Himalayan Times (1953)

Six

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September C, 1953

UNEMPLOYMENT

B. TAMANG

Darjeeling, the summer resort of the
i/Oove.rnment of West Bengal and situated
at above 7009 ft. from the 6ea level is often
described a9 the queen of the Hill Sta-
tions in India, in the sense that, it
lies in the bosom of the mighty Hima-
layas enjoing cool and delightful climate.
She possesses the grandeur of the,Majes-
tic mountains on alj sides, and her chief
industry „is Tea, which is exported to all
parts of the world. It has four sub-
divisions, viz. Darjeeling Sadar, Kurseong,
Kalimpong and Siliguri each having its
own distinct attractive features, which
may be described thus : (a) Darjeeling
is noted for the Tiger Hill; (b) Kurseong
is famous for its Vocational Training
Centn, (n) Kalimpong deserves a real
commendation for it is a very important
Trade Centre which commercially links
India and Tibet. The export from India is
directly supervised bv the Political Agent
of the Government of India for Sikkim,
Bhutan & Tibet, with the assistance of his
Tibet Liaison Officer. Then comes Sili-
guri—it is now under a devi lopment
Scheme. Siliguri is the terminus Railway
Junction of the North Pastern Rty, It
is about 50 miles away from Darjeeling,
and its climate is all too different from
that prevalent in the rest of the three
sub-divisions.

Now the question arises as to whether
or not Darjeeling District is an indus-
trially developed area where a large
number of skilled, semi-skilled and un-
skilled labour could easily be absorbed.
“No’, is the natural . reply Since this
beautiful hill station is remotely situa-
ted from the normal industrial hum,
except its Tea Industry and the brisk

f

exnort work at Kalimpong, one can
foresee that the employment trends here
must also be very meagre-so much so that
it is becoming a thorny problem. An
analysis of the figures furnished by the
Regional Directorate of Resettlement &
Employment, West Bengal in the States-
man of 21/8/1953, on a provincial basis,-
itself indicates a clear picture of this
issue. The extent of co-operation rendered
in utilising tlie services of the Resettle
ment & Employment Organisation by
way of notifying manpower requirements
by the three different major Employers
also showed a marked decline, especially
from the private sector. As universally
accepted, the cause of uplift ment should
a'ways emanate from the village, and so
on, and as an ardent advocate of this
guiding principal, let me discuss only
about the problem of our own district.

There are near about 130 National
Employment. Exchanges in the country,
and about 62 Training Centres run by
the Government cf India, Ministry of
Labour. Our thanks are obviously due
to the Authorities for establishing an
Employment Exchange and Vocational
Training Centre as its auxilarv in this
queen of Hill Station. Everybody, there-
fore, as I feel, always feels a great
relief, and looks at these National Insti-
tutions with increased optimism and
confidence in that they definitely fight
against the growing unemployment in
the country. As already stated above,
Darjeeling is not a highly industrially
developed area, and naturally the avenues
of employment for the growing population
in the District is becoming a cltronic
problem. How lamentable it is that,

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