Gorkhaland.. Times Now

Indefinite bandh in Darjeeling enters fourth day

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

With life paralysed in Darjeeling hills by the indefinite bandh called by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) entering fourth day on Thursday, a series of landslides hit Kurseong and Darjeeling Sadar sub-divisions.

GJM Press Secretary Benoy Tamang told PTI that the party is yet to receive West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s letter of invitation for talks in Kolkata.

“The GJM will prefer talks with the Centre only on its demand for Gorkhaland and will have no objection if the state government joins the parleys,” said Tamang.

The party, however, will take a decision after receiving the chief minister’s letter, he said. Asked about a possibility of the bandh being called off or relaxed, Tamang said everything depends on the Centre’s response.

Superintendent of Police in Darjeeling Rahul Srivastav told PTI that the situation in the hills is peaceful. The landslides which took place last night are not severe and a disaster management unit is on standby, he said.

Memorial rap for ex-jawans

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

A file picture of the war memorial at Batasia Loop

Siliguri, June 18: The secretary of the Zilla Sainik Board, Darjeeling, has appealed to ex-servicemen to maintain the sanctity of the war memorial at Batasia Loop, about 5km from Darjeeling town.

The appeal by Captain (retd) A.K. Saxena refers to an incident during a recent visit by a Parliamentary team to the war memorial, when members of the Bharatiya Gorkha Bhutpurva Sainik Morcha, an organisation of ex-servicemen, shouted slogans in favour of Gorkhaland.

“It is a matter of concern that on the morning of June 8, when a Parliamentary team was being escorted to the memorial for a wreath-laying ceremony, some ex-servicemen in proper attire and with full medals engaged in raising political slogans with flags and banners at the site,” said Saxena.

The memorial was constructed and dedicated in the memory of Gorkhas from the Darjeeling district who laid down their lives for the nation in wars and other military operations.

The memorial, along with the Toy Train loop, is not only a tourist attraction in the Darjeeling circuit “but is also a monument held in great esteem and respect”, Saxena said. He is also the secretary of the War Memorial Committee.

“Ex-servicemen have the right to raise their voices for any political agenda but their action that day has been to the detriment of the uniformed services and the sanctity of the war memorial has been abused. I therefore appeal to the people to maintain the sanctity of the memorial,” said Saxena.

Six fail to meet boss

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Kalimpong, June 18: A group of six former army officers from Darjeeling had missed a routine meeting with the visiting senior commander here today after bandh picketers forced them to abandon their journey mid-way, allegedly under instructions from the leadership of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

All six are members of the Zilla Sainik Board, which looks after the welfare of ex-servicemen, and were scheduled to join five of their colleagues from Kalimpong, Siliguri and Jalpaiguri for a meeting with Lt Gen. Deepak Raj, the General-Officer-Commanding of the Sukna-based Trishakti Corps.

“It was a routine meeting convened to discuss the welfare of ex-servicemen,” said a senior army officer.

However, the six from Darjeeling were stopped even though they were travelling in an army vehicle.

“We were stopped by a group of picketers at the bend below Peshok Bazaar (about 25km from here) and told to return,” said N.K. Pradhan, a retired colonel, on the phone from Darjeeling.

The bandh enforcers had also set up a picket at 8th Mile here and were seen checking all passing vehicles. Some of them, on condition of anonymity, said they were specially instructed to keep an eye on ex-servicemen coming to Kalimpong.

Rain, bandh & letter cap Morcha day

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

CRPF jawans patrol Salbari on the outskirts of Siliguri. Police had asked some of the Morcha supporters on fast in the area to disperse since Section 144 had been imposed. (Kundan Yolmo)

Darjeeling, June 18: The Forum on Smaller States has decided to support the call for Gorkhaland in the hope that others who have lined similar demands across the country would get due attention.

R.K. Tomar, the president of the Forum, said over the phone from Delhi: “We have decided to visit Darjeeling soon to express our support to the Gorkhaland demand. The dates for our visit are being worked out. We are thinking of starting a joint movement for the creation of a separate state.”

