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HIMALAYAN GUARDIAN      PAGE 1   Sept 12, 2012

Sikkim varsity VC to attend Asian economic meet

Gangtok, Sept 11: The founding Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University, Prof Mahendra P Lama who also served as a member of the prestigious National Security Advisory Board of Government of India has been invited to represent India at the Inaugural Session of the 5th South Asian Economic Summit to be held from 10-13 September 2012 in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan.

This coveted annual Summit hosted in the pattern of World Economic Forum, is organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute, a widely acclaimed think-tank of Pakistan in