Democracy is defined as “Government by the People, for the People and of the People.”
We belong to the nation where modern democracy was conceived and ingrained in the very psyche of every citizen. India is the largest and the most vibrant democracy in the world. Certainly, thence, no further deliberation on the term ‘Democracy’ and its legacy in our country is needed. Even in the district of Darjeeling itself, more than 80% of college graduates are mainly from Arts Stream - Political Science being a most common subject. But is Democracy practiced or is it merely a terminology in Indian Politics?
When G.N.L.F was the party in power and at the helm of the D.G.H.C, the definition of Democracy in Darjeeling indirectly meant “Kingdom of Ghisingh, for the people of G.N.L.F and of the people of G.N.L.F”.
Mr. Ghisingh ruled according to his whims and nobody dared question him or even try to correct him. Everybody looked for their own selfish growth and the survival of their kinship. During the rule of Mr. Ghisingh, he employed the people, who worked or spoke accordingly to his order. ”If he said, the sun shines at night, each of his party members would nod their head. If any member tried to correct him, the outcome would inevitably be his ouster from the post and the party.Read the rest of this entry »
Tibet Support Group song
Produced by the Department of Information and the International Relations of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Lyrics: Bhuchung D Sonam
Music: Wind Horse Band
Vocals: Pasang, Kelsang Wangchuk and Yangzom
Recorded at: Classic Audio Workstation, Darjeeling, India
Kurseong, May 11: An ex-superintendent of a sanatorium was arrested yesterday for taking away furniture from the bungalow where he was staying even after retirement.
N.D. Choudhary was allegedly loading a vehicle with almirahs, beds, wooden chairs and an antique sofa set costing approximately Rs 12 lakh and belonging to the S.B. Dey Sanatorium, located at Dowhill near here, when the residents nearby saw him.
People said Choudhary also broke one of the window panes of the bungalow to create the impression that his house was burgled. Debashis Roy, the acting superintendent of the sanatorium, said he had filed an FIR with Kurseong police. Choudhary’s family could not be contacted for comment. [The Telegraph]
This is the story of a person, who received huge compensation for his land when it was acquired for the Teesta Stage V hydro power project in East Sikkim.With due respect to the concerned person, we would like to site his story as an example as to how a simple, ignorant, illiterate villager handles compensation and faces mega development projects.
When we first heard about his story, we thought it was blown out of proportion and just a fragment of someone’s imagination. We did a spot visit and verified the facts and we found that most of what we had heard was true. The person in question is an oustee of the Teesta V project.
This person revealed to us that he had received Rs. 9 lakhs, eighty thousand as compensation money for his land. Local rumours say that he actually received about Rs. 12 lakhs. He had been told by the officials, who had come to measure his land for the project, that only the rocky portion of the land near the river bank will be taken from him. At first he resisted a bit but soon pushiness on the part the middlemen, officials and the lure of money won over him. He did not have any of his land documents with him during the time of the land acquisition. The officials had already demarcated his land from the “big map” that they had in the office. Soon he was a “lakhpati” minus major portions of his land.
Some of his (mis)-doings with the money he received:
• Contributed about Rs. 50,000 for a “tea party” for the middlemen and the officials who “toiled to give him a good bargain”.
• Bought a second-hand Commander Jeep.
• Loaned a few lakhs of Rupees to a Panchayat with out any deed papers.
• Invested about Rs. 70,000 for foundation of his new house.
• Daily supply of liquors and few more spending which we could not confirm from him.
About a year later, the Commander Jeep, in which he used to frequent Singtam bazaar to have good times with his suddenly acquired “friends”, got vandalized. It lay in a sorry state for some time and he exchanged it for two pigs with a local lady. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK: The Sikkim Limboo-Tamang Tribal Forum has placed a demand for the amendment of Sub-Section (1A) of Section-7 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and thereby grant political right to the Limboos and Tamang to contest elections from the Scheduled Tribe seats in accordance with Sub-Clause-1 and 3 of Article 332 of the Constitution.