The Forum, which was formed a couple of years ago, has been supported by those spearheading the Telengana, Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh movements.

Sources maintain that the Forum is likely to work out a strategy to create a lobby at the Centre for the cause of smaller states.

“Four months ago, we had held a meeting of the forum which was attended by L.K. Advani (the leader of the Opposition). We had also made a representation to Sonia Gandhi (UPA chairperson),” said Tomar.

Political analysts believe that the euphoria which the recent demand for Gorkhaland has created has given a fresh leash of life to similar agitators, especially after the movement for Telengana, the strongest among the contemporary movements in recent times, showed signs of fizzling out.

Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said: “We are very happy to have received support from the Forum.”

Delhi condition greets CM’s fresh talks offer

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Bhattacharjee (top) and Gurung

Calcutta/Darjeeling, June 18: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today made another unsuccessful move to get the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to the discussion table. The earlier snub from the hill party had been on June 13, when it turned down his first invitation for talks.

The chief minister’s letter, which is yet to reach Darjeeling or the Morcha leaders, has failed to generate any positive response from the hills. “We are ready to talk to the chief minister, but only in Delhi where representatives of the Union government will be present,” said Roshan Giri, the Morcha general secretary, in Darjeeling today.

In the letter, the chief minister has asked the Morcha to meet him for discussions on the situation in the hills, state chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb told reporters at Writers’ Buildings in Calcutta this evening.

The resolution from yesterday’s “all-party meet”— the Trinamul Congress and the SUCI had stayed away — at Writers’ was appended to the letter. The resolution said the “expansion of the DGHC’s administrative and financial powers can be considered sympathetically while keeping the present contours of West Bengal unchanged”.

The chief secretary said the letter did not mention any date or time for the meeting. He did not comment when asked if any preconditions have been set for the talks.

The chief minister had said yesterday that he was willing to have tripartite talks with the Centre and the Morcha on the Darjeeling issue. “But the foundation for such talks has to be laid through bipartite talks between the state and the Morcha.” Giri’s comment today virtually ruled out the possibility.

Bhattacharjee had also said yesterday that he had never set any riders for talks in the past, nor would he do so in the future. But Bhattacharjee’s earlier invitation had more or less fixed the agenda.

The letter had mentioned that the discussion would be only on the “restoration of normalcy, maintenance of law and order, development of the region and grievances of the people”. As there was no mention of Gorkhaland, the Morcha had rejected the offer.

Memorial rap for ex-soldiers

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, June 18: Darjeeling’s Zila Sainik Board today frowned on some former soldiers for raising pro-Gorkhaland slogans at a war memorial but couched its anguish in an appeal for the monument’s “sanctity to be maintained”.

The appeal was issued by board secretary Captain (retd) A.K. Saxena through a letter that referred to the June 8 demonstration by members of the Bharatiya Gorkha Bhutpurva Sainik Morcha before a team of visiting MPs. The forum is affiliated to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

“It is a matter of concern that some ex-servicemen, in proper attire and medals, raised slogans with flags and banners,” said Saxena.

“…their action that day has been to the detriment of the uniformed services and the sanctity of the war memorial….”

The memorial, at Batasia Loop, 5km from the hill town, was built in memory of the Gorkha martyrs.

Sainik Morcha president Colonel (retd) Ramesh Allay said: “We wanted to deliver a letter to the parliamentarians. The authorities had told us the best place to meet them would be the memorial.”

Man & nature shut hills – Rain triggers landslides, frequent power cuts dog residents

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Morcha supporters out to enforce the bandh check a car at 8th Mile, 2km from Kalimpong, on Wednesday. All those kept outside the bandh’s purview are being issued ‘permission slips’ when travelling in the hills. The picketers near Kalimpong were checking if the students in the car had the slips. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Darjeeling/Kurseong, June 18: People in the Darjeeling hills woke up to a cold and wet bandh morning today and were dogged by prolonged power cuts, an erratic communication network and landslides.

