Siliguri, Nov 13 (IANS) Hundreds of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) activists Thursday foiled the West Bengal government’s attempt to remove pro-Gorkhaland wall graffiti in Darjeeling, the police said.”A large contingent of police went to Pradhan Nagar area of Darjeeling district to deface the GJM signs on the railings. But they had to retract following the protests by the GJM supporters,” said D.T Lepcha, West Bengal deputy inspector general of police (Darjeeling Range).
The police said that Darjeeling district deputy magistrate S. Pradhan, accompanied by the police force, tried to wipe out the signs from the walls. The GJM activists, however, warned them to stop.
“We will not allow them to wipe out the signs,” said Madhusudan Thapa, unit secretary of GJM’s Terai and Dooars region.
Later, the deputy magistrate left the place without completing the removal task.
The GJM, led by its president Bimal Gurung, has been spearheading a movement in the hills demanding a separate state and also opposing the Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling.
The central government in 2005 announced the Sixth Schedule status to the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF)-led Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), thereby ensuring greater autonomy to the governing body. Read the rest of this entry »
DARJEELING: A boy was today caught under the wheels of an Army Truck and crushed to death. The boy had been returning home from school which had opened even on a Government Holiday. The accident took place at the heart of the town near Goenka Petrol Pump where a narrow highway strip is even further narrowed by vehicles parked illegally.
The boy, a class eight student of St. Joseph’s School was caught under the rear wheels of an Indian Army Shaktiman truck, when the driver according to eyewitness reports suddenly maneoverd the vehicle backwards without warning or offering any indication. The victim identified later as Harsh Agarwal was killed on the spot. The driver fled from the scene. The soldier meanwhile being present at the spot was severely beaten by the public mistaking him for the driver. The police however, was able to intervene and the soldier was offered a police escort to an Army vehicle standing a Chowk Bazaar. The Army was able to whisk the soldier away but not until being attacked by the public with stones and bricks.
Meanwhile, a large crowd marched towards the Darjeeling Sadar Thana led by Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha. There, the public demanded for the immediately arrest of the culprit. The people were further angered when for more than three hours, no doctors arrived at the Emergency ward of the Darjeeling District Hospital. Ultimately, the child was declared ‘brought dead’ and the agitated public invaded the Police Station demanding the immediate arrest of the accused. The child’s dead body ignited the already charged emotions and the youths stoned the police station. The police retaliated with lathi charge (baton charge) injuring more than 20 youths, male and female. The tension ultimately spread across the town and by the time this report was written the entire town had downed the shutter.
A normal day at National Highway 55 inside Darjeeling Town. Photo by Barun Roy - From Beacon Online Archive
A Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha poster has demanded explanation from the Principle of St. Joseph’s School, asking him to provide explanation for opening school on a Government Holiday. Some party insiders have also predicted that indefinite shut down may be called for until the arrest of the accused.
While the general emotions are running high in the hills on the death of a child, observers are of the opinion, that the incident has once again laid bare the poor state of roads in the town. The strip of National Highway 55 known as Hill Cart Road has been converted into a one lane road from a two lane road. The encroachments on the road and the illegal parking of vehicles have made the place a virtual death trap. The incident which had wracked the town today is also not new. There have been numerous accidents at the same place including other narrower roads in the town.
Nabin Tamang, a local resident said, “There had been a similar incident, where a student of Bethany School was killed some years ago. People, especially the children are being caught under the gaint wheels of Army Shaktiman, commercial vehicles, buses and the rest for long time now. This is because of the narrowing of the road and the eagerness of the drivers to avoid traffic jams at such places. The answer is in the broadening of the roads and having dedicated Traffic Police personnels controling the traffic.”
