The passing out parade of the 93rd batch of Indian Naval Academy (INA), Ezhimala will go down in the history of Arunachal Pradesh, as a new officer in the newly-commissioned batch of 2017 becomes one more from the state to join the Indian Navy.
Sub-Lieutenant Chaphoa Wangno is among the 324 officers who have graduated from the Naval Academy on November 22, 2017. It is indeed a proud moment for folks belonging to the Land of Dawn-lit Mountains.
As his first posting, he will be part of the Indian Naval Armament Inspection Executive Branch and will go through a specialised training entailing weapons and armaments at INS Dronacharya (Gunnery School) at Cochin, reports NorthEastIndia.
A native of Rajanagar of Changlang district, the 23-year-old naval officer, is the son of Chingam and Ngoanya Wangno.
He completed his high school education from the Government Higher Secondary School in Itanagar and had pursued metallurgical engineering from the PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.
Following this, he appeared for the Combined Defence Services exam and was cleared to join the Indian Navy. He joined the academy in June 2017 and underwent 22 weeks of Naval Orientation Course in weaponry and armaments.
It is not just a proud moment for Arunachal Pradesh alone, but the whole of India. We hope that the young man has an illustrious career in the Indian Navy and brings many laurels to his name.
Arunachal Pradesh has become the second state in the Northeast to become open defecation free (ODF), the state government announced on Sunday. The first was Sikkim.
While the national target is October 2, 2019, Arunachal Pradesh set the deadline one year and ten months in advance. The project to make the state ODF was undertaken under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), reports The Arunachal Times.
An additional incentive of Rs 8,000 per toilet was provided by the state government, apart from the state’s matching share and the Centre’s support.
A cost of Rs 20,000 was raised.
For representational purpose only. Source: Facebook.
“The Herculean task has been made possible with the support of the Union Drinking Water & Sanitation ministry, constant monitoring by the PHE & WS department and other stakeholders,” said Chief Minister Pema Khandu, the publication reported.
According to Pema, it was overwhelming to see people taking part in the construction of the toilets in remote villages along the international border. It required them to trek for days carrying material and ration on their head.
The Swachh Arunachal Mission was also launched on October 2 by the state government last year at Tawang. This envisaged the Swachh Protocol (Cleanliness Protocol) to ensure sustainability of assets created under SBM (Gramin).
However, the fight doesn’t end here for Arunachal Pradesh. The state must now work towards maintaining their ODF status and end the possibility of open defecation in the future.
Kiwis have always been considered an exotic fruit. Imported to India from New Zealand, Italy and Chile, Kiwi was never thought of being an indigenous fruit. This was mostly because most of us are unaware that the hills and valleys of Arunachal Pradesh too, grow this sour fruit.
Indians have started consuming Kiwis only since the last 20 years. Even so, Arunachal Pradesh remained mostly behind the curtains since urban Indians preferred the New Zealand brand of Zespri.
Tage Rita Takhe, an agricultural engineer from Ziro valley in Arunachal Pradesh, was bewildered that a large amount of Kiwis are imported to India. Her valley grows kiwis too but sees no demand in the market. “6000 metric tonnes of kiwi is still imported into India every year,” she told Indian Express, adding, “Why do we need to import when it is practically growing in our backyard?”
Rita’s husband, Takhe Tamo thought of an idea that would change the fate of kiwi farmers.
Competing for the raw fruit with international brands did not seem to work with the Indians. So together, Rita and Tatung decided to ferment the fruit and make wine from it!
Kiwis grown in Arunachal Pradesh. Source.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Rita said, “Kiwi farmers are unable to explore its full potential as a raw fruit in terms of market and price. Making wine was the best option to preserve its nutritional value. Drinking wine is a tradition in tribal culture but preserving the drink for a long duration was not possible because of lack of modern wine-brewing methods. Our kiwi wine is a solution to this gap between tradition and technology.”
Tage Tatung, an Agro-Horticulturist from Ziro joined this unconventional venture with the Takhes. Tatung has been an active advocate of social services and farmer upliftment. He has also been awarded the State-Level Governor Award for his work in Agro and Pisciculture.
Working to empower kiwi farmers in their state, Rita and Tatung have successfully brought 20 hectares of area under cultivation in Ziro Valley.
Their fruits are completely organic and do not use any chemicals for cultivation. “The unit does not generate any pollution,” claim the founders of Naara-Aaba wines, adding that, “Provision will be kept for suitable pollution control measures as prescribed by norms and applicable to these type of industries… The pollution control measures such as adoption of good manufacturing practices for a cleaner production system and planned social forestry around the unit are observed.”
The 2300 sqft winery in Hong, Ziro currently employs 25 people. Their machinery to make wine from kiwis, preserve and store it, comes from Nashik, Italy, China and Denmark.
The name of the brand is a tribute to Rita’s late father-in-law who relished the local wines. He was lovingly known as Naara-Aaba.
Rita and Tatung’s unconventional approach to reviving kiwi production has brought prosperity to their valley as farmers who had given up on their fruit farms due to low demand have gone back to growing kiwis.
Rita told the publication, “It was the most logical thing to do–the fruit does extremely well in this climate. The abundant sunshine of Ziro contributes to optimum growth and taste of the fruit.”
The valleys in Ziro now flourish with kiwis that people actually demand! By thinking differently, Rita and Tatung corked the demand for their farmers’ crop.
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
Featured image for representational purposes. Source.
In the fabled history of Independent India, many citizens from its frontier regions—Ladakh and the Northeast—have significantly contributed to the process of nation-building.
Some have received due recognition while many others remain shrouded in anonymity. One such soldier, diplomat and civil servant, is Major Ralengnao (Bob) Khathing. Even by the remarkable standards set by some of Independent India’s most illuminating figures, Major Khathing stands tall, but very few know about his contributions.
Born into the Thangkul Naga tribe on February 8, 1912, at Ukhrul in Manipur, Khathing attended a local missionary school until Class V. An exceptionally bright student; he received a state scholarship to join the Government High School in Shillong (then the capital of a united Assam).
After passing out of school, Khathing went to the Bishop Cotton College in Guwahati, where he became the first tribal from Manipur to graduate. In a remarkable career marked by many glass-ceiling shattering moments, this was the first.
Following graduation, he started a school in Barasingha in the Darrang district of Assam, before a local British civil servant convinced him to take over the Headmaster’s position back home at the Ukhrul High School.
In 1939, however, World War II began, and Khathing decided to enrol in the British Army. However, he encountered a serious problem.
“The British rules were strict: Recruits had to be five feet four inches tall, except the Gurkhas who could be recruited at five feet two inches. Bob, like many in the North-East, was too short, five feet three inches only. But with a clever hairstyle and the help of an understanding officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps, he made it. He was the first Manipuri to get a King’s Commission,” writes French historian Claude Arpi, who has long documented India’s presence in its frontier regions.
Following a stint of basic training in Agra under Major KS Thimayya, who later went on to become the Army chief of Independent India in 1957, Khathing was commissioned into the 19th Hyderabad Regiment (later 7th Kumaon Regiment) but soon shifted to the Assam Regiment in Shillong in 1942.
As a captain, he assisted the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) efforts against Japanese forces at Jorhat as a logistics Liaison Officer, helping them fly military transport aircrafts from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort and the units of the USAAF based in China.
“When Japanese choked the Burma Road, the British army formed a guerrilla outfit called ‘Victor Force’ and used hill tribals as guides and informers to the British Army to counter Japanese army. Khathing was sent to command as a local Captain of the ‘V Force’ Operation in Manipur sector to operate behind enemy lines in the Burma front.
He effectively mobilised the Tangkhul youth and leaders who brilliantly united and organised an intelligence set-up, passing information of Japanese movements to the Allied Forces. As reported, he shaved his head in a ‘Mohawk style,’ in typical Tangkhul tribesmen tradition, shed his army tunic, and purportedly slew about 200 Japanese soldiers during his command in 1942-1944,” write Dr Tuisem Ngakang, Assistant Professor at the University of Delhi and Dr Pamreihor Khashimwo, a Research Associate with Centre for Air Power Studies, in a tribute published in The Sangai Express.
For his contribution to the British War effort, he was awarded the prestigious Member of the British Empire (MBE) in December 1943 and received the Military Cross in August 1944. After the war, Khathing quit the army and had a brief stint as Minister of Hills Administration for the Government of Manipur.
Major Ralengnao (Bob) Khathing. (Source: Facebook)
To the uninitiated, many princely states had taken steps towards Independence after the war. After years of British rule, Manipur began establishing a democratic form of government with the Maharaja of Manipur as its head in 1947. Unfortunately, with the threat of Burmese occupation looming large, the Maharaja felt accession to India was a better choice. After the dissolution of the Manipur Assembly, the state became a part of the Indian Union in 1949.
