SIKKIM OBSERVER         Feb 25, 2012

Sikkimese youths to fight for rights of ‘Sikkim Subjects’

Observer News Service

Gangtok, Feb 24: The ‘Sikkim Subjects’ issue is back on the political agenda in the State.

It is not political parties nor politicians that has brought back this issue in the public domain. It is the Sikkimese youths under the leadership of Nawin Kiran Pradhan which has, though reluctantly, reopened the chapter on the controversial issue of ‘Sikkim Subjects.’

The initiative came from Pradhan and his colleagues in the All Sikkim Educated Self Employed and Unemployed Association (ASESE&UA) during a press conference held here on Monday.

Pradhan, who is the President of the Association, said the organization has pledged itself to the Sikkimese people to do justice to it and fight for the rights and interests of the ‘Sikkim Subjects’ who became Indian citizens when the former kingdom was incorporated in the Indian Union in 1975.

Pradhan said the Constitution as well as the Supreme Court have protected the special status of Sikkim and the Sikkimese people and he intends to go ahead to restore the democratic and constitutional rights of the Sikkimese people.

Pradhan said non-Sikkimese have encroached upon the rights of the Sikkimese in the past several decades and urged the concerned authorities to give top priority to these issues.

Several political parties in the State had earlier raised several contentious issues related to ‘Sikkim Subjects’ but failed to take the matter to its logical conclusion. “They are involved vote-bank politics and are not concerned about the interest of the Sikkimese people,” said an observer.

Hills optimism after PM-Mamata meet

Darjeeling, Feb 24: With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee setting the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) ball in motion in Delhi, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) heaved a sigh of relief. A GJM team led by GJM President Bimal Gurung will be departing for Delhi in a day or two to hold talks with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Banerjee on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him of the delay in the formation of the GTA (an autonomous administrative mechanism for the Darjeeling Hills) which according to her would lead to "further confusion," The Hindustan Times reported.

Following the meeting with the PM, Banerjee held a press conference in Delhi in which she stated "I told the Prime Minister that seven months have passed since the signing of the GTA Memorandum of Agreement and that the state government has completed its part. There is unnecessary delay by the centre in sending the GTA Bill (which has been passed by the West Bengal Assembly,) for the President’s assent. Darjeeling is peaceful. Further delay will cause confusion. The Prime Minister has assured me that in the next two days the Centre will clear the pending processes."

The GTA Bill at present in under inter-ministerial consultation. "We welcome the initiative taken by the chief minister and the assurances of the Prime Minister. This has been long overdue. Finally the Government has set itself a deadline. We expect the CM to bring some good tidings during her visit to Darjeeling" remarked Harka Bahadur Chettri, GJM Spokesperson, the report said.

The CM is slated to visit the Hills on February 29. Mamata is likely to declare the tentative date for GTA elections in Darjeeling feel political observers. Both the Chief Minister and the GJM would like to witness an early GTA. While an early GTA- projected as a solution to the Gorkha impasse would definitely seal Mamata's claim to a speedy resolution of this complex issue.

Gurung along with General Secretary Roshan Giri and Chettri will be camping in Delhi for the next few days. "We will be meeting Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on February 27 or 28^th," stated Giri.

Provide LPGs in border areas: Lok Sabha MP

Gangtok, Feb 24: While urging the Indian Oil Corporation Limited authorities to give top priority to providing LPG connections in border areas of North Sikkim, Sikkim’s lone Lok Sabha MP PD Rai has urged all commercial and industrial units in the State to use to use 19 Kg commercial LPG instead of using the normal LPG cylinders.

Rai’s appeal is in response to a high-level delegation of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) led by Chief Manager (Operations), Siliguri, which called on him earlier this week.

 The delegation informed Rai that the production of the Indane Gas at Bagey Khola has been made to 300 MT as compared to 100 MT in the previous year. The IOCL has plans to appoint dealers in remote places in the State such as Chungthang, Mangshila, Phensong, Dentam and Soreong in north and west districts.

Rai urged IOC to accord top priority to release immediately the pending requisition of LPG connections under ICDS Centres (Aaganwadi Project) and Border Area Development Programme in North Sikkim, which are pending for quite some time.

The delegation also brought to the notice that most of the commercial and industrial units in Sikkim are still not using 19 Kg commercial cylinders in their hotels and projects, which is mandatory as per norms.

