Kolkata: Bakul Toto has been fighting a battle for his rare tribe for several years since he realised that his community might be relegated to the pages of history if no steps are taken soon.
The 50-year-old hails from the Toto tribe which has the distinction of being the smallest tribe in the world with a paltry population of 1652 comprising 863 males and 789 females.
Totos are classified as a Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), and based in the remote village of Totopara in West Bengal, around 60 kilometres from Alipurduar, the district headquarters.
“We do not know their past before settling here but it is generally believed they came from Bhutan to avoid any fights with unfriendly Bhutias during the middle of the 18th century as Bhutan is very close to Totopara,” said Samar Kumar Biswas, a professor of anthropology at University of North Bengal.
Nestled at the foot of the Himalayas, Totopara is an idyllic village far from the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
The village is located barely 2 kilometres away from the Indo-Bhutan border and is surrounded by mountains that mesmerise the visitors.
The tall betel leaves offer a sort of canopy to the village roads and life comes to a standstill as the chirping of birds is heard in the lanes of Totopara.
But the journey to the village from Madarihat, the nearest block situated 23 kilometres away is quite daunting as it requires traversing seven small and big streams and patchy river beds.
The streams, which run dry during the summers, gush with life during the monsoon, turning Totopara into an island, and cutting off its connection with the rest of the world.
A battle on all fronts
Bakul, however, says that the Totopara was far more idyllic during his childhood days but the influx of outsiders and encroachments have robbed the village of its serenity.
Until 1969, he says, the entire village was spread over 2000 acres (809 hectares) for the Totos. However, the state government introduced private land ownership and declared 1700 acres (687 hectares) for the outsiders while the remaining was earmarked for Totos.
“The decision resulted in the massive influx of outsiders, mostly people from Nepal, Bihar and other parts of West Bengal coming and settling here. They also settled on our land and now we are fighting to take back the 300 acres (121 hectares) of land that was allotted to us by the government,” says Bakul who is also the secretary of Toto Kalyan Samity. which has been fighting for their rights.
Ashok Toto, the president of the Samiti, told EastMojo that the Totos are just one-third in numbers out of the total 5000 population of the Totopara.
“The central government had done a land survey in 2022 to find out the land that had been earmarked for Totos but the survey report is yet to be made public. We have made several rounds to the offices of district administration who claim that the report is yet to come from the central government. We strongly believe it is a ploy to keep us away from our land rights,” he added.
Apart from land disputes, Totopara is grappling with several issues like a lack of health infrastructure, poor education facilities, pathetic roads and lack of livelihood opportunities.
The sole Primary Health Centre (PHC) in the village hasn’t had a doctor for the past 18 months. Currently, it is being run by a pharmacist and three nurses.
The PHC generally offers medicines for minor health issues like cough and fever. Serious cases are referred to district hospitals around 37 kilometres away in Birpara. “We conduct blood tests for diabetes, malaria and dengue while serious cases are referred to distant hospitals. We receive 40 patients every day. But there is no practising doctor for a long time.
The remoteness of the location could be the reason for the doctors not coming here,” said Sougata Mazumdar, 24, a pharmacist at PHC.
Dilip Toto, an ambulance driver at the PHC conceded that it becomes risky to shift patients to far-off hospitals during monsoon season, “The rivers overflow during the heavy rains and serious cases like labour pains and other patients have to be shifted during the dead of the night. We have to look for forest and tea garden routes to shift the patients which are quite risky as the elephants also move in the region.”
Totopara also has a severe teacher shortage that leads to high dropout among students.
Gopesh Chakraborty, the in-charge of Dhanapati Toto Memorial High School, the only government-run secondary school, said that the school has just seven teachers and 128 students with no teachers for Class 11 and 12.
“We had over 300 students and around 12 teachers five years ago but most of them left for their respective districts resulting in a severe crisis. We have to advise parents to send their children to other schools in Madarihat block but most of them fail to do so due to economic reasons and send their children for work. It becomes difficult to manage the school affairs with a handful of staff.”
Environmental impact
Villagers complain that massive deforestation coupled with Quartz mining in neighbouring Bhutan has badly impacted the idyllic nature of Totopara, “Earlier, elephants were quite rare in our village as there was ample food for them available in the surrounding forest but massive deforestation has badly hit their food availability and jumbos often come to Totopara raising the risk of man-animal conflict,” said Uttam Toto, 43, a farmer.
“The quartz stone mining in neighbouring Bhutan has dried several streams in our village that used to flow with water across the year. We depend on a single natural stream inside the forest for water requirements. The government has laid pipes for groundwater but it’s not successful in high-altitude areas of Totopara,” he added.
Villagers also have limited livelihood options and depend on the betel leaves to run their families.
Probin Toto, 35, has around 1200 betel trees that fruit only once a year, “We depend on the betel trees for livelihood. Earlier, one tree used to bear 7-8 kilograms (kg) of fruit sold at Rs 35-40 per kg to wholesalers. Climate change, however, has posed a tremendous impact and the production has come down to just 2-3 kg per tree which has badly affected us. Massive deforestation surrounding Totopara has raised the local temperatures here.”
Villagers also ruled that tourists rarely come to Totopara despite their uniqueness due to the pathetic condition of the roads completely unmotorable in many patches, “Tourism could have been a potential source of earning for us but the condition of the roads leading to our village is horrible that turns away any outsider from here,” said Ashok Toto.
Roopchand Toto, the village head, conceded to EastMojo that several requests had been made to the administration. But nothing has been done, “I belong to the same community and understand their issues. I have raised the road and other problems numerous times at the administrative meetings but to no avail. We are small in numbers and do not serve as a vote bank and that could be the probable reason for our demands remaining unattended,” he added.
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