Darjeeling (,
, ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the
Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepen ...
of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
. Located in the
Eastern Himalayas
]
The Eastern Himalayas extend from eastern Nepal across Northeast India, Bhutan, the Tibet Autonomous Region to Yunnan in China and northern Myanmar. The climate of this region is influenced by the monsoon of South Asia from June to September. It ...
, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, to the east the
Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
, to the north the Indian state of
Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
, and farther north the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
region of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
lies to the south and southeast, and most of the state of West Bengal lies to the south and southwest, connected to the Darjeeling region by a narrow
tract
Tract may refer to:
Geography and real estate
* Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots
* Land lot or tract, a section of land
* Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census
...
.
Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the T ...
, the world's third-highest mountain, rises to the north and is prominently visible on clear days.
In the early 19th century, during
East India Company rule
Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when ...
in India, Darjeeling was identified as a potential summer retreat for British officials, soldiers and their families. The narrow mountain ridge was leased from the
Kingdom of Sikkim
The Kingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་ལྗོངས།, ''Drenjong''), officially Dremoshong (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was a hereditary monarc ...
, and eventually annexed to
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. Experimentation with growing tea on the slopes below Darjeeling was highly successful. Thousands of labourers were recruited chiefly from Nepal to clear the forests, build European-style cottages and work in the
tea plantation
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
s. The widespread deforestation displaced the indigenous peoples. Residential schools were established in and around Darjeeling for the education of children of the
domiciled British in India. By the late-19th century, a novel narrow-gauge mountain railway, the
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the DHR or the Toy Train, is a narrow-gauge, gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. Built between 1879 and 1881, it is about long. It c ...
, was bringing summer residents into the town and carrying a freight of tea out for export to the world. After India's independence in 1947, as the British left Darjeeling, its cottages were purchased by wealthy Indians from the plains and its tea plantations by out-of-town Indian business owners and conglomerates.
Darjeeling's population today is constituted largely of the descendants of the indigenous and immigrant labourers that were employed in the original development of the town. Although their
common language
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
, the
Nepali language
Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...
, has been given official recognition at the state and federal levels in India, the recognition has created little meaningful employment for the language's speakers nor has it increased their ability to have a significantly greater say in their political affairs. The tea industry and tourism are the mainstays of the town's economy. Deforestation in the region after India's independence has caused environmental damage, affecting the perennial springs that supply the town's water. The population of Darjeeling meanwhile has exploded over the years, and unregulated construction, traffic congestion and water shortages are common. Many young locals, educated in government schools, have taken to migrating out for the lack of jobs matching their skills. Like out-migrants from other regions of northeastern India, they have been subjected to
discrimination
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
and racism in some Indian cities.
Darjeeling's culture is highly cosmopolitan—a result of diverse ethnic groups intermixing and evolving away from their historical roots. The region's indigenous cuisine is rich in fermented foods and beverages. Tourists have flocked to Darjeeling since the mid-19th century. In 1999, after an international campaign for its support, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was declared a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
. In 2005,
Darjeeling tea
Darjeeling tea is a tea made from ''Camellia sinensis var. sinensis'' that is grown and processed in Darjeeling or Kalimpong Districts in West Bengal, India. Since 2004, the term ''Darjeeling tea'' has been a registered geographical indication ...
was given
geographical indication
A geographical indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). The use of a geographical indication, as an indication of the product's source, ...
by the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
as much for the protection of the brand as for the development of the region that produces it.
Toponymy
At the time of the first British arrival, Darjeeling was known among its
Lepcha inhabitants as , or the "Place of the
Thunderbolt
A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hell ...
." According to the ''Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names'', Darjeeling is derived from the
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
or , meaning "Land of Dorje," i.e. of the thunderbolt, the weapon of the
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
god
Indra
Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> I ...
.
History
1780 to 1835
Darjeeling lies between the
Mechi
Mechi ( ne, मेची अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restructuring of zones to provinces, comprising four districts; namely Ilam, Jhapa, Panchthar and Taplejung. Its headquarters are at Ilam. It comes und ...
and
Teesta
Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal through Rangpur, and enters the Bay of Bengal. It drains an area of . In India, it flows through ...
rivers in the Eastern Himalayas. In the 18th century, it was part of a boundary region that had stirred ambitions and insecurities in several
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
n states. For the greater part of the century, the
Chogyal
The Chogyal ("Dharma Kings", ) were the monarchs of the former Kingdom of Sikkim, which belonged to the Namgyal dynasty. The Chogyal was the absolute monarch of Sikkim from 1642 to 1975, when the monarchy was abolished and the Sikkimese people ...
-ruler of the northern
Kingdom of Sikkim
The Kingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་ལྗོངས།, ''Drenjong''), officially Dremoshong (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was a hereditary monarc ...
had asserted possession of this territory. In the closing decades, the
Gurkha kingdom
Gorkha Kingdom ( ne, गोरखा राज्य) was a member of the Chaubisi rajya, a confederation of 24 states on the Indian subcontinent ruled by Khas people. In 1743 CE, the kingdom began a campaign of military expansion, annexing se ...
of Nepal expanded eastwards to bring Darjeeling into its territory. Its army stopped short of the Teesta, beyond which at the time lay the
Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
.
The English
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
began to show an interest in the Darjeeling hills in the early 19th century. At the time Darjeeling's indigenous population largely consisted of the
Lepcha and
Limbu peoples. The Company's interference in territorial matters began in the aftermath of its army's victory over the Gurkhas in the
Anglo-Nepalese War
The Anglo-Nepalese War (1 November 1814 – 4 March 1816), also known as the Gorkha War, was fought between the Gorkhali army of the Kingdom of Nepal (present-day Nepal) and the British forces of the East India Company (EIC, present-day Indi ...
. Fought between 1814 and 1816, the war concluded with two treaties, the
Treaty of Sugauli
The Treaty of Sugauli (also spelled Sugowlee, Sagauli and Segqulee), the treaty that established the boundary line of Nepal, was signed on 4 March 1816 between the East India Company and Guru Gajaraj Mishra following the Anglo-Nepalese War ...
and the
Treaty of Titalia
The Treaty of Titalia was signed between the Chogyal (monarch) of Kingdom of Sikkim and the British East India Company (EIC). The treaty, which was negotiated by Captain Barre Latter in February 1817, guaranteed security of Sikkim by the Briti ...
, under which Nepal was required to return the Darjeeling territory to Sikkim.
In 1829, two East India Company officials, Captain George Lloyd and J. W. Grant, en route to resolving a boundary dispute between Nepal and Sikkim, passed a
crescent
A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself.
In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...
-shaped
mountain ridge
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
which they fancied excellent for a
sanitorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
for the British, or a resort for sheltering and recuperating from the heat of India's plains.
Lord William Bentinck
Lieutenant General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (14 September 177417 June 1839), known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British soldier and statesman who served as the Governor of Fort William (Bengal) from 1828 to 1834 and the First G ...
, the
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
, to whom Lloyd communicated his notion, concurred, recommending a small presence of the army in addition for monitoring the frontier.
1835–1857: East India Company rule
Taking the ambition forward, in 1835 the East India Company negotiated the lease of a strip of land in a
grant deed
A grant deed is used in some states and jurisdictions for the sale or other transfer of real property from one person or entity to another person or entity. Each party transferring an interest in the property, or "grantor", is required to sign it. ...
from the Chogyal. By the end of 1838, sappers from the army were readied for clearing the woods and construction planned in earnest after the
monsoon rains. The following year,
Archibald Campbell Archibald Campbell may refer to:
Peerage
* Archibald Campbell of Lochawe (died before 1394), Scottish peer
* Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll (died 1513), Lord Chancellor of Scotland
* Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll (c. 1507–1558) ...
, a physician, was made "superintendent" of Darjeeling, and two public buildings, a hotel and a courthouse were raised. Soon, work had begun on
bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas.
The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
s that conformed to British tastes.
Turning Darjeeling into a resort required many more workers than were available in the scattered local populations. The British attracted workers from the neighbouring kingdoms, chiefly from Nepal but also from Sikkim and Bhutan. They did so by offering regular wages and lodgings, a contrast to the burdensome tax and
forced labour
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
regimens common in those kingdoms at the time. Tens of thousands arrived in Darjeeling. Not long after the Darjeeling Hill Cart Road was built in Northern Bengal, connecting
Siliguri
Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...
at the base of the Himalayan foothills to Darjeeling.
