DOCUMENTARY: Return of the Fire Cat (featuring Dr. Sunita Pradhan)

Part 1

Part 2

INDIAN IDOL 4: Kapil Thapa edges to Indian Idol Top 5!

Can Kapil Thapa relive yet another Gorkha dream?

Kapil Thapa has edged past other contenders and started seriously becoming an Indian Idol 4 contender. Javed Akthar may not like it but fans across the nation and beyond wants Kapil Thapa to be Indian Idol 4.

JOB OPENINGS: UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION RECRUITMENT 2009 – ENGINEERING SERVICE JOBS

Union Public Service Commission

Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road,
New Delhi 110069
Web: www.upsc.gov.in

Engineering Services Examination 2009

The Union Public Service Commission will hold the Engineering Services Examination, 2009 commencing from 6th June 2009. The Examination will be held at various centres across the country.

Eligibility

Age: Not less than 21 years and not more than 30 years as on 01.08.09

Qualification: A candidate must hold a degree in Engineering or equivalent. Provided that a candidate applying for the posts of Indian Naval Armament Service (Electronics Engineering) and Engineer Group ‘A’ in wireless planning and coordination wing/ monitoring organization may possess M.Sc. Degree or its equivalent with wireless communication, Electronics, Radio Physics or Radio Engineering as a special subject.

Physical Standard: Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to Engineering Services Examination, 2009 as per regulations given in Appendix-II of Rules of Examination published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 10.01.09

Application Form: The candidates must apply in the common application form devised by the commission for its examinations, which can be purchased form the designated Head Post Officers/ Post Offices throughout the country against cash payment of Rs. 20/- only. Each such form can be used once and only for one examination.

JOB OPENINGS: STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

About Oriental Structural Engineers :

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JobTitle: Junior Engineer / G.E.T Civil

Experience: 0 – 2 Years

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Desired: Candidates should be B.Tech / B.E. – Civil; Having Experience in construction of Roads & Highways

Location: Delhi/NCR

Education: B.Tech/B.E. – Civil

Click here to Apply

JOB OPENINGS: SBI Recruitment – Specialist Officers 191 Posts

State Bank of India (SBI), Corporate Centre, Mumbai invites on-line applications from Indian citizens for appointment in following specialist cadre officers posts in State Bank Group. There are total of 191 posts.

Candidates are requested to apply on-line between 07/01/2009 and 07/02/2009 through SBI website

1.  Chief Officer (Security) : 01 post on contract basis Initially for three years. (TEGS-VI)
2.  Chief Manager (Risk Management System) : 01 post (SMGS-IV)
3.  Company Secretary : 01 post (SMGS-IV)
4.  Chief Manager (Chartered Accountant) : 01 post (SMGS-IV)
5. Manager (Chartered Accountant) : 31 posts (MMGS-III)
6. Manager (CA/ICWA) : 02 posts (MMGS-III)
7. Manager (Systems) : 01 post (MMGS-III)
8. Dy. Manager (Chartered Accountant) : 03 posts (MMGS-II)
9. Dy. Manager (Law) : 08 posts (MMGS-II)
10. Dy. Manager (Civil Engineering) : 10 posts (MMGS-II)
11. Dy. Manager (Electrical/ Electronics) : 01 post (MMGS-II)
12. Dy. Manager (Security) : 42 posts (MMGS-II)
13. Dy. Manager (Systems) : 02 posts (MMGS-II)
14. Assistant Manager (Systems) : 60 posts (JMGS-I)
15. Assistant Manager (Hardware & Networking) : 12 posts (JMGS-I)
16. Assistant Manager (Systems – Harware Engineers) : 04 posts (JMGS-I)
17. Assistant Manager (Law) : 02 posts (JMGS-I)
18. Assistant Manager (Official Language) : 02 posts (JMGS-I)
19. Medical Officer : 07 posts on contract (MOPP)

Pay Scales :