A driver's view of Darjeeling Roads. Roads are the only way to get to Darjeeling and they are narrow and dangerous.. Requires special skills to drive in the treacherous roads. Photo by Ram Viswanathan
Ashis Rai, a teacher at a local school said, “Darjeeling is regarded as one of the most beautiful hill stations in the world. But the reality is that things here are nightmarish. Why can’t we have side walks, lanes, traffic signals, or zebra crossings. There is no Traffic Law in the Town. I want to question the Traffic Police of the town – what are they doing? What are they managing? If the roads gets narrower and narrower and the number of vehicles increase every year coupled with Traffic Policemen who are perhaps the most ill trained, and ill motivated law enforcers in the world, acidents like these will only increase.”
It surely seems that the tragic death of Harsh Agarwal is the sum total of the negligence on the part of the Governmental Agencies which has lead to narrow roads and ineffective traffic system.
Dr. Arindam Gupta, a professor at the local college said, “It is really sad that the young boy died so tragically but we must not give up tomorrow and go back to our lives. We will have to keep on demanding the Government to provide better roads, efficient traffic systems and above all dedicated enforcement of Traffic Laws. If we are able to do this then perhaps Harsh’s death will not go unanswered.”
DEHRADUN, 11 Nov: The National Baseball Association has authorised the Uttarakhand Baseball Association to hold a National Little League Championship.
Satish Anand (Secretary, Organisation, UBA) disclosed this at a press conference held at the press club today.
Teams from ten states are expected to participate. The championship would be held on 14-16 November.
The participating teams are from Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and hosts Uttarakhand.
The Uttarakhand Baseball Association has organised two National Championships earlier.
Mayor Vinod Chamoli would inaugurate the competition at 11 a.m. in Rangers’ College Ground on 14 November.
The competition would be concluded by Chairman of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, Umesh Aggarwal on 16 November.
Present at the press conference were President UN Challu, Secretary Brijendra Rana, Senior Vice President Saiuddin, Gurucharan, Naveen Nagalia and DM Lakhera.
Mumbai, November 12 IPPA Awards: 8,801 entries, 226 photographers, 18 awards, one grand prize.
The Indian Express Group once again lets pictures do the talking with The India Press Photo Awards 2008, instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Foundation in 2004 to identify, promote and reward excellence in photojournalism and documentary photography.
Cloistered for three days in a conference room at the Taj President, Mumbai, the three judges-photojournalists Prashant Panjiar, Pablo Bartholomew and Harsh Man Rai-sifted through 8,801 entries by 226 photographers to come up with one grand prize-winning image and one winner from each of the 18 categories. The awards will be announced on November 14 in Mumbai.
Over endless cups of green tea and filter coffee, the winners that emerged have set a new precedent for photojournalists, both established and aspiring. “Despite the two year gap after which this competition has come about, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of work and the innovation in ideas, image-making and story construction,” says Pablo Bartholomew, whose image of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 won the World Press Photo’s Picture of the Year Award.
The judging process was intense-the photographs had to pass through three rounds of scrutiny. But it was after the first round that the judges felt “the need to reward novelty.”
“Photojournalists have always dared to experiment. But in the past 15 years, the work of photojournalists have stagnated and story-telling in photojournalism has become old-fashioned,” says Prashant Panjiar, who has served on the jury of several photo awards, including the World Press Photo Awards in 2002 and the Ramnath Goenka Press Photo Awards 2004-2006. Read the rest of this entry »
Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Gorkha Morcha Party’ President, Capt JB Karki (Retd) (centre) speaking at a press conference. Photo by Garhwal Post
DEHRADUN, 11 Nov: The ‘Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Gorkha Morcha Party’ President, Capt JB Karki (Retd) said at a press conference today that the annual state level convention would be held on 16 November at the Ramlila Ground, Haldwani.
He complained that in the name of reservations, nothing has been done for the Gorkha community. He further warned government that the party would fight for the rights of the Gorkhas.
He alleged that government had made them only voters and porters. He recalled that in 1994, the Central Government had provided 27% reservation to OBCs. In the state, it amounted to 14%. He lamented that only one or two persons were found in government departments from his community.
