SOLIDARITY FORUM FOR SCHEDULED TRIBE STATUS

HIMALAYAN GUARDIAN     Vol 1 No 19       Page 1                    May 11, 2011

SOLIDARITY FORUM FOR SCHEDULED TRIBE STATUS FOR ALL ‘SIKKIMESE NEPALESE’

Himalayan News Network

Gangtok, May 10: The Sikkim Solidarity Forum for Gorkhaland is likely to give more emphasis on basic issues that concern Sikkim from now on.

This was indicated by the Forum’s Chief Convenor Bharat Basnet who is likely to convene a public meeting of the Forum to announce its new plan of action.

Indicating this at a press conference held here last week, Basnet said after the Sikkim Assembly passed a resolution on formation of Gorkhaland state there was now no need to focus on ‘Gorkhaland’.

He has demanded that ‘Sikkimese Nepalese’, who possess the Sikkim Subjects Certificate, should be declared scheduled tribes. This would go a long way in preserving Sikkim’s distinct identity and communal harmony as per the historic May 8, 1973 tripartite agreement and Article 371F of the Constitution, Basnet said.

The Forum believes that if the ST status demand for all ‘Sikkim subjects’ is met all bonafide Sikkimese belonging to the three ethnic communities – Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalese – would be clubbed together. “This would ensure preservation of our distinct identity,” Basnet said.

 Incidentally, the Chamling Government also wants all Sikkimese Nepalese who were “Sikkim subjects” to be given ST status. As of now only the Bhutias and Lepchas and Limbus and Tamangs among the majority Nepalese are included in the State’s ST list.

Bihar to invest in Bhutan hydel projects: Nitish

T. Dem

Thimphu, May 10: Bihar is likely to take part in Bhutan’s hydel projects. This indication came during Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s three-day visit to the Druk Kingdom.

The Chief Minister said he will urge the Central Government to make Bihar a partner in Bhutan’s hydel projects and also seek permission to take equity stake in these ventures to meet the power needs of his State.

"There has been a constant demand for at least 1500 megawatts of power, which the central government could facilitate from the Psangchhu hydel project in Bhutan, currently under construction," the Chief Minister said after his returns from Bhutan last week.

Nitish Kumar further said Bhutan is the most trusted friend of India and the mutual relations are based on cooperation and understanding.

"A big number of Bhutanese visit Buddhist sites every year and tourists from India also go to Bhutan. The two nations enjoy very cordial relationship. The ties between Bhutan and Bihar are quite emotional," said Nitish in Bhutan.

The Chief Minister visited Bhutan at the invitation of Bhutan prime minister Jigme Yoser Thinley who sometime back made a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya. Thinley had met Nitish and invited him to visit Bhutan.

After Bhutan, Nitish is expected to pay a six-day visit to China from June 13 to 18. "Recently, the Chinese envoy had extended an invitation to me. Earlier, the foreign secretary (India) had advised me to make a goodwill visit to China," he said.

Bhutan and Bihar are set to sign a joint pact to promote tourism in famous Buddhist circuits in Bhutan. Every year thousands of Bhutanese Buddhist pilgrims visit Bihar, particularly Bodhgaya during winter, to undergo their annual nekor (pilgrimage).

JK Hurriyat leader meets European Parliament Prez

L.Verma

Srinagar, May 10:  Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq last Friday held a meeting to discuss the Kashmir situation with President of European Parliament Libor Rucek at Brussels..

During the meeting, Mirwaiz apprised Rucek about the “struggle of Kashmiris for right to self determination and the gross human rights violations, unidentified graves and the arrest and detention of youth and political activists in Kashmir,” a spokesman of the amalgam said.

“Mirwaiz also urged the European Parliament to use its influence over India for giving a practical shape to the commitments made to Kashmiris,” the spokesman added.

Leaders of Kashmir Centre London and Kashmir Centre Brussel, Nazir Ahmad Shawl and Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo were present during the meeting.

During his meeting with Josef Jenning, Director European Policy Centre in Brussels, Mirwaiz stressed that European Parliament could play a constructive role in facilitating meaningful engagement and dialogue between India, Pakistan and Kashmiris for the final resolution of Kashmir dispute.

Mirwaiz also apprised him that the treaties of India and Pakistan over water resources were not in favour of Kashmiris.

                    

Shabir Shah joins Geelani in Osama praise

Himalayan News Network

Srinagar, May 10:  Senior Hurriyat (M) leader, Shabir Ahmad Shah, on Friday joined Syed Ali Shah Geelani in high praise for Osama Bin Laden, describing the slain Al Qaeda founder as ‘an idea that can never die.”

