Land Rover Series 1 still in service in Darjeeling

This Land Rover Series 1 designed in 1950 is still in service in Darjeeling. Perhaps one of the few in the entire world!

Photo by Barun Roy

Interestingly, Land Rover was designed by the Wilks Brother and manufactured by the Rover Car Company. It was brought over by the Leyland Motors Ltd., (Later British Leyland Motors Ltd) in 1967. In 1994, Rover was taken over by the BMW. In 2000, BMW sold Rover to Ford for 1.8 Billion Pounds. On March 16, 2008, Tata Motors from India brought over Rover from Ford for 1.15 Billion Pounds. Land Rover thus, today is an Indian Brand!

A rare sea of cloud cover Darjeeling Town

Photo by Barun Roy

All India Gorkha League draws a sizeable audience!

When every single individual is said to have allied themselves towards Gorkha Janmukti Morcha a sizable number of people gathered to listen to Madan Tamang’s speech in Darjeeling Yesterday.

Today’s Beacon Online Exclusive Wallpaper

Preparation for Buddha Purnima Celebrations in the Hills

A monk colours the paintings on the wall of Salugara Monastery before Buddha Jayanti, which will be celebrated on May 19. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

National Geographic Channel Makes Amend, Changes Quiz! Apologies in Print!

After the concentrated efforts of Beacon Online, and the most distinguished contributors and patrons of Beacon Online’s perseverance and determination, National Geographic Channel made amends to the quiz and called Khukri ‘famous and sacred’ weapon of the Gorkhas.

Beacon Online congratulates and thanks Jyoti Thapa, Rashmi Dewan, Bishal Rai, Y. K. Shrestha, Rajesh Pradhan along with all the other unknown individuals who fought for the honour of the entire Gorkha community across the Globe.

Beacon Online also remains grateful to the National Geographic Channel for doing the right thing and setting standards for rest of the Television Fraternity in the world. Everybody must learn from National Geographic Channels honesty, desire to know the truth and diligence.

Thank you very much!

National Geographic Channel Corrected Quiz

Hidden glory

Sikkim is soaked in ethnic beauty and it’s enthralling to discover destinations in the valley that are prettier than picture-postcard. The sights near Hee Bermiok have plenty to offer, says Swaati Chaudhury

With summer temperature soaring, Sikkim Tourism has been organising plenty of festival packages for tourists. The latest tourism extravaganza has been a four-day Kalez Valley Heritage Festival from 10 May to 13 May 2008. Hee Bermiok Tourism Development, Heritage Conservation Society and Tourism Co-operative Society, West Sikkim hosted the multi-ethnic cultural event. This is the third consecutive year that the event was jointly sponsored with the help of Sikkim Tourism and the Department of Culture, Sikkim.

The Himalayan valley of Sikkim is soaked in unique ethnic treasure chest and one comes across destinations in the valley that are prettier than picture postcard. The valley around Hee Bermiok has plenty of Khaleej that conjures up the name of the festival. The festival was targeted to exhibit the real heritage of the land that has remained hidden from tourists. Some of the glimpses of the event included display of models from Gumpa, YangrangSing, Jhakri dances and multi-cultural dances like Dhan Naach, Chabroong Naach, Damkey Naach, Bhutia Dance, Tamang Dance, Sherpa Dance, Rai Naach, Newari Dance, Nepali Dance, Gurung Dance and Lepcha Dance.

According to Madan Kumar Pradhan, assistant director, Sikkim Tourism, “The state tourism department is very much keen to create awareness among the unemployed youth of Sikkim and make them self-reliant. There had been a display of cultural programmes, handicraft items and ethnic cuisine of Sikkim at the event. There had been a splash of major high and low-altitude flowers of the state. Besides, the chief ethnic groups of Sikkim like Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali performed live cultural shows. Other rare attractions were mountain biking and Sikkim archery show.” The first day of the fest had a wide display of cultural shows while on the second day, there was mountain biking and a rally was hosted from Hee-Bermiok market.