1. JMGS – I : 10000-18240
2. MMGS – II : 13820 – 19920
3. MMGS – III : 18240 – 22280
4. SMGS – IV : 20480-24140
5. MOPP : 10000-14320
6. TEGS- VI : 26620-29340

JOB OPENINGS: FRESHERS RECRUITMENT EXECUTIVE OPENINGS IN MUMBAI – AFFARSSTRATEGERNA THNINK TECH TECHNOLOGIES

About Affarsstrategerna Think Tech Technologies :

Affarsstrategerna Think Tech Technologies (P) Limited (A3TL) is an India based High-End Technology Solutions Company jointly promoted by leading technology-focused professionals and seeded by Affarsstrategerna, a leading Swedish venture capital firm with business presence in Europe & India. With a division specializing into Technical Resource Outsourcing catering to the sub contractual and recruitment need of the IT industry in the Domestic as well as the International IT world and a team of 150 plus professionals globally are looking for skilled and aspiring professionals aiming to build and discover new career opportunities

JobTitle: Recruitement Executive

Experience: 0 – 2 Years

Skills: Good Communication

Desired:

Identifying & short-listing the best applicants as per clients requirements and selecting the skilled personnel through level filtering, attitude, Screenin, Evaluating the candidates

Arranging for Interviews for the short listed candidates

SILIGURI: BJP has assured total support to Gorkhaland: Gurung

FROM NEWS4U

Siliguri, Jan 10 :  Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) President, Bimal Gurung has claimed that BJP’s central leadership has extended total support to the demand for creating Gorkhaland.

Addressing a rally at Panighata, about 30 km from here yesterday, Gurung said that he had talks with senior BJP leaders like L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj who had accepted the logic behind the creation of the separate state and assured total support to fulfil the aspiration of the hill people.

Gurung who had gone to New Delhi with five of his party leaders on January 5, also claimed that he had received invitation from Congress leaders to hold talks, but he did not meet them as it would be of no use in talking with them on Gorkhaland. PTI

 

Are you having any problems with Beacon Online crashing on your browser?

Dear Friends, 

Greetings from Darjeeling! I hope you are all doing well. Please do accept my best wishes and deepest regards. Between giving up everything I love to eat and being forced on a strict dieatary regime, I have been doing well. There have been times when my sugar levels have shot up like a rocket which itself fueling my blood pressure to all time high. However, I have been able to carry on with my work and maintain Beacon Online. Gorkhapedia.org needs a great deal of participation and hence, please become members and start creating and editing the pages there. I cannot seemingly do justice to Gorkhapedia.org alone and more so that it is our combined property. At the same instance, I have since yesterday been facing trouble [AGAIN!!!] with certain interfaces of Beacon Online. Are you having any such troubles? Is Beacon Online Crashing in your Browser? Please let me know, so that if this is a result of someone trying to gate-crash our site, we can remain prepared this time and not allow the site to be hacked again! 

Friends, I would also like to once again repeat – please become members of Gorkhapedia.org and started creating newer contents and editing those that are already there. Membership is free and simple!

Have a great day! 

Regs

Barun

ESSAY: We`re not Nepali, but Gorkhali

 

FROM MY REPUBLIC.COM BY SHRADHA MUKHIYA  Darjeeling, Jan 8: By and large, the daura suruwal is getting edged out by jeans and business suits in Kathmandu while the chaubandi cholo is hardly to be seen among the educated or among youths. The desire for change is more intense than that for conserving heritage and identity, whereas ironically outside , a daura suruwal and chaubandi cholo month was observed in Darjeeling starting from October 7, 2008.  From college students and bank officials to teachers, cab drivers and street vendors, everyone was seen with different versions of daura suruwal and chaubandi cholo in this small district and hill station in the Indian state of West Bengal. But it wasn’t merely a sentimental celebration of Nepali roots for those who took to the month-long dress code. Any outsider who gets to discuss the anthropological significance of ’s national dress being donned by the denizens of Darjeeling will also be treated to the issues these hills have been battling over. The threading in the daura suruwal and chaubandi cholo has deeper knots than meets the eye. It was Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), a new party formed in October, 2007 and  locally known as ‘GoJaMuMo’, that called for the month of Nepali dress in and around Darjeeling. It was timed for official visits by ministers of the West Bengal Government and aimed at intensify the demand for full statehood for ‘Gorkhaland’. GJM, a breakaway group of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), is under the leadership of Bimal Gurung, whose name is apparently is on everyone’s lips as the statehood movement keeps getting stronger. The demand for a separate Gorkhaland state has long been heard in the hills of West Bengal and the GJM, although not a ruling party, has managed to call an indefinite shutdown of government offices in three sub-divisions (Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong) of Darjeeling district. Party members claim that their’s is a Gandhian (civil disobedience) form of protest that refuses to pay state tariffs for electricity or phone bills until the demand is duly addressed.

SIKKIM: Sikkim CM Chamling pledges support to Gorkhaland movement

FROM INDOPIA

New Delhi, Jan 9: Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling today pledged support to the Gorkhaland movement, terming the demand for a separate state by Gorkhas their”constitutional right”but said his state suffers the most due to road blockades caused by the agitation.

“Their (Gorkhas) demands are constitutional and India must acknowledge the Gorkha people their rightful demand for a separate state and not ignore it. There were other states too which were demarcated on similar demands,”Chamling, who was here to receive an award from the Vice President Hamid Ansari for the state&aposs overall progress in the health sector told reporters.

Holding the West Bengal government and Union of India responsible for losses arising due to the blockade of the National Highway 31A — Sikkim&aposs only road link to the Indian mainland — Chamling said that the people of the hill state have the right to seek compensation for the economic losses arising out of such blockades.

“The government of West Bengal is not affected and neither is the Union of India.We are the worst affected since the movement began in 1987,”he said.

NORTH EAST: NEC plenary addressed by CM

FROM SIKKIM REPORTER

Gangtok: 57th plenary meeting of the North Eastern Council was held on Wednesday which was presided by Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and Chairman, NEC. He welcomed the members from eight States to the plenary meeting of Council.

Chief Minister, Dr. Pawan Chamling began his address by inviting one and all of those present in the meeting to the Sikkim Festival being held on 10th and 11th January 2009 at the Garden of Five Senses, New Delhi. He said Sikkim, though the latest entrant, was firmly integrated in the NEC fraternity.

The State with its socio-cultural diversity, rich in natural resource of flora and fauna has much to offer in eco-tourism, adventure tourism, hydel power generation, floriculture, hospitality service, agro-based industries and eco-friendly clean industries.

Dr. Chamling spoke of the adoption of organic farming by the State to become a totally organic state by 2015 and sought support of NEC in this area as well as in big cardamom, mandarin orange, passion fruit, tea and ginger marketing so that the people of Sikkim could get competitive price for their produce.

He also spoke at length about the effort of the State government in the empowerment of women and that of the village people in the sustainable management of local resources for overall development of the State. He mentioned locational disadvantage of the State with hundred percent dependence on the National Highway and sought the support of NEC for taking up Sikkim’s case for completing the upgradation of this only road link with the country, early completion of airport at Pakyong and construction of an alternative to NH 31A as well as upgradation of the road from Gangtok to Nathula vigorously with the Government of India. “Sikkim would well become a model State in the country with its objectives and targets fulfilled if viable communication links are assured”, he said.

SIKKIM: Namsoong festival in North Sikkim

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

GANGTOK, January 8: The Lepcha Community of Chawang, North Sikkim celebrated Namsoong festival in a grand manner at Chawang Primary school ground on Wednesday. The festivities had commenced from December 28.

TT Bhutia, the concerned area MLA attended the occasion as the chief guest. Also present were Norzang Lepcha, MLA Rakdong Tintek, Adakshya (North) Pintso Lepcha, Upadkashya North Pintso Doma, BDO LB Das and others.

The festival concluded with a TT Bhutia Challenge trophy football tournament. The match was played between Malam Youth Club and Chawang Youth Club in which the latter won the tournament with the score 2-3. Sonam Dendup Rongkuyp was awarded the man of the match. The chief guest handed away the prizes and the trophies to the winning team and the runners up.

Appealing the people to start the New Year with optimistic thoughts, Mr. Bhutia said the people of Sikkim still lacked the caliber to utilize the opportunities and the benefits provided by the Government rightly.

He also said that the younger generation should be well-versed with their culture and tradition and should never be ashamed of speaking their respective languages and showcasing their talents.

SIKKIM: 4th JRD Tata Memorial Award for Healthy Sikkim

FROM SIKKIM EXPRESS

The Vice President of India, Mohd. Hamid Ansari presenting the 4th JRD Tata Memorial Award to the Chief Minister of Sikkim, Pawan Chamling, for ‘Population and Reproductive Health Programme’, organised by the Population Foundation of India, in New Delhi on Friday. (Pic courtesy: PIB)

Gangtok, January 9: Sikkim today received the 4th JRD Tata Memorial Award for its commitment towards health sector for the year 2008.

Vice President of India, Mohd. Hamid Ansari presented the award to the Chief Minister Pawan Chamling during a function organized by Population Foundation of India (PFI) at New Delhi today, informs a PIB release.

Sikkim had been selected among the category smaller states for the awards while the State of Chattisgarh received the award among the category of bigger States. The Vice President presented the bigger State category award to Amar Agarwal, health minister of Chattisgarh during the programme.

In his address, the Vice President congratulated the Chief Minister of Sikkim and the health minister of Chattisgarh government for the 4th JRD Tata Award for Population and Reproductive Health Programmes for the year 2008.

Their performance proves that political will, and a determination to bring about change, is as important as resources, said Mr. Ansari. He appealed other States to emulate the performances of Chattisgarh and Sikkim.

DOOARS TERAI: NH-32 blocked over ‘assault’

FROM THE STATESMAN

Siliguri, Jan. 9: DYFI supporters blocked the National Highway-31 at Salugara in Siliguri today for hours demanding arrest of two Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists who had allegedly attacked their members last night.

According to the DYFI leadership, a local GJM leader Mr PK Ghising and his wife assaulted two of the organisation’s activists at Salugara when they were attending some religious rituals. “They beat our supporters with iron rods. We gathered at Rajpapri this morning, demanding arrest of the two and then lodged an FIR at the Bhaktinagar police station,” said Mr Hridoy Roy, a member of the  Darjeeling district DYFI secretariat.

He further said that the police detained Mr Ghising in the wake of the FIR lodged by them and, at the same time, acting on the FIR lodged by the GJM, detained four DYFI activists. “Some time later we found the accused was released on bail and he returned to his locality in a procession. Resenting the development we blocked the NH-31 demanding his re-arrest. Police came and asked us to withdraw the blockade and assured us that they would seriously probe last night’s incident. We responded to the police plea, but not before making it clear to them that we would resort to a bigger demonstration if they do not act promptly on our complaint,” Mr Roy said.

Speaking on the matter, the DYFI district secretary, Mr Shankar Ghosh, said that the bullying activity of the GJM activists was growing in intensity every day emboldened by the police fawning on them for inexplicable reasons. “We will not take the matter lying down. The local people, irrespective of ethnic communities, are fed up with police dithering in tackling polticised agent provocateurs,” Mr Ghosh said.

ROHINI: GJMM violence – Diyali moves SHRC

FROM THE STATESMAN

Siliguri, Jan. 9: Affected by the alleged Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) mayhem following the lynching of a party leader at Rohini in Kurseong on 1 January, the Diyali family has approached the state human rights commission for justice. “We seek justice for the assault on our family by some political activists in the wake of the recent Rohini incident,” said the members of the family. Four of the family members are fighting for life at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital with one still missing.

According to Mrs Bimala Diyali, the attack on her family elders on the Kurseong court premises amounted to an indelible scar on the face of humanism. “The horrible spectacle of some blood thirsty persons pouncing upon my dear and near ones keeps me awake at night. We would never sleep peacefully till some exemplary justice is meted out to the guilty,” she said.

 

KURSEONG: Tax skipped under Hill stir garb

FROM THE STATESMAN

Kurseong, Jan. 9: A section of pportunists are making most of the unsettled condition in the Darjeeling Hills due to the  Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) lled ongoing Gorkhaland agitation.

The GJM’s stir has turned the administration weak and exploiting the conditions the opportunists have grown active. Vehicles owners and drivers of private transport have not been paying their taxes for the past many months. As a result, they have not been able to update their documents. The administration is turning a blind eye to it.

It is also reported that goons are supplying and transporting illegal beverages to and from different places of the Darjeeling hills simply by fixing GL number plates on vehicles, as vehicles sporting GL number plates are not intercepted by the police.

In this connection, the Jan-Mukti Chalak Mahasangh core committee member, Mr Tilak Gurung, recently, said that several unfit persons have taken to driving vehicles. He had also spoken of other ongoing illegal activities.

SIKKIM: Governor push for fund release

FROM THE STATESMAN

Gangtok, Jan. 9: The Governor of Sikkim, Mr Balmiki Prasad Singh, sought immediate release of due funds for the state at the 57th plenary session of the North Eastern Council in New Delhi on Wednesday. He said, at the session, that the Sikkim government aims to transform Sikkim into a totally organic state by 2015. Only 14 per cent of the state’s landmass is available for productive cultivation.

He also said that a Singapore-based consultancy firm had been hired to prepare blue prints on the lines of an eco-city for the state along with village planning to develop the state into a world standard one. The Governor also appealed for the construction of an alternative road from Sevoke near Siliguri to Gangtok and from the state capital to Nathu La.

Expressing gratitude to the Centre for sanctioning a 60 km railway line from New Jalpaiguri to Rangpo, which is the border with West Bengal, the Governor also appreciated and commended the north eastern region vision 2020 document.

Strike hits life, relief by evening

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

A petrol pump with a ‘no stock’ poster in Siliguri on Friday. (Reuters)

Jan. 9: The fuel crisis created by the ongoing strike of the oil PSU executives had hit life hard in north Bengal with schools mulling shutdown and transport corporation taking off buses from routes.

However, by evening the strike was off and the long queues at the pumps dispersed.

A member of North Bengal Petrol Dealers’ Association said in the evening that all terminals will remain open for the next two days. “Saturday and Sunday would be working days. More than 100 of the 250 pumps in north Bengal had dried up today,” he said.

Sharad Agarwal, the director of Delhi Public School, Siliguri, said he had feared that he might have to declare a holiday at the institution from Monday.

“We have 28 buses which carry the students from and to their houses regularly in two shifts. If the strike had continued, we would have had no other option but to shut down the school as 90 per cent of the students travel on our buses,” said Agarwal.

The North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) managing director, Samir Banerjee, said buses plying on the routes, which did not have enough passengers, had already been withdrawn. “We were running our buses judiciously and had sent a report to the state transport department.” He said NBSTC had pumps in most of the 21 depots and the fuel was bought from Indian Oil Corporation.

The NBSTC’s Siliguri division had decided to cancel services on some routes from Monday.

SILIGURI: DYFI cry against cop ‘failure’

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Siliguri, Jan. 9: The DYFI today demonstrated at Bhaktinagar police station and blocked the adjoining NH31 for seven hours, protesting against the alleged failure of the law enforcers to curb the  Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)  ”intimidation” of its members.

The blockade on the highway, connecting north Bengal with Assam, since 10am had initially stranded around 100 vehicles. But they were diverted through the bypass later.

Trouble began last night when supporters of the youth wing of the CPM and the Morcha  fought at Rajfafri in Salugara, 3km from here.

The DYFI leaders alleged that their supporters were attacked “unprovoked” by Morcha members led by Bhaktinagar block unit president P.K. Tamang around 10pm. The hill party, however, claimed that Arjun Chhetri, a local DYFI leader, and some others had torn its flags perched on houses and electric poles in the area.