Geelani himself used the funeral prayers for Bin Laden to dare India to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir, and demanded a ban on liquor and a halt to co-education.

Having been released from house arrest at around noon, Geelani offered Friday prayers at Batmalu and then spoke at Bin Laden’s funeral service, repeated that the Al Qaeda leader was steeped in love and concern for Muslims and had raised his voice against anti-Islam forces.

He condemned the US for burying Bin Laden at sea, saying that such measures had no justification.

 “It was cowardly of the American authorities to have executed Bin Laden after taking him into custody,” Shah said.

“There could be room for difference with Bin Laden’s methods, but not handing him over to Muslims for proper burial was cowardly,” he said.

“Bin Laden is not the name of an individual, but an idea, and ideas never die,” Shah said.

 “He was the wealthiest individual in the Arab world, but could not bear the American atrocities on the Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans and freedom fighters in other lands, and spent his entire wealth to free Muslims from the US oppression. He was aware of the oppression and the sufferings of the Kashmiri people,” he said.

“He was fighting anti-Islam forces against the religious and political slavery of Muslims, and we have a duty to offer prayers for him,” he said.

Hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Monday called al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a martyr who died fighting US oppression in the world. He said Osama had become a symbol of resistance to America and laid down his life doing this.

“Osama has died a martyr. He fought US and its imperialistic designs," Geelani, The Indian Express reported. “But his martyrdom won't end the resistance against the US in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world.”

Geelani said he had no animosity with the people of America but the US government’s policies were stoking anger across the Muslim world. “The US policies are against Muslim Ummah. We condemned 9/11 attacks as they were terrorist acts. But ever since, US has massacred lakhs of Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and now Libya.”

EDITORIAL

HISTORIC PACT

The Indian Betrayal

Those who are well aware of what took place in Sikkim in the ’70s, when the former Buddhist Kingdom was taken over by its protecting power in the guise of ushering in democracy, ought to know by now the sense of betrayal the Sikkimese people feel after becoming the 22^nd State of India. The leaders of the so-called democratic movement led by former chief minister LD Kazi now stand fully exposed for their dubious role during the ‘merger’ era. That is why they have been unsuccessful in Sikkim politics as they stand forever condemned by the people at large. Post-merger Sikkimese are gradually re-discovering what really took place during the signing of the historic Tripartite May 8, 1973 Agreement. And they are not happy with what took place and are asking serious questions. Some of them have chosen the political path to react to situations that took place between 1973-1975, when anti-Sikkimese elements backed by New Delhi put an end to Sikkim’s distinct international political status.

But what really has got the Sikkimese angry and worried is the gradual dilution of the constitutional safeguards and protections given to the ethnic Sikkimese of Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepalese origin. Ironically, three years after the ‘merger’ Sikkimese Bhutias, the then ruling class in Sikkim, faced the first assault on their distinct identity when they were made ‘scheduled tribes’ and other communities mischievously included in the definition of ‘Bhutia’, leading to the gradual erosion of their political rights. A year later in 1979 Sikkimese Nepalese, who were always touchy about their political rights, lost reservation of their traditional seats in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly. Despite the demand for restoration of their political rights in the past three decades New Delhi has kept mum. How long can the stalemate continue? The formation of Sikkim Liberation Party last week is surely an indication of what is to come in a strategic and vulnerable State like Sikkim.

SIKKIM: How A Buddhist Kingdom Became An Indian State

The Chogyal of Sikkim with India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in mid-1970s

    Sikkim’s original inhabitants, the Lepchas, call their land Nyemael, “Paradise.” Though one of the legendary “bayul” or Shangri-la valleys that refer to a handful of remote valleys of the Himalayas was said to be only behind the mighty Kanchenjunga, rather than implying the entire former Kingdom, Sikkim, now the 22nd state of India, has very much the same characteristics as the other fairy tale kingdoms of the Himalayas.

   The Buddhist patron-saint of Sikkim is Guru Rinpoche who is said to have passed through the land in the 8th century and introduced Buddhism to Sikkim. As a result landscape is studded with many picturesque monasteries, much like Bhutan further to the east. Though most monasteries extol Padma Sambhawa and follow the Nyingmapa order, or Red Hat school of Buddhism, since 1959 when the 16th Karmapa arrived in Sikkim after Tibet was overrun by the Chinese, Rumtek, a large monastery near Gangtok, has become the seat of the Tibetan Karma Kagyu lineage.

