Sikkim government legalises the tradition of adopting trees, but remains silent over people's rights over them.
WHEN LAKIT Lepcha of Lingee Payong village in South Sikkim gave birth to a son, nobody, including Lepcha, knew who the father was. Soon, a tree came to her rescue. Under the state’s age-old mith (friend) tradition, a chilawany, or Schima wallichii as the tree is known in scientific lexicon, was declared the child’s father. “It was a way of socially accepting the mother and her child,” says Sunita Khatiwara, a conservation researcher from the district. “The tradition allows a person to forge ties with others they are not related to. The relation can also extend to trees,” she adds. Khatiwara’s family too has adopted a tree. It was adopted by her grandfather, following whose demise others in the family are taking care of it.
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