Paharpur Declaration

The Indian delegates was led by Mr.Goutam Ghose and the Dhaka delegates by Mr.Pijush Banerjee. The moderator for the Paharpur workshop was Mr.Shekhar Das and the Chief Guest was Mr.Safiqul Islam, DG-Archaeology. Dr.Nazmanara Khanum, the DC of Naogaon District was the Special Guest of the occasion. The workshop was opened by the film ‘Beyond Barriers’, a film by Ajoy Roy. The welcome address was made by Taufiq Rahman and the ground for the workshop was presented through a guideline explained by Raj Basu. The organizing part of the workshop and the Joypurhat hospitality was made successful by Shah Fakir Md. Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury Prince and Apurba Sarkar. Almost all delegates participated in the workshop and their inputs were noted as a part of the ‘Paharpur Declaration’. The points of ‘Paharpur Declaration’ and the delegates present were:
1. Tourism, peace and heritage conservation approach in cross-border initiatives.
2. Connectivity & Good roads connecting sites of Naogaon and Joypurhat Districts.
3. Basic tourist facilities like toilet complex, restaurant etc.
4. Interpretation and Guide facility at the sites, English speaking guides.
5. Highlight all heritage sites in a systematic way.
6. Sightseeing taxi facility at Joypurhat as this is important terminal for tourists.
7. Link Paharpur with Nalanda site.
8. Utilise other acquired lands in Paharpur for development purposes which helps locally.
9. Local employment opportunity through the Heritage sites for poverty alleviation. Local capacity development priority.
10. Impact analysis of tourism on the heritage sites and the management plan should address core and buffer areas.
11. Conservation master plan with local, district, national and cross border international levels.
12. Archeological department should identify a proper consultant to help the master plan.
13. Paharpur as the nucleus of the heritage cicuit of Bangladesh North Bengal.
14. Local committes or units at every heritage site for tourism to start with this initiative.
15. Ease the political boundaries between the two North Bengals as there was not so much restrictions before.
16. Safety and security of tourists/visitors.
17. Bangladesh to make easy visa facility for foreign tourists.
18. Local tourists of Bangladesh must visit their home sites.
19. Proper display of time and distance between the several sites.
20. Joypurhat to be promoted as the tourism base for visitors to Paharpur.
21. Establish A Regional Government Tourism office at Joypurhat for promoting and information about the sites of the region.
22. Awareness of local heritage sites at the local schools and at all public level.
23. Nogaon and Joypurhat to Prepare Hilli as a tourism facility site.
24. Picnickers mainly come as visitors and crosses a lakh, but the real tourists are negligible.
25. Longer stay at Paharpur for atleast 06 hours and develop the tourism product accordingly.
26. Local awareness among the people of Paharpur.
27. Promote Muktijodha base of Paharpur.
28. Foreign currency exchange facility.
29. Local culture team for tourism activity addition.
30. Government to be a good facilitator, business opportunity for the local people.
31. More trains between Hiili/Balurghat and Njp and better trains from Dhaka to Joypurhat, both for tourism.
32. Promote Paharpur through television medium and Government to promote mainly in Japan through advertisement to increase number of domestic and international tourists.
33. Archeological department to please confirm protection of all the heritage sites. Local awareness and participation in heritage conservation.
34. Include Heritage Tourism as subject in schools of Bangladesh.
35. International but regional level cultural exchange between Bangladesh and India.
36. India should have a tourism office in the Hilli/Balurghat area.
37. Visitor interpretetion centre at Paharpur.
38. Establish a network as ‘Paharpur Bandhu’ or ‘Friends of Paharpur’ with today’s members on a email base.
39. The project on tourism infrastructure has begun at Paharpur by tourism department.
40. 15 million ADB fund received and a part will be used for community based tourism as 1992 resolution.
41. No presence of the heritage sites with Paharpur present on the internet and hence a site to be launched with Paharpur.
42. The intercity train stoppage at Jamalpur Railway station.
43. Tourism Guide Association of Bangladesh will help in local guide training.
44. Local homestays to be promoted at priority basis and every household to be involved with good toilet facilities.
45. Moonlit Paharpur than can be promoted as product.
46. Bangladesh Travel Writers Association will help in publications on print and net.
47. Local people to take the responsibility to conserve the sites and the Government to help such initiatives.
48. Free and publications for sale of good quality should be available.
49. Promote Rabindranath Tagore’s Yatra and consider visitors as Tirtha Yatri to connect people.
50. Establish a helipad at Paharpur for tourists.
51. Reestablish the train route through Hardings Bridge, via Joypurhat between Calcutta to Darjeeling.
52. Department of Archaeology will help tourism but it should be kept in mind that no damage can be done to any site for tourism development.
53. Tourism has to be the growth engine in Bangladesh to be taken as a policy.
54. DC Madam, Nagaon has confirmed the participation in joint development of cross border tourism with adjoining North Bengal of India.
55. This initiative has increased people to people relation as said by DG Archaeology between Government, local people, visitors from Dhaka and visitors from India.
56. Trust and confidence building has to follow from this workshop in heritage tourism development and cross-border relation development by the present Government.
57. Tourism is a common demand in Bangladesh today and the Government is giving priority.
58. Host family culture exists in Bangladesh but this has to be nurtured and developed for the upcoming generation.
59. Schools have already been involved in educational tours to Paharpur and this will be made more elaborate in future.
60. Light and Sound show for Paharpur, which should include the days of Mahasthangarh.
For more details
Visit: http://www.viewsontourism.info/2010/paharpur-world-heritage-site-and-wtd-yatra-2010/

Few years after Sunderbans Jungle Camp was established, Asit took up the initiative to take celebrity artists there. The team of artists motivated by the landscape and communities with traditional livelihood would come up with fantastic paintings fetching them a good amount. The advantage for Sunderbans was that, the destination was promoted. During these workshops, the children would wonder at these artists and painters and also the medium they would use. It was difficult to forget the expression in their eyes.

Finally, a few years later, day before yesterday, a team from 'arc foundation' carried with them several kinds of medium and provided the children from Bali Island with them, joined by a brief introduction. The results were wonderful for this initiative 'Expression through Art'.

Thanx to 'arc foundation' for making this dream of the children come true.