Asserting that they would unite and fight, he said even the mother provided milk to her child only when it cried. Read the rest of this entry »
It would be appropriate and justifiable to consider the East India Company’s ulterior motive beforehand in invading Nepal at various eastern, southern and western lands. They had pre-planned objectives in spreading the colonial domination throughout the Indian subcontinent. To this end they covertly prepared themselves and launched war against Nepal. They succeeded to some extent in dominating the Gorkhali fighting patriots at great cost. Under the cloak of intimidation, threat and coercion, the Treaty of Sugauli was concluded. It would be justifiable and helpful to discuss the mode and method of British offensive aggression prior to assess the validity, legality and occupation of the Nepalese territories by the British under threat, coercion and intimidation on the pretext of the so-called dictated Treaty of Sugauli.
The Sugauli Treaty also known as the Anglo-Nepal Treaty concluded under duress, intimidation, coercion and threat from the invading Colonial Power had forced the kingdom of Nepal to cede one third of Nepal’s territory to the East India Company in 1816. The ceded territory included most of the southern belts of plain lands and that of hilly regions west of the Kali River belt. Nepal was intimidated and forced to cede some territories east of the Mechi River also. After the conclusion of this Treaty, Nepal’s international boundary was transfixed to the Mechi River in the East and KaliRiver to the west.
Causes and Pretext
The Mogul Empire was waning and declining in the eighteenth century. Invasion by the rulers ofPersia and Afghanistan started in weakening the very foundation of the Mogul Empire. After such invasions the previous governors or agents of the British Empire in India such as Nawabs of Bengal and Oudh in the north and the Nizam of Hyderabad in the South made their mind to assert as independent powers. As a matter of fact, the main legitimate claimants and contenders were the respective native inhabitants including the invading East India Company. European colonialists- British, French and Portuguese – were already indulged themselves in colonizing some parts of the territories in the subcontinent. The East India Company was very much concerned on the extension of the Gorkhali rule over these new territories that they planned to colonize within a favorable period of time. Nepal’s conquest or takeover of these parts of regions definitely thwarted the colonial interest. On top of that, the colonial power was very much susceptible about the likely unity and reemergence of the Sikhs, Marathas and Gurkhalis to fight against the colonial invasion and occupation. Taking all these accounts into consideration, the colonial power devised a plan of conspiracy overtly and covertly to thwart the reemergence of the Hindu emerging power unity. The East India Company in its mission got success in its plan to create vacuum and enmity among the Hindu reemerging powers themselves. The Company was not in a position to land the white British contingent in India due to the Napoleonic war effect and the Bengal Army under the clutch of the Company could not match against the Gorkhalis. To this context, the Company corroborated with the Sikhs and other neighboring powers and made an unholy alliance while invading Nepal.
The extended territories of Nepal covered on the frontier of Purnea in the east, on those of the frontiers of Gorakhpur and Saran to the South of Central Nepal and on the frontiers of Bareily in the west. It was common to emerge out some disputes on the adjoining borders of the two forces. The dispute arose since 1806 between Nepal and British India and reached on the height by 1814. The border dispute to the context of Gorakhpur and saran took the serious turn after the Butwal and Syuraj scuffle The Gorkhalis were compelled to capture 22 villages in the Saran district. The Nepali Government was ready and prepared to handover the 22 districts as to be settled by the Commission. However, the Company mainly on the supervision and dominance of the Marquess of Hasting was determined to extend the British Government’s sovereignty over the lands in Indiacontrolled by the East India Company. This mandate was conferred on the renewed Charter of the Company. Thus, the Company’s Government was the first to use force to invade and capture Butwal and Syuraj. As the Nepali forces recaptured these two villages on 29th May, the British planned overtly and covertly to invade Nepal from the west, south and east porous lands. The Government of Nepal could not reassess the mammoth military power of the invader and even ignored the strategic military advise of Bam Shah, Governor of Kumaun, Hastidal Shah, Governor of Doti and Amar Singh Thapa, Governor of the entire far west.
