SIKKIM OBSERVER         June 23, 2012

No walkover for Cong as BJP backs Sangma in Prez polls

Sangma ‘tallest leader’ of Northeast: BJP

New Delhi, June 22: The Bhartiya Janta Party has decided to support PA Sangma for the post of President. The Akali Dal is with BJP in backing him. BJP said, as the main Opposition party, it was its duty not to allow a “walkover” for Congress.

Reconciling with division within NDA over Presidential poll, BJP admitted that it failed to persuade allies like Shiv Sena and JD-U to support Sangma.

Announcing the decision at a press conference, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley said the main opposition party could not support a government which is using “various manoeuvres”, including investigative agencies, to rope in parties to stay in power.

“BJP has decided to support the candidature” of Sangma, whose candidature has been proposed by AIADMK and BJD, Swaraj said.

Describing  Sangma as “the country’s tall leader” as also north-east’s “tallest leader”, she appealed to allies like Shiv Sena and JD-U to give up their opposition to his candidature.

To press her point, she noted that Shiv Sena had earlier also voted for UPA nominee Pratibha Patil during the last Presidential poll even though NDA had opposed her candidature but still remained part of the alliance.

 Swaraj and Jaitley said BJP was trying to bring Trinamool Congress on board but refused to reveal how it was being done.

Dalai Lama, Suu Kyi meet in London for the first time

I have real admiration for your courage, the Tibetan spiritual leader tells Suu Kyi

London, June 21: Aung San Suu Kyi had a private conversation with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday in London, in which he told her, “I have real admiration for your courage. I am very happy we’ve been able to meet.”

It was the first time the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates had met, mizzima news reported.

In a conversation that lasted about 30 minutes, His Holiness told her that just as her late father had shown great dedication, he was confident that she too would be of great service to humanity, and he wished her every success in fulfilling her life’s goals, according to a statement on his office website.

The Dalai Lama also said he looked forward to meeting her again. Other details of the meeting have not yet been made public.

The Dalai Lama has often in the past campaigned for Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest along with other fellow Nobel laureates.

Soon after Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest in late 2010, the Tibetan spiritual leader, in a statement, welcomed her release.

“I welcome the release of fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and extend my appreciation to the military regime in Burma. I extend my full support and solidarity to the movement for democracy in Burma and take this opportunity to appeal to freedom-loving people all over the world to support such non-violent movements,” the Dalai Lama said.

The Dalai Lama is currently on a 15-day tour of England, Scotland and Italy.

Lachen dzumsa wins, Teesta hydel project likely to be scrapped

Govt opts for micro hydel projects

Gangtok, June 22: After deciding to scrap four hydro power projects in Lachen-Lachung in North Sikkim the State Government has cleared six micro hydel projects in the State.

The total cost of these projects are placed at Rs. 19 crore, according to Power Secretary AK Giri. While 70 per cent of the cost will be borne by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, the North East Council (NEC) will provide Rs 5 crore while the State Government is expected to pitch in Rs 4 crore.

While six micro hydro-electric projects have already been cleared seven other such projects are likely to get the nod soon. The proposed hydel projects are expected to generate 1045 kw power.

Faced with growing opposition the State Government recently decided to scrap four hydel projects on tributaries of the Teesta river in North Sikkim. The hydel projects scrapped were the 99-MW Bop hydro- electric project (HEP), 99-MW Bhimkyong HEP and the 99-MW Lachung HEP on the Lachung Chu and the 280-MW Teesta Stage-I HEP at Lachen.

The decision was officially endorsed by the cabinet at its May 10 sitting, Secretary of Power and Energy Department AK Giri said, PTI reported. The four projects have been consistently opposed by the people of Lachen and Lachung especially after the September 18 earthquake. They have not allowed project survey and investigation in the area as a result of which even the Detailed Project Reports have not been prepared yet. The State Government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the Teesta Stage-I with Polyplex Corporation India Private Limited in 2005 and with Himalayan Green Energy Pvt Ltd (which is also co-developer of Polyplex Corporation India Pvt Ltd) for the remaining three HEPs in 2008.

Giri also confirmed that the project developers have not been able to prepare the DPRs for any of the projects due to the opposition of the people and their dzumsa (the traditional assembly of the people).

