SIKKIM OBSERVER Aug 18, 2012

A Gurudwara being built at the vicinity of a sacred Buddhist site (a rock on which Guru Rinpoche stood in the 8^th century) at Chungthang, North Sikkim.

I-Day boost for students, CM announces awards

Gangtok, Aug 17:  Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling on Wednesday announced that students topping standard X and XII examinations in any stream would be awarded Rs 1.75 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively henceforth.

The highest scoring student would also be entitled to the chief minister’s merit scholarship scheme under which he would have opportunity to study in the top ten best universities and colleges in the world, Chamling said at the Paljor stadium on in his Independence day speech, PTI reported.

If the student was selected in admission tests then the state government would bear the entire expense of their study anywhere.

For sports enthusiasts, Chamling announced cash incentives of Rs 2 crore, Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh for winning gold, silver or bronze medals in any Olympics.

The state government would also honour the sports person with a gazette post, he said, adding that more sports academies for boxing, football and archery would be established in the state.

As part of social security measures, Chamling announced that a pension would be given to any unmarried woman above the age of 45 years henceforth.

He announced that the development of backward and remote villages for a totally developed state would be initiated soon. A total of 82 remote villages in all the four districts would be developed under the programme.

He also spoke about the September 11 earthquake and the damage it had done to the state and said that the state government would construct 7972 houses at a cost of 4 lakh each.

Tibetan Home Minister Dolma Gyari meets Chief Secy

Dolma Gyari

Gangtok, Aug 17: The Home Minister of the exiled Tibetan Government, Dolma Gyari, met Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso and raised several issues relating to welfare of Tibetan refugees residing in the State.

Gyari, former Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, said the meeting was “fruitful and positive”. Additional Chief Secretary R. Ongmu was also present during the meeting. The Tibetan leader also called on the Speaker KT Gyaltsen, Education Minister NK Pradhan and Power Minister Sonam Gyatso.

The shifting of the Tibetan community’s Thonmi Sambhota School, located in Gangtok, to somewhere else in the State featured high on the Tibetan leader’s agenda.

Gyari, who is the younger sister of Lodi Gyari, former Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, also met members of the Tibetan community in the State and their representatives.

Speaking to Sikkim Observer, Gyari said the Tibetans and their exiled government were grateful to the State Government and the people of Sikkim for all the help and kindness extended to the Tibetan refugees in the State.

Gyari also disclosed that the Dalai Lama is expected to visit the State in November this year for the opening of the Buddha Park in Rabong in South Sikkim.

Chinese army join I-Day celebrations at Nathu La

 

Gangtok, Aug 17:  Giving thrust to bilateral confidence building measures (CBMs) on the Sino-India border, a delegation of Chinese army on Wednesday joined their Indian counterparts in celebrating India's Independence day at the border post in Nathu La.

Led by Senior Colonel Wang Ji Ping, the Chinese delegation crossed over to the Indian border post at a height of 14,130 feet and participated in the ceremony in which flags of both the nations were hoisted and national anthems sung, PTI reported.

The ceremony was held close to the zero border on the Nathu La pass here. "This action is conducive to peace and tranquility and will maintain the trust between Chinese and Indian people," Chinese delegation leader Wang Ji Ping said.

The flag hosting ceremony was followed by an interaction between Indian and Chinese delegations. Several Chinese officers had also brought their family members and children along for the celebrations. The interaction, in which the camaraderie was clearly visible, went on for nearly two hours.

As the Indian side performed bhangra and sang folk songs to entertain the visitors, the Chinese too participated enthusiastically and danced along with the hosts. "The annual feature started after the confidence building measures which were put in place in 1993 after the treaty for border peace and tranquility," Brigadier Ravi Jhaldiyal, Commander 63 mountain brigade said. Jhaldiyal led the Indian delegation in welcoming Chinese officers and their families.

Baburam may go the Kazi way: NC youth leaders

Baburam Bhattarai  

Kathmandu, Aug 17: Youth leaders of Nepali Congress compares Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to Sikkim’s first chief minister Lhendup Dorje Kazi, who signed away his kingdom to a foreign power.

The Nepali Congress youth leaders made the parallel between Bhattarai and Dorje, who, according to the youth leaders, is regarded as Sikkim’s “last Prime Minister” at a program organized by Council of Independent Students’ Union here last Saturday, telegraphnepal.com reported.

NC youth leaders NP Saud, Gagan Thapa, Purna Gurung, Rishi Keshar Jung Shah and Nain Singh Mahara stressed the need to topple the present government through mass agitation.

Lhendup Dorje Kazi

“Baburam is a servant. He could become Lendhup. We need to be very careful of the ongoing conspiracy because what he has done since the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly is as per the orders (served by his masters),” said Saud.

Dorje “died an unsung death which is what he deserved,” the report said.

Immediately after the royal palace massacre Bhattarai in his write-up had alleged that the then Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala was the Nepali version of Lendhup Dorje, the newspaper said.

