Demographics of Darjeeling

Demographics of region

Darjeeling district's population today is constituted largely of the descendants of the indigenous and immigrant labourers that were employed in the original development of the town. Although their common language, the Nepali language, has been given official recognition at the state and federal levels in India, the recognition has brought little economic progress to the region, nor significant political autonomy. A culture of both pride and dependence has evolved in the tea plantations where jobs have levelled off but housing can be inherited by a worker within the family. The population of Darjeeling meanwhile has grown substantially over the years. Many young locals, educated in government schools, have taken to migrating out for the lack of employment matching their skills. Like out migrants from other regions of northeastern India, they have been subjected to discrimination and racism in some Indian cities.

Although seasonal migration has long been a local feature, especially among the lower income groups, substantial migration among middle class youth is a 21st century occurrence. Many educated young people in Darjeeling have begun to migrate out because the growth of jobs in the area has not kept pace with the numbers of people with tertiary degrees. Favoured destinations fall into three groups: neighbouring Gangtok in Sikkim, and Siliguri in North Bengal at the base of the Darjeeling hills; the large bustling cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Mumbai; and Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, Pokhara, Butwal and Narayangarh, where there is a linguistic culture in which they feel comfortable. The migrants are generally distinguishable by levels of education and access to economic privilege: those migrating to pursue higher education and professional careers, among which are engineering and journalism; and those looking for immediate employment, the common choices of which include call centres, beauty parlors, and dumpling stands. Both groups of migrants have experienced racism and economic and social discrimination in India's big cities, caused by their distinctive, more East Asian, physical appearance.