Gorkha Bharati by C. K. Shrestha

Courtesy: Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh

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Dhirdham Temple during the 1950 landslide

The famous Dhirdham Temple during the 1950 landslide. Photo reproduced from Fallen Cicada – The Unwritten History of Darjeeling Hills by Barun Roy

Children return home after hard day at school in Singla, North Tukver Tea Estate

Photo by Barun Roy

The Indian Tricolour Flutters before the statue of a Gorkha Soldier on top of Gorkha Rangamanch Bhawan at Darjeeling

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The Indian Tricolour Flutters before the statue of a Gorkha Soldier on top of Gorkha Rangamanch Bhawan at Darjeeling

Photo by Barun Roy

Das Studio

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Photo by Barun Roy

Das Studio is a renowned photo studio in Darjeeling

Bhutia Busty Monastery in Darjeeling

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Photo by Barun Roy

Pitcher Plant

Photo by Barun Roy

Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants whose prey-trapping mechanism features a deep cavity filled with liquid known as a pitfall trap. It has been widely assumed that the various sorts of pitfall trap evolved from rolled leaves, with selection pressure favouring more deeply cupped leaves over evolutionary time. However, some pitcher plant genera (such as Nepenthes) are placed within clades consisting mostly of flypaper traps: this indicates that this view may be too simplistic, and some pitchers may have evolved from flypaper traps by loss of mucilage.

Whatever their evolutionary origins, foraging, flying or crawling insects such as flies are attracted to the cavity formed by the cupped leaf, often by visual lures such as anthocyanin pigments, and nectar bribes. The sides of the pitcher are slippery and may be grooved in such a way so as to ensure that the insects cannot climb out. The small bodies of liquid contained within the pitcher traps are called phytotelmata. They drown the insect, and the body of it is gradually dissolved. This may occur by bacterial action (the bacteria being washed into the pitcher by rainfall) or by enzymes secreted by the plant itself. Furthermore, some pitcher plants contain mutualistic insect larvae, which feed on trapped prey, and whose excreta the plant absorbs. Whatever the mechanism of digestion, the prey items are converted into a solution of amino acids, peptides, phosphates, ammonium and urea, from which the plant obtains its mineral nutrition (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus). Like all carnivorous plants, they occur in locations where the soil is too poor in minerals and/or too acidic for most plants to be able to grow.

A bank note from Azad Hind Bank

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By April 1944, the Azad Hind Bank was established in Rangoon to manage the overwhelming donations from the Indian communities.

Photo by Barun Roy

U’khand Police – Journey to Glory

FROM GARHWAL POST

By LP Thapa

DEHRADUN, 16 Aug: Uttarakhand Police after winning the title in 2005 had failed to make any impression in successive years. It has, however, succeeded in making its presence felt this year, that too in a grand way: not losing a single match till today and earning the distinction of being the team that scored the highest 37 goals and conceded the lowest 3 goals. Even before the league concluded, it had emerged the undisputable league champion. It has been the team that has entertained football lovers most by scoring the highest 12 goals in a single match in this season.

Journey to the title: The Police team began its journey towards the coveted title with a 2-0 triumph over defending champion Akranta. In the second match of the season, against Sunderwala, it enthralled the football lovers by netting 9 goals. More was to come from the men in khaki for sports lovers. In the next match against Cantt Blue, the cops sent home a record 12 goals to the entertainment of the spectators. However, the next match proved a bit tough for the cops, as DMK, the other contender for the title, posed difficulty. Anyway, the Police team crossed the hurdle by defeating them 1-0. The underdogs, Garhal Sporting, too, played a tough match with them and also earned the distinction of being the first team to score against the tough cops. The match ended 4-2 in favour of the police team.

After a pause, the police team again struck hard to hit Doon Valley 3-1 and, in the second last match, it trounced Gypsy, 6-0. It has to play the last match against CT Young. It has not only clinched the title, but its striker Deepak Kandari has become the man to score the highest 12 goals in the season.

Boxer Akhil Kumar fails to make semis

FROM REDIFF NEWS

Akhil Kumar’s hopes of an Olympic medal lay shattered on the ring of Workers’ Gymnasium as he was out pointed by unheralded Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova 3-10 in the 54 kg (Bantamweight) competition on Monday.

Akhil, who on his way to the last eight had beaten World Champion Sergey Vodopoyanov failed to cross the last frontier because a win in this round would have assured him of a medal.

