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Kathamandu, May 29 [8:07 PM]: The Shah Royal Coat of Arms at the Narayanhiti Royal Palace was brought down and replaced by the Nepalese national flag at exactly 7:42 pm IST. Tension had prevailed at the southern gates of the Narayanhiti Royal Palace since early morning due to the ambiguity in the Government’s stance on the removal of the Royal Coats of Arms at the former King’s residence. A sizeable procession clashed with the police guarding the Palace for almost the entire day resulting in 12 protesters being injured. While the entire episode almost boiled down into an invasion of the palace by the protestors, the Palace employees ultimately brought down the Royal Coat of Arms quietly and replaced it by the Nepalese National Flag. No Government order had been issued and according to police officers guarding the palace the Royal Coat of Arms were brought down by the Palace Employees on their own. The protestors clapped and sang the new national anthem as the Nepalese National Flag was furled at the palace. They dispersed later, peacefully. No comments were available from the Government or the political parties.
This was the first time when instead of ‘Long Live the King’ the people cried ‘Death to the King’ and the Army tried to disperse them! Surely, the signs of the beginning of the end of Monarchy was becoming evident!
London, May 29 (PTI): The recruitment of Gurkhas to the British Army may be a thing of the past, with the fiercely republican Maoists set to lead a government in Nepal after the abolition of the 240-year-old monarchy in the Himalayan state.
Nepal Maoists are determined to stop the nearly 200-year tradition of Gurkhas fighting alongside the British army. The CPN-Maoist, who won a surprise election last month after a decade-long civil war, insist that the practice is humiliating and mercenary.
“The obnoxious practice of citizens joining foreign armies as mercenaries will be stopped,” Baburam Bhattarai, the deputy chief of the CPN-Maoist was quoted as saying by the Daily Express tabloid today.
The former rebels say other job opportunities will be created in the impoverished country and they intend to close British Army recruitment centres in Nepal.
However, former soldiers in Britain are opposed to move.
It will be a very sad day if they (Maoists) carry through with their threat, said Bidhur Pakhrin, 43, vice chairman of the British Gurkha Welfare Society.
“If young men want to earn a decent and hard-working living to provide for their families then that should be respected, he added.
Every year some 600,000 pilgrims make their way through the Valley of Flowers in the Indian Himalayas, and until recently, left behind a trail of garbage. Now the Valley and the adjoining Nanda Devi National Park has been cleaned and restored, thanks to the efforts of a diminutive female Forest Reserve Officer, Jyotsna Sitling, recipient of this year’s prestigious Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar, the country’s highest environmental honour.
The ecologically sensitive 19-kilometre buffer zone of the Valley of Flowers stretches along the trek route from Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib. But the annual pilgrim traffic had wrecked its beautiful surroundings,with an accumulated trail of plastic bags, bottles, raincoats and other non-degradable waste.
Jyotsna Sitling, 45, not only began a restoration project in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand but has helped win the Valley of Flowers World Heritage Site status. She has also set in motion a unique conservation movement that has helped save the ecologically fragile Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve.
Sitling’s assignment involved ridding the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve buffer zone of the mountain-high piles of plastic and non-biodegradable waste, which had been dumped by pilgrims over the last three decades on their way to Hemkund Sahib. But this could not be possible without local support so she painstakingly evolved a community-based waste management programme.
SILIGURI, May 28: “The North Bengal University is determined to make the academic structure more transparent as far as the students’ right to information is concerned. We have already started the process of showing the answer scripts to the students and are seriously contemplating to make the education and examination structure more transparent”.
This is what Mr Arunava Basumajumder, the vice chancellor of the NBU said today while inaugurating a seminar on the ‘Right to Information’ organised by the NBU Teachers’ Council. He further said that the extent of information to be parted with by the NBU administration should be pondered over deeply, for the issue involved was a serious one requiring some discrimination. “Imparting information to those demanding it is a good thing, but all information cannot be imparted,” the NBU vice chancellor observed. Mr Jyotish Basak, the secretary, NBUTC, said that his organisation was concerned more with the issue of right to information than with the Right to Information Act. “The Act by itself is important, yet in our view, several angles involved in the issue are more important,” Mr Basak said.
