Vote for Rajiv Thapa at NDTV IMAGINE!

Rajiv Thapa Rocks Junoon kuch kar dikhane ka on NDTV Imagine

To sms for Rajiv Thapa Airtel people have to dial 54321 24 24

mtnl/bsnl voters have to dial 1862 888 63888 24

all other mobile company users have to sms
junoon space 24 Rajiv Thapa and send to 56388

He is contestant number 23.

Rajiv is a soldier’s son & his father has passed away he has a mom back in Chamba.
Rajiv has earlier taken part in Sa-re-ga-ma-2005 & made it to TOP 10.

Junoon is an exclusive new show that taps into the country’s passion for good music, playing out an exciting contest to decide the country’s most popular genre of music, namely Folk, Sufi, and Filmy Music!

The uniqueness of Junoon is in the individual talent of the contestants, each with a strong grasp of their respective genres, and also that the audience will be voting for a genre of music and not for individual singers. The format of the show is as follows:

The show will feature 3 teams, who will represent a genre each:

Sufi Ke Sultan – Sufi music

Maati Ke Lal – Folk music

Bollywood Ke Baadshah – Filmy Music

Each team will have 6 contestants and will be mentored by an eminent personality from the music industry, namely:

Ustaad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - Sufi Ke Sultan

Ila Arun – Maati Ke Lal

Anand Raj Anand – Bollywood Ke Baadshah

Every week, the participants from all the teams will perform a song from their respective genres.

GJM further relaxes indefinite bandh in Darjeeling

BREAKING NEWS!

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Kolkata, July 5 (PTI) The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) today further relaxed the indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling hills, which was to resume from tomorrow, till August 7.

“The relaxation is to pave the way for tripartite talks for a separate Gorkhaland state,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI.

During the relaxation period, people in the hills would hold prayer meetings in support of Gorkhaland, he said.

From tomorrow, however, the GJM would enforce closure of all central and West Bengal government offices, hill council offices and hydel projects in the hills, but banks, post offices and FCI offices would be allowed to function on Mondays and Fridays, Giri said.

This was decided at the party’s central committee meeting presided over by GJM chief Bimal Gurung.

The indefinite bandh began on June 16, but a 60-hour relaxation was given from 6:00 pm of June 22, which was further relaxed till July five.

Reiterating its demand for a tripartite meeting in Delhi, Giri said Bimal Gurung had written yesterday to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his reply was awaited.

Cabinet okays bill to amend Constitution;Madhesis dissatisfied

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

By Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Jul 5(PTI) Nepal’s interim Cabinet has endorsed a bill to amend the Constitution but refrained from declaring the southern Terai belt bordering India as a single autonomous region, drawing rebuke from the ethnic Madhesi community which vowed to step up its agitation in support of its key demand.

The multi-party Cabinet yesterday endorsed the supplementary bill to amend the interim Constitution and decided to forward the proposal to the Constituent Assembly to enact the changes, taking into account various agreements signed in the past by the government with political parties, including Madhesis and indigenous communities.

However, the agitating Madhesi parties rejected the Cabinet decision on amendment as it did not specifically mention about the declaration of Madhes or Terai as an autonomous region, terming it a “clear deception”.

“The decision is a clear deception to the people of Madhes and it cannot address our genuine demands,” Rajendra Mahato, President of Sadbhavana Party — one of the Madhesi groups, told PTI.

Nepal parties agree to amend Constitution over Madhesi demands

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Nepal parties agree to amend Constitution over Madhesi demands Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Jul 4 (PTI) Nepal’s three major parties, including Maoists, today reached a consensus on resolving the issue of the ethnic Madhesi community, which has been seeking autonomy for the southern Terai belt bordering India, by amending the interim Constitution.

After holding several rounds of parleys, the leaders of the three major parties — CPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML — agreed to resolve the issue, over which the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly have been stalled for over a week, through a supplementary amendment to the interim Constitution, CPN-UML central member Bhim Rawal said.

“We have agreed that the State Restructuring Commission to be formed under Article 138 of the Interim Constitution would consider the issues raised by Madhesis and other ethnic groups regarding the form and shape of federal structure while submitting its recommendations to the Constituent Assembly,” Rawal said.

“We want to resolve the issue relating to federalism in a comprehensive manner instead of dealing it in a piece meal basis,” said Nepali Congress leader Prakash Sharan Mahat.