Blockade at Manipur

1st June, 2010: When I posted about the Bandhs and Strikes in the whole of this region at different forums and how tourism must be kept out of it, the posting on the facebook about the situation in Manipur seemed to be like a ‘SOS’. I decided to visit our country’s most culturally and historically important state, Manipur. On the 25th of May, when I reached Guwahati, I found to my astonishment that no bus service was plying for the past many days. The next move was to fly from Guwahati to Imphal on the 26th.
While going to the town from Imphal airport, I saw long (sometimes 3kms) queues of cars and motorbikes, with people waiting patiently waiting in the rains. The driver of my cab informed me that this was the queue for fuelling and that a litre of petrol costs atleast Rs.150/- a litre and diesel Rs.120/- a litre minimum. Also that it was rationed. He informed that in villages the same fuel would cost double and that a kilo of rice was being sold for a minimum of Rs.100/-.
The scene continued for the next three days that I stayed on. We often hear people refer to Northeastern states as hostile, but imagine if this would have happened to any city or town in any other part of India. I can bet there would be pulling down of fuel stations, long protests, breaking of vehicles plying on road and major everyday hostility. I was amazed at the patience, gentleness and quality of our youths living there.
This seemed to me as a World War II situation, when the Japanese forces had taken over the Kohima-Imphal axis and blocked all movements and rations to the base at Imphal. It reminds me of the Battle of Jessime and Battle of Kohima were fought by the British Indian forces to open this route, and finally the Japanese ha to retreat.
Today, it is our own people everywhere, the people creating the blockade, the people being affected and the our defence forces who could probably clear such blockades. The Manipur Tourism catchline is ‘Gateway to Southeast Asia’, when the local people are suffering how can a tourist arrive here. Tourism is all about ‘BETTER PLACES TO LIVE IN AND VISIT’.
Is there a way??? I think yes, when we look at Northeast and often refer to it as the remote corners of the country, we have a mind blockade. This is the most centrally located region and the meeting point of South and Southeast Asia. We have to change our policies and rather than sticking to 22 items to be traded through the Tamo/Morrey border and 29 items through Nathula border, let us broaden our vision and introduce a implementable policy.
The Southern Silk route that dominated in the Brahmaputra region, connecting Irrawaddy to the Bay of Bengal, hundreds of trade routes dominated the region. These routes were later followed for war tactics between the Himalaya and Bay of Bengal nurtured by numerous land routes and river routes. Why could we not bring our fuel and essential supplies from Myanmar???

Darjeeling with East Himalaya

Mr.Madan Tamang has been brutally killed in Darjeeling today. He was one of the oldest tourism entrepreneurs of the region and a noted intellectual from the East Himalaya. His family runs an well established tourism infrastructure at Meghma on the famous Sandakphu Trek Route, which runs through the Singalila National Park for the past many years and he himself organized an accommodation at Darjeeling in his place of residence. Most of his family members are linked with the tourism industry. He had a great vision for tourism and organic agriculture. He had carried the brand of East Himalaya, mainly Darjeeling to Japan and many other countries of the world mainly in the field of adventure tourism and ecotourism.
Again there was a rumor of a Bandh(strike)from today, again disturbing tourist movement in Darjeeling and harassment to them in the whole of Sikkim-North Bengal region.
The Northeastern region of India gets a tourism peak season only for a period of 60 to 80 days, once during summer and the other during Durga Puja vacations. The tourism over here has mainly developed with the help of local entrepreneurs and is gradually leaving behind the stagnant tea industry. The most visited destinations are Sikkim, North of West Bengal (Darjeeling Hills and Dooars), Assam and Meghalaya. The first two and the last two being interdependent as popular circuits.
This summer which is the longest peak tourism season and service providers fully dependent on it, almost all the tourism infrastructure were packed till the series of political strikes (Bandhs) that took place:
14th May, 2010: Siliguri 24 hours Bandh.
15th & 16th May, 2010: Darjeeling Hills Bandh 48 hours.
17th, 18th & 19th May, 2010: Dooars 72 hours Bandh.
18th & 19th May, 2010: Meghalaya (Khasi & Jaintia Hills) Bandh.
More than 12 tourist vehicles have been attacked and vandalized.
The tradition continues...
This is the peak tourist time, Government of India has given special LTC for Government employees visiting Northeast. Special Northeast India campaigns are made with crores of expenditure. Subsidised loans for creating tourism infrastructure has been alloted. Hundreds of rural tourism sites have been added to the conventional destinations. Tourism was being used as a tool to mainstream our communities living in isolation. Booking were lined up for 2011, but alas, everytime political Bandhs during peak tourist season shaterring the brand of Northeast.
The service tax revenue, which is mostly from tourism in North Bengal region was increasing by 8 to 10% every year till 2007-8. Since 2008-9, when the Bandhs started, the revenue declined by more than 40% and the trend continues. Imagine the other revenues linked to tourism (transport taxes, fuel sur-charge and taxes, restaurant and accommodation taxes etc), which is said to be six times the direct tourism revenue is lost at the same rate.
For every family as tourists, there are 10 local people who are engaged. The largest generator of employment, tourism is today hit by regular Bandhs during peak tourist seasons.
Tourists are our Guests and as per the Indian tradition 'Guests are our God'. It is not a part of the Indian culture to invite guests to our region and insult them with Bandhs. They contribute to the destination they visit, in a responsible tourism pattern they even help to conserve our rich natural and cultural resources. They hardly have any knowledge or connection with our local political problems. They come here for peace and hospitality. Hence, we have no right to make tourists/guests/visitors a part of our Bandhs. We have to come to a political consensus on this issue and make this a part of our constitution.

Shibjee, the end of an era at Chilapata

Siliguri, 21st April, 2010: Yesterday on the 20th of April, 2010 was the funeral ceremony (performed on the 13th day of the funeral of any individual in the Hindu way) of Shibjee Sah 92 at Chilapata. Almost 1100 people from different works of life, different communities and from far and wide attended the ceremony. Forest villagers, forest department staff, regular bus service staff and aged daily passengers, ex-timber merchants and Mathura tea estate residents composed the maximum numbers. Everyone talked about an era passing away with him.