In 1833 the East India Company lost its monopoly rights in the
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
trade with China. A plan was prepared for growing tea in India. Superintendent Campbell began experimentation in 1840 in Darjeeling which soon proved successful. European planters and sponsors acquired large stretches of the surrounding hillside and converted them to plantations, called ''
tea garden
A tea garden is an outdoor space or garden where tea and light refreshments are served, or any garden with which the drinking of tea is associated. Especially in India, it is also a common term for a tea plantation. The tea garden was a part o ...
s''. Existing tracks and paths in the hills were improved, renamed as roads, and connected to the Hill Cart Road. The botanist
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of t ...
, who visited Darjeeling in the 1840s, noted that carts and pack animals on these roads were bringing fruit and produce from Nepal, wool and salt from Tibet, and labourers looking for work from just about everywhere.
The labour migrations created a burgeoning hostility between the East India Company and the neighbouring Himalayan kingdoms. By 1849 the hostility came to a head. Campbell and Hooker were allegedly kidnapped. Despite the two being released without harm, the British exploited the incident to annex some of territory between the Mechi and the Teesta rivers from Sikkim.
Darjeeling became a municipality in 1850. In the span of 15 years, this Himalayan tract had become a ''
hill station
A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia (particularly in India), but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges ...
'', an official retreat for British administrators in a hilly, temperate, region of India. Hill stations, such as
Simla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...
(summer capital of the British Indian Empire),
Ooty
Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and so ...
(summer capital of the
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
), and
Nainital
Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...
(summer capital of the
North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdom ...
) were all established between 1819 and the 1840s, a period during which the rule of the East India Company had spread to the greater part of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and the British felt confident about planning them. Darjeeling later became the summer capital of the
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...
.
1858–1947: British Raj
From 1850 to 1870 the tea industry in Darjeeling grew to 56 tea gardens employing some 8,000 labourers. The tea gardens' security forces kept a close watch on the labourers and used coercion when necessary to maintain intensive production. The labourers' disparate cultural and ethnic backgrounds and the tea gardens' commonly remote locations ensured the absence of worker mobilization. By the turn of the 20th century, 100 tea gardens employed an estimated 64,000 workers, and more than five million
pound sterling
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
were invested in Darjeeling tea. The widespread deforestation caused by the tea industry drastically changed the lives of the region's forest dwellers, who were either forced to relocate to other forests or become employed in their former habitat in new colonial occupations. To the mix of the forest dwellers recruited, more labourers joined from across the Himalayas. They communicated with each other in the
Nepali language
Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...
. Later the language, and their customs and traditions would create the distinctive ethnicity of Darjeeling, called
Indian Gorkha
Indian Gorkhas also known as Nepali Indians, are Nepali language-speaking Indians. The modern term "Indian Gorkha" is used to differentiate the ethnic Gorkhas from Nepalis.
Indian Gorkhas are citizens of India as per the gazette notificatio ...
.
By the last decades of the 19th century, large numbers of administrative officials of the imperial and
British Raj provincial governments had begun to travel to hill stations during the summers. Commerce in the stations had grown as had the trade with the plains. A train service to Darjeeling was announced in 1872. By 1878 trains could take summer residents from Calcutta, the capital of the British Indian Empire, to Siliguri at the base of the Darjeeling hills. Thereafter,
Tonga horse-carriages were required to cover the last stretch on the Hill Cart Road. Ascending some , the journey required stopping at "halting barracks", or stables for feeding or changing the horses. By 1880, railway tracks were being aligned along the Hill Cart Road, and the
East Indian Railway Company
The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Barod ...
Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop
Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop was established on 8 February 1862 as the first fully-fledged railway workshop facility in India. It was started by the East Indian Railway Company (EIR) as a result of the so-called "Railway Age" in India, which ...
had begun to build steam locomotives for the route. Miniature steam engines made by
Sharp, Stewart and Company
Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wit ...
of Manchester, were employed for pulling the train on a narrow gauge of two feet. The train service to Darjeeling was opened in July 1881. After cresting at the
Ghoom railway station
Ghum railway station of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is the highest railway station in India. It is situated at an altitude of .Agarwala, A.P. (editor), ''Guide to Darjeeling Area'', 27th edition, p. 53-55, . The place is the home of the Ghu ...
at above sea level, the train made a descent to Darjeeling. Darjeeling was now within a day's travel from Calcutta.
![Quadrangle St Josephs School Darjeeling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Quadrangle_St_Josephs_School_Darjeeling.jpg)
Education became another aspect of Darjeeling's notability by the turn of the 20th century. After the
Charter Act of 1833
The Government of India Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will 4 c 85), or the Charter Act 1833, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, later retitled as the Saint Helena Act 1833. It extended the royal charter granted to the East India Company for an ...
, which allowed unrestricted immigration, British women had begun to arrive in India in significantly more numbers than before. Hill stations became popular summer destinations for women and children as colonial physicians recommended them for improved
maternal
]
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...
and
Neonatology, infant health. The British soon began to consider hill stations promising sites for primary and secondary education.
St Paul's, an
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
boys' school in Calcutta, was moved to Darjeeling in 1864. The
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
opened
St Joseph's College for boys in Darjeeling in 1888. For girls, the
Loreto Convent had already been established during Company rule; the Calcutta Christian Schools Society established the
Queen's Hill School in Darjeeling in 1895.
Anglo-Indians
Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...
(of mixed British and Indian ancestry) were discouraged from attending the better-known schools and Indians were almost always prohibited until after World War I.
In 1945, as the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
was drawing towards a close, the Nepalese-speaking Indian Gorkha residents of Darjeeling had not been granted rights as British Indian subjects. These residents were at the bottom of the economic ladder, and their physical appearance was now the occasional object of racism by Indians from the plains. The 1941 census had shown that the Gorkha in Darjeeling constituted 86% of the population. They made up 96% of the labour force in the tea gardens. Many had been recruited to fight for the British in Second World War. But the British had been reluctant to displease the governments of Nepal and the Kingdom of Sikkim whose feudal labour regimes many original migrants had sought to escape.
1947 onwards: independent India
After the
partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
in 1947, Darjeeling became a part of the new province of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
in the
Dominion of India
The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India,* Quote: “The first collective use (of the word "dominion") occurred at the Colonial Conference (April to May 1907) when the title was conferred upon Canada and Australia. New Zealand and N ...
, and in 1950, of the state of West Bengal in the
Republic of India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. A British exodus from Darjeeling quickly followed. Their cottages were quickly purchased by the Indian upper classes from the plains who enrolled their children in the town's many schools. These actions created social and economic tensions with the Indian Gorkha population and further marginalised the latter. Their lack of economic development, caused by a hierarchal economic system set up by the British, continued in some respects in the immediate decades after 1947. The Indian nationalism that emerged seemed to highlight the unclear position of the Indian Nepalis in the newly independent nation. The division of India into states comprising the regions of its different spoken languages had allowed a relatively large proportion of the educated speakers of these languages to find employment in the government-owned enterprises. In the instance of the Gorkhas, the federal and state governments refused to accept their requests for their own Nepali-speaking state in the northern regions of Bengal. Eventually, the demands for autonomy were downsized to calls for the recognition of the Nepali language for official state business in Nepali-speaking regions of Bengal. This was accepted in the
West Bengal Official Language Act, 1961.
Darjeeling had a sizeable community of
Sherpas
The Sherpa are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, Tingri County in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Himalayas. The term ''sherpa'' or ''sherwa'' derives from the Sherpa language words ("east") ...
, an ethnic group, originally from eastern Tibet whose ancestors had moved to some villages in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
below
Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
. Sherpas had come to Darjeeling in the second half of the 19th century as seasonal labourers looking for work in road-building. As mountaineering in the Himalayas had gained popularity and Nepal was closed to foreigners, many Western mountaineers and enthusiasts came to Darjeeling to plan their Himalayan expeditions. The Sherpas stood out for their exceptional physical ability as porters. These physical abilities and their fitness elicited visits to Darjeeling by European biochemists in the early 1900s. Among the most famous Sherpas who moved to Darjeeling were
Ang Tharkay
Ang Tharkay (1907 – 28 July 1981) was a Nepalese mountain climber and explorer who acted as sherpa people, sherpa and later Sardar (Sherpa), sirdar for many Himalayan expeditions. He was "beyond question the outstanding sherpa of his era" and ...
and
Tenzing Norgay
Tenzing Norgay (; ''tendzin norgyé''; perhaps 29 May 1914 – 9 May 1986), born Namgyal Wangdi, and also referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer. He was one of the first two people known to reach the sum ...