Thirteen houses were damaged in Kurseong and their occupants had to be shifted elsewhere following landslides triggered by heavy rain that has been lashing the hills since Monday. In Lodhama, 60km from Darjeeling, a landslip damaged a house and four people suffered minor injuries.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha did not help matters by picketing the relief office in Darjeeling on the second day of Phase II of its indefinite shutdown, while the threat of landslip loomed over certain parts of the subdivision.

“In the morning, I sent my subordinates to the office to take stock of the situation following the incessant rain since Monday. However, they were not allowed to enter the office by picketers,” said an official of the relief department on condition of anonymity.

Soon reports of a landslip from Toongsoong in Darjeeling started coming in. When told about it, the Morcha supporters allowed the employees of the relief department to enter the office. The department distributes tarpaulins and other relief material to areas hit by landslides.

Both cellular and Internet services were frequently disrupted in Darjeeling today and BSNL officials put the blame on the indefinite shutdown.

A Poster by Gorkha Creative Associates

National Media arrives at Darjeeling, at last!

All Photos by Sanjana (Limbu) Roy

Darjeeling in Pics – With a little Bit of Sunshine and a Lot of Rain

Gorkha women find their voice

FROM THE INDIAN EXPRESS

By Subrata Nagchoudhury

Urmilla Rumba thinks nothing of politics—not even as convenor of the powerful eight-member core committee of the Gorkha Janamukti Nari Morcha, the frontal women’s organisation of Bimal Gurung’s outfit that is spearheading the current movement for statehood.

Like the GNLF movement of the ’80s, women are again one of the driving forces of the present movement. But for Rumba, a senior geography teacher at Darjeeling Loreto College, the association with the Gorkha Nari Morcha as its convenor, is not so much for a political cause as it is for a social commitment.

“Politics is not in my blood. The GNLF movement of the ’80s failed to evoke any special urge in me. Even now, as the convenor of the Gorkha Nari Morcha, I do not attend rallies and programmes organised by the Morcha. But it certainly provides me a platform to be within the Ghorkha women community,” says Rumba. “I try to raise their level of awareness about equal rights and opportunities for Gorkha women. In remote, rural areas of the hills, they are still backward and suffer in silence,” she says.

Sikkim losing Rs 7 cr daily due to Darjeeling bandh

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Gangtok, Jun 19 (PTI) The indefinite bandh called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling hills had its effect on the economy of landlocked Sikkim which has been incurring a financial loss of about Rs seven crore per day, official sources said.
The huge loss was due to the blockade on the National Highway 31A since Monday evening affecting the traffic movement between Sikkim and Siliguri via Darjeeling.

Sikkim’s department of economics, statistics, monitoring and evaluation has assessed the impact of a three-day bandh in Darjeeling hills called by GJM from February 22 and its report said that the state suffered a loss of Rs 5.95 crore per day.

If it was Rs 5.95 crore per day in February, the loss in mid June could be estimated at Rs 7 crore daily because of increased inflation and rise in prices of petroleum products taking the approximate estimated loss in the last three days to Rs 21 crore, the sources said.

The survey done by the department put the loss to the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.66 crore per day due to lack of revenue collection on account of VAT and sales tax (Rs 1.54 crore), excise duty on imports (Rs 11.33 lakh) and loss on tax on animal import (Rs 15,000).

The bandh in February, however, affected the business community the most, with a daily loss of profit at Rs 1.65 crore as agitators prevented transport of commodities to and from Sikkim, it said.

The Himalayan state also lost a revenue of Rs 33.47 lakh per day in those three days in February as it could not export or import goods from outside.

Gorkhaland triggers fresh debate over smaller states

FROM ZEE NEWS.COM

New Delhi, June 19: The resurgence of a movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland carved out of West Bengal has revived the debate within political parties on smaller states.