BANKURA, May 28: Despite faring well in Zilla Parishad and panchayat samity polls, the CPI-M headed LF received a setback in gram panchayat poll in Bankura. The Leftists, unexpectedly, have lost foothold in a number of panchayats where they had enjoyed stronghold for 25 years. A party member said CPI-M the way they carried themselves and the affluent life they led did not go down well with the common men in the district led to their loss in the district. Also party’s poor performance in certain minority quarters has embarrassed the district CPI-M.
Results of north Bankura blocks impeded the CPI-M. Blocks like Saltora, Mejia, Barjora and also the central blocks, Bankura I & II gave mandate against the CPI-M. The party district committee of CPI-M is yet give its reaction. Mr Amio Patra, district CPI-M secretary said: “It is a matter yet to be analysed that why the voters in certain blocks did not vote for our candidates who stood for panchayat seats when they have supported those who stood for the ZP and samiti seats. We shall scrutinise the results first and then give our reaction.”
The party did not do well in industrial and semi-urban pockets. Out of a total of eight gram panchayat seats in Saltora, the Trinamul Congress led opposition grabbed six. In Majia, three out of total five gram panchayats were grabbed by the Trinamul Congress. At Gangajalghanti, the Trinamul Congress won four panchayats and the AIFB that fielded candidates against the CPI-M also recorded victory. In Barjora, the opposition managed to bag two additional panchayats, Saharjora and Hat Asuria, retaining what it had before. Two panchayats ~ Beliatore and Brindabonpur resulted in a tie.
In Bankura I, three panchayats~Anchuri, a minority base, Andharthole and Jogdalla I ~ turned against CPI-M for the first time in 25 years. In Bankura II, two panchayats ~ Mankanali and Norra ~ have been taken away by the Trinamul Congress led opposition for the first time. Mr Arup Chakraborty, district coordinator, Trinamul Congress said: “Their behaviour with the common men have led to their defeat. Despite of our being ill organised, the people gave their mandate against the CPI-M out of absolute disgust.” [The Statesman]
Siliguri, May 28: Retaining its reputation of producing one of the best results in north Bengal, the Darjeeling district has achieved the highest pass percentage in the Madhyamik examinations 2008. The district has achieved a pass percentage of 65.77, which is 4.69 per cent higher than the region’s overall pass percentage of 61.08. However, the region’s pass percentage is 11.38 per cent less than the overall pass percentage of West Bengal. The reason for this, the assistant secretary of the West Bengal Board Of Secondary Education (Northern Region), Mr Debasis Dutta said, could be the burgeoning pressure of first generation students on schools in the hilly and tribal areas of the region.
“The overall results of our region have not been good mainly because of the large number of first generation students, especially in the Dooars and tea plantation areas,” he explained. Mr Dutta, however, noted that there could have been some other reasons for the poor show of the schools in north Bengal, which have to be identified by the council. He assured that they would soon launch an enquiry into the reasons for the poor pass percentage this year and try to improve the performance of the schools in the region. [The Statesman]
DARJEELING, May 28: The All India Gorkha League president, Mr Madan Tamang today criticised the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha of maintaining “double standards” in its policy of “civil disobedience” towards the West Bengal government. “The GJMM leaders talk of dissolving the DGHC, but do not shy from secretly obtaining contracts for their friends and relatives from the DGHC caretaker. They are eyeing the Rs 132 crore lying with the DGHC,” alleged Mr Tamang.
As part of its plan to financially cripple the government, the GJMM has closed the payment departments of the electricity board and the telephone exchange. Mr Tamang questioned the sensibility of such an act. “Not paying phone and electricity bills do not amount to civil disobedience. The intellectuals of the GJMM fail to understand that to defy the West Bengal government in the true sense would be to forego all the Acts including the DGHC Act, the West Bengal Municipality Act and the Panchayat Act,” he stated.