. On 29 May 1953, Tenzing and
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached t ...
became the first two humans to stand atop Mount Everest, vaulting both to instant stardom worldwide. The prime minister of India,
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
, took Tenzing under his wing. Tenzing became the first field director of the
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute
The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI Darjeeling) was established in Darjeeling, India on 4 November 1954 to encourage mountaineering as an organized sport in India. The first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund ...
after it was established in Darjeeling in November 1954
![GorkhalandSupport (3)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/GorkhalandSupport_%283%29.jpg)
A trickle of immigrants from Tibet proper into Darjeeling had begun in the second half of the 19th century. Wealthy Tibetan aristocrats had sent their children to Darjeeling's schools, and some went on to settle in the Darjeeling area. After the
annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China
Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he rendered his ...
in 1950–1951, many Tibetans emigrated to India, with some settling in the Darjeeling area, including the
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
's older brother
Gyalo Thondup
Gyalo Thondup (; ), born c.1927, is the second-eldest brother of the 14th Dalai Lama. He often acted as the Dalai Lama's unofficial envoy.
Early life
In late fall of 1927, Gyalo Thondup was born in the village of Taktser, Amdo (Ping'an District, ...
. After the
1959 Tibetan uprising
The 1959 Tibetan uprising (also known by other names) began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China since the Seventeen Point Agreemen ...
, the Dalai Lama himself fled to exile in India, and tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees poured in after him, with many finding refuge in the Darjeeling–
Kalimpong
Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...
area. A
Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre was established in Darjeeling in 1959.
In May 1975, the
Kingdom of Sikkim
The Kingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་ལྗོངས།, ''Drenjong''), officially Dremoshong (Classical Tibetan and sip, འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was a hereditary monarc ...
to the north of Darjeeling was absorbed into the Republic of India through a referendum. A month thereafter, Sikkim, in which nearly two-thirds of the populace spoke Nepali, was made a state of India. It was not lost on the Gorkhas of the Darjeeling region that there were many more speakers of Nepali in the Gorkha districts of northern Bengal, and their calls for autonomy had borne no fruit. The Government of India, moreover, had been reluctant to recognise Nepali as an official language in the
Constitution of India
The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...
. Slights delivered by senior Indian leadership around this issue—
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
, a former prime minister calling Nepali a foreign language, and
Vallabhbhai Patel
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...
, a former deputy prime minister, describing the Gorkhas as disloyal and entertaining "Mongoloid prejudices"—were all remembered. A decade later, during
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...
's prime ministership, small regions in Assam to the east of Darjeeling, which had been riven by violent ethnic separatism, were granted statehood. All these factors played into creating a militant mood among the Gorkhas for statehood and brought the
Gorkhaland movement
The Gorkhaland movement is a campaign to create a separate state of India in the Gorkhaland region of West Bengal for the Nepali speaking Indians. The proposed state includes the hill regions of the Darjeeling district, Kalimpong district and ...
to the forefront. It led to the founding of the
Gorkha National Liberation Front
Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India.
Early history
Part of the ...
(GNLF) under the leadership of
Subhas Ghising. Agitation for a separate state in Darjeeling included violent protests, and fighting between the disparate militant groups. The agitation ceased after an agreement was reached between the government and the
Gorkha National Liberation Front
Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India.
Early history
Part of the ...
(GNLF). It resulted in the establishment of an elected body in 1988, the
Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council
Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) (1988–2012), also once known for a short period of time as Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council was a semi-autonomous body that looked after the administration of the hills of Darjeeling District in t ...
(DGHC), which received some autonomy to govern the district.
In 1992, the Nepali language was recognized officially at the federal level in India by inclusion in the
Indian Constitution
The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental r ...
. Though Darjeeling became peaceful, the issue of a separate state lingered. Agitation for a new state again erupted in 2008, led by the
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is a registered unrecognized political party, that campaigns for the creation of a separate state Gorkhaland within India, out of districts in the north of West Bengal. The party was launched on 7 October 2007. T ...
(GJM). In July 2011, a pact was signed between GJM, the state and national governments which included an elected
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is a semi-autonomous council for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal state in India. The GTA was formed in 2012 to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was formed in 1988 ...
(GTA), with limited autonomy within the state of West Bengal. It evoked little enthusiasm on the streets. In 2013, fresh agitation broke out in Darjeeling after
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
, a region in southern India was granted statehood. Four years later, more agitation caused several months of violence, food shortages, and strikes in Darjeeling but resulted in the Morcha splitting into factions. In 2017,
Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...
, the West Bengal chief minister, appointed a moderate Morcha politician to leadership in a reconstituted GTA, marginalizing and eventually ousting the founder of the movement,
Bimal Gurung
Bimal Gurung is an Indian politician and one of the founders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), a political party demanding the formation of a separate state of Gorkhaland within India. He was the chairperson of Gorkhaland Territorial Administ ...
.
Geography and geology
The Darjeeling hills (formally
Darjeeling Himalayan hill region
Darjeeling Himalayan hill region or Darjeeling Himalaya is the mountainous area on the north-western side of the state of West Bengal in India. This region belongs to the Eastern Himalaya range. The Darjeeling district except the Siliguri subdiv ...
) comprise parts of
Darjeeling district
Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its hill station and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters.
Kurseon ...
and all of
Kalimpong district
Kalimpong district is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. Originally known as Dalingkot tehsil, the region was alternatively under the control of Sikkim and Bhutan. In 1865, it was annexed from Bhutan by British India under the Treaty ...
; specifically, they contain:
Darjeeling Sadar subdivision
Darjeeling Sadar subdivision is a subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Subdivisions
Darjeeling district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions:
Police stations
Police stations in ...
,
Kalimpong subdivision
The Kalimpong subdivision is the sole subdivision of the Kalimpong district in the state of West Bengal, India. It was initially formed as a subdivision of the Darjeeling district in 1916 under British India. On 14 February 2017 the subdivision w ...
and
Kurseong subdivision
Kurseong subdivision is a subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Subdivisions
Darjeeling district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions:
Police stations
Police stations in the Kurseon ...
. Darjeeling town lies in the Sadar subdivision. It is located at an average elevation of on the Darjeeling–Jalapahar range which runs south to north starting at
Ghum (Map 1). The range is Y-shaped with its base resting at
Katapahar
Katapahar is a ridge in Darjeeling town in the Indian state of West Bengal. Katapahar and Jalapahar ridges meet at Observatory Hill.
The range on which Darjeeling is located is Y-shaped with the base resting at Katapahar and Jalapahar and two ...
and
Jalapahar
Jalapahar is a ridge as well as a locality in the hilly town of Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. There was a British military camp in this locality in the British Raj, Raj days. This ridge meets Katapahar ridge at Observatory Hill ...
and two arms diverging north of the
Observatory Hill. The north-eastern arm dips swiftly and ends in the Lebong spur, while the north-western arm slopes gently, passing through North Point, and ends in the valley near the
Tukver Tea Estate
North Tukvar Tea Estate (also known as Singla Tea Estate) is a tea garden in the Darjeeling Pulbazar CD block in the Darjeeling Sadar subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
History
Established in 1852, it wa ...
.
Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the T ...
, the world's third-highest peak at , which lies to the north, is the most prominent mountain visible.
The Darjeeling hills have been formed by accumulations of
folds,
faults and
tangential thrusts caused by a
compression
Compression may refer to:
Physical science
*Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces
*Compression member, a structural element such as a column
*Compressibility, susceptibility to compression
*Gas compression
*Compression ratio, of a c ...
in the north–south direction as the
Indian tectonic plate has
subducted
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
under the
Eurasian plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
. Their physical composition varies from unaltered
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s in the southern regions to several types of
metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...
and some
intrusive rock
Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form ''Igneous intrusion, intrusions'', such as batholiths, dike (geology), dikes, Sill (geology), sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.I ...
s in the middle and northern, suggesting upward intrusion of the earth's
mantle
A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that.
Mantle may refer to:
*Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear
**Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...
. The collective process has
sheared, folded, crushed together,
fractured and
jointed the rocks, reducing their strength and making them vulnerable to
water percolating down their crevices and causing
pore water pressure
Pore water pressure (sometimes abbreviated to pwp) refers to the pressure of groundwater held within a soil or rock, in gaps between particles ( pores). Pore water pressures below the phreatic level of the groundwater are measured with piezometers. ...
to build up.