With the dissolution of the Manipur Assembly, Akbar Hydari, the first Governor of Assam, requested Khathing to join the Assam Rifles, where he served as an Assistant Commandant. On August 15, 1950, when the region was devastated by the Assam-Tibet earthquake, causing nearly 4800 casualties, Khathing was involved in coordinating and carrying out rescue and rehabilitation efforts.
However, it was his next job that would forever etch Khathing’s name in Independent India’s history. Deputed to the Khameng Frontier Division of the then North East Frontier Agency in modern-day Arunachal Pradesh as Assistant Political Officer (APO), Khathing’s diplomatic nous, charisma and steely determination would play a critical role in bringing Tawang into the Indian Union without firing a single bullet.
Major Khathing Speaking to Tibetan officials and villagers In Tawang in April, 1951. (Source: Claude Arpi)
Under orders of the then Assam Governor Jairamdas Daulatram, Khathing assisted 200 soldiers of the 5 Assam Rifles and 600 porters in their march towards Tawang on January 17, 1951.
Before World War II, Tawang was under the administrative control of the then independent Tibetan government, despite British attempts to annex it. Things, however, changed in 1944 when a unit of the Assam Rifles took control over a part of the Tawang tract lying south of the Sela pass, sending Tibetan tax-collectors packing. However, Tibetans residing north of the pass remained untouched.
All this changed with the arrival of APO Khathing and his men.
“A few days after his arrival, he selected a high-ground near the Tawang Monastery for meeting the Dzongpens, the Commissioners from Tsona in Tibet and the village elders (gaon burahs). Bob walked to the place, while 100 riflemen encircled the ground,” writes Claude Arpi. While soldiers were ready to battle in the event of an impasse in talks, APO Khathing used his shrewd diplomatic skills to win over the locals.
What he soon realised was that the indigenous Monpa tribal community was struggling under the harsh taxes imposed by the Tibetan administration, and what Khathing did was sell the idea of India, its democracy and most importantly that its government would never exploit them. It worked!
Major Khathing arrives in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh. (Source: Claude Arpi)
This is how Khathing won over their hearts. Locals still talk about his exploits to this day.
Merely six weeks after Khathing arrived in Tawang, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a note to his Foreign Secretary on March 18.
“I constantly hear about the activities of the North and North-East Border Defence Committee. These activities have resulted in action being taken on the Tibetan border and in Nepal. At no stage have these matters been brought up before me for consultation, although apparently, consultations have taken place with the Governor of Assam and other people far away. I am greatly concerned about this matter because, as I have already mentioned to you, the manner of our going to Tawang and taking possession of it and thus creating some international complications has not been a happy one. I am yet not quite clear how all this was done without any reference to me,” Nehru wrote.
However, Arpi recounts that days before his untimely death, Sardar Patel, who was Home Minister, had issued an order to Jairamdas Daulatram and APO Khathing to conduct this operation without apparently taking Nehru into confidence. Patel did not want a repeat of the Kashmir situation. Nehru’s unhappiness, however, did not have any real consequences for Khathing’s career.
Following stints across various administrative positions in the Northeast as a member of the Indian Frontier Administrative Service (a civil service unit operating in Northeast tribal frontier regions, which was soon merged with the IAS), his next major assignment came when the Indo-China War broke out in 1961-62. He was appointed the Security Commissioner of NEFA and Chief Civil Liaison Officer with the Army IV Corps stationed in Tezpur.
By some accounts, he even played a significant role in the establishment of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) after the war.
However, his final crowning moment occurred when he was appointed the Ambassador of India to Burma in 1972. Thus, Khathing became the first person from a tribal background to become the Ambassador of India.
Memorial fo Major Ralengnao Khathing at Mantripukri, Imphal. (Source: Facebook)
“It is said that he helped to bring the ‘Bamboo Curtain’ down on the Military Junta in Myanmar. Also, he successfully tackled the 800 km long Indo-Myanmar border issue discreetly, fairly and amicably with Burma. Khathing retired from active service in 1975,” writes Dr Tuisem Ngakang.
Khathing passed away on January 12, 1990. Although he was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1957 and ‘Khathing Point,’ a place in Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh, is named after him, this son of India has not received the recognition he deserves. It is high time we change that.
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!
40-year-old mother of four Muri Linggi has done us all proud as she becomes the third woman from Arunachal Pradesh to conquer Mount Everest – the highest mountain peak in the world.
A peon in the state education department, Muri has certainly been extremely dedicated and self-driven. By scaling Everest, she becomes the third woman summiteer from the state to climb the 8,848 m (29,029 feet) mountain.
Her expedition was flagged off on April 5 from Roing, which is in the Lower Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. She reached the base camp on April 20, but her plans for a summit assault were foiled due to inclement weather. She had to bide her time without losing focus, and re-started her summit campaign on 10 May.
One thing is for sure, her sheer will power and determination seems to have kept her going long after most of us would have given up!
What a feat!
“It usually takes climbers five days to reach the peak from base camp. Linggi cut her time short by not stopping her climbing even during the night time,” informed DSO Raju Mipi, as reported in Arunachal Times.
Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Prema Khandu, came out in support of Muri and tweeted about Muri’s achievement hours after she completed the climb.
In yet another congratulatory message, Minister for State and Home Affairs Kiren Rijuju posted a picture of Muri at the peak holding a placard which read – ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.’
A very significant message that comes from a mother of four girls.
Muri Linggi, mother of four daughters has become the third woman from Arunachal Pradesh to conquer Mt Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world. I salute her determination & strength. Hearty congratulations! pic.twitter.com/I7U5FVoeBC
As in every season, one finds stories of summiteers from all over the world with best-in-class equipment, planning, and team support. It is an inspiration to us that Muri was able to successfully scale the Everest with merely a fraction of the resources that are at the disposal of an average Everest summiteer. It speaks volumes of her drive and dedication.
If this story inspires you, do also spend a few minutes reading about Bachendri Pal, who became the first Indian woman to scale Mount Everest. Click here to read.
Popularly known as the ‘Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains’, or the ‘Orchid State of India’, a visit to Arunachal Pradesh is sure to leave you spellbound! The state happens to be the largest of the Seven Sister States.
Recently, history was created, when the first commercial flight landed at Pasighat Airport. The airstrip at the Pasighat Airport was laid down around 66 years ago, which for the first time, received a commercial flight. It was an Air Alliance ATR, carrying a motley group of passengers, including the state Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
The first commercial flight at Pasighat airport-a historic moment for Arunachal Pradesh. Image Credit: Suresh Prabhu (Twitter)
The Alliance Air flight will operate thrice-a-week, on the Kolkata-Guwahati-Pasighat circuit. Well with commercial flights becoming operational, it is time you visited this beautiful region for a memorable getaway.
A Union Territory till 1972, Arunachal Pradesh became a state only on 20th February 1987. At its highest peak, the topography rises to 7,000 metres. Little wonder then, that the state is home to some of the highest peaks in this region of the Himalayas, like the main Gorichen peak, and the Eastern Gorichen Peak.
There is a network of river valleys that dissect the landscape, and an abundance of lush, green forest cover. A true natural paradise, Arunachal Pradesh has interesting places to see.
An abundance of greenery and serenity will greet you at Arunachal Pradesh. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Being such a picturesque location, it seems to be the ideal place for a music festival. The Ziro Festival is held each year in the Ziro valley in the state. So book your flight tickets, and head to Arunachal Pradesh to experience these five spots.
Pasighat:-
Pasighat is beautiful, being the meeting point of 2 rivers. Image Credit: Anjani Kumar Shahi
The spot where your flight will land, Pasighat, is the oldest town in the state. Located on the banks of the Siang river, Pasighat is 155 metres above sea level and is the capital of the East Siang District.
Pasighat is a paradise for nature lovers.
Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh, is full of natural beauty. Image Credit: Thocks Bikram
The massive Brahmaputra flows to this place from Tibet, and the Daying Ering Wildlife Sanctuary is located here, spread over an area of 190 square kilometres. Travel around 60 km from Pasighat, and you will reach Pangin, the point where the river Siyom meets the river Siang. The meeting point of the two rivers is stunning, due to the colour differences between the two river bodies, and the presence of rare plants and herbs.
Pasighat also houses a Buddhist temple, located near the airstrip, which is of historical importance, as excavators have found pieces of evidence of past cultures from early medieval periods.
Tawang:-
One of the many beautiful lakes in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. Image Credit: Anubhav Banerjee
This gorgeous district is home to placid lakes and a 400-year old monastery-one of the oldest and largest in India. During winter, Tawang frequently experiences heavy snowfall, and the Sela Pass that rises steeply is often covered with snow year-round.
