Tourism and Local Economic development in Assam - A case study of the Singpho Tribe

Transcription

1 Tourism and Local Economic development in Assam - A case study of the Singpho Tribe Ashwini Machey Assistant Professor Department of Economics M.D.K.Girls College, Dibrugarh (Assam) macheyashwini@gmail.com & Utpal Sut Senior Assistant Professor Department of Economics M.D.K. Girls College, Dibrugarh, Assam theutpalsut@gmail.com Abstract Tourism is recognized as the world s largest industry. This makes up more than double digit GDP of the world. It has emerged as a powerful source of income and wealth creation. India as well as Assam is not an exception to this. Assam is a colourful carpet of various ethnic tribes. Ethnic tourism has lot of potentialities in economic development of Assam. This paper is an attempt to explore ethnic tourism as a source of local economic development of Assam with special reference to Singpho tribe of Margherita Sub-division. Key words: tourism, development, ethnic, Singpho tribe

2 Introduction: Tourism is recognized as a growth engine and the world s biggest industry which contributes about 11per cent of the total GDP of the world and 7 per cent of total employment. It is emerging as a powerful source of income and employment generator for every country. Tourism is an important sector of Indian economy and contributes substantially in the country s earnings. India s North-East particularly Assam is not an exception to this. North-East India (NEI) is land of different indigenous tribes. According to the 1971 census there are 220 languages spoken in the north-eastern states of India (excluding Sikkim). Moreover, the NEI is the home of more than 166 different tribes consisting of 12.1 million tribal (27.29 per cent) out of 45.4 million people as per census report 2011, Govt. of India. The state of Assam, lying in the north eastern part of India is bound on the north, east and south by great mountain ranges inhabited by different hill tribes, mostly the Mongolians (Devi, 1968). Over the centuries the state of Assam is the melting pot of diverse races that migrated to the land and made it their home. Assam is considered as a miniature India for its composite nature of culture and peculiar structure of population. The population of Assam comprises of the representatives of major races like Aryans, Dravidians, Caustics and Mongoloids. The inhabitants of Assam can be divided into three categories, namely the scheduled tribe, the non-tribe and the scheduled caste. The Singpho tribe is one of the important tribes of North-East India. The tribe is known in China as Jingpo and in Burma as Kachin (Singpho, 2000; Hanson 2012). In India, the Singphos are found in the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh adjoining the Patkai Mountain range. The Singpho tribe is a Mongoloid stock and presently they are mainly found in the upper part of the Tinsukia district of Assam. Apart from Tinsukia district a small size of the Singpho speaking population are also found in Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam. The total number of Singpho population living in India is about 30 to 40 thousand (Linter, 1997). As per latest data, the Singpho tribe has a total population of 6625 in the Margherita Sub-division of Assam with their own dialects, language, traditions, festivals, food habits, art & music, architecture, social customs, social rites and rituals, folklores, costumes and handicrafts. The concept of ethnic tourism has gained much importance in this region after Swapawng Yawng Manau Poi (The dance festival of the Singphos) in the year 1985 and the Dehing Patkai

3 festival were celebrated in the year The Swapawng Yawng Manau Poi is the cultural festival which is celebrated in every year from 14 th February and last for 3 days. The Dehing Patkai festival promotes eco-tourism, ethnic tourism and cultural tourism in Margherita subdivision particularly and Assam in general. Both the festival exhibits the traditional dance, music, sports, costume, food, handloom, handicraft etc. which are worth seeing. The Shapawng Yawng Manau Poi is the most popular folk dance festival of the Singphos. The Singphos celebrate this festival every in Singpho inhabited villages. Another important religious festival of the Singpho tribe is the Poi Changken which is celebrated on mid April, lasting for three days is also worth seeing. Moreover the Singphos have a rich food recipe which attracts many tourists to their villages. Importance of the study: Ethnic tourism is a subset of tourism industry and a potential area of income generation. In this respect Assam is a land of potentiality. Although articles, books and research papers on various aspects of ethnic tourism by now has been published but field based studies on the Singpho tribe is new area of study attempted by this paper. Objectives of the study: The prime objective of the present study is to know about income and employment generation of the Singpho tribe of Margherita Sub-division through ethnic tourism. Methodology: The present study is based on case study of the Singpho tribe living in Margherita subdivision of Assam. The required information is collected through well defined interview schedule prepared for the purpose and secondary information are collected from the print document and website. A brief description about the area of study: Investigators have undertaken the Singpho community as a case study under Margherita sub-division of Tinsukia district in Assam. Margherita sub-division is an important sub-division of Assam which has historical, socio-economic and cultural background. Margherita sub-division