“There shouldn’t be any doubt that RAW, which had already found their Lendhup Dorje in Girija…with a goal of eventual Sikkimization of Nepal”, Bhattarai wrote.

Rural youths begin training at Rumtek Institute of Hotel Management

Institute of Hotel Management, Rumtek, East Sikkim

Gangtok, August 17: Eighty one youths from all over the State began their two-month-long training programme on food production for promotion of village tourism at the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) at Sajong, Rumtek in east Sikkim on Monday.

At the inaugural session of the course, R.Telang, Secretary Tourism and Civil Aviation, who was the chief guest, said tourism being the largest industry had a great scope for employment generation.

He said the State Government is focusing on rural tourism with emphasis on homestay, village tourism and allied activities. Telang said the IHM was well-equipped with all the essential tools for the training, including library and computer science lab.

J.T. Gyaltsen, Administrator and Principal of the Institute, in his address mentioned that with an aim to upgrade the skills on hospitality service, training will be imparted on food production, basics on food and beverages service, front office, housekeeping, personal hygiene, menu preparation etc.

The programme is being sponsored by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. The IHM runs a three-year and diploma courses in hotel management. The Institute is affiliated to the National Council for Hotel Management, which is under the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.

Ex-Chief Secy wants SC/ST Act on Darnal attack

Gangtok, Aug 17: Former Chief Secretary Sonam Wangdi said steps need to be taken under The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for the recent brutal attack on Congress leader Jang Bir Darnal, who hails from the scheduled caste community.

Wangdi, in an article published in a local daily, said an email message should have been sent to the Chief Information Commissioner seeking “detailed information within 48 hours about the two perpetrators of the heinous crime.” He said the attack was an attempt to “assassinate a member of the scheduled caste” in the State.

“The main leaders behind the two assailants on the spot shall have to be exposed to prevent recurrence of similar attacks,” the former chief secretary said.

Meanwhile, members of the All Sikkim Educated Self Employed & Unemployed Association, who visited Darnal at a local hospital in Namchi, South Sikkim, said the brutal attack on the Congress leader was “shocking.”

“We have already witnessed several attacks against vocal individuals, groups and also the media but every time the State Police have failed to nab the culprits for the reason best known to them,” the Association said in a press statement.

Delhi Police assurance on Sikkim scribe robbery

Gangtok, Aug 17: Delhi Police have assured the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) that it would probe into the robbery of Sikkim journalist Duk Nath Nepal in New Delhi recently.

This assurance came to IFWJ Secretary-General Parmanand Pandey, who took up the matter with Delhi Police on behalf of the Sikkim Federation of Working Journalists (SFWJ), which is affiliated to the national body, the IFWJ.

Pandey informed SFWJ President Jigme N. Kazi that he raised the issue with the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police recently. Pandey said he was hopeful that Delhi Police would act on the complaint, a press release by SFWJ General Secretary Khagendramani Pradhan said.

“However, if nothing happens in two-three days, we will decide further course of action,” Pandey, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said in his message to Kazi.

Nepal, Editor of Shangrila Times, a Gangtok-based Nepali daily, who was accompanied by Madhusudhan, were robbed of their cash and other belonging, including a laptop, at knife point by a group of unidentified miscreants near Anand Vihar in New Delhi. The total amount of loss is around Rs. 2 lakhs.

The victims approached the police and a case has been registered at the IP Estate police station. After robbing the victims, the assailants fled in their Innova car. The incident took place near the Delhi Police Headquarters.

Editorial

MASS EXODUS

Reaping The Whirlwind

Muslims leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi have threatened to wage a “third wave of radicalization” of Muslims in India. These threats are not made in street corners but in the Parliament even as the nationwide debate hots up on the recent ethnic riots in lower Assam bordering Bangladesh. The repercussions of the Assam tragedy spilled over to Mumbai and then Pune and as a precautionary measure thousands of northeastern people, including students, are leaving several southern cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. The mass exodus of the northeasterners from other states is bound to escalate even as radical Muslim leaders and Hindu fundamentalists are all set to fish in “the troubled waters of the Brahmaputra”. All chingki-looking people in the subcontinent such as the Nepalese, Sikkimese, Bhutanese and Tibetans and perhaps some foreigners who live all over the country will also feel threatened and insecure as they, too, look the same as the northeast people and are Mongoloids by race.

Those, including politicians, who do not understand and appreciate the complex multi-ethnic issues in the Northeast will certainly grope in darkness and add to the growing confusion and tension. The recent ethnic violence in Assam has its basis on the mass infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims into Assam over the years which has been unsuccessfully resisted by the locals. The anti-alien or anti-outsiders issue is not confined to Assam only. It is a big political and social issue all over the Northeast, where the locals are fighting a losing battle to preserve their distinct cultural and ethnic identity. If India and its leaders fail to preserve ‘unity in diversity’ there could be more problems for the country in the coming days. Political will is lacking in tackling issues that really concern the people. New Delhi must stop drugging the Northeast with money; it must recognize the root cause of ethnic tension and backwardness in the Northeast and tackle it head-on keeping the country’s security concerns in mind.