Subash Ghisingh Could Resign on the 16th Feb!

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!

Darjeeling, February 13: Unconfirmed report from Writers Building, Kolkata suggest that the State Government has confirmed to the GJM that Subash Ghisingh could be resigning from the Post of Caretaker Administrator, Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council by the 16th of February. This move, by the GNLF Supremo under pressure from the West Bengal Government and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya himself is seen as a move to avert worsening law and order situation in the hills. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had started the ‘fast unto death’ demanding the removal of Subash Ghisingh and the visit of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to Darjeeling’. However, sources (unconfirmed) suggests that since the Government (State & the Central) cannot reschedule the visit of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to Darjeeling, the resigning of Subash Ghisingh, a symbolic and politically historic move could lead to the pacification of the GJM ‘fast unto death’ movement.There has been no comment however, from any political party including the GJM and the GNLF on the said issue. Sources says that some kind of political arrangement could also be made in favour of Sixth Schedule Amendment Bill and that there could be alteration to the Bill and the Memorandum of Statement signed between the Central, State Governments and DGHC. When asked whether GJM had agreed upon the Sixth Schedule implementation, the (unconfirmed) source said that the Sixth Schedule Amendment Bill or some other alternative could now be worked out.

Himalayan Salamander facing extinction in Darjeeling Hills – Conservation is need of the hour

By Bharat Prakash Rai (M.Sc, Eco. & Env.)
Secretary, Federation of Societies for Environmental Protection [FOSEP]

&

Priyadarshinin Rai ( M. Sc. Zoology)
Member of FOSEP, Darjeeling

Introduction :Salamanders are amphibians of the order Caudate (also called urodela). This taxon includes the newts, a group of rough-skinned species in the salamander family Salamandridae. Salamander are differentiated from other amphibians (frogs and caecilians) conspicuously by the presence of a tail in all larvae, juveniles and adults, and by having limbs set at right angles to the body with forelimbs and hindlimbs of approximately equal size. Salamanders are distinguished from frogs and caecilians also by numerous characteristics of there skeleton and musculature.

Many salamanders have a biphasic life cycle containing an aquatic larval form with external gills and metamorphosed terrestrial adult form that breathes by lungs or through moist skin. Some species lack metamorphosis and retain a larval appearance throughout there life, whereas other species lack the aquatic larval stage and hatch on land as terrestrial forms that resemble miniature adults. The general association of longs with terrestrial animals and gills with aquatic ones is not universally true among salamanders: terrestrial plethodontid salamanders lack lungs and breathe through the skin whereas aquatic adult amphiumas lack gills and use lungs to breathe. Salamanders are carnivorous in the larval, juvenile and adult stages of there life cycles: they prey mainly on small arthropods.Himalayan Salamander is one of the rarest and oldest amphibian creature existed before the giant dinosaurs to be found in the hills of Darjeeling, scientifically known Tylotrotriton verrucosus. Once regarded as totally extinct from this planet earth, it was found living in the hills of Darjeeling in 1964 at Jorepokhari, 20 km from Darjeeling. It is understood that this Himalayan Salamander is a very premitive and highly endangered species. It figures in the Red Data Book of IUCN and included in schedule No I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 in India.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha wants removal of Ghisingh

Darjeeling, Feb. 12: Demanding the removal of Subash Ghisingh from the DGHC administrative caretaker’s post and cancellation of the proposed Sixth Schedule Bill for Darjeeling, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha forced all government offices close in the Darjeeling hills today. Meanwhile, the ongoing indefinite hunger strike called by the GJM and staged in front of the administrative offices of the three hill sub-divisions entered into the sixth day, today. Some of the strikers have fallen sick.

