Browsing by Subject "Darjeeling"

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    Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of a common liverwort from Darjeeling Himalaya
    (University of North Bengal, 2009-03) De, Rajib; Saha, Jayati; Sarkar, Prabir K
    The study was concerned with an examination of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of methanolic extract of Marchantia convoluta (Merch.) L.. collected from Darjeeling Himalaya. The antioxidant activities were evaluated by means of five in vitro methods, viz. free radical-scavenging activity, Fe3+ -reducing power, metal-chelating ability, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and activity in hydroxyl radical-scavenging system. The total phenol content was 1.1 mg gallic acid equivalents g-1 dried thallus. After 30 min of reaction, the 100 mg lyophilized extract possessed 6.7 % free radical-scavenging activity. The same amount of extract exhibited 13.4 % 168.2 % metal-chelating and hydroxyl radical scavenging activities, respectively. The reducing activity was found to be 28.5 mg ascorbic acid equivalents g-1 dried thallus. Total antioxidant activity was 0.18 μg TEAC g-1 dried thallus. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by testing the methanolic extract of the samples against five microorganisms including two Gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus), two Gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae) and one yeast (Candida albicans by disc-diffusion assay. M. convoluta thallus extract was more or less inhibitory against all of the test bacteria, however did not possess any antifungal property. S. aureus was found to be most sensitive target organism.
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    Bhujel of darjeeling himalaya : bio-social study
    (University of North Bengal, 2009) Mallick, Ganesh Chandra; Mondal, Sekh Rahim and Biswas, Subir
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    Buddhist Paintings of Darjeeling: Identification and Interpretation
    (University of North Bengal, 2015-03) Lama, Sudash
    The time has not yet come to write a history of Buddhist art. Such a study needs a detailed description of all the collections of Buddhist art preserved in different parts of the country and outside the country. The Buddhist painting of Darjeeling characterized the pantheon of northern Buddhism. It is very difficult task to distinguish and classify the host of many-armed and many-headed divine beings, armed with whole arsenal of warlike attributes, the numerous figures of saintly lamas, abbots of monasteries, who appears on painting side by side number of religious symbols gives multiple meaning and disseminate the idea of direct intuition along with ethnographic variation.
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    Colonial Advent and Changing Political Scenario in the Darjeeling Terai: Mid 18th Century to Mid 19th Century
    (University of North Bengal, 2015-03) Khasnobish, Sudip
    Darjeeling Terai or modern Siliguri sub-division never came into prominence during ancient, medieval and even in early part of modern period It is due to this reason when it came under the sovereignty or control of the various powers i.e. Cooch Behar, Sikkim and Nepal, it did not get al1)' importance rather it was neglected When the British captured the region in 1850 it shot into prominence and contact with other parts of India began. Thus, the authentic history of the northern bank of the river Mahananda of Darjeeling Terai commences in the limelight of modern Indian history from early part of the 18th century. But its strategic political importance began from middle of the 18th centuries, when the Gurkhas of Nepal eager to captured Drajeeling Terai, the same period when the Sanyasis and Fakirs were dominated in that region .In that particular political turmoil the East India Company was involved in Terai which turned its mighty historical transformation.
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    Crime, Criminality and Punishment in Colonial Darjeeling District
    (University of North Bengal, 2017-03) Bhattacharya, Dahlia
    Crime is behaviour against the rules of the society by which it achieves the status of crime and individual is treated as criminal. In the pre-colonial period the concept of crime and criminality existed in an elaborate form in texts and scriptures. But the legal perception of crime and criminality in the British period is essentially a colonial construction. They adopted a new method of identifying crime and criminality and of punishment in colonial India. In this article the crimes and criminality in Darjeeling and the methods of imprisonment is highlighted.
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    History of Buddhism: Its Advent and Spread in Darjeeling Hills
    (University of North Bengal, 2017-03) Lama, Sudash; Lepcha, Gyamit
    The religious blending of North Bengal and the Himalayan countries held themselves together from the seventh century. In Tibet Buddhism developed into a state religion after the days of Guru Padmasambhava 's visit. From then onwards Tibetan Buddhis"! spread to Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Bhutan, Subsequently after the decline of the Palas and the Senas, the Buddhism disappeared from Bengal and the main land of India but Tibet preserved and developed Buddhism. It spreads towards Himalayan states of Sikkim and Darjeeling areas.
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    In Search Of A ‘New Home’: Anglo-Indians In The Darjeeling Hills, 1900-1947
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Mondal, Amrita
    In the second half of the nineteenth century, most Anglo-Indian, being a Kolkata based community in Bengal, started to move out of the city in search of new employment opportunities. Some of their destinations were the newly established tea gardens of Darjeeling hills and Assam. Mostly they were appointed as managers in the tea estates. The Anglo-Indian community, not being accepted by both the British or Indian society, started to reimagine their identity while settling down in the hills. However, education of their children was turned into a severe problem for them. Some of the Christian missions came forward and opened boarding schools cum ‘home’ for the Anglo-Indian children in the Darjeeling hills. Later these mission schools also became a shelter for the orphan Anglo-Indian children of Kolkata and played an important role in their identity formation. The paper highlights whether these initiatives could able to give a new future to the Anglo-Indian community and if the Anglo-Indian community could able to accept Darjeeling Hills as their ‘new home’. Further, the paper also discusses other nuances, like how did the indigenous people of the hills and the British Raj look at this identity formation, and what kind of new developments started in the hills with the coming of the Anglo-Indians. The paper is based on the archival sources, like newspapers, education, finance and home department report, missionary documents and memoirs.