The commitment made by Premier G P Koirala while signing an agreement with the United Democratic Madhesi Front, an alliance of three Madhesi parties, will be taken into consideration while amending the interim constitution, he said.

GJM softens stand, won’t push for tripartite talks

FROM INDIAN EXPRESS

By Kartyk Venkatraman

Three weeks into its confrontation, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) appears to be vacillating between a pacifist attitude towards the state and Centre and a hardline stance to retain the masses.
In a statement issued on Friday, party general secretary Roshan Giri said for now, the GJM would not push for tripartite talks involving the Centre, which is caught up in resolving the standoff with the Left over the nuclear deal.

At a public meeting in Darjeeling on Thursday, GJM leaders were full of praise for the “warmth” shown by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during last week’s meeting in Kolkata.
The Darjeeling district administration, on its part, has indicated its willingness to play down the standoff.

The approach of both sides has changed after the Supreme Court’s July 3 directive, asking all involved, especially the state government, to keep the NH-31A free of blockade. Senior GJM leader Binay Tamang told The Indian Express that the SC directive will not affect a total bandh again from July 6, if such a decision is taken at the party’s central working committee meeting on Saturday.

“It was the Sikkim Government that went to the SC over the highway blockade,” he said. “Our bandh, if resumed, will encompass the NH-31A as well. If the government tries to break our bandh and violence erupts, the Sikkim Government will be responsible.”

Party sources said there is a rethink on the bandh among the senior leadership following the SC directive. “We think the bandh will not be reimposed. If at all it is, the highways will not be touched, government offices may shut down,” a party leader said.

Issuing a warning about the July 7 deadline for changing all vehicle registration plates from “WB” to “GL” (Gorkhaland), Tamang said: “Any violence resulting from trying to stop vehicles with GL numberplates will be the Bengal government’s responsibility.”

District Magistrate Rajesh Pandey is in Kolkata for a meeting with the Chief Minister and senior leaders, said sources in Darjeeling district administration.

Journalists attacked and injured in Sikkim

Journalists were attacked and wounded severely as they were taking interviews at the office of the Sikkim Prajashakti. There are so far no leads as to how were the attackers and why did they attack.

Photo by Himalaya Darpan

Gorkha Janmukti Vidyathi Morcha to declare its future programmes today

Students praying during their participation in the Hunger Strike at Darjeeling

Photo by Himalaya Darpan

GLP recruitment at Lopchu-Peshok Region

Gorkhaland Personnel recruitment at Lopchu Peshok Region

Photo by Himalaya Darpan

“GJM must stop maintaining double standards” Madan Tamang

“Every individual must get GL numbers but not the Vice Chairman of the Municipality and other officers. Do they accept the West Bengal Authority?” Madan Tamang

“GJM called for all party meeting but left for Kolkata and Delhi without informing any one…What happened there does any one know?” Madan Tamang

The season of love

Two Snakes in a Love Embrace near New Jalpaiguri Railway Station

Photo by Sujoy Dutta

Rath Yatra in Siliguri

A Rath Yatra makes its way through the Sevoke Road from the ISKON Temple

Photo by Bikram Sashankar (Himalaya Darpan)

Scientists call for release of entomologist

Petr Svacha

FROM GULF TIMES

BANGALORE: Over 500 scientists from across the world yesterday submitted a joint petition to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, seeking the release of an eminent Czech entomologist who was arrested for collecting beetles from a national park without permission.

Petr Svacha of the Institute of Entomology Biology Centre at Branisovska and his colleague Emil Kucera have been detained without bail since June 23 for violating the Indian Biodiversity Act by collecting beetles from West Bengal’s Singalila National Park, about 90km from Darjeeling, without official permission. Their case will come up for hearing on July 7 in a court in Darjeeling.

While some media reports claimed the duo were planning to sell the insects in the Chinese medicine market, the Czechs said they were catching beetles for scientific research and their personal collection and were unaware that collecting insects was illegal in India.
In a rare case of solidarity, 525 scientists from around the world have rallied in support of Svacha, who is an acknowledged expert on wood boring beetles and is also editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Entomology.

Signatories to the petition sent to Manmohan Singh and Bhattacharjee said that while the foreigners had failed to get permission, they were genuine scientists with no commercial interests and must be released.
“Petr Svacha is well known to us as a world-renowned specialist on sawyer beetle larvae and a serious academic and we don’t think that he was collecting insects for any commercial purpose.