High Court turns down interim stay order on Tashiding hydel project

Gangtok, June 22: The division bench of the High Court of Sikkim comprising Chief Justice Permod Kohli and Justice SP Wangdi heard the petition relating to the demand for scrapping of the 97MW hydroelectric project in Tashiding in West Sikkim on Wednesday.

The court took up hearing of the case after it was transferred to the High Court by the Supreme Court recently. When the apex court took up the matter early last month the two-judge bench of the court comprising Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice Surendra Singh Nizzar said as issues raised in the petition filed by Tenzing Bhutia and others were of “local in nature” it should be placed before the High Court and treated as writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution.

As one of the respondents failed to appear before the court the next date of hearing was fixed for July 24. The petitioners pleaded for interim stay on construction at the project site. Sonam Lama had filed a petition seeking interim order to stop the ongoing construction work at the project site in west Sikkim.

The petition has the support of Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC) and Platform for Joint Action Against Hydropower Projects. The petitioners have alleged that the project will cause huge damage to Sikkim’s natural and cultural heritage. A large number of monks and anti-project activists were present in the court during the hearing of the case.

Surprisingly, the court did not tie up the two matters regarding Tashiding hydel project and the alleged Rs 20,000 scam in the Teesta hydel project in North Sikkim.

Earlier, SIBLAC chief Tseten Tashi Bhutia and eight social organizations urged the court to take suo moto cognizance of the reported scam on the Teesta hydel projects in North Sikkim in “larger public interest.”

The High Court had earlier indicated that the matter be tied up with the transferred petition. However, during the hearing of the Tashiding hydel project case here on Wednesday the court said the two issues should be treated separately as matters raised were different.

Significantly, the Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) held a protest sit-in in the capital at the east district collectorate premises on Wednesday.

The anti-mega dam activists reiterated their demand for scrapping of several hydel projects on the Teesta in North Sikkim. The protest marked the fifth anniversary of anti-hydel projects agitation in the Lepcha reserve of Dzongu in North Sikkim.

Editorial

PREZ POLLS

Much Ado About Nothing

Everyone knows and India often boasts of being the world’s largest democracy. Only its citizens know how and why this democracy functions. In the name of democracy it is the elite which rules India and wants the system to continue. For a number of years we have been living under a lame duck Prime Minister. And now the most prominent and the most experienced and perhaps the most influential politician in the UPA has been “kicked upstairs.” Perceptive observers know that Pranab Mukherjee has been gracefully eased out to make room for Rahul Gandhi as the UPA’s prime ministerial candidate in the next general elections slated for 2014 and yet nobody, including Opposition leaders, fail to highlight this issue and instead praise Mukherjee for his towering “stature.”  The role of the President in India is basically ceremonial and yet the country this week was forced to witness a high pitched drama in choosing the next President.

While the UPA stubbornly backed its finance minister for the top post it failed to garner support from its own allies. In the process regional leaders such as Samajwadi Party’s leader  Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is being wooed by the UPA, stands exposed and although Mamata Banerjee lost in the game politicians play she has proved that she can be trusted and relied upon. By backing a tribal candidate in Purno Sangma the NDA has scored brownie points but being the main Opposition party at the Centre the BJP was expected to do much better than sighing helplessly and complaining that the Congress failed to consult its leadership on a consensus candidate for Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Most political parties view the present politicking over the presidential polls as a warm-up session for the ensuing general elections. The next Parliament is expected to produce a more fragmented parliament with no clear winner and the Congress hopes that Mukherjee, a loyal Congressman, will play a key role in deciding which party forms the government at the Centre. However, whether Mukherjee would be more useful as a President or a member of the Cabinet is debatable. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, hailed as the architect of landmark economic reforms he introduced in 1991 when he was finance minister, has been widely criticized by business leaders and investors for weak leadership at a time when India is beset by slowing growth, dwindling foreign investment, and high inflation. India’s ruling Congress party was in turmoil on Thursday after two key allies signaled they had lost confidence in Singh, whose fragile coalition government has struggled to cope with mounting economic problems. If the prime-minister-in-waiting could become the next President it is also possible that the next President could also become the next Prime Minister. After all Mukherjee has wide acceptability across the political spectrum and ours is not only the world’s largest democracy but also the most flexible.

