Tribal Consciousness in Darjeeling Hills: A Case Study of Lepcha Community

Abstract

The Lepcha people are the original inhabitants of the Darjeeling Hills. They were found before the Britishers converted the Darjeeling into sanatoriums and cantonments. But with the establishment of Darjeeling as a Hill station, the huge migration of different communities all over British India and abroad slowly marginalized this community. In this context, the present paper seeks to present an analysis of the external and internal factors leading to the rise of ethnic awareness among the Lepchas and their demand to be reclassified as primitive tribal groups (PTG).