[Reader-list] Fwd: 40th Day of indefinite hunger strike by Lepcha tribals in Sikkim against Teesta hydel project_govt exerting pressure

[Dr. Vibha Arora]

Today, the indefinite hunger strike by 35 year old Dawa Lepcha and 20 year
old Tenzing Gyatso Lepcha has entered the FORTIETH day (started on 20th
June) - the two determined Lepcha youth are continuing this satyagraha from
their hospital bed at STNM hospital at Gangtok. Other concerned monks,
women, and youth are participating in a relay strike at the Bhutia-Lepcha
House at Gangtok, Sikkim in North-East India.

Dawa Lepcha has made numerous films which have been screened internationally
at festivals such as those organized by the RAI (2005). Check out this
blogspot for details of this Protest http://weepingsikkim.blogspot.com/


These activists don't need your silence but your scholarly and political
support and URGENT media attention. Do we have democracy in Sikkim? Why
arent the issues of Sikkim and the tribal of Northeast being represented by
Indian Press? We can devote so much attention, inches snd inches in our
newspaper columns towards Page 3 issues and yet not cover people who are
unselfishly staking everything that they have to fight for their community,
their forests, their land and their human rights.

I just spoke to Dawa Lepcha today, and some other activists in Gangtok. They
are determined, and firmly holding on their position impressing on the
Sikkim Government the need of constituting a review committee for all the
hydel projects expecially those located in Dzongu with equal representation
from the ACT (Affected Citizens of the Teesta) which is coordinating the
protests in Sikkim and neighbouring Darjeeling. The actitvists are demanding
that the committee be headed by an independent impartial person who knows
the region and its cultural dynamics as well. This peaceful protests in
Himalayan Sikkim has gained momentun with activists in neighbouring
Kalimpong also blocking roads in unity. The government on the other hand is
not doing much, except threatening to declare this peaceful protest as being
unlawful and chargesheeting some of the frontline activists.


Thursday, July 26, 2007 Government of Sikkim Agrees to
ACT<http://sikkimnews.blogspot.com/2007/07/government-of-sikkim-agrees-to-act.html>

<http://bp2.blogger.com/_mXxUC5oJJIs/Rqh0mJpU0zI/AAAAAAAABeA/j1SFcsCHK0w/s1600-h/000_0118.jpg>
*GOVT. AGREES TO ACT DEMAND FOR REVIEW COMMITTE;ACT DEMANDS 50%
REPRESENTATION ON COMMITTE.*

The ongoing ACT led hunger-strike protests against hydroelectric projects in
North Sikkim were within a whisker of resolution yesterday but got staled
due to technicalities even as Dawa Lepcha & Tenzing Gyatso Lepcha completed
36th days of fast.
In a bid to find an amicable solution after a series of meetings between
representatives of ACT and high powered committee constituted by Sikkim
Chief Minister Dr. Pawan Chamling ,the state government has agreed to set up
a review committee following Sikkim CM 's directions .
However,a meeting held at Samman Bhawan on July 25, 2007 ,members of ACT
demanded that the committee should be headed by a person acceptable to them
and that at least 50% of committee members strength should be nominated by
ACT and it has forwarded six names recommended by it for inclusion in Review
Committee. These names are Ligden Lama, Dawa Lepcha, Pemzang Tenzing, Tseten
Lepcha,Choppel Lepcha and Tempa Gyatso.
Meanwhile,the State government clarified that committee will comprise of all
sections of people from Dzongu and not just the members of the ACT so that
issue could be examined appropriately and a just&fair decision could be
arrived in larger public interest.
ACT Chief Convener Tseten Lepcha has informed that an immediate issue of
notification on review committee by state government as pre-condition to
calling off of the hunger strike.
Chief Secretary in an official communication to ACT president reiterated the
State Government's commitment to uphold the sanctity of Dzongu and Old Laws
as protected under the constitution of India and further agreed to review
all aspects of hydel projects through constitution of a committee as per
memorandum submitted to Chief Minister by ACT on 12 December 2006 and
further assuring that "the Government will act as per the recommendation of
the Committee" and also assurance that said committee would be directed to
submit report within the time frame of a month.
Acting upon the official communication from government, ACT members sat in a
meeting at the BL House, decided to lay down 3 conditions for the
composition of this review committee:
1.That Committee be headed by an independent person who is well versed in
social, religious ,environmental, and technical aspects of projects.
2.That 50%of committee members be nominated by ACT.
3.That an immediate official government notification for the constitution of
Review Committee as per agreed terms and conditions be issued by the state
government

  Posted by The Sikkim Times


Hunger strike over India's lost paradise By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi
Published: 27
July 2007

The images are distressing. Two men lie in hospital beds surrounded by their
friends. The men barely move, too weak to even sit up. Occasionally,
perhaps, one of them will move his head slowly. The friends stroke their
foreheads or else rub their feet.

