Gorkhapedia.Org initiates debate on what makes a Gorkha!

Are Gorkhas – a term implied to Indians of Nepalese Origin only?

Wikipedia describes Gorkhas as ‘people from Nepal’ – does that mean the Nepalese as in citizens of Nepal, are Gorkhas

The question of what makes a Gorkha or what races should be collectively taken as Gorkhas is fundamental to the functioning of Gorkhapedia. What must be involved and what not. Should documentations on Sikkimese Gorkhas be made but not on Sikkimese who are Bhutias? Should Sherpas be taken as Gorkhas? Should the stalwarts like Tenzing Norgay, Ang Tshering, Nawang Gombu be treated as Gorkhas?

What do you think? Can you define and describe a Gorkha and replace this with content with:

Etymology

Origins

Genetic and anthropological assessments

Notable physical features

Geographic diaspora

Language

Religion

Culture

Art

Cuisine

Modern Gorkhas

References

Online references

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LOGO BELOW TO DISCUSS AND CONTRIBUTE ON THE TOPIC

Orissa rejects CBI probe demand

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

Bhubaneswar, Sept 9 (PTI) Expressing confidence that those behind the killing of senior VHP leader Laxamananda Sarswati and the subsequent violence that rocked Orissa will be brought to justice, the government today rejected demands for a CBI probe into the string of events.
“I repeat there is a crime branch investigation being carried out into the incident. And also a judicial inquiry into the matter,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters here hours after AICC General Secretary Ajay Maken demanded a CBI probe into it.

The government, he said, was making all efforts to see that peace and calm returned to Kandhamal district and elsewhere in the state and the crime branch of Orissa police was successfully investigating the matter.

Maken, also Congress in-charge of Orissa, had alleged that Patnaik lacked control over the administration in checking communal riots and had demanded a CBI inquiry as “there were many unanswered questions in the entire episode”.

Earlier, some Christian organisations and Bishop of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Raphael Cheenath had made a similar demand.

Nepal police goof up, arrest innocents for 1993 blasts

FROM TIMES OF INDIA

By Swati Deshpande

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

MUMBAI: Barely three days ago they were taken away from their families in a sensational midnight raid in Nepal and deported swiftly to India as dreaded Dawood Ibrahim henchmen wanted for playing key roles in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

On Monday, however, it became clear that the Nepal police were high only on enthusiasm but not on facts. “They are just innocent Kashmiris who were living and working in Nepal,” said Ujjwal Nikam, special counsel, CBI, which is handling the 1993 blasts case. The two men, Riyaz Lone and Ashfaq Ahmed Tak, are now being sent back home at the CBI’s expense.

Nikam informed a special Tada judge on Monday that, “There were two absconding accused in the ‘93 blasts case, Salim Abdul Gazi and Riyaz Khatri, for whom red-corner notices had been put out. The Nepal police arrested two persons whose names are Riyaz Lone and Ashfaq Ahmed Tak and wrongly deported them.” He added, “After verifying their identities from CBI records and from their hometown in Kashmir, we have ascertained that these two men are not the ones who were on the list of the absconding accused.”

Tea Board embarks on an energy conservation project UNDP, BOARD invest $1million each to cut carbon emission

FROM HINDU BUSINESS LINE

By M.R. Subramani

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

Tuesday, 09 September: Coonoor: The Tea Board has embarked on a four-year project to help plantations conserve energy and cut energy consumption costs by at least 20 per cent.

More India business stories

The four-year project, which began in March this year, has been launched in South India and targets to cut the emission of carbon di-oxide by at least 1.5 lakh tonnes every year.

Tea estates in the South, numbering about 1.2 lakh, emit 7.5 lakh tonnes of carbon di-oxide every year.

The Tea Board has been able to convince Carbon Credit Fund, Switzerland on selling the credits accrued through the project to developed countries, which must reduce emission of greenhouse gases by 2012.

“Initially, we thought the tea industry does not quality for carbon credits. But we found out that we met the criteria for this and soon, the credit agencies will begin evaluating our project,” R.D. Nazeem, Executive Director of the Tea Board, said during a ‘Technical Session’ on commodities at the United Planters’ Association of Southern India’s 115th annual conference.

Any Time is Tea Time in Darjeeling

FROM MAIL TODAY

COPY SCANNED AND SHARED BY AARDEE

Som Bahadur Pun makes a stunning comback

FROM MAIL TODAY

COPY SCANNED AND SHARED BY AARDEE

Click on the scanned copy to enlarge

Who’s the real Hindu?