Awareness programme

By Roshan Pradhan from Sombarey, Sikkim

On 14^th May 2008 an awarene programme was organized by the Multi Purpose Co-operative society Soreng Sub Division West Sikkim  at Forest Rest house Sombarey  for all the president and manager  of MPCS under Soreng Sub-Division. In the said programme Commission cum Secretary  Mr. Girmi Goparma was the chief Guest . The programme started with the speech of Mr. Pemba Salaka  host of the day, V. Chairman of the Akash Ganga Co-operative Society Sombarey . In the programme  some selected  MPCS was given time to express their grievance, in which the president of Okherey MPCS said that the  usual example of Amul  and Lijjat Papper  are not fit  in contrast of sociology of Sikkim,   member of MPCS for simfed said the lack of awareness in  the common people, free aid and grants from the government is the key reason for the slow pace of co-operative movement. In the programme, from the department Principal registrar Mr. D.N. Tiwari  gave a elaborate history and objective of co-operative movement , in which he said the long term goal of the MPCS is development of the society not merely the sale of goods and also said the co-operative movement is above caste, religion, colour and political party.

Flora species on verge of extinction in Sikkim

GANGTOK, May 15: Forty-six species of flora are facing extinction in Sikkim, says a recent survey by the Botanical Survey of India. “The bio-diversity is being threatened in some areas of the state owing to easy accessibility, large scale extraction, collection of medicinal herbs, poaching and encroachment in the natural habitat,” said Mr AA Ansari Joint Director of BSI. “Natural calamities like earthquake, forest fire, landslides and animal grazing have also played some role in the fast dwindling process of certain species,” he added.

The findings came to light when a BSI team undertook an exercise to update the status of the flora in Sikkim. The survey was particularly aimed at identifying the endangered and threatened species of the flora in the Himalayan state. “The present status of the floral species in Sikkim on the basis of the latest survey would be sent to the Centre which would take further steps for the preservation,” said Mr Ansari.

Parties reject US conspiracy theory

SILIGURI, May 15: Several political parties including the Left Front ally RSP have rejected the US conspiracy theory behind the ongoing disturbances in the Darjeeling Hills as hinted at by the state Left Front chairman and state CPI-M secretary Mr Biman Bose here yesterday.

Mr Bose had said here yesterday that the state government and the people should be on guard as the USA and its Intelligence Agencies might be involved in the continuing unrest in the Darjeeling Hills.  Several political parties today rejected Mr Bose’s observation as ‘concocted’ and as an attempt to divert the people’s attention from the state government’s failure in tackling the issue.

Ridiculing Mr Bose’s observation, RSP state committee member Mr Binay Chakravarty said that as the CPI-M had a cordial relation with the USA, the party had better information regarding America’s intentions in the Hills. “The CPI-M leaders frequently go to the USA and so they know things better than us. But our view is that the Centre and the state are equally responsible for the unrest in the Hills,” he added.

Bird flu confirmed in Bijanbari

SILIGURI, May 15: The H5N1 strain of avian influensa has surfaced in Bijanbari Block in Darjeeling sub-division. According to the Darjeeling DM, Mr Rajesh Pandey, the Bhopal based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) has confirmed the outbreak after testing the samples sent from Bijanbari on 11 May.

“The HSADL report has reached us today. A meeting of the officials concerned has been convened at the Darjeeling district collectorate tomorrow and hopefully, we would be able to begin culling operations from Saturday,” Mr Pandey said.  With the flu outbreak at Bijanbari, the number of bird flu hit sub-divisions in the hills has now raised to two. Earlier on 8 May, bird flu was confirmed in a few fringe villages of Mirik Block in Kurseong sub-division.

The Matigara and Naxalbari Blocks in Siliguri subdivision were also declared bird flu hit on the same day.
Meanwhile, the mopping up drive at Matigara, Naxalbari and Mirik Blocks concluded today. According to the state Animal Resource Development department, a total of 3,138 fowls were culled in the three affected blocks on the first day of the mopping up drive yesterday. This has raised the number of bird culled in the area to 28,410 since 14 May. Today’s figures were yet be compiled, ARD officials said.

Woman’s decomposed body recovered

SILIGURI, May 15: Police recovered the decomposed body of a middle-aged woman from her brother’s residence at New Circular Road in Jalpaiguri this morning.  The deceased woman, who was a divorcee, had come to her elder brother last Friday. The brother, Amitava Sengupta, a businessman by profession, is also a divorcee and used to stay alone at the New Circular Road ancestral house.