Letter to the Editor

The grandeur of Saga Dawa celebrations reduced to cheap bazaar affair

Sir,

Gangtok streets have completely lost the grandeur of Saga Dawa Chokor celebrations as we used to witness when we were students. The UDHD / GMC did not realise the significance of the day and Gangtok bazaar was dancing to the tunes of pops and fealty songs even on this auspicious  occasion.

Thanks to the Mani Lhakhangs of Tathangchen and Arithang as they organized the traditional celebrations though on a subdued note.

If one says it’s a transition of Sikkim from traditional-religious Buddhist set up to ‘modernity’ and development, then one is left answerless. Saga Dawa is an annual Sikkimese occasion to display the sacred Sutra and Tantra scriptures to the general devotees.

 Posterity will decide if marching onwards by neglecting one’s own tradition and ethos is correct or not. Sikkim Buddhist Dhuchen Organisation which used to organize this event with much grandeur in the Palace, must come forward with befitting response as to why it failed to organize the annual Saga Dawa Chokor procession or else it should be dissolved en-bloc for ever. Sadly, we already have lost the annual Pangtey Chham at Palace during Pang Lhabsol celebrations.

Chewang Pintso

Gangtok

Calcutta HC asks Centre, State and GJM to explain legality of GTA

Kolkata, June 22: Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre, the State Government and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) to file an affidavit in three weeks explaining legality of setting up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, an autonomous administrative body for development of the hills.

Justice Dipankar Dutta issued the ruling after Gorkha National Liberation Front chief Subash Ghising filed a writ petition before the court challenging the legality of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Act which was passed to form GTA, UNI reported.

Ghising's counsel Arunava Ghosh said the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Act 'is ultra vires of the Constitution.' The Act was passed in September to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Trinamool Congress-led government formed GTA by dissolving the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

'The entire area under the DGHC was supposed to come under the control of the municipalities and panchayats once the body was dissolved,' he said , 'and the government would have to amend the Constitution to set up another administrative body.' ' So, the act to set up such a body in the hills of Darjeeling without the amendment goes against the provision of the Constitution,' Ghosh said.

DGHC came into being after an agreement among Central government, West Bengal government and Gorkha National Liberation Front was signed at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on August 22, 1988 to end the violent agitation for a separate homeland in the hills of Darjeeling for Gorkhas.

Ghising was chief of the body till administrative body was dissolved to form GTA.

Ghishing's move is likely to add a new dimension to the GTA issue after the GJM, upset over a high-powered committee's report recommending only five additional areas to be included in the GTA, has threatened to renew agitation in the hills.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has urged the GJM leadership to abide by the panel report, is slated to meet them Saturday to resolve the issue.

Monsoon preparedness in south district

Namchi, June 22: South District Collector AK Singh last week urged various companied based in south district to help the government with their manpower and machinery during disasters in the rainy season.

This appeal came during a high-level meeting here last week. The meeting was attended by heads of various departments and companies established in the district, according to an IPR release.

The DC also asked BDOs and the officials of the concerned departments to furnish him with daily reports of any disaster which has occurred in the district.

Singh said no matter how small the incident of disaster it should be reported and not ignored so as to take remedial measures.

Tsewang by Gyaltsab Rinpoche at Rumtek on June 24

Gangtok, June 22: Rumtek monastery Regent His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche will confer long life empowerment (tsewang) in Rumtek on June 24.

The tsewang is being organized at the request of the Gyalwang Karmapa Jesdan Tsogpa of Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre, according to an official press release.

The long life empowerment is part of the ongoing recitation of one hundred million ‘Karmapa Khyenno’ mantra. The pujas are meant for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Holiness the Karmapa, Ogyen Trinlay Dorje, and for world pease, the release said.                                                                                                    

Gangtok Mayor asks shopkeepers not to panic

Gangtok, June 22: Gangtok Mayor KN Topgay wants the Urban Development and Housing Department to release allotment orders of shops at Kachandzonga shopping complex (Lal Bazaar) to lessen the panic among shopkeepers.

Addressing the constituency-level meeting of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front held here recently, Tobgay urged shopkeepers in the complex to wait for these orders and not to panic.

He said the Gangtok Municipal Corporation (GMC) will do its best to solve the problems faced by traders and hawkers in the capital.

The meeting which was held under the Chairmanship of KT Gyalsten, Speaker of the Assembly, also saw the participation of the party workers.