Do spend time at the Jang waterfall, and visit the handicrafts centre that promotes small-scale local industries.
The journey to Tawang might be arduous, due to the loose tarmac and gravel, but once you get there, the journey will be worth it.
The magnificent monastery in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. Image Credit: Anubhav Banerjee
Visiting Tawang district requires a special Inner Line Permit. Get yours from the government, available in Kolkata, Guwahati, Tezpur and New Delhi. The road to Tawang is long and dotted with many local food options. Dig into momos and cream buns while the cold air nips your cheeks.
Roing:
Located in the Lower Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, Roing is the favourite of nature lovers and wildlife enthusiasts. Image Credit: Sabbir Ikbal
This charming district headquarters was founded recently, in 1948. The term ‘Roing’ means ‘cool and refreshing’, and this spectacular location is located in the Lower Dibang Valley.
Lose yourself in the perfect natural beauty, and sink into peace and solitude, thanks to the multitude of serene lakes and breathtaking waterfalls.
Roing is a favourite amongst archaeologists, thrill seekers, adventure junkies and nature lovers.
Near Roing is the Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary.
Among the animals in Arunachal Pradesh, the Clouded Leopard is the most elusive. Representative image only. Image Courtesy: Tambako the Jaguar (Flickr)
It is a 282 square kilometre expanse of lush greenery, home to a variety of wild animals, including the Bengal tiger, the leopard and the extremely elusive clouded leopard. An interesting fact about the sanctuary is that it is home to Hoolock gibbons, the sole ape species in India, aside from us humans!
Dirang:-
The beautiful Dirang village, in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. Image Courtesy: Great Indian Mountains.
This beautiful little village is an undiscovered gem, a small town in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. Hidden away in the state, Dirang is a fascinating place, with the combined influence of Buddhism and Bhutanese culture.
Dirang is usually a stopover for tourists heading to Tawang, yet by itself, it is a fabulous natural beauty.
Get lost in nature, while you spend time in Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh. Image Credit: Anubhav Banerjee.
Just a little outside town, you will find a hot water spring–considered to be a holy place. Rich in sulphur, the spring is known for its medicinal properties. Take a dip and rejuvenate yourself!
For those who wish to explore the region’s wildlife, the National Research Centre on Yaks is located above the main town. The centre, which has a yak farm, also conducts research, to improve the health of the yak population. Go for a long walk along the banks of the river Kameng, where this beautiful little village is located.
This is the place to be if you want an adrenaline rush. Located near the Assam border, the Aalo valley is picturesque and looks serene, but don’t let the quiet fool you! The area is a hotbed of adventure sports. River rafting and trekking opportunities are in abundance here, so test your limits but be careful while doing so!
Along is also home to the Kane Wildlife Sanctuary–an amazing spot if you want a glimpse of wild elephants and deer.
Aalo hosts many festivals, like the Mopin festival and the Yomgo River Festival.
The Mopin festival, is celebrated with great spirit, in Arunachal Pradesh. Image Credit: IGRMS Bhopal.
These are celebrated to promote tourism, while making the world aware of the indigenous culture and unique tradition, of the region, via handlooms and handicrafts.
Trek and hike in the high mountains, at various difficulty levels, and steer your raft, while negotiating with the furious white waters of the Siyom river. Venture beyond the known, into unexplored trails, and spend a night camping in the forest!
Arunachal Pradesh is indeed a hidden gem. Well, now that the state airport will be receiving commercial flights, hop onto one, and explore the storied beauty of this region yourself!
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!
The best system of governance entails a seamless collaboration between governments and the communities they govern, with trust being reposed on either side. One can cite numerous examples of how such an alliance results in better governance outcomes.
In Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng district, one can witness this form of partnership between the members of the Bugun tribal community from Singchung village and the local Forest Department. Together, they make up the Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve Management Committee (SBVCR).
The alliance was formalised in January 2017, and earlier this week, this community reserve was awarded the India Biodiversity Award in the “Conservation of Wildlife Species” category for its effort to conserve the critically endangered bird—Bugun liocichla.
To the uninitiated, the award is conferred by the National Biodiversity Association, and this year it was presented by the Union environment ministry and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The community reserve, considered a biodiversity hotspot, covers an area of 17 square kilometres, and is adjacent to the to the Eaglesnest Wildlife Sanctuary (EWS).
“The ten staff members (village boys) of the SBVCR [take turns and] patrol the area every day and have already prevented several instances of illegal road building and boulder extraction in the habitat of the Bugun Liocichla,” Millo Tasser, divisional forest officer of EWS, told The Telegraph.
These boys were reportedly trained by the Special Task Force of the Tamil Nadu police, and the initiative has given many local youths a shot at gainful employment via this government-community collaboration.
“The Reserve was instituted under a clause of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 that enables any state government to declare a community-owned forest area as a ‘community reserve’ if the locals are willing to participate in conservation efforts for the same,” reports The Indian Express.
These community reserves are afforded the same legal protection as National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, according to Tasser, who also spoke to The Indian Express.
Coming back to the Bugun Liocichla bird species, experts contend that the small bird has not been spotted anywhere except the reserve and the nearby EWS. It was first identified in 1996, by Dr Ramana Athreya, a birdwatcher and astronomer with the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.
Bugun liocichla (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
It was, however, formally identified as a new species of bird in 2006, making it the first such discovery in India since Independence. Conservation efforts by the Buguns in Arunachal have led to the small babbler-like bird being named after the tribe.
The SBVCR not only works towards protecting the environment but also provides jobs to the local youth, by employing them as drivers, wildlife guides, cooks and field experts in their eco-tourism initiative. Every household in the village has one member working in these services, reports TIE.
With the twin aim of protecting the environment and offering job opportunities, this collaborative effort in Arunachal Pradesh is seemingly bearing foot.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!
Music and humour are double-edged swords. Sometimes they reinforce certain uncomfortable stereotypes, but real artists find a way to present them in ways that break barriers and bring people closer together.
This is what Kekho Thianmkho, aka K4 Kekho, a 23-year-old rapper from Lower Chinhan in Tirap district, Arunachal Pradesh, is attempting to do through his music.
In his latest music video, “I am Indian” (produced by Hillang Nima), Kekho addresses an issue which many from the frontier regions (Ladakh, Kashmir and the Northeast) encounter in mainland India every day—racism.
From unsolicited stares, harassing comments and outright hostile acts, citizens from the frontier regions are often compelled to develop thick skins. This is our lived reality. Kekho’s latest video is a reclamation of his Indian identity, laced with dark humour and stinging social commentary.
Rapping in Hindi with a heavy Arunachali accent, Kekho says (in translation), “Being an Indian from the inside, I live for money. During election time, I sell my vote for a couple of thousand rupees. I am an Indian.” In other words, the voter in Arunachal isn’t all that different, from say, Tamil Nadu.
In the segment before the bars above, he raps, “Pardon your highness! I am an Indian! Not Chinese! Look at me! I look a little bit like a Chinese. Not so tall, but ‘look little bit short’.” Again, he’s confronting racial epithets head-on, laced with a tinge of humour.
The overriding message is ‘talk to us, and you’ll know we’re just like you’.
However, there are moments of reflection and anger from the winner of Arunachal’s inaugural Rap Riot, a rapping competition, held in 2015.
“Institutions invite students from the Northeast. Then some of the people there on the roadside ask us to leave their place. Walk like a mouse, or else they’ll kill us. They look at us like they will eat us,” he raps.
The video ends with clips of Northeasterners taking to the streets in the national capital protesting against violent acts or outright racist attitudes.
Kekho raps the entire track in Hindi with a heavy Arunachali accent. This, he argues, is deliberate.
He tells The Quint, “A Hindi rap will help reach out to a lot more people. But here in Arunachal, we don’t speak pure Hindi. It’s spoken with a different accent. So, the lyrics are in colloquial Arunachali Hindi. Those listening to it may think ‘he’s speaking Hindi, but where is it from?’ Maybe then they will realise that we are also Indians.”
Growing up in a household that always had a love for music helped Kekho along the way. Initially, he tried his hand in Sufi music but soon found his calling in rapping. His teachers didn’t like it, but his peers in school absolutely loved it, even though his delivery wasn’t on point.
Thus, in 2012, he began to rap. It’s little surprise that his first rap idol was American rapper Eminem, whose tracks opened the world of hip-hop to many young Indians in the late 90s and early noughties. Known for his lyrical prowess, unique vocal style and current affair mentions laced with humour (often dark), Eminem has influenced a host of budding rappers in India.
