With 18,341 signed up, warm up to marathon begins

FROM TIMES NEWS NETWORK

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

NEW DELHI: To flaunt their sporting spirits on tracks, about 18,341 participants having registered themselves so far for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM). “Many rush in at the last minute,” said Vivek Singh, director, Procam International, the event’s promoters, “and hence the count is still on.”

Addressing media persons, Singh said that with this forth edition of the DHM, the aim is to surpass Rs 147 lakh that was raised last year. About 50 NGOs will be supported through the charity, collected through the NGO Concern India. Said Singh, “36 companies have fielded about 43 teams for the corporate challenge during the run and 27 people have registered themselves to run as a dream team which requires that the team raise more than a lakh for a cause of their choice.”

Prashant Rao, member of a dream team, said his team has already collected Rs 1 lakh and wishes to contribute for the treatment of children with cancer. Another team has fielded about 30 people to raise money for Bihar relief fund.

To be flagged off by Bharti Airtel chairperson Sunil Bharti Mittal, on November 9, 2008, this event has other reasons to lure participants than just good health. While the total prize money is US $ 2,10,000, the Indian winner also has access to a prize money set aside for one.

Gracing the event as its ambassadors this year will be cricket legend Sir Richard Hadlee and six times Olympics champion Jackie Joyner Kersee. With Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, A R Rehman and some others from Bollywood to be present to beckon winter in Delhi, the heat definitely promises to beon.

BJP for full-statehood status to Delhi

FROM MSN NEWS

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

New Delhi: Framing a Delhi-specific anti-terror law will be high on the agenda of BJP in the national capital if voted to power, but the party feels that the absence of full statehood will hamper such efforts.

BJP’s Delhi Chief Ministerial candidate V K Malhotra said granting of full-statehood status to Delhi would help tackle terror as it would help the city government frame its own anti-terror law.

“We will press for a very strict law just like in the United States and Britain. Delhi Government does not have the power to frame anti-terror law. That is why we will ask for full statehood,” said Malhotra.

He said the issue of full-fledged statehood will be in the party manifesto. “The Congress in its manifesto had it but the government did not ask for it. We will ask for it. We will ask for handing over of law and order also,” he said.

Asked how he plans to curb terrorism in the capital, the senior BJP leader said granting of full-fledged statehood, deportation of illegal Bangladeshis and framing of a strict anti-terror law would help secure the city to a large extent.

Malhotra begged to differ when pointed out about Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s observation that full statehood was not possible for Delhi because of the national assets and security infrastructure.

India to provide Rs 49.17 mn assistance to Nepal

FROM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEWS SHARED BY AARDEE

KATHMANDU: India will provide an assistance of Rs 49.17 mn to Nepal for upgrading the infrastructure of three educational institutes, besides construction of a rural electrification project in the country. 

The new infrastructure being developed with the assistance will upgrade the capacity of the schools in order to meet the requirements of increasing number of students. 

The rural electrification project in Sarlahi district will cover six villages — Manpur, Bhawanipur, Mahinatpur, Dhankaul, Ramnagar Bahuarwa and Rajghat — and will benefit over 4000 people in the district. 

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood, who laid the foundation stones of the new buildings of schools and the electrification project said development, particularly in the areas of education, health and infrastructure was needed for a Nepal’s smooth transition to democracy. 

“India would continue to extend all possible assistance in this direction,” Sood added.

Sunil Pant: From computer engineer to the first openly gay member of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly

By Amila de Saram Larssen

 

Sunil Pant

Sunil Pant recently made headlines for being the first person from the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual trans-gender and inter-sex (LGBTI) community to be represented in Nepal’s constituent assembly.

 

Pant was recently in Oslo and I had the opportunity to interview him for this piece.

Pant is the founder and director of The Blue Diamond Society (BDS), a grassroots organization working on human rights, sexual health and HIV/AIDS issues in Nepal. The BDS targets the needs of sexual and gender minorities.

Sunil Pant grew up in Gorkha District in the countryside of Western Nepal, finished school in the village and later Kathmandu and went on to Belarus in Russia where he got a Masters in computer science. He has spent the last 8 years working for sexual and gender minorities in Nepal. He founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2001 and has worked full-time on activism since then.

Pant first got involved in activism upon his return to Nepal in 2001. He was shocked to hear of the problems faced by gays, lesbians and especially trans genders, which included family exclusion, exclusion from schools, workplace discrimination, physical beatings, sexual assault, blackmail from security forces, psychological problems, fear of disclosure and suicide. He vowed to “get organized and do something to overcome these problems”.

The public response to Pant’s entry into politics has been mostly positive. “People see it as a symbol of an inclusive parliament and are happy about it”, said Pant.

