From the villages to the cities: the battlegrounds for Lepcha protests

Abstract

Lepchas are the Indigenous people of Sikkim, a small Himalayan state in northeast India. They are known for their deep knowledge of botany and ecology; their close connection to their landscape has been acknowledged and admired for centuries. Their feeling for nature and reluctance to accept change to their sacred landscape, contributed to a protest movement to stop the development of several mega hydro-electric projects inside the Lepcha Dzongu Reserve in North Sikkim.