blaikie, :iers and arold Brookfield, ed* 198* and Degradation and 'ociety* Meth&en2

Eondon and (e% Nork*

Blaikie, :iers* 198* !he ,olitical $conomy of 'oil $rosion in Developing Countries* (e%

Nork2 Eongman Scientific and /echnical*

Ahatteree, :iya* 001* ( !ime for !ea% -omen abor and ,ost/colonial ,olitics on an "ndian

,lantation* D&rham2 D&ke University :ress*

Aronon, !illiam* 01=* )!hy


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itchcock, .ohn* 1971* )@ (epalese ill Gillage and #ndian


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(ading, @le;* 01=* &os6uito !rails% $cology 3ealth and the ,olitics of $ntanglement *

Berkeley2 University of Aalifornia :ress* (ag, Saal* 00* Contesting &arginality% $thnicity "nsurgency and 'ubnationalism in orth2

$ast "ndia* Delhi2 Manohar*

(i;on, o"* 011* 'low 4iolence and the $nvironmentalism of the ,oor * Aam"ridge2 arvard

University :ress*

Cgden, Ea&ra* 011* 'wamplife% ,eople Gators and &angroves $ntangled in the $verglades*

Minneapolis2 University of Minnesota :ress*

C'$orman,


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ose, De"orah* 199* Dingo &akes 5s 3uman% ife and and in an (boriginal (ustralian

Culture* Aam"ridge2 Aam"ridge University :ress*

St* .oesph's Aollege Department of Mass Aomm&nication* 009* Black Darjeeling * KSt&dent

Short >ilm AollectionL

Sarkar, S&"ir* 011* )oreign Ea"or Migration and

the emittance


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S&""a, /B, @A Sinha, $S (epal, D (epal, eds* 009* "ndian epalis% "ssues and

,erspectives. (e% Delhi2 Aoncept :&"lishing Aompany*

/sing, @nna* 00=* 1riction% (n $thnography of Global Connection* :rinceton2 :rinceton

University :ress*

van Dooren, /hom* 011* )#nvasive Species in :eng&in !orlds2 @n


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$ig!re 23 Gorkha Territorial Administration /GTA0 Logo

$ig!re 43 $loat at a G5%% rall'

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$ig!re 63 Red #andas in Gorkha &Tri"al( Dress distri"!ted "' the Election .ommission of

India in Darjeeling3

Land in Gorkhaland Beskey

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