Invasion against Nepal
The main strategy of the British colonialist was to subjugate whole of the Indian subcontinent. As they succeeded in their mission of subjugation in India, Nepal couldn’t have been spared. Due to the Napoleonic War, they had suspended their invasion to subjugate new territories. As the war with the French terminated by 1814, they instantly devised various pretexts in invading Nepal. To this context, according to the War History Records quoted by various historians in their valuable accounts of this particular war, they had accumulated and collected geographic and other strategic accounts of Nepal from various sources including those of Captain Kinloch in 1767, Kirkpatric in 1793 and Knox in 1804. Read the rest of this entry »
Gangtok, Nov 12: The Centre has decided to set up a regional research centre in Sikkim under the Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development for utilization of bio technology in improving productivity of the state’s natural resources, Sikkim Science and Technology minister S B Subedi said on Wednesday.
Participating in the first interactive meet of bio-informatics centres of north eastern states here, he said that the proposed Regional Research Centre should act as catalyst for capacity building and developing entrepreneurship skills of the farmers and unemployed youths so that they should be able to set up small and medium scale units by using bio-technology for making a living out of the natural resources.
Subedi also laid thrust on the development of suitable and effective bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides by using rich biological resources for encouraging organic farming as has been done in Sikkim.
He said that the centre should focus on dissemination of appropriate technology for improvement of yield and value-addition to various cash crops like cardamom, ginger, orange, medicinal plants and bamboos.
The Minister urged the Centre to set up a Bio-Technology Park in Sikkim too to encourage the local entrepreneurs.
In order to highlight the distinct produces in Sikkim, he asked the officials of his department to make detailed proposal and pursue the matter for registration Temi tea, Sikkim Mandarin orange, Lachung Beans, Dalley Khorshani, Dzongu Lepcha Hat, large cardamom, Naakeema, and Sikkim Choksey under the registration and protection of geographical indication.
Besides, there should be proper documentation of local health traditions using medicinal plants by traditional faith healers in order to protect their valuable intellectual property rights, Subedi said. Read the rest of this entry »
Two Malaysian tourists who crossed the sensitive border of Sikkim, from Nepal without proper visa were arrested and jailed in Gangtok, the capital of the northern hilly state.
The duo, M.Girubanandhan and another only identified as Ravi, were detained by Sikkim police when they tried to enter the Rangpo border check-post along with an Indian lady.
“They have crossed into Indian territory without proper documents.
Malaysians need a visa to enter Sikkim from Nepal. They have been charged under the Foreigners’ Act and are now in judicial custody,” Sikkim Deputy Inspector General of Police Akshay Sachdeva told Bernama when contacted today.
Following an interrogation, police discovered that the two Malaysians arrived in Nepal on Oct 25 and befriended the Indian lady, who is believed to have helped them cross the border.
Nepalese are allowed to enter Sikkim, nestled in the Himalayas, without a visa but only require an Inner Line Permit while visas are compulsory for foreigners. Read the rest of this entry »
SILIGURI, Nov. 12: The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has begun investigating the 20 October ‘mysterious death’ of Siliguri trader Md Shamsul Zamana alias Gulab (33) even as his family and friends are still adamant on a CBI probe.
Resident of Chappal Patty in Siliguri, Zamana apparently committed suicide by jumping before a speeding train on the railway tracks near his house, but his family alleges the involvement of Mr BC Poddar ~ an ASI of the District Intelligence Branch (DIB) Siliguri, in the trader’s untimely demise.
The government directive ordering the CID to probe into the matter reached Siliguri yesterday and the CID Siliguri unit swung into action from this morning.
Mr DP Dong, DSP-CID Siliguri is leading the investigative team, which visited Zamana’s house at around 1 p.m. today and interacted with his family members.
The CID team also visited the railway track where the trader was found badly injured on the night of 20 October and talked to the residents of the vicinity.
Speaking about the investigation, Mr Dong said that the state authorities have not fixed any time-frame for concluding the probe, but his team would like to wind up the case ‘at the earliest’.
“We would interrogate any one and everyone needed, irrespective of his stature and profile,” the DSP-CID told when asked if they plan to interrogate the DIB officer Mr BC Poddar accused of abetting Zamana in his apparent suicide.
