The fury of the rains that lashed Darjeeling and neighbouring Nepal has once again exposed the fragility of the eastern Himalayas ~ a region of breathtaking beauty but growing ecological distress. More than 70 lives have been lost to floods and landslides that ripped through homes, tea gardens, and mountain roads. The tragedy, however, is not merely a natural calamity; it is a man-made crisis deepened by decades of environmental neglect, poor planning, and an underestimation of the Himalayas’ ecological limits.

The mounting toll in Darjeeling and Nepal is not an isolated event but part of a growing Himalayan crisis where nature’s fury increasingly mirrors human short-sightedness and institutional inertia. Darjeeling’s landscape, with its steep slopes and loose soil, has always been prone to erosion. But the rising frequency of landslides in recent years signals a dangerous shift. Climate patterns are becoming........

© The Statesman