Amidst calls for “introspection and retrospection” the leader demanded for transparency in the proceedings of the GJMM. The AIGL leadership maintained that the party would let nobody compromise with the demand of a separate state. [The Statesman]
Siliguri, May 28: At the age of three, Sanjay Sharma lost his vision completely following a bout of illness. Today, the 16-year-old boy passed the Madhyamik examination with first division marks. [Inset: Sanjay Sharma. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]
Sanjay did not forget to thank Mary Scott Home and School for the Blind in Kalimpong, where he studied up to Class VIII and still stays, and the Scottish University Mission Institution (SUMI), from where he appeared for the exams.
“My teachers, friends and the superintendent of the home helped me a lot,” he said from Kalimpong. “Besides that, I tried my level best and prayed to God.”
Niranjan Shah’s tale is equally inspiring. The physically disabled student of Najrul Satabarshiki Vidyalaya in Phansidewa, who writes with his foot, passed Madhyamik in second division.
Like Sanjay, Seema Pradhan is also visually impaired and she, too, had studied at Mary Scott Home up to Class VIII before getting admission to a general school. Appearing for this year’s Higher Secondary exams from Taptasree High School in Kalimpong, she secured 72 per cent.
Kalimpong, May 28: The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) today said any disruption to the ongoing work for its two low dam projects would retard the development of the region.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had threatened to stop all work of the power major in the Darjeeling hills from June 7 as part of its movement for a separate state.
The Teesta Low Dam Project (TLDP) Stages III and IV, located at Rambi and Kalijhora respectively, are meant to benefit the people of the hills and the state. “If the people don’t want development, we can’t do much about it,” NHPC general manager Ramanan said. He, however, hoped that the enlightened section of the society would help the NHPC in seeing through both the projects.
According to Ramanan, the 132mw TLDP-III is expected to be commissioned in September 2009, while the target for 160mw TLDP-IV is November 2010.
Asked to comment on Morcha secretary Roshan Giri’s contention that the hills would gain precious little from the twin projects, the NHPC general manager said the power generated by the projects would go to the state grid but could also be major assets to the hills in the future.
Calcutta, May 28: The erosion in the CPM’s minority vote share, laid bare by the rural poll results, has prompted the Bengal government to conduct a “full-fledged survey” to assess the “deficit” in the community’s development and find out ways to address its problems.
“Our objective is to find out whether our government has been able to provide them with basic amenities such as health, primary education, proper roads and electricity,” minority affairs minister Abdus Sattar said today.
The Left Front lost large swathes of minority-dominated areas in the polls. According to the CPM’s assessment, farmers’ fear of land acquisition for industry and the lack of development of the community brought forth by the Sachar Committee report triggered the sudden slide.
The party could not retain its grip on Nandigram-scarred East Midnapore and South-24-Parganas, where Muslims have a significant presence. The combined effect of the land row and lack of minority development also took a heavy toll in Singur. Pockets of North-24 Parganas, Nadia and Howrah with a significant Muslim presence also gave a blow to the CPM.
“The land war and the Sachar report forced the government to order the survey,’’ an official of the minority affairs department said.
The study will cover 12 districts with a minority population of over 20 per cent. The district magistrates of two of them — Murshidabad and Malda — were at Writers’ Buildings today to review the “gaps in the state government’s work’’ for minority development.
The minister said: “We have collected preliminary data on certain parameters but we have to conduct a full-fledged survey.”
Darjeeling, May 28: From court cases and crores in dues to a tie-up with the best-known department store in the world — Happy Valley Tea Estate has turned its fortune around in just two years.
Today, the tea garden earmarked a portion of its plantation for exclusively supplying handcrafted Darjeeling Tea to the Knightsbridge Store of Harrods in the UK. [Inset: Representatives of Harrods, H. Rahman and Alex Hart, hold up a box of handcrafted tea from Happy Valley as the garden-owner Bansal looks on. Picture by Suman Tamang]
Sanjay Bansal, the proprietor of Happy Valley, said: “We will sell the exclusive handcrafted tea from a special one-acre section of our plantation, known as Snowfields, to Harrods. The very fact that they are willing to take our tea gives us the stamp of high quality as Harrods has the strictest standard in quality control mechanism.”
