Changlang

Changlang
town
Changlang Location in Arunachal Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 27°07′N 95°43′E / 27.12°N 95.71°E / 27.12; 95.71Coordinates: 27°07′N 95°43′E / 27.12°N 95.71°E / 27.12; 95.71
Country	India
State	Arunachal Pradesh
District	Changlang
Population (2001)
• Total	6,394
Languages
• Official	English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Telephone code	03808
Website	www.changlang.nic.in

Changlang is a census town and headquarters of the Changlang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It has become one of the major districts in the area owing to the presence of crude oil, coal and mineral resources other than tourism and hydro power.

Changlang is located at 27°07′N 95°43′E / 27.12°N 95.71°E / 27.12; 95.71.^[1]

As of 2001 India census,^[2] Changlang had a population of 6394. Males constitute 56% of the population and females 44%. Changlang has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 78% and female literacy of 65%. 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Culture

Its native people includes different subtribes of Tangsa, mainly Lungchang and Muklom.

More than 50 dialects (languages) are spoken here. Among all the districts in Arunachal Pradesh, Changlang is unique for its cultures, traditions, and languages (dialects). Many dialects of Changlang district are believed to be endangered, and some dialects are already extinct. One of the many reasons for this is believed to be the influx of mainland India's Hindi language and culture into north India.

An "Inner line Permit" (ILP) was introduced by Indian government as one of many initiatives to protect fragile cultures, traditions and dialects of the North-east people (excluding that of Assam) of India including Changlang. ILP was unsuccessfully challenged in Guwahati Court during 2008 by mainland India. {ILP is the equivalent of a second-degree Indian passport; people (Indians and foreigners) visiting protected areas require ILP}.

India has been criticized many times by human rights groups from UN for not giving ethnic minority status to north-eastern people of India including Changlang. Indian government has put native people into Scheduled Tribes which is not appropriate because there are sub tribes in a tribe; again in one of sub tribes there are again sub tribes, etc.

History

During the Burma Campaign of World War II, the Changlang district was where the Ledo Road began, and a neglected World War II war cemetery can still be visited at Jairampur.^[3] It is situated nearby Indian Army Camp of Jairampur. Unlike mainland India, Britain never colonized Changlang. Changlanese natives during the silk road era knew about Tea trading and tea traders. A Singpho (they are called Jinpo or jingphaw in Myanmar and China) leader of Changlang district then (now those areas comes under upper assam) is believed to be responsible for disclosing secrets of tea planting/cultivation/plantation to the British.

In recent times, Naga militants (both Kaplang faction - kaplang was born as Burmese side changlanese naga - as well as Muiwa faction) who were demanding for Nagalim ("Land of Naga people", which includes Myanmar) had given Indian Army sleepless night. The conflict situations has subsided in past 2–3 years. Arunachal Pradesh Home ministry recently has asked Indian Army to withdraw excess army men. Changlang also suffered from lost generation as many youngsters were abducted by Naga militants to recruit in their armies, many of them never return; some of them are believed to be still fighting in Myanmar.

Notes

References

• Rebels eye Arunachal alternative to Bhutan - Army sees possible Red Cross intervention in Himalayan kingdom as advantage to banned group