In a memorandum, dated May 3, 2008 to the Prime Minister, the forum has said that the Sikkimese Limboo and Tamang communities have been included in the list of Scheduled Tribes by the amendment of the Constitution (Sikkim) Scheduled Tribes Order. The Parliament enacted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment), Act, 2002 which received the assent of the President on the January 7, 2003, However, the provisions of Sub-section (1A) of Section 7 of the Representation of the people Act, 1950 relating to Sikkim has not been amended with the ST and SC Order (Amendment Act), 2002, which required amendment with it using the same yardstick and law as was done for Bhutia-Lepchas. As a result of which, Sikkimese Limboo and Tamangs have been deprived of the right to contest elections from the Scheduled Tribes seats in the Assembly election of 2004. Read the rest of this entry »
It has been reported that the government of West Bengal after a bomb explosion on 3rd April 2008 and death of three reportedly Bhutanese refugees arrested five people, including two girls in Siliguri in connection with the incident.
There has been witch hunting of Bhutanese refugees in the state especially in the North Bengal and Darjeeling Hill Council. Innocent refugees are being harassed and students studying in the schools and colleges are doubted and even arrested.
According to the report received on 12th May 2008, the following students studying in Kalimpong, Darjeeling Hill Council were arrested by the police on 11th May 2008 at 11A.M and their whereabouts is not known. Neither is the reason for their arrest. They were arrested without any warrant.
1. Ashok gurung studying in class X11 in Kamal Jyoti school
2. Kamal subba studying in class X11 in Kamal Jyoti school
3. Som Nath Rai studying in final year BA in Kalimpong college
The unwarranted action by the police of West Bengal is creating fear and trepidation in the minds of Bhutanese refugee students in the state of West Bengal and depriving them from pursuing their education. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, May 11: The present disturbance in Tibet has greatly effected tourism trade there the Buddhist tourist destination in Sikkim are booming as an alternative. Travel and tour operators in Tibet and Nepal are busy diverting their clients towards Sikkim as an alternative for Buddhist tourist destination. “We already made tourist booking for Tibet through Nepal last year only which we couldn’t cancel once booked and planned so we thought of diverting our clients towards Sikkim as an alternative Buddhism tourist destination” Mr S Sherpa, a tour operator, said.
When asked why he chose Sikkim and not Bhutan, he said, the reason behind diverting our clients to Sikkim rather than to Bhutan is that Sikkim is cost effective and Bhutan is quite expensive for tourists. Moreover, Sikkim and Tibet shares similar tradition, culture, food, religion and language, almost everything. “Our clients would basically be interested in visiting the monasteries in Tibet. We got the information that Sikkim too has old monasteries which are listed as heritage sites of India,” Mr Sherpa said. Read the rest of this entry »
SILIGURI, May 11: MRI, CT scan and radiotherapy facilities would soon be introduced at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. The state urban development minister and the chairman of the Rogi Kalyan Samiti, Mr Asok Bhattacharya said this on Saturday while addressing a convention convened by the NBMCH students’ union and the Junior Doctors’ Council. The minister said that the new facilities would be introduced at the premier hospital of north Bengal on private-public enterprise. “The government lacks resources. It is thus imperative that we must solicit cooperation from the private enterprisers in upgrading the government hospital,” Mr Bhattacharya added.
Taking a dig at the NBMCH management the minister said that it was a common allegation that the medical instruments worth crores purchased for the hospital were not being taken care of. “We know that the hospital does not have sufficient number of X-ray and ultrasonography machines. The government would take initiatives to buy them. But, at the same time, we must ensure that the machines already with the hospital are being properly used and kept in operative form,” Mr Asok Bhattacharya said.
The state health department is thinking in terms of introducing more paying beds for NBMCH. Stating this, the minister said that the state required resources for taking up upgradation work. “Free beds for the poor would be kept intact, yet some more paying beds would be introduced. With the introduction of paying beds the hospital’s resources would be increased and these would be used to bear expenses for the treatment of the poor,” he said.Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, May 11: To bring the state in the mainstream the state ‘Doordarshan Kendra’ is going to function very soon from Gangtok. However, the initiative taken by the state Governor Mr Sudarshan Agarwal, who has pursued the matter with the Union minister for Information and Broadcasting, and also asked him to look into the matter seriously as to find out what are the factors that work against the functioning of the Doordarshan Kendra in Gangtok. The state Doordarshan Kendra for Gangtok was however, commissioned in November 2004 after it was completed a decade ago and is still waiting for the formal inauguration to so that work can start in full swing at the centre. The state government has been vigorously pursuing the matter with the Central government. The state chief minister, Mr Pawan Chamling has communicated through letters to the Union ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India on several occasions for the inauguration of the Doordarshan Kendra without any result.