The accused officer was suspended and sent to the Darjeeling police-line on 22 October. He obtained an anticipatory bail from the Darjeeling Sessions Court on 10 November.
Meanwhile, though Zamana’s family cooperated with the CID investigators today, they are still adamant on the CBI probe demand and announced that the civil society’s protest agitation on the issue at Hashmi Chowk in Siliguri since 23 October, would continue until the demand was met. Read the rest of this entry »
KOLKATA, Nov. 12: The recent terrorist attack in Assam has caused a huge financial loss to the city based tour operators.
Not only have several tourists cancelled their trips to Darjeeling, Lolegaon, Kalimpong, Gangtok, Pelling, Shillong, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, but the tour operators have also stopped receiving requests for advance booking to these places.
Tour operators say that usually over one lakh tourists from West Bengal visit various areas of north Bengal and other north eastern states at this time of the year. However, fear of further terrorist attacks have urged most of the tourists to cancel their trips this year.
They claimed to have incurred a total loss of around 60 to 70 crore. “Our main cause of worry is the fact that tourists are not booking any tour packages for these places,” rued Mr Suddhabrata Deb, vice president of Travel Agent Association of Bengal.
Generally bookings are made six months in advance but there was hardly any advance booking in the post puja season. Tour operators complained that since maximum profit is earned between October and December, lack of bookings during these months hamper the business. Read the rest of this entry »
In this photo released by Penguin Group shows the cover of "A Blue Hand-The Beats in India," by Deborah Baker. (AP Photo/Penguin Group)
A Blue Hand: The Beats in India by Deborah Baker
Robert Oppenheimer knew Sanskrit. Quotations from the Bhagavad Gita flashed through his mind when he witnessed the first atomic explosion in New Mexico in 1945: ‘Suppose a thousand suns should rise together into the sky: such is the glory of the Shape of the Infinite God.’ Reading that same chapter of the Bhagavad Gita in Darjeeling in 1962, Allen Ginsberg thought of something else: the coloured wheels of psilocybin-induced visions. That two of the 20th century’s most consciousness-altering inventions, the atom bomb and the LSD pill, could be conjoined under the sign of the mushroom cloud is just the sort of thing that convinces poets of the doctrine of secret correspondences in nature, of a transcendental logic ruling reality.
l Jon Glen, Headmaster of Terrington Hall School, hands over textbooks to Ian and Jessica Foxley in the presence of two Gurkhas from York’s Fulford Road barracks submitted
A FORMER deputy head girl at Terrington Hall School is heading for Nepal with her father on a mission to improve the educational opportunities in a remote village.
Sixteen-year-old daughter Jessica Foxley and her father, Ian, are making the three-day trek across the steep ranges of the Himalayan foothills, on the final leg of their charity mission. They are heading for Kahlte, in the north west of the country, to deliver laptops, solar charging units and textbooks for the opening of two new classrooms for the village school.
Their visit marks the culmination of a seven-year project by Ian, who is a retired Lieutenant-Colonel with the Royal Signals. He spotted the urgent need for improved classroom provision when he visited Khalte in 2001, a region populated by the Gurung tribe, one of the major sources of Gurkha soldiers for both the British Army and the Indian Army.
On that occasion, he stayed in the schoolhouse, a mudbrick building, and was humbled by the conditions – a hole in the schoolyard for a toilet, a single tap, no electricity, a couple of benches in the rooms to serve classes of 40-45 children, a solitary 1958 map of the world and no textbooks.
Talking to villagers, he identified a desperate need for two “proper” classrooms, a decent toilet facility and educational equipment.
A fundraising effort back in England raised £15,000 and, with the support of the local Gurkha Welfare Service and retired British Army Gurkha servicemen within the Parbat region, the classrooms were built by the local villagers. Read the rest of this entry »
Thousands of pilgrims have flocked to a remote jungle in southeast Nepal after a 17-year-old boy whom some believe to be a reincarnation of the Buddha emerged after more than a year in the forest.
