Chowrasta under snow in 1910

Tibetans advised not to hurt India’s interests: Pranab

New Delhi, March 19: The external affairs minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, told the Rajya Sabha today that Tibetans in India knew they could not indulge in any political activity “which can jeopardise our relations with any country.” Replying to members’ queries on a statement given by him on foreign policy developments, the minister asserted that India’s foreign policy was dictated by its interests, and modifications were made only to recognise emerging realities.

Mr Mukherjee said the Dalai Lama was given all respect as a religious and spiritual leader. At the same time, the Tibetans given shelter along with their leader were “advised” not to indulge in any political activity that could create problems for India. “This is appreciated by him and he had only on 10 March thanked India for continuing unparalleled support for the refugees,” he said. Mr Mukherjee said at one time India and China contributed 60 per cent of world output. If the two countries were to go back to those days, this could not be achieved through rivalry or tension, he said. The only way out was a policy of co-existence. The minister said it was true India and China had differences over Arunachal Pradesh. When China issued a demarche on the issue, he had asserted that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had announced during his Arunachal visit that a package would be unveiled for the state soon, Mr Mukherjee said.

Teesta protesters in hospital

Gangtok, March 19: Members of the Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), who are on saline drips, said the protest against hydel power projects would continue even from hospital beds.

The organisation is spearheading an agitation against the Sikkim government’s move to construct hydroelectric plants in North Sikkim’s Dzongu, a Lepcha reserve.

ACT general secretary Dawa Lepcha and members Tenzing Gyatso and Gaeboo Lepcha were admitted to Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial (STNM) Hospital here four days ago and are being administered saline drips. [Inset:  Gaeboo (front) and Dawa in their hospital beds. Picture by Pema Leyda Shangderpa]

The fast entered the 10th day today.

“It is one last battle we are fighting and we are prepared for whatever happens. It’s a do-or-die situation,” Dawa, who developed complications in his kidney function, told The Telegraph from his bed.

Strike for ‘campus’ recruitment

Siliguri, March 19: Third-year students of Siliguri Institute of Technology (SIT) today launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding that recruitment process be conducted on the campus.

The practice of the Techno India Group, which opened the first private engineering college in north Bengal, is to send the students to the Central Placement Cell, Calcutta.

“We went to the principal and other authorities with the demand but they greeted us with nonchalance, forcing us to go on an indefinite strike,” said one of the students.

“The institution does not reimburse our travel or accommodation expenses,” said another third-year student. “There is no surety as to how many times one may have to make trips to Calcutta. What often happens is that when we are just back from an interview, we are told to rush to Calcutta again for a meeting with another company. Not all students can afford to meet such expenses and cope with the uncertainties. And girls are the worst sufferers,” he added.

Consensus on hill poll yet to be reached

Darjeeling, March 19: The ABGL announcement that it would not contest any polls till the bill conferring Sixth Schedule status on the hills is scrapped and Gorkhaland achieved might put the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in a spot. Although Bimal Gurung, the president of the newly formed party, had said that “election was secondary” to Gorkhaland, his party had never shot down the idea altogether.

On the other hand, the ABGL stand that it will boycott elections till Gorkhaland is achieved will keep the Morcha under pressure, especially after it has, in recent times, revived the statehood demand.

The ABGL announcement comes in the wake of the Bengal government’s keenness to conduct panchayat elections in the Darjeeling hills at the earliest. Although the hills are supposed to have a two-tier panchayat system, election to panchayat samities never took place after 1988 while gram panchayats, too, have been defunct since June 2005.

Garden work for tea tourists

Darjeeling, March 19: Globetrotting, high-end tourists will be soon seen helping workers manufacture Darjeeling tea at Happy Valley Tea Garden under instructions from young guides speaking English, German and French.

The garden, set up in 1854, is rolling out an unconventional tea tourism package in which guests will prune and pluck tea, before being treated to a sumptuous lunch at the new lounge coming up beside the garden factory. [Inset: Bansal performs a puja in the factory of Happy Valley. Picture by Suman Tamang]

The lunch, too, will be special, because each item will have tealeaves in one form or the other.

The $1m project is expected to be launched in three months, said Sanjay Bansal, the proprietor of Rithik Investment Pvt. Ltd, which bought the garden last year. “I personally believe that just opening two rooms for people at the factory bungalow only amounts to paying-guest tourism and not tea tourism,” he said.

High-life diseases in hardy hill tribe

Calcutta, March 19: Swift urbanisation of the hills and the consequent lifestyle changes are making Bhutias increasingly vulnerable to heart diseases, says a study that blows the traditional belief that the community is characterised by strong hearts.

“The vices of urban lifestyle, highly conducive to diseases of the heart and blood vessels, are quickly catching up with the tribal people who are going through rapid urbanisation,” said Barun Mukhopadhyay, a professor at the biological anthropology unit of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Calcutta.

Fat-rich food, inadequate physical exercise and smoking are known to cause cardiovascular diseases.

Tribal populations, especially the ones living in the mountains, are usually thought to be free of these diseases as they follow a different lifestyle that includes a lot of physical activity. But the ISI study paints a different picture.