By Karan Thapar, Hindustan Times

ARTICLE SHARED BY AARDEE

Does the VHP have the right to speak for you or I?   Do they reflect our views?  Do we endorse their behaviour?   They call themselves the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, but who says they represent all of us?   This Sunday morning, I want to draw a clear line of distinction between them and everyone else.   My hunch is many of you will agree.

Let me start with the question of conversion –  an issue that greatly exercises the VHP.   I imagine there are hundreds of millions of Hindus who are peaceful, tolerant, devoted to their faith, but above all, happy to live alongside Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Jews.   If any one of us were to change our faith how does it affect the next man or woman?   And even if that happens with inducements, it can only prove that the forsaken faith had a tenuous and shallow hold.   So why do the VHP and its unruly storm troopers, the Bajrang Dal, froth at the mouth if you, I or our neighbours convert?   What is it to do with them?   Let me put it bluntly, even crudely.

If I want to sell my soul   and trade in my present gods for a new lot, why shouldn’ t I?   Even if the act diminishes me in your eyes, it’s my right to do so.   So if thousands or even millions of Dalits, who have been despised and ostracised for generations, choose to become Christian, Buddhist or Muslim, either to escape the discrimination of their Hindu faith or because some other has lured them with food and cash, it’ s their right. Arguably you may believe you should ask them to reconsider, although I would call that interference, but you certainly have no duty or right to stop them.

“Feel good institute”

FROM SIKKIM REPORTER

Gangtok: The state government is going to set up a “Feel Good Institute” at Chemche of South Sikkim as a holistic centre for herbal therapy, yoga science, mediation and health. The institute will be the first of its kind in Asia, says a Sikkim Democratic Front release issued by SDF publicity secretary, Mr.T.N.Sharma.

Policy thrust of the SDF government is for a well-managed, developed and prosperous Sikkim, embracing aspects of past, present and future, the release said, adding, “it reflects the political thought and action of the Chief Minister, Dr. Pawan Chamling”

Aiyar writes to Chamling says, “DoNER and NEC stand shoulder to shoulder with you”

FROM SIKKIM REPORTER

Gangtok: Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER), has written a letter to Chief Minister, Dr. Pawan Chamling, congratulating him for the “remarkable strides” Sikkim is making in promoting tourism in the State “as a source of employment and income”. The Union Minister also assures CM that The Ministry of “DoNER and NEC stand shoulder to shoulder with you in these endeavours”.

The warmth of appreciation and assurance conveyed by the Union Minister can be noted from his letter which is reproduced here for record.

“Dear Mr. Chamling,

I am delighted to learn from the newspaper that Today’s Traveller has selected Sikkim as the “Emerging Tourism State of 2008 as well as the Most Picturesque Destination”, and that the Hon’ble Union Minister of Tourism will be presenting the awards.

Much Ado About Nothing

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

BY HOMANTH DABARI

GANGTOK, September 8: A Shakespearean comedy is presently being enacted in Sikkim education theatre with the State government first concluding that Sikkim University is not competent presently and then wooing North Bengal University to re-affiliate the colleges in the State.

Latest report is that West Bengal government has readily accepted the re-affiliation proposal and flashed a formal communiqué to this acceptance.

In between, the other characters of this comedy-students and intellectuals-are come to life and resent is fast brewing up against the re-affiliation bid.

When Sikkim University was first notified in June last year by the Centre, every stakeholder including the State government cried hoarse over the Achievement. ‘Now this (re-affiliation) is the result. The previous chest beating was like a great deal of fuss over nothing, it seems now”, is the common observation from the intellectuals here.

Why did the government blew its trumpets when it now thinks that Sikkim University cannot function or run the colleges here?, questioned the intellectuals.

On the condition of anonymity, intellectuals are silently pressing their views forward on the apparent brakes on Sikkim University. Sadly, intellectuals working as government employees have stood on the fence leaving private individuals to opine on the imbroglio.

Rally in support of Gorkhaland

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

RANGPO, September 8: A rally was taken out today by Rangpo NH 31 A unit of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha at Rangpo, West Bengal in support of the separate state of Gorkhaland demand.

The rally was attended by youths, women, traders and other local people along the highway.

Speaking to SIKKIM EXPRESS, the president of GJM Rangpo unit Lokesh Chettri said that demand for Gorkhaland by Darjeeling people is legal and justified. He highlighted that the demand for separate state has been a century year old and appealed the Centre to address the demand in a positive manner.