   Same as its neighbors, Sikkim too was a monarchy, presumably since the 13th century though the first king, or Chogyal, of Sikkim was not consecrated until 1642 in Yuksom, in West Sikkim. The end of Sikkim’s monarchy came on April 6, 1975 when the Indian army subdued the palace guards, placed the king under house arrest and Sikkim ceased to exist as an independent kingdom, its sovereignty lost.

     It is said that Sikkim’s merger with India was necessary for India’s national security since India’s first cross border skirmishes with the Chinese in the 1960s. China claimed Sikkim to be part of Tibet, hence part of China and India feared vulnerable to an attack should Sikkim succumb to China. Though the eventual annexation of Sikkim to India was years in the making, perhaps as far as back as 1947 when India gained independence from the British, fact is also that India played dirty in the process, staging referendum vote whether the people wanted to become part of the union, all to pave the road to justification of the eventual annexation.

       Hailed as expression of democracy, those that remember the voting and events of those days well recall India hauling in masses of poor folks from the plains, some said to have been brought from as far south as Bihar to vote, all to show the wish of the majority was to join the Indian Union. No foreign press was allowed into Sikkim for a long time and even as late as 1980s a number of those that used to be close to the former Chogyal and agitated against India’s rule lingered off in Indian prisons.

   Today, most Sikkimese know they lost their independence in 1975, and the plains-bound passengers from the hills still say they are “going to India” despite that indeed they are in India. The pride of the Lepchas and being Sikkimese carries on and it is good to see that the young generation has not lost their identity, quite the contrary. Although India has always been hailed as the largest democracy and praised for its practices, it seems the spirit of democracy it sowed in Sikkim is a far cry from its otherwise fine track record. (toptravelleads.com)

(To learn more about the events of 1970s when India annexed Sikkim, read Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim, by Sunanda K Datta-Ray.)

Better days ahead for Darjeeling tea industry

Himalayan News Network

Darjeeling, May 10: The Union Finance Ministry has cleared two foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals from the Darjeeling tea industry, the first FDI approval since 1974 for the branded brew sector in the hills.

“Such investments had stopped after the introduction of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (Fera) in 1974, which stated that foreign companies making profit in India cannot remit their profits out of the country,” said an industry insider, according to a national daily.

The applications of M/s Darjeeling Organic Tea Estates Pvt Ltd and M/s Jay Shree Tea & Industries Ltd, Kolkata are among the 21 FDI proposals approved by the Centre recently.

In the early nineties, the FDI cap in tea gardens was raised to 74 per cent from 49. But even at that time, under FERA, profits could not be remitted out of the country. As a result, no company showed any interest in investing in tea gardens.

In 2002, the FDI for the industry with its ailing tea gardens was relaxed to 100 per cent. A stipulation, however, said the 100 per cent FDI had to be rolled back to 74 per cent in five years. Also, from then on, foreign companies were allowed to proportionally remit the profits back to their countries. This led to renewed interest in investing in tea, especially in Darjeeling where gardens were making profits.

A statement issued by the ministry of finance said that while 21 FDI proposals amounting to Rs 1027.20 crore were cleared on May 3, 17 applications have been deferred, nine rejected and one withdrawn from the agenda, the report said.

About the particulars of the application submitted by the Darjeeling Organic Tea Estates, Even though Darjeeling tea — only 87 gardens can use the brand name — by itself is a world-famous brand, companies had in the past gone in for value addition to make their product more attractive.

As early as in 2006, Gopadhara tea garden had started manufacturing “designer tea”. Such products included the handcrafted Olympic Flame — tea leaves resembling an Olympic torch — and the Dragon Pearl brew. When put in hot water, the tea opened up into two leaves and a bud. Dragon Pearl Tea is intricately finger-rolled

Darjeeling tea companies, which had suffered a setback last year due to a drop in production, are likely to perform better this year as the crop situation has improved and enquiries from the overseas markets have picked up significantly. Even quake-hit Japan has sent feelers to the Darjeeling producers for picking up good volumes of tea to meet the country's demand.

Britain's high street departmental store Harrods is also set to procure premium Darjeeling tea this year. "Harrods officials will come in June to place their requirements and tea companies hope to have a good deal with them," said Sanjay Bansal, chairman of Ambootia Group.

Production of tea has increased by at least 25% compared to previous year. "Last year, production got affected due to a drought-like situation. We lost the premium first and second flush teas, which fetch maximum revenues for tea companies. But this year the weather has improved and this will have a good impact on the production," said Ashok Lohia, chairman of Chamong Tee.