Chilapata Sanctuary, 08th April 2010: Last night when Buada rang me up from Chilapata sometimes past 10 at night, I had just returned from the Northeast Council Tourism Meet at Gangtok where one of the major points of discussion was ‘how can tourism stop climate change’. This was the second discussion this week, as on Sunday at a meeting of the Environment and Forest Ministers of the two nations, Bangladesh & India, I was asked to speak on ‘Sunderbans, tourism and climate change’.
Buada told me that his father Shibjee had passed away. I rushed to Chilapata today morning and found several people from different communities (Oraon, Munda, Kora, Karjee, Rabha, Mech, Bihari, Nepali, Bengali and Rajbongshi) were present at the funeral. A old man was sitting in front of Buada’s house and was continuously crying and saying, Shibjee first came to our house more than 50 years back and my father looked after both of us as brothers.
In a small village near Samastipur in Bihar, Shibjee was born. His father passed away in his young age, and his uncles claimed his mother of having mental problems and chased her away with her two sons, other elder to Shibjee. The uncles took away the land and the mother with two sons took shelter at a Brahmin’s house at Samastipur. The elder brother went as a child labour to Samastipur Jute Mill and the mother with younger son worked for the Brahmin at his house.
Not long when Shibjee went to work at Ranchi, from where he managed to go to Calcutta. A long part of his life as he told his son Bua (Ganesh Sah) that he served a doctor at his house in Chittagong. In the year 1949 and the early 1950s, East Bengal was undergoing the process of becoming East Pakistan, and the Pakistan constitution was being formed on the basis of Islam. This created riots in East Bengal, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and several parts of the subcontinent.
This made Shibjee flee Chittagong in 1954 and come and take shelter in Mathura Tea Estate, one of the first established tea estates of Dooars. The rise of the industrial revolution in United kingdom in the 18th & 19th centuries, that was the time when the English sailed continents in search of new grounds for entrepreneurship, and started to create tea estates in India, mainly East. As a result, large forested landscapes had to be alternated with tea plantations. This is when they needed labours. The Barraiks were instrumental in bringing thousands of labourers from their state of Bihar and adjoining areas, who were made to work hard in these plantations at the present area Mathura next to Chilapata Sanctuary. In the process, the Barraiks became Rajas or Landlords of the area and owned large land areas, elephants, arms and people.
Chilapata had seen kings in the past and the fort ruins next to Bania River remain silent witness to the glorious past. As per historians, the ruins belong to the Gupta age and are often referred to the mythology of Nal Raja of Nal-Damiyanti. Several others believe that this fort belonged to Naranarayan, the King of Coochbehar and some argue that the area belonged to his General Chilla Rai, who was a great warrior and administrator. Today, the ruins are almost hidden in the forests of Chilapata Sanctuary, where the fort is inhabited by our wilder part of the ecology which includes everything from elephants to pythons, both very commonly sited.
Shibjee started his livelihood by selling chana masala in and around Mathura. He gradually started venturing in the forests carrying snack food to sold to the mahalders and their party, who were engaged in timber extraction. This was a continuation of the imperialistic British policy of earning revenue from their empire areas rich in natural resources. Timber and Tea industries were then at its best in the Bengal Dooars areas and brought generous returns for hardworking Shibjee. The turning point came in when he and his Nepali friend were trampled by a wild elephant in the forest. His Nepali friend died, but he survived with severe injuries. The timber merchants and their people rushed him to the Alipurdual hospital and after weeks of struggle survived. He was no more capable of walking around to sell his snacks. The Timber Merchants then built him a small shed at present Chilapata More, where his son Bua (Ganesh Sah) still lives with his family, from where Shibjee sold food and sweets often patronized by Timber Merchants and Forest officials coming for short stay at the Chilapata Forest Bungalow.
The Chilapata Forest Bungalow, which was a major transit Bungalow for government officers in the past, a must stopover from Coochbehar through the Dooars in those good old days when the unbroken forests along the Bhutan foothills were abundant with wildlife. The old log book describes the presence of Tigers, Panthers and several other celebrity wildlife which were easily sighted. The other day Chilapata Jungle Camp had some guests, one of the elderly ladies was the wife of a retired Conservator Forests, who had stayed here more than thirty years back. She described that the bungalow was surrounded by forests and had a water body in front, which attracted wild animals throughout the day. Several retired and present forest officials called Buada on his mobile and conveyed their message on the demise of his father Shibjee.
Ganesh Sah, Buada as he is popularly called in the area was brought up in the forest among the timber extraction business. His skills, intelligence and upbringing soon made him a Man Friday to the illegal timber trade lobby. He gradually became a threat to the local Forest Department. In the mid and late 1990s, a community based tourism movement was started by Help Tourism with the West Bengal Forest Department in North Bengal, both Hills & Dooars, a process to achieve protection of forest resources through tourism. The then Minister for Forests, Mr.Jogesh Burman himself, a strong believer of this movement aggressively used the tool for the forest fringe villagers. Buada, became a part of this movement with enthusiasm from the Minister and DFO.
He took a loan from the local bank and started with a tourism infrastructure in the fringe of the forests, behind the Chilapata Forest Bungalow in the name of Shibjee Green India Tourist Cottage. This became a project in isolation and there was hardly any market linkage. Buada was disturbed with the increasing bank interest and approached the Minister again, who suggested him to contact Help Tourism. In the meanwhile Help Tourism was already supporting a wildlife researcher, Subhodeep from Alipurduar on forgs & toads. He along with guidance and support of Zoological Survey of India scientist, Kaushik Deuti encountered upon a new species of frog at Chilapata.
Hence, Help Tourism took up the responsibility to be involved with Chilapata Sanctuary, the green corridor between Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and Buxa Tiger Reserve. With the help of Wildlife III of West Bengal Forest Department, 29 local youths from different communities were trained as ‘ecoguides’. An yearly ecotourism festival was started with fixed date celebration from 15th to 17th September. Buada was given the support to complete the infrastructure, local people were trained to provide services and bank debts were cleared through a partnership, keeping the ownership of Buada intact. Branding of the infrastructure was brought intune as ‘Chilapata Jungle Camp’. Conservation networking with adjoining Bhutan and Manas Biosphere Reserve has been started.
The Chilapata Initiative is being taken forward to be the core between Assam-Bengal and Bhutan-Bengal Conservation Tourism relations. The rewind of the imperialistic deeds are not possible, but to bring back community ownership and responsibility for their natural resources is ofcourse the goal, which in turn will help to slow the ‘Climate Change phenomenon’.

Peace through Tourism in historically changed Cross-borders

a policy workshop for administrators, political leaders, developers, ambassadors, academicians, trade & industry concerns, NGOs, responsible tourism organizations and all concerned for establishing global peace...
29th & 30th March, 2010. Shantiniketan. Bolpur. West Bengal. India.
Organized by Department of History, Visva Bharati University,
In collaboration with ICRT-India, IIPT, ACT & Initiated by Help Tourism.

INTRODUCTION: Several regions in East & Northeast India share common land borders with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Tibet. These regions once had the privilege to have several trade routes, which were connected to the historical Silk route. There were several developments which took place then and became the landmark in the history of the world, like the spreading of Buddhism etc helping to bring peace to the region and nurturing better ‘people to people relations’.

