GURUNG Vs GHISING IN DARJEELING

Himalayan Guardian    April 13, 2011

GURUNG Vs GHISING IN DARJEELING

Darjeeling, April 12: The Assembly elections in West Bengal has provided the right atmosphere for the two Gorkha leaders of the region – former DGHC chairman and GNLF supremo Subash Ghising and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung – to fight it out in the open.

The polls have forced Ghising to end his 3-year exile in the foothills in Jalpaiguri and return to Darjeeling and continue with his fight for Indian Gorkhas’ identity and political rights.

While issues such as Gurung’s call for Gorkhaland and Ghising’s fight for 6^th Schedule status for Darjeeling will play a major role in the outcome of the polls the main fight now is between Gurung and Ghising even as politics become more personalized.

Gurung wants Ghising to quit Darjeeling after the polls. Ghising says he has come back for good and is not leaving the hills come what may. See page 6 for full story.

I’m not going back, Ghising tells Gurung

C. Tamang

Darjeeling, April 12: Despite threats from his rival and one-time protégé, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha President Bimal Gurung, former Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) and Gorkha National Liberation Front chief Subash Ghising said he not only intends to stay put in Darjeeling even after the Assembly polls but also wants to be included in the ongoing tripartite talks between the Centre, West Bengal Government and GJM.

Ghising’s return to Darjeeling after three years of forced exile in Jalpaiguru in North Bengal is not being welcomed by Gurung, who at once threatened to drive him from the hills after the polls. The Morcha chief retracted a bit after anti-Morcha parties in the hills criticized Gurung for his undemocratic and dictatorial tendencies. Gurung now says the people will get rid of Ghising after the polls.

Gurung is not only perturbed by Ghising’s demand that he be included in the tripartite talks but also for going against the Gorkhaland demand and raising the 6^th Schedule issue.

 “At present, the Central and State governments are talking to groups and people from Darjeeling who do not understand what an interim council is all about. The GNLF should be made a party to the talks,” Ghising said.
 The GNLF will work actively to have the new Gorkha Hill Council Bill passed in Parliament after it was passed in the West Bengal Assembly in 2005, he added.

Ghising said he still sticks to his demand of bringing the entire Darjeeling hills under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

“My stand is still the same and I want the DGHC to have more powers with 45 departments under the Sixth Schedule,” Ghising told reporters.

The hills have become tense as GNLF leaders and supporters began preparing to defend Ghising in the wake of Gurung’s threat of driving the GNLF chief out of Darjeeling after the polls.

According to a senior police official, GNLF supporters were encouraged after Ghising came back to Darjeeling. “According to the information we have, both groups have mobilised goons in reserve. Several meetings were held at GJM offices, during which plans were made to oust Ghising again from Darjeeling. Confrontation resulting in bloodshed is likely after polls in the hills,” the official said.

Prakash Dahal, GNLF candidate in Kurseong, said, “We are lucky to have Ghising back in the hills. In 2008, we were chased out of our place forcibly. Our chief instructed us against any sort of confrontation. But this time, he has told us that he will not leave the hills under any circumstances. We will protect him till the end of our life.”

The GNLF on Monday lodged a formal complaint regarding alleged intimidation by the Morcha.  “Our party has viewed these threats seriously and we would protect our party president and the party with our lives, come what may. We would sincerely like the esteemed institution to intervene so that blood will not be spilled pre-and post-election,” said the complaint.

Elections to the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly will be held in six phases. The first phase of polling for 54 seats, including in the Hills, will be on April 18 and the sixth and final phase on May 10. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 13. The fate of 38 candidates, including three GNLF candidates from six seats of Darjeeling district, will be decided in the first phase. In the last Assembly polls the GNLF won all three seats from Darjeeling hills.

Darjeeling Lepchas to boycott Assembly polls

Siliguri, April 12: Lepchas, an indigenous scheduled tribe community of Darjeeling hills, are likely to boycott the coming Assembly elections protesting the alleged step-motherly treatment meted out to them by the Centre and the State Government.

LS Tamsong, leader of 'Lepchas of Darjeeling', on Thursday said nearly one lakh Lepchas residing in the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling were living in an "inhuman" condition and announced the community would boycott the ensuing Assembly polls.

Tamsang, President of the Indigenous Tribal Association (ITA), gave the poll boycott call at a gathering of Lepchas at the Bagha Jatin Park here.

"Since Independence the villages they live in have seen no development," Tamsong said while addressing a gathering of the community here.

The general secretary of the organisation, Posong Tshering Lepcha, said that the Census 2011 had put Lepcha population at around 43,000, but actually their number is minimum one lakh.