“His main scientific interest is in a group of beetles whose larvae live in wood. The beetles he collects are for his institute’s scientific collection,” the petition said.

Czech entomologists arrested in India may be released on bail

FROM CESKENOVINY (A Czech Paper)

New Delhi- The court trial of two Czechs who were arrested in Darjeeling Hills on Sunday for illegal collection of rare insects in a national park will start on Monday, Czech acting consul in New Delhi Jan Kreuter told CTK today.

The trial may be held even if the judiciary staff went on a strike in India. The Czechs may be released on bail, Kreuter said.

Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova said the two men, Emil Kucera, 52, and biologist Petr Svacha, 51, face up to seven years in prison if found guilty of illegal collection of insects.

Kucera and Vacha said the area where they collected the insects was not marked as a national park and that nearby were grazing and somebody was chopping down trees.

According to the Indian paper Statesman, range officers confiscated several rare butterflies and bugs and the collecting equipment in the Singalila national park near Darjeeling in northeast India from Kucera and Svacha.

‘Development Saga’ in Sikkim highlighted by Chief Minister

FROM SIKKIM REPORTER

Gangtok: The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia formally released the ‘Sikkim Development Report’ at Yojana Bhawan in New Delhi in of Chief Minister Dr. Pawan Chamling on July 2, 2008. The Report was prepared by a panel of experts and professionals under the aegis of National Institute of Public Finances and Policy, New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, “The release of ‘Sikkim Development Report’ is yet another milestone in Sikkim’s development saga which has put the State on the path of accelerated holistic development in a planned and scientific manner”.

He recalled that the State Government prepared comprehensive ‘Sikkim Human Development Report’ and ‘Sikkim: The People’s Vision’ way back in 2001, and said that the exercise was first of its kind in the entire North East and third in the Country. “These reports have been the guiding force in benchmarking our strengths and weaknesses in our endeavours for development of the State and to initiate appropriate planning intervention from time to time in the State”, he noted. The continued commitment to the development of the State coupled with conscious fiscal prudence has started bearing fruits in empowering the Sikkimese people – socially, culturally and economically – he added. He mentioned a general lack of skill and capacity of Sikkimese people to tap emerging opportunities in avenues outside government establishment which he termedas ‘skilled manpower deficit’. He requested the Deputy Chairman and Members of Planning Commission to design special intervention to provide professional and technical training to the people in this region.

State Govt defends Prof Burman, describes statements in newspapers as disrespectful

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, July 03: The State Government has said that the underlying objective of the constitution of Commission under the Chairmanship of Professor BK Roy Burman was to give justice to the people of Sikkim socially, politically, besides their caste, creed, religion, etc.

While informing that the Commission was set up for reviewing the constitutional status of castes and communities of Sikkim in Historical, Cultural¬ Ecological and Political-Economic context to make appropriate recommendations and also to review the policies, plans and other programmes in respect of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and other socially as well as economically backward communities for improvement of quality of life of all sections of people of Sikkim, an IPR press release said that the State Government has entrusted this work to the number one Social Scientist of India.
The State Government has further stated that certain statements appearing in the local newspapers questioning the propriety of Professor BK Roy Burman of heading a Commission notified by the State Government are unfortunate as disrespectful to a person of Professor BK Roy Burman’s eminence and standing as an academician and sociologist who despite being an octogenarian has an outstanding distinction of heading Commissions and Committees in other States as well wherein Cabinet Ministers have represented as Members.

Morcha to call off indefinite bandh

DARJEELING: A meeting of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will be held at its head office here on July 5 to discuss about lifting the bandh.  The Morcha had suspended their indefinite strike from June 24 to July 5 keeping in view the problems being faced by the people of the Hills. Strategies and future agenda will also be discussed in the meeting, it is informed.

Sources reveal that the Morcha will be calling off the bandh from July 6.

The decision of the West Bengal Government to attend the tripartite meeting has been one reason for the Morcha to discontinue the indefinite bandh, sources said.

On the other hand, the people of Darjeeling believe that the new policy adopted by the Morcha would bedifferent than the earlier plans. They have also expressed their satisfaction with the decision of the GJM to lift the bandh from July 6.