Gyalsten said for the past 18 years the SDF-led government has been working for the people of Sikkim bringing holistic developments under the leadership of the chief Minister Pawan Chamling.

“People should understand the vision of the chief Minister. Sikkim had not seen such a huge development in any tenure of the previous chief ministers” Gyalsten added.

The area MLA and HRD Minister, NK Pradhan, said that the Chief Minister has personally taken the interest in the shopping complex matter and has assured full cooperation to the traders and hawkers.

He also called the party workers to involve actively in giving publicity of the works carried out by the SDF party.

According to Deputy Mayor Shakti Singh, shopkeepers at the complex were very cooperative in settling their various problems.

Chinese trader detained, sent back for taking photographs

Gangtok, June 22: A Chinese trader was detained and sent to the Tibet Autonomous Region after she was found taking photographs of the Indian Army camps at Nathu La in Sikkim, The Hindu reported recently.

Bichen Chomu crossed the border on Tuesday morning and started taking photographs with her mobile phone. Personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) immediately detained her and seized the phone, said Mandeep Singh Tuli, Superintendent of Police, Sikkim East District. She was sent to the Chinese side in the afternoon according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the ITBP,  Tuli added.

Trade through Nathu La, located at an altitude of approximately 14,140 feet, resumed in July 2006 after 44 years.

Indian traders go so far as the trade mart at Renquinggang in the Tibet Autonomous Region, while Chinese traders visit Sherathang in East Sikkim.

PROFILE Altamar Kabir

“The judiciary is a strong pillar of democracy”

Justice Altamar Kabir, the next Chief Justice of India, is a Hermonite and studied in Mt. Hermon School, Darjeeling, and Calcutta Boys School. Under CJI Kapadia, Justice Kabir has emerged as the "social conscience" of the apex court and believes that court decisions have a crucial role to play in the enrichment of individual lives.

BY DAMAYANTI DATTA

Justice Altamas Kabir wears an amiable expression and listens to lawyers with such patience that it is impossible to tell which way his decisions might lean. He shares this trait with the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Sarosh Homi Kapadia, the man he is slated to succeed after September 28, 2012, when the CJI retires.

It's surprising how many lawyers miss the cue-as on December 8, 2011, when he stunned the court with a sharp warning to lawyer Prashant Bhushan against "reckless" remarks on corruption in the judiciary. He takes immense pride in the "new court" shaped by CJI Kapadia: "This judiciary has withstood pressure of all kinds. You may exclaim 'Oh! There is massive corruption'. But you will just weaken a strong pillar of democracy."

     On May 12, 2010, when CJI Kapadia took his oath, the nation celebrated his story: a Class IV employee who rose to be the chief justice, entitled to perks like a Lutyens' bungalow in Delhi. But Justice Kabir "arrived" even before starting out. He was born into an aristocratic Muslim family of landed gentry from Faridpur, now in Bangladesh, where titles of Khan Bahadur, social visibility, status, influence and elite education came as a matter of course.

He studied in the best of schools and colleges: Mount Hermon School in Darjeeling, Calcutta Boys School and Presidency College in Kolkata. He had enough role models on offer within the family. Politics would have been the easiest choice. In post-Independence Bengal, politics was in the firm clutches of the Kolkata elite, and the branch of the Kabir family that chose to stay in India after Partition lived in the limelight. His uncle, Humayun Kabir, had studied at Oxford and was a close associate of Congress president Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Humayun was the editor of Maulana's biography, India Wins Freedom, and translated it from Urdu to English. Scholar, writer, educationist and philosopher, he was a Union minister under Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri as well as Indira Gandhi. His father, Jehangir Kabir, was also influential in Bengal politics.

   Justice Kabir shares the same values as CJI Kapadia. If the catchword in Justice Kapadia's court is "integrity", in Justice Kabir's court it's "ethics". In a scam-ridden era, top judges of the apex court have captured public imagination by their passionate and even provocative defence of honesty in public life. But judicial hard knocks come wrapped in gentlemanly tones at two of the 15 courtrooms in the Supreme Court-in court 1 of the CJI and, next to it, in court 2 of Justice Kabir.