Earlier, in the 1990’s the Centre had objected to the upgradation of Gangtok Television Tower claiming it would catch the television network of China being situated at the same range which may grab all the Chinese secrets from the network. Thanks to the state Governor for pursuing the issue once again and giving the project another attempt. The state Governor Mr Surdarshan Agarwal has taken up the matter with the Union Information and Broadcasting minister Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi seriously to intervene in the slowdown of developmental activities in the state so that information could reach the people of Sikkim and the general public at large.Read the rest of this entry »
DARJEELING, May 9: The Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) has levelled charges of sexual impropriety against Mr Amar Singh, assistant director, Tourism Department of the DGHC. Allegedly Mr Singh asked for sexual favours from a woman of Gorubathan in exchange of her appointment in the tourism department. “We have substantial evidence against Mr Singh to corroborate our allegation,” said Mr Binay Tamang, Press and publicity chief of the GJMM.
The incident came to light when the woman came forward and lodged a complaint with the GJMM. According to Mr Tamang, the woman claimed that Mr Singh had asked her over the phone to stay with him at a hotel in Siliguri, in return for which he would give her the appointment letter. The recorded telephone conversation between Mr Singh and the woman forms the basis of the complaint. “The telephone conversation proves the immoral intentions of Mr Singh,” Mr Tamang said. He added that the incident had brought to the fore similar cases of sexual advances made by accused.Read the rest of this entry »
Darjeeling, May 11: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has dissolved the Gorkha Janmukti Agsu, an affiliate association whose office-bearers are unaware of the decision. [Inset: Bimal Gurung]
“Agsu (All Gorkha Students’ Union) should stop using ‘Gorkha Janmukti’ as part of its nomenclature and can revert back to its earlier status. Bimal Gurung has said the Gorkha Janmukti Agsu has been dissolved because our party, too, has a students’ wing,” said Binay Tamang, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha.
The decision has come as a surprise to many as Gurung’s party seemed to have accepted Agsu as its affiliate. The Morcha president had not only flagged off the organisation’s march from Darjeeling to the Sankosh on April 13, but had also reached the spot a fortnight later to meet the marchers. Read the rest of this entry »
Siliguri, May 11: The Bengal government will enter a private-public partnership for improving services in North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH). While new facilities will be introduced, old ones would be upgraded as part of the tie-up.
A proposal has also been made to increase the number of pay beds so that the revenue could be ploughed back into the hospital.
“The services would also have to be of standard quality, otherwise patients will not seek treatment here in exchange for payments,” urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya said here yesterday at a convention organised by the Junior Doctors’ Council and the Medical College Students’ Union. Bhattacharya is the chairman of the hospital’s patient welfare committee,
Quality service is one of the factors behind the decision to go for a tie-up on the lines of Calcutta Medical College and R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. “MRI, CT scan and ultrasonography examinations would be some of the areas where such partnerships would be entered,” Bhattacharya said.
The minister also proposed that the junior doctors and medical students hold camps for patients and their relatives to inform them about the services available at NBMCH, a referral hospital for the six north Bengal districts.
The convention was attended by several private practitioners, voluntary organisations and medical representatives, who narrated several incidents that pointed to dalals (brokers) interfering and misleading the public. Read the rest of this entry »
Siliguri, May 11: Chicken has gone off the menu at many Siliguri homes with the Darjeeling district administration confirming bird flu in a village located just over 20km from the town. [Inset: Culling in Sukna on Sunday. (Kundan Yolmo)]
Culling operation in Poinikumari, the affected village, and areas within a 5km-radius started yesterday. “The team from the animal resource development department had culled 3,973 poultry birds yesterday. Another 7,000 are expected to be culled by 11pm today,” said Rajesh Pandey, the district magistrate of Darjeeling.