He said that though officially they had been accorded the status of a scheduled tribe, they had hardly been given any associated benefit or facility entitled to them.

Besides, neither the State Government nor the Centre was ready to listen to the demand for constitutional recognition of the Lepcha language. (Sikkim Observer)

Morcha MLAs to quit after polls: Chhetri

Himalayan News Network

Darjeeling, April 13: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha legislators will quit the Assembly after the poll if they get elected to press their demand for Gorkhaland state.

"GJM's target is not to participate in the West Bengal Assembly proceedings, but to have a separate state carved out from the northern part of the state, including Darjeeling Hills. We have decided to resign as MLAs after we are elected. We have already informed the president of India about our decision,' GJM spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri said.

   Chhetri, who is contesting from the Kalimpong assembly constituency, said the GJM decided to participate in the elections for the sake of the Gorkhaland movement.

He said the GJM decided to take part in the poll process to ensure that non-GJM candidates of the Opposition are not elected, IANS reported.

The GJM is confident of winning all three seats - Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling.

"We have decided to support whosoever is useful in raising our demand. The BJP is the only one to raise our demand at the national level; so as a matter of gratitude we have decided to support them for the Madarihat seat, while in other constituencies we would extend our support to the Trinamool and the Congress with only one objective - to end the Marxist dictatorship," Chhetri said.

On the issue of merging Darjeeling Hills with Sikkim after the recent resolution passed by the Sikkim assembly supporting the cause of Gorkhaland, he said: "We want a separate Gorkha state of our own. But we are thankful to them for extending support to our cause."

EDITORIAL

GURUNG’S MASTERSTROKE

Choosing Competent Representatives

His critics accuse him of throttling the voice of democracy in Darjeeling hills. Their accusation seems justified when one views how the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) President Subash Ghising was forced to flee Darjeeling and seek shelter in the plains and the gruesome manner the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) President Madan Tamang was hacked to death in broad daylight in Darjeeling town. These two unfortunate events in the hills took place during Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s rule in the past few years. Because of this AIGL and CPRM, two major political parties in Darjeeling, have made restoration of democracy one of their main political agenda. The two parties are convinced that without democracy creation of Gorkhaland state in the hills would be futile.

However, the choice of Gurung’s party candidates contesting from the three prestigious Assembly seats of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong is noteworthy and the Morcha chief needs to be congratulated for opting men of substance to represent the hill people in the West Bengal Assembly (if ever they get elected) after the ensuing Assembly polls. While one of the candidates (Trilok Dewan) is a retired IAS officer and former chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh, the other two (Harka Bahadur Chhetri – a doctorate in botany & party spokesman –  and Rohit Sharma) teaches in a Kalimpong school and Kurseong College respectively.

While Nepali/Gorkha leaders in neighbouring Sikkim make use of prominent citizens and intellectuals to help build up their party and finally reject them in place of pliable candidates to contest Assembly polls or once their government is formed, Gurung, on the other hand, has shown a better example which needs to be emulated if hill leaders in this part of the region wish to offer good governance to the people. Darjeeling is the jewel of West Bengal and those ruling it ought to realize the need for good and capable people to run the show whether it be political parties, interim set-up, Union Territory or Gorkhaland itself.

New Delhi for separate Himalayan policy

SHISHIR PRASHANT

With food security remaining a big concern in the 1.2 billion nation, the Centre is planning to devise a separate policy for the Himalayan region comprising states like Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to boost their overall growth.

“Discussions have already started for a separate policy for the Himalayan region comprising sectors like agriculture, fishery, horticulture, animal husbandry and others. We are involving leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs), central institutions and experts in this endeavour,” said Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Director General Dr S Ayappan, on the sidelines of a workshop on future strategy on the Himalayan region.

The greater emphasis will be given on the hill mechanism for a cost-effective approach, experts said. The main concern of the new policy will be to fulfill the requirements of the hills where land holdings, are small, soil erosion is rampant, biodiversity is rich and climate change is a seen as big factor, experts said.

Other factors like haphazard growth, water shortage, rapid migration, unemployment will also be taken into account into the future policy, said Anil P Joshi, whose Dehradun-based NGO, HESCO, has taken the initiative to work for the separate Himalayan policy. “This workshop is the first step towards the future policy initiatives. Our big goal will be to devise the agriculture policy at the first stage at the centre level for the entire Himalayan region,” said Joshi.

Chipko movement leader Sunderlal Bahuguna, a recipient of Padma Vibhushan, also supported the idea of the separate policy saying big dams like Tehri were creating destruction of the region’s rich biodiversity.

With Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee focusing on the nutrient millets, Ayappan said a budgetary provision of Rs 300 crore has been made for boosting the growth of agri-millets like mandua (finger millet) which have tremendous potential in states like Uttarakhand.