We don’t want to live under West Bengal government and territories of Siliguri and Dooars must not also be kept out of Gorkhaland demand, Mr. Chettri said. He appealed for support from political leaders and society of Sikkim towards the Gorkhaland demand.

Student body condemns State Govt’s re-affiliation bid

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, September 08: The Student Federation of India, Sikkim State Committee has strongly condemned the Sikkim Government proposal to re-affiliate the first year classes of colleges under the North Bengal University.

Terming the re-affiliation bid as “injustice” meted out to the students of Sikkim, a press release states that the Sikkim University was a result of the people’s demand to the Central Government for a long time adding that SFI State Committee had demanded the President of India in 1985.

The student body has also accused the State Government of jumping into re-affiliation with NBU when Sikkim University has started functioning accordingly.

Appealing the State Government to re-consider the decision for re-affiliation in the NBU, the SFI has said that the State Government should be responsible if the career of students is jeopardized.

Positive talks on Gorkhaland Centre, WB government does not rule out Gorkhaland, Hill parties satisfied Next talks on November

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

DARJEELING, September 8: The much anticipated tripartite talks on Gorkhaland demand between the Centre, West Bengal government and political parties of Darjeeling ended today evening at New Delhi on a positive note.

During the meeting, both the Centre and West Bengal government conceded that separate state of Gorkhaland demand was ‘not anti-national’ but a ‘Constitutional’ demand.

The Centre was represented by Union Home Secretary Madukar Gupta while the West Bengal government was represented by state Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb, Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty and DHGC caretaker administrator BL Meena.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) general secretary Roshan Giri had led a united delegation of all the major political parties of Darjeeling in the tripartite talks which lasted almost three hours.

Speaking to SIKKIM EXPRESS over phone from New Delhi, Mr. Giri said that meeting ended on a positive note and all the political parties were satisfied over the outcome.

“The West Bengal Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb said during the meeting that Gorkhaland demand was not anti-national but a Constitutional demand”, informed Mr. Giri. “The Chief Secretary also admitted that the government cannot say that Gorkhaland is not possible”, he added.

“The Union Home Secretary also spoke on similar lines and the whole meeting was very positive”, Mr. Giri said. All the political parties from Darjeeling who attend the tripartite talks are satisfied, he added.

The next tripartite meeting will be held on November but no date has been finalized as yet.

Tackling love, sex and marriage with gospel songs

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

NAMCHI, September 08: Students Koinonia, an autonomous student’s body of India Campus Crusade for Christ today organised a daylong awareness programme on Love Marriage and Sex at the College auditorium here today.

Held for the first time in the District, the programme focussed on gospel songs and choreographies by famous Christian singing ministry, HYSSOP from Kalimpong.

Making the students and other participants aware on love marriage and sex, the team of Hyssop headed by Pastor Mathias Subba presented a number of hymns and awareness songs.

A good number of college students, Principal and the lecturers of Namchi Government College, Pastors and Christians from the region, students and the staffs of Tendong Educational Institute and the local people were present on the occasion.

The members of Hyssop also presented number of musical choreographies making the people aware on HIV/ AIDS and the responsibility of common people in preventing it.

Goodbye Sikkim University, Welcome back NBU – WB officially confirms to re-affiliate colleges of Sikkim

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, September 8: The West Bengal government has formally confirmed its willingness to take back the colleges in Sikkim under the fold of the North Bengal University. A letter from the higher education authority of West Bengal government sealing its consent on the re-affiliation appeal landed today at the HRD department, Sikkim government.[Inset: Dr. Mahendra P. Lama, the Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University]

The State Government had recently approached the West Bengal government to re-affiliate colleges here for continuation of their session under NBU as Sikkim University is presently not capable.  In turn, the West Bengal government has communicated to the Sikkim Government that it has no problem in re-affiliating the colleges of Sikkim until Sikkim University is fully capable.

HRD Secretary KT Chankapa told SIKKIM EXPRESS that this consent letter will be forwarded before the concerned Minister and then decision will be taken up as to how to go with it.

Mr. Chankapa also clarified that colleges in Sikkim are still affiliated with Sikkim University till date as per the Sikkim University Act 2006 rule 6 (2) (which mentions ‘not withstanding anything in any other law for the time being in force, no educational institution within the state of Sikkim shall be associated in any way with or be admitted to any privileges granted by any such other university to an educational institution the state of Sikkim prior to the commencement of this act shall be deemed to be withdrawn on the commencement of this Act’).

Anarchy in Orissa – A Photo feature!