Today, the trade routes have been closed inspite of the easy land connectivity that exists and has been a major reason for poverty and terrorism for the different countries in the bordering areas. This further has been a pressure on the rich natural resources, which are the last frontiers of the global biodiversity remains of the subcontinent. The people across the borders have now through generations have awaited the old cultural and trade relations. The capitals now need to understand this emotion & need of the time. Several countries across the globe have shown sense of better cross-better relations in tune with the demand of time and have achieved positive results.

We discuss in this workshop, the scope of opening these borders for the purpose of tourism and allow some fresh economical activities for the bordering areas. This can then be followed by developing policies for other trade & cultural interaction. The goal of this exercise will be to help conserve the biodiversity hotspots and help establish peace in the area.

THE VENUE: Santiniketan was previously called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Dakat, a local dacoit), and owned by the Tagore family. Rabindranath's father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, found it very peaceful and renamed it Santiniketan, which means abode (niketan) of peace (shanti). It was here that Rabindranath Tagore started Patha Bhavan the school of his ideals, whose central premise was that learning in a natural environment would be more enjoyable and fruitful.
Later, this developed into an International University, Visva Bharati, the India that opens its window to the world. Several cultures and traditions of the world were incorporated with the deep rooted Indian cultures as a part of the curriculum. Through years, Shantiniketan witnessed the footfalls of ‘global leaders for peace’.
A step towards 150 years of Rabindranath Tagore: Rabindranath Tagore, born on May 7, 1861, got the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 – the first Asian to get the coveted award. “In May, 2011, the world will celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. A national committee of distinguished experts will advise on the events to commemorate the life and works, as well as the values and ideals, of Tagore,” the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh said on 16th January, 2010.
Referring to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent visit to Delhi, Manmohan Singh said the two of them had agreed to oversee the joint celebrations of the event in a befitting manner.
Rabindranath Tagore wrote in a letter addressed to the Sino-Indian Society in 1934:- `The truth we received when your pilgrims came to India and ours to you - that is not lost even now. What a great pilgrimage was that! What a great time in history!` Tagore went on to say, `It is our duty to-day to revive the historic spirit of that pilgrimage following the ancient path which is not merely a geographical one but the great historic path that was built across difficult barriers of race differences, and differences of language and tradition reaching the spiritual home where man is one in bonds of love and co-operation`.
Year 1936, Tagore sent a message to the World Peace Congress at Brussels, emphasizing that peace must be built on the strength of the just, not on the weariness of the weak. To deserve peace they must pay its full price. “The strong must cease to be greedy, and the weak must learn to be bold.”
Expected Delegates
Government Policy Makers & Tourism Industry Representative speakers 15 heads
History Department 15 heads
International Media 10 heads
Journalism & Mass Communication 02 heads
Inaugurator, Keynote speaker & Guest Presenters 05 heads
ICRT-India, IIPT, ACT & Help Tourism 08 heads
Volunteers 05 heads

Program outline:
29th March, 2010: Venue- Museum Hall (AIHCA)
08:30 Registration & distribution of registration kit.
09:30 to 11:00 Inauguration & Keynote Address.
Tea Break
11:15 to 13:00 Cross-Border Tourism Circuits and future scope by the different countries and India’s Northeastern States and the state of West Bengal.
Lunch
14:00 to 15:30 Living Buddhism Circuit in East Himalaya (Guru Padmasambhava Trails), presentations by the different Himalayan countries & states.
Tea
15:45 to 17:45 Cross-Border Natural, Cultural, Social and Trade history issues in academic sessions by field organization representatives, scholars & researchers.
18:30 to 19:30 Cultural program.

30th March, 2010: Venue- Bedi & Chata (Under the tree)
09:00 to 10:45 Wrap up sessions for Policies & Circuits for Cross-Border Tourism.
Tea
11:00 to 13:00 Presentations on the proposed policies & circuits for Cross-Border Tourism.
Lunch
14:00 to 15:00 Shantiniketan Declaration.

For details, please contact:
Joint Coordinator, Arunava Das, Assistant Professor of History. 9831835213, 9474731090.
Raj Basu, Help Tourism. 9733000444. E.Mail:actraj@gmail.com & info@helptourism.com.

Paharpur, World Heritage Site, Bangladesh

Connecting World Heritage Sites through people’s participation between the two North Bengals of Bangladesh & India through tourism to confirm conservation of heritage and peace.


Help Tourism, initiated local community participation through tourism in another UNESCO declared World Heritage Site, PAHARPUR and their first site in Bangladesh with the assistance of Biplab Saha, the CEO of Sun Tourism and Taifiq Rahman, 1st Vice President of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB).



The first survey of the World Heritage Sites in Bangladesh was undertaken by Help Tourism in the year 2001. February 2009, one of the master degree ecotourism intern from University of Applied Science - Eberswalde/ Germany, Sascha Prinz from Help Tourism visited the Paharpur site and gave his inputs. After that, the meeting in TTF Kolkata in July, 2009 with the tourism industry of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Consulate at Kolkata raised hope that this was the right time to work on ‘people’s involvement in tourism’ and create the first model for Bangladesh.



Accordingly, the trip to Paharpur was undertaken between 9th to 11th September, 2009 by Raj Basu and Biplab Saha. The route taken from Siliguri was Chengrabandha, Burimari, Teesta Barrage, Rangpur and Joypurhat. Joypurhat being 10 kms from Paharpur, the nearest urban area with available logistics, we chose this as the base. The other reasons for choosing Joypurhat was the other National heritage interests being close by, easy road and rail connectivity and motivated people with good network at the nearby Bangladesh-India border.



The major interest is that Paharpur is a World Heritage Site, and we explained locally that 1) such a heritage confirms and enlightens the development of the communities who lived here, 2) and keeping aside our class, creed & religion, we must all be proud of it and bring back the old glory. 3) We further explained that tourism is the only window that opens to the world and we look forward to their involvement in tourism. 4) This will create wonderful easy land connectivity between the World Heritage Sites: from Darjeeling to Paharpur to Dhaka, uniting the two North Bengals. 5) This will help in cross-border relations and peace.



As the lonelyplanet.com mentions in its description very rightly, except the approach (getting to Paharpur) which is now quite easy:

The Somapuri Vihara at Paharpur was once the biggest Buddhist monastery south of the Himalaya. It dates from the 8th century AD. This is the most impressive archaeological site in Bangladesh; it was declared a protected archaeological site back in 1919, although the scholar-traveller Dr Buckman Hamilton had shown interest in it as far back as 1807. The name of the site has changed over the eons; it began life as Somapura (abode of the moon), then became Mahavihara (greatest monastery) before taking its current combination name. Getting to Paharpur is a bit of a pain on public transport, but it all adds to the element of discovery.