Less demand for CTCs in N. India sale

FROM SIFY NEWS

Kolkata: Last week, CTC leaf teas at North India auctions met with less demand and eased in value, according to tea auctioneers. Selected liquoring dust teas were around last while the remainder also tended easier.

More India business stories

Whole leaf grades in the Darjeeling tea auction were barely steady while the remainder tended easier. Brokens and fannings also eased in value. Traditional exporters and packeteers operated. There was selective enquiry from the UK/Continent with some support from local dealers. In the Orthodox sale, selected well-made whole leaf and brokens were irregularly easier while the remainder tended lower.

Fannings were steady on last levels. West Asian and CIS shippers were the mainstay of the market with active support from the major blender.

The Mombasa market saw all categories tending lower with some withdrawals. Yemen, other West Asian countries and Pakistan packers showed more support at lower levels while Egyptian packers were active with Afghanistan operating at lower levels.

Why is there a controversy on National Language – Nepali?

BY DIRGHA RAJ PRASAI

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India, Nepal agree to combat terrorism

FROM SOUTH ASIAN MEDIA NET

NEW DELHI: The two-day Home Secretary level talks between Nepal and India concluded here on Saturday with both sides agreeing to further activate existing mechanisms and exchange security related information to combat terrorist activities.

Both sides reviewed the implementation of the decisions taken at the previous meetings and held focused discussion on the issues relating to security, border management and training, provisioning and capacity building.

The discussions on security related issues centered on effective cooperation in combating terrorist activities including activities of insurgent groups, circulation of fake currency notes, and institutionalizing the mechanism for real-time exchange of security related information between the two countries.

The 13-member Nepalese delegation was led by Dr. Gobinda Prasad Kusum, Secretary at Home Ministry, while the Indian Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta led the Indian team.

Indian side had expressed serious concerns over fake Indian currency circulation in Nepal. Nepali side, however, had stressed on the fact that all terrorist and criminal activities should be construed as terrorist activities instead of pointing finger at a certain group.

“Instead of pointing finger just at ISI we stressed that all those involved in criminal activities be treated as criminals,” said Joint Secretary Mod Raj Dotel, spokesperson at Home Ministry, after the meeting.

‘Ayo Gurkhali’: Winning in the British Courts

A Nepali lawyer recalls how he coordinated the legal movement against the mighty British government to ensure justice for the Gurkha veterans

FROM NEPAL NEWS

By Gopal Siwakoti ‘Chintan’

Gopal Siwakoti 'Chintan'

Not too long ago, no one in Nepal or internationally could believe that the citizens of Nepal serving in the British Army, representing largely the mountain ethnic and indigenous populations, could even think of fighting for their equal rights and winning court battles in the UK. From Kathmandu to London, it was believed that the 1947 Tripartite Agreement on the Recruitment of the Gurkhas (TPA) into the British and Indian army was a bible that no one could touch upon. From 1992, many lawyers from Nepal and the UK were paid huge sums by the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organisation (GAESO) to get justice from the British Ministry of Defense (MOD) and its Headquarters Brigade of Gurkhas (HQBG), but they had failed to produce a single piece of paper for any legal strategy and action in British courts.

It was only in 2000 that GAESO asked me to become its new legal advisor and I agreed. GAESO at that time wanted no more than a petition to be prepared and filed in a British court so that they could claim to be fighting for justice. Their problem was that they had already raised huge sums of money from the Gurkhas and spent it in travelling from Geneva to Brussels and The Hague looking for justice from international courts. It was, however, futile since the battle had to be waged in British courts first.

The first thing I did was to prepare various categories of individual Gurkha profiles of pensioners, redundants, prisoners of war and widows. We then called an international conference in Kathmandu in 2001 where I, with Mary des Chene, a PhD holder on Gurkha matters, prepared an international human rights and legal strategy paper for campaigns as well as possible legal actions in regular British as well as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, in addition to complaints at the various human rights labour rights bodies of the United Nations system. It was my view throughout that the Gurkhas could possibly never win anything unless we challenged the TPA as being against fundamental international, European and British human rights laws. We proceeded on this assumption and have now prevailed. Previous GAESO lawyers and London solicitors/barristers never attempted this approach.

I met a British public interest lawyer, Phil Shiner, at an international conference in Tokyo in August 2001 and he offered his support to find the best lawyers in the UK. We then met in London early 2002 to prepare a legal strategy. He visited Nepal and we prepared hundreds of witness statements from all the above categories of Gurkhas. We filed the first case against discrimination in pension and other benefits at the London High Court on 8 May 2002. We immediately filed another case for ex gratia compensation for Gurkha prisoners of war (POW) held by Japan in World War II. This was done on the basis of our own research. We won the first legal battle for the Gurkahs on 27 November 2002 from which over 4,000 Gurkha POWs are estimated to have benefited £10,000 each– that is 40 million pounds in the aggregate.