Ram Bahadur Bamjan appeared on Monday to preach in a temple in Ratanpur, southeast of Kathmandu. Dubbed “Buddha Boy” by the press, and dismissed as a charlatan by some, the teenager first garnered headlines in 2005 when tens of thousands of devotees travelled to see him as he sat crosslegged amid the roots of a tree for nearly ten months without, it was claimed, food or water.
Ram Bahadur Bamjan in the Nepalese jungle. He has not been spotted for more than a year
Buddha Boy blesses a monk in Nijgadh. He first garnered headlines in 2005 as he sat cross-legged at the roots of a tree for nearly ten months
This week the long-haired Bamjan, attired in a gleaming white cloth, appeared to be in good health when he spoke to his followers about fostering peace and ending discrimination.
He plans to give similar audiences for the next week or so. A police spokesman said: “The whole jungle area where he has appeared has turned into a festival and around 10,000 people came to see him on Monday.”
Many of those have described the experience as amazing and are convinced that he is the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in about 560BC and later became revered as the Buddha.
Several doubts have been raised, however, over the authenticity of Bamjan. During past appearances thousands of pounds were collected from devotees, leading to allegations that he was really a conman. Most damagingly, perhaps, a French journalist filmed Bamjan nibbling on fruit while supposedly midway through a fast; another correspondent found him asleep while he was supposed to be meditating.
In March last year supporters of Bamjan said that he planned to meditate for three years in an underground bunker – an idea he now appears to have thought better of.
Buddha boy speaks to devotees from nearby villages in the remote forest in Ratanpuri
There has not been any official statement from Buddhism’s authorities on Bamjan. Min Bahadur Shakya, of the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods in Kathmandu, said: “Meditating without food does not prove that he is reincarnation of Buddha. There is much study needed to be done.”
Dr K. T. S. Sarao, head of Buddhist studies at the University of Delhi, said: “In this part of the world religion incites very strong feelings. Read the rest of this entry »
The number of Nepali children working as helpers in transport sector in the Nepali capital Kathmandu is on the rise, according to a report of the Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN).
According to CWIN, a private organization working in child welfare, around 2,193 children serve as transportation helpers in 5,016 working places in Kathmandu.
The report marked children working as helpers in these places at high risk.
It said that 48.5 percent of children working for public vehicles such as tempos, microbuses and buses in the Kathmandu are below the age of 14. CWIN said that over 50 percent children’s workforce in the transport sector joins the profession because of fake promises and out of compulsion associated with poverty. Almost all of them work for 12 hours a day and some of them work up to 16 hours a day.
CWIN also said most children in transport sector were deprived of education and almost 74 percent of them were a victim of one or other form of mistreatment. They neither have proper food and lodging facility. Almost 53.3 percent of them sleep in the vehicles, while 44 percent of them suffered physical injuries at one or the other time.
Nepal's former Maoist rebels have said they will return land and property they seized during a decade-long civil war. (Reuters)
Kathmandu, November 12: Nepal’s former Maoist rebels have said they will return land and property they seized during a decade-long civil war as part of a peace deal that brought them into the political mainstream.
Maoists, who began fighting the monarchy in 1996, forced thousands from their homes when they seized land and property during the war that killed more than 13,000 people.
Political parties complained the Maoists had not returned the seized property to its owners, despite promising to do so after emerging as the largest party in elections held in April under a 2006 peace deal.
“We’ll return the seized property to their owners by mid-December,” Prime Minister Prachanda, the Maoist chief who still uses his nom de guerre rather than his real name Pushpa Kamal Dahal, told a special assembly late on Tuesday.
N.K.Pradhan, chairman of the bank and area MLA inaugurating the ATM. A total 55 ATM cards were issued.
Gangtok: For the first time, State Bank of Sikkim (SBS) has opened its ATM counter at its Gangtok headquarter. Mr. N.K.Pradhan, chairman of the bank and area MLA inaugurated the ATM on Tuesday. On the day, total 55 ATM cards were issued.