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    Indias nationalist movement and the participation of Nepali women of Darjeeling
    (University of North Bengal, 2017) Pakhrin, Kalyani; Mandal, Jyotsna Kumar,
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    Locating the Workers ‘Coolies’ in the Tea Plantations of Colonial Darjeeling: A Historical Retrospect
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Subba, Salim
    The labourers are the pillars of every industry. In fact, tea plantation is a labour-intensive industry in which, most of the works is done manually by the labourers. At the same time, it largely depends on cheap labour procured from the migrant population, however, such process entails structural transformations in the economy and society enabling the evolution of waged labour culture guided by the capitalist industrial model. Such arrangements facilitate the creation of a class who works in the plantation in lieu of wage i.e., the coolies. The coolies in general sense, are a well-researched topic in academia. However, tea plantation workers of Darjeeling with different anecdotal experiences cannot be homogenised with those of other plantation industries and the concerned topic requires separate analysis. Thus, this paper intends to trace the historical processes in the making of coolies in tea plantations and their consequences of Darjeeling using different methodological tools.
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    Medicinal and molecular profiling of selected tea varieties of Darjeeling and Dooars
    (University of North Bengal, 2022) Labar, Reha; Sen, Arnab; Bhattacharya, Malay
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    Socio-Economic condition of women in tea gardens: case study of terai of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri Districts of West Bengal
    (University of North Bengal, 2019) Kapasia, Nanigopal,; Rohatgi, Sushma,
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    Studies on soil microbial diversity of Darjeeling hills and their evaluation for utilization in the improvement of crop health
    (University of North Bengal, 2013) Sunar, Kiran; Chakraborty, B.N. and Chakraborty, U.
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    Taxonomic and phytogeographical studies on the flora of Mirik and its environs in Darjeeling district
    (University of North Bengal, 1987) Mukhopadhyay, Chittaranjan; Basu, P. K.; Ghosh, R. B.
    In recent years much attention has been given to Mirik to establish it a beautiful hill resort in connection with the development of tourism in the region. It is situated at an altitude of 170Dm with its own special charm, located at 49 km from Darjeeling and 52 km .from Siliguri. This hill resort has a special attraction for having a magnificent lake fed by perennial streams. It is under the Mirik P.S.of Darjeeling district in West Bengal and is located between 26°47'N. lat. and 26°55'N. lat., 88°8'E. long. and 88°15'E. long. It claims its special identity in respect of its strategic position in the Sub-Himalayan hilly tract in the northern region of West Bengal. Its flora is significant from the scientific, cultural and utilitarian view points. It has a wide range of habitats which provide ecological diversity. Phytogeographicall y also it occupies a key position. The economy of Mirik and its environs is primarily based on agriculture, forestry and plantation. Like all other parts of the world, the ecosystem of the region has also been observed to be the most gravely threatened now-a-days. Due to large sc.ale destruction without adequate replacement of forest trees, forest wealth has been diminished and due to Jack of plant cover, soil is subjected to the combined influence of erosion, leaching, insolation and radiation. Thereby, much of the normal biogeochemical cyde is. lost causing Jack of regeneration of forest plants. Recently, due to policy at the National level, large scale plantation is being encouraged in connection with Eco-Development Programme. But the proper management of the forest in a region is possible only with the utilization of the local plants in the area. It is, therefore, of primary importance to understand the. present day plant resources of the region. As lhe development and distribution of floristic elements are very much dependent on the ecological condition of a particular region, emphasis has been given to study the floristic composition, ecological conditi'on of the . re_gion with special ~tress on the behaviour of different plant species from phytogeographical point of view. During investigation some ecological observations on Mirik and its environs have been made after accumulation of information from various sources. In this connection collaboration has been made with the National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation, Government of India. Information so far represented in connection with Mirik P. S. may be considered for the first time to report in this .field of work. During the preparation of / topographic section, it has been noted that less than 700m elevation shows the- lower erosional surface, 700-1000m the middle erosional surface and above 1 DOOm represents upper erosional surface of the mountains. Mirik itself lies in the. highest part of the region in Mirik P.S. The height gradually slopes down towards south-east havi~g average height of 300-600m above sea level. The surface configuration of this area undoubtedly presents a complex physical environment due to. different Geomorphic processes. The study on drainage and the river system of the region has. specially been emphasized due to the fact that now-a-days catchment area has been noted to be a very important from ecological point of view. In co-nnection with the study on this aspect, it has beeri noted that the Mechi and the Balason are the two main rivers with a large number of tributaries and branches, the courses of which have been taken