“When they tried to tear the flags near Tamang’s house, he protested. The DYFI men attacked him and escaped,” Hemant Gautam, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha’s  Siliguri subdivision committee, said. “Immediately, Tamang lodged a police complaint.”

Local DYFI leaders, however, gave a different version. “Arjun and some others were on their way home when a group of Morcha members led by Tamang attacked them,” said Shankar Ghosh, the  Darjeeling district secretary of the party.

The police picked up Tamang and four DYFI supporters including Arjun. The other three were Wangdi Sherpa, Jitu Tamang and Nima Sherpa. Wangdi lodged a police complaint against the Morcha leader.

Morcha promises aid to rebuild Rohini houses

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Morcha president Bimal Gurung waves the party flag at a public meeting in Panighata, 35km from Siliguri, after his return from Delhi on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Jan. 9: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has decided to compensate the “innocent victims” of Rohini, whose houses were set on fire by party supporters to avenge the lynching of their leader Subodh Pradhan on New Year’s Day.

The party, however, has ruled out any aid to families that had direct links with Subodh’s death.

“Party vice-president Pradeep Pradhan had announced on that very day that compensation would be given for houses that belonged to innocent victims. Keeping this in mind, the Morcha  unit of Rohini yesterday forwarded us a list of 14 victims,” said Binay Tamang, the media and publicity secretary of the party in  Darjeeling . He, however, did not disclose the names of the 14, saying that it would be done after verification.

“Once the situation normalises, we will visit Rohini and verify the names. But families which were directly involved in the attack (on Subodh) will not be compensated,” said Tamang. He was referring to the Diyalis. Bimal Diyali along with his brothers Bikash and Nirmal and father Krishnabahadur have been arrested on charges of murdering Subodh Pradhan. The fifth murder accused was Rajen Senchuri.

Tamang has been entrusted with the additional charge of overseeing party activities in Kurseong subdivision in the aftermath of Subodh’s death.

On January 1, Subodh was beaten to death by a mob when he, along with six others, broke into a DGHC rest house at Rohini, 45km from Kurseong town. The local people had alleged that the Morcha leaders had forcibly entered the bungalow, bashing up the guards, Bimal and Rajen.

A few hours after the lynching, Morcha  supporters swooped down on Rohini, setting fire to 20 houses and even the rest house. The next day the five murder accused had been snatched from a police van and beaten up on court premises. Four of them were hospitalised, but the fifth, Nirmal, had fled the mob and is yet to be traced.

The Morcha  had said its supporters had no hand in the arson, which was a result of mob fury. However, people who lost their houses had named Morcha  leaders, including Pradeep Pradhan, in the complaint.

DOOARS TERAI: Trolley pulls tourists to forest

FRO THE TELEGRAPH

BY MRINALINI SHARMA

Tourists on one of the trolleys. (Kundan Yolmo)

Siliguri, Jan. 9: Open-air trolley rides have been a hit among tourists who want a touch of wild in the otherwise cosy packages offered by hotels and resorts.

The one-of-its-kind ride in the state was introduced by the wildlife division II in Gorumara National Park, 70km from here, in November. It is a tourist delight especially for foreigners looking for variety, hotel owners have claimed.

“The park is huge draw by itself but the trolley ride has given a touch of uniqueness to the package. Only recently, a group of 20 foreigners booked a package and have especially opted for the trolley ride. They will be heading for Gorumara as soon as they arrive on January 15,” said Rajendra Baid, the president of the India Group of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society and the owner of a hotel in Salugara.

Tapas Das, the divisional forest officer of wildlife II, said the trolley has received a very good response within a short time. “People are coming here mainly for the ride. We are expecting more visitors in the days to come,” Das said. The ride was introduced with the twin objective of generating employment and encouraging tourism in the Dooars.

“We have eco-development committees to look after the fringe and forest villages. They had come out with this alternative employment generation scheme for villagers, which would also promote tourism,” Das added.