SIKKIM OBSERVER DEC 7, 2011
‘SAVE SIKKIM’ PRESSURE ON CHAMLING
Sikkimese threaten to start agitation if govt goes ahead with hydropower projects in West Sikkim
Gangtok, Dec 6: Eight social organizations in the State, including Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC), has threatened to launch agitations if the State Government continues to remain adamant in going ahead with mega hydroprojects on the sacred Rathongchu river in the Yuksam-Tashiding region of West Sikkim.
After formation of the “Platform for Joint Action” by eight organisations here on Saturday they have submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pawan Chamling yesterday urging him to stand by his earlier decision taken in 1997 to scrap the 99 MW Rathongchu hydropower project and put an end to the three such projects over Rathongchu in West Sikkim.
The organizations want Ting Ting, Tashiding and Lethang hydropower projects on Rathongchu to be scrapped immediately. If the State Government “fails” to respond positively to the demand of the people “any kind of agitations” are likely to take place by the “affected people” and the government would be held solely responsible for whatever happens thereafter, the letter to the Chief Minister said.
A press statement issued by the joint action platform said if the government fails to scrap the projects “then this platform will be at liberty to take any course of action” to “press its demand.”
Reflecting the sentiments of the Sikkimese people the concerned organizations have voiced their apprehension on destruction of the natural and cultural heritage of Sikkim if these projects are not scrapped immediately.
Besides SIBLAC, the other organizations with the joint platform are: National Sikkimese Bhutia Organisation (NASBO), Concerned Lepchas of Sikkim (CLOS), Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), All Sikkim Educated Self Employed & Unemployed Association (ASESEUA), SAVE Sikkim (SAVE), People’s Forum on Earthquake (PFOE) and Nagarik Adhikar Suraksha Sangathan (NASS).
Dalai Lama makes another public appearance as Beijing seethes
Observer News Service
New Delhi, Dec 6: On Saturday afternoon at the India Habitat Center in New Delhi, the Dalai Lama spent an hour educating a packed house of some 1,500 people on the art of happiness in a lecture arranged by book publisher Penguin India.
That in and of itself would not be unusual: the Tibetan spiritual leader is a best-selling author and a world-renowned public speaker. But the event marked his third public appearance in India in a week at a time when India and China — a vociferous critic of the Dalai Lama's ever since he fled to India from China-occupied Tibet in 1959 — are at increasing odds over border disputes and oil-and-gas exploration in the South China Sea, Time magazine reported.
And while the lecture itself steered clear of political issues, the deeper significance of the Dalai Lama's sudden increased public appearances has been the subject of much speculation. The Chinese government has reacted strongly to the Dalai Lama's latest speaking engagements in India, canceling high-level talks after one appearance and sending missives to Indian officials not to attend another, despite assurances from New Delhi and from the Tibetan government-in-exile that they were not meant as an affront.
"The Dalai Lama has been in Delhi for quite a few events. All the events he has attended are nonpolitical, and it is mere coincidence that they happened one after the other," says Lobsang Sangay, the newly elected Kalon Tripa or Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile who accompanied the Dalai Lama on Saturday.
"China is overreacting and politicizing his appearances. The Dalai Lama has always been about human values and harmony; it is just the Chinese government who is pressurizing India and other countries to restrict him."
Bhaichung ropes in Ronaldo for Sikkim quake funds
Gangtok, Dec 6: Former India skipper Bhaichung Bhutia has succeeded in persuading the authorities to bring three-time world footballer of the year Christiano Ronaldo to play in an exhibition match in Kolkta next month to raise funds for the victims of the recent Sikkim earthquake.
The match is likely to take place on January 15, according to reports. The exhibition match is said to be Bhaichung’s brainchild.
The proceeds of the match, to be played under the aegis of Football Players Association of India (FPAI), will go for the earthquake victims in Sikkim.
The funds collected from the match will also be distributed among needy former India international footballers, it is learnt.