Chow Chow republic

The fuzzy little wiry things known as chow chow has not only become a popular food in Nepal, but has become one of Nepal’s leading exports now. Why not give it a due recognition?

FROM NEPAL NEWS

BY ANAND GURUNG

Although culturally we are close to India and may be one of the most voracious consumers of Hindi movies, songs and serials, in eating habits at least it can be safely said that we are more closer to our northern neighbor, what with Momos and instant noodles being the popular snack item for most of city and town folks and already catching up with the country’s rural population also.

Momos

Momos are best served hot and chilly. Don’t yet go to the nearby restaurants Burgers, pizzas and hot dogs easily come to mind whenever we think of ‘fast foods’, but nothing beats Momos here, as it is the most common items served in the restaurants and fast food joints across the country; and more so in Kathmandu. Restaurants and fast food joints say that no matter what specialty cuisine they may serve, their patrons mostly prefer to order Momos be it winter or summer, and the dish easily surpass the sale of other food items in their establishments. Some restaurant owners even say that Momos cover half of their daily sales.

To see people ordering Momos for their lunch or sometimes even while dining out at restaurants about the city is pretty commonplace. And why shouldn’t they – the sight of juicy, mouth watering Momos served with achar (pickle) is simply too irresistible. Little wonder that the dish has become a norm for most Nepalis eating out. To suit the taste buds of different individuals a variety of Momos are available, and most common are steamed Momos, Kothey Momos (semi fried), deep fried Momos and C-Momo (served in hot and spicy sauce with capsicum and onions). Not to leave the veggies aside, one can even have potato Momos, vegetable Momos, paneer Momos, cheese Momos, and for those with sweet tooth: Momos with chocolate fillings.

Our insatiable demand for the doughy dumplings can be easily gauzed by the number of people we see thronging at ubiquitous Momo stalls in Kathmandu, where people wait in long queues just to hungrily gulp down platefuls of steamy and hot (tat tato, as we call in Nepali) Momos. And this even while the temperature outside is well above 30 degrees.

This mania over Momo has become an interesting culinary habit of Nepali people, something they share with people from the Himalayan belt stretching from Himanchal Pradesh in North Western India along with Tibet in the North to Darjeeling, Bhutan, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland in the North East. The dish is also popular among Nepalese diaspora around the world.

Given our insatiable appetite for Momos, one can say that this dish comes only second to Nepal’s original staple – the Dal-bhat-Tarkari combination. But although we never seem to get enough of Momos while eating out at restaurants, but in our homes its close cousin seems to have no contender- instant noodles, or ‘chowchow’, as we commonly call it.

Wai Wai

It all started back in the 80s when Gandaki Noodles launched Rara brand of instant noodles. But it was Chaudhary Group, one of the largest private business houses in the country having diversified interests across various sectors that created a wave in the market by launching Wai Wai (Tasty-Tasty in Thai) brand of instant noodles in collaboration with Thai Foods.

Soon Wai Wai commercials were seen in Nepal Television (NTV) – the sole limited-hour state-owned television station the country had back then – with images of sensuous model Dolly Gurung prancing away with Wai Wai chowchow in her hand streamed across living rooms of the middle-class Nepali households just becoming familiar with the concept of ‘living rooms’ in their houses.

Wai Wai was also one of few factory made products back then in a country just shedding its pastoral past and slowly marching towards industrialization with Russian made Janakpur Cigarette Industry and handful of distilleries and jute mills. As Wai Wai’s basically meant to be served in soup form, it also made sense in this “cold ashtray” of Bhupi Sherchan’s poems along with other hilly and colder parts of the country. And unlike the noodles introduced to us by the Tibetan refugees, Wai Wai being pre-cooked, flavored and fried before packaging, so anybody could prepare it instantly and without much hassle.

2 held for branding worker witch

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, Nov. 2: Two persons of Bani Tea Estate in Ambari-Falakata were arrested for branding a co-worker of the garden a witch and creating a commotion in the area.

Lachhu Oraon (55) and Dipak Munda (48) were today produced in the court of the Jalpaiguri Sadar sub-divisional officer, Atanu Roy. “I asked them to produce a bond with a surety from a responsible person for their release. But when they failed to do so, I booked them under Section 107 CrPC (preventive measure for maintaining peace) and remanded them in judicial custody for two days,” Roy said.

The woman, Bhudni Oraon (50), who was also produced in court, was released after her version was recorded. She was detained for being a party to the commotion.

Yesterday, police at the Ambari-Falakata outpost had received a complaint from residents of Bairivita-Gudiaganj village next to the tea estate, about 40km from Jalpaiguri, where the three workers live.