The Indian was caught totally off guard by the solid defensive strategy of his rival. In fact the overconfidence also played no small role in Akhil’s defeat.

It turned out to be a bout of two different tactics, the Indian was more open and aggressive while his rival was guarded and remained defensive throughout but came up with points with lightning counter punches.

The sign of things to come were clear from the very first round in which despite unleashing flurry of punches and jabs, Akhil could not break his rival’s tight defence.

On the other hand, Gojan surprised the Indian with a punch which fetched him a point but the Bhiwani puglist found a chink in Moldovan’s armoury just before the end of the round to take a point and went into the next round 1-1.

The Indian continued with his tactics of open attack and managed a point with another punch to go up 2-1 but could not hold on to that advantage as Gojan with a clever ploy got Akhil lower the guard and scored a point and the second round ended 2-2.

Gojan now became bit open but never lowered his guard, he continued seizing his rival’s tactics and then landed two punches in space of 15 seconds to take two points exactly midway through this round and then added two more points before the round closed to take a formidable 6-2 lead.

The Indian fans had still not given up, they hoped that Akhil will repeat his amazing come back which he had done against the World champion Sergey in his second round bout, but today was a medal round and Moldovan was not Sergey.

The under rated Gojan had a lesson or two for exuberant Akhil in the last round in which he garnered five points in less than 63 seconds while conceding one to emerge an emphatic winner.

CM announces implementation of Sixth Pay Commission – Sikkimese people should live with self-respect & responsibility: CM

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, August 17: The Chief Minister Pawan Chamling said that the State Government will soon implement Sixth Pay Commission in the State.

He announced this during the 61 Independent Day Celebration, which was observed at Paljor Stadium here.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister stated that the people of Sikkim should live with utmost dignity and self-respect.

He also recounted the achievements attained by his Government during the past 14 years. The Chief Minister further stressed on a point that there should optimistic and constructive thoughts in the mind of every individual in order to have a better State and a nation as a whole.

Mr. Chamling also made a number of announcements, which in majority includes the construction of green field airport at Pakyong, alternative highway, construction of Degree colleges in Gyalshing and Mangan and several guesthouses among others.

Talking about the hydel power projects, eco tourism, horticulture and floriculture, the Chief Minister said these are the thrust areas, which the State is focusing to generate more revenue for the State. “We need continuous support from the people for the success of various plans and developments,” he appealed the gathering.

People are waiting for more Bhaichungs: Shyam Thapa

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

RANGPO, August 17: Hailing the success of Bhaichung Bhutia in Indian football, another football legend Shyam Thapa has said that football lovers in the country are waiting for Bhaichungs from the hills and Sikkim. “After Bhaichung made his name in Indian football, people are waiting for more Bhaichungs from Sikkim and hills”, said Mr. Thapa to reporters at Rangpo after being felicitated on the sidelines of the football finals played here at Rangpo ground on I-Day celebrations.

In the same breath, the football legend, who is now a seasoned coach, said that other Asian countries are way ahead in football than India as far as future planning is concerned. Japan is busy planning how their football progress should be in the next fifty years, he said.

Mr. Thapa blamed on the organizational set up and lack on planning between Centre and state organizations for the degradation of Indian football and other sports. Only developmental works are discussed while in other countries their discussions starts from development of sports, he said.

Central and state sports organizations must work in tandem to give training for children to create more Bhaichungs from Sikkim and other states, he added.

Darjeeling parties slams WB CM’s rejection of sepearte state – Bhattacharya is nobody to reject Gorkhaland: GJM

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

DARJEELING, August 17: Expressing their displeasure over Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s rejection of Gorkhaland demand, political parties in Darjeeling today asserted that ‘Gorkhaland and only Gorkhaland’ is the solitary amicable solution that the West Bengal government should consider. “Bengal government should strive create a separate state of Gorkhaland in a conducive environment. It will be wise on their part and proper to create Gorkhaland in a friendly environment”, said Roshan Giri, general secretary of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).

“This will result in good relations between Gorkhaland and West Bengal”. He was responding to yesterday’s statements of the Chief Minister Bhattacharya at Siliguri. Mr. Bhattacharya had rejected the separate state demand and said that the problems of the Darjeeling hills should be solved in a friendly manner.
Expectedly, his statements drew serious flak from political parties out here.