"We are organising the exhibition match to help the Sikkim earthquake victims and the ex-international players. It will be held at Salt Lake Stadium on January 15. We are going to have a press conference on January 14 and Dutch legend Ruud Gullit is expected to address it," Bhutia told PTI.
"I am trying to stitch an India team which will have former international players including me. The match will also have Bollywood actors and cricketers. I have been in talks with John Abraham and Ranbir Kapoor. I am also going to speak to Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly who are football followers," he said.
The international XI, to be made up of former stars, will have the likes of Cafu of Barzil, Marcel Desailly of France, Paolo Maldini of Italy, Patrick Kluivert of the Netherlands, Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, Frenchman Christian Karembeu and Rene Higuita of Colombia.
The Indian Football Association (IFA), the state football body for West Bengal, have already given the green signal to the match.
Ruud Gullit will be the coach of the International XI side while Shyam Thapa will be his Indian counterpart
Editorial
MEDIA WATCH
Give Priority To Where It Is Due
People are now not so naïve as before as far as the press is concerned. They know why and how the media operates. Most media houses in India
There is, therefore, a greater need for introspection among mediapersons and media proprietors in small towns and cities to give top priority to the growing problems faced by the media in smaller states in the country. Governments in these states also need to take a closer look at how the local press really functions. While politicians tend to give more importance to the dailies, weeklies and other journals are left uncared. While some of them have closed down due to financial pressure others are surviving with great difficulty. Advertisement bills are kept pending for a long period and most of the time hawkers and vendors fail to pay their dues to newspaper establishments. And yet the press has to function and public demand from the local media is growing by the day.
HIGH SECURITY
Cut Down Cost, Implement Act
The Supreme Court has already directed all state governments to implement the provisions of the Central Motor Vehicles Act and issue high security number plates to vehicles. The order must be followed or else it would be regarded as contempt of court. Till very recently only Goa, Meghalaya and Sikkim have partially implemented the Act. Sikkim faces a peculiar situation. Around 12,000 vehicles in Sikkim have reportedly been provided with high security registration plates. Most of the remaining vehicle owners are unwilling to get the new number plates as the cost of these items are much high as compared to other states. In other states the cost of these number plates for four wheelers is around Rs 500; in Sikkim it is around Rs 2000.
While the All India Private Vehicles Owners Association wrote to the Sikkim Chief Secretary a few years back on the number plates issue alleging “scam” involving Rs 4 crore, the Sikkim Congress unit had taken up the matter with the Supreme Court as well as the CBI. The allegation is that the cost of these number plates is more than double the cost in other states, including neighbouring West Bengal . The Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee has alleged that “handsome commission” was paid to those who got the deal to implement the project. During the recent local taxi drivers rally in Gangtok the high security number plates issue was also raised. The authorities should immediately cut down the cost and implement the Act in the interest of the people and book the culprits who are responsible for corrupt practices.
China: The World’s Next Superpower
Europe and India must not assess China merely on its financial influence
Sunanda K Datta-Ray
In the West they say China is taking over the world. But, no, it’s only bankrupt Europe that faces the prospect of being taken over while monks and nuns come to a fiery end in Tibet, the Dalai Lama continues to mark time, and the Karmapa Lama’s millions of followers wait for India to adopt a rational policy towards a young incarnate monk who could be the face of Buddhism’s future.
The West is understandably impervious to these nuances because of its own priorities. Europe needs money and China, the world’s biggest creditor with foreign exchange reserves of around $3.2 trillion, has it. “If the Chinese, who have 60 per cent of the world’s reserves, decide to invest in the euro instead of the dollar, why refuse?” asks Nicolas Sarkozy archly, hoping to distract attention from Europe’s persistently extended begging bowl.
Klaus Regling, chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which was set up last year and has already provide financial aid to Portugal, Ireland and Greece, expects the Chinese to chip in so that the bailout fund that was agreed on at a recent summit in Brussels can be increased from ¤440 billion to ¤1 trillion. He told the media in Beijing that Asian investors had already snapped up 40 per cent of the bonds that the EFSF issued, but didn’t disclose China’s share of the purchase.