Kalimpong Park Hotel was once the summer residence of Maharaja of Dinajpur

S. Deki

An aura of modernity and a quaint sense of history tickles the sensitivity at the three-star heritage hotel, The Kalimpong Park Hotel, in Kalimpong, once known as Dinajpur House, the former summer residence of the Maharaja of Dinajpur. This hotel with a distinct personality sits one kilometer uphill from the town area and commands breathtaking view of the sweeping majesty of the Himalayas.

The Maharaja of Dinajpur lived here for about 38 – 40 years. The Maharaja, a zamidar (landlord), avoided much of the intense summer heat of the plains of Bengal by staying in this British architectural style bungalow with his family and entourage of servants, according to Amode Yonzone, the proprietor of the hotel.

Situated on a view-point about a kilometer uphill from town, this property sat like a sentinel on a ridge facing Kalimpong town, Dr. Graham’s Homes and Dehlo hill on the opposite hill, overlooking the river valleys to the east,  Kanchenjunga to the north and the hills of Durpin to the south.

Started as modest guest-house with three bedrooms in 1978, it is now a full fledged hotel with ‘three star’ facilities.

The main wing of Kalimpong Park Hotel was once known as ‘Dinajpur House’, the former summer residence of the Maharaja of Dinajpur (a district of West Bengal, now divided with Bangladesh).

Dinajpur House was bought by G. P. Yonzone (of Dumchipara Tea Garden in the Dooars) in December, 1960. The property included all the antique furniture, utensils, crockery and cutlery.

After Independence the government of India went about imposing land and property taxes on landlords and property owners and the Land Ceiling Act was imposed, according to the owner of the hotel, who is one of the sons of the late G P Yonzone.

 This ended the luxuries of the Maharajas and zamidars. Thus, many of their properties like Dinajpur House were put up for sale because the landlords who did not have any income now could not pay the new property taxes and neither could they maintain their vast properties.

Dinajpur is a district in North Bengal. After the partition of India with Pakistan, half of this district went to East Pakistan, i.e. present-day Bangladesh.

Remembering Tagore in Mongpo

On his 150^th birth centenary

Maitreyi Devi not having penned “Mongpo-te Rabindranath” (Tagore’s days at Mongpo), I am quite certain the common Bengalee literati would have forgotten Tagore’s memorable days at the Cinchona plantation.

This little remembered hamlet is about a fifty- kilometre drive from Siliguri. A place remotely cornered, heavily guarded by foliage in the jungles in district of Darjeeling, Mongpo is unscathed by footfalls, mechanised cars and cigarette packets.

 Maitreyi Devi’s husband Dr.Manmohan Sen was in charge of British India’s lucrative cinchona plantation at Mongpo and Maitreyi had invited Tagore more than once (especially between 1938-1940) requesting his thoughts to be bared, some even on the office note books of the factory. Dr. Sen’s official residence lies across factory gates and now an indiscreet bust of Tagore overlooks the beautiful garden.

The small, tidy bungalow allows nature to pierce through its innumerable glass panes where Tagore had once rested on a couch that still exist. Just at the end of the portico on the left; lies the very private enclosure restricted by glass walls on two sides, here silence prevails even now as if the bard is still nurturing his imaginations to flow down his pen.

This enclosure is adorned by the presence of a writing desk and a chair, designed by the poet himself, his faculty fine crafted by his son Rathindranath. Rathindranath’s mastery in wood work is well known and it enhances the aesthetics of this bungalow. A bamboo work of pen stand is emblazoned with Tagore’s drawings. A heavily purported wooden aisle lies beside Tagore’s medicine box containing some still fresh Homeopathy medicines.

Tagore himself had designed his bed whose backrest rises heavily against its frame in a rather odd fashion. This was likely as a remedy towards the respiratory distress he withstood during his last decade. This bed is kept in the adjacent room. A visit to this place whispers that nothing had changed here in spite of the tree just behind the house, which Tagore had lovingly named ‘Saptaparni’, growing enormously spreading its arms for the last fifty years or so.

How lucky the present generation is who would plan trips in noisy automobiles to this offbeat destination never even realising how tedious and difficult and time consuming it was in unfurnished palanquins in those days to travel from the plains of Siliguri. Mr Sisir Routh who now upkeeps this house feels proud when he mentions that his father Bhimlal was one of those palanquin bearers who attended Tagore during the trips to Mongpo. (calcuttaliterati) 

Manipur family celebrates Osama’s death

Himalayan News Network

Imphal, May 10: The news of Osama bin Laden's death brought cheers to the Manipur capital where the relatives and friends of a 9/11 victim from Imphal celebrated the sensational event.