into consideration during the preparation of map. The central part of the region acts as main water divide line. The water divide area is having a slope of less than 20% as calculated from the relief and the slope is maximum where lhe land is merging with the boundary rivers. Thus along both the rivers, the Mechi and the Balason, the slope increases to more than 50%. Five different zones of soil have been prepared for Mirik P.S. These are Red Podosol, distributed in the northern part of the region, Brown Earth, represent)ng the major part of the area, Ash Grey Soil with association of Red Soil, representing a narrow-strip towards the southern part, Whitish Grey Soil adjacent to the previous one in southern direction and Grey Soil with association of yellowish brown Soil representing the extreme southern part of the police station. Out of the study on the earlier records on climatic factors, it has been noted that since 1 Q50 the rainfall has been gradually declining from 3477.51 mm (1850-1855) to 2560.00 mm (1982-1987). Total rainfall in the year of 1988 has been observed to be 2039.4 mm. Thus the vegetation, now-a-days, is beinc:J subjected to stressed condition as compared to earlier days. Due to rapid growth of urbanisation, the growth of human population has been observed to be at increased state and for this reason biotic influence on vegetation is inevitable. This "increase in population coupled with the increased demand on natural forest areas for cultivation of cereals for food and for fuel, forest areas are being destroyed at a greater pace, year after year. Similarly, increased communication even with remote villages facilitates more movement of people from outside along with their domestic animals and consequently more interference with the vegetation. The major part of this area has been noted to have population density of 1-3 persons/ha. The small area of the central part has more than 9 persons/ha, and a small area in the north has.been observed to cover less than 1 person/ha. A very significant feature observed here in the study of landuse is the extensive existence af tea gardens. Crop land occupies a very little area which is distributed mostly in the northern part of the region. A map has been prepared to represent rural settlements, forests, scrubs and wastelands. · The primary or vergin forest has been noted to become restricted in the region. Majority of forest patches are secondary in nature. Vegetation of this area has been classified on the basis of physiognomy and structural features of the plant in relation to "the altitude of the hill and climatic conditions, specially the rainfall. Four vegetational zones i.e. Tropical Deciduous Sal Forests (Plantations; 1 00-500m), Tropical Evergreen (500-1200m), Subtropical Evergreen (1200-1800m) and Temperate Mixed Zone (1800-2630m) have been marked out and different plant species in various zones of the primary forests have been worked out. A change of vegetational structure for secondary forest formation due to the influence of various factors have been noted. Different species available in different zones of primary and secondary forests have been enumerated. Water reservoirs in different zones of Tropical, Subtropical and Temperate regions have been observed though typical aquatic vegetation is poorly developed, the marshland vegetation has been studied in details. Cultivated and other useful plants with special reference to food, medicinal and ornamental value available in the region have also been recorded. Special emphasis has been given on the survey of various plant materials used by the local tribes/hill people. Besides, common trees yielding timber, fibre and fruits have been identified. In connection with the taxonomic study on the flora of Mirik and· its environs in Darjeeling district, much emphasis •has been laid upon the collection of plants, preparation of herbarium sheets and identification of them after ·consultation with different herbarium sections available. Nomenclatu' re and citation, short description, flowering and fruiting periods, local name, if any, notes on the frequency of distribution, plant association, economic use, if any, of 1059 taxa including 71 cultigens of Angiosperms and G~n;nosperms have been taken into consideration. Out of which again 987 and 67 species of Angiosperms are represented as wild ~nd cultigens respectively. Gymnospermous taxa have been found to be represented by Cryptomeria japonica (L. f.) D. Don in wild state and 4 other cultigens. The system of Bentham and Hooker (1862-1883) with. some modifications based on recent knowledge has been· followed during the representation of the sequence of families in the flora. Monocots include 300 species (excluding the cultivated 11 species) unde·r 136 genera and. 14 families. Similarly, Dicots cover 687 species (excluding the cultivated 56 species) under 350 genera and 95 families. "Based on total number of collection (excluding cultigens), percentage occ:urrence of family, genera and species of Dicots have been observed to be 86.36%, 71.87% and .69.53% respectively; Similarly, in Mof\OCots, family, genera and species have been represented by 12.73%, 27.93% and 30.36% respectively. The approximate ratios between the family, genus and species of the Angiosperms have been worked· out. The Monocot-Dicot ratios in terms of family, genus and species have been calculated to be 1:6.8, 1:2.6 and 1:2.3 respectively. The genus-species ratio for the Angiosperms is 1:2 approximately. Twenty ·different families in order of dominance have been worked out on the basis of the number of taxa incorporated in each family. Orchidaceae has been noted to include maximum of 131 taxa under 41 genera. On the other hand, each of Apiaceae and Acanthaceae includes minimum of 13 ta?
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    Trafficking of women in Darjeeling hills : A sociological study
    (University of North Bengal, 2022) Mukhia, Persis; Bhui, Ujjal