Phyllite
Phyllite ( ) is a type of foliated metamorphic rock created from slate that is further metamorphosed so that very fine grained white mica achieves a preferred orientation.Stephen Marshak ''Essentials of Geology'', 3rd ed. It is primarily compo ...
s and
schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...
s are found in the hills around Kalimpong, which lies to the east, and
gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
predominates the western regions in which Darjeeling lies.
Two studies (1990 and 2019) recorded that landslides were a serious concern in the area. Most are triggered by excessive rainfall, earthquakes, and quick erosion caused by torrents. They are accelerated by extensive deforestation, defective drainage, poorly built
revetment
A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water
...
s and the presence of steep slopes that have been undercut to make shelves for paths, roads, and houses.
Debris flow
Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock rush down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors. They generally ...
s along existing
gullies
A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or commonly a combination of both eroding sharply into soil or other relatively erodible material, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble lar ...
can sometimes bring along large boulders and cause damage to roads; in 1968, during a catastrophic rainstorm, the Darjeeling–Siliguri road was cut in 92 places by debris flows.
Teesta, the major river of the Darjeeling region, rises at from a glacier in Sikkim, and flows south, at first meeting the
Rangpo river
River Rangpo is a river in the Indian state of Sikkim. A tributary of the Teesta River, it originates from Menmecho Lake near Dzuluk and flows through Rongli and Pakyong subdivision villages in Pakyong District towards Rorathang, Kumrek and Ran ...
and then the
Rangeet
The Rangeet or Rangit is a tributary of the Teesta river, which is the largest river in the Indian state of Sikkim. The Rangeet river originates in the Himalayan mountains in West Sikkim district. The river also forms the boundary between Sikki ...
before exiting the hills and eventually joining the
Brahmaputra river
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. The
flow rate
Flow rate may refer to:
* Flow measurement, a quantification of bulk fluid movement
* Mass flow rate, the mass of a substance which passes per unit of time
* Volumetric flow rate, the volume of fluid which passes per unit time
** Discharge (hydrol ...
of the Teesta is per second during the summer monsoon; it had had major floods in 1950 and 1968.
The continual tectonic activity of Darjeeling's ancient past can be inferred from the surrounding landscape in such features as
terraces that dip in their middle as a result of earlier horizontal pressure. Eroded
fault scarp
A fault scarp is a small step or offset on the ground surface where one side of a fault has moved vertically with respect to the other. It is the topographic expression of faulting attributed to the displacement of the land surface by movement al ...
s, or steps, observed in the landscape were caused by vertical slips in the faults below.
Alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s at different heights signify a succession of previous rivers that dried up and spread their silt outwards as their beds were raised by the uplift. According to the
Bureau of Indian Standards
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India. It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standar ...
, Darjeeling town falls under
seismic zone-IV (on a scale of I to V, in order of increasing proneness to earthquakes).
A study published in 2018 found that residents of Darjeeling's outer areas, which are lower-income and lower-lying, worried about catastrophic loss during an earthquake. The
April 2015 Nepal earthquake
The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,964 people and injured 21,952 more. It occurred at on Saturday, 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 Mw or 8.1 Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (''Extreme ...
was felt in Darjeeling, and these residents feared that in the instance of a major earthquake, the unplanned upper-level construction could very well give way and tumble down on them.
Climate and environment
Climate
Darjeeling has a temperate
subtropical highland climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
: Cwb).
The average annual precipitation in Darjeeling is approximately . Eighty percent of the annual rainfall takes place between the months of June and September, due to the
monsoon of South Asia
The Monsoon of South Asia is among several geographically distributed global monsoons. It affects the Indian subcontinent, where it is one of the oldest and most anticipated weather phenomena and an economically important pattern every year fro ...
. The "June–May ratio," or the percentage by which the rain increases from May to June, is 2.6 or 260%. In contrast, just 3% of the annual rainfall takes place between December and March. Darjeeling's altitude—which is greater than some other regions of the Eastern Himalayas at the same latitude (27° N), such as the Assam hills—and its rarified air causes its
UV radiation
Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation i ...
levels to be correspondingly higher. Its mean monthly UV radiance is approximately 4500 microwatts per square cm per day during the peak months of May, June, and July. It is 50% higher than the Assam hills to the east, whose altitude is .
Environment
From the beginning of the twentieth century, Darjeeling's average temperature has increased by 4 °C, which is twice the world's average, and the annual averages of its daily maximum and minimum temperatures have increased by greater margins. During the same period, relative humidity has decreased by 7%, and rainfall by annually. For its water the Darjeeling municipality and the surrounding hills depend to a large extent on perennial or seasonal ''jhora''
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
s (see
Map 1), especially during the pre-monsoon months from February to May. The
Senchal Lake
Senchal lake, located 10 km to the south-east of Darjeeling, is the main reservoir of potable water for the town of Darjeeling, India. The water body is actually a twin lake: North Senchal lake, built in 1910 and South Senchal lake, built i ...
s, two artificial reservoirs built in 1910 and 1932 in a forested high-altitude area to the southeast (see
Map 2), which are filled with water from a surrounding catchment area during the monsoon months, have a greatly reduced supply, as of 2016. Darjeeling's explosive population growth in the period 1961–2011, and extensive deforestation even within the protected catchment area for the lakes, have caused many springs to have vastly reduced yields during the dry months from February to May. Of the 26 springs that had once fed the lakes, 12 have been affected. Forests and pastures have shrunk from 78% in 1900 to 38% in 2000, and cultivated land, which contributes to soil erosion, has correspondingly increased during the same time from 20% to 44%. By 2006, land records in Darjeeling showed that foodgrain-producing farmland had decreased proportionally, caused by accelerated levels of urbanisation and by subsistence farming giving way to commercial cropping, especially of tea. In 2016,
acid rain
Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid ...
, which can be caused by air pollution and can in turn damage forests, was observed in the Eastern Himalayas; the
pH value
In chemistry, pH (), historically denoting "potential of hydrogen" (or "power of hydrogen"), is a scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Acidic solutions (solutions with higher concentrations of ions) are mea ...
in Darjeeling was measured at 4.2. A 2022 article quoting another 2016 study reported a pH value of 5.0±0.825 in the rainwater.
According to a 2014 study, the influx of the excess population in the tea plantations around Darjeeling into "marginal areas of town—on backfill, slopes, septic tanks, and jhorās (springs)—has strapped the town’s colonial-era infrastructure. Despite building codes that prohibit buildings taller than three stories, the market for cheap housing in Darjeeling inspires developers to go skyward, often as many as eight stories. Hastily built apartment houses ... are falling into the jhorās and sliding down the mountainside."
Flora and fauna
Darjeeling is a part of the
Eastern Himalaya
]
The Eastern Himalayas extend from eastern Nepal across Northeast India, Bhutan, the Tibet Autonomous Region to Yunnan in China and northern Myanmar. The climate of this region is influenced by the monsoon of South Asia from June to September. It ...
n zoo-geographic zone. Flora around Darjeeling comprises
Shorea robusta, sal,
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, semi-evergreen,
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
and
alpine
Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to:
Places Europe
* Alps, a European mountain range
** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range
Australia
* Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village
* Alpine National Pa ...
forests. Dense evergreen forests of sal and oak lie around the town, where a wide variety of rare
orchids
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...
are found. The
Lloyd's Botanical Garden
Lloyd's Botanical Garden, or Darjeeling Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden in Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal.
History
Lloyd's Botanical Garden was established in 1878 when of land was acquired at Darjeeling to form a botan ...
preserves common and rare species of plants, while the
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (also called the Darjeeling Zoo) is a zoo in the town of Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. The zoo was opened in 1958, and an average elevation of , is the largest high altitude zoo in India ...
specialises in conserving and breeding endangered Himalayan species.
The town of Darjeeling and surrounding region face
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
due to increasing demand for wood fuel and timber, as well as air pollution from increasing vehicular traffic.
Forests and wildlife in the district are managed and protected by the Divisional Forest Officer of the Territorial and Wildlife wing of the West Bengal Forest Department. The fauna found in Darjeeling includes several species of
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
s,
teals
Teal is a blue-green color.
