Seeking attention to Darjeeling area in the Budget 2015-2016, DDUDF writes to FM

PR, KalimNews, Kalimpong, 28 February, 2015: Darjeeling Dooars United Development Foundation (DDUDF), has sought attention of the Finance Minister to some vital matters related to Darjeeling hills and adjoining areas. In its memorandum addressed to Arun Jaitly, the finance minister it has drawn intervention of the ministry for its development demanding implementation of National Mission on Himalayas, revitalisation of Darjeeling tea industry, implementation of 3 tier panchayt, enlistment of Darjeeling tea industry in the UNESCO's World, to reshape, redirect and revitalise the medicinal plantation directorate, to include Darjeeling and Dooars in the North Eastern Council.

The excerpt of the memorandum signed by Dr Mahendra P Lama Founder Trustee of DDUDF civil society organisation based in Darjeeling, is as follows.

I would like to extend our warmest congratulations and felicitations to you for your significant achievements in the last 9 months as the Minister of Finance. we remain deeply impressed by your oratory skills, intellectual prowess and overarching command over various issues of national and global importance'your core competence, political sagacity and professional commitment will clearly be reflected in the forthcoming budget. 

All categories of Indians both within and outside the country, global development partners and investors and more critically varied geographies of India are expecting out-of-the-box Budget this year. A budget that will kindle hope across the communities and geographies, a budget that will enliven the spirit of nation building and a budget that will sustainably transform the basic tenets of our economy so that we could also be a global economic power' you are aware that the Hills and Mountain areas from Kashmir to Uttarakhand and Darjeeling to Arunachal which constitute over 16 % of the total geographical area (3'28'726 thousand hectare) in the country are not only critical to our geo-politics and national security interest but also to ecological and economic sustenance. 

Most of the water towers that feed our country are located in this magnificent region and we have one of the most gorgeous socio-cultural heritage, unparallel bio-diversity and of course undocumented knowledge and intellectual resources. 

All the famous trade routes including the silk Route actually originated from this region which actually brought together a chain of civilisations for both cultural cooperation and economic and geographical integration. The global world is again re-focusing on the hill and mountain areas because of various reasons including the climate change and fresh water crisis. They plan to revive Silk Route, the Chinese are moving from the coastal areas to land frontiers of the South West region comprising of Sichuan,Tibet and Yunan and more critically the rich biodiversity and diverse cultures are rediscovered, water resources are reconfigured and natural disaster and vulnerabilities are re-studied.

We in Darjeeling and Dooars region strongly feel that the budget this year should have strong and far reaching programmes for this sensitive region of Hills and Mountain areas in India. For us in Darjeeling and Dooars region we have the following suggestions to make which require your both professional and intellectual interventions.

1 National Mission on Himalayas as announced by the Hon'ble President of India in his address to the Parliament should now be implemented. This could in a way facilitate the setting up of a full fledged Ministry on Hills and Mountain regions of India. A time bound action of /by this Mission and support from your august Ministry may be incorporated in your budget speech.

2 The establishment of Central University and the Central University as mentioned in the address of the President of India may be located in Darjeeling and Dooars region. Why this University should be located in Darjeeling and Dooars region is comprehensively explained in the Press Release and Appeal of the DDUDF made on 20 June 2OI4 (enclosed herewith)

3 The historic Darjeeling Tea Industry is in a state of doldrums and ruins and is fast losing its lustre, global reputation and international market day by day.The famous Dooars tea gardens are also in irreparably bad shape. The tea workers who have served this industry for last 160 years are the worst sufferers and they fear that the situation is going to be worse in the next few years. In the tea gardens of Dooars despite scores of hunger deaths (latest being in Red Bank tea gardens that have remained closed for more than a decade now) among the workers for last 10-15 years, the West Bengal govt remains unperturbed and callously indifferent. The workers' wages which were few Annas per day in 1860s, have reached the pathetic level of Rs 9O/- per day in 2014 that too after a prolonged and harrowing labour movements and unending negotiations. What could be more demeaning than this ?

The Darjeeling and Dooars tea brought so much of foreign exchange and income and gave an unparallel brand name to the country. At one time, it made the owner companies one of the richest in India and possibly abroad. It is very essential for revitalisation of this world famous tea industry. 

The following 8 steps are the minimum policy interventions that are required for this purpose a One time rejuvenation grant/development investment of Rs 1000 crore. This includes replantation, technological upgradation, skill and capacity building, diversification of products, access to global market and re-establishment of Darjeeling brand. This amount could be mobilised from within and outside the country including from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

b Implementation of 3 tier Panchayati Raj and making the people accessible to at least all the central govt development schemes /projects. 

c Implementation of provisions of Minimum Wages Act 1948 for the tea workers as is done in various factories and industries in West Bengal and in rest of the country.

d Enlistment of Darjeeling tea industry in the UNESCO's World Heritage List. 

e Establishment of value adding facilities like tea bag, herbal tea, flavoured tea, wine etc in various tea gardens of Darjeeling. These value adding facilities will generate huge income and employment for the local Youths.

f Gradual shifting of Tea Auction Centre from Calcutta to Siliguri-Dooars region with a view to use the under utilised and much easily accessible Chittagong and Mongla Ports in Bangladesh.With tea from Dooars, Darjeeling, Assam and neighbouring countries Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, this will be the largest auction centre in the world.

g Steady transfer of entitlement of houses, and surrounding hearths and lands to the workers by thoroughly revising the colonial and archival provisions of the Plantation Act 1951. 

