Skip to main content

Shri Dille Singh Ghale : the first Forest Manager of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim

FIRST IN SIKKIM SERIES: 
To Shri Dille Singh Ghale goes the credit of being the first Forest Manager of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim in 1905, and such was his dedication towards his duty that he did not even let off his wife for not following Forest Rules. His wife had illegally brought a head load of firewood from the forest area illegally, for which Dille Singh Ghale imposed a fine of five rupees on her. Despite the intervention of Durbar, his wife was not able to seek any help, and eventually, she paid off the fine. The incident shows how firm and sincere he was towards his duty. 

It was under his direction that the classification and demarcation of forest land into three categories of Reserve Forest, Khasmal, and Gorucharan were done and notified from 1908 to 1912. The basis of scientific forest management was thus initiated by him. He is also the person behind the publication of the first Forest Manual in 1914.  About his contribution, he can eventually be called the “Founder father of this prestigious organization”. 

Information collected from PANDA newsletter on the environment, forest, and wildlife

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rongli my birthplace

BY SHITAL PRADHAN A small hamlet in an eastern side Silent raush on its way, The old silk route, More older it look Upon which I stay, Hey that’s Rongli, Rongli my birthplace Years went by, years dried up, Yet the small village is as it was, Silent, peaceful and introvert Today’s picture of Rongli, Houses as station bogie, Looks a cradle, from Chujachen, Upon which the blue sky, As if I can touch thee, Roaring River, As the legend we hear, Still watch with glee, The terror of 1890 somewhat forgotten, Yet another terrorizing moment, 68 was the year… 1968, When sky too wasn’t pleased. That was Rongli, Rongli of the past. Playing along the Baar-Pepal tree, Hiding in the Shivalaya, Watching videos and aloft Is a decent memory, now? Sweet time in treasure, Yet when I am in Rongli, I am happy, in whither sweet. Rongli my birthplace !

India’s illegal occupation of independent Sikkim has to be reversed

Extracted from Pakistan Defence India’s “Chief Executive” in Gangtok wrote: “Sikkim’s merger was necessary for Indian national interest. And we worked to that end. Maybe if the Chogyal had been smarter and played his cards better, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.” It is also said that the real battle was not between the Chogyal and Kazi Lendup Dorji but between their wives. On one side was Queen Hope Cook, the American wife of the Chogyal and on the other was the Belgian wife of the Kazi, Elisa-Maria Standford. “This was a proxy war between the American and the Belgian,” says former chief minister BB Gurung. But there was a third woman involved: Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Chogyal Palden met the 24-year-old New Yorker Hope Cook in Darjeeling in 1963 and married her. For Cook, this was a dream come true: to become the queen of an independent kingdom in Shangrila. She started taking the message of Sikkimese independence to the youth, and the allegations started flying thic...

The coinage system of Sikkim

It is more or less a forgotten part of the development process of the then-small Himalayan kingdom, Sikkim . The introduction of the coinage system in Sikkim ceased the way it started. A study of the coinage system of Sikkim sheds light on the socio-economic and political history of the then-small state. The coins of Sikkim ended the way they appeared; they came from nowhere, and finally, they got lost out in the darkness. A handful of people around Sikkim and in the districts of Darjeeling now have these rare items in their collections. The coin of Sikkim is much sought after by numismatists interested in countries that no longer exist today. Before the British invasion of the land of Sikkim, the capital revenue system was never heard. Sikkim, being an agricultural foreground, had some parts of food grains given to the king as tax. Trade was carried out where things were exchanged between individuals. This system was prevalent even in the mid-19th century; oranges were exchan...