Teal or TEAL may also refer to:
Ducks
* some members of the subfamily Anatinae (dabbling ducks):
** some members of the genus ''Anas'':
*** Cape teal (''Anas capensis'')
*** Red-billed teal or red-billed duck (''Anas ...
,
plover
Plovers ( , ) are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae.
Description
There are about 66 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfa ...
s and
gull
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...
s that pass Darjeeling while migrating to and from
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. Small mammals found in the region include
civet
A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species diversity ...
s (such as
small
Small may refer to:
Science and technology
* SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language
* Small (anatomy), the lumbar region of the back
* ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication
* <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text ...
and
large Indian civet
The large Indian civet (''Viverra zibetha'') is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The global population is considered decreasing mainly because of trapping-driven declines in heavil ...
s,
masked palm civet
The masked palm civet (''Paguma larvata''), also called the gem-faced civet, is a palm civet species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many p ...
,
spotted linsang
The spotted linsang (''Prionodon pardicolor'') is a linsang, a tree-dwelling carnivorous mammal, native to much of Southeast Asia. It is widely, though usually sparsely, recorded, and listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Characteristic ...
and
binturong
The binturong (''Arctictis binturong'') (, ), also known as the bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is uncommon in much of its range, and has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining popu ...
),
mongoose
A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...
s (such as
Indian grey mongoose
The Indian grey mongoose (''Urva edwardsii'') is a mongoose species native to the Indian subcontinent and West Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
The grey mongoose inhabits open forests, scrublands and cultivated field ...
and
crab-eating mongoose
The crab-eating mongoose (''Urva urva'') is a mongoose species ranging from the northeastern Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia to southern China and Taiwan. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Taxonomy
''Gulo urva'' was th ...
) and
badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...
s (such as
Burmese ferret-badger
The Burmese ferret-badger (''Melogale personata''), also known as the large-toothed ferret-badger, is a mustelid native to Southeast Asia.
Description
The Burmese ferret-badger has a head and body length of , a tail length of and a body weight ...
and
greater hog badger
The greater hog badger (''Arctonyx collaris'') is a very large terrestrial mustelid native to Southeast Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because the global population is thought to be declining due to h ...
). Other carnivores found in the area include
Himalayan black bear
The Himalayan black bear (''Ursus thibetanus laniger'') is a subspecies of the Asian black bear found in the Himalayas of India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Pakistan.
Description
It is distinguished from '' U. t. thibetanus'' by its longer, thicke ...
and
red panda
The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...
. A conservation centre for red pandas opened at Darjeeling Zoo in 2014, building on a prior captive breeding program; this
Species Survival Plan
The American Species Survival Plan or SSP program was developed in 1981 by the (American) Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums, most of which are threatened or endangered in the wi ...
had about 25 red pandas by 2016.
The Himalayan newt ''
Tylotriton verrucosus'', one of two salamander species occurring in India, is found in wetlands in the vicinity. The Himalayan relict dragonfly ''
Epiophlebia laidlawi
''Epiophlebia laidlawi'', the Himalayan relict dragonfly, is one of four species of Epiprocta in the family Epiophlebiidae. They have at one time been classified as a suborder Anisozygoptera, considered as intermediate between the dragonflies ...
'', one of just four species in the family
Epiophlebiidae, was first described from the region.
Demographics
The Indian
decennial
An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2011 (the last for which there is processed data)
recorded the population of the Darjeeling municipality to be 118,805 individuals. Of these, 59,618 were females and 59,187 were males, yielding a
gender ratio
The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...
of 1007 females for every 1000 males. The population density of the municipality was 15,990 individuals per km
2 (41,000 per square mile). The
literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
was 93.9%—the female literacy rate was 91.3% and the male was 96.4%. Among groups whose historical disadvantages have been recognized by the Constitution of India and designated for amelioration in subsequent commissions and programmes, the
scheduled tribe
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
s of Darjeeling town constituted approximately 22.4% of the population, and the
scheduled castes
The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...
7.7%. The
work participation rate was 34.4%. The number of people living in
slum
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...
s was 25,026 individuals (which was 21.1% of the population).
Darjeeling began to be an "administrative" town in independent India after being made the headquarters of
Darjeeling district
Darjeeling District is the northernmost district of the state of West Bengal in eastern India in the foothills of the Himalayas. The district is famous for its hill station and Darjeeling tea. Darjeeling is the district headquarters.
Kurseon ...
in 1947. During the period 1961–2011, the town's population increased at an accelerated rate (Figure 1). An "aspirational middle class" arose, comprising families of professionals in the administration, and retail and service industries.
"
Indian Gorkha
Indian Gorkhas also known as Nepali Indians, are Nepali language-speaking Indians. The modern term "Indian Gorkha" is used to differentiate the ethnic Gorkhas from Nepalis.
Indian Gorkhas are citizens of India as per the gazette notificatio ...
" is a term that denotes the Nepali-speaking people of northeastern India, as distinct from the Nepali-speaking inhabitants of Nepal. As of 2016, the population of Darjeeling was predominantly Indian Gorkha. There were also smaller numbers of
Lepchas,
Bhutia
The Bhutia (; sip, Drenjongpa/Drenjop; ; "inhabitants of Sikkim".) are a community of Sikkimese people living in the state of Sikkim in northeastern India, who speak Drenjongke or Sikkimese, a Tibetic language fairly mutually intelligible w ...
s,
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
s,
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
s,
Marwaris
The Marwari or Marwadi (Hindi: मारवाड़ी, Urdu: مارواڑی) are an Indian ethnic group that originate from the Rajasthan region of India. Their language, also called Marwari, comes under the umbrella of Rajasthani languages, ...
and
Biharis
The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a vari ...
. In the 2011 census,
between them they practised
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
(66.5%),
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(23.9%),
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(5.1%) and
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(3.9%). The Lepchas were considered the main indigenous community of the region; their original religion was a form of animism. The Nepali community was a complex mix of numerous castes and ethnic groups, with many roots in tribal and animist traditions. The accelerated growth of the town's population and the tightly packed living conditions in which different ethnicities mixed created syncretic cultures in Darjeeling which evolved away from their historical roots.
According to a 2014 study, although the demand for labour in the tea estates surrounding Darjeeling had stayed roughly constant since 1910, the population of Nepali-speaking workers and their families in the tea estates had grown throughout. As the excess population migrated up to Darjeeling in search of jobs and housing, their cause was championed by the Gorkhaland movement in the 1980s; this had the effect of making a considerable number of non-Gorkha families leave their homes in Darjeeling.
Seasonal migration out of Darjeeling has long been a local feature, especially among the lower-income groups; substantial migration among middle-class youth is a 21st-century occurrence. Many educated young people in Darjeeling have begun to migrate out because the growth of jobs in the area has not kept pace with the numbers of people with
tertiary degrees. For both groups of migrants, favoured destinations fall into three groups:
*neighbouring
Gangtok
Gangtok is a city, municipality, the capital and the largest populated place of the Indian state of Sikkim. It is also the headquarters of the East Sikkim district, Gangtok District. Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an e ...
in
Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
, and
Siliguri
Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...
in
North Bengal
North Bengal ( bn, উত্তরবঙ্গ/উত্তর বাংলা) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Gen ...
at the base of the Darjeeling hills;
*the large bustling cities of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
,
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, and
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
; and
*
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
, the capital of Nepal, where there is a linguistic culture in which they feel comfortable. Those looking for immediate employment commonly work in call centres, beauty parlours, and dumpling stands.
Those looking for eventual employment in professional careers pursue higher education. Both groups have experienced racism and economic and social discrimination in India's big cities, caused by their distinctive, more East Asian, physical appearance.
Governance
![Darjeeling Municipality](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Darjeeling_Municipality.JPG)
The Darjeeling Municipality is one of the oldest in India, established on 1 July 1850, with ten
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
s. It was governed by commissioners who were nominated until 1916, then elected until 1932, and nominated again until 1947. After India's independence that year, the commissioners continued to be appointed until 1964, when the first election was held. It was overturned by a court injunction; further elections and continual interference by West Bengal's state government became the prevalent state of affairs. As of 2021, the municipality is governed by a board of councillors headed by a
chairperson
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
and a
vice chairperson. The number of wards in the municipality increased to 32 in 1988. Wards represent electoral subdivisions; in 2017, 32 councillors were elected, one from each ward.
The wards were reorganized and bifurcated in 2011.
The area of the town (municipality) was reduced from to in 2011 after bifurcation. By 2016, the municipality was surrounded by tea gardens and forestry department land and had minimal room for expansion.