In fact, Hip-Hop as a cultural phenomenon has made serious inroads to the frontier regions and rugged localities of urban India. Cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Chandigarh have thriving underground hip-hop scenes. What’s made hip-hop a force in these underground scenes are artistes rapping in the vernacular—Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi, Khasi and Marathi, among others—and that they are talking about their everyday realities and struggles.
He tells The Arunachal Times (TAT), “I believe in giving people the real message. The truth is the truth, and I tell it as it is!” Most of his lyrics are in simple street lingo. “I keep my words simple to get my message across with ease. I write and rap in Hindi also to reach a larger audience base” he adds.
Although Mumbai-based artistes like Divine have found appreciation in cultural behemoths like Bollywood, most hip-hop artists in India struggle to reach larger audiences. This is particularly the case with rappers from the Northeast, who rap in English or their local tongue.
Kekho also faces a similar problem with his fan base, which is largely limited to young kids in the Northeast, although he sometimes raps in Hindi. “Rap and hip-hop is just beginning in Arunachal. People here still prefer Bollywood songs, but I think it is the artist’s responsibility to attract the audience,” he tells TAT.
With this attitude, Kekho is seemingly on the right path to success and fame. There is one segment of the track which reflects this sentiment:
“I am a true Indian,
but I sing, ‘One day we’ll be champion,’
I am the one against the population of crores and millions.
I am an Indian.”
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!
“You must have seen an unfinished concrete structure there. Last year, we started constructing a temple inside the forest. But we think we displeased our deity; and our village was hit by an earthquake, a rare phenomenon here. So, we decided to stop all constructions, maintain the area as it is and not offend Sherlanpoche,” says Konjo Tsering, Goan Bura (village headman) of Yewong village in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Legend believes that long ago, there lived a powerful creature in the Grang forests surrounding the Yewong village.
According to locals, the creature resembled an elephant in size. And now, they worship a long elongated rock that resembles an elephant trunk, likening it to Sherlonpoche (which means ‘the golden elephant’ in Monpa, an East Buddhist Tibetan language).
Sherlanpoche was evil. Whoever would pass through the forest was harmed by him. Even the birds and animals were not spared. Nobody knew the reason for his cruelty, but everybody feared him.
Once, a respectable Buddhist Lama named Atajarapa, who lived in a nearby mountain, was travelling through this forest with his son. And as fate would have it, Sherlanpoche captured his son. Despite repeated warnings, he refused to release the Lama’s son. The Lama was now determined to give Sherlanpoche a taste of his wrongdoings. He used his spiritual powers and entrapped Sherlanpoche’s son inside a bell.
The tables had turned. Sherlanpoche could not fathom the supremacy of the Buddhist Lama. He complied to release the son in return for his own son’s life.
Atajarapa agreed on a promise in return from Sherlanpoche that he would not kill or harm any living beings in the forest and instead be the guardian deity. He also gave his word on behalf of the local Monpa inhabitants of Yewong village that they would worship Sherlanpoche for years to come.
Based on this single belief, prayers are offered once a year to Sherlanpoche, who is believed to be living in the forest in the form of an elongated rock resembling an elephant trunk. This forest is known as the Grang Sacred Forest, by the locals and spans around 250 hectares.
The sacredness of the forest has ensured that no trees are felled or that the forest resources are not used for personal or community purposes by the locals.
Not very far from Yewong village is located the picturesque Sangti valley which is surrounded by the high mystic ranges of the Eastern Himalayas.
The valley is adorned by its pristine forests on all sides with the Sangti river calmly flowing through the valley.
A bridge connecting the villages in Nepal.
Amidst this valley lie similar tales and beliefs of the sacred mountains of ‘Ni Dhirshing’ and ‘Namchen’. Although no one in Sangti valley has ever climbed the ‘Ni Dhirshing’ mountain due to its sheer steepness or, have seen the holy gompa which is believed to be on Ni Dhirshing, but they do hear bells ringing and conch shells blowing from the mountain. For the locals, the mystery and legend associated with it have given their mountain its sacred status.
Dirang basti also located in West Kameng district has an old tale about animal sacrifices in the area. The tale goes that a challenge took place between the head priest of the Bon religion and a Buddhist lama -Lopon Rinpoche visiting the area from Tibet. As per the legend, animal sacrifice was an important ritual of the Bons, but Lopon Rinpoche advocated non-killings of any beings. He tried to persuade the locals to stop the killings but this resulted in a challenge between him and the priest as to who could reach the Dzangto Peri mountain first.
Lopon Rinpoche won the challenge and demanded that the head priest stop all animal sacrifices in the area, especially while they worship their sacred mountains – ‘Bangle’ and ‘Dunpu’. Following this, animal sacrifice is not only banned in the area, but the killing of any animal for dietary consumption is also prohibited.
Travelling through the Himalayas in search of stories connecting people and nature, I found that communities living in this region exhibit an inherent relationship with their natural surroundings.
A remote village located in the Annapurna Mountain Range, Nepal.
The forests and the biodiversity hold a special significance for them. Although the communities are highly dependent on forest resources for their survival, they are also its best guardians.
These are many more untold or undocumented oral narratives that exist in Arunachal Pradesh and across the Himalayas. The forgotten tales speak a thousand words about the culture, the people and the natural environment of the region.
These narratives have been passed on through generations orally and are the basis of their cultural and spiritual lives. Such practices have not only helped in preserving their backyard forests and green cover but has also led to conserving the rich biodiversity of the forests.
The terrain is difficult, and there is also an increasing dearth of individuals who remember and can narrate these stories. With the coming of new age media, this traditional art form of storytelling is struggling as daylight is replaced by electronic gadgets and senior citizens are relegated to pray and ponder about the past. In many countries, this traditional form of communication has become less commonplace. However, it is important for us to document these oral narratives and pass them on to the next generation.
In today’s fast-paced world, it is important for us to understand and preserve our intangible culture to create a sustainable future. Such practices will help to strike a balance between communities, culture and science-based conservation.
(Written by Pooja Chowdhary and Edited by Shruti Singhal)
Deep in the remote corners of Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district is a community, school, and home for 90 orphaned, destitute and abandoned children called the Jhamste Gatsal Children’s Community.
With the nearest town of Lumla situated 30 minutes away, the school started by Buddhist monk Lobsang Phuntsok aims to nurture at-risk children from surrounding impoverished villages, based on the principles of love, compassion, and wisdom.
The very phrase Jhamtse Gatsal is Tibetan for “garden of love and compassion.”
Coming to aid the process that Lobsang started in 2006 is National Geographic explorer Mike Libecki and his 14-year-old daughter Lilliana, who has travelled to 26 countries across all seven continents with her father, besides undertaking five major expeditions.
The duo is collaborating with the computer hardware giant, Dell, reports IANS.
They helped the community install 20 new laptops, printers, set-up internet access and impart computer literacy to both children and teachers at the children’s community. In addition, they have also installed new solar panels and generators for both the computer centre and community.
“We worked closely with the community. All of the kids in the community are orphans, or they have come to live there because they have family issues. They are all first-generation learners, none of the families of these kids have an education. They want the children to go to college; without having computers and internet, they will lag behind and not be able to do. In the times we live in, we need to be technologically advanced and savvy to make progress,” Mike told IANS.
Mere installation, however, isn’t enough. If the kids don’t know how to utilise these computers and internet, there is little use of such an endeavour. Besides imparting training for these children and teachers, they are also reportedly working to ensure that these systems run on solar power in an area where regular electricity supply isn’t forthcoming.
All the equipment was shipped directly from the United States, and Dell employees, as part of the company’s Give Back Project, came along to assist in the installation process.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!
For more than 56 years, villagers in Arunachal Pradesh have waited patiently for monetary compensation from the Government of India.
Why?
When war broke out against the Chinese in 1961-62, Arunachal Pradesh was one of the main theatres, as the Indian armed forces needed land so that they could set up their war bases, roads, bridges, bunkers and barracks, among other such installations.
In response to this requirement, the Indian government began acquiring private land from locals, who did not hesitate to part with their prized community land. Little did they know that compensation would arrive more than five decades later.
Although India lost in 1962, the local war effort in Arunachal Pradesh was proof of their dedication and love for the country. Finally, the Indian government decided to compensate them through a process beginning last year where funds were sanctioned for those whose lands had been acquired.
In April 2017, the Government of India had distributed Rs 54 crore to 152 families in three villages across West Kameng district. By September 2017, local villagers had received another instalment of Rs 158 crore, reports the Press Trust of India.
Earlier this year, in February, residents from Tawang district received cheques amounting to Rs 40.80 crore. Residents from Tawang, West Siang, West Kameng, Upper Subansiri and Dibang Valley districts were eligible for this compensation.