On the evening of 9th, we visited the Paharpur site. It was dark and person living near the site, he offered us his house to stay. The people near the site suggested that we go to Joypurhat and spend the night there. We put up at the Hotel Prithbi at the Thana Road in Joypurhat, where we were met by the Joypurhat Municipality Panel Mayor, Mr.Nandalal Parchi and his team. We had a long discussion, after which he was convinced that our concept for community involvement in Paharpur and adjoining places of interest will go a long way towards sustainable development of the entire area. He insisted that the next day, we should visit the Paharpur site and a few places of interest with his people.



On 10th morning we first visited Paharpur and surveyed the whole site, after which we met the Custodian, Md.Abdul Latif Pk at the Paharpur Museum. He discussed several points like the encroachment of the site by the local people through their activities in jute processing in the wetlands, cattle grazing, stealing of bricks etc. There are on an average 500 people illegally entering the site everyday. The other problem is about the salinity in the atmosphere and maintenance is tough. There is only one pump and it is difficult to avoid water logging in the monsoons. Guide engagement has not been possible. There is a lack of proper audio-visual material and equipment. Practical archaeological deficiency has left a lot of archaeological site Goalvita, Dhamurhat etc in distress. The practical orientation in the tourism industry is missing and hence proper interpretation has not been possible.



We were accompanied by Mr.Ashok Kumar Sarkar (Gaur) & Mr.Mrinal Kanti Sarkar (Minu) of Joypurhat. We visited some of the other places of interest like Baro Shiv, Sugar Mill etc. The other places are Mahasthal, Akkelpur and pagla Dewan. Everyone told us that we must visit Dhamurhat, Jagdalvihar and Patharghata, the description of which will be found in the book by Mr.Rakhal Das Bandhopadhyay. Every year at Hille border in India a festival is organized in respect of the Indian army, who have laid their lives in the Bangla Independence War. Also Mr.Dhananjay Rai of Kaliaganj has also written a lot on the heritage of this area. The other personalities who have an elaborate knowledge about this area are Mr.Shyamal Bhattacharya, ex-Headmaster of Bagora School, Dr.Martuja Khaled (Dipu), Islamic History Department of Rajsahi University and Mr.Samar Pal who is now a senior Secretary at Dhaka.



In the evening, we had an elaborate meeting of local personalities and NGOs presided by Mr.Aminul Haque Babul at Phulki and attended by Ad.Nanda Kishore Agarwala, Mr.Tapan Kumar Khan, Mr.Ranjao Kumar Kundu, Mr.Tapan Kumar Mahanta, Mr.Niresh from Rangpur, Mr.Apurba Sarkar, Md.Motinur Rahman, Mr.Sujan Kumar Mondal, Md.Monsur Rahman, Mr.Azizar Rahman and Mr.Gholam Haqkani.



The discussions led to the following conclusions and appreciations,

1) That this area has a reputation of terrorism and tourism will help to built good reputation and livelihood and hopes for the area.

2) Tourism will attract the confidence of Dhaka, as the circuit that is being planned is Dhaka-Paharpur-Darjeeling.

3) That good NGO infrastructure is available even to accommodate tourists.

4) That the area has good NGO capacity and good work reputation with the villages of the area.

5) It is possible to develop Homestays, several of them had good access to the private residential houses in Joypurhat through the initiative of developing the biggest infrastructure of Home Libraries in Bangladesh.

6) Also there is an opportunity to develop different kinds of Handicrafts and Handlooms.

7) One of the biggest difficulties is that Jotpurhat and the Paharpur site are in two different districts and have two different political parties in power, but the biggest advantage is that they have same linguistic accent and culture, and the two districts with the political have very good relations locally.

8) There is a wonderful Adibashi (tribal) area with rich culture.

9) That we must have a Paharpur Festival every year.

10) Organize a big Bangladesh-India meeting in the Raiganj/Kaliaganj/Balurghat area in this winter.



The meeting was coordinated by Mr.Nandalal Parchi and he was selected to lead the initiative of Connecting World Heritage Sites and developing Cross-Border Tourism with special reference to Paharpur in Bangladesh.

DOOARS FROG & TOAD FESTIVAL, a proposal

Dates 15th to 17th September, 2009.
Venue of the festival: Chilapata, Mendabari, Kodalbasti & Madarihat
Organized by:
Wildlife Circle (Coochbehar Division),
Department of Forests, Government of West Bengal
& Help Tourism
Supported by:
India Tourism Kolkata (Government of Tourism, Government of India), Mendabari Jungle Camp, Chilapata Jungle Camp, Association for Conservation & Tourism (ACT), Eastern Himalaya Travel & Tour Operators Association (EHTTOA), Society for Preservation & Awareness of Wildlife & Nature (SPAWN).

The festival was started in 2008 as Chilapata Ecofest on the same dates. Owing to impact of such festivals on the local people,specially the forest villagers in regard to conservation, the festival has been upgraded to Dooars Frog & Toad Festival involving the whole of the natural areas of Central Dooars.

With the change in the micro climate, the first change is seen in the localities close to the forests, mainly with birds and amphibians. Hence, this name 'Frog & Toad Festival', before we stop listening to their croaking, the loss monsoons that renew life and stop the migration of people who make the food for the world.