In 2021 the town had approximately 22,000 households and 350 hotels and restaurants. That same year the following statistics were collected: the municipality considered wards 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, and 25 to be the core areas; most businesses, hotels, restaurants, and educational institutions were located in these wards and they were better connected to municipal electricity and water; wards 10, 15, 20 and areas of ward 30 were the most developed, whereas wards 1, 2, 13, 14, 27, 31, and 32 were the most deprived; and the latter group of wards contained 37 slums in which 23% of the population of Darjeeling resided.
In 1988, the
Gorkha
The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India.
The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...
-dominated hill areas of Darjeeling district were given an autonomous form of governance under the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). In 2012, the DGHC was replaced by a similar body called the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). The elected members of GTA manage certain affairs of the hills, including education, industry and land revenue; they cannot legislate or levy taxes. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) held power in the municipality until March 2022,
when it was defeated by the newly-formed
Hamro Party
Hamro Party (; ) is a political party based in Darjeeling district and Kalimpong district of India. HP was founded on 25 November 2021. The president of the party is Ajoy Edwards, who was earlier a leader of Gorkha National Liberation Front.
...
.
Darjeeling town is within the
Darjeeling Assembly constituency
Darjeeling Assembly constituency is an Vidhan Sabha, assembly constituency in Darjeeling district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal.
Overview
As per orders of the Delimitation Commission of India, Delimitation ...
that elects one
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
of
West Bengal Legislative Assembly
The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian states and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata, the capital of the state. Members of the Legislative as ...
in state legislative elections every five years.
The town is part of the
Darjeeling parliamentary constituency that elects one
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
for the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
, the
lower house
A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
of India's
bicameral
Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
.
Economy
A 2017 study described the Darjeeling area as entirely dependent on the production of tea and the inflow of tourists to create employment.
Tea
![Darjeeling tea processing unit (7168687423)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Darjeeling_tea_processing_unit_%287168687423%29.jpg)
Darjeeling tea is produced on plantations in which a few leaves on each
tea bush are plucked by women. During the tea bush's
dormancy
Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped. This minimizes metabolic activity and therefore helps an organism to conserve energy. Dormancy tends to be clo ...
period in the short winter season, it is
pruned
Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots.
The practice entails the ''targeted'' removal of diseased, damaged, dead, ...
by the women to stimulate growth the following season. Unlike China, where the tea bush grew into a tree, the early British planters devised these means to
monocrop In agriculture, monocropping is the practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land. Maize, soybeans, and wheat are three common crops often monocropped. Monocropping is also referred to as continuous cropping, as in "continuous c ...
tea in tightly packed hedges on vast estates. In the plantation factories, men operate machines to
ferment
Fermentation is a metabolism, metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic Substrate (chemistry), substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in ...
, dry, and package the normally short-lived green tea leaves.
After India's independence in 1947, many of Darjeeling's governmental and economic arrangements remained unchanged. When British planters auctioned off their estates, they were bought by Indians from the plains or corporations from elsewhere in India. Darjeeling's labour force had long consisted of workers recruited from Nepal. Mid-19th-century British
ethnologists
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...
had commended Nepalese for their step farming and other forms of settled agriculture in the Himalayan foothills. They were contrasted with Darjeeling's native population of the Lepcha at the time of British annexation, who practised "shifting agriculture". Planters believed that if allotted a house and a yard in which to grow vegetables and fruit, the Nepalis would be more inclined to stay. The arrangement, which lasted during the colonial period, was formalized in independent India's Plantations Labour Act, 1951. As of 2017, workers maintain their two or three-bedroom homes which they do not own, become attached to their upkeep, and eventually hope to retire in them when an adult child who also works on the plantation inherits the house.
In 2017, the average basic daily wage (that is, without
employee benefit
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
s) of a Darjeeling tea garden worker was
Rupee
Rupee is the common name for the currencies of
India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
s 144.60 () per day. With benefits, it was Rupees 277.10 () per day. Comparatively, Darjeeling's tea estate workers were paid less in 2017 than tea estate workers in several
southern Indian
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
states. The auction price of Darjeeling tea for 2017 was comparatively higher.
A 2017 study found that some 60% of the plantation labour jobs in the Darjeeling area were held by women. The protection and economic development of the tea labour force was one of the motivations for India's enactment of the
. According to a 2017 study, "India has pursued the recognition of iconic brands, not only to create market share but also to recognise the value of the GI system to encourage development in poor, rural regions with high unemployment rates. This is consistent with the broad
WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
objective to encourage trade liberalisation in developing countries to reduce poverty." Darjeeling tea was given GI recognition in Europe in spite of some
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
member nations objecting to the use of the indication for blended tea. It was recognized in US Geographical Indication mark, "DARJEELING, Registration No. 1,632,726."
![Darjeeling Tea Cultivation Area 1951 to 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Darjeeling_Tea_Cultivation_Area_1951_to_2014.jpg)
Tea is produced in the Darjeeling hills and farther below in two different forms. Orthodox tea looks like the twisted and dried version of the green leaves on the bushes. The Darjeeling sub-division of the Darjeeling hills had 46 tea estates in 2017, producing mostly orthodox tea. This is commonly exported and is some of the world's most expensive. In the
crush, tear, curl, or CTC version, which is commonly grown in the Kurseong sub-division (with 29 tea estates), and the Kalimpong (with 6), the tea leaves are mechanically manipulated, fired, and turned into tiny hard pellets that look like instant coffee. Cheaply available, and boiled with milk and sugar, when CTC tea was introduced into the Indian market in the early 1950s, it turned India into a nation of tea drinkers.
The area of cultivation of Darjeeling tea increased from 16,569 hectares (in 1951) to a high of 20,065 (in 1990) and dropped to 17,820 (in 2014) according to a 2021 study. There were 99 tea estates in 1961; these increased until 1990 (when 102 were recorded) but dropped to 83 by 1995 and to 81 by 2014. The 20% drop from 1990 to 1995 was attributed in the study to India's economic liberalisation which came into force in the very early 1990s. A 2017 study similarly reported the Indian tea industry to have been adversely affected by price drops after India's economic liberalisation in the 1990s. Darjeeling tea garden owners invested their
surplus
Surplus may refer to:
* Economic surplus, one of various supplementary values
* Excess supply, a situation in which the quantity of a good or service supplied is more than the quantity demanded, and the price is above the equilibrium level determ ...
es in more profitable industries elsewhere, causing a decline in productivity in the local tea industry. The
Tea Board of India
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and norther ...
estimated of Darjeeling tea was produced in 2021; this constitutes about 0.5% of total produced in India.
Tourism
Darjeeling has two peak tourism seasons, September to November and April to May. A 2014 study suggested that domestic tourism is the foundation of the town's vacation business. The
Chowrasta is a popular shopping and gathering area where a tourist might get their picture taken dressed in colourful and rustic local clothes. The tea plantations below are particularly visited by foreign tourists. Old bungalows in some plantations have been converted to deluxe lodgings in which rooms rent out dearly by any global standard. Some tourists hold dear the escape to a peaceful, unspoilt, and picturesque landscape evoked in
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
's 1962-film ''
Kanchenjungha
''Kanchenjungha'' (''Kanchonjônggha'') is a 1962 Indian film directed by Satyajit Ray.
The film is about an upper class Bengali family on vacation in Darjeeling, a popular hill station and resort, near Kanchenjunga.
Narrative structure
The ...
''.
Darjeeling had become an important tourist destination as early as 1860. Since India's economic liberalisation in 1991, tourism in Darjeeling has become cheaper, and Darjeeling, once considered a luxury destination, has become accessible to
mass tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
. A 2016 study recorded the tourist influx into Darjeeling town between 2009 and 2014 as ranging from a low of 243,255 individuals in the 2010–2011 season to a high of 488,675 in 2012–2013; the large majority were domestic tourists, with foreign tourists never comprising more than 35,000 annual visitors.
Darjeeling can be reached by the
narrow-gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, also known as the DHR or the Toy Train, is a narrow-gauge, gauge railway that runs between New Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal. Built between 1879 and 1881, it is about long. It c ...