And it's the "simple" questions they ask that trigger long battles of nerves with the Government. As it did when CJI Kapadia questioned the legality of appointing P.J. Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) in November 2010: "We wonder whether he will be able to function as CVC with the tag of an accused on him." In October 2011, Justice Kabir similarly punctured Maharashtra government's decision to ban bardancing with his candid query: "If women can be models why can't they be bar dancers? Are there moral assumptions in the state's constitutional choices?"

Though he dines in dinner jackets with the Prime Minister on formal occasions, the first principle in his private life is "humility". He is most comfortable in khadi kurta-pyjama, say his friends. At a national seminar on transgenders in Delhi in February 2011, participants recall his visible embarrassment when the discussion gave way to hushed silence at his appearance.

In August 2011, lawyers say, it created quite a stir in Bangalore when word spread that the SC judge had put up with soiled linen, torn towels and reluctant service at the state-owned Kumara Krupa guesthouse without a murmur.

Justice Kabir began as "an outstanding lawyer on both civil and criminal sides". He became a permanent judge at the Calcutta High Court in 1990. And he proved himself to be "a very moderate judge with little ideological baggage". Kolkata remembers his intervention on behalf of Dr Jack Preger, the British doctor who devoted his life to free medical service, when the Foreigners' Registration Office denied him a visa in 1995. He became the CJ of Jharkhand High Court in 2005. The same year, at a relatively young age of 57, he was invited to join the Supreme Court.

Under CJI Kapadia, he has emerged as the "social conscience" of the court. "The Constitution affirms equality in all spheres but the moot question is whether it is being applied", is what he said at a panel discussion organised by the National Legal Services Authority in February 2011. His judicial philosophy is influenced by the 19th century theorist Friedrich Nietzsche's "aristocratic individualism", point out lawyers. It is premised on the idea that court decisions have a crucial role to play in the enrichment of individual lives.

His verdicts reflect his faith: proposing open courts for the mental health of prison inmates, fast-tracking problem solving lok adalats, framing a wider definition of domestic violence, upholding equal rights for transgenders, prohibiting the use of muscle men in recovering financial dues to issuing notice to enhance compensation for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy victims. In a judgment in 2008, he sent a husband to jail for driving his wife to suicide with taunts over her "dark complexion".

"He is the most compassionate judge of the court," say lawyers recalling his landmark cases: in 2007, he dismissed the plea that activist Medha Patkar was working for foreign powers; in 2008, he restrained the Narendra Modi government from arresting political analyst Ashis Nandy for an article ("If a journalist cannot write, who else will?"); in 2009 he famously said, "Once an arrow leaves a bow, we can't take it back", about the Gujarat government's hasty ban on expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh's book on Jinnah.

"I don't know a more down-to-earth and grounded family than them," says a family friend. That could be because this Sunni Muslim family has, for generations, bypassed orthodoxy in private life. Mixed marriages with Hindus, Christians and Buddhists have given this family a unique culture of sharing values. Humayun Kabir's wife, Shanti, a freedom fighter, belonged to the progressive, anti-caste Brahmo sect. Their children, Leila and Prabahan Kabir, are married to Christians. Jusice Kabir's wife Minna, a child rights activist, is a Mangalorean Christian.

The untimely death of his mother, Syeda Halima, taught Justice Kabir and his five siblings to be independent early on. They grew up in a rented house on Congress Exhibition Road in Kolkata. With their father often away on political work, they learnt to divide household chores and cope with everyday practicalities. The young Altamas's vast repertoire of songs, ranging from Harry Belafonte to Muhammad Rafi, kept everyone happy. As did the dishes he rustled up on a primitive chulha. This early experience developed into a lifetime passion for cooking, baked crabs and Anglo-Indian minced pie panteras being his signature dishes. He met his wife, Minna, in the 1970s after her family moved in as fellow tenants in the same building. Their children, Anamika, 34, and Deep Chaim, 26, both studied law. Anamika, a teacher, chose to work with children.

If every court reflects the personality of the presiding judge, Justice Kabir's court exudes courteousness and affability. He is a rare judge with a sense of humour, report lawyers. He allows lawyers to argue, listens attentively and asks detailed questions. In 1992, the Supreme Court set rigorous standards for judges: "He should be conscientious, studious, courteous, patient, punctual, impartial, fearless of public clamour, regardless of public praise, and indifferent to private, political or partisan influences." Justice Kabir comes closest to that definition. (India Today- January, 2012)