Heaving a sigh of relief, finally

By Vivechana Dewan

The discontentment, bitterness and resentment that had been kept suppressed for 21 long years by the people of the Darjeeling hills finally and fortunately found an outlet in the guise of the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha. Initially the people found this right to expression an anomaly in their restrained and curbed lives of 21 seemingly endless years. But no sooner did the people come to terms with the golden reality, than they started voicing their opinions and beliefs, without having to thin twice of being beheaded or stabbed or shot at in broad daylight. Within a couple of months the GJMM had unbelievably more than half the population of the district of Darjeeling supporting the issue they had reawakened. The long cherished dream of every Gorkha that had been trampled and manipulated by the astute Subash Ghisingh once again started echoing in the hills. At the outset, people were agitation of 1986 -87. No one was ready and none could sustain another atrocious reality of the 80’s which people preferred to forget as the worst dream ever. But Mr. Bimal Gurung’s reassurance and his decision to adopt the path of Ahimsa and the Mahatma, won the confidence and support of the once disheartened public. By the third month the movement had swept over the entire district and one could see the tricolour flags of the GJMM fluttering majestically atop every house. “the winds and waves are always on the side of the best navigator.” Indeed Mr. Bimal Gurung lives up to this saying.

Gorkhaland Issues – A graphical representation

By Jyoti Mukhia

From Tibetans, with prayers – Candles to remember chinese brethren

Darjeeling, May 20: Dorjee Tsten belonged to a landowning family in Pari, Tibet. But he had to flee from his phayul (fatherland) when he was just eight to escape Chinese “oppression”. [Inset: Tibetans hold a prayer meet in Darjeeling on Tuesday to remember the victims of the earthquake in China. (Reuters)]

Today, the 58-year-old Tsten as a refugee in India has to work hard to eke out a living. But even then, he did not think twice before organising a prayer in memory of thousands of Chinese who died in the recent earthquake.

Tsten, along with the 653 members of the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre in Darjeeling, is organising the bum doj (one lakh prayers) which will be conducted by 15 lamas over three days at the centre.

The centre, which was set up on October 2, 1959, is home to Tibetan refugees, many of whom had a better life in their homeland. Today, they earn livelihood by weaving Tibetan carpets which are exported across the world. Their children study in the Montesorri run at the Centre itself.

Despite having lost everything, the Tibetans still believe that the face of humanity should not be flecked by politics.

“Things may be difficult for us here. But that does not mean that we are against all Chinese. The prevailing situation is the handiwork of the political leaders. The Chinese oppression is largely because of its political set-up,” said Tsten who, along with six other families, had fled Tibet through Bhutan in 1964 before coming to Darjeeling in 1971.

Morcha to meet govt on Gorkhaland

Darjeeling, May 20: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today received an invitation from the Bengal government to attend a meeting in Calcutta on Thursday. Leaders of the hill party have decided to go with a one-point agenda — Gorkhaland.

However, Morcha chief Bimal Gurung will stay away from the meeting, sending a four-member delegation instead.

Binay Tamang, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha, said: “After receiving the invitation through the district magistrate, we convened a central committee meeting in Darjeeling where it was decided that Roshan Giri (the general secretary of the party) will lead the team to Calcutta.”

“The only point of discussion will be Gorkhaland. Since this is one of the first meetings (on this issue), the party decided that it would be better if our president (Gurung) did not head the delegation,” added Tamang.

Hill reservoir

The open reservoir (in picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha) under the Neora Khola Water Supply Scheme that was inaugurated at Algarah, 16km from Kalimpong, on Sunday.

Constructed at a cost of Rs 4.63 crore, the reservoir, the third under the project, can store 13.34 million gallons of water.

The construction of the reservoir was started in 1989-90, but was stalled for a technical problem for 7-8 years. Water from the scheme caters to the civic area and the army station in Kalimpong. [The Telegraph]

Swifter and better than last year – English boost to ICSE, ISC scores

Darjeeling/Siliguri, May 20: English appears to have emerged as the most scoring subject for ICSE and ISC students from the Darjeeling hills this year, while marks in mathematics and the science subjects have gone down compared to 2007. [Inset: Students and parents check out the results in a Siliguri school. (Kundan Yolmo)]

“Every year, students in ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) fare well in a particular subject and this year they have definitely done well in English,” said Fr Kinley Tshering, the rector of St Joseph’s School (North Point). “The marks in mathematics and science have not been as good as last year.”

Darjeeling leads north districts in HS- Who’s got what?

Siliguri, May 20: Darjeeling’s performance is the best among the north Bengal districts in this year’s Higher Secondary examinations.

It is also the only district in the region where the girls have performed marginally better than the boys. In all other districts, the boys have taken the lead.

“The percentage of students who have passed in Darjeeling district is 80.57, the highest in north Bengal,” said Mukta Narginari, deputy secretary, West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, north Bengal. “This is a remarkable increase from last year’s 74.05 per cent.”

While 80.36 per cent of boys were successful, girls have performed slightly better with 80.84 per cent passing.

The overall success rate of students in north Bengal has improved this year, Narginari said. Compared to last year’s 67.13 per cent, this time, 71.25 per cent students have cleared the Plus II exams. While 73.39 per cent of boys passed, the girls are behind with 67.93 per cent of them passing.

The pass percentage of South Dinajpur, which comes second after Darjeeling, is 72.31 per cent and the pass rate among girls is 68.04 per cent. In case of boys it is 75 per cent.