This is a hunger-strike for the YouTube generation. The two men - Dawa
Lepcha and Tenzing Gvasto Lepcha - whose protest has been posted on the
popular online video site, have not eaten for 39 days. Doctors at the
hospital where they lie in the remote Indian state of Sikkim say they are
getting weaker each day. There are serious concerns about the functioning of
the men's kidneys.

The cause that has led these two men to take this drastic action and for
their friends to post this powerful video on the internet is the very land
on which they and their families live. A massive hydro-electric power scheme
backed by the state government, consisting of more than 20 individual
projects, threatens to drive the men and their neighbours from the land
close to the Teesta river in the Dzongu region of the state. Campaigners say
the project is illegal and claim the authorities have failed to obtain the
necessary assessment of the impact the schemes will have.

This land is not only pristine - including as it does parts of a national
park on which lies the world's third- highest mountain and a biosphere
reserve - but to the people of the region it is also sacred.

The two men refusing food are both Lepcha, the indigenous people who have
lived on the mountains for centuries and whose name for the region, Mayel
Luang, roughly translates as "paradise". Some clans believe they were
created by mother nature, others that mother nature created two deities who
then created the Lepcha. The massive Kangchenjunga, reaching up to 28,169
feet, is considered holy.

"Their health is not very good. They are both in the hospital," said Sherab
Lepcha, a member of the group Affected Citizens of Teesta who visits the two
men every day. "[But] they are very determined."

The issue of hydro-electric schemes and dams driving people off the land in
India is nothing new. Throughout the 1990s, there were widespread protests
against the construction of massive dams in places such as Gujarat.

Activists have calculated that over the past 50 years, perhaps 33 million
Indians have been forced from their land by such projects.

These protests drew the support of several high-profile figures, including
the novelist and activist Arundhati Roy, who wrote of the victims in her
essay The Greater Common Good: "The millions of displaced people don't exist
any more. When history is written, they won't be in it. Not even as
statistics. Some of them have subsequently been displaced three and four
times - a dam, an artillery range, another dam, a uranium mine, a power
project. Once they start rolling, there's no resting place."

The campaign against the projects on the Teesta river has so far gained
little attention beyond the immediate locality and within the environmental
community. That may be partly because of Sikkim's remoteness. This
landlocked Himalayan region bordered by Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, was a
semi-autonomous kingdom until as recently as 1975 when it became the 22nd
state of the Indian Union. Today, Sikkim is India's least populous state and
is famed for its wilderness areas and unspoilt landscapes.

Campaigners say that the hydro-electricity projects will forever change that
and have a huge impact on the local people. "Displacement and resettlement
is a highly conflictive and difficult issue, and the affected communities
often become impoverished in the process," said Ann Ann-Kathrin Schneider,
of the International Rivers Network, a US-based campaign group. "However,
the displacement of indigenous people is even more difficult and there are
practically no examples in the world where the resettlement of indigenous
people has not destroyed their culture and social cohesion, as well as
totally destroying their ability to economically support themselves."

Indeed, the campaigners say powerful impacts of the first of the hydro
schemes - the 510 megawatt Teesta V project, which is under construction -
have already been felt. "The work ... especially the construction of the
tunnels for the water that will be diverted for hydro-power generation, has
already caused much hardship," said Ms Schneider.

"Water resources have dried up, landslides in areas were people live have
been caused and houses have been partly demolished by the construction of
the tunnels. The dust pollution that is a by-product of the construction
activity is so high that children in schools in the area are affected and
fruit trees and other agricultural activities are affected. The productivity
of the orchards and the fields has considerably reduced."

Proposals to build the series of dams and harness up to 3500mw of power
first emerged in the late 1990s, and despite the protests the state
government of Sikkim has so far not backed down from pressing ahead. It
readily admits it is lured by the source of wealth the project represents,
and says it has negotiated a deal with the private developer of 12 per cent
of the generated energy for the first 15 years after completion.

The government believes that the Teesta is ideal for generating electricity
because the river plunges down deep gorges, dropping 13,123 feet (4,000
metres) over its initial 50 miles.

In a statement, the state government said it had initiated hydro-electricity
schemes to utilise the available natural resource to attain self-reliance,
in order to raise the Sikkimese people's socio-economic position and
generate adequate revenue for the state.

But the Lepchas are not convinced. Sherab Lepcha, worried about the fate of
his friends in the hospital, added: "If the people are driven off the land,
there will be nowhere for cultivation. There will be nowhere to go."
http://news. independent. co.uk/world/ asia/article2809
190.ece<http://news.%20independent.%20co.uk/world/%20asia/article2809%20190.ece>

*OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM THE GOVT OF SIKKIM*
**

For arriving at an amicable settlement to the ongoing hunger strike called
by the members of ACT a series of meetings had been held by the officials of
the Government with their representatives during the past one month. On the
direction of the Hon'ble Chief Minister further negotiations were held with
the members of the ACT and on their request for a review of the various
aspects of the hydro electric projects, the Government communicated its
decision to set up a committee to examine their request and give its report
within a month.

