JC White: Father of modern Sikkim - ii

JC White had a significant influence on Sikkim. In his popular blog, Rajen Upadhaya, History Lecturer, Namchi Govt. College writes, “With the appointment of J C White as the Political Officer in 1889, Sikkim witnessed his self-styled Zamindari System. A number of Lessee Landlords were created throughout Sikkim with untold powers to mortgage or confiscate the lands of innocent peasants, further, with the help of his Sikkimese protégés Claude White board upon a policy of obliterating the ancient economy of Sikkim. This paved the way for the birth of Kaziism, the Thikadari system, and all the other forced labors like Kuruwa, Kalobhari, Jharlangi, Theki-Bethi, Ghar-Lauri, etc.”.

In 1889, JC White conducted a land survey, according to which each piece of land was leased to the interested landowners at various rates. A Labour tax of two rupees for every household was charged, along with an excise charge of two rupees for the brewing of grain alcohol. Auctions for the license to weigh and tax cardamom produce were introduced. Licenses for liquor shops hide trade, and timber was added as the source of state revenue. He also introduced the grazing tax of two rupees per sheep.

It is interesting to note that despite the several major reforms introduced by JC White, he was very much impressed with the Dzumsa System, the old traditional self-government of the Lachen and Lachung village assembly. White had encountered this customary panchayat at Lamteng in Lachen and Lachung in the Lachung valley. The system was retained without any changes.

In one of his budget speeches in 2005-2006, Shri Pawan Kumar Chamling, the Chief Minister of Sikkim, mentioned that the late John Claude White had prepared the first budget for Sikkim in 1889. The first budget showed a revenue surplus of Rs 5367. The total revenue generated was Rs 20336, and the total expenditure was Rs 14969. The major sources of revenues then were land, forest, and excise, while the main costs included public works, allowance to Raja, and agriculture.

Ari- Bangla, or more popular Aritar Dak bungalow, East Sikkim, is said to have been built during the reign of JC White in 1895. Going through the pages of the visitor book 1895, John Claude White was among the first few to have stayed at Aritar Dak Bungalow during its early days. The first page of the Visitor Book at Aritar Dak Bungalow shows that JC White was on official duty and had stayed there on two separate dates (11.11.1896 and 15.11.1896).  An interesting note in the visitor book does mention that the chowkidar was absent when he (JC White) was on the visit and had to enter the bungalow through the window of the dressing room by removing the nails that were replaced.

Due to Aritar's strategic point during the Kalimpong-Tibet route, JC White decided to establish a Police Outpost in 1897 to look after territorial disputes and crime. The Chogyal also agreed to the proposal. The Police Outpost was the first of its kind in Sikkim. Thus, it was here at Aritar that the Sikkim Police was born.

Apart from his administrative skills, JC White is remembered today for his Sikkim and Tibet photography. It was his photography that showed a rare glimpse of Tibet, a country that was unknown to the Western world. JC White’s passion for photography grew when we had to travel extensively in the regions on surveying expeditions. Today he is referred to as the father of mountain photography. His collection of photographs taken during his Tibet visit in 1904 as a part of the Younghusband Expedition was brought into a book “In the Shadow of the Himalayas: Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim: A Photographic Record by John Claude White 1883-1908” by Kurt Meyer and Pamela Deuel Meyer was published in 2005 in Ahmedabad, India.

Interestingly, being related to philately, I would also like to share that the central design of the Sikkim state revenue stamp, which has the south-east face of Mt. Siniolchu, in the north of Gangtok, is the photograph taken by Hoffmann, which is in the illustration of Claude White’s book Sikkim and Bhutan.

White retired from his professional life in 1908. In 1909 he left for England, where he published his memoirs Sikkim and Bhutan: Twenty-One Years on the North-East Frontier, 1887-1908.