Jupiter Yambem (42), a native of Imphal's Uripok Yambem Leikai, was among the 3,000 people who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. He was a banquet manager with Windows of the World, a restaurant spread across 40,000 sq ft on the 107th floor of the WTC.

Welcoming Laden's death, Yamben Laba, Jupiter's elder brother and former member of Manipur Human Rights Commission, said, "I'm so happy that justice has been done. I thank US president Barack Obama, who ordered the oppression against bin Laden. Now my beloved brother can finally rest in peace."

Laba said all should appreciate the war against terror and the role played by the US. "I extend my thanks to the White House, the Pentagon and everybody else who were part of the operation. I hope America will make more breakthroughs in the war against terror," added Laba, a well-known senior journalist in the northeast.

Jupiter is survived by his American wife, Nancy McCardle Yambem and son Santi Mc Cardle (15) aka Chinglailakpa (dragon-tamer). The mother-son duo, who lives in New York, often visits Imphal to spend time with Jupiter's relatives.

In 2002, Laba and his father, Yambem Tombi, visited New York to attend a memorial service at Ground Zero. Every year, Jupiter's family holds a memorial service in his memory on September 11.

Born to the Yambem family of Uripok neighbourhood in Imphal West, Jupiter left India when he was selected as a coordinator at Camp America, a youth exchange programme, in 1981.

He stayed back, married Nancy, a music therapist, went on to become a manager of the restaurant and stayed with his family in New York till he died in the terror attack.

“I am not very comfortable with the idea of celebrating this. My husband was murdered and killed. I know what it feels like. Though Osama needed to be brought to justice, and death was probably to only way to do it, I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of celebrating a killing,” said Nancy.

INTERVIEW/Baba Ramadev

“Majority of the people of India are fed up with the growing menace of corruption in the country”

After social activist Anna Hazare's soul-stirring movement against corruption, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is now ready to fight “unto death” to eradicate corruption from society.

Baba Ramdev, who was with Anna Hazare when he was fasting at Jantar Manter, said, “I only wish that others too join movement against corruption. It is a fact that now majority of the people of India are fed up with the growing menace of corruption in the country.”

In an interview with Editor-in-Chief of News 24, Ms.Anurradha Prasad,  for her weekly show 'Aamne-Samne', he said that the fight against corruption will not stop.

In keeping with his combative new avtaar of crusader against black money and menace of corruption, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is also ready to take Messrs Digvijay Singh and P.L. Punia head on for questioning his integrity.

Baba Ramdev took Congress leaders' direct barb on him with a pinch of salt. “I have no personal issue with them. He (Digvijay Singh) belongs to a feudal family and I have very humble origins. There is no question of joining issue with him or for that matter anybody.”

Baba further said, “I have no tablet to cure him. Let his party do something to make him all right."

When News 24 asked Baba what is wrong if Digvijay Singh or Punia ask him to furnish his income tax returns, Baba said, “The transaction of my trust is audited every year. I have no bank account, no property at all. I am ready to face any investigating agency to investigate the accounts of my trust. I am open to that. Our accounts are absolutely transparent.”

Replying to a question regarding Digvijay Singh's younger brother Laxman Singh joining hands with him, Baba said, “There cannot be any debate that 99 per cent people of the country support my cause. And I do not mind that one per cent are not with me. Even one per cent were not with Lord Ram and Sita. Even Congressmen with Gandhian thoughts are with me and fully supporting my cause.”

In order to clear his position once and for all, Baba said, “ I have no issue against any party or person.”

Replying to another direct question related to his growing wealth, Baba challenged anybody to prove that there is even an iota of misappropriation of funds in his empire. “My followers have given me an island in UK and a huge land in Houston. I got everything according to the law of land of those countries.”

Are you ready to contest the next general election to be held in 2014? To this question Baba Ramdev said he would like to clarify once and for all that he would not contest the election. However, he did say that he would put his candidates with clean image.

“My constitution has given me the right to fight against the anti-national forces. And what is the problem of anybody if I fight against all those who are fighting against the interests of the country.”

'Baba, how far this charge is true that Muslims still avoid your Yoga camps?'

"They are with me and support my movement. I addressed a huge gathering of venerable Islamic seminary Darul-ulum in Deoband. Muslim leaders also declared Yoga as not anti-Islamic. A large number of Muslims gathered at my recent really at the Ramlila ground in Delhi."