CYCLONE

The Sunderbans Inheritance. 11:44pm, 25th May, 2009The last phone was at 8:15 pm approx from Manoj at Sunderbans Jungle Camp, Bali to Asit’s mobile which said “Kaku ekhaner abasta khub kharap” (Uncle the condition here is bad). Unfortunately, the line was one way, Asit kept on shouting, tell me in details how bad, but all of us could understand that his voice was not heard on the other side.
The first phone in the morning was from Ajoyda (Ajoy Roy), the famous newsman, who warned that the weather condition was worsening in Sunderbans. He was concerned, as his love for Sunderbans takes him there almost every month. I send an sms to Asit about it and called up Shaktida (Retd. Col. Shakti Banerjee) and we decided to meet at the Help Tourism, Kalighat office in the morning.
By the time we met at about 11am, the office had turned into a co-ordinating camp office. The updates were received from the Sunderbans Jungle Camp every 10 minutes, being passed on to the various administrative quarters. The Field Director of Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, Mr.Subrat Banerjee called up Shaktida to co-ordinate army help, the same request rang from Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr.N.C. Bahuguna. The Help Tourism office suddenly became busy connecting Shaktida to the different ranks of the Army headquarters at Fort William which included the BGS, MGGS, Dy. GOC etc and also the Home Secretary, Mr.Ardhendu Sen.
Anil, the community leader for development in Bali and a poacher turned conservator with WPSI, was stranded in Canning and was sending updates from there. Mastermashai, the Chairman of our local conservation society reported in the evening that his school building was the shelter for several families in the village whose houses were gone with the wind and water. Four foreign tourists and a family of Indian tourists are caught in the Sunderbans Jungle Camp, the camp people informed that they had taken shelter in the room below the water tank, which was almost a three storied concrete structure.
The morning Bangla daily Anandabazar Patrika read, ‘destruction & rains being brought by Ayela’, a serious cyclone has hit the areas south of Calcutta (Kolkata). By the time the Sunderbans Jungle Camp was contacted, there were no boats to risk the water then. People had already taken shelter indoors. It was only day before yesterday, we (Manish, Ajoy, Bonani, Asit, Sanjib, Ranajit & I) had returned from Bali in Sunderbans after planning the rural health centre cum a mini hospital. This was after ACT (Association for Conservation & Tourism), a non-profit NGO supported by Help Tourism had already conducted more than a hundred health camps at Bali and decided that the solution is in a permanent infrastructure. It was several years ago, when the Sunderbans Jungle Camp was established in 2003 by Help Tourism, the first drinking water tube-well hand pump was established in that part of the village. We all exclaimed that the sky was Polaroid blue like the November sky and there was no sign of monsoon. We attended the ‘pathsala’ the children school and several other community development infrastructures. The sun was high and we had to take shelter under trees and people’s houses to avoid the heat. There was no sign of rain or cyclone visible to us, but alas, just after a day inbetween, this devastating cyclone. Both Asit & I are awake at the Help Tourism, Kalighat office waiting for information and taking action accordingly in the morning. Several concerned people have called me and offered all possible support, to name a few: Asish from Chennai, Pankaj from Mumbai, Jashoda from Gangtok, Ifte from Kolkata...

Tashiding, West Sikkim

Tashiding, the main centre of pilgrimage in East Himalaya, is located in the West District of Sikkim. Sikkim, referred to as the Bayul Demazong (Hidden Valley of Rice) in the Neyig (Guide Book to Holy Places), was blessed by Guru Padmasambhava himself. The centre of this blessed land is the most sacred establishment, ‘Dakkar Tashiding’, surrounded by four holy caves, Sharchog Bephug in the East, Khandozangphu in the South, Decchenphug in the West and Lhari Nyingphug in the North.
The Bumchu or the ‘Holy Water Vase’ festival is organized every year on the night of the 14th day of the 1st month of Tibetian Almanac. It is the celebration of the entire agrarian society of the East Himalaya, including Bhutan, where The Vase containing Holy Waters is kept in a miniature mansion (Chosham) under lock and seal of the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim, to be opened only during the particular occasion under strict supervision of Lamas and high officials. The quantity and quality of water decides the fate of agriculture and the society of the running calendar year. It is believed that a drop of Bumchu Water is the Seed of Enlightment.
The once very inaccessible Tashiding is well connected by roads and bridges maintained regularly by the Government of Sikkim. The more remote areas has have been recently connected by fair weather road under the initiative of the present Area MLA and Speaker, Mr.D.N.Thakarpa and his team of active Gram Panchayat (Village administration) leaders. Several remote and interesting villages has now become easily accessible from Tashiding, specially to mention the Gangyap village, dominated by the age old Lepcha Monastery, Sinlon Gompha and the Eklabya Tribal School. The Lepcha people believe that one of their greatest religious leaders had arrived here at the Sinlon Gompha with his disciples to create a new world in the late 1950s, but had to leave and finally walked into the glaciers north. The Eklabya Tribal School, housed in the more than 100 year old Lepcha house has students from various communities of the adjoining areas. The Principal boasts about the multi talented students, who care for their traditions and also excel in modern education, sports and music.
The road from here continues further north to Labdang village (7,000 ft / 2,100 mtrs approx) via Kongri waterfalls. The rock bee hives in the waterfalls starts becoming active from March end and so does the birds dependent on them. The road leads through the Lepcha villages to Labdang, which is dominated by the Gurung community, who are also Buddhists by belief. Labdang can be designated as the cleanest village and very hospitable people. The road ends here combining traditions with modernity, people with nature. Labdang is the base camp for the Areylungchok Dzongri Round Trek Expedition, Neythem Holy Cave Trek and several day and overnight trails.
There are several other villages like Mangham, Karjee etc which can now be heard of because of the road connectivity, but the major circuit would be a combine of Tashiding, Gangyap and Labdang villages. There is no major tourism infrastructure in this circuit and hence basic home stays are the main support for the visitors of all categories. A week long package program launched by Help Tourism with the support of the Gram Panchayats is a major breakthrough for the tourism in the East Himalaya, which in the long run would be instrumental in the formation of ‘Peace Parks’ locally.
Contact: http://www.helptourism.com/.

Celebrating Obama, Arunachal Pradesh.

pix:Sunset in the backdrop of Dibang Valley Jungle Camp

I think it was after 6pm on the 5th of November, 2008, Helmut suddenly appeared out of the dark and said ‘any news about Obama, guys’. We were six travellers, the famous German travel writer couple Renate & Stefan Loose, and the Malaysian couple from the legendary Singhasana lodge: Marina & Donald, travelling singly were Helmut & Sylvie from the German travel house Aerticket & I. All five of us relaxing in the veranda of Dibang Valley Jungle Camp after the wonderful excursion to Myodia Pass, looked at each other’s face. There was hardly any electricity or telephone connection in this out of the world place, the nearest internet booth would be a day away. Mukut, the camp in-charge confirmed, ‘Rajda, sometimes you do get a weak signal in the BSNL mobile connection’. I immediately took out my laptop and mobile, and felt at that moment, as if that was the most important thing that the world was looking forward to. Fortunately, I could connect to the internet through a very weak signal in that candle light and through the Google search downloaded the first news and read it aloud to the others like a radio news

History as Obama elected America's first black president
36 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Barack Obama on Wednesday faces up to the daunting task of forging the change he has promised after Americans emphatically elected him as their country's first black president.

Before I could read this first line everyone broke into a loud cheer, breaking the silence of the jungles louder than the Hoolock Gibbons did every morning. Everyone was hugging each other madly. I continued again

"Tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America," Obama told a euphoric crowd of 240,000 tearful supporters late Tuesday after defeating Republican John McCain.
Obama, 47, will be inaugurated the 44th US president on January 20, 2009, and inherit an economy mired in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a nuclear showdown with Iran.