As coy as Sarkozy, he hopes to tempt the Chinese to invest $100 billion in the fund, saying “We all know China has a particular need to invest surpluses,” and that China is “interested in finding attractive, solid and safe investment opportunities.” The inscrutable Chinese haven’t said so. That doesn’t daunt Regling’s salesmanship. “I think the EFSF can offer a good product that is commercially interesting,” he says, adding that the bonds are guaranteed by the 17 euro zone member states. If those 17 governments are so creditworthy, the Chinese might wonder, why come cap in hand to them?
But China’s Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao didn’t dash Regling’s hopes though he didn’t exactly bubble over with enthusiasm. Zhu welcomed the Brussels consensus in tones that were both patronising and lecturing. “Europe needs to listen to opinions in designing the instrument, and it will take some time for a technical framework to form.” China is playing hard to get.
According to a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Beijing is willing to make joint efforts with the international community to stabilise the global financial market and expand cooperation with Europe in the investment, trade, finance and technology sectors. According to another report, China would prefer to buy European factories and railways instead of wobbly government bonds. The commerce minister has promised to send a delegation to Europe next year. “Traditionally, Chinese involvement in overseas infrastructure projects has been as a contractor only. Now, Chinese investors also see a need to invest in, develop and operate projects.” That could be the beginning of the takeover Europe hopes for.
But China is also anxious to project a humane image in keeping with its superpower-in-waiting image. Hence the agreement with UNIDO, the UN’s industrial-development organisation, to invest $3 billion in Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace. Hence also the reported pledge of $1 billion for the Nalanda project that Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun made to Amartya Sen, leader of a delegation of the Nalanda University Mentor Group, in October. According to Chinese reports, the “two sides exchanged opinions on the rebuilding of Nalanda University and China-India cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation… Nalanda University was known in ancient times as Nalanda Temple where Monk Xuanzang of Tang dynasty fetched Buddhist scriptures.”
But such gestures don’t stand alone. They must be assessed in the context of the whole. Australia’s Gareth Evans, international crusader for human rights who threatened to cancel a trip to China unless he was allowed to visit Tibet, once told an interviewer, “What they (the Chinese) need to appreciate is that the Dalai Lama is the best thing they are ever likely to have going for them, in terms of someone that is not arguing for independence, is only arguing for cultural autonomy, is capable of carrying the Tibetan people with him both inside and outside the country.” Today, Evans, who will address the first-ever Australia-India Institute conference in Kolkata on Monday, could add that with the Dalai Lama getting on in years, and with little prospect of a credible and uncontested reincarnation, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee, the 17th Karmapa Lama, is the world’s best bet. (Business Standard)
Bangalore colleges to raise funds of Sikkim quake victims
Bangalore, Dec 6: The college choir of St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science is organising ‘Humanitas 2011’ this Christmas in association with Mount Carmel College. The festival is an effort to raise funds for the less fortunate during Christmas and also raise money for earthquake victims of Sikkim.
Touted as one of the biggest Christmas festivals among the colleges in the city ‘Humanitas 2011’ will be held on December 18 at 5 pm at Mount Carmel College Auditorium.
Christmas musicals and plays that depict the birth of Christ are an integral part of Christmas celebrations in most colleges across the city. A crib and the Christmas tree is decked up in the first week of December which stays on till the new year.
SIBLAC pays tribute to Dev Anand
Gangtok, Dec 6: The Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) has expressed its deep sense of “sadness” on the passing away of the “legendary Bollyhood mystic, the ever Romantic Dev Anand.”
A condolence meeting was held here while the members attending the same stood for two minutes in silence as a mark of respect to the departed soul, who was instrumental in projecting Sikkim to the outside world with his movie ‘Jewel Thief’ in 1963, according to a press release by SIBLAC General Secretary Pem Tshering Lepcha.
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