SIKKIM OBSERVER Saturday Oct 11-17, 2014

Blog: jigmenkazisikkim.blogspot.com

Sang offering to Sikkim’s Guardian Deities during the recent annual Pang Lhabsol celebrations at the Tsuklakhang Monastery, Gangtok.

Modi unlikely to meet NSCN-IM leaders

New Delhi, Oct 10: In what may not go down well with the NSCN-IM leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to meet the Naga leaders and instead the Home Ministry has been told that negotiations will take place only at the level of the Central interlocutor RN Ravi, highly placed sources said.

The move by the Modi Government may come as a surprise because the NSCN leaders have as a convention, called on the Prime Ministers in the past.

NSCN-IM top leaders Isak Chisi Swu and Th Muivah have sent feelers several times for a meeting with Modi, The Sangai Express and Assam Tribune reported. However, there has been no response from the Government to these feelers.

The two NSCN-IM leaders were politely informed that they should hold talks with the Government of India's interlocutor RN Ravi, who is also the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).

In the past NSCN-IM leaders had met former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, HD Deve Gowda, IK Gujral and Dr Manmohan Singh.

The meetings resulted partly because the NSCN-IM leaders insisted that they would hold peace talks only at the 'highest level'.

Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah. (left)

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continued with the convention by meeting the NSCN-IM chairman and general secretary at the start of both his tenures.

In an apparent reflection of the current NDA government's more hard-line stand on all security issues, there has been no decision so far on a meeting between the two NSCN-IM leaders and the Prime Minister.

"There is an interlocutor in place and he is perfectly capable of handling the talks," a source said.

An NSCN-IM delegation led by Swu and Muivah held a preliminary meeting with Ravi, a former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, on September 30.Since the meeting, other members of the NSCN-IM team have returned to Nagaland, while Swu and Muivah have stayed on in the capital.

It was not immediately clear when formal talks between the NSCN-IM and the NDA government would get under way.

Decade-old road projects on Indo-China border to be prioritized

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol over a footbridge built over a stream near the Line of Control (LoC), a ceasefire line dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, at Sabjiyan sector of Poonch district, August 8, 2013.

New Delhi, Oct 10: With few roads in high-altitude areas, patrolling is difficult and the border has become vulnerable to Chinese incursions.With few roads in high-altitude areas, patrolling is difficult and the border has become vulnerable to Chinese incursions.The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is pushing for the speedy construction of roads along the border with China, that have been pending for nearly a decade, in the wake of the recent incursions by Chinese troops in the Ladakh region.

With few roads in high altitude areas, patrolling is difficult and the border has become vulnerable to Chinese incursions over the past few years. The home ministry's project for erecting 27 roads for the movement of troops from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the frontier with China, has been a non-starter as only three roads have been built so far, India Today reported.

The roads are to be constructed along the border in Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. The plan envisages the construction of 804 km of roads and the project will cost an estimated Rs.1,937 crore.

"The Chinese forces have roads right up to their border outposts and our forces have to trek for days in some areas," said a home ministry official.

The project for constructing these roads was stuck because the Environment Ministry had not given green clearances, but now the NDA government wants to expedite the work and the required clearances have been obtained, officials said.

The project began in 2004 but not much work has been done so far. The Environment Ministry was reluctant to give environment clearances and the home ministry was unable to engage contractors.

"As of now, even the first phase of construction is not over. The project was divided into three to four phases. We are hoping after the recent stand-offs and the government claiming to be bold against China, the road construction will speed up," said an officer in the security establishment.

"Since there are no roads, our forces have to walk to border outposts. All the patrolling has to be done on foot, making the border vulnerable to incursions," the officer added.

Sources said there is also a need for dedicated air support for the ITBP to facilitate quicker movement of troops and for transporting rations and other materials.

The Home Ministry wants the Finance Ministry to also clear a proposal for building 54 new border outposts along the border. An in-principle approval was given to the plan by the previous UPA government just before the elections in April but no sanctions have been made so far.

HERMONITES FELICITATE GANGTOK MLA

Pays homage to MM Rasaily: ‘He was a patriot’

Gangtok, Oct 10: Gangtok MLA Pintso Chopel Lepcha, an alumnus of Mt. Hermon School (Darjeeling), was felicitated by the Hermonites on October 1, four months after he was elected to the Sikkim Legislative Assembly.

Chopel, along with 9 others, represents the opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) in the Assembly. He represents the prestigious Gangtok constituency.

Ever since 1979 Hermonites have always been elected to the Sikkim Assembly: Athup Lepcha, OT Bhutia and NK Pradhan. They all became ministers. During the get-together the Hermonites expressed the hope that Chopel, too, will make it to the Council of Ministers some day.

The Hermonites also observed 2-minute silence in memory of Sikkimese Hermonite MM Rasaily, who passed away last month at the age of 89.

"Mr. Rasaily was a Sikkimese nationalist and a patriot. He stood for Sikkim during its darkest hour. We are happy and proud that he was a Hermonite," said Jigme N Kazi, journalist and author.

Visiting Hermonites Varongthip Lulitanond (Thailand) and Ravi Agarwal (Siliguri) also offered khadas to Chopel during the dinner get-together.

Sikkim Hermonite Association (SHA) President Karma Bhutia, retired chief engineer Uttam Pradhan, senior lawyer Udai P. Sharma and senior State Bank of India manager Thentok Lachungpa were among those who felicitated Gangtok legislator.

IHM’s Kunga Chukie gets State award for “Excellence”

Gangtok, Oct 10: Sikkim Institute of Hotel Management (IHM)’s final year student Kunga Chukie Namgyal Kazi was awarded the "Award of Excellence" for "Best Performing Student" for the year 2013-14 by the Sikkim Government's Tourism & Civil Aviation Department.

She received the award from the Sikkim Legislative Assembly Speaker KN Rai on the occasion of World Tourism Day (Sept 26, 2014) at a function held here at Mayfair. Ministers, ex-ministers, secretaries etc. were among those who were present at the function.

It may be mentioned that Kunga Chukie and her college friend Lhaden Wangmu Bhutia (Gensapa) in August this year bagged the first prize in the national culinary competition organised by the Spices Board and International Pepper Community in Kovalam, Kerala.

The two 3rd year students from IHM (Sikkim) lifted the prize comprising Rs 50,000, a trophy and certificate at the "Pepp It Up 2014" competition that attracted teams from 20 hotel management institutions across the country.

On this happy occasion, Kunga Chukie’s parents expressed their thanks and appreciation to the Tourism Department for the award and to the staff and students of IHM and also to the students and teachers of Tashi Namgyal Academy (TNA), Gangtok, where Kunga studied. “All of you have contributed to this success,” a message by the parents in Facebook said.

PEOPLE&PLACES The Hermonites

It’s springtime for the Hermonites

By JIGME N KAZI

Beginning from mid-September last month in Kathmandu, the Hermonites – alumni of Darjeeling’s co-ed Mt. Hermon School (founded by American missionaries in 1895) – are on the move. The three-day revival of the alumni in Nepal attracted at least 52 Hermonites.  For the Mount Hermon Alumni Association Nepal (MHAAN) it was a rare event in recent years.

Former Mayor of Biratnagar Ram Bhattarai was one of the prominent oldies who was among the MHAAN meet in Kathmandu. Anil Jatia, Bachan Gyawali, Sangeeta Prasai and Ashoke Pokharel were among the main organizers of the reunion, whose main aim was to revive the alumni body.

Kathmandu’s reunion was followed by a mini-reunion in Gangtok during Dusserah/Dassain. 1973 batch Hermonite Varongthip Lulitanond (Thip) has visited Sikkim at least 4-5 times in the recent past. This time he was accompanied by his batchmate Ravi Agarwal from Siliguri. The reunion get-together dinner on Oct 1 followed by a day-long trip to the Indo-Tibet border near Nathula in Tsangu and a rare treat by Sikkim Hermonite President Karma Bhutia at Mayfair resort was most relaxing and enjoyable.

