STH activities in the Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI) : Earth Day (22Apr2021) Workshop on 'Women and Disasters'

The Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) is an annual event of the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) which is a pan Himalayan body comprising of Civil Society organizations and individuals from across the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). The SMDS is also a flagship program of the IMI and is held in different states of the IHR each year.

The summit in 2021 will be held in the Darjeeling/ Kalimpong districts of W Bengal and Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI) will be hosting the event. SaveTheHills, is a part of DHI.
On 25Feb2021, IMI President, Mr PD Rai was with us in a brief ceremony (followed by a press release and lunch) held at Aapas Residency, Kalimpong where he formally handed over the SMDS Baton from Uttarakhand (2020 host of the event) to Darjeeling/Kalimpong. I accepted the baton as President of the Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI), which is the state chapter for West Bengal.

DHI, as a run up to the final program (SMDS -X) will be hosting a few smaller programs in the course of the year and the first such one we hosted was on Earth Day (22Apr2021)
Earth Day (22April2021)
We decided to hold an in person meeting on Earth Day at the Rotary Centre, Kalimpong and Ms R Vimala (IAS) District Magistrate of Kalimpong was our Chief Guest. Our theme was 'Women and Disasters'

What was specially apt was that all our speakers for the program were women and from our own region and not surprisingly most of the audience were also women.

In addtion to the above, we featured Ms Ahana Gurung's 15 min video on mainly landslide disasters and their impact on women and Ms Jyotsna Sitling (IFS)  - CPCCF, Uttarakhand and Mr PD Rai (President, IMI) spoke to the audience via video taped messages.

The entire almost 3 hour event was live streamed on the Kalimpong TV Face Book channel and was seen by a large audience.

DHI thanks Rotary Club of Kalimpong, KaNGON (Kalimpong NGO Network) and KTv for their support and help

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Kalimpong HImalaya

Rainfall data of Jun2017 for the Darjeeling -Sikkim Himalaya

Despite at least two low pressure areas which formed in the Bay of Bengal the Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya remained largely deficient in rainfall. Remember, June is a month when rainfall in this region more or less peaks (see graph below).

Of course, all the rain went east to the north eastern states and Bangladesh where there was and continues to be devastation due to excessive rain.
No major landslides occurred during this period.
Starting 08Jun2017, the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts were swept by another form of disaster - political turmoil, with people of the region aspiring for a separate state of GORKHALAND. As on date, we are on the 20th day of a total strike with internet virtually non-existent and mobile services severely affected.
This shutdown of communications (including road) during of a time of year when we are most disaster prone, does not forebode well for us.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya