Greetings from Darjeeling! Our blogger friends Sachin and Arnav has now made it possible for Beacon Online to be availble on your mobile without even having to enable GPRS or having to surf internet on the moblie. All you will have to do is click on the link below and enter your mobile number. A verification code is immediately sent to your mobile number and once you enter your verification code you are set. Every time a post is updated you get a sms giving you the gest of the news. This is fantastic. Kudos goes to the guys at work. This is so simple, fantastic and free. God bless you guys. You are the best.
Click on the link below and then enter the verfication code:
Sikkim University has created a history by becoming the first ever University in the country to announce it’s undergradutate results in a record 20 days time. The first semester results were formally declared by the Vice Chancellor Prof. Mahendra P. Lama in Gangtok today.
Addressing a press conference, Prof. Lama said that the University has also become the first University in the country to provide a Smart card for students registration. With student’s photograph and other details on it, the card also be used as Identity card. Prof. Lama said the students will get a digitally printed and bar coded marksheets which are fully tamperproof and cannot be faked.
New Delhi, Dec 30: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today urged the Centre to take urgent steps for creation of Gorkhaland to fulfil the aspirations of people of Darjeeling hills.
After meeting Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, leaders of GJM, which is spearheading an agitation for a separate Gorkhaland carved out of West Bengal, said they pressed for creation of a new state and hoped that the Centre would concede their demand.
” Time has come to create Gorkhaland. We have done so much for the country, we have sacrificed so much,”GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told reporters.
He said Chidambaram gave them a sympathetic hearing and assured them that the Centre would look into the matter.
The Home Minister impressed upon the GJM leaders that they should remain in the tripartite committee which is looking into the demand and participated in future meetings.
The tripartite committee comprises representatives from the Centre and the state government, besides the GJM.
To a question, Giri said the Centre should not ignore the threat posed by Bangladeshi infiltrators in Siliguri and Dooars region. Read the rest of this entry »
The Second Tripartite Meeting between Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and State and Central Government Home Secretaries was held at India International Centre. The meeting ended with a new date for the Third Tripartite Meeting to be held in February 2009. Photo by Himalaya Darpan
Kathmandu, Dec 30 (IANS) The new republic of Nepal today ushered in the new year ahead of the rest of the world – among the five new year days observed in the country in a year.The Gurungs, an ethnic community living in west Nepal who are known for their valour and form the backbone of the Gorkha regiments in the Indian and British armies, celebrate Dec 30 as the beginning of their new year.
Tamu Lhosar Tuesday was the beginning of the ethnic year 2065, marked as the year of the cow. Parties began in Nepal and abroad where the Gurung diaspora lives.
Nepal, which became a republic formally this year, declared Tamu Lhosar an official holiday out of deference to its indigenous culture, with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and President Ram Baran Yadav issuing messages of goodwill.
Nepal is probably the only country in the world that enjoys five new year days in a single calendar year, with three of them declared official holidays.
On Jan 1, the country will once again celebrate the start of 2009 with the rest of the world.
Around February-March, an extra innings will be added to new year celebrations when it is time for Lhosar, the start of the Tibetan new year.
In April, there will be yet another ethnic new year according to the old lunar calendar that Nepal shared with India.
The Bikram Sambat calendar will help Nepal once again zip ahead of the rest of the world as it heralds in the year 2066, going by the calendar that is still used for all official work in Nepal.
Four months later, it will be time for the Newar community, the first residents of Kathmandu valley, to celebrate their new year, which, according to the Nepal Sambat calendar they use, will be 1130.
Already boasting of the highest number of state holidays, this year Nepal saw still new ones added to the list with Christmas and Eid becoming official holidays. Read the rest of this entry »
New Delhi, Dec 30: Second tripartite meeting between the Indian Government, Government of West Bengal and the representatives of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), the organisation which is demanding creation of the separate statehood ended inconclusively in New Delh. No decision on any issue involving Gorkhaland was considered.
The Third Tripartite meeting has been agreed to be held in the month of February 2009.
(A Government of India Enterprise)
5th Floor, shipping House, 245, Madame Cama Road, Mumbai-400021
Excellent Carreers for Young Professionals
The shipping Corporation India Ltd. has rewarding opportunities for Young Professionals for appointment as Assistant Manager.
Applications are invited from Management Post Graduates/ Chartered Accountants (CA)/ Cost Accountants (ICWA)/ Company Secretary (CS)/ Electrical Engineers/ Civil Engineers/ Naval Architects and Information Technology Professionals at Assistant Manager level.
Upper age limit is 27 years as on 31/01/2009.
Pay Scale is Rs.10750-300-16750
Application Fee : DD of Rs. 250 payable to ‘The Shipping Corporation of India Ltd’ drawn on any Nationalised/Scheduled Bank payable at Mumbai. The candidate should write the full name as appearing in the Online form, full address, post applied for and registration number on the reverse of the Demand Draft. SC/ST/PWD candidates are not required to send in the Demand Draft
How to Apply : Apply Online. Apply online upto 31/01/2009. Take a print out of the Acknowledgement Slip. The print out of the original Acknowledgement Slip along with Demand Draft, Certificates will have to be sent to Post Box No. 8722, Andheri East Post Office, Mumbai – 400069, by ordinary post.
Application Details:
Applications to be Addressed to The Assistant Secretary, Railway Recruitment Board, Jammu-Srinagar, Railway Colony (West) Jammu-180012.
Fee payable is Rs. 60 (for pay tan Rs.3050-4590 or less, Rs.40/-) (no fee for SC/ST/Ex-Serviceman candidates) and IPOs and DDs drwan on “The Assistant Secretary, Railway Recruitment Board, Jammu-Kashmir, Jammu” IPOs payable at “GPO Jammu” and DDs payable at “Jammu”.
Last date to Apply: 27 January, 2009
Last date to Apply: 10 February, 2009(candidates from far flung areas)
Lady Health Visitor : 01 post, Pay Scale : Rs.4500-7000
How to Apply: Applications on the enclosed prescribed proforma with attested copies of certificates/testimonials in support of age, educational/qualifications, technical qualifications, experience, caste, Ex.Serviceman as per orders, etc., showing the particulars as per proforma should reach to “The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (for CCPO), Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command, Arjun Block, Naval Base Post Office, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh – 530 014″ by ordinary post only, on or before 30 Jan 2009. In respect of applications from the candidates residing in Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Ladakh Division or Jammu and Kashmir State, Lahaul and Spiti District and Pangi sub-division of Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands or Lakshadweep, the last date of receipt of applications will be 10 Feb 2009.
Darjeeling, Dec. 29: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today made it clear in Delhi that it was no longer interested in secretary-level tripartite meetings and sought political dialogue and repeal of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Act 1988.
The demand was made during the second round of tripartite meeting between the Morcha delegation and representatives of the Centre and the state government.
“We have demanded that the next round of meeting on Gorkhaland must take place at the political level. We also believe that the DGHC Act must be repealed immediately and all council employees must be suitably absorbed by the state government in their departments,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary who headed the 17-member delegation of the Morcha, over the phone from Delhi.
The DGHC was formed under a state act and the council currently employs about 7,000 employees who have not yet been regularised but are under contract.
“We told them that the DGHC was a hindrance to achieving Gorkhaland and it had to be done away with as early as possible. We have categorically maintained that our party will neither accept the Sixth Schedule status nor the DGHC,” said Giri.
The Morcha leader said the officials present at the meeting – Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta, state chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb and state home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti – did not make any announcement with regard to repealing of the DGHC Act.
“The officials admitted that the council had failed but restrained from making a commitment. Deb, however, said repealing the DGHC Act was not a major problem but added that there were other complications like how to execute development projects till statehood was granted,” said Raju Pradhan, the assistant secretary of the Morcha. Read the rest of this entry »
NEW DELHI: The second round of the tripartite meeting over the Gorkhaland issue remained inconclusive with the Centre and the state government on Monday remaining non-committal on the separate statehood for Gorkhas.
Officials in the home ministry hinted that acceding to the demand might not be possible, adding the government would try to convince the Gorkhas at the next meeting about accepting “more powers for Darjeeling Hills under special status”.
All the parties, including Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) agreed to another round of talks over the issue soon. General secretary of the GJM Roshan Giri, however, told TOI after the meeting that “the Gorkhas would not accept anything less than statehood”.
Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta told reporters that the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere. “Whatever decision is taken, it will be in national interest, keeping in mind the aspirations of the people,” he said.
NEW DELHI: As expected, the second round of the tripartite meeting over the Gorkhaland issue remained inconclusive with the Centre and the West
Bengal government on Monday remaining non-commital on the separate statehood for Gorkhas.
Though all the parties – including the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) – agreed to have another round of talks over the contentious issue soon, officials in the home ministry hinted that acceding to the demand might not be possible.
They said that the government would try to convince the Gorkhas at the next meeting about accepting “more powers for Darjeeling Hills under special status” as a separate state was not practically possible.
General secretary of the GJM Roshan Giri, however, told TOI after the meeting that “the Gorkhas would not accept anything less than statehood”.