“A total of Rs 37.73 crore has been given to the villagers. Those were community land. So, the huge amount they received will be distributed amongst the villagers,” Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, told the Press Trust of India, while distributing cheques to the villagers of West Kameng district, late last week.
A local resident receiving a cheque from Chief Minister Pema Khandu and MoS (Home) Kiren Rijiju. (Source: Twitter/Kiren Rijiju)
Prem Dorjee Khrimey received Rs 6.31 crore for the remote Tupken village, while residents like Phutso Khawa and Khandu Glow received Rs 6.21 crore and Rs 5.98 crore, respectively.
Besides land, however, locals had taken up positions as porters, helping the armed forces with transporting food and ammunition. In fact, thanks to the arrival of the Indian armed forces, they also had to learn Hindi so that basic communication was possible. Earlier, Assamese was the official mode of communication for the region, but thanks to their contributions to the war, Hindi has become an important link language for the plethora of tribes from the state.
Previously part of NEFA (North East Frontier Agency), the war in 1962 accelerated the formation of Arunachal Pradesh as a union territory a decade later in 1972, and eventually a full-fledged state in 1987.
“The war brought all the different tribes of NEFA together, and the sufferings experienced by the civilians during the war led to resentment among people against Chinese. Indian nationalism ran high among the tribals, uniting them. People saw how the Indian jawans fought the war bravely, but got defeated. The villagers carried the dead soldiers for cremation on their backs,” said DK Thongdok, author of War on Buddha: A Book on Chinese Aggression, 1962, to The Times of India.
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
In the heart of Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang District are wild vegetations of a rare kind of tea. This tea, rich in its health benefits was once believed to be from Kenya.
But in 2015, the Tocklai Tea Research Institute published a paper revealing that this exotic tea, actually originated in India–Assam, to be accurate.
What’s more special about the tea is its colour–purple!
“The original plants of Kenyan tea industry were brought into that country mostly from Assam, and the Kenyan tea genetic resources are of Assam origin,” says Pradip Baruah, who published the paper.
Would this cup of tea, rich in its purple colour and an exotic brew that also has several health benefits, come back to the Indian market?
Although the research paper mentioned Assam to be its place of origin, Manoj Kumar and Pankai Wangtan, who work for the Donyi Polo Tea Estate, had also heard that it grew in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh.
And so, they started their search.
In fact, their search had begun even before the paper was published!
Speaking to the Indian Express, Kumar said, “Finally, we were fortunate enough to find purple tea growing wild in the East Siang district.”
The institute specialises in making special, exotic tea. Earlier this year, they sold their special Needle tea for Rs 40,000 at an all-India auction!
And so, once the purple tea was discovered in Arunachal Pradesh, they started processing it for the domestic market. This rich tea was processed exactly like green tea. “That basically means it’s a process devoid of oxidation so as to retain the colour of the leaves,” Kumar told The Telegraph, adding, “It is good for the heart, it fights cancer.”
The plant from which the tea is made contains high levels of a flavonoid called anthocyanin, which makes the tea reddish-purple and releases anti-oxidants which are beneficial to health.
“India does not produce anthocyanin-rich purple tea similar to Kenya at present, but purple-coloured tea plants are reported to be available in Assam and the neighbouring states which could be collected and analysed for these characteristics,” he told the publication.
On Wednesday, 1.25 kg of this purple tea was sold to Dugar Consumer Products Pvt Ltd based in Guwahati, Assam, at a whopping price of Rs 24,501!
“My expectations were above Rs 15,000 but didn’t expect Rs 24,501. This shows that buyers and consumers are ready to offer any price for specialty tea. Besides, they are aware of the health benefits of anthocyanin-rich purple tea,” responded Manoj Kumar.
Explaining how the tea will be used, Rishabh Dugar, the proprietor of Dugar Consumer Products, told The Shillong Times, “This lot of purple tea will be divided in two parts. Half of it will be at our tea boutique in Ahmedabad for our customers and the other half would be specially packed for delegates at the Vibrant Gujarat 2019 summit.”
If the Indian government had to choose one state to represent the mind-boggling cultural diversity that exists in the country, it would probably choose Arunachal Pradesh.
With a population just under 1.4 million (as per the 2011 Census) encompassing 26 tribes and 256 sub-tribes, the people of Arunachal Pradesh speak 30 languages, although some experts have pegged that number to 50 and according to renowned language critic GN Devy, it’s 90.
In the midst of all this diversity, Hindi has emerged as the lingua franca of the state, a link language that binds this administrative unit together. Unlike its Northeastern sister states, Arunachal never had an organised movement promoting one native language.
A speaker of Adi, for example, cannot comprehend what a Nocte-speaker is saying. Thus, if a member of one tribe had to interact with someone else from another linguistic group, they would have to use a contact language. Consequently, Hindi emerged as the lingua franca.
Spoken by over 90% of the populace, one can hear it everywhere from the state assembly to playgrounds in schools. Thus, a key motivating factor behind the emergence of Hindi was its ability to emerge as a critical contact language amidst the presence of many native languages.
So, how did Hindi gain such immense popularity in the state?
Besides binding the various linguistic communities, there are political and historical factors behind this aspect. When Independence dawned upon India, this scenic state was under the administrative control of Assam, as part of its tribal areas.
In 1951, Arunachal was christened as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) controlled administratively by the Governor Assam (overseen by the Ministry of External Affairs) until 1965, and Assamese became the medium of instruction in schools.
The emergence of local insurgencies in Manipur and Nagaland backed by the Chinese had caused a great deal of angst in the Indian government led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
“What if the China-backed separatist virus of Nagaland reached NEFA? At its eastern edge (Tirap region) Arunachal also shares a tough border with Nagaland. The Chinese could then just walk through. For Nehru was also deeply upset by having to deal with foreign pastors (Reverend Scott, notably) negotiating on behalf of the Nagas.
A decision was therefore taken to keep Christian evangelists out of what was to be renamed Arunachal Pradesh. Its tribes were brought into the national—and nationalist—mainstream through Hindi-medium education. Arunachal is now the only Hindi-speaking state in the Northeast. Talk to Kiren Rijiju in Hindi,” writes noted editor Shekhar Gupta for Rediff.
In 1965, NEFA was withdrawn from the administrative control of the Assam Governor (overseen by the Ministry of External Affairs) and placed under the control of the Union home ministry. Seven years later, it was converted into a union territory. In 1977, the union territory had its first legislature, and in February 1987, Arunachal became a full-fledged state.
The separation from Assam was acrimonious, not merely because of a border dispute, but also the imposition of Assamese as the primary medium of educational instruction. However, Assamese was side-lined following the introduction of the three-language formula in Arunachal by the Centre.
Teaching Hindi in the Pasighat area of Arunachal Pradesh (Source: Facebook/Amit Das)
“Before 1962, people in Arunachal barely had a notion of the Indian nation state. Colonial governments had made inroads into the tribal belt, but the area was part of Outer Line [In 1873, the British-run Government of India drew an “Outer Line,” intended as an international boundary] and not the Inner Line. Moreover, the state was first governed by the Ministry of External Affairs and then it was brought under the home ministry in 1965.
This reflected a change in mindset, since New Delhi realised the importance of this region. For the British, Arunachal was a buffer zone, but after ’62 India didn’t see it that way. What followed was a gradual process of integration of the people with the nation state. For that, Hindi became a very important medium. They didn’t want a Mizoram or Nagaland-type scenario. Greater familiarity with the Indian culture and language brought stability,” says Dr Jumyir Basir, a professor of Tribal Studies at the Rajiv Gandhi University in Itanagar, speaking to The Better India.
“For current generation, however, it’s [process of integration with India] more through the mass media. People here watch a lot of Hindi serials and cinema unlike other Northeastern states. If you talk about Manipur and Nagaland, these forms of entertainment are often banned,” she adds.
Without a widely-spoken native language, schools in Arunachal Pradesh began to follow a three-language formula first established by the Centre in 1968 for all states with compulsory instruction in Hindi and English, besides a third native language.
“The use and development of tribal languages in education in Arunachal Pradesh was very much restricted, though recently some attempts are being made for the development and use of the major tribal languages like Adi, Nocte, Apatani, Nishi, etc,” writes linguist Hans R Dua in his paper, ‘Linguistic minorities in India.’
Nonetheless, the first recorded exposure of the state to Hindi came during the 1962 War between India and China. Most soldiers of the Indian Army deployed there at the time were from states in the Hindi-belt, and when they recruited locals as porters, they were made to learn Hindi.
The armed forces were also responsible for the establishment of key services like healthcare, education and infrastructure, making it imperative for locals to pick up the language. Additionally, the Central government made a concerted effort to introduce and promote the language in the state for greater integration into the large Indian Union.
