Khonoma
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Khonoma, 1908
A large and powerful AngamI Naga village in the Naga Hills District, Eastern Bengal and Assam, situated in 25 degree 39' N. and 94 1' E. In 1879 Mr. Damant, the Political officer, was treacherously attacked here, and was killed, together with thirty-five of his escort. Khonoma was besieged and taken in November, 1879; but two European officers lost their lives in the assault, and the de- fenders retreated to a very strong position above the village on a spur of Mount Japvo, where they maintained themselves till the end of the campaign. In January, 1880, a party of these Nagas, though their village was at that very time occupied by our troops, made a daring raid on the Baladhan garden in Cachar, more than 80 miles distant, where they killed the manager, Mr. Blyth, and sixteen coolies.
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
India’s first green village
http://northeasttourism.gov.in/khonoma.html
The place
India’s first green village is fighting hunters to stay green Please use 1st 2 pics
2019/ Fighting hunters to stay green
Yudhajit ShankarDas, August 28, 2019: The Times of India
From: Yudhajit ShankarDas, August 28, 2019: The Times of India
The residents of Nagaland’s Khonoma — the first green village in India — had made a Herculean effort to ban logging and hunting in 1998.
Twenty years on, the green warriors of this village are fighting a battle within and have taken fresh guard in June against the ecological challenges. But, then, Khonoma has always revelled in challenges; while the princely kingdoms of India were falling prostrate before the British, this Naga village stood up to British empire for four decades.
The doughty Angami tribe led a unique conservation effort in Khonoma, a village of 3,000 residents with cobbled pathways and scenic terraced paddy fields. A community-led initiative turned 20sqkm of forest land into a sanctuary.
“The ban on hunting and logging was imposed by our elders, as people realised it was high time to preserve the environment for the next generation,” says Hekho Chase, general secretary of Khonoma Youth Organisation (KYO).
The efforts of the village, which is about an hour’s drive from the state capital, Kohima, grabbed national attention.
“The government of India awarded Khonoma a Green Village project in 2003-04, and the Green Village tag in 2005,” says Neikedolie Heikha, chairman of the eco-tourism management committee of Khonoma. Nagaland Tourism also markets Khonoma as a ‘Green Village’. In fact, villagers claim Khonoma is the first green village in Asia and have signages proclaiming that. Enforcing a ban wasn’t a simple decision as it meant weaning people off hunting, which was the Nagas’ way of life. “Almost all families were hunting before the ban and around 20-30 households were dependent on it,” says 46-year-old Vilhu Zhunyü, sitting in the master room of his house, the ceiling of which is lined with skulls of bears, deer, monkeys and hornbills hunted by his father and him.
“Now, everyone has shifted to farming. I haven’t hunted since the ban,” says Zhunyü, who hunted for nearly 12 years.
But some people, on the condition of anonymity, said hunting still takes place, though at a much smaller scale, for the love of game meat. It is a hush-hush matter, as no individual dare go against the rules of the village in such a close-knit community.
The ban in this village of 400 households was enforced well for the first nine years before gradually faltering.
“We heard lot of gunshots in December last year and this January and February,” says Heikha. “It was the worst time since the ban was enforced and villagers knew something was wrong and it was time to act,” adds Heikha, an MBA in travel and tourism. Some villagers questioned the ban, as they saw no revenue from conservation efforts, he says. But Khonoma wouldn’t give up so easily.
The village, which stood repeated British assaults and rose from the ashes thrice during the Anglo-Khonoma and the Indo-Naga battles of the 1950s, has in June reaffirmed its environmental fight.
“The village decided to increase the fine amount for hunting from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 per person. There is also a provision for the shooter’s gun being seized for a year,” says Chase of KYO, which is entrusted with enforcing the new rules.
“Gun use is allowed only when animals like wild dogs attack cattle,” he says. “Special permits for guns are issued in fruiting season of jhum cultivation. Guns can be used against deer, bears, porcupines and wild boar if they destroy crops,” adds Chase.
Implementation of the new rules also hinges on community vigilance and pressure. One third of the fine amount is to be given to a person who reports the crime and another third to his or her “khel” (a cluster of households mostly belonging to people of the same clan).
“If the violator doesn’t pay up the fine, there is a provision for withholding the village development board funds of the person’s khel,” says Heikha. Khonoma comprises three khels.
Community effort has kept the village sparkling clean too. Children between 4 and 16 years, under the aegis of Khonoma Students Union, clean the village two Saturdays every month. Waste bins are present at regular intervals and not a piece of paper is found on its streets. The village, which has been a tobacco free since 2002, also banned single-use plastic bags and bottles in June.
The ban on hunting, the flouting of norms and the rallying of forces for conservation show old fault lines and new battle zones in Khonoma.
“Before the ban we had bird-catching festivals,” says Heikha. “After the ban, farmers are complaining of birds destroying foxtail millet. People are making a sacrifice of tradition and cultivation for conservation.”
Will Khonoma live up to its green credentials? Will this 600-year-old village surmount the fresh challenges? This year will be the real test for India’s first green village.