Membership open to Gorkhapedia.Org

Dear Friends,

Memberships are open to Grokhapedia.Org. Please click on the link below to become members of Gorkhapedia.org.

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Barun

‘What will be your Gorkhapedia Logo’ Contest?

Dear Friends,

Gorkhapedia.Org announces ‘What will be your Gorkhapedia Logo?’ Contest. The best logo will be chosen though a voting system. The best logo chosen will thence replace the present Gorkhapedia.Org Logo and the designer of the Logo given a prominent place in Gorkhapedia.Org. We do not have sponsors for Prizes but will try to come up with an appropriate prize. The submissions for ‘What will be your Gorkhapedia Logo’ will start from 9th September 2008 and close on 30th of September 2008.

Please make submissions to this post by including your logos by pressing discuss section below. I have made a sample submission and you could follow the same.

Regs
Barun

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST:

http://gorkhapedia.wikidot.com/forum/t-87627/gorkhapedia-logo-contest

Interesting facts from Gorkhapedia

Gyalzen Kazi born in Sikkim and an eminent resident of Gangtok was very efficient in English Language and hence an interpreter for numerous British Kanchenjunga Reconnaissance Missions. He was also a man of great insight in Buddhism and respected as a very wise man both by the locals and the Europeans who sought his help both religious and otherwise. Gyalzen Kazi today is however, remembered as the first Mountaineer from Sikkim.

Get more interesting facts at Gorkhapedi.Org

The Tripartite Meeting at New Delhi has settled for a new meeting in the month of November. Do you think the much hyped Tripartite Meeting was successful?

Baba Harbhajan Singh: story of a dead sepoy

BY SHITAL PRADHAN

Baba Harbhajan Singh

He has defeated dead. Believe it or not but it is true, one of its kind of story in the world- a man from an Indian army in a Nathula border is still doing his duty even after his death some three decades back. 60 km from Gangtok towards the panoramic view of the Nathula landscape a road leads towards the valley of Kupup. Here is the shrine of Baba Harbhajan popularly known as Baba Mandir. Baba Harbhajan has been guarding the international boundary of the two Asian giants the China and India over the last three decades. But believe me he does it alone. Even the army men on the other side of the international wall confirm that they had seen a man riding a horse all alone patrolling the border.

Born in Brondal village of Kapurthala, Punjab Harbhajan Singh joined the 23rd Punjab Battalion on February 1966 as sepoy. The year of 1968 when the states of Sikkim and North Bengal was under the rage of great natural catastrophic where landslides, floods and heavy rain had taken thousands of lives across the two states. On October 4, 1968 sepoy Harbhajan Singh was escorting a mule caravan from his battalion headquarters in Tekula to Dengchukla, he fell into a fast flowing stream and drowned. Search for Sepoy Harbhajan was made with no results. It was on the fifth day of the missing, his colleague Pritam Singh had a dream of Harbhajan Singh informing him of his tragic incident and his dead body being under the heap of snows. Harbhajan Singh desired to have a samadhi made after him. Pritam Singh ignored the dream as just as an imagination but later when the body of Sepoy Harbhajan Singh was found at the spot where Harbhajan Singh had informed the army official was taken aback and to mark respect and towards his wish a samadhi was constructed near Chhokya Chho.

Temple of Baba Harbhajan Singh [Both Photos by Shital Pradhan]

Baba Harbhajan Singh warns the dangerous activities on the border through the dreams of fellow army men. Even Chinese army men believe to have seen a human figure doing patrolling in the night across the border. Baba Harbhajan Singh is today honoured the rank of Honorary Captain and his samadhi reconstructed at the junction of Kupup Gnathang road and the pathway leading to Menmoichu Lake as apart of the watershed memorial complex.

Slip Sliding Away | Landslides threaten thousands in Sikkim and Darjeeling

FROM MORUNG EXPRESS

BY PRAFUL RAO

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

September 09: WITH THE monsoons bringing almost 10 feet of rain in a span of four to five months every year, landslides have been and perhaps will always be a part of life in the mountains of Darjeeling. The earliest records tell us that in September, 1899, there was widespread death and destruction in the Darjeeling Himalayas due to landslides triggered by heavy rains. And so it has been ever since: year after year landslides have wreaked havoc, extracting a grim toll of lives, land and property.
My own tryst with landslides began as a young college student in Kalimpong, in October, 1968. I remember cowering in terror night after night as the rain thundered down relentlessly for three days and nights; when it finally cleared, all one heard was the roar of gushing waters. Water oozed out from myriad crevices in the hills, transforming tiny rivulets into monstrous torrents, gouging at everything in their path.