GJM, which has been on the warpath since February demanding creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland, during the meeting put its demand forcefully before the representatives of West Bengal and home ministry, saying that “it is not only legitimate but also the core concern of the Gorkhas”. Read the rest of this entry »
Organising a press conference in Kathmandu Monday, US Attorney Matthew K. Handley informed about the human trafficking case in Los Angeles on behalf of the families of the 12 Nepalis who were trafficked to Iraq and killed by insurgents in 2004, against US contractor Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) operating in Iraq. It is the first case against the US contractor in connection with the killing of Nepali workers in Iraq.
This article was originally published in Nepalnews.com
By Anand Gurung
A funny thing happened while I was meeting a friend over lunch at a restaurant in Kings’ Way last week. The day was clear and sunny. We sat in a table and after a brief chat started going through the menu which had names of French and Italian sounding dishes under Appetizers and A-la -carte, a break from restaurants which I regularly visit whose menus include chicken-in-the basket (roasted chicken pieces), chicken drumstick (it should have been chicken legs, but they look like meatballs in sticks) and finger chips (French fries).
We told the waiter to bring us Spaghettis, Rolls and of course Momos. He wrote down our order and then with a courteous smile asked if we would like a Mongolian Momo or an Aryan one? I was completely bowled over. What is this waiter saying? Since when did they bring the matter of race in, of all things, food? What kind of a tacky restaurant is this where they mean to shock its patrons? More importantly, being a “Mongolian”, am I expected to go for a Mongolian dish? What if I order the other one? Seeing me baffled, my friend asked the waiter what he exactly meant. The waiter explained that Momos made with Chinese spices are Mongolian and those made with Nepali (or Indian) spices are Aryan. Simple. We couldn’t decide which Momo to go for and quite confused, just looked at each other. After the waiter went with our order minus the Momo we finally broke into a laugh to drive away some awkwardness from the situation. A little while later our order arrived. The food was fine, and having the sated feeling one gets after having a heavy lunch, the little episode was just as good as forgotten.
But of course it was not that easy to put the incident out of my mind. All my life the question about caste and race, and with it the stereotyping – behavioral and otherwise – had been the unpalatable dish that was served to me without having to order for it.
I first heard about the Maoists and the war they were waging against the state deep in the remote, treacherous hills and mountains of western Nepal while in college in the late 90s. They were said to be fighting to end feudalism in the country once and for all and liberate the oppressed from age-old discrimination and bondage. However, the Maoist insurgency also gave the intellectuals something to talk about. Fed up with King Prithvi Narayan Shah’s concept of Nepal as “a garden of 4 castes and 36 varnas”, they now openly started to acknowledge that discrimination indeed exists in our heterogeneous society on the basis of gender, caste, race and religion, and that something needs to be done to end it. Coming from an average family of the city, young, not well versed with politics, not well read even, of course I couldn’t understand all this.
How could I possibly understand discrimination? I had never experienced it. Just that I often saw, more clearly in rural areas and more subtly in the urban, girl child being less preferred to boys; girls occupied with household chores while their brothers went to better schools; young women not being asked for her consent by her parents while making major decisions on her life like marriage, not being entitled to ancestral property. Worst of all, in the case of single mothers, not being able to give her own children citizenship status in her name.
I also saw people refusing to touch or let a Dalit inside their houses considering them as “outcastes” and “polluted”, but proudly donning the clothes made by them or taking their services. The situation of Madhesis in Kathmandu and other towns was worse. They were ridiculed for their dark skin, costume they wore and were bullied. Though they were legitimate Nepalese citizens and had come to Kathmandu, their country’s capital, from Terai districts to eke out a living, mostly, by doing menial works, they were always considered aliens. But I used to think discriminations exist everywhere. Just that in some society it is more apparent. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, December 29: Yet another political party has debuted in Sikkim as countdown for the State Assembly elections begins.
The new party, Jan Yuva Shakti Sikkim, is set for a public debut on January 5 at Ranipool where it will be organizing a public meeting. The party has members mostly from the youth age group between 20 and 35 years of age and most of them are educated unemployed youths.
As per reports, the main plank of this new party is ‘restoration of people centric democracy’ where the people are empowered to speak freely on their issues and do away with government centric democracy.
Party sources claim that the party has been formed by around 150 youths from all the four districts which include students, educated unemployed youths and retired government employees. The party has decided to come formally before the public on January 5 where its leaders and party policies will be unveiled at Ranipool. Read the rest of this entry »
Gangtok, December 29: Despite a dip in the mercury level, Gangtok is all set to welcome the New Year with equal zeal and fanfare.
Most of the hotels, pubs and the lounge bars have already begun preparations and lucrative offers are in the anvil to attract more people.
For instance, Hotel Royal Plaza has plans to organise ‘Dark Red Bollyhood Nite’ with a scintillating dance troupe from Mumbai and Kolkata.
“With an entry fee of Rs 2500, people can relish themselves with a series of drinks,” said Pankaj Saxena, the general manager of the hotel.
Meanwhile, local residents are trying to find a suitable substitute for chicken in the wake of the ban on poultry products in the State. “We had a plan to prepare chicken momos for the New Year celebrations but due to its unavailability, we have changed to something else,” says Rita Thapa, a house wife.
There were others who expressed their views of going to Siliguri to spend their New Year at least to relieve themselves from the biting cold. But people like Prakash Chettri are interested to stay back home and watch TV programmes. Read the rest of this entry »
Darjeeling, December 29:Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today told the Centre that Gorkhaland only can check the infiltration of Bangladeshi immigrants in the strategically sensitive Chicken Neck corridor linking rest of the nation with Northeast region.
We told the representatives of the Centre and West Bengal government that Gorkhaland is the only solution to check the influx of Bangladeshi immigrants, said GJM Roshan Giri over telephone from New Delhi.
The Gorkhaland solution for Bangladeshi immigrants was asserted by the 17 member GJM team during the second tripartite meeting held at New Delhi. The GJM team was led by Mr. Giri.
Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta was representing the Centre while the West Bengal government side included its chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb, home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakravorty, DGHC administrator BL Meena and Darjeeling DC Surendra Gupta.
The meeting had started from 3.30 pm and lasted three and half hours.
During the meeting, we placed only the Gorkhaland agenda and submitted scaled map of the proposed territories of the separate State to the Union home secretary, said Mr. Giri.
“We raised the issue of Bangladeshi immigrants which is putting the security of the country at stake besides changing the demography of Siliguri-Dooars area. We said that this must be stopped and only Gorkhaland can check this illegal influx”, said Mr. Giri. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK, Dec. 29: The towns and villages of Sikkim wear a festive look with the start of the Losoong and Namsung festivals. The Sikkimese Bhutia Losoong and Lepcha Namsung Namban, both New Years started on 28 December. Tashi Delek (warm greetings) is the latest scream everywhere.
Paving way for the New Ox year, the old year, which was the Rat year ended on 27 December. The Sikkmese Bhutia and Lepchas observe the lunar calendar celebrating the harvest season along with the dawning of the year. The Lepchas also celebrate commemoration of killing of a legendry demon. A Namsung Namban festival is also being organised in a village called Namphrikphrikdng in Dzongu, North Sikkim, inhabited by the lepchas only.
The Namsung festival will continue till 4 January 2009 and would host the north eastern states exhibiting their unique traditional costumes and handicrafts. Traditional Lepcha folk song competition would be organised along with sikkmese sports and games inclusive of the much sought after archery competition.
The Bhutias are also organising the Losoong festival at Kabi. The festivals will be celebrated for a week.
GANGTOK, Dec. 29: The mercury has dipped to 6 degree Celsius in Gangtok but there is no dearth of tourists pouring into the Himalayan town.
All the Tsongo Lake bound tourists, however, were forced to return to Gangtok due to the snow-clogged road. Located at an altitude of 12,400 ft, the famous waterbody is about 34 km from Gangtok and 17 km off Nathu La. The tourists could go up Thirteenth Mile and no further due to snow but no one is grumbling.
Draped in woollens, people, including tourists, are venturing out of their accommodations braving the occasional drizzle and the dense fog caressing them. The mood sets in as the day progresses with a bright afternoon and rare sunshine. In spite of the hostile weather, the main streets of the town with orchids in full bloom and shoppers walking through looking for souvenirs, mostly tribal handicrafts, is the common sight.
Surprising enough, the souvenir shops are flooded with images and shrines of Lord Buddha from China. But vehicles displaying posters of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, are stopped from entering China via Nathu La. Read the rest of this entry »
SILIGURI, Dec. 29: The bandh called by Jana Chetana and a few other organisations against the tripartite dialogue on the Darjeeling issue today evoked mixed response in Siliguri and its adjoining areas. The main markets, including the Bidhan Market and the Mahabirsthan market and most shops remained closed and much of the normal traffic was off the roads.
Attendance at the government and the private offices was thin as compared to normal days.
The Jana Chetana leadership claimed that the people rejected the tripartite dialogue held in New Delhi on the Darjeeling tangle. “The spontaneous response to today’s bandh has confirmed the common people’s grievance against the dialogue with people whose national identity is in jeopardy,” said Mr Mridul Chakravarty, the Siliguri secretary of Jana Chetana.
The agitating organisations took out rallies and held sit in demonstrations all through the day. According to the DSP, Siliguri, Mr Pradip Dutta, four persons were arrested in connection with the bandh, three of them in the Pradhan Nagar. Read the rest of this entry »
GANGTOK: The tourism department, government of Sikkim has collected a sum of Rs 470.80 lakh in revenue for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.
Revenue collected from permits amount to Rs 40. 98, 600 lakh, states the annual report of the tourism department, Sikkim government. The permits were issued to tourists visiting the Nathu La pass at the China border, which has opened with the active cooperation of Home Department and the Army. Permits for treks were also issued for the restricted areas of Dzongri. According to the tourism department figures, 3,31, 263 domestic and 17,837 international tourists visited Sikkim between April 2007 and March 2008. The department expects 4,00,000 domestic and 23,000 international tourists between the corresponding period of 2008 and 2009. The growth rate in tourist inflow to Sikkim so far is 20 per cent per annum in the domestic sector and 15 per cent per annum in the international sector. The state government has also trained 339 Scheduled Tribe and 58 Schedule Caste youths under the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) and Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) 2007-08 in certain thrust areas like adventure tourism, information and hospitality service sectors.
Look no further than Jopa Restaurant if you are in Kalimpong and plan to party on New Year’s Eve.
For one, no other hangouts in town have scheduled any programmes on the night.
Having said that it would be wrong to walk into the Chinese joint – touched up in flaming red all over – with a we-are-here-because-we-had-no-choice feeling.
The restaurant on Main Road plans to make the bash a night that will be remembered in the year to come.
“We are expecting around 100 guests,” said Akhoi Wong, the young owner of Jopa.
The entry fee will be Rs 250 for stags and Rs 200 for couples. Every guest will be greeted with a Jopa Special Punch cocktail. Food charges will be extra. Read the rest of this entry »
The tanker after it burst into flames on Monday afternoon. Picture by Kundan Yolmo
Siliguri, Dec. 29: A loaded petrol tanker burst into flames close to the terminal of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in New Jalpaiguri today even as local people alleged that the driver was trying to sell fuel in the black market.
The presence of some drums was proof of the theft, they said.
The tanker (WB-73-7471), owned by S.P. Palchoudhury of Birpara, caught fire around 1pm. It was parked 150-200m from the BPCL terminal campus and a cluster of huts.
“Within minutes, the flames engulfed the tanker. We raised the alarm, and soon, people from the terminal as well as others rushed to the spot while somebody called up police and fire brigade,” said Laxmi Sahani, who runs a roadside eatery in the area, located 3km from Siliguri.
Five fire engines, besides fire fighters from the BPCL who were equipped with foams, battled the flames for two hours before bringing them under control. The fire had singed some of the trees along the New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri Junction railway tracks.
Supporters of the Jana Chetana at a motorcycle rally in Siliguri on Monday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo
Siliguri, Dec. 29: Normal life was affected in Siliguri and its adjoining areas today in a strike called by the Jana Chetana, an anti-Gorkha Janmukti Morchaforum.
Although the “spontaneous” bandh in Siliguri prompted the forum to withdraw the 24-hour strike at 6pm, life in other districts of north Bengal remained normal.
In Siliguri, commercial establishments, schools and markets were closed. A few banks and government offices, however, remained open. Private transports were off the roads. Rickshaw vans ran throughout the town along with state buses.
“It was a spontaneous strike in Siliguri which again proved that people here are against separation of the state and holding tripartite talks with those who are accused of highhandedness and anarchy in the hills,” said Mridul Chakraborty, the secretary of the Siliguri unit of the forum. “So we withdrew the strike after 12 hours.”
Since morning, youths under the banner of the Jana Chetana, along with supporters of the Amra Bangalee and the Shiv Sena, came down to the streets, shouting anti-Gorkhaland slogans and burning Morchaflags. They even accused chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of not taking any step against the hill outfit.
“We want the state government to take steps against the Morcha leaders for spreading tension and flouting laws,” said Khushiranjan Mondal, the north Bengal regional secretary of the Amra Bangalee.
Motorcycle-borne youths flaunting black badges travelled across the town and even tried to drive to Debidanga where Morcha supporters and their rivals had clashed earlier this month.
Police, however, stopped them and kept a sharp vigil. “No untoward incident has been reported. Three Chetana supporters were detained and later released,” Gaurav Sharma, the additional superintendent of police of Siliguri, said.