The proposal of IOCL to bring LPG bulk in bigger bullet to Mazitar Plant has been appreciated by Rai and assured that he will be take up the issue with the concerned department.

 Rai urged all commercial and industrial units in the State to strictly use 19 Kg commercial LPG for their projects, which are available at any point of time from any distributors of IOCL in Sikkim.

These units should discourage bringing these cylinders from outside the State, Rai said.

Tashiding hydel project: profit over people

By Tseten Tashi Bhutia

Gangtok, Feb 24: The hills of Yuksam and Tashiding in West Sikkim are alive with the sounds of villagers voicing their protest against the upcoming 97 MW Tashiding Hydro Electric Project (HEP). The Protest Rally organised by Platform For Joint Action Against 99MW Ting-Ting, 97MW Tashiding and 96MW Lethang HEPs, which saw the participation of people from all over Sikkim on February 13,  2012 in Gyalshing, headquarters of West District, has provided the much-needed moral support to the villagers of project area in West Sikkim.

The upcoming 97MW Tashiding Hydro-Electric Project, being constructed by M/s Shiga Energy Pvt. Ltd, will damage surrounding mountain resources and affect livelihoods of hundred of villages. Environmentalists believe that this run-of-the- river scheme that divert Rathongchu river through mountain tunnels in Tashiding are damaging the fragile geology in an area that has already experienced the wrath of severe earthquake on September 18 last year.

Even though the High Powered Committee appointed by the State Government to examine the issues of 99MWTing-Ting, 97MW Tashiding and 96MW Lethang HEPs is yet to submit its report on 97MW Tashiding HEP the Government has already abandoned two projects viz. 99MW Ting-Ting and 96MW Lethang HEPs.

 The M/s Shiga Energy Pvt. Ltd is hell bent on implementing the 97MW Tashiding project. Its tunneling activities have endangered the lives of local residents of the area. There is a widespread apprehension about the way the company is  using explosives to blast the fragile mountains.  M/s Shiga Energy Pvt. Ltd  seems to be concerned only with the investment it has already made on 97MW Tashiding HEP.

The vested interest group of M/s Shiga Energy Pvt.Ltd, while seeing the mounting people’s protest against their Tashiding HEP, is using another means to achieve its end. Its drive for profit has put the morality and ethics at back seat.  At the behest of such vested interest group of M/s Shiga Energy Pvt.Ltd some so-called ‘local’ workers engaged in the Tashiding HEP have come out strongly in support of the Tashiding HEP saying that abandoning the project would render them jobless. M/s Shiga Energy Pvt. Ltd. should stop misguiding our innocent workers there at its site.

The so-called workers of M/s Shiga Engergy Pvt Ltd must take note of the fact that the Sikkimese people have joined this movement being spearheaded by Platform for Joint Actions spontaneously because they have learnt from their experiences of September 18 Earthquake.  The Teesta Urja’s Project at Chungthang in North Sikkim has already taught them a lesson. Now it is known to everyone in Sikkim that because of the deep tunneling work undertaken by Teesta Urja in the fragile and tectonically active rock of the Chungthang region killed so many people in North Sikkim when earthquake took place.   

   The Sikkimese people do not want to witness a Chungthang being repeated at Gyalshing-Tashiding and Yuksam area when the next quakes rattle their fragile mountains. The lives of people are more important than the jobs of few hundred people being engaged by M/s Shiga Energy Pvt.Ltd. The Platform for Joint Actions shall not sacrifice its movement intended to save the lives of generation-next Sikkimese simply because it will cost the jobs of few people! (Tseten Tashi Bhutia is Convenor, Platform for Joint Actions)

 Editorial

“BLACK MONEY”

India Largest Depositors in Swiss Banks

It is now fairly clear that Indians are the largest depositors in banks abroad. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has upheld what WikiLeaks said before on this issue. According to the CBI Director AP Singh an estimated $500 billion (nearly Rs 24.5 lakh crore) of illegal money has been stashed by Indian in tax havens. Singh also revealed that the “largest depositors in Swiss Banks are also reported to be Indians.” The CBI Director made this statement during the inaugural function of first interpol global programme on anti-corruption and asset recovery. Singh said that lack of political will in the leading tax haven states to part with the information because they are aware of the extent to which their economies have become "geared to this flow of illegal capitals from the poorer countries."