Speaking to this correspondent Mr. Tsheten T.Bhutia, General Manager of the bank said SBS has opened this counter after 40 years. He said another ATM counter is going to be opened at the State Secretariat within this month. SBS at present has 26 branches in the State and out of them 13 branches have been computerized, he informed.
Mr. Bhutia also informed that, by 2009, the bank plans to set up ATM counter in all branches and to operate mobile banks in the rural areas which are not covered by its branches.
Regarding performance of the bank, the general manager said the bank is progressing day by day and has good record of deposit. “In 2006-07 alone total Rs.432 crore was deposited and in 2007-08 total Rs.724 crore has been deposited,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, November 11: For the first time in Sikkim, Sikkim Football Association is hosting Manchester United Premier Cup, East and North East Zone Qualifying Round for (Boys) U-15 at Paljor Stadium here.
The mega event will be commenced from November 18 and will conclude on November 21, informed Menla Ethenpa, General Secretary, Sikkim Football Association.
The teams participating are Mohun Bagan A.C., Md. Sporting Club, Chirag United S.C., Kalyani Municipality Academy, Eastern Sporting Union, Manipur, Silchar Football Academy, Assam, Sikkim Football Academy, Namchi and Snow Lion Football Academy, Sikkim.
Mr. Ethenpa informed that two teams from this zone will qualify to play in the final round at Goa where they will meet with the winners of other four zones.
The team winning of the final round at Goa will be taken to Manchester, U.K. next year to play with the winners of other countries. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, November 11: The first National Award recipient from Sikkim Passangkit Lepcha is worried about the present education system.
The 87-year-old teacher, who received the national recognition in the year 1983, believes that the system of contemporary education has become a burden for the students.
“The mushrooming of private schools in the State has somewhat deteriorated the quality of education,” she rues.
Ms Lepcha, the founder of Dikling Sr Sec School said that teachers should be punctual and should carry the sense of responsibility towards their duties.
Popularly known as Mailey Guruama in her locality, Passangkit Lepcha was born to Chagu Tshering and La Ongmu in 1923.
She acquired her primary education from Paljor Namgyal Sr Sec School till Class VI. Later, Passangkit, the brilliant student of PNGSS joined Missionary School in neighbouring Kalimpong.
While pursuing her education in standard VIII, she was offered a teachers training at Kolkata. She immediately opted for the training and later joined the same school as a teacher.
“Getting job was easy and hassle free during those days,” she said.
After serving the mission school for many years, Mailey Guruama came back to Dikling.
Having found that her children in Pakyong remained uneducated for quite long, Ms Lepcha ventured into opening a school for the village kids. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, November 11: Listing out a series of financial misadventures of the State government, Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee (SPCC) has urged the 13th Finance Commission for ‘serious action’ to ensure ‘proper and meaningful utilization’ of Central funds in Sikkim.
SPCC president Nar Bahadur Bhandari had submitted a memorandum of the party to Dr. Vijay Kelkar, chairman of the 13th Finance Commission yesterday at Chintan Bhavan.
In his submission, Mr. Bhandari states that there is no check to assess whether the developments are commensurate to the huge funds being advanced to the State government.
“The past records show that the Central government departments including the Planning Commission used to monitor the utilization of funds/grants of the Finance Commission through various Central agencies or independent agencies on regular basis. However, such monitoring seems to have been discontinued as no meaningful implementation of the schemes under the Finance Commission Grants and normal annual budgets are being done”, said Mr. Bhandari.
The SPCC president pointed out to the Commission that the developing country of India cannot afford to ‘dole out funds for extravagant and wasteful investments. “Sikkim’s present fiscal position presents a dismal picture”, he said blaming the lack of evaluation of the scheme implementation for this.
In the SPCC memorandum, the party president submitted the financial misadventures of the State government and sought for corrective measures. Read the rest of this entry »
‘If need be, we can go ahead with parallel govt in the hills’
FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS
DARJEELING, November 11: Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) is presently languishing in the freezer in view of pendown strike by its causal employees demanding regularization from November 6 which was further supplemented by an indefinite strike called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
The 4000 odd employees have been struggling to eke a living by working in a minimum monthly salary package with a hope for regularization in the past 20 years in DHGC which they thought as a future Gorkhaland.