We did not want to wait so long and discussed why not from today, as there will be lot of changes in the world by then, I still continued

"The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep, we may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," Obama said in his hometown of Chicago.
"I promise you -- we as a people will get there."
Television networks projected Obama's win over McCain after Senator Obama solidified traditional Democratic states and cut deep into the Republican territory which his rival needed to control to win the White House.
Obama's win was greeted with euphoria across the United States and reverberated around the world.
New York's Times Square exploded in joy at a moment of healing for America's racial scars and a crowd gathered outside the White House. In Kenya, where Obama's father was born, President Mwai Kibaki called his win "momentous."
Democrats also made huge strides in Congress, and will hold an unshakeable monopoly in power in Washington after a rare generational and political realignment.
After a bilious campaign, McCain was gracious in defeat, and noted that his election was a moment to cherish for African Americans.
"The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love," he said.
"Though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours," he told a crowd of supporters in Phoenix in his home state of Arizona.
President George W. Bush who has steered his country through eight turbulent years also congratulated Obama.
"Mr President-elect, congratulations to you," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino quoted the president as saying in a phone call to Obama.
"What an awesome night for you, your family and your supporters. Laura and I called to congratulate you and your good bride."
Obama's inauguration will complete a stunning ascent to the pinnacle of US and global politics from national obscurity just four years ago and close an eight year era of turbulence under President George W. Bush.
Obama is promising to renew bruised ties with US allies, and to engage some of the most fierce US foes like Iran and North Korea. He has vowed to tackle climate change and provide health care to all Americans.
His presidency also marks a stunning social shift, with Obama, the son of Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, the first African American president of a nation still riven by racial divides.
Forty-five years after civil rights icon Martin Luther King laid out his "dream" of racial equality, Obama's election broke new barriers and may have helped heal the moral wounds left by slavery and the US civil war.
When he launched his campaign on a chilly day in Illinois in February 2007, Obama forged a mantra of change which powered him throughout the longest, most costly US presidential campaign in history.
Early on on Tuesday he captured the state of Pennsylvania, the key battleground which McCain needed to win to keep his long-shot hopes of victory alive.
And in a sweet moment for Democrats, he also seized the midwestern battleground states of Ohio, Iowa and Indiana as well as the southwestern state of New Mexico, all states won by Bush in 2004 to close out McCain's possible route towards the White House.
McCain had argued Obama was too inexperienced to be US commander in chief and would pursue "socialist" redistribution policies that would leave the economy mired in recession.
McCain, 72, an Arizona senator, would have been the oldest man ever inaugurated for a first term in the White House.
Obama gave early notice of the way the night would unfold by capturing the key northeastern state of Pennsylvania -- McCain's best hope of winning a Democratic state and stopping his rival from claiming the White House.
He later added Ohio, the decisive state which swept Bush to victory in 2004 and another Republican state, Virginia, which had not voted Democrat since 1964. He also won Florida, ground zero of the 2000 recount debacle.
So far he had won 28 states including the district of Columbia for 349 electoral votes.
McCain had won 20 states but had not broken out of the Republican heartland and the south for 159 electoral votes.
In the Senate, Democrats wrested control of five seats including in the traditionally Republican state of Virginia, followed by New Hampshire, North Carolina and New Mexico, reaching a 56 seat majority in the 100-seat chamber.
Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell clung on in Kentucky, meaning Democrats were unlikely to win the 60 seats they need in the 100-seat chamber needed to frustrate Republican obstruction tactics.
Senate races in Alaska, Minnesota, Georgia and Oregon however were still too close to call.
Democrats also won 20 seats in the House of Representatives, solidifying their majority to 251 against 171 of the Republicans. Six House races were still too close to call as of 1000 GMT.

Three different nationalities, everyone burst in joy and we celebrated the evening with all that we had with the rest of the camp people. We were in this exploratory trip of the East Himalaya covering places and people in remote Northeast India. None of this information is available in the regular travel maps and guide books. After a late night party in the jungle, it was really impossible to wake up the next day early morning and get into the planned activity, but we had no other option then to manage. For the next few days of the trip, we all discussed about the coming of Obama as a new hope for one world in peace and not in pieces.

Kaziranga, Community cultures

THE RHYTHM OF THE GRASSLANDSKaziranga was declared as a game sanctuary in 1905. The name was inherited from the Karbi word Kazi and Ronga, meaning boy and girl. Today, it is not only a world heritage site, but has no match in the world.

Hundreds and thousands of visitors from around the globe visit Kaziranga. One of the primary economical resource is tourism, but a major share of the ownership in this economy lies with the people who do not belong to the villages around Kaziranga. This lack of participation and share of the villages around in and around Kaziranga in the economy from tourism in the park makes it vulnerable to several anti-conservation activities routed through these villages, taking opportunity of the poor economic conditions.

However, in the past some good community participation efforts were made by Wild Grass, which inspite of not being in the prime location of Kaziranga as per the present tourism development, have remained the most popular infrastructure among western visitors because of the local community involvement. It should be mentioned here that even in the worst political disturbance in Assam, Wils Grass in Kaziranga managed to attract tourists.

The next effort came around five years back with the endogenous tourism project (ETP), being launched by Government of India, Department of Tourism in collaboration with UNDP. Amongst, the several rural sites, they chose the village of Durgapur, close to the main tourist hub hub of Kaziranga, known as Kohra. The District Collector (DC) of Golaghat and a local NGO, NEST being the implementing agencies. The main reasons for choosing this village was its proximity to Kohra, being next to the National Highway and being a part of the typical assamese society. Most of the first ETP sites were chosen nationally considering its easy connectivity and a comparatively socially well to do community to enable sure success.

Other than tourism, the other economic activities are dependent on the proximity to the National Highway, like easy supply of agriculture produce and locally run enterprises on the road side. Tea also supports the economy of the area, but has reached stagnancy and engages a huge work force who do not belong to the forest villages. The forest dwelling villagers mainly belong to the Karbi and Missing communities.

Quite recently, Help Tourism has been considered as the resource organization for community motivation, product identification and packaging for the rural tourism projects or ETP sites in East and Northeast India. This is completely a voluntary exercise being undertaken by Help Tourism, considering its mission to spread the ‘community tourism movement’. This gave me the opportunity to visit Durgapur in Kaziranga twice officially. The first with Mayura from UNDP and the second is with my colleague, Asit.

