Item — HN Reader

Article 13 allows customary law to be applied following judicial review.

It's the same precedent most Himachalis use to keep tourists contained to a handful of tourist traps while keeping the rest of the state clean. Other border states and Northeastern states do the same thing.

Semi-urban areas like Mawlynnong are governed by Panchayats - not municipal councils - and overtourism can become a kiss of death.

2 comments

I doubt this has been given judicial review at the High Court/Supreme Court level.

As for Himachal, you seem to be the expert but I thought that Himachal disallows non-locals from buying land (which I also think is wrong), not staying anywhere? Or does Himachal also have laws like this?

> not staying anywhere? Or does Himachal also have laws like this?

Non-locals are allowed to stay anywhere in HP, but zoning is strictly enforced so you aren't going to find some hotel or B&B in the middle of nowhere without it being zoned as non-agricultural land.

This helps limit tourism to a handful of urban hubs, which helps limit overtourism to a handful of areas that have essentially been written off.

That said, significant swathes of Himachal fall within the Protexted Area Permit and outsiders need permission from the Home Ministry for extended stays, and often get stopped by police or ITBP for checkings (unsurprising given that we neighbor Tibet and plenty of communities have ethnic ties with residents of Ngari).

> I doubt this has been given judicial review at the High Court/Supreme Court level

Tribal Councils and Panchayats in Meghalaya are allowed to use customary law to limit outsiders, and this has been adjudicated by the Meghalaya HC as well.

Meghalaya also falls under the Sixth Schedule which was explicitly made to ensure that tribal areas aren't inundated by more numerous outside ethnic groups.

You have to note that Himachal or other mountain states with snow need protections. Otherwise they ll quickly lose their local traditions because the mountain snow states have extremely pleasant temperatures even in summer so rich folks from all over the country would simply buy out all the land and houses gentrification overloaded

That's not why land purchases are restricted in HP - the state conducted land reform and collectivization in the 1970s, and to prevent large landlords from being re-established, the outsider restriction was implemented except in zoned areas.

Interesting. I thought it was done for avoiding gentrification

Overtl tourism is a major issue in Bali, Japan and Bhutan as well. It's a global thing. I remember reading that Greece or some European country had banned cruise ship docking because they didn't want the crowd who runs around the city for half a day

My personal opinion is less about the crowding (though that is a pain) and moreso how overtourism creates a form of Dutch disease and prevents more inclusive economic from being created.

The state in India I mentioned (Himachal Pradesh) has a large tourism industry, but because of strict zoning laws was able to reduce the overall impact of tourism and zone SEZs and industrial parks which helped MSMEs climb up the value chain in industries such as generic pharma manufacturing and food processing.

If hotel and homestay zoning was lax, there would have been less of an incentive for local capital to invest in capex heavy but ultimately higher value economic output. And it was that economic output that helped HP subsidize it's welfare system that was able to bring the state's HDI to middle of the pack Chinese province levels despite not having a single metro with population greater than 200k.

I know HP lol I live in India

I hadn't thought of it from your PoV but it makes sense.

And I had just been to the Sar pass trek from Kasol, and let me tell you. It's insanely over crowded right now. Despite the regulations.

On our trek we easily had 300+ people at 13k feet!

So I fully support such decisions because small towns can't handle such crowd

Sadly Arunachal is quickly becoming piss pit despite the fact that you need permits to visit.

Same for Kedarnath.

Permits need to be issued with the carrying capacity of the land in mind.

Bhutan seems to pull this off well.