“Our main demand is Gorkhaland and this political demand should be solved politically. Our demand is within the ambits of the Constitution”, said Mr. Giri. He said that Darjeeling does not need any system under West Bengal and reiterated the movement will continue till Gorkhaland happens. Bengali speaking intellectuals have properly understood the Gorkhaland solution and this should also be understood by the West Bengal Chief Minister, said Mr. Giri. He claimed that Darjeeling hills-Dooars-Terai areas were never a part of the West Bengal territory.

Lakshaman Pradhan, the general secretary of All India Gorkha League (AIGL) said that the West Bengal Chief Minister does have locus standi to reject the Gorkhaland demand. “Bhattacharya is nobody to reject Gorkhaland. It is the responsibility of the Centre to give Gorkhaland”, he said.

Rangpo mishaps claims five – Two Sikkimese students among dead

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

RANGPO/GANGTOK, August 17: Five persons including two students from Sikkim were swept away when a private van suffered a mechanical defect and plunged into the raging Teesta river yesterday night along the NH 31A near Rangpo border of West Bengal and Sikkim.

The van SK02-5918, was travelling from Munsang under Kalimpong subdivsion to Rangpo in East Sikkim when the mishap just half a kms away from the Rangpo gate.  There were six persons in the van including three students from Industrial Training Institute located at Rangpo.

Only one student Krishna Bahadur Subba (20) managed to survive the accident and swam himself to safety after the van plunged into the Teesta River. The others were swept away by the River and are feared to be dead.

Among them were Golden Rai from West Sikkim, Bikram Mangar from Ravangla, South Sikkim, driver Hari Chettri and Sanjay Raj Bangshali. The fifth person swept away has not been identified so far. So far no bodies have been recovered.

Local volunteers and West Bengal Police had launched search and rescue operations from yesterday night itself after the mishap occurred. The incident area falls under West Bengal jurisdiction and the Bengal Police have registered a case. The sole survivor was rushed to Rangpo primary health centre from where he has been sent to STNM hospital in Gangtok for further treatment.

Narrating the incident, the lone survivor of the accident so far, Subba said that he remembered the driver Hari Chettri shouting ‘Brake fail!’ seconds before the vehicle flew and plunged into the river.  Subba hails from Simbaley village, Uttarey west Sikkim.

SIKKIM POLITICAL CONSENSUS FOR GORKHALAND – All parties to ask Sikkim Govt to pass resolution in favour of separate Gorkha state

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, Aug 17: Rising above their ideological differences, the Opposition and the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) party today agreed to submit an all party representation under the banner of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) to the Sikkim government requesting it to pass a resolution in the State Assembly in favour of Gorkhaland.

However, this all party accord does not include the CPIM party who went unrepresented in this historic hour.
This consensus was reached upon after a fiery interaction of almost five hours between the representatives of all the political parties in a seminar organized by the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, the apex body of 1.5 crores Indian Gorkhas living in different parts of the country.

Today’s attendance list figured prominent faces of Sikkim politics. Nar Bahadur Bhandari (president of Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee), HR Pradhan (president of Sikkim unit of BJP), GM Rai (president of Sikkim Gorkha Prajatantrik Party), Jigme N Kazi (founder member of Sikkim United), RC Poudyal (president of Rising Sun), former minister KN Upreti, Tseten Lepcha from Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad and SAFE convener, Bharat Basnett.

Kiran Chettri, publicity secretary of SDF represented the ruling party in the seminar. Amidst the plethora of suggestions and some frank admonishment, all were unanimous in their support to the Gorkhaland cause taken up by the Parisangh and other political parties of Darjeeling including the most prominent of them, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Summing up today’s intellectual exercise, BGP working president and renowned figure of this region, CK Shrestha concluded that all political parties in Sikkim “seemed to be in favour of Gorkhaland” and proposed an all party memorandum to be submitted to the Sikkim Government. The proposed memorandum seeks to request Sikkim government to pass a resolution in the State Assembly in favour of Gorkhaland, a separate state for Indian Gorkhas in the country.

“Since all parties in Sikkim are in favour of Gorkhaland and agrees that the Sikkim government should play a proactive role, Sikkim should take the lead and be the first state pass a resolution in the Assembly before any other states does it,” Mr. Shrestha said. He claimed that BGP was working on war-footing with its units in 22 states of the country to get a similar resolution passed. “In other states, we are almost near to get similar resolutions passed,” he said. All representatives of the political parties present in the seminar gave their support to the resolution.