In the absence of unanimity, each political party has worked out its own logic for supporting or resisting demands for smaller — or not so small — states.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) favours splitting up states, barring a few, for better governance while the Congress party prefers not to have a fixed position on the issue.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is against smaller states per se. The Communist Party of India (CPI), however, is all for them — but not in the case of every state.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is against smaller states per se. The Communist Party of India (CPI), however, is all for them — but not in the case of every state.

The BJP actively campaigned for the new state of Jharkhand because it led to, as was widely known, curbing the influence of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad who held sway in Bihar.

‘The BJP supported the Jharkhand movement to expand their political influence. But the BJP would resist any move to split up Gujarat where it is so powerful,’ Rao said.

Gorkha Hill Council funds never audited

FROM FINANCIAL DAILY -  A HINDUSTAN TIMES PUBLICATION

Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) still gets money but Darjeeling’s crumbling infrastructure is raising questions on how well the grants were used writes Rajdeep Datta Roy

The accounts of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, an autonomous body founded in 1988 under an Act for the “social, economic, educational and cultural advancement” of the people of Darjeeling, have not been audited for 20 years. [Inset: Lal Kothi. The DGHC Secretariat . A Photo by Barun Roy]

Yet, the West Bengal government continued to fund the council, offering it Rs 300-400 crore in annual grants in recent years, according to the district administration. While the money was spent, reportedly on building bridges and roads, Darjeeling’s crumbling civic infrastructure—perennial water shortages, roads in shambles—is raising questions on how well the grants were used, say some local activists.

“We estimate Rs 4,000-5,000 crore was given to the (council) by various agencies (since its inception), but nobody knows on what it was spent,” alleges D.K. Pradhan, a leader of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, or GJM, which has been demanding a separate state for the Gorkhas.

Pradhan was earlier a member of the Gorkha National Liberation Front which, between 1982 and 1988, led an agitation in the hills with similar demands. A settlement was reached in August 1988 when the state agreed to create the council and give it executive power to oversee public works, health, agriculture, water resources, forest management and other administrative functions in Darjeeling.

The council was headed by chief, Subhash Ghisingh, since inception, until he stepped down in March. Ghisingh, now somewhat of a recluse, couldn’t be reached. His party, too, has disappeared, with almost all its supporters joining the GJM.

“The council used to carry out some kind of an internal audit, but that was an eyewash,” says Pradhan, who fought alongside Ghisingh in the 1980s. “He (Ghisingh) unleashed a reign of terror and forced us to keep quiet.”

Even GJM leader Bimal Gurung and general secretary Roshan Giri, who now lead the ongoing agitation in Darjeeling, were close associates of Ghisingh earlier but chose to remain silent during the GNLF’s regime. The state government, on its part, has never insisted on an audit.

“Our policy was to keep interference at a minimum so that Ghisingh was happy and the hills were peaceful,” says a joint secretary at the home department of the West Bengal government, on condition of anonymity.

Says the state’s urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya, who until last week had additional charge of hill affairs: “I know the accounts of DGHC had not been audited till 1998-99. I have even raised the issue in the assembly. But I am not sure what happened since and I don’t want to discuss the DGHC anymore.”

Bhattacharya stepped down as minister for hill affairs following clashes between activists of GJM and political outfits backed by the state’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Siliguri last week.

On 10 March, Ghisingh stepped down as council chief under pressure from the GJM, following which the state government has launched a “special audit” into its accounts, according to Rajesh Pandey, district magistrate of Darjeeling.

“I can’t say what happened before we took over. Some people say Ghisingh used to work like an autocrat, but   it’s rather amusing that people who now say these things were members of his party until lately,” says Pandey. He says the government didn’t audit until now because it would have been seen as an “intrusion into its autonomy”.

Accreditation of voluntary organisations needed

NGOS (MES9) (REGIONAL NEWS – SOUTH)
——————————————————————————–
Kochi: With accountability and crediblity of some voluntary organisations being questioned often, there is need for accreditation of voluntary organisations, which will lead to the funding process becoming more transparent, Dr Syeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission today said.