Representatives of Harrods today visited the garden in Darjeeling and tasted eight handcrafted varieties of tea named Special While, Cloud White, Imperial White, Golden Snowflakes, Silver Snowflakes, Snow Mist, Snow Pearls and Millennium.
“We prefer second flush as the first flush has a shorter shelf life,” said one of the representatives, H. Rahman.
Siliguri, May 28: Six persons, three of them engineering students, were arrested last night for the abduction and murder of call centre employee Abhishek Chachan on May 22. [Inset: The six accused in Siliguri police station on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]
One of the accused, Surojit Das, is a former boyfriend of the girl Abhishek had been seeing for some time.
The manner in which Abhishek’s body had been dumped has shocked police. Two of the accused Roman Sarkar and Shahidur Rehman had sat with the body in between them on a motorcycle and ridden out of town.
Roman, Shahidur and Ananda Gupta are students of a private engineering college in Salbari and used to stay in a rented flat in Hatimore, where Abhishek was killed. The Chachans, residents of Deshbandhupara, lodged a complaint suspecting abduction after he went missing. The body of the Siliguri College of Commerce student was recovered from Liucipokhri, 20km from here, on May 24.
“Surojit Das, a medicine shop employee, wanted to teach Abhishek a lesson. In the past two months, Abhishek had become close to a girl who once had an affair with Surojit,” said Rahul Srivastava, the superintendent of police of Darjeeling.
The police said Surojit had made enquires about Abhishek and had found out that he was eager to acquire a particular model of motorcycle and used it as a bait to bring him to the flat in Hatimore in the evening. Surojit had befriended the students at a Christmas party at Sevoke Road last year.
At Hatimore, the boys had beer together, but laced Abhishek’s drink with sleeping pills. What followed was a heated exchange between Surojit and Abhishek. The group then left Abhishek gagged and tied in the flat. He was unconscious by then
The resolution to declare Nepal a Democratic Republic was passed by the Constituent Assembly and adopted at exactly 11:20 pm 27 May 2008 with 560 votes out of 564.A resolution debunking King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was also passed minutes later and the King asked to leave the Narayanhiti Palace within 15 days without touching any thing from the palace. The Constituent Assembly made strict remarks that the Army had been ordered not to allow the former King to take any of his belongings from the Palace. The former King further lost all his privileges and will now be a simple citizen of a democratic republic where he will have to make a living for himself and his family and pay taxes.
As soon as the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly ended a controversy however, arose when the members of the Constituent Assembly were asked why the Royal Flag had not been removed from the Narayanhiti Palace as the King no longer existed. The Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel that the parties had not been able to come to consensus on the issue of who was going to be the President. As yet, he said, the incumbent Prime Minister Bisweshar Prasad Koirala Girija Prasad Koirala was acting both as the Prime Minister and the President (as of the moment the first meeting of the Constituent Assemble was adjourned). But when asked whether a resolution declaring the incumbent Prime Minister as the ‘interim’ President had been passed at the Constituent Assembly he refused to answer. As per the minutes of the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly no such resolutions had been brought to the chair and passed. When further asked by this reporter as to who was at the helm of the nascent Democratic Republic when the King no longer existed and the President not yet elected. He replied repeating his earlier answer - the political parties were yet to come to consensus on the choice of the President. He however, added that the President of the new Democratic Republic of Nepal would be elected within a few days if not sooner.
The people of the entire nation, poor or rich, young or old celebrated the day as the ‘independence day’. People gathered before the international conference hall at Baneswore and raised slogans, while a multitude were found driving across the capital honking horns, singing songs and calling for the beginning of a new era in the history of Nepal. News of celebrations came in from all the regions of the country.
Siliguri, May 28: At the age of three, Sanjay Sharma lost his vision completely following a bout of illness. Today, the 16-year-old boy passed the Madhyamik examination with first division marks. [Inset: Sanjay Sharma. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]
Darjeeling, May 28: From court cases and crores in dues to a tie-up with the best-known department store in the world — Happy Valley Tea Estate has turned its fortune around in just two years.
Siliguri, May 28: Six persons, three of them engineering students, were arrested last night for the abduction and murder of call centre employee Abhishek Chachan on May 22. [Inset: The six accused in Siliguri police station on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]