The ‘68 disaster’, as it is called, caused 20,000 landslides in the hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim. Thousands died and the 80-kilometre road linking Darjeeling and Siliguri was shredded at 92 places by landslides! I very nearly relived that horror last year in the first week of September when, due to incessant and torrential rains, entire mountains cracked up, villages and paddy fields slid down, roads got washed away and buildings and mud houses crumbled. Yet, all this escaped the attention of the national media and was not even perceived as a potential disaster by the government, which is why we, the residents of Kalimpong, call it The Silent Disaster.

I am a photographer and, as such, trained to observe things. Perhaps it is because of this, and the fact that as a shutterbug I travel a lot, that I observed the devastation that occurred in many forms and places.
Trekking through the mountains, I saw and photographed yawning fissures on hillsides and the gaunt faces of desperate villagers, but when I first blogged about this, many thought my writings were the rantings of a well-meaning but aging eccentric given to bouts of unnecessary panic!

It was only when a Ministry of Home Affairs situation report dated September 11, 2007 appeared on the internet that my own blog report was validated. The report stated that 12,000 people had been severely affected by landslides in the Darjeeling hills and that 1,150 houses had been damaged.

Govt introduces package for Karnali: PM

FROM SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET

DOLPA: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Monday said that the government is introducing a special package programme for the overall development of the Karnali region. Speaking at a programme organised after the inauguration of the Dolpa Fete 2008 in Dolpa, the prime minister said that that the government’s policy and programmes would be introduced at the earliest so as to improve the life of the people living in the Dolpa region.

“To ease the problems faced by people here, we will seriously discuss finding a solution immediately after reaching Kathmandu,” he added.

In the programme, PM Dahal distributed certificates of honour to various persons and institutions.

PM Dahal was accompanied by Minister for Tourism Hisila Yami and Minister for Culture and State Restructuring Gopal Kirati.

Nepal’s PM to discuss pacts with India

FROM SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET

KATHMANDU: Chief of the Foreign Affairs Department of the CPN-Maoist C.P. Gajurel Monday said that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, during his forthcoming visit to India, would put forth proposals to review the unequal bilateral treaties signed between Nepal and India.

The review in the treaties including 1950 Treaty and Koshi Treaty is essential, as the old treaties have lost their essence in the changed context, Gajurel said speaking at Reporters’ Club Nepal. The treaties should be reviewed on the basis of mutual benefits, he added.

He said that the PM’s visit to India would raise Nepal-India ties to a new height.

The government should take initiatives to give compensations to the Koshi flood victims, he added. He said that the PM’s visit would remain historic and successful.

The PM would also raise the issue of land encroachment at different points of Nepal-India border by the Indian side, Gajurel said.

Hope for Nepal slaves

FROM STRAIT TIMES

KATHMANDU - IN the 1940s, Sita Bishwokarma’s grandfather took out a loan worth US$120 (S$172), and since then his family has lived in virtual slavery, victims of a practice that Nepal has now vowed to end.

Under the ‘Haliya’ (land tiller) system that remains active in Nepal’s far west, children inherit debt accrued by their parents and grandparents and have to work for moneylenders and landlords to pay it off. [Inset: Sita Bishwokarma (left) has had to plough fields, collect animal feed, prepare food and look after the landlord's children - all for no salary. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE]

‘My grandfather worked as a Haliya because of the loan he took from a landlord,’ Ms Sita Bishwokarma, 37, a Haliya visiting Kathmandu to lobby the government, told wire agencies.

‘He could not pay it back, neither could my parents, so I have had to follow the same tradition,’ she said.

Ms Bishwokarma has had to plough fields, collect animal feed, prepare food and look after the landlord’s children – all for no salary.

‘It is endless work with no pay at all. All we get is a tiny place to live and minimal food,’ said Ms Bishwokarma, from Doti district, 440km west of Kathmandu.

Nepal’s Maoist-led government has vowed to end the practice that has seen around 150,000 bonded labourers living in virtual slavery as they struggle hopelessly to pay off the debt.

‘This will be scrapped after a committee we have appointed submits its report,’ Mr Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the Maoist government spokesman, told the wires on Monday.

Nepal officially abolished all forms of slavery in 2001, but in remote parts of the impoverished country the Haliya system lives on.

‘It has continued in our region because landlords forced poor people to continue with this age-old tradition,’ Mr Gorak Sarki, a Haliya also from Doti, said.