Accreditation will provide better governance and management of Non-Governmental Organsations (NGOs) and voluntary organisations, she said addressing the inaugural session of the two-day conference on the ‘National Policy conference on Voluntary Sector and Economic Development’ here.

There are 1.2 million voluntary organisations, performing various roles in various parts of the country.

Syeda Hameed said she had encountered “innumerable scepticism” in the government for the voluntary sector, adding ‘you cannot tar everyone with the same brush’.

The government must encourage various agencies to develop accreditation methodology. There has been suggestions for National Accreditation Council and five regional accreditational councils. This remains a suggestion. But for the time being a self-accreditation is needed, she said.

The government needs to enter into an equality partnership agreement with volutnary organisations– a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on equal terms, she said. A three-member expert group has been constituted to take this forward and some state governments have prepared draft policies, she said.

The voluntary organisations must get together and form their own accountability bodies.It is a very difficult area and government has its limitations, she said.PTI UD BN KJV BN BS 06181555 M 06181607 DEL

In Mail Today!

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha spreads to Dooars Terai

A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Flag atop a Temple Styled Chorten at Coronation Bridge in Sevoke regarded as the doorway to the Gangetic Plains. Photo by Himalaya Darpan

Lack of educational institutes’ further fuels separatist desire

By Rajdeep Datta Roy

For a place famed for its schools, the hills of Darjeeling have just a lone option for higher education: The woefully short-staffed government college.

For Gorkha students, who can afford it, going to a college in Delhi or Bangalore is far more attractive. But for the majority who can’t, the college in the town and a couple more in the foothills are what they have to make do with.

“It is these sullen, disaffected youth who will create the biggest headache for the government in the days ahead,” warns a retired army colonel, who is now an adviser to Bimal Gurung, leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) agitating for a separate state, Gorkhaland.

“And the state of the government college is one of the biggest reasons for this disaffection,” he adds on condition of anonymity.

The Singamari residence of Bimal Gurung is teeming with student activists. Some have just come from Siliguri and other areas in the foothills, having run the gauntlet of anti-Gorkhaland activists. The litany of complaints ranges from physical assault to more subtle means of opposition.

“The SFI boys at Suresh Chandra College and Siliguri College refused to even accept the forms of hill students who had gone to seek admission to undergraduate courses,” said Keshav Raj, the organizing secretary of the GJM’s student wing, Vidyarthi Morcha.

The SFI, or Students’ Federation of India, is the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which leads the Left Front government in the state.

The government college in Darjeeling in Singamari—set up in 1947—caters to some 2,600 students from the hill subdivisions of Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling. “We need at least two more colleges as the population has burgeoned but the government has not opened any new colleges in the hills,” says Raj.

Darjeeling Government College Students at Fast Unto Death. Photo by Barun Roy [From the Beacon Online Archives]

The college has already turned into a breeding ground for activists, and the retired colonel’s words sound ominous in the light of recent rumours that the GJM is planning to raise a Gorkhaland police force and sending youth to Nepal for arms training.

Though the organization rubbishes the rumour, a local tea grower, requesting anonymity, said, “Remember the feared Gorkha National Volunteers (an activists’ group led by the erstwhile Gorkha National Liberation Front, or GNLF)? It had also started this way.”

The Darjeeling government college, Raj says, hasn’t had a full-time principal for six years now, has 47 posts of lecturers lying vacant and suffers from a “communication gap” between teachers and students.

The “gap” is predictable since there are only 70 teachers for 2,600 students. But what the students say is altogether different—the mostly Bengali teachers at the college cannot communicate with the Nepali-speaking Gorkhas.

“We’ve written to everyone, from the district magistrate to the chief minister to the governor, but all we’ve got are assurances,” Raj says, waving a sheaf of petitions.

Few issue based Rationale for the creation of a new administrative, legislative and judicial set up in Darjeeling Hills and Dooars.

By S T Tamang

Gomdhen Dhim, Upper Dumaram, Kurseong

Issue- Slavery of Tea Garden Workers since the British Raj…

Dogmatic Communists have ruled West Bengal for over a quarter of century now, nonetheless, they have in no way grasped the structure on which the Tea Gardens of Darjeeling and Doars is operationally managed.