This morning, the locals in the area traced back a strong stench from Sengupta’s house and intimated the Kotowali police station.  A police team later broke into the closed house and recovered the decomposed body of the woman from one of the bedrooms.

“The highly decomposed body was lying on a bed and was covered with quilt. “We have forwarded the body for postmortem to know the exact reason of her death,” said Mr Rajib Bhattacharya, IC, Kotowali police station.  Meanwhile, the elder brother of the deceased, is missing. According to the police, the man is an unsuccessful businessman and an alcoholic.

The police are now desperately looking for him to ascertain, if he had any role in the unnatural death of his younger sibling. [The Statesman]

Tamang warns GJMM

Darjeeling: The All India Gorkha League president, Mr Madan Tamang today cautioned the GJMM of its friendship with the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPO) alleging that the KPO president Mr Atul Roy had submitted a memorandum to the Union Home Ministry in 2005 stating that the Gorkhas were “not Indians”. “The GJMM should learn to differentiate between enemies and friends. Under such circumstances I can only advise them to sever ties with their allies,” said Mr Tamang.

The memorandum addressed to home minister Mr Shivraj Patil in 2005 opposes the conference of the Sixth Schedule status on the Gorkhas. “The memorandum clearly states that the Gorkhas were brought by the British to work as labourers in the tea plantations of Darjeeling,” said Mr Tamang.

The development comes at a time when the GJMM has formed an alliance with the pro-Kamtapuris - the Progressive and the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party for their respective demands of Kamtapur/Greater Cooch Behar and Gorkhaland. Following their joint campaigns the parties had also organised joint meetings at Dinhata, Cooch Behar and Siliguri.

Tamang blames immigration policy for infiltration

DARJEELING, May 15: The All India Gorkha League president Mr Madan Tamang today blamed the immigration policy of India for the infiltration of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which has reduced the Gorkhas to an insignificant minority. “This is the strategy of the CPI-M-led Left Front government to increase their vote bank in north Bengal by sneaking in Bangladeshi migrants and providing them with ration cards and voter cards,” Mr Tamang said.

Speaking on the occasion of the 65th raising day of the party, the AIGL leader accused the Bengal government of bringing a “demographic change” in north Bengal. “We can challenge the policy in the court. It is necessary to set a cut-off layer to curb the random infiltration,” he said.

Condemning the label of “communal” on the Gorkhaland demand, Mr Tamang stressed that Gorkhali is a “way of life” rather than a community. “Gorkha transcends all caste, creed and religion. Everybody residing in the Darjeeling Hills is a Gorkha irrespective of community,” he said adding that the fight of the Gorkhas is not against the Bengali community but against the Bengal government.

The AIGL leadership also cautioned that the Centre and the state government are trying to re-introduce the Sixth Schedule Bill, which everybody thinks has been scrapped. “The UPA and Left Front government are looking for the right opportunity to implement the bill. They will rename the DGHC as Gorkhaland Autonomous Council which equates to nothing,” he alleged. The AIGL will fight tooth and nail to prevent such a development and will accept nothing less than statehood, he added. [The Statesman]

Plans for art centre

Kalimpong, May 15: The directorate of technical education in Bengal has taken necessary steps to ensure the sustainability of Chitrabhanu, the art and craft centre, where no student has enrolled for quite some time now.

Housed in a cottage, once a summer home of Rabindranath Tagore, at Atisha Road here, the centre currently has no trainees. It does not have adequate teaching staff either. As had been reported last December, the total staff strength of the centre consists of one instructor, two office clerks, a peon and a night guard.

In an effort to reverse its decline, the directorate now plans to fill up all vacancies and introduce a two-year post-graduate diploma in computer application at the centre.

“The cabinet and finance department have already given nod to the filling up of five posts and we will soon set the recruitment process in motion,” said Parijat Dey, the director of technical education, over the phone from Calcutta.

The posts include that of superintendent, an instructor each for art and craft, music and computer, and a matron for the girls’ hostel. Dey said they would be appointed in two-three months.