Trip reportPresently, the National Highway between Jaklabandha and Bokaghat runs almost through the northern bounderies of the Park. It has been planned for all practical reasons of conservation, that the Prime Minister’s East West four lane expressway will avoid this alignment and connect Jaklabandha and Bokaghat. This means a fall in local economy and increase of human pressures on the Park. The only sustainable tool which should be planned with immediate effect is to consider the area between Jaklabandha and Bokaghat be declared as the ‘ECOTOURISM ZONE’. Bokaghat can then become the tourism hub and the activities may be planned to include natural and cultural heritage. The wildlife experience, tea tourism experience, Karbi experience, Missing experience, Assamese experience and the river experience may be considered for long stay activities. Considering, the need, Help Tourism has already started initiating dialogues at several levels.
There was a time when the riverways were a major means of transport, and the River Brahmaputra was the life line. With all the rivers meeting Brahmaputra, it formed a big network. One such river in the east of Kaziranga is Dhansiri River. Two small villages, one belonging to the Missing community and the other belonging to the Assamese community existed next to each other, at a place where Dhansiri met Brahmaputra. Then there was a big flood, which forced the Assamese village to shift near the highway in 1959, known as Durgapur. The Missing village known as Dhuba Ati continued to remain where it was, on the easternmost boundary of the park next to Agratoli range, getting water logged for more than three months during the monsoon season, along with the park.

DurgapurFor the last five years work has been carrying on in Durgapur in hardware and software development in tourism as per the guidelines from UNDP and Government of India, Department of Tourism. After the last visit, a tourism day package has been finalized to be launched on 27th September, 2008 on the ‘World Tourism Day’. The package will be based on a number of minimum five visiting tourists or their price equivalent. The package price will be around Rs.500.00 per visitor. The time will be between 11am to 2 pm, when the tourists are lacking activities. The details will be as follows-
Welcome at the gate,
The Namghar experience,
The rock theatre show,
Community lunch,
Visit handicraft families and
The farewell.

Dhuba AtiIn addition to the Assamese cultural experience, Dhuba Ati village has been identified for the Missing cultural experience. Help Tourism in collaboration with NEST has identified a local Missing NGO, ‘DAGRAB Ecotourism and Eco-development Society’ to run the tourism activities next to the Agratoli range. The package is yet to be decided as the work over here started only after my first visit and the product has been identified after the second visit. A survey was done during both visits, the first visit was mainly for community meeting & motivation, and the second was field survey & discussion with the Range Officer of the Agratoli range of the park has also been consulted during the second visit. The upcoming tourist lodge near the range office should be considered of being managed by this active Missing youth group in the NGO. The details will be available from the 1st of November, 2008. The activities being under consideration for the upcoming season are as follows
Boat trip to the Dolphin habitat,
Dhuba Ati village trail to explore the local culture and traditions
The Missing community feast.

The Karbi ExperienceIt was quite encouraging to find the Karbi Along Autonomous Council was making the huge tourist village, the infrastructure was under construction. This for certain will be the hub for the Karbi experience, if handled in the right way with the help of the Karbi community.
It is high time, when the state should act to bring about a concrete co-ordination between all the positive developments taking place under the joint effort of the Tourism and Forest Ministries. This action now will help to fill the gap as ecotourism being the tool for sustainable development, mainly during the crisis when the traffic will be diverted to the new express highway.

The gateway to East Himalaya

DARJEELING NEGLECT

Tourism proposal for Darjeeling Hills

The Darjeeling Hills were developed as a tourism destination and retreat by the British during their tenure in India. Along with this, the most important part was the management of nature through forestry and tea plantations. This was almost a sustainable development with several local people gaining livelihood in the process. With beautiful landscapes and happy communities, Darjeeling became the ‘Queen of Hills’. In the process, the Darjeeling Hills produced master craftsmen, horticulture and floriculture entrepreneurs, dairy farm experts, printing specialists etc, all the best in the country, and ofcourse with the support of the Government.

With the apathy of the Government since Independence (where Darjeeling had a major role), the development of the hills fell apart, and even much later entrants like Sikkim performed better because of Government interest. This forced a skill drain from Darjeeling to the newly formed states because of better opportunities from the Governments in those places. The same stands for ‘tourism’ in Darjeeling.

Tourism is always about ‘better places for people to live and visit’. If a local person has to wake up in the morning only to queue up for a bucket of water for the family to wash, how do we expect that the tourists will have a pleasant visit. Several infrastructures, other than Darjeeling and Kalimpong towns were open to visitors which included Tea Estates, Cinchona plantations, Forest Bungalows, etc like Mongpu, Takdah, Pedong, Sonada, etc destinations. In the post Independence period everything was concentrated around Darjeeling and Kalimpong, and mismanagement pushed these destinations to the end. It is only in the nineties, when there was an increase in local empowerment, some destinations emerged with private initiatives.

In today’s changing scenario, the Northeastern states surrounding the Darjeeling Hills, are gaining on their tourism popularity by using the brand name of Darjeeling. Whereas, area wise the Darjeeling Hills have a much bigger population and much less funds for development in comparison to the neighbouring Northeastern states. This exercise is suicidal as Darjeeling Hills needs to be considered in the same pattern of development like the Northeastern states because of its geographical location, terrain and people, or else the rhythm of the development will be disrupted.

We know that the eight Northeastern states have been considered for ‘LTC’ travellers all by air, which amounts to atleast 3 crore travellers from the country from the Government of India offices, PSUs and Undertakings. If Darjeeling Hills are not included in the list, how will the region develop?

Several finance and tax opportunities for tourism projects are being flooded in the Northeastern states through several ministries, including DONER, if Darjeeling is excluded from these facilities, where will the region stand?

Several crore of funds are being spent for the Northeastern states tourism promotion, with several images being from Darjeeling Hills, but none of the promotions mentions the name of Darjeeling which is the brand for the region.

Several crore of Rupees are being spent for infrastructure development of tourism in Northeast, facilities which are also vital for the local inhabitants, with Darjeeling not being included the experience of the tourists is uneven.

The handicrafts and handlooms of the Northeastern states are given heavy financial and skill development boost and also an opportunity to travel to several parts of the country and world at the cost being borne by the Government, why is it not the same for the craftsmen from Darjeeling Hills?

When the first round of Endogenous Tourism projects (village tourism) projects were launched by the Govt of India, Department of Tourism and UNDP, there were two projects for destinations close to Kolkata, but none for the Darjeeling Hills, where it would have been successful.

There should not be a moment wasted in considering the facilities of the Darjeeling Hills at par with the Northeastern states to actually value the rhythm of development in the region.

Raj Basu, 9733000444, actraj@gmail.com.