4 Similarly, over 150 years old world famous Cinchona (quinine) Plantation of Darjeeling which served as a major cure/relief to millions of people affected by Malaria for decades together in the 19th and 20th centuries has now been in a dilapidated and near wrecked condition. With its verdant location, huge land area, over 5000 skilled manpower, salubrious climate and global brand name, this unique medicinal farming and production unit could in fact have been made a World Organic Garden of Traditional Medicines. But for the lackadaisical, short-sighted and unprofessional handling by the West Bengal Government and the present GTA.

Today the entire production system is in a crumbling situation. The main processing factory has remained closed since 1999. Once an object of global attraction, the Cinchona Plantation could again be revived and rejuvenated to make it a World Organic Garden of Traditional Medicines. The following 6 interventions could be made in order to reshape, redirect and revitalise this magnificent eco-cultural commercial activity. 

a) One time rejuvenation grant of Rs 450 crore mainly focussing on the newer cultivation crops, organic farming and mechanisation of production, technological and professional up-gradation, capacity and skill building of the workers, reassessment of markets and This grant could also be accessed from national and global development funding institutions.

b) Diversification of crops with varieties medicinal plants and folk medicines based organic produces to directly cater to the national and global markets. 

c) Integrate this plantation with similar initiatives on organic and traditional medicine cultivation and production bases in the entire Himalayan regions of India 

d) Setting up of a World Class Research and Training Institute on organic farming of traditional medicines in collaboration with national and global partner institutions including the World Health Organisation and UNESCO.

e) Putting the entire Plantation in UNESCO's World Heritage List for conservation, development and tourism purposes.

f) Complete revamping of the amenities to the workers and their families 

5 Incentives provided to existing and new industrial units in North-Eastern Region including Sikkim and the Special Category States like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand may be extended to Darjeeling and Dooars region as urgently as possible. In the absence of any major industrial and manufacturing industries this region despite huge and endless potentials has suffered incessantly. Except the investors in tea industry who came 150 years ago and some in the hydel power projects, no investor and investment in real sense of the term has come to this region. This is despite the fact that Darjeeling also has the special category status and has comparatively huge potentials for such investments. This region has been deprived of these incentives only because it is not a state as yet. The West Bengal Governments have made announcements after announcements about setting up various industries both private and public but have failed to do anything substantive. The West Bengal Govt by its very nature, orientation and work culture believes in incrementalism and cannot think of any leap forward or a big push which is actually the crying need today. lt works for 'cms and inches' whereas people think of and want to walk 'yards and miles'. There is a clear mis-match in both thinking and action and hence Darjeeling and Dooars want to determine their own destiny.

At the moment, only Transport Subsidy Scheme (modified as Freight Subsidy Scheme in 2013) is applicable to Darjeeling district of West Bengal to provide subsidy on transport cost incurred on movement of raw material and finished goods. In the absence of poor information base, de-motivated work culture and also delays in deliveries, this incentive has also become ineffective.

Like in other relevant states these incentives should include Capital Investment Subsidy, Central Interest Subsidy, Comprehensive Insurance Subsidy, Excise duty exemption and Income Tax exemption. The schemes under North East Industrial and investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPPI2007 will expire on 31st March, 2O17 and FSS will expire in 2018. This could attract and inject industrial and investment activities in crucial areas including in harnessing of natural resources, manufacturing, horticulture, floriculture, pharmaceutical, service related activities like tourism, health, education, lT etc and cross border trading and investment activities. In fact investment in this region could cater to the whole of North east region, entire Easter India and all the neighbouring countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Myanmar.

6 It is high time that the region of Darjeeling and Dooars are included in the North Eastern Council [established by a Parliamentary Act viz., North Eastern Council Act 1973 which is a regional planning body. This will make the geographical definition and political characterisation of the North East region complete. Both Darjeeling and Dooars are the crucial entry points of the North East region. The famous 'Chicken Neck' that connects the North East region with the rest of India is actually in this region. Sikkim was included in the North East Council in 2OO2 and Darjeeling's inclusion in the same is just a natural and logical corollary as Sikkim is physically accessible only through Darjeeling. Ethnically and culturally the entire region is the same. Historically like the North East region, Darjeeling also was in the excluded area and partially excluded area categories. Both the regions have significant tribal communities both in the hills and plains, food habits are same and institutional backwardness and communication and transport linkages are still in a nascent stage. There are several advantages for both the Govt of India and the people of this region of Darjeeling and Dooars in case of inclusion in the North East region. The people of this region could take advantage of the wholesome development benefits from the NEC and the Ministry of Development of North East Region (MDoNER). The Govt of India could treat the entire region from a specific national security perspective and promote the Look East Policy in a pragmatic and meaningful way.

The people of the Eastern Himalayas where Darjeeling and Dooars is a pivotal organ and which has already witnessed two violent movements for a separate state, are very sincerely expecting some substantive initiatives and path breaking interventions from your august Ministry. We very fervently hope that this budget will reorient the entire hill and mountain areas in terms of development dynamics, prudent use of natural resources and building a chain of institutions including on climate change and cross border trade and investment and tourism with neighbouring countries that sustain and reposition this critical region of the country. Some of the above issues have also been raised in our letter of 1Oth June 2OL4 addressed to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India.

We shall be very much available for any consultations and supportive documents to cater and consolidate the cause of Hills and Mountain regions. We pray for your success and cherish your local to global reach both as the Finance Minister and the Defence Minister of India.