“It’s a part of the democratic process to approach an elected government for a representation. We should send the resolution collectively under the banner of Parisangh”, the state Congress chief, Bhandari said. It is up to the State Government to whether to entertain or reject it,” he added. The SDF representative Kiran Chettri also nodded his agreement.

Mahayagya in support of Gorkhaland

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, August 17: The All Sikkim Government Employees Association (ASGEA) is set to conduct a two-day Mahayagya in support of the aspirations of the government employees brethren from the Darjeeling District.

The puja ceremony will start from August 19 morning at the Saraswati Mandir, 6th Mile, Tadong, informs a press release. The ceremony is being conducted for the fulfillment of the government employees brethren of Darjeeling district and to impart moral support to the Gorkha Janmukti Karmachari Morcha from their counterparts of Sikkim, the release adds.

The ASGEA informed that delegates from government employees association of Darjeeling and Kalimpong are expected to attend the ceremony on August 19.

The body has invited all the members of the association to participate in the ceremony and pray for early realization of the demand for separate homeland for the Gorkhas.

Prachanda – Arms and the man

FROM NERVE INDIA

Kathmandu, Aug 18 - Nepal’s Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who assumed office Monday as the first Prime Minister of the federal democratic republic, was born in a farmer’s family in central Nepal 54 years ago.

He lived 25 years underground hunted by security forces and carrying a bounty on his head — Monday began a new chapter in the life of the revolutionary who fought a 10-year People’s War to overthrow Nepal’s dynasty of god-kings and transform the Hindu kingdom into a secular republic.

Following are some highlights in Prachanda’s march to the office of Nepal’s prime minister:

Dec 11, 1954: Prachanda born to farmer couple Mukti Ram Dahal and Bhawani in a paddy field in Kaski in central Nepal

1994: Prachanda breaks away from the communist movement to form the revolutionary Communist Party of Nepal -

13 Feb, 1996: Maoists begin an armed struggle to end Nepal’s powerful monarchy and establish a communist republic. The People’s war continues for 10 years and kills over 13,000 people

June 2001: King Birendra, who was trying to establish contact with the Maoists, dies in a brutal palace massacre. He is succeeded by his brother Gyanendra

Feb 2005: King Gyanendra seizes absolute power with the help of the army and intensifies military operations against the rebels. Nepal goes through the worst period of violence

Prachanda sworn-in as Nepal Prime Minister

FROM ANI

Nepals Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda was sworn-in at a ceremony at Shital Niwas, the office of the President here today.

Kathmandu, Aug 18 : Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias ‘Prachanda’ was sworn-in at a ceremony at Shital Niwas, the office of the President here today.

President Dr Ram Baran Yadav administered him oath of office and secrecy. He took oath in the name of the people of Nepal.

Prachanda attended his swearing-in ceremony wearing a western suit and Bhadgaule topi instead of the traditional ‘national dress’ Daura Suruwal and ‘Nepali topi’.

The decision on his outfit was taken at a central committee meeting of Maoist party held at its parliamentary office in Singha Durbar.

Vice President Parmananda Jha, Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Nemwang and heads of foreign diplomatic missions were present during the ceremony.

Prachanda will shift to his official residence in Baluwatar later today.

Prachanda begins power stint with China trip

By Asia Pacific News.Net
Monday 18th August, 2008 (IANS)

Nepal’s new Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda will make his first visit abroad with a trip to Beijing this week to attend the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

The Maoist leader will fly to the Chinese capital Saturday, marking a diplomatic victory by China over India, that had in the past been the first destination abroad for Nepal’s top leaders.

Prachanda’s predecessor Girija Prasad Koirala had made New Delhi his first port of call abroad after assuming the reins of government.

Though Beijing too had issued an invitation to him, Koirala failed to avail of that during his two-year tenure due to a succession of political crises and the major task of holding the country’s first constituent assembly election.

Nepal’s first President Ram Baran Yadav was also invited by the Chinese government to the glittering opening ceremony of the Olympic Games that was attended by the heads of state and government of nearly 80 countries.

Prachanda meets police chiefs, Indian leaders

FROM ANI

Newly elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda met several police chiefs and delegation of Indian leaders this morning.

Kathmandu, Aug 18 : Newly elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias ‘Prachanda’ met several police chiefs and delegation of Indian leaders this morning.

Inspector General of Nepal Police Om Bikram Rana met Prachanda at his residence.

Rana, whose tenure is ending next month, is learnt to have told him about the blast which took place near Vice President Pramananda Jha’s residence on Sunday. At least one security personnel was injured.