Entire system has become corrupt: Assam RTI activist

P. Ghosh

Guwahati, April 12: Assam on Sunday erupted in protests against the detention of an RTI activist by the police. Akhil Gogoi, who is also the general secretary of farmers’ body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), was detained along with some leaders while he was addressing a press conference.

Immediately after his detention, groups and individuals expressed their anger by blocking roads and a highway amidst shouting anti-government slogans throughout the State.

Within two hours of his arrest Gogoi was released. The police not only apologized to him but also assured a thorough probe in the incident. The authorities earlier said that he was arrested under for violation of Section 144 Cr.PC and violation of model code of conduct.

After his release Gogoi addressed a rally before taking out the proposed march in support of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and made a scathing attack on the government for the arbitrary detention. “I was detained because the government is afraid of the KMSS. I learnt I was freed at the instruction of the chief minister. The government could not expect such a spontaneous reaction from the people,” he said.

“I am not a member of any political party and as such my holding a press conference does not violate the model code of conduct,” he said while being whisked away by the police.

The KMSS recently launched a crusade against the Congress government in the State on corruption.

“The entire system has become corrupt. The Congress has to be taught a lesson if people want to get rid of corruption by lawmakers and bureaucrats. But if the party is voted to power again, we will only encourage it,” Gogoi, winner of an RTI award, said here recently.

No monitoring mechanism for implementation of GoI, NEC funds in Sikkim: CAG report

By A Staff Reporter

Gangtok, April 12: The annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on management of finances in the State released here recently reveal that though the Government of India (GoI) transferred Rs 231.79 crore to the State Implementing Agencies during 2009-10 for various projects  in the State the actual amount spent could not be ascertained  due to proper documentation of such projects.

In five such schemes, including MG-NREGA and PMGSY, the Centre had released a total of Rs 164.28 crore. Out of this Rs 27.67 crore remained unutilized, CAG report revealed.

The report said, “…there is no single agency monitoring the funds directly transferred by the GoI and there is no readily available data on how much is actually spent in any particular year on major flagship schemes…funded directly by the GoI.”

Even projects funded under the North Eastern Council (NEC) failed to achieve the desire target, CAG report said. While only 62% of works could be completed within the stipulated time frame the report revealed that objectives were not achieved in 11 (44%) out of 25 schemes.

It said due to “improper survey and planning”, “preparation of defective project reports” and “non-implementation” and “delay” in implementation of projects funds released by NEC for “balanced socio-economic development of the State”, unfortunately, “remained largely unachieved.”

The report also pointed out that “Monitoring mechanism was inadequate and impact of the Schemes was never evaluated.”

HISTORY

The royal family of Cooch Behar

                                             

It is believed that the ancient Koch kingdom of Cooch Behar was known as ‘Kamta’ and the kings called themselves ‘Kamteshwar’ or the lords of Kamta.

Archeological records indicate that the medieval history of Cooch Behar dates back to the Pala-Senas period in 11-12th century A.D. Sculptures, coins, temples and mosques in the area proves this fact and the remains found at Rajpat, Dinhata, exposes the ancient capital of Kamtapur ruled by the Khen kings. It is believed that deep within the mound at Rajpat, which is presently protected by the Archeological Survey of India, lays the palaces of Kamtapur and the Kamteswari Temple.

The Narayan dynasty was formed on the ruins of the Kingdom of Kamrup, established by the first Maharaja, Chandan Narayan in 1510 A.D.; he was of Koch and Mech descent. After him, his successor to the throne, Maharaja Vishnu Narayan and his son Maharaja Nara Narayan expanded the empire by conquering vast areas of land in the region.

The Narayan dynasty ruled Cooch Behar from the 16th century and maintained its rule even after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 - the battle between Siraj-ud-daula and the East India Company. Near about the 18th century, following the invasion by the king of Bhutan, the kingdom of Cooch Behar came under the protection of the British Empire. After independence, it was ceded to the Government of India, and was finally merged with the state of West Bengal.

The royal families of Cooch Behar were heavily influenced by British culture, tradition and education and enjoyed great privileges from Queen Victoria. This trend was made popular, especially, by Maharaja Nripendra Bahadur Narayan who ruled Cooch Behar from 1863 – 1911; two of his daughters married Europeans and all his children was educated in England. The family belonged to the Rajbanshi and was very cultured, modern and broad-minded in their views; they actively promoted social reforms and Indian literature in India and the European countries.

The legacy of the Narayan Dynasty can be found in the royal palaces, buildings and temples built by the successive kings in Cooch Behar; for instance, the Rajbari Palace, and other heritage buildings were erected during the rule of these kings.