The 1962 War Memorial in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. (Source: Facebook)
Nonetheless, linguists argue that such assertions are not entirely verifiable.
“From the 1970s onwards, we see actual conscious policies, for example in terms of scholarships, in terms of awards, in terms of introducing the subject at the level of schools and colleges. So, from the 1970s, we can actually trace this conscious policy of promoting the language as part of a larger language integration programme. It needs a certain time for a language programme to take effect. It needs a certain generation actually,” said Manjeet Baruah, a linguist, to Free Press Journal.
In 1977, the Indira Gandhi government had begun the process of establishing Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas (VKVs), following which a lot of teachers from the Hindi belt began coming into the state to teach the language, particularly in the ‘80s. This was a concerted effort by the Indian government.
“We see the result by late 80s and 90s, where we see what happens when a whole generation grows up with a language. So, we can see that today among the Northeastern states, the people in Arunachal are rather fluent in Hindi,” he added.
VKV students during assembly. (Source: VKV)
Having said that, the rise of Hindi has seemingly come at the cost of native languages. According to a 2017 UNESCO survey, 33 languages are endangered, while 4 are on the cusp of extinction. Responding to these circumstances, there are significant initiatives underway at the preservation and documentation of native languages in the state.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Retired Brigadier BD Mishra, who is the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, overheard a conversation between Chief Minister Pema Khandu and a local MLA. The three were at an official programme in Tawang on Wednesday, 28 November, where the MLA was telling the CM that a patient was in a critical condition and needed immediate medical attention.
The patient, as it turns out, was a pregnant lady who was facing complications. She needed to be taken to a hospital in the state’s capital, Itanagar. By road, the distance between Tawang and Itanagar is over 400 km. Add to it the hilly terrain of Arunachal Pradesh where the 13-hour ride would have added to the patient’s pain.
By air, the same distance takes about two hours, but as the MLA was informing, there was no helicopter service available in that area for the coming three days.
When Brig Mishra heard this, he immediately offered to take the patient and her husband in his helicopter to the state capital. He also assured them that the two officers who had travelled to Tawang with him would stay there to accommodate the couple in the helicopter.
The helicopter did not have enough fuel to travel to Itanagar and so had to take a stop at Tezpur in Assam. There, the pilot noticed a technical snag in the chopper and informed the ex-army officer.
The patient was still in distress, and Mishra was concerned about her.
Without hesitating a moment, he requested a different helicopter from the Air Officer Commanding the Tezpur Air Force Station.
While this chopper was on the way, he also arranged for an ambulance and a female gynaecologist to meet them at Raj Bhavan helipad so that no crucial time would be wasted on their way to the hospital.
With several hours saved, the lady safely reached a hospital where she underwent successful surgery.
The Arunachal Pradesh Governor is also a war veteran who served in a number of wars. In 1993, he was the Commander of the Black Cat Commandos Counter Hijack Force that rescued 124 travellers from a hijacked aircraft in Amritsar. He even volunteered for the Kargil War about four years after his retirement. A war hero and a compassionate governor, Mr Mishra certainly gets all our respect!
In a significant development for conservationists in India, a three-year survey in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dibang Valley Wildlife Sanctuary has found photographic evidence of tigers residing 3630 metres above sea level in snow-clad peaks of the Eastern Himalayas, according to Times of India.
From 2015 to 2017, researchers at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) conducted what is known as a ‘camera trap study’ to capture the presence of these wild cats in India’s highest reaches for possibly the first time.
However, Aisho Sharma Adhikarimayum of the WII, who conducted the study with fellow scientist GV Gopi, believes that these endangered tigers could be found at a higher elevation.
“In the highest altitudes, two male tigers were captured at 3,246m and 3,630m. The latter elevation is the highest photographic evidence of tiger presence in the Indian part of the Eastern Himalayas,” Gopi told The Indian Express (TIE).
It was back in 2012 when researchers spotted an endangered snow tiger at an elevation of 4,200 metres above sea level (asl) in Bhutan. There is an excellent chance of finding these tigers beyond the 4000-metre asl-level in the Dibang Valley, say researchers to the Times of India.
A camera-trap image of a male tiger captured at 3246 m in Dibang Valley. (Source: Twitter/Parveen Kaswan IFS)
There were reports that these endangered snow tigers were seen at altitudes above 4,000 meters in Uttarakhand, but there is no real evidence to corroborate it.
“In January 2014, our camera trap captured a partial image of [a] tiger,” said Gopi to TIE, adding that, “The chief takeaway from the survey was that the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary, in which the Mishmi Hills are located, holds one of the highest ranges for the tigers in the country.”
These findings, published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa on November 26, are important for conservationists because it gives them a clearer picture about the areas inhabited by tigers, allowing them to take effective measures in the future.
Covering across 336 square km of the wildlife sanctuary’s 4,149 square km area of the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary, this camera trap survey not only captured the presence of tigers at 3630 metres asl, but also found 11 individual tigers and two cubs.
Not known for occupying high altitudes, these sightings of tigers are rare. However, as Adhikarimayum argues, this isn’t about altitude as much about the terrain these tigers occupy. “Our study has revealed the first photographic evidence of tigers in the snow, after Russia’s Amur tigers,” he told The Indian Express.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
In today’s world, it is a rare sight to see a congregation of people coming together to work towards building a better tomorrow. And, at Arunachal Pradesh’s remotest circle, Vijaynagar, this has happened, quite literally.
In an unprecedented move, residents from 11 neighbouring villages joined hands to offer shramdaan (voluntary labour) to the Indian Air Force (IAF), to repair a damaged airstrip and make the landing ground functional.
The remotest circle of Changlang district in the north-eastern state, the Vijaynagar Advanced Landing Ground (ALG), had been abandoned and lying unutilised for the past three years, due to a damaged airstrip. Because of this, the ALG was rendered unfit for use, for any fixed-wing aircraft, as reported by Arunachal24.
Although talks to begin the repair work of seven such Advanced Landing Grounds (ALG) were concretised in 2018, the lack of access to Vijaynagar made it difficult.
Being one of the remotest areas, Vijaynagar is not connected to any kind of motorable road, and all the construction materials and labour resources had to be transported via air, making it an expensive affair.
On hearing about this roadblock, the villagers of nearby areas volunteered to provide their labour instead, by helping the Air Force authorities with the restoration work.
Primarily, the work involved clearing off weeds, moss and wild grasses that had been covering the unused surface of the airstrip, an IAF spokesperson told the Indian Express.
“This task required a large number of people as it is manpower-oriented. In a move that is unprecedented, people from 11 villages of the local areas of Vijayanagar volunteered to help air force authorities to undertake this task by carrying out ‘shramdaan’ (volunteer work). The repair work by the specialised team has already commenced, and the material is being transported to the ALG in phases,” he told the publication.
Responding to this, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu tweeted about the work by PRO Defence Meghalaya.
Had visited Vijaynagar in December & appraised @DefenceMinIndia to take up the repair & maintenance work of ALG. Amazed at the electrifying speed at which the ministry has heeded our request. Thanks to our dynamic Defence Minister Smti @nsitharaman ji that the work is now ON. https://t.co/VDAJdb1qQt
Col C Konwer added that the villagers tirelessly worked alongside a specially-trained team, which has begun the repair work. While speaking to the Arunachal Times, he said that the materials are also being airlifted to the spot, in phases.
Their collaborative efforts truly reflect the support of the civilians to the IAF!
In 2016, when IAS officer Danish Ashraf took charge as the District Magistrate of Upper Subansiri in Arunachal Pradesh, his wife, Ruhi, was setting foot in the district for the first time. They were at Chandigarh previously.
Created in 1980, this mountainous terrain derives its name from the river Subansiri. It has snow-capped mountains ranging 7000-18000 ft (above sea level) on one side and is mostly covered with dense forests rich in flora and fauna.
Spread across 7,032 sq km, it has a population of 83,448 across 551 villages and a literacy rate of 63.96 per cent.
It would be safe to say that this district, inhabited by three major tribes—the Tagin, the Nyishi, and the Galp—is considered to be one of the remotest and most backward districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
With bad road connectivity, even worse internet connection and no railway lines, the nearest airport is almost 10 hours away. In the monsoons, the same route takes 14 hours.
Speaking to The Better India, Ruhi recalls being told that despite several officers being posted to the district, none of their wives have ever stayed in the DM bungalow, due to its remoteness.
But Ruhi, an electronics engineer who quit her job to stay with her husband, decided she would find a way to help the town.
