Damming the Teesta( Pun Intended)
The Teesta is now the focus of builders of dams. Sikkim and the hills of North Bengal are the proposed sites of a large number of dams which will, if all goes well generate a large amount of electricity. Several of these dams are already in the process of being built and the hillsides are already being torn apart to accommodate these leviatans. This had already proved to be controversial as the Llepchas in Sikkim are vigorously opposing the project and have been on hunger strike to prevent the project from drowning their ancestral lands and desecrating their sacred forests. These issues are very important. It has been estimated that since independence, at least 5 million people have been displaced by the large dam projects. Most of them were tribals who have traditionally been voiceless in the power dispensation. It is not a coincidence that these areas where the tribals have been deprived of their land and even more important, their identity that are racked with Naxalite violence toda...