Tea school for foreign students - Ready to learn

Siliguri, May 15: The Champagne of the East is giving a new high to the makers of the world’s best wines. [Inset: The three French students in Siliguri. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]

With tea steadily gaining popularity among the French, some professionals and university students from France have started doing their industrial training with Indian tea companies.

“There is a growing market for tea in France, as in the whole of Europe,” Galaud Marjorie, a student from Lycee Bremontier, Bordeaux, said. She and two other French girls, Legastelois Marine from the same university and Dreyer Audrey from Lycee Fresnel, Caen, are in Siliguri to learn about tea marketing with Lochan Tea Company, a blending, packaging and exporting company. All three of them are undergraduate students of international business.

“We had heard a lot about Darjeeling Tea, or the Champagne of the East, and wanted to explore the land that produced it and know the people behind it,” Marine said.

Audrey hopes her hands-on training in tea business will help her land a job. “I don’t want to limit myself to France and would like to try my hand in jobs outside the country as well,” she said.

Parking lot for Kurseong

Kurseong, May 15: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-led Kurseong Municipality has decided to construct a parking lot that will accommodate around 70 vehicles on a vacant land opposite the railway station here. [Inset: The plot for the parking lot in Kurseong. (Vivek Singh)]

“We have already held a meeting with the railway officials and they have agreed to co-operate with us. Since the land is near the tracks, co-operation of the railway authorities was necessary,” said Balaram Chettri, the vice-chairman of the municipality.

Subroto Nath, the director of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, said: “If the parking lot does not hamper the train movement, the DHR has no problem with its construction.”

Chettri said vehicles could be kept in the two-storied slot coming up on the same land where the GNLF-controlled civic body had performed a bhoomi puja in 2003 for a taxi stand. However, the plan did not materialise because of unknown reasons.

Morcha backs SSC candidates

Darjeeling, May 15: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today demanded that the 44 empanelled School Service Commission (SSC) candidates who recently received a high court order in their favour should be immediately allowed to join work in schools across the hills.

The candidates had passed the SSC examination in 2000, but Subash Ghisingh, who headed the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council at that time, had blocked their appointment, claiming that hill schools were minority institutions. The SSC cannot appoint teachers for such schools. The vacancies in the hill schools were filled up by ad-hoc teachers.

“We demand that the 44 candidates be appointed immediately. The Bengal government should also regularise the services of the ad-hoc teachers as soon as possible,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha.

Ever since Calcutta High Court passed a ruling on September 7, 2007 in favour of the 44 SSC empanelled candidates, the ad-hoc teachers have been fearing for their jobs. They have claimed that of the 44 seats sanctioned for the SSC candidates, 35 are currently filled by ad-hoc teachers. [The Telegraph]

“We are being lied by everyone”, Madan Tamang

Madan Tamang, the President of All India Gorkha League addressing the people in Darjeeling

SDF faces arson charge

Gangtok, May 15: Attempts were made to set on fire vehicles belonging to the president and the convener of the Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad in two separate incidents last night.

In both the cases, the Parishad has accused the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) of the crimes.

The Maruti Gypsy of A.D. Subba, the president of the Parishad, with registration number SK 02 1176 was already burning when a passing police team doused the flames just in time. The car had been parked in front of Subba’s house at Daragaon, Tadong.

Almost at the same time, in Ranipul, 10km downhill from here, an alert police team spotted a lighted bottle lamp with petrol inside and the wick burning below the fuel tank of Bharat Basnett’s Maruti WagonR with registration number SK 02 5537.

Separate FIRs have been lodged at the Sadar police station here and at Ranipul. In the case of Subba’s car, the Parishad has named SDF leader Beg Bahadur Rai and members of the youth wing of the ruling party as suspects.

Bird flu in hills

Darjeeling, May 15: The Darjeeling district administration today confirmed an outbreak of avian flu in Bijanbari-Pulbazar, about 30km from here.

“Bird flu has been confirmed in the area. Culling could start from Saturday,” district magistrate Rajesh Pandey said.

The administration had sent samples of 12 dead poultry birds and crows from the area to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Calcutta and the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal on Monday.

There are no poultry farms in the flu zone. The dead fowls were collected from people’s backyards where small number of birds are reared for domestic consumption. The culling operation is expected to be time-consuming as teams will have to travel over hilly terrain