(DHR) which travels a route long from Siliguri. Pulled by steam
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
s, it moves at speeds of between and per hour. Although the service was begun in the 19th century to move humans and freight efficiently, its primary clients today are tourists who are availing themselves of the opportunity to experience the
mobilities Mobilities is a contemporary paradigm in the social sciences that explores the movement of people (human migration, individual mobility, travel, transport), ideas (see e.g. meme) and things (transport), as well as the broader social implications o ...
of travel of a bygone era. After an international and national campaign for its support, the railway was declared a
World Heritage site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
in December 1999 at the 23rd Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Morocco. In ''Notes on Defining the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway: World Heritage Property'', Unpublished manuscript. The DHR Archive, Kurseong, 2005, K. Weise had written:
The railway begins on the plains of West Bengal and soon begins climbing through a remnant of lowland jungle, including stands of teak. As the railway climbs, so the flora changes and its upper sections are dominated by enormous Himalayan pines, which in misty weather give a surreal quality to the landscape. It frequently hugs the ages of hillsides with drops, often of thousands of feet, to the plains and valleys below. Towering over the entire scene is the perennially snow-covered bulk of Kanchenjungha. ... From Kurseong the railway offers frequent views of this stupendous mountain, which by Ghoom dominates the entire landscape.
In a 1999 study, it was thought the tourist influx into Darjeeling had been adversely affected by the political instability in the region, including agitations in the 1980s. According to a 2018 study, tourism in Darjeeling is limited to a small area of the town so its effect on local employment is inadequate for alleviating Darjeeling's high unemployment rate. According to the author, "The majority of the employees and almost all of the top ranking officers in West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation are Bengalis; locals generally get employed as photographers, drivers, and guides."
Utilities
The chief
catchment area
In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
for Darjeeling municipality's water is the
Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary
Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary was set up in 1915 in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India.
Geography
Location
Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary is located at .
It is one of the oldest wildlife sanctuaries of India and covers an area of . The ...
, located approximately to the southeast, covering an area of and lying between and in altitude. Natural springs in the sanctuary, not all perennial, are the main source of the water supply. The steep slopes of the surrounding ridges (at inclines of between 20° and 48°) can lead to high surface run-off, subsequent absorption, and collection of water in partially confined spaces. Upon reaching a critical volume, this groundwater can surge out as seasonal springs. Water collected from 26 perennial and seasonal springs is routed through stone conduits to the
Senchal Lake
Senchal lake, located 10 km to the south-east of Darjeeling, is the main reservoir of potable water for the town of Darjeeling, India. The water body is actually a twin lake: North Senchal lake, built in 1910 and South Senchal lake, built i ...
s (Map 2) constructed in 1910 and 1932. From Senchal the water is piped to the town after purification at a filtration plant in
Jorebungalow
Jorebungalow (also spelt Jorebunglow) is a village in the Jorebunglow Sukhiapokhri CD block in the Darjeeling Sadar subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Geography
Location
Jorebungalow is located at .
...
. There are a combined of pipes transporting water from Senchal to Darjeeling, and a further in the
water distribution system
A water distribution system is a part of water supply network with components that carry potable water from a centralized treatment plant or wells to consumers to satisfy residential, commercial, industrial and fire fighting requirements.
Defini ...
within Darjeeling. In the months before the monsoon during which water in the Senchal lakes is reduced, it is augmented by pumping water electrically from another reservoir located near
Khong Khola.
A 2012 report of the Darjeeling Municipality Waterworks Department stated that from the 1930s little or no maintenance had been undertaken on the water pipeline from Senchal. Engineers in the department suggested that there might be up to 35% transmission loss, and more within Darjeeling. Once in Darjeeling, the water is distributed along the colonial pattern, first serving more expensive and sought-after uphill neighbourhoods and then the low-income downhill ones, which have more restricted access to the supply. The system was designed to serve a population of up to 20,000 individuals. Between 1911 and 2011, there had been a six-fold increase in the population of the municipality, not including the large number of transients such as students, migrant workers, and tourists (see
Figure 1). Increasing demand has led to a worsening shortfall in the water supply. As a result, many residents have to purchase water from private vendors who either supply it in water tankers or in hand-pushed carts; they sometimes collect the water from the local ''jhora'' or springs. (see
Map 1). Larger private businesses are involved in supplying households but do so at a substantially higher cost.
As of 2020, every day 30
metric tonnes
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
of
solid waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...
are generated in Darjeeling, and during the peak tourist seasons, the amount goes up to 50 metric tonnes. Bulk waste, which is chiefly produced in
residential area
A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.
Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...
s, markets and hotels, is deposited in common dumping areas from which it is taken in
tractor-trailer
A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer a ...
s to dumping grounds. Open dumping, which is the disposal of waste in sites not designed for waste management, is commonly practiced, and has created economic and social tensions in Darjeeling.
In 1897 Darjeeling became the first town in India to be supplied by hydroelectricity, which was generated at the nearby Sidrapong Hydel Power Station; it was primarily for use in street lighting and private houses. Today, electricity is supplied by the West Bengal State Electricity Board from other locations.
Transport
Darjeeling has two major arterial roads: Hill Cart Road—which is a continuation of National Highway 110 (India), National Highway 110 connecting Siliguri at the base of the Darjeeling hills to Darjeeling—and Lebong Cart Road (see
Map 1). The average width of Darjeeling's roads in 2018 was between and . According to a Darjeeling Municipality report of 2008, a little over half (55%) of Darjeelings roads were both metalled (paved with asphalt, or bitumen) and motorable; the rest were too narrow to admit traffic whether concrete roads or dirt road, unpaved. There were three parking areas that were not located on the street and 13 on-street. Illegal parking along narrow roads has created congestion for both pedestrians and wheeled transport.
As of 2018, Darjeeling had no public transport system of buses. Less than one in 20 residents owned any form of vehicular transport, two-wheeled or four. For both locals and tourists motorized travel was limited to six- or eight-seater paratransit taxis that have no set routes or timetables. Passengers embark and disembark in the central shopping district of the town, making the area both congested and polluted. In 2015, in an attempt to tackle the pollution, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), which governs the district, introduced three battery-powered street-legal golf-cart-taxis on a trial basis. The taxis had cost approximately Rupees 36 lakh (or $14,670 in the 2015 exchange rate) per vehicle.
[ Although the vehicles were factory-designed for a battery life of before requiring a recharge, their batteries were found to run out in . Chalking up the disparity to the challenges of Darjeeling's steep streets, and the lack of mechanics to correct the malfunction, the administration withdrew the vehicles from the streets in 2016.]
Darjeeling can be reached by motorized vehicles on National Highway 110, from Siliguri, away. Darjeeling has road connections with Bagdogra, Gangtok
Gangtok is a city, municipality, the capital and the largest populated place of the Indian state of Sikkim. It is also the headquarters of the East Sikkim district, Gangtok District. Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an e ...
and Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
and the neighbouring towns of Kurseong and Kalimpong. However, road and railway communications often get disrupted in the monsoons because of landslides. The nearest airport is Bagdogra Airport, located from Darjeeling.
Culture
The culture of Darjeeling is diverse and includes a variety of indigenous practices and festivals; it has a regional distinctness from the rest of India. Mixing and intermarriage between ethnic groups have led to hybrid cultural forms and practices.
Major festivals are Dashain (Vijayadashami), Tihar (festival), Tihar (Diwali), Holi, Lakshmi Puja, Maghe Sankranti, Losar, Buddha Jayanti, and Christmas. Tibetan Buddhism is followed by some ethnic groups such as Tibetans, Lepchas, Bhutias, Sherpas, Hyolmo people, Yolmos, Gurung people, Gurungs, and Tamangs; their common festivals are the Tibetan new year festival Losar, Saga Dawa and Tendong Lho Rumfaat. The Kirati people, Kirati ethnic group Rai people, Rais, Limbu people, Limbus, Sunuwar people, Sunuwars and Yakkha people, Yakkhas celebrate Udhauli and Ubhauli as their main festival.
Popular Hindu deities are Durga, Kali, and Shiva; other deities with both Hindu and Buddhist influences, such as Manjushri and Matsyendranatha, Macchindranāth, are popular among Newar people, and Gorakhnath, and worshipped by Gorkhas. The Mahakal Temple, Darjeeling, Mahakal Temple on Observatory Hill is a pilgrimage site for Hindu and Buddhists. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism, or Lamaism, have established several ''gompa'' or Buddhist monasticism, monasteries. Ghoom Monastery (8 km or 5 miles from the town), Bhutia Busty monastery, and Mag-Dhog Yolmowa Monastery, Mag-Dhog Yolmowa preserve ancient Buddhist scripts. A Peace Pagoda, Darjeeling, Peace Pagoda was built in 1992 by the Japanese Buddhist organisation Nipponzan Myohoji. In the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre, Tibetan crafts like carpets, wood and leather work are displayed.