In a separate meeting with Inspector General of Armed Police Force (APF) Basudev Oli, Prachanda sought details about the structure of police forces and the latest security situation in the country.

Prachanda also met delegation of Indian leaders who will participate in his swearing-in ceremony as the first Prime Minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.

Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Prachanda in a specially called swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan at Sheetal Niwas this afternoon.

The ceremony will be attended by heads of all security forces, diplomats and top bureaucrats.

Prachanda won the prime ministerial election on Friday with the support of two other allies, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) by a huge majority.

Puspha Kamal Dahal’s Long Walk: Rise Of A Rebel

FROM NEPAL NEWS

By Anand Gurung

Exactly 79 days after the historic first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) declared Nepal federal democratic republic and effectively abolished the centuries-old institution of monarchy, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is more popular by his nom de guerre ‘Prachanda’, meaning the “Fierce One”, has been elected as the first Prime Minister of republic Nepal.

First Prime Minister of republic Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal. (File photo)

Although his party the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) emerged as the largest party after the historic Constituent Assembly election, losing out by only one seat to secure a clear majority in the direct elections while gaining one-third popular votes in the proportional format, political wheeling and dealing in the past few months caused undue delay in the formation of a new government expected to be led by the Maoists (being the largest party), with the country in the throes of anarchy and lawlessness.

With Pushpa Kamal Dahal finally elected to the post of the executive Prime Minister, the deck is now clear for the formation of the first elected Maoist-led government in the world. However, he initially favored the post of executive president, with pamphlets and graffittis in the walls about the capital and much of the country depicting him as the first president of the republic much before the historic CA election (prompting his critics to call him “bhitte Rastrapati” meaning Wall-President”), but as the immediate political situation looked unfavorable for him to realize this dream he altogether dropped the idea and instead his party started rooting for a non-Maoist and former revolutionary Ramraja Prasad Singh as the party’s presidential candidate – only to be shamefully trounced in the election run off by the candidate backed by NC, CPN (UML) and MJF.

A glimpse at dahal’s childhood years and then as a devoted teacher during his younger more salad days before he turned into active politics might help in knowing the person behind the name Prachanda who is better known to the rest of the world as a leader of a violent Maoist insurgency in the strategically important place between India and China — one who was the most elusive underground leader in the world till two years back with many in Kathmandu doubting if he even exists because, according to an editor of a leading English weekly, “so little was known about him during the first five years of the war” and who, rather uncomfortably, sits over/on top of so many transformations the nation has changed in the matter of two years.

Born into a poor peasant family from Tanahun near Pokhara in December 1954, Chhabi Lal Dahal, as Prachanda was known then, was the eldest of eight children.

When he was just 6 years, the family was resettled, like hundreds of thousands of others from the mountain and hilly region of central and northern Nepal, in the cleared jungles of Terai flat-lands as part of the then King Mahendra’s “nationalistic policy” to assert control in the restive south. Although malaria had just been eradicated, life in Chitwan, where the family had ended up, was not far better than the impoverished hills from where the families were lured to come here.

Wild-animals prowling in the nearby jungles were heard of attacking people, but it was the merciless money-lenders who made the lives of resettled families miserable amid the far-off government that never really cared for their plight.

But even during those difficult times Dahal’s father managed to raise his big family largely on subsistence-farming. Being the eldest, Dahal was supposed to help his father in the fields to support the large family, but instead his father insisted he get good education and, much like many poor Nepali family hoped, grow up to become a “big person”. Childhood friends as well as former neighbors remembers Dahal as a “kind-hearted boy” who couldn’t stand injustice.

“He really cared for the poor people in the village,” said Dahal’s father Mukti Ram Dahal in a rare interview with Time Magazine back in 2004 when Maoist insurgency was still at its peak, “He used to share his food with them and tell us we shouldn’t exploit them.”

Belonging to a Brahmin family, which is considered “higher caste” by orthodox Hindus, Dahal even used to readily mingle with lower-caste Dalit, or “untouchables” -something that was quite against the traditional societal set up of that time, giving a glimpse of a future revolutionary in the making.

Impressed by his generosity that went well with his gentle nature and handsome physique, his teachers changed his name to Pushpa Kamal, meaning ”Lotus Flower”. After passing his high school examinations (SLC) from Narayani Biddhya Mandir School the same year his deputy Dr Baburam Bhattarai topped it, Prachanda came to Kathmandu to join Patan Campus from where he finished his Intermediate in Science (ISc). He was strongly influenced by Communist ideology while still in school, but it was only while studying in Kathmandu that he came into contact with the country’s senior communist leaders and started becoming active in leftist politics. By the spring of 1981 he became a member of a small communist party named CPN (Masal) which was on the verge of suffering a split.