Twelve fowls also died at Pulbazar, 30km from Darjeeling town. Pandey said samples would be sent to test the presence of the H5N1 virus.
The ban on the sale of chicken within the 5km radius of Poinikumari came into force yesterday after a meeting between the district administration and the North Bengal Poultry Association. Read the rest of this entry »
May 10: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee called up the Prime Minister last night and said he had not “meant any disrespect” to him, a source close to Manmohan Singh said today. [Inset: Bhattacharjee and Singh]
The Bengal chief minister apparently said he was “misquoted” by the media, which reported a speech in which he accused Singh of “failing to perform on all fronts”.
According to the source, the Prime Minister replied: “It is okay because these things happen in politics.”
Subesh Das, principal secretary to the Bengal chief minister, however, said: “As far as I am aware, the chief minister made no calls to the Prime Minister. At least no calls were routed through me.” Read the rest of this entry »
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GANGTOK, May 08: The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party has condemned the news report published in one of the local vernacular dailies, which had stated the alleged involvement of SDF Cheli Morcha in stopping the sale of a local Nepali daily today.
A party press release states that the said news report was entirely unfounded, baseless and misguiding.
It further states that the “self-created issue” is a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the SDF party.
Refuting the allegation, the party in a press release has said that none from the Cheli Morcha was present on the day nor anyone had called Cheli Morcha on the pretext of giving benefits as reported in the newspaper.”
The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading a movement for a separate Darjeeling Hill state, Friday submitted a memorandum of demands to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
‘I have received a written statement from GJM specifying their demands and expectations from the government Friday morning. It is good to know that they too want to sort out the issue through mutual discussion,’ Bhattacharjee told reporters at a press conference here Friday.
‘After going through the details of their demands, I will talk to the ministry concerned over the issue. I am sure we will soon arrive at a permanent solution,’ Bhattacharjee said, adding: ‘The relationship and communication between the hills and plains have always been peaceful and constructive.’
‘The allround development of neither the hills nor the plains is possible unless there is harmony and peace among the residents,’ he stressed. Read the rest of this entry »
COOCH BEHAR, May 9: The Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association (GCPA) plans to boycott the panchayat polls. The GCPA, which does not consider Cooch Behar as a part of West Bengal feels that inclusion of the district in the West Bengal panchayat polls is an ‘unconstitutional’ act. Nearly 40 GCPA supporters were arrested from the town recently while campaigning in favour of the formation of a separate state of Cooch Behar and for urging the people to boycott the panchayat elections. The GCPA leadership has come up with billboards in all the gram panchayat areas of Cooch Behar district and other areas under the proposed ‘Greater Cooch Behar’ state. In addition to heralding the territory of the Greater Cooch Behar state, the GCPA leadership is using the hoardings to welcome visitors to the proposed state. The map includes the north Bengal districts and a few districts of Assam in its territory.
Demanding the inclusion of Cooch Behar as a C-category state of India the GCPA leadership said that the West Bengal government had no right to impose any election upon the people in the area, which the GCPA considered as the Greater Cooch Behar state. Reacting to the GCPA move the district Left Front convenor Mr Chandi Pal said that the GCPA was trying to mislead the common people with such posters and maps. “The administration should take steps to stop these things,” Mr Pal said . The police said they had already started removing the anti-election posters and hoardings from different areas in the district. The GCPA leadership is also annoyed with the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party (GCDP), a faction of the GCPA as the GCDP is contesting in the panchayat elections in Cooch Behar district. Denying any relation with the GCDP, the GCPA leadership termed them as ‘opportunists.’ [The Statesman]
Darjeeling, May 11: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has dissolved the Gorkha Janmukti Agsu, an affiliate association whose office-bearers are unaware of the decision. [Inset: Bimal Gurung]
Siliguri, May 11: Chicken has gone off the menu at many Siliguri homes with the Darjeeling district administration confirming bird flu in a village located just over 20km from the town. [Inset: Culling in Sukna on Sunday. (Kundan Yolmo)]
May 10: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee called up the Prime Minister last night and said he had not “meant any disrespect” to him, a source close to Manmohan Singh said today. [Inset: Bhattacharjee and Singh]