Supreme Court responds to lawsuits filed by Sikkim against frequent closure of National Highway 31A – Centre, Sikkim & WB govts directed by SC to ensure smooth traffic movement on NH 31A

“Nobody can be allowed to hold the country to ransom”

LL

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, July 3: Fed up with the frequent disruptions of National Highway 31A, the Supreme Court has directed the Centre, the Governments of Sikkim and West Bengal to ensure smooth flow of traffic on this vital road linking Sikkim to rest of the country. The Supreme Court today asked Sikkim and West Bengal to make sure that NH31A is kept open during the Gorkhaland agitation in the neighbouring Darjeeling Hills, which may be resumed from July 6.

A bench of Justice Altmas Kabir and Justice GS Singhvi sternly told various outfits spearheading the separate Gorkhaland stir not to disrupt the traffic on NH31A. The bench also ordered the organisations, agitating in favour and against the creation of Gorkhaland, not to block traffic or people movement on the highway which is the lifeline of Sikkim. The bench was hearing two lawsuits, filed by advocate OP Bhandari and the Sikkim government, in the wake of the Gorkhaland agitation when the entire stretch of the national highway in West Bengal was blocked. The two pleas said due to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)-sponsored shutdown from June 14, the traffic on the entire stretch of NH 31A has come to a grinding halt.

Gangtok and its surrounding areas reel under severe water supply crisis

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, July 03: The incessant rains on the night of July 1, which triggered massive landslides at 2nd Mile, has disrupted water supply to the Capital and its surrounding areas since yesterday. The landslides, which occurred near the pressure breaker tank at 2nd Mile, have severed supply lines from the Ratey Chu (Tamjey), about 18 km from here, the main source of drinking water to the Capital. At least six water pipes covering 150 meter area have been submerged and dislocated by the landslides. [Inset: Snapped Pipelines. Photo Sikkim Express]

According to the officials of the State Water Security, Public Health and Engineering Department, one pipe measuring 350 mm, one pipe measuring 200 mm and four pipes measuring 150 mm have been dislocated.
With people reeling under severe water crisis, the PHED has deployed 35 labourers for restoration of the water lines, after which a 300 mm high density polygenic pipe was temporarily fitted near the landslide area.
For temporary measures, another 160 mtr pipe was fitted drawing water from the nearby Bulbuley Kholsa, Nursery Kholsa and Bakthang Kholsa.

“At least 70 percent water supply has been restored today,” said KB Karki of the PHED. Each family consumes around 135 litres of water each day which makes about 36 million gallon water used by the people of Gangtok to Ranipool including the Army. Since water supply is a perennial problem during monsoons, PHED officials said that permanent restoration may take some more time.

A new waste ground in Kalimpong

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, July 4: Kalimpong town will have a new waste dumping ground by November this year, the state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya announced today.  “The state government has allotted a special grant of Rs 10 lakh to the Kalimpong Municipality to acquire land for the new dumping ground and I hope, the new facility is ready by November, “ Mr Bhattacharya said after holding a meeting with the chairpersons of the four hill municipalities at the Siliguri Circuit House this morning. Announcing this to the Press, the urban development minister appealed to the residents of Bhalukhope, Kalimpong to allow discharge of solid wastes generated by the hill town at the old dumping site until November. Residents near the existing dumping ground at Bhalukhope are not allowing the local civic body to discharge the wastes at the site fearing pollution. As a result, waste and garbage are remain indisposed in Kalimpong causing health hazards to the residents. Meanwhile, the SDO Kurseong Mr Dibyendu Das and the SDO Kalimpong Mr PT Sherpa have been appointed as the drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) for the Kurseong and the Kalimpong municipalities as the two civic body chiefs were not being able to function due to the ongoing Gorkhaland agitation

Chhatra Parishad submits memorandum for under-graduate admission

FROM THE STATESMAN

SILIGURI, July 4: The Darjeeling district Trinamul Chhatra Parishad (TCP) today submitted a memorandum to the sub-divisional officer, Siliguri, Mrs Smita Pandey demanding immediate admission of all those who have applied for under-graduate courses in the colleges of Siliguri sub-division.
Mr Kuntal Roy, President, Darjeeling District TCP, said that a delegation of the TCP’s Darjeeling district unit will meet North Bengal University officials on 7 July and urge them to direct the colleges to accommodate the large number of applicants this year due to the unprecedented increase in pass percentage in the Higher Secondary examinations. He said that the SDO has assured them that Mrs Pandey would resolve the issue in a week’s time. The SDO, however, denied having given the TCP leaders a time frame but said that she was planning to talk to the principals of all the colleges in the sub-division to come up with a solution. The SDO also indicated that she would talk to the NBU authorities but made it clear that she would have to seek the direction of her seniors before suggesting to the university.