The Darjeeling Initiative, a civil society movement, holds the ten-day Darjeeling Carnival; it celebrates Darjeeling Hill's musical and cultural heritage each year usually in November. A literary culture has matured in the Nepali-speaking population of the Darjeeling region; in 2013, Asit Rai, a resident and Nepali-language writer, was elected to the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour of India's National Academy of Letters.
According to a 2017 study, Western music has long been popular in Darjeeling. In the "lively hippie music scene" in Kathmandu in the late 1960s, some of the earliest "Western pop performers" were from Darjeeling. The earliest Nepali-led hotel bands were from Darjeeling and many among them had played in hotels in Calcutta before. A 2004 study suggested that one possible reason for such leadership might have been that many Nepalis in Darjeeling had become Christians and were no longer bound by Hindu caste prejudices in which "musical performance is associated with low caste standing". By the early 1990s, a common middle-class western popular music culture was much in evidence among the young people of Kathmandu, Nepal and the Nepalese-speaking youth in Darjeeling.
Football (soccer), Football is the most popular sport in Darjeeling; the annual Gold Cup tournament was once a favourite event in the hills. An improvised form of ball made of rubber bands is often used for playing in the steep streets, and is known as Chungi.
Colonial architecture is exemplified in Darjeeling by cottages, Gothic architecture, Gothic churches, Darjeeling Planters' Club, Planters' Club, the Raj Bhavan, Darjeeling, Raj Bhawan and various educational institutions.
Food
The traditional dietary culture of the town of Darjeeling has much in common with that of the Darjeeling hills, though urbanisation has affected the food habits throughout the region. A mug of tea with milk, with or without sugar, is traditionally the first drink of the day. Butter tea, made from Compressed tea, compressed tea leaves, butter, water, milk and salt is a popular delicacy. The staple diet is eaten twice a day. The food in these regions is less spicy, cooked with either little or no oil, and semi-boiled. The first meal is eaten in the morning with cooked rice, dal, cooked vegetables mixed with potatoes, some fermented meat or milk products—Dahi (curd), dahi, or yoghurt; Mattha, mohi, which is spicy buttermilk; and ''chhurpi'', a kind of hard cheese made from cow or yak milk—and pickles commonly called Dal bhat, bhat-dal-tharkari-achar. The second meal is dinner in the early evening, which consists of the same bhat-dal-tharkari-achar. Bhutia and Lepcha usually eat thukpa noodles in soup.
Traditionally, the people of the region have preferred cooked rice as the staple; however, roti made of wheat is also popular, mostly among the urban population. Cooked ground maize is sometimes eaten as staple food mostly in rural areas, where it might be eaten with mohi and gundruk, a fermented vegetable. Goyang (fermented food), Goyang, another fermented food, is made from the leaves of a local wild plant, abundantly available during the monsoon. The leaves are fermented for a month and then consumed for several months afterwards. Boiled with yak meat or beef to make a hearty thukpa soup, it is commonly prepared in Sherpa homes though seldom sold.
Some ethnic foods have cultural value in festivals. Celebration of festivals with the consumption of sel roti, a fermented cereal-based fried doughnut-like confectionery, is a custom of the Gorkha. Dahi, a fermented milk product, is consumed as a savoury addition to daily diets. It is also used by the Gorkha to make a paste with rice and food colour for applying to the foreheads of the younger members of the family by their elders during festivals and marriages. Alcoholic drinks can have a similar dual purpose; in addition to being consumed directly they are offered to gods and in the veneration of the dead. In some communities, they have been employed in spirit possession rituals.
Some Brahmin Gorkhas are vegetarians. Non-vegetarians eat chicken, mutton, buffalo, and pork. Beef is taboo to a majority of the Gorkha except for Tamang and Sherpa. Newar prefers buffalo meat. About two-thirds of people prepare ethnic fermented foods at home for consumption. Cooking is usually done by women. Traditionally members of the family sit together on bamboo mats in the kitchen, and meals are served by the female members of the family and then usually eaten by hand, though chopsticks made of bamboo are commonly used by the Bhutia and Tibetans. Plates are made of brass or have a thin layer of brass.
Popular alcoholic beverages sold in Darjeeling town include ''tongba'', ''Jnaard'' (pronounced as Jaar) and ''chhaang'', variations of a local beer made from fermenting finger millet. A popular food in Darjeeling is the ''momo (food), momo'', a steamed dumpling containing pork, beef, chicken or vegetables (cabbage or potatoes) cooked in a doughy wrapping and served with watery soup. Wai-Wai (food), Wai-Wai, originally a product of Nepal, is a packaged snack consisting of noodles which are eaten either dry or in soup form.
Education
A study conducted between 2012 and 2014 observed that the elite schools established in Darjeeling during the late 19th century for the education of British children were offering English-medium instruction of high quality to Indian children. The Jesuit boys' school, St. Joseph's School, Darjeeling, St Joseph's (usually called North Point), the Anglican boarding school for boys, St Paul's, and the Catholic girls' school Loreto Convent (see Map 1) were attracting students from faraway places, including Burma and Thailand. North Point and Loreto had established colleges, St Joseph's College, Darjeeling, St. Joseph's College and Loreto College, Darjeeling, Loreto College (now Southfield College); these along with the Darjeeling Government College, a co-educational college founded in 1948, made up the three colleges of Darjeeling. All were affiliated to University of North Bengal in Siliguri
Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...
. The same study suggested that the private schools were no longer catering only to children of the affluent. Some lower-middle-class families in Darjeeling were sending their children to North Point and Loreto, despite their high fees, in order to give them better future opportunities. By 2014, colleges had increased the enrollment of students from rural backgrounds. In fields such as engineering and computer science, the local colleges, however, were less able to offer the professional training or career placement facilities of India's growth centres, which had caused some students to leave Darjeeling after high school.
In the Darjeeling municipality in 2003–2004, there were 16,015 students in education in India#Primary education, primary schools, 5169 in Education in India#12th (senior secondary or Intermediate Course) exam, higher-secondary schools, and 3,825 in Education in India#Higher education, colleges and universities. According to a 2013 study, few students attended college for there seemed little scope for realizing "middle-class aspirations in Darjeeling through educational credentials". It noted that the fees in the better-funded private colleges, although affordable for the upper-level government officials or successful businesspersons, were too high for the lower-middle-classes in town. This put pressure on the only affordable college, the government college in the town's centre. It was lower-priced but poorly funded, with broken windows, leaking roofs, and absent teachers, causing the students to feel neglected and affecting their attendance. The teachers for their part were unable to meet the extra demands placed on them.
A 2022 study noted that among the population of Darjeeling that lives in slums (comprising 11.72% of the town's population as per the 2011 census), 13% had finished primary school but had gone no further, 45% had finished high school (grade 10) but no further, 13% had finished higher-secondary (grade 10+2), and 10% had been to college. A 2018 study reported that the water crisis in the Darjeeling town has especially affected adolescent girl students who go to government schools. Many do not have WASH, access to hygiene facilities such as toilets and bathrooms, either in their homes or at school, particularly for Menstrual hygiene management#Sanitation facilities at schools, hygiene management during menstruation. The study found that most toilets in government schools were not usable and that no government schools had "proper sanitary facilities for girls. There is no system of water in the toilets and no arrangement for cleaning the toilets daily." It stated that many girls don't drink water during the day for fear of having to use the school toilets.
Most tea plantations make no more than lower primary school instruction available on site. As a result, tea garden workers have typically had fewer opportunities for education. As of 2022, a little over a third of the female workforce and half the male were educated up to grade 8. The workers attributed this to their tea garden's remoteness and lack of means in the family during their childhood. Some families have raised chickens or livestock or opened a corner shop to make more money; their children have gone to nearby towns to study in private schools in which the medium of instruction is English, which is thought to offer better career opportunities. The Nepali language was accepted as a teaching language in all primary schools with a Nepali-speaking majority in the Darjeeling district in 1935.
Explanatory notes
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External links
Darjeeling Municipality
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{{Authority control
Darjeeling,
All articles containing potentially dated statements
Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2011
Cities and towns in Darjeeling district
Hill stations in India
Cities in West Bengal