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| A NOW! fileFoto of a Dokpa and his yaks in North Sikkim |
Snow might have imperiled the Dokpas and their yaks now, but their way of life has been on the brink for a while…
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| Muguthang in Spring [foto: Karchoong Diyali] |
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| Muguthang this winter [foto: Hill Media Network] |
Dokpas, the yak herders, are hardy folk. They need to be, living as they do beyond the tree-line in the cold desert of North Sikkim. They live in near isolation and are a dwindling tribe who rarely call out for help, knowing full well that when a situation is too difficult even for them, assistance from those who do not know their life is a bit too much to expect. So, when they send out an SOS, it demands attention because they are clearly flagging a dire emergency. And they have sounded an SOS now.
Even though they number only a handful, in fact because they are so few, Sikkim should pay heed and deliver what is actually very little that they are seeking.
For the immediate future, the Dokpas [of Muguthang in North Sikkim] want fodder to be airdropped for their yaks, next, they want telecom connectivity, and for the long term, they want one of their more educated younger ones to be trained as a paramedic and posted among them with at least some basic medical supplies.
Why they are making these demands will be explained in more detail in the following paragraphs, but what cannot be ignored is that the demands are very basic and can be met through the corporate social responsibility kitty of even a mid-sized company. Some proactive engagement from the administration [which was on welcome display in the latest instance] and more civil society concern [still awaited] should power through the political engagement required to iron out the situational kinks which could obstacle delivery of even these simple demands.
