The System of Administration in the Himalaya

Abstract

The frontier character of the Himalaya has always conditioned the system of administration there, both in Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal and in the hill areas of India. Basic changes were made in the structure and machinery of the administrative set-up in those parts of the Himalaya which were gradually absorbed by the British in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The British Indian government, however, did not introduce in the border districts under its jurisdiction the form of administration prevalent elsewhere in the country, but rather classified them as nonregulation areas beyond the framework of governance of statute law. Separate procedures and regulations were framed for such frontier hill areas as the North-East Frontier Tract of Assam and Spiti district in Punjab. The Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935 classed the frontier districts as and partially excluded areas, outside the ministerial system eventually introduced in India. After independence in 1947, the Constituent Assembly which formulated the Constitution of the Indian Republic also continued to accord special status to the North-East Frontier Tract and Spiti in Article 244 and Schedules V and VI of the Constitution. During 1948-50, the Government of India revised the old treaties with Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal in order to forestall any misunderstanding between them and Tibet, as well as between them and India. Earlier Chinese claims to certain parts of the Himalaya borderlands with cultural and ethnic associations with Tibet had alerted the Government of India in this regard. China's announcement of its intention to liberate Tibet in the summer of 1950 caused deep concern within the Government of India, especially with regard to the defense and security of the 2500-mile Himalaya border-so much so, indeed, that on December 1, 1950, the Government of India appointed a special Committee under the chairmanship of Major-General Himmatsinghji to consider this question. The governments of Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal also reorganized their systems of administration and politics in the light of Chinese control of Tibet in the summer of 1951.