Generations of same families living in Tea Gardens have been encouraged to enslave themselves and survive on penury. Even after the establishment of Darjeeling Hill Council, there were no initiations to free over 80,000 people of slavery and give them higher status of farmers who could own land on which their families have toiled for generations. Continually since the British Era, dependents of Tea Garden workers numbering close to 700,000 people living in 100 odd tea gardens in Darjeeling Hills and Dooars have no ownership right to their ancestral residential homes despite their private investment on extension, repair and maintenance. The status of their properties are limited to that of a “labour quarter” subject to lease contract of the management company and state as the land owners and not secured by individual legal documents in favour of the workers.

This has resulted in workers not being able to capitalize on their assets, thereby, forcing them to be continually be “bonded as a labour” of the company presently managing the Garden and it amounts to their ancestral land and residence being a form of collateral  submitted to the tea company in exchange of work and right to reside.

This current structure of ownership/management of Tea Garden is a continuation of British Raj structure and the status of tea estate workers has remained same ever since and the government of West Bengal never bothered to apply the famous communist dogma of “land to the tiller” here unlike the rest of Bengal. The feudalistic structure remained with White Bada Sahebs being replaced by Calcutta based Brown Sahebs continuing with the privilege of absolute rule but with no accountability on regulation, welfare and local development.

The Calcutta based Tea Companies govern over these local communities with absolute impunity and is only driven by top line sales and annual bottom line returns while West Bengal establishment continues to hand these companies semi administrative rights like distribution of utility services like electricity and telecom, maintenance of roads, primary health care etc while frame conditions for government outreach and sustainable development was further eroded during the Subash Ghisingh era in the Tea Gardens.

LPG Truck turtles at National Highway 31A but does not explode!

An LPG Cylinders Laden Truck turtles at National Highway 31A but does not explode averting a massive incident. Photo by Himalaya Darpan

GORKHALAND POLICE

By Ichamani Chettri

Mr. Chettri is the patron of Beacon Online and an upcoming columnist with good deal of his works being published in The Himalayan Beacon and The Himalaya Darpan. He is presently stationed at Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I read in Himalaya Darpan in one of its issues this month that we are forming G.L.P (Gorkhaland Police).It was stated in the papers that males between 18 to 30 and females between 18 to 24 are allowed to enroll in the outfit. There was however a further condition that all the  recruits should be the  Gorkha Janmukti  Party (GJM) member.

I would like to inquire here as to why such a condition have been laid? Is Gorkhaland only for GJM  and not for other party supporters such as those of Congress, ABGL, GNLF among others? Aren’t we repeating the same mistake committed by GNLF decades ago? The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) treated the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council as its own enterprise and used it to recruit individuals solely from the GNLF party. We should not create any such discrepancy in the mind of the general populace again. People cannot be treated as per their political views or party membership. We must treat people by their abilities. Gorkhaland must be for the people of Gorkhaland not the members of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha alone.

Comments to be strictly moderated!

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Darjeeling! Sadly, Beacon Online among other good things have also created a name of itself in mass abuse of comment forums. From henceforth, all comments will be moderated before they are posted online. I promise you one thing if you your comments do not contain profanity, curses, personal attacks and racial remarks they will not be deleted. Personal attacks and racial remarks will be summarily deleted. Please comment freely and constructively. Do not abuse the online forum. The world thus far has been disappointed on our lack of objectivity.

I request you further, please be constructively, put through your opinions and ideas in a civilized manner.

Regs

Barun

Candlelit Procession at Kurseong

Photo by Rajesh Pradhan

Rajesh Pradhan is a respected contributor to Beacon Online. He had during the ousting of Subash Ghisingh, single handedly carried exclusive news report campaigns for Beacon Online. He is also a very respected academic in the Hills.

Dubyaman Cartoon on Gorkhas being dubbed as Foreigners