Auction strike on July 28

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, July 4: The residents of Jalpaiguri under the banner of the Cha Nilam Kendra Bachaon Committee have called a 12-hour bandh in town on July 28 to protest against the closure of the North Bengal Tea Auction Centre.

The centre was closed down in June following poor inflow of tea from gardens in the Dooars.

The closure led to the formation of the committee, which held a meeting at the auction hall today and announced the strike.

Tamang number plate ‘advice’ to Morcha

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Students in Darjeeling at a relay hunger strike for Gorkhaland. (Suman Tamang)

Darjeeling, July 4: The ABGL has “advised” Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders not to be selective in defying Bengal’s rule, referring to their decision to change the number plates of vehicles in the hills to GL (Gorkhaland) from WB.

ABGL president Madan Tamang said today: “I am trying to advise (the Morcha), not criticise them. If the logic behind changing the number plates is to defy Bengal’s rule, then why is the Morcha being selective? Where there is chair and power like the municipality and the panchayat, they have no problems in accepting Bengal’s rule. Where there is nothing, they are not accepting it.

“If they really want to defy Bengal’s rule, than it should be defied from A to Z and not selectively as the real objective is to start a civil disobedience movement.”

Bimal Gurung’s party wants vehicles in the hills to sport the new number plates from July 7. The All Gorkha Hill Transport Joint Action Committee, the Morcha’s transport wing, is overseeing the change and it has already asked car-owners in the hills to submit all documents related to their vehicles.

“Before taking any decision, the pros and cons have to be discussed properly. Why are the people not being consulted before such decisions (are taken)?” asked Tamang.

The ABGL chief maintained that the Morcha should not force the hill people to change the number plates. “They are now saying that those who do not make the change are against Gorkhaland. Is this democratic? Hundreds of people have laid down their lives for Gorkhaland in the past and I, too, have gone to jail. Just because I do not change my number plate, do I become anti-Gorkhaland?”

Twin colleges to start soon

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, July 4: Bengal urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya today formally announced that two new colleges — one on Sevoke Road and another at Naxalbari — would be opened in the current academic year.

“The state higher education minister informed me that the proposal to set up two colleges has been approved. We expect to receive the order from his office any moment, followed by a matching order from North Bengal University, to which these institutions will be affiliated,” Bhattacharya told reporters here.

In view of the rush of students because of higher pass percentage this year, both the colleges would be opened in the current academic year. Admission to the new colleges would be made on first-come-first-serve basis and forms would be issued from the third week of July, he said.

Death from hospital ‘humiliation’ – court official suffers cardiac arrest after altercation

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

(Left) Policemen posted on the hospital campus and Arijit, Sarkar’s son, breaks down. Pictures by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, July 4: A 59-year-old man died at Siliguri District Hospital this evening, allegedly after a nurse on duty “humiliated” him.

Sources at the hospital said Arun Sarkar, a resident of Aurobindapally of the town and an official of the Siliguri court, suffered a cardiac arrest after he had an altercation with the nurse at the gate of the female paying ward around 7.30pm. Soon after Sarkar’s death, the nurse fled the campus while Sarkar’s sons and relatives swarmed the building, demanding her punishment. Policemen from Pradhanagar and Siliguri have been posted at the hospital.

Sarkar had come to visit Bina Dutta of Malbazar. The 70-year-old is the grandmother-in-law of Sarkar’s son Abhijit and had been admitted to the hospital yesterday with gastro-enteritis.

“This evening, when I went to see her, the on-duty paramedical staff at the ward asked me to bring three bottles of saline water,” Abhijit said. “But I was not allowed to enter ward with the bottles. It was around 7.15pm and the nurse said the visiting hours (4pm-6pm) had ended.”

Sarkar, too, arrived and requested the nurse to allow his son to take the saline bottles to the patient.

“My father tried to persuade her but she raised her finger and told us to leave. When he told her to behave, she insulted him. He could not bear the humiliation,” Abhijit said. “Suddenly, I saw my father bending low. I tried to hold him back and people came forward to help.”