In Kurseong, three hunger strikers have been admitted to hospital , so far and are under treatment. They have been identified as, Puspa Chettri (39), resident of Dokan Dara- Thana Line, Sabita Mukhiya, (34) resident of Naya Bazaar and Urmila Pradhan (18), resident of Barbung- Gauri Shankar Tea Estate. In the meantime, eight other GJM supporters from Tindharia and Sukna regions have also joined the indefinite hunger strike movement at Kurseong SDO office. Earlier, the indefinite hunger strike was going on with 21 supporters but after eight more supporters joining today, the number has swelled.
A meeting is slated tomorrow in Kolkata chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chief secretary, Amit Kiran Dev, and seven representatives of the GJM party on the political situation in Darjeeling hills.

Darjeeling boycotts GNLF supporters

Darjeeling, Feb. 12: People of the Pandem village in Darjeeling, are socially boycotting GNLF supporters of the village. Caught in the wind of a political change blowing through the Darjeeling hills, the tiny community residing at Pandem have changed political allegiance from the GNLF camp to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the new kid in the block. Seven families, however, still remain loyal to the GNLF. It is they, who are feeling the pinch. According to the GNLF Lebong Valley, president,  CB Tamang’s wife, Urmila Tamang, the boycott is causing severe inconvenience to the GNLF supporters at Pandem. “Be it hiring a vehicle for travel or trade, we are being treated as outcasts,” she lamented.

The GJM supporters’ boycott tact at Pandem has not gone down well with some. “The GJM supporters are repeating the what the GNLF did earlier. It is regretful and undemocratic,” said the AIGL chief Madan Tamang. The Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, an apolitical organisation, is also not happy with the development. “The Gorkha community should remain united if Gorkhaland is to be achieved. Such social boycott is very disappointing and we condemn such an act,” said a senior member Binod Prakash Sharma.

School for Nepali folk music

Siliguri, Feb. 12: Hira Waiba, hailed as the undisputed melody queen of Nepali folk music in the country, is working on her “most cherished dream” — setting up an international music academy in Kadamtala.

“All these years I had been dreaming of an academy for music and dance as a tribute to my father S.M. Waiba from whom I learnt music,” Waiba said with childish excitement in her two-storied house in Kadamtala, around 10km from here.

“I never thought it would be possible. But now some trusted friends have joined hands with me to form a committee, which is working on a war footing to make S.M. Waiba International Music and Dance Academy functional by April-May,” she added.

The institute is going to come up on the land adjacent to Waiba’s house.

Waiba said the institute would train students on folk, modern and classical music and dance. “It will not be confined to Nepali folk music, though our main focus will be on researching, reviving and conserving that art form.”

She added: “Apart from other Indian cultures, there will be courses on Western and Oriental music too. Since I travel around the world a lot, I hope to get experienced artistes and music teachers to offer short and long-term courses at the centre.”

Morcha protest spills to hill offices – Fast and locks for parliamentary panel visit

Darjeeling, Feb. 12: All government offices remained closed across the hills today, following a call by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for an indefinite shutdown.

Essential services, along with educational institutions, banks and the Food Corporation of India offices, have been left out of the strike’s purview.

Attendance at the offices including that of the DGHC was almost nil. The toy train service, too, was suspended.

The shutdown is part of the Morcha agitation demanding that the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs visit the hills. [Inset: (From Top) Morcha supporters in front of the land and land reforms office, a protester on fast in Kalimpong and the closed gate of the post office in Darjeeling. Pictures by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha and Suman Tamang]

The committee, which is currently scrutinising the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill 2007 to include the hills in the Sixth Schedule, was expected in Darjeeling on February 6. Since the visit has been cancelled, the Morcha believes that Ghisingh, along with the government, “conspired” to stop the committee from visiting the hills.

The Morcha is likely to call off the protest programme if a meeting with the Bengal government turns out to be fruitful tomorrow, sources said.

“But our stand is clear. We will not budge until the government assures us that Subash Ghisingh’s tenure as caretaker administrator of the council will not be extended further and that the standing committee will visit the hills,” said Binay Tamang, the press and publicity secretary of the Morcha.

“If the committee comes here, it will get a clear picture of the people’s opposition to the special status. Ghisingh along with the government conspired to hide the facts from the panel. Almost every one in the hills is against the status and we want the bill to be scraped,” Tamang added.