With DHGC not moving forward even an inch, the dreams of regularization has been broken.
Till recently, the causal employees had been muzzled by the one-sided rule of DGHC. Their woes were further compounded by the cut in the salaries in 2003. At that time, the employees had hit the streets in protests but got muscled out by the political rulers of DGHC.
Now, in the present sweeping winds of change in the hills, the voices for regularization have started rising once more and the employees under the banner of Janmukti Casual Employees Union (JCEU) had launched an indefinite pen down strike from November 6.
Adding more teeth to the strike, GJM has also shut down DGHC offices from November 8.
Addressing a public meeting today here, JCEU president Machindra Subba warned the WB government that it will suggest GJM to start a parallel government in the hills. “If any steps are taking to stop the salaries of the causal employees of DHGC then we will suggest GJM to start a parallel government here”, he said.
Mr. Subba was responding to a statement of WB minister Ashok Bhattacharya who is reported to have said that no wages should be given to those employees who are not working. How can a minister make such comments in a democracy when the employees are fighting for their rights in a democratic manner, he questioned. Read the rest of this entry »
Neighbour had arranged the explosive for blasting boulders, says accused
FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS
GANGTOK, November 11: One person has been arrested by Rongli police in connection with the detonator blast that occurred yesterday at Lingtam secondary school.
The mild explosive has been traced to one local resident, Digam Pradhan.
According to DIG (Range) Akshay Sachdeva, the detonator was traced to Digam Pradhan who had got hold the mild explosive for blasting boulders.
The accused has been detained by police for questioning.
During questioning, Mr. Pradhan told police that he had been given the detonator by his neighbour. The purpose for giving the detonator to Mr. Pradhan was to blast the huge boulders in the premises of his neighbour who wanted to construct a house. By blasting the boulders into small pieces with the help of the detonator, the neighbour wanted to clear space for the house construction.
Mr. Pradhan has told the police that he was unaware of the fact that the detonator was taken away by one of the friends of his child thinking it was a playing item.
This nearly proved fatal as the friend who took the live detonator exploded inside the class room of the Lingtam school injuring six primary students. Three of them are presently admitted at Central Referral Hospital here. Read the rest of this entry »
Sikkim is an ideal destination for alpine climbing: Payne
FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS
GANGTOK, November 11: A five member international expedition led by British mountaineer Roger Payne has successfully scaled the 5635m Brumkhangse peak in North Sikkim.
Apart from the expedition leader, the other members of this successful ascent were Owen Samuels (UK), Simon Humphries (UK), Claire Humphries (UK) and Tom Middtun (Norway). The international expedition reached the lower north summit of Brumkhangse on October 30. Three other members of the earlier eight member team could complete their ascent due to limited time period.
The lower summit was chosen as heavy snowfall had caused serious avalanche conditions on the main summit.
After scaling the Brumkhangse peak, the team also climbed a rock peak of 5250 m just above their camp which they called Ta (House) peak.
Finally, after a day’s rest, the team also climbed two more rocky summits of 5000m and 5400 m which they called Changma (Bridge) peak and Marpa (Red) peak.
After returning to Gangtok, Roger Payne and Owen Samuels have proceeded to West Sikkim to make the first ascent of the southeast ridge of Rathong (6679m).
The team leader Mr. Payne said: “This was the first visit to Sikkim for the seven other members of the international team, and they were extremely impressed and enjoyed their visit. With relatively easy road access to areas like the Lachung Valley and interesting peaks that are not too high, Sikkim is an ideal destination for international tourists who want to make a 2-3 week holiday climbing alpine style in the Himalayas.” Read the rest of this entry »
![A normal day at National Highway 55 inside Darjeeling Town. Photo by Barun Roy [From Beacon Online Archive]](http://beacononline.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/encroachment-of-road.gif?w=358&h=269)