However, at the meeting held on 25th July, 2007 the members of ACT demanded
that the committee be headed by a person acceptable to them and that half
the members should be from ACT. They would be able to call off the hunger
strike only when the notification for such a committee was issued by the
Government.

3. The State Government stand was that the committee should be comprised of
all sections of the people of Djongu and not only of ACT so that the issues
could be examined appropriately and a just and fair decision arrived at in
public interest.

4. The Chief Secretary once again appealed to the members of the ACT to
accept the stand of the Government and call off their hunger strike so that
the Government can take further necessary action at the earliest.
*THE CHIEF SECRETARY'S LETTER No. 77/SKM/CS/2007 DATED July 26, 2007 TO
ACT*
**
**
**
**
*OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SECRETARY
**GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM
GANGTOK
*
No. 77/SKM/CS/2007 July 26, 2007

The President
Affected Citizens of Sikkim @ACT,
Gangtok.

Sir,

The State Government is in receipt of your letter dated 25th July, 2007
along with the resolutions adopted by you.

2. As already informed at the meeting on 25.7.2007 at Samman Bhawan any
committee to be set up by the State Government has to comprise of all
sections of the people of the Dzongu and not only of ACT so that the issues
are examined appropriately and a just and fair decision arrived at in public
interest.

3. The State Government has also viewed with extreme concern the shouting of
slogans just outside the gates of Samman Bhawan by one of your
representative of causing "Bomb Blasts" in Sikkim as the demands were not
being met. In such circumstances there cannot be any negotiations or a
proper meeting unless your organization is rid of such elements and the
influence of vested interests.

4. The State Government is also in receipt of a notice from the Central
Empowered Committee set up by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Examination of the
same has revealed that ACT have already filed a case relating to the hydel
electric project before the appropriate authority for just relief. As the
case is already before a judicial authority the ACT should clarify as to
what reliefs are expected from the State Government otherwise it appears
that the ACT have a lack of faith in the judicial system and the rule of
law.

5. The State Government has also taken note of your letter head indicating
your organization to be "AFFECTED CITIZEN OF SlKKIM." in place of AFFECTED
CITIZEN OF TEESTA"as you have claimed earlier. This, combined with the
unlawful blockade of Sikkim on the only highway connecting the State to the
rest of the country organized with the help of outside forces, and your
representative indicating that "Bomb Blasts" would be caused, makes the
Government believe your organization has since come to be infiltrated by
anti-social elements and is now under the influence of vested interests and
outside forces that are inimical to the peace and tranquility prevailing in
the State.

6. Under the circumstances indicated above it is doubtful if any fruitful
decision would result from further meetings. On your own admission vide your
letter dated 21st July, 2007, " two desperate Lepcha youth members of ACT
are battling for life" at the STNM Hospital. The State Government would like
to make it clear that in case anything happens to the said youth the
responsibility for same shall rest squarely upon the ACT leadership. The
State Government has had a number of meetings with members of the ACT and
addressed your genuine concerns. Sufficient opportunities have been given to
you to present your case but there does not seem to have an honest intention
on your part to resolve the issues.

7. *The State Government would like to sincerely appeal to the genuine
members of the ACT to faithfully introspect on the ongoing strike and the
likelihood of it being used by anti-national and anti­State forces to serve
their vested interests. It is, therefore, once again requested that the
hunger strike be called off in public interest within twenty four hours from
the time of receipt of this letter, failing which the State Government would
have no alternative but to take necessary action as per law. *

Yours faithfully

sd/-
N.D.Chingapa
Chief Secretary


Teesta protesters allege govt
pressure<http://www.kalimpong.info/2007/06/27/teesta-protesters-allege-govt-pressure/>
 www.telegraphindia.com
Gangtok, June 24: Members of Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) have come
down heavily on the 'coercion, subjugation and administrative intimidation'
that the people of Dzongu are being subjected to.
In a news conference yesterday, ACT members claimed that government
functionaries were resorting to pressure tactics to gain support for the
Teesta hydel power schemes. The allegations followed after Dzongu MLA Sonam
Gyatso Lepcha came up with signatures of 86 people, apparently in favour of
the power project, after a meeting on June 21.
"Most of the landowners are primitive tribesmen, docile, god-fearing and
submissive by nature and a majority of them do not want to part with their
ancestral land," said Tseten Lepcha, the chief coordinator of ACT. "But they
are being threatened that if they do not part with their lands all
government facilities will be stopped. All those fighting for their lands,
rights and future are being branded anti-national and politically
motivated." (more…)<http://www.kalimpong.info/2007/06/27/teesta-protesters-allege-govt-pressure/#more-579>




-----------------------------------------
Vibha Arora, D.Phil (Oxon)
http://web.iitd.ac.in/~aurora/

Assistant Professor in Sociology
Dept of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Indian Institute of Technology,
Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016 INDIA
Office (MS 617): 0091-11-26591381

aurora at hss.iitd.ac.in; vibhaaurora at yahoo.com
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