4 is located in the easternmost part of India in the lap of sky-kissing hills of Patkai range stretching along the Assam-Arunachal border. The total geographical area of Margherita sub-division is sq.km. Margherita sub-division is a meeting place of large number of races, creeds, culture and languages. They have unique festivals, folkdance & music, songs, food, games, life style, agricultural practice etc. Their present levels of economic development are also quite varied. The Singphos are one of the important tribes of the Margherita sub-division. They have unique socioeconomic and vibrant cultural background. One of the important source of attract the tourists is through the exhibition of the Singpho community s traditional food, costumes, art, music dance, ornaments, sports etc. at the community eco-lodge at Inthong situated 5 kms away from Margherita town. Another important source to attract tourist is through Singpho tea cultivation and traditional way of Phalap production. Their handloom products, handicrafts, cane and bamboo products are in great demand by the tourists. Singpho Eco-lodge: Singpho Eco-lodge is the community venture which was established in the year 2007 to promote cultural tourism, ethnic tourism and eco-tourism and to generate employment as well as income. It is a centre of the Singphos to exhibit their culture. It is located at Inthong, 5 kms. away from Marghetira town. Here the community preserves traditional custom and culture for tourist. Off late, the Eco-lodge has all infrastructural facilities and provides all the facilities to tourists to visit the locality as well as the region. The Singpho recipe which contains Chi (soup), Chithu, Tongtep (rich cakes grounded rice), Khawlam (boiled rice in bamboo) Pungkhang sat (steamed rice), roasted fish and meat etc., which are very delicious and popular among the tourists are available at the Eco-lodge. Phalap (Singpho Tea): Tea cultivation in India has somewhat ambiguous origins. Though the extent of the popularity of tea in India is unknown, it is known that the tea plant was a wild plant in north east India that was indeed brewed by local inhabitants of the region. The Singphos inhabited in

5 northern Burma and north east India has stated that they have been consuming tea since the 12th century. The Singpho community is credited for being the pioneer of Phalap drinker in India. The Singphos brewed and consumed Phalap since centuries as medicine to combat against diseases like- Diabetes, Blood Pressure, Tumour, Cancer, Malaria etc. The Phalap contains anti-oxidant compounds called Polyphenol. The energetic Singpho grand old man Ningroola was the first Singpho and arguably first Indian who exported hand processed first consignment of Phalap to London in the 1840s. The cultivation of Phalap in the Singpho locality is growing continuously and is a place of attraction for the foreign tourists. Phalap cultivation is a community venture on 130 bighas at Inthen, 19 km from Margherita town of Tinsukia district in Assam. The Singphos press the tea into bamboos and make them into 5 grams tablets. Each tablet gives about 20 cups of tea. The Singphos just have the liquor by dissolving it in hot water without milk. It is the most popular hot beverage. The product is sold under the brand name Phalap. Findings of the study: It is established from the empirical studies that tourism has a potential to develop a backward nation to a tourist destination. Hence the researchers made an effort to discuss the potentiality of ethnic tourism in local economic development with the help of field data. The Singphos are live in Chang Ghar (pole dweller) and the villages are well organized. They are follower of Buddhism and by the side they practice their traditional religion. There are 25 Singpho villages in Margherita Sub-division with rich tradition and culture which attract the tourist all over the world. Tourist in the Singpho villages and at Singpho Eco-lodge is given in the following table.

6 Table: 1 Tourist in Singpho villages and at Singpho Eco-lodge: Sl. Types of tourist Year No Foreign tourist Domestic tourist Source: Field study, September 2014 It is observed from the above table 1 that the trend of tourist to Singpho village has been increasing every year. In the year 2008, 30 foreign and 300 domestic tourists visited in the Singpho villages and stayed at Singpho Eco-lodge. In 2009 foreign tourist 35 and 387 domestic visited Singpho villages, while 41 foreign tourists and 310 domestic tourists in 2010, 21 foreign tourist and 402 domestic tourist in 2011, 20 foreign tourist and 398 domestic tourist in 2012, 14 foreign tourist and 426 domestic tourist visited to Singpho villages and eco-lodge. Table: 2 Income generation from the tourist: Sl. Year Heads Total No. Food & Costume Handicraft Music & Sports Income (in Beverage Dance Rs.) Source: Field study, September 2014 From the above table 2 it is evident that during the last couple of years the Eco-lodge has been generated income of Rs in 2008, Rs in 2009, Rs in 2010, Rs in 2011, Rs in 2012 and Rs in 2013 from the different heads which is quite encouraging.