According to the complaint, Lachhu and Dipak, who had been threatening Bhudni since the Kali Puja night, had raided her house, blaming her for the spate of fever and sickness that the villagers were going through recently. They dragged her out from her house and tied her to a tree.

The woman shouted out in protest, denying the duo’s charges, and the exchange led to a commotion in the area, the police said.

A similar incident had happened on the night of Kali Puja also. “The two had gone to Bhudni’s house in a drunken state and assaulted her, accusing her of being a witch and the reason behind so many people falling sick,” a villager said. They even threatened to kill her.

Tour sales tips: include Bhutan – Dooars to find place in german travel guide

BY ANIRBAN CHOUDHURY

Alipurduar, Nov. 2: Dooars, along with Bhutan, is set to find a place in a German travel guide for Asia.

Travel writers Stefan and Renate Loose were here last week on a three-day tour, exploring each nook and corner of the Dooars, the foothills of the Himalayas spread across Jalpaiguri district.

The German couple have advised Help Tourism, which had invited them to write about the region, to include Bhutan in the Dooars package to make it more saleable to foreigners.

They visited Gorumara National Park, Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and Chilapata, the three main forests that give Dooars its wild beauty. The Nal Rajar Gar and the Bania river in the Chilapata have impressed the Germans, who also visited the palace of the maharajas in neighbouring Cooch Behar district.

Stefan, who stayed at the Chilapata forest camp for a day, said the missing link between the seven sisters of the Northeast and Darjeeling was the Dooars.

“In the Northeast, several outfits are active and busy destroying the peace of the region. The government has to play an active role in preventing that. Foreign tourists will never go to a place, which is politically disturbed,” said Stefan.

He said a “circular tour” was always more attractive than a “one-way” travel.

“Bhutan and Dooars should be in the same tour circuit. Help tourism is concentrating on the uplift of the local economy. This is essential.”

Foreign visitors like Goa, Jaipur, Darjeeling because they are aware of the places, the facilities available there and the sights and sounds that they are likely to come across, he said.

Homage to jawans on Trishakti ‘birthday’

THE TELEGRAPH

ARMY LIVE

Lt Gen. P.K. Rath lays a wreath at the war memorial in Sukna on Saturday

The Trishakti Corps observed its 49th Raising Day on Saturday with pomp. The “birthday” celebration of the Corps began with Lt Gen. P.K. Rath, the general-officer-commanding, laying a wreath at the Vijay Smarak to pay respect to soldiers for their sacrifices.

The Corps was raised by Lt Gen. A.F.P. Christison on this day in 1942 at Bangalore to fight against the Japanese in Burma during World War II. After it was re-raised by Lt Gen. Umrao Singh at Shillong in 1960, the troops took part in the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971 and forced Pakistan’s 16 Infantry Division to surrender in the Battles of Bogra and Bhaduria.

Over the years, the Sukna-based Corps has been keeping the lines of communication in north Bengal and Sikkim open, despite the harsh terrain and inclement weather.

In the recent past, the Corps has provided relief to flood-affected Bihar and taken care of the flora, fauna and the environment in the region. It has also carried out a number of adventure activities to motivate the youths to join the armed forces.

The Raising Day celebration included an audio-visual presentation on the history of the Corps and mass band display. A large number of serving and former soldiers as well as civilians attended the programmes.

Bulldozers to hit illegal hill houses – Buildings identified, crackdown from today

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

The Darjeeling town, a concrete jungle. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Nov. 2: The Darjeeling Municipality has decided to bulldoze from tomorrow buildings that have come up “illegally” in town during the “political turmoil” in the hills.

“We have identified three-to-four buildings which have taken advantage of the political turmoil. The decision to bring down these structures has been taken considering the ecological fragility of the area we live in,” said Pemba Tshering Ola, the chairman of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-controlled civic board.

According to the West Bengal Municipality Act, buildings in the hills should not be more than 11.5m, which is roughly around four storeys. The earlier GNLF board had adopted a by-law and raised the height to 13.5m.

The municipality had been defunct for a number of months earlier this year following a tug of war between the Morcha and the GNLF councillors.

The new board, which came to power in April, did not go by heights in metres but announced that buildings higher than four storeys were illegal.

In August, it demolished a part of a hotel in Chowrastha when its owner tried to erect a structure on the rooftop. The proprietor was known to be close to the Morcha.

Earlier, the municipality had said it would legalise all “illegal structures” (buildings which have more than four storeys) and evaluate their taxes.

“The policy to legalise these structures is still in place. But it would be applicable to only those buildings which had been constructed during the tenure of the previous board. We are taking action against those buildings which have come up recently,” said Ola.

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EXCLUSIVE REPORT ON THE APPEARANCE OF AJAY DAHAL, THE CHIEF OF UNITED GORKHA  REVOLUTIONARY ARMY