Prashant Rasaily’s Film reachs ‘Fab Four’

Prashant Rasaily, a budding director from Gangtok has reached Sony Pix Gateway to Hollywood Top Four. It is commendable that Prashant has reached this far without ever having been to college or had any training in filmmaking or the like. He comes from a family of artists, is very focused and bent on winning. He dares to do things that have never been attempted – like crossing a freezing river barefooted! He is confident and very emotional. “If there is a good story and executed well, it can be a good movie. I want to make a good movie,” says Prashant.

The Question of Gorkhas and Gorkhaland!

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Darjeeling!

Well, I have been put up with a slammer of questions by many of you folks and I will certainly try to answer each question to the best of my ability. However, you must understand that while the answers to the questions by any one that includes me are always based on the allegiance of the person (answering the question), the answers may or may not be completely honest and therefore not completely true. It is thus, upon you, to extract the truth from the numerous answers to your one question.

Please note that I answer these questions not as a person but as a non aligned and non concerned eyewitness – so that my answers are not seemingly patriotic or seemingly partisan.

1. Why are we demanding Gorkhaland? Just for Identity sake? Or are there other logical reasons?

The question of why do demands of Statehood arise in India and more so the demand for Gorkhaland may not be so easily answered. India is a country which may or may not be a practical unit to govern in terms of political ideologies due to the mere diversity of the people who populate it. The future of the nation lies in the fact that that the concept and consciousness of market economy lays roots in all the towns and villages of the nation and the people irrespective of what they are privately becomes a progressive contributing element, publicly. Today, the population is merely a complacent lot demanding one Right from the other while expressively withdrawing themselves from some of the smallest of civic duties.

The history of our nation is also much to blame and the forefathers while giving much to the deprived laid traps of divisive forces in the most comprehensive of the Constitution ever devised. The Reorganization of States in Linguistic basis that took place in 1956 should never have happened in a democratic secular nation. While in one hand the Constitution guarantees Right to Equality (A Fundamental Right) irrespective of caste, religion, sex and the likes, the Constitution sets out to be more partisan to the General Populace as such giving exclusive rights and privileges to the different caste groups, races and women. Now while this might have been justified during and at least 40 years after the independence but today in the Twenty First Century this breeds dissatisfaction and resentment among the noted majority. While a child during his or her birth is guaranteed all rights and privileges, he or she realizes sooner than later that it is not all true. I have deepest concerns for the women, the handicapped and the people below poverty level and I agree with privileges for them but then privileges merely based on caste, race and as such is absurd today. I have seen some of my friends riding a Rupees 80,000 motorcycle to accept a stipend of Rupees 2,000 ultimately to blow it up in a party. While this might not be the general scene all over the nation, I do believe seriously that the entire concept of rights and privileges beyond that which the Constitution guarantees should be deliberated upon and remodeled.

Now you might be wondering as to where I am leading to with my own deliberations. Well then, the fact is that the only Gorkha member of India’s Constituent Assembly had actually doubted on these very lines when he sat on the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly. “Either independent India modeled herself on the counties of the West where constituent administrative blocks, not large or very small, be carved out of the present provinces and given full autonomy in terms of financial and administrative powers or as advocated by Mahatma Gandhi converted into a Republic of Villages.” Now Damber Singh Gurung or other members who advocated such a stand may or may not have been seriously taken by the leaders of the Indian National Congress who ultimately were the decision makers, the reality today, is that, the framers did overlook one of the most fundamental responsibility of theirs – the shaping of the nation, physically into a secular, democratic and a socialist nation. I might even go to the extent that while every rights under the stars might have been guaranteed by the Constitution and that India might have been declared a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic, India is not a democratic, secular and a socialist republic in reality.

Villagers from Dukka and Tandrebong seek help

By Nirmay John Chettri

In the hills of North Bengal under the Kalimpong region lies a tiny village of Dukka and Tandrebong where most of the villagers are farmers.  Here the main crop is cardamom and ginger which is their cash crop, but lately it has not been giving a good yield because of the prevailing local virus called “Suirey”.  This has been a great setback for the economy there.

Although mankind has been rapidly moving towards development, there are certain places where it has taken a U turn because of the rough terrain, peoples’ attitude towards villages and the corruption. YES, the villagers of Dukka and Tandrebong are bearing this wound since a long time. Till date this village is left without a motorable road and electricity which is the basic need towards development.

After getting no response and help from the government, the local panchayat and other authorities, the villagers of Dukka and Tandrabong have stood up and have joined hands in constructing a motorable road which would connect Dukka and Tandrabong  to the nearest small town Algarah and make life easier for the villagers living there. This road would be a lifeline for Dukka and Tandrebong.

One student dead, 35 injured in accident

GANGTOK, April 18: One student died and 35 others were injured when the vehicle they were travelling in fell into a ditch near Jarung, in Sikkim today. The victim was identified as Narendra Khatiwara (17), a class XII student at the Ravangla Senior Secondary School. According to the eyewitness, the students were heading to a function at the Biring Jarung Secondary School in Jarung village. The students and locals alleged the police piled the students into the fateful vehicle. Overloaded, the vehicle lost control and fell in the ditch.  After the incident, the furious students gheraoed the Ravangla police station and damaged police vehicles. They also blocked the main road of the town causing a traffic snarl till evening.  The DIG Range (East) Mr Akshay Sachdeva went to the spot and tried to dissuade the furious students. He also appealed to them not to take the law in their hands. Ten students were seriously injured in the accident and referred to different hospitals including the STNM hospital in Gangtok, Namchi hospital in Siliguri.  Chief minister Mr Pawan Chamling visited the Namchi hospital and announced Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia for the bereaved family and instantly gave Rs 20,000 to each of the injured students. “The state government would bear their treatment expenses,” he said. [The Statesman]

Depression stalks Tibetan kids

New Delhi, April 19: Young ethnic Tibetans living in exile show high rates of anxiety and depression, possibly an emotional price for the loss of a homeland, researchers have said.

The researchers from Emory University School of Medicine in the US evaluated some 300 Tibetan children from two schools in Himachal Pradesh and found unusually high anxiety and depression levels among children born and raised in exile and those born in Tibet.

The study of the students from Tibetan Children’s Villages at Upper Dharamsala and Bir has shown that students born in Tibet had significantly higher depression and anxiety scores than Tibetans who were born in exile — either in India or Nepal.

The anxiety and depression could lead to symptoms such as difficulty in achieving happiness, in concentration and oppositional behaviour, said Charles Raison, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Emory and the study investigator.