7 Sl. No. Types tourist of Table: 3 Income generation form Domestic and Foreign tourism Year Foreign tourist 2 Domestic tourist Total Source: Field study, September 2014 From the table 3 it is found that during the period 2008 to 2013 the Singpho people have been able to earn handsome amount of money from the tourist. It is also reflected from the table that every succeeding year the incomes from tourist grow up and income from domestic tourist is greater than foreigners. Source: Field study, September 2014 Table: 4 Employment and Income: Sl. Nature of the occupation Male Female Income in No. Rs./month 1 Self engaged in Phalap Production 3 - < 30,000 2 Traditional cloth and Craft production < 5000 Local vendor Wage Labourer Work at eco-lodge 8 6 <6000 Total Households beneficiary in average It is observed from the table that producers of Phalap make income of Rs. 30,000 and more per month. Person engaged in traditional cloth and craft production earn an income of Rs and above per month. On the other hand local vendor earn Rs per month in an average. The wage labourers in Phalap cultivation and allied activities, both man and women

8 could earn Rs to 6500, helper at eco-lodge earns sum of Rs plus per month while the average earnings of all the beneficiary households from Phalap production is was Rs Table: 5 Sell of Phalap to foreign tourist since Name of the Phalap Name of the Tourist from Quantity entrepreneur Village (in kg) Rajesh Singpho Inthem Thailand 120 Majela Singpho Mungang Canada 400 Bupeswar Ningda Inthong U.S.A. 150 U. K. 90 Source: Field study, September 2014 Phalap has been sold in substantial amount to foreign tourists. The table 5 shows that 400 kg was sold to Canadian toriest, followed by U.S. with 150 kg, Tailand with 120 kg and U.K. with 90 kg at the price range of Rs per kg. This has brought an amount of Rs 26 lakh (approx.) for the Singpho community. After analysis the findings it can be concluded that at a community level it is fact of encouraging for the local economic development through ethnic tourism. Price range/kg (in Rs.) Related Facts: 1. It is observed during field study that most of the tourist visits the villages to see the handloom and handicraft work. 2. It is reported during the study that opium smoke is very popular among the Singphos and the foreign tourists also enjoy it. 3. Domestic tourist comes to Singpho villages and Eco-lodge to taste Singpho food (Topola Bhat) and Phalap. 4. It is also found that Singpho costumes and traditional Nthu (Big dagger) are very popular among the domestic tourists. 5. Tourists are very keen to visit Buddhist monastery and Pagoda site.

9 Suggestions: 1. To undertake some programmes to provide preliminary knowledge about the conceptual formation, objectives and benefits of the cultural tourism. 2. The initiative should be taken in identifying potential tourist destinations and branding them. Media can play an important role in promoting cultural tourism. 3. Heritage sites should be identified along with development of adequate infrastructure to support the inflow of tourists. 4. Effective mode of communication and infrastructure facilities should be developed to boost the cultural tourism. 5. Retail outlet should be made available in every cultural tourist destination to sell cultural product. Conclusion: Ethnic tourism has vast potential for earning and generating employment in rural areas. Thus a concerted and whole-hearted effort on the part of the Government and the member of the different communities are required in desired direction. References: 1. Anwar, S. & Hamilton, J. (2005) Tourism into the Future Towards 2020 and Beyond, In Tourism Recreation Research, 30 (3), pp Athma, Prashanta & Lakshmi, Vijaya (2006) Eco-Tourism in Andhra Pradesh, In Indian Journal of Marketing, August, pp Bairagi, M.G. (2003) Eco- Tourism- An Answer to Sustainable Development of Tourism, pp Barua, S. N. (2003) Dehing Patkai The History Behind, Dehing Patkai Souvenir, Vol-2, pp Chand, M. & Kumar, R.B. (2005) Rural Tourism: A New Approach to Sustainability, In South Asian Journal of Social-Political Studies, January-June, pp Das, G.N. (2008) Tribal Development in North East India, Director, Assam Institute of Research for Tribals and Schedule Caste, Jawaharnagar, Guwahati. 7. Devi, L. (1968) Ahom-tribal Relations: A Political Study, Assam Book Depot, Guwahati, p 1.

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