Thereafter, Dahal came back to his hometown Chitwan to enroll in the US-funded Agriculture College in Rampur, a hotbed for student politics during the party-less Panchayati era, and from there finished his graduation. While growing up he had seen all the pains his poor but very hard-working parents went through to raise the big family as well as support his studies. In the village he had also seen how the rich lived their life in luxury while the poor had to live in a hand-to-mouth existence.

“From my childhood, I came to feel the meaning of poverty and inhuman exploitation,” he once told an interviewer. The growing economic divide including the discriminations against lower castes Dalits he encountered first hand from childhood filled him with this immense sense of injustice which inspired him to commit his entire life to the mission of replacing the ‘bourgeoisie’ state with a ‘proletariat’ one through armed struggle.

His college friends say that everyone who met him would be very quickly impressed by his personality and passion for the things he held up to his own heart and would patiently listen to what he had to say. Especially, what struck them was his absolute confidence that the armed struggle inspired by Maoists would eventually triumph and bring about the desired change in the society, a belief which would later distance him from the senior communist leaders whom he used to admire and respect.

Hill ‘patience’ on CM lips

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Siliguri on Sunday. Telegraph picture

Siliguri, Aug. 17: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today described the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s agitation tactics as “anti-national and undemocratic”, but said his government would be “patient” in tackling the hills crisis.

The chief minister was addressing journalists at Phansidewa, 20km from here, this afternoon when he was asked to comment on the vehicles sporting “GL” (Gorkhaland) number plates and the way Gorkha National Liberation Front and CPM members were being driven out of the hills.

“What they (the Morcha) are resorting to are anti-national activities. They are closing down government offices and hampering revenue collection. These are not democratically acceptable,” Bhattacharjee said.

Asked how the government would tackle such lawlessness, he softened his tone.

“We will be patient with them and not do anything that will turn into a law-and-order situation,” the chief minister said. “There will be several rounds of talks, both at the state level and at the tripartite level in Delhi, and matters will be resolved through them.”

Asked how long his government was willing to carry on with the talks, Bhattacharjee said: “We will be patient as long as it is required.”

The chief minister welcomed the Morcha’s assurance to travel operators and tourists that there would be no strikes or disruptions during the Puja holidays.

Tea Board brews makeover for chai

FROM DNA INDIA

By Nandini Bhaskaran
Monday, August 18, 2008  03:04 IST

Lines up promotional campaign to promote the beverage among youth and tourists

KOLKATA: Indian chai is brewing hot with big bang activity lined up over the next few months to promote the beverage among tourists and youths.
The original Piyo More Chai campaign has come a long way and the Tea Board is now planning to position “tea and health” in a major way. A second round of iced tea campaign will be unfolded with recipes, while strong internet marketing will be targeted at tourist destinations.

Basudeb Banerjee, chairman, Tea Board, told DNA Money, “We’ve gone through the basic Piyo More Chai campaign to the latest Chai Piyo Mast Jiyo campaign. Now, the way forward would be to showcase tea and health through commercials. We are working on it and plan to go ahead sometime in December.”

“Iced tea was a summer campaign and proved to be very successful. Now, we plan to go extend this in a second phase, showcasing iced tea and its various recipes.”

Out-of-home consumption of tea has increased manifold and many tea corporates are planning tea retail outlets to lure the young crowd taking to competing beverages like coffee.

India’s hopes ride on boxers’ shoulders

FROM NDTV
8/18/2008 8:58:00 AM

India’s hopes of a first Olympic boxing medal are high, with three boxers making it to the quarterfinals.

The trio, coincidentally all called Kumar, will secure at least bronze if they win their next bouts.

The shaven-headed 27-year-old Akhil Kumar, whose win over Vodopyanov came on India’s Independence Day, will face Moldova’s Veaceslav Gojan on Monday evening (5pm IST) for a place in the last four.

Akhil has not faced Gojan before but the boxer says he has seen enough recordings of the Moldovan.

Akhil, who had outboxed 2005 world silver medallist Ali Hallab of France in the first round, seems India’s best bet.

Paintings draws big crowds at Kalimpong

Painting on exhibition at Kalimpong

Photo by Himalaya Darpan