Despite his busy schedule (Dassain) Thip’s batchmate Uttam Pradhan, as always, was on the driver’s seat during the Tsangu trip but missed the Mayfair treat! Arthur Pazo did well to arrange the permits to Tsangu, where the visitors were treated with sun, hail, rain, snow and a huge rainbow.

Thip says Hermonites meet should always be held in the hills and not in the cities. “Thank you to all…I’ll be back soon!” says Thip, who also joined the Hermonites at the Thimphu reunion (Oct 5-8)

The Thimphu reunion was basically organized for the batch of 1978-79 but others, as is usually the case, joined in. Corinne Brokken, Mala Sujan, Dheera Sujan and Varongthip Lulitanond were among  Hermonites from abroad who were present during the occasion. Former MP from Nagaland Apok Jamir, Mukesh Singh Adhupia, Yasmin Mukand Chung, Ratnakar Bhengra, Thinley Gyari, Geeta Bikst,  Nima Dhondup,  Binod Bhutra, Bebashis Brahma and Karan Anand were among those who enjoyed the brief autumn bonding that took place in Thimphu and Paro.

To Bhutan’s Home Secretary and former Ambassador to Thailand  Tsering Dorji, an active Hermonite, goes the credit of organizing the grand get-together in the Druk Kingdom. Autumn has returned to the hills but for the Hermonites its springtime!

Come November and we have the 1969 batch of Hermonites ascend to good old Darjeeling. I missed the Thimphu meet but will surely be one of the gatecrashers to this get-together in Darj. Had promised to have b’fast with James Lowangcha Wanglat at  Keventer’s, still a favourite haunt for Hermonites.

Prahalad Prasad, Om Prakash Kanwal, Raaj Kumar Bhangar (Lakhotia), Punam Agarwal, Marcus (Bappa) Dam  are among those expected to be there for the occasion. A visit to MH has also been planned.

The recently-revived Calcutta Hermonites, who seemed to be having bigger plans for MH, is planning a grand reunion in Darjeeling in December. Many from all over the region are expected to attend the get-together. Hashib Mondol is in-charge of the show.

Len Gangte and other Northeast Hermonites are planning to form the North East Hermonites Association (NEHA) in Imphal in January 2015. We are eager to form this club as there are many Hermonites all over the Northeast who are looking forward to formation of the association. “I’ll be there!” I told Len. And I will be there!!

Our school motto is “Non-Scholae Sed Vitae Discimus” (not for school but for life we learn). Most of these reunions are taking place 30-40 years after we last left our alma mater. We are now more than convinced that our foundation for life, friendship and camaraderie are strong and deep.    

    Therefore, the Hermonites’ motto “Closeness For Life!” and after life!! Hail Mt. Hermon!

NEPAL

SIKKIM

BHUTAN

SPORT

Ace footballer Hangu Norden is no more

Gangtok, Oct 10: The Sikkim Football Association (SFA) held a condolence meeting here at Football House on Tuesday to mourn the sad demise of Hangu Norden Lepcha, a renowned footballer of the State.

Hangu passed away at 2.15 a.m. on Tuesday morning at his residence here at Lall Bazar, after prolonged illness. He was 57 years old and leaves behind his wife Sonam Doma Lepcha and son Tashi Tseten Lepcha. He was one of the main coaches of Namchi Sports Hostel which was instituted with the main aim for "Search for More Bhaichung Project", a release of the SFA said.

    Hangu was also the coach and main mentor of Nirmal Chhetri and Sanju Pradhan, who are the ISL players of India and one of the highest paid footballers of the country today. He was the Chief Coach of Football with Sports & Youth Affairs Department, Government of Sikkim, till 2011.

Thereafter, he took voluntary retirement. Even after taking VRS, he was one of the regular visitors of Paljor Stadium, Gangtok. He was often seen giving advice and tips to the young budding footballers, SFA General Secretary Menla Yetenpa said.

Hangu represented Sikkim in various national level football tournaments like Santosh Trophy for many years and brought laurel to the State. Earlier, while serving in Indian Navy in Mumbai he used to be the main player of India Navy team.