Around this time last year, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said there was more Indian money in Swiss banks than any other nationality, sparking off renewed demands from the Opposition for disclosure of the names of account holders and bringing back black money. Assange disclosed that he was being offered a swap deal for handing over the details of Swiss banks and their secret account holders list. He revealed this when asked when the information will come out as people across India have been waiting to know. As yet the ‘Black Money’ issue raised by the BJP and religious leaders in India is yet to become a major political agenda of the Opposition.

‘SIKKIM SUBJECTS’

The Numbers Game Is Almost Over

Bonafide Sikkimese, who were referred to as ‘Sikkim Subjects’ during the pre-merger era in Sikkim, feel let down by the political leadership in the State, whose main preoccupation in the past three and half decades seems to be to remain in power at whatever the cost. Politicians who raise touchy issues that concern ‘Sikkim Subjects’ have their ulterior motive; they do not have the interest of bonafide Sikkimese at heart. Thirty two years have gone by since the reserved seats of the Sikkimese Nepalese in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly were illegally and undemocratically abolished.

No one raises the seat reservation issue anymore: while the majority community’s leadership feels that the Nepalese will be in the majority for all times to come and, therefore, reservation is unnecessary, the leaders of the minority Bhutia-Lepchas will not raise the issue for fear of being misunderstood and victimized. Nepal is a clear example of which way the winds are blowing. The ethnic Nepalese in Nepal are already outnumbered by the politically and economically more powerful madhesis. And yet the Sikkimese Nepalese leadership in Sikkim has not learnt its lesson. If future generations of Sikkimese do not wish to become refugees in their own homeland it is time to wake up and do something before it is too late.

SIKKIM People & Places

SIKKIM: In the lap of nature

V GUHAN

Who says rain plays spoilsport? At least, not in the hills. I am wiped out after an arduous journey of 16 hours.

I am in Sikkim, the darling child of Mother Nature. The place is Pemayangste, a nondescript forested village near Pelling, a beautiful spot in the state. My hotel overlooks the Sangalila range. Kangchenjunga can be seen at the farthest. In moments, a fine drizzle begins to veil the hills and the entire surroundings.  Heaven’s sprinkle has acted like a wiper:  the entire snow-capped mountain range  can be viewed in all its glory. The rain has pulled the curtain over the hills, which until then were cloaked in mist.

Outside the hotel, a short path leads to an arch, beckoning one toward the Pemayangste Monastery, which means the ‘Perfect Sublime Lotus’. It is one of the celebrated, oldest and most important monasteries of Nyingmapa Order of Buddhism in Sikkim. Built in the 17th century at an altitude of 2085 m, this Gompa is encircled by the haunting beauty of Kangchenjunga and its retinue of peaks.

A chamber with a big and colourful prayer wheel is tucked away in a corner.  The complex teems with yellow flags. It is a three-storeyed structure wherein the main hall has aesthetically painted doors and windows depicting Tibetan designs. The walls are adorned with traditional frescoes depicting tantric Buddhist themes. The main statue of Padmasambhava is seen in a dreadful form with multiple heads and arms. The monastery’s main attraction is the wooden replica of Zangdok Palri, the celestial abode of Padmasambhava. Intricately sculpted by a single monk, it is said to have taken five years  to complete.

A brisk half hour walk just below the monastery leads to a palace, now in ruins. Commendably maintained and preserved by ASI, with encouraging signages on the winding track (prodding the fatigued visitor to move on)and manicured lawns around the ruins, this site takes the pride of place in the history of Sikkim. Rabdentse, acknowledged as the second capital of Sikkim (after Yuksom), was abandoned at the end of 18th century due to the incursion of Nepalese armies and was shifted to Tumlong.

With the passing of time, Rabdentse was desolated and the ravages of time have turned the royal capital into ruins. The chortens around the palace have, however, stood the test of time.

On the following day, I resorted to the usual sightseeing. I had a look at the Singshore Bridge, an engineering marvel which spans across a deep gorge, connecting two hills. A visit was also paid to Khecheopalri Lake, one that is revered by Hindus and Buddhists for its magical healing powers. And of course, I experienced the symbiotic effect of light and sound at the Kanchenjunga Falls, where the water cascades down snowy peaks. (Deccan Herald)