Ruhi with her husband, IAS Danish Ashraf
The husband-wife duo travels through the town, shedding light on the dilapidated condition of the government school. It was a matter of time when a group of class 12 students from the Government Higher Secondary School in Daporijo (the district headquarters) walked into Danish’s office, in need of a physics teacher.
For five years, they had no teacher for the subject.
“It was almost the middle of the academic year and time was running out. Finding a teacher right away would be an uphill task. Even the teachers who were posted couldn’t teach due to the remoteness of the area. My husband was the district magistrate, so it was his responsibility to find a solution quickly. So when he turned to me for help, I stepped in. It was as if I had finally found a way to contribute to the town and its people.”
Thanks to Ruhi’s voluntary service and passion for teaching, 74 of the 92 students passed! This was a leap of 80 per cent from the past year when only 17 students (21 per cent) had cleared the subject!
When Ruhi started teaching, she realised that the students were talented and only required guidance. A week into the class, she observed that their understanding of basic concepts was unclear since they had been studying without a teacher for five years.
She accepted the challenge and started teaching them concepts from classes 8-12. Since time was short, she even made notes in simple language and used a projector to display interactive animated videos.
Students at the school
Due to the poor internet connectivity, she would download a collection of videos in her hometown in Delhi and play them in class. She also used superhero clips to explain concepts like gravity and momentum.
One of the students, Saurav, who came second in class, says, “Her teaching was different from everyone else. She would explain every concept clearly by breaking it down, no matter how much time it took. She ensured that even the weakest student in the class understood what was being taught. She would ask us to solve equations on the board, and when we answered them correctly, she would motivate us with chocolates. She also made handmade notes and question banks. I only referred to her notes and scored 77! After a class test, she even distributed gifts to the top ten scorers. She truly has been a catalyst who motivated us at each step and helped us improve.”
In addition, Ruhi also made a WhatsApp group for students to clear their doubts. Even if a question were posted at 2 am, she answered it for them. Her efforts bore fruit when the results were declared.
After a lecture on the functioning of an electroscope, one of the students even made an electroscope from aluminium foil and plastic bottles the following day.
“It was beautiful to see the children excel. The happiness on their faces gave me a sense of purpose, and I count it among the biggest achievements of my life,” she beams.
Ruhi, with her student, Saurav
When Ruhi was bestowed an honorarium of Rs 40,000, she refused to take it and donated it to the school’s welfare. She is hopeful that it will help improve the infrastructure and get better benches for the students.
In a final message to homemakers, the teacher says, “I had read a report which said that Indian homemakers are the most overqualified demographic groups in the world. I am an electronic engineer, but quitting my job to stay with my husband was my choice. However, when you stay at home, you are unaware of the surroundings; life can become stagnant and cause you to lose confidence. After taking up teaching, I enjoyed a higher sense of self-respect. It helped boost my confidence and personality, and put my education to better use. Even if every homemaker takes a few hours of her day to give back to society, imagine how better India will become!”
Life is a lot like roads leading up to a mountain. You never know what’s in store at the next sharp turn—this idea best explains the accidental discovery by two friends that changed their lives forever.
Fed-up with the rat race of urban life, Rajiv Rathod and Merwyn Coutinho had hit the road without a plan. All they wanted to do was to keep moving, up until they came across a remote village in Arunachal Pradesh, shrouded in darkness.
The moment the clock would strike 5, people would hurry to pack up for the day. While some struggled to finish all their household chores before the nightfall, others huddled around the fires, or borrow torches from others.
This was the reality of villages like Vijayanagar and Gandhigram in Arunachal Pradesh, that hit the duo hard enough to push them to make substantial changes.
“These villages were so remote that, to reach them, one had to walk for seven days straight from the nearest town, Miao. There is no road or transport facility. We had chanced upon the place in 2010 when we went there for a day or two. The experience bothered us and stayed with us. So when we were invited to be a part of Christmas celebrations in Gandhigram the following year, we decided to bear the gift of light,” says Rajiv Rathod, speaking to The Better India (TBI).
Rajiv and Merwyn Coutinho began the Batti project, which has electrified 434 households in 44 villages across the state!
Rajiv was an engineering student, and Merwyn was a techie in a software company when they met in 2005 through a common friend. Besides this friend, the only two things common between them was their love for travel and the ever-growing disillusionment with a conventional urban life.
“We both were unhappy with the way things were going on around us. We were fed-up with the rat-race and yearned to get away. So after that meeting, we slowly became travel partners travelling all across the country,” says Rajiv, who eventually quit college in 2007 to begin his own small-scale business in textiles.
They began with small trips, but slowly as the bond of friendship grew stronger along with the shared feeling of restlessness, the goal to be on the road became clearer to the two. This led to Merwyn quitting his job in 2010, and Rajiv shutting shop despite the profits.
“We both had a void that only travel could fill,” adds Rajiv.
Almost a year had passed with them moving across the country, especially the Northeast, when in December of 2011, they made their life-changing trip to a village in Arunachal Pradesh.
“We trekked to Vijayanagar, one of the many remote villages in the region, and the experience was memorable. I remember how the daily lives of the villagers would come to a close with the setting sun. At night, the darkness outside would be the same as the darkness in your eyes when you close them. It was different and thought-provoking,” says Rajiv, who had then spent only two days in the area.
The next year, they were invited to the same region for Christmas celebrations, and the duo devised a plan for a 30-day stay.
“It was a big celebration in Gandhigram in Changlang district, and we decided to bring gifts. Realising the need for light, we brought them solar lamps and installed them all across the area. We expected joy, but what we didn’t expect was a life’s purpose. Once Gandhigram was lit up, the heads from neighbouring villages began to approach us, asking when their villages will light up. Most mistook us to be from the NGO or the government,” he says.
But, instead of turning them away, the duo decided to bring other villages, electricity.
The next few days went by in researching and reconnecting with their friends back in the cities. Through social media, they reached out to a lot of people, informing them about their initiative to install solar-powered lights in remote villages. A week later, they had managed to collect enough money to bring light to 20 houses in the region.
“For two days, we walked all around the villages, setting up the wire and batteries before the installation. Many did not know how to use modern gadgets, so we also taught them things like using switches and how to take care of the system,” says Merwyn.
And, thus, Batti Project was born.
Batti Project- inclusive but not evasive
The objective of the project was to address the needs of the village for basic electricity and to reduce their dependence on the only source of energy and light—fire. However, they maintain a strict policy of ‘ask to get’.
“We never wanted to intervene in the indigenous lifestyle of the tribes there. So assuming that everyone needs electricity and imposing it upon them was not right. Instead, we installed our solar-powered lighting systems only on request from villagers,” says Rajiv.
Treading upon the thin line that defines what ‘development’ truly is, they decided not to be the teachers, saviours or heroes but just facilitators.
“City-dwellers like us tend to harbour romantic ideas that the untouched must stay untouched. But we forget that it’s not our place to decide if remote communities should live undisturbed or interact with the outside world. That right is held solely by the community in question. And with them coming to us for help, we have no right to refuse as well. Instead, we try to help them make the choices that are most sustainable to their future,” he adds.
So, as part of the project, each household gets a lighting system which includes three 3-watt LED tube-lights, one 21-watt panel and 20AH battery, for one-tenth of the total expenditure, i.e. Rs 1500.
The total cost of the system ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per household.
From procurement, transport to installation, the major part of the expenditure comes from crowdfunding and other avenues. One way to raise funds is the Ride to Light initiative, which urged people to raise a sum of money to enroll in the cycling race.
Under this initiative, if the cyclists wanted to join the race, then they had to collect a certain amount of funds.
This money would then be used to fund electricity in 5 houses, and also cover the travel expenses of the cyclist as they experienced the the tribal cultures and landscapes of the eastern Himalayas.
Every batch has 25 such cyclists. In 2016, Northeast’s first woman to scale Mount Everest, Tine Mena, was also a part of it.
Currently, with the help of a team from Technical University of Munich (TUM), they are lighting up a 50-student government primary residential school in Jumupani village in Lower Dibang Valley district.
“We are working on a power system which will run independently with the help of water and solar. It is of 1-kilowatt power and will be entirely maintained by the school and the communities around,” says Merwyn. They further informed that once complete, this will become the first government school in rural North East to have electricity managed independently.
After working for more than seven years now, Batti Project has gathered much appreciation. But, a particular incident with a member of a tribal community is one of the most prized.
“There was this 90-year-old woman in a village who didn’t know how to use switches. So we electrified her house and taught her to operate switches. Seeing the joy on her face was priceless. She said that now she would be able to step down from her bed after nightfall and move around the house. It might sound inconsequential for people like us, but for a person who has spent most of her life in this darkness, this meant a lot,” shares Rajiv.
After some time, when the duo went to check, they found out that the woman doesn’t switch off the lights at all.
“Her simple justification is that, after a life without light, she doesn’t want to part with it even for a minute. It was truly touching,” adds Rajiv.
Their work has reached far and wide to almost 44 villages, and they hope to move further into the interior parts, taking light where it’s wanted. All this while their life on road continues.
“We were wanderers; moving constantly without much of a reason, until that day. From no plans to structured road-maps to helping villages get the basic facility of light, we have come a long way, and yet it feels that a longer journey awaits” Merwyn signs off.
Toward the end of last year, Arunachal Pradesh’s first Indian Police Service officer Robin Hibu was appointed Additional Director General of Police, Delhi Police and also took charge as Special Commissioner. For a person who has probably done more for Northeasterners working and studying in Delhi, this was yet another feather in the cap.
Hailing from Apatani tribe, Hibu has not only done remarkable work in battling racism and xenophobia but also bridge the gap between mainlanders and Northeasterners.
The son of a farmer and woodcutter in the remote village of Hong in Arunachal Pradesh, who had to walk 10 km to reach his school, Robin Hibu’s struggle was real. Going by his life story, it’s no surprise that he ended up becoming a decorated officer who has battled racism in the national capital. At a recent talk in November 2018, he spoke of the first time he came to Delhi, boarding the Brahmaputra Mail on a second class reserved ticket.
“When I came to Delhi via train on the Brahmaputra Mail on a second class reserved ticket, a few people from the uniformed services told me, ‘Bahadur (a derogatory term for people from Nepal) don’t sit here, sit there.’ They just threw my luggage [towards the seats] near the bathroom. I fought back and said I have a reserved ticket. They didn’t listen. It was a very painful experience,” said the 1993-batch AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories excluding Andaman and Nicobar Islands) cadre officer.
Wondering if those people were mistreating him because he looked different, Hibu controlled the urge to fight back and told himself to be something in life so that such a thing never happens again.
“I reached Delhi with that pain in my heart, sitting the whole night near the bathroom. When I landed in Delhi, one pot-bellied policeman asked me ‘Bahadur, where do you want to go’? When I enquired about which bus to take to reach Chanakyapuri, Arunachal Bhavan, he looked at me from top to bottom and said, ‘Where are you from? Just check there’,” he added. (Source: Josh Talks)
This experience spurred him to earn a first class Master’s Degree in Sociology from JNU, followed by a storied career in the IPS, where he received the President’s Medal twice, and a whole host of national and international accolades.
He served as a nodal officer in the Delhi Police’s Special Unit which was set up to assist more than 12 lakh people from the Northeast. And during the service, he helped set up the special emergency helpline number ‘1093’, facilitated the recruitment of people from the region into the Delhi Police, ensured timely and affordable medical treatment for the grievously ill patients from the area, gave their families succour and even offered free transportation of mortal remains and burial.
To make up the shortfall in funding, particularly for poor patients in need of emergency care, he reached out to the corporate social responsibility arm of many corporations. In total, he reached out to 51 private hospitals.
“One day I received a call from Dr Naresh Trehan who said the CSR request had touched his heart. The brief chat ended in a commitment of 20 per cent discount on all kinds of treatment for the people from the region (except govt. servants) at Medanta Hospital and its associated clinics. Dr Trehan also assured me that all his ambulances would be available for the needy free of cost,” he recalls, in a conversation with the Imphal Free Press.
Back in 2014, he even put his mobile numberacross social media platforms for Northeasterners who faced racism, police-related issues or come across inflammatory and abusive content online.
Of course, he can’t do it all on his own and performs his task to the best of his abilities. “We often forget those who need our care, warmth, and support regularly,” says Hibu referring to girls, women, children, and the elderly from the Northeast living in Delhi.
There were even instances of Hibu collecting money and performing the final rites for those Northeasterners abandoned by their families in the national capital.
However, it was his work following the racially-motivated murder of an Arunachal student Nido Tania in 2014, where Hibu really came into his own. Aside from assisting the Bezbaruah Committee, set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs to suggest remedial measures for the problems faced by people from the Northeastern states, he took the lead in leveraging social media, particularly WhatsApp, to set up online community support groups where Northeasterners could raise their grievances and get them redressed.
Aside from suggesting amendments to the Indian Penal Code to address racist slurs and attacks, it also recommended the formation of a Special Unit for the North Eastern Region (SPUNER) within the Delhi Police. Acting upon this recommendation, such a unit was set up with its office complex and 400 recruits from the region. Under Hibu’s leadership, it started many successful initiatives toward ensuring the safety of NE people living in Delhi.
Meanwhile, in 2016, he founded a non-profit called ‘Helping Hands’, to address distress calls from young men and women from the region suffering exploitation at the hands of employers and middlemen. It includes a network of professionals like lawyers, chartered accountants, from government services and ordinary citizens.
While life may not be perfect for Northeasterners in the national capital, it’s been made a lot better because of the work reputed police officers like Robin Hibu have done.
Unfulfilled and dissatisfied with the corporate life, Mumbai-born Piran Elavia decided to take a sabbatical sometime in 2008. On a tip from a friend, he got an opportunity to do some voluntary work with a non-profit in the pristine climes of Lachen in north Sikkim.
It was a community-based tourism project, where he would work with locals and help them develop robust alternative sources of livelihood. From north Sikkim, he soon found his way to another similar project in west Sikkim.
With this unique, nine-day travel experience, traverse through the picturesque border between Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan for just Rs. 39,350. Book now at The Better India Shop.
“I liked the work these non-profits were doing on the ground and soon developed a network with other such organisations working in the region. This network took me to Manas in Assam, where I worked with the Bodo community. Subsequently, I travelled to Nagaland, where yet again I did some voluntary work,” says Piran, in an exclusive conversation with The Better India.
After travelling through the Northeast for nearly two years, he started his socially-inclined enterprise, Kipepeo, in 2010.
Piran Elavia
So, what is Kipepeo (the Swahili word for ‘butterfly’) all about?
“The venture promotes community-based tourism in Northeast India and believe in bringing about a more equitable society and a sustainable world through the medium of tourism. I primarily started this to address two fundamental concerns. For starters, in those days, residents of mainland India were apprehensive about visiting the Northeast because of many negative perceptions. Secondly, people in these parts are extremely warm-hearted and nice, but they didn’t have too many livelihood options,” he says.
Piran and his team wanted to get mainland tourists in Northeast India and show them what the area was actually about, while also providing alternative livelihood options for local communities.
“We promote local homestays, use local guides, market products that are locally made, and train them in operating these ventures, and have been doing this work for nearly ten years now. We conduct different kinds of trips—cultural, wildlife or festival-oriented. However, at its very heart, the objective is to employ local communities and ensure when the clients come, they’re learning about the local culture and understand the place,” informs Piran.
Essentially, what Kipepeo is looking to do is promote responsible tourism, in which local communities are closely involved in sharing the economic gains, and thus incentivised to preserve their own culture and environment.
Take in all the beauty on the Bhangajyang Lakes Trek. (Source: Kipepeo)
Take the example of the picturesque Bhangajyang lakes trek, in which tourists will traverse through the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan and see stunning glacial lakes, as well as Gorichen and Kangto, the highest peaks in Arunachal Pradesh.
“Guides and porters from a village called Lubrang which is on the fringes of this trek will take us through this trail. They know the area very well as they are members of the native Brokpa community and are essentially herders. Paying them responsibly for their services will give them an alternative source of livelihood. Honestly, not many people in the mainland even know about this place or stunning trek. We are trying to open up a new avenue of income for the local communities by involving them and helping them understand tourism, its economic possibilities, the opportunities it can open up for them. As of now, they don’t understand the economic potential for tourism in these parts. We are trying to change that responsibly,” says Piran.
Kipepeo is also trying to promote another location called Wakro, which is located in eastern Arunachal. Once again, they are working with homestays and promoting tourism in those parts.
Along the Bhangajyang Lakes Trek. (Source: Kipepeo)
Piran spends half the year in Mumbai and the other in the Northeast. “I have been travelling through the region for the past ten years, and through this, I scout locations. If I feel the place has potential, I speak to the local communities and work something out. In most places, they are generally receptive to our proposal,” he says.
With this unique, nine-day travel experience, traverse through the picturesque border between Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan for just Rs. 39,350. Book now at The Better India Shop.
In many parts of the country, particularly in regions like Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, which are open to commercial tourism, we have witnessed its devastating consequences on both local communities and the environment.
What are you waiting for? (Source: Kipepeo)
Kipepeo is not just trying to prevent this from happening, but also bridging the cultural gap that exists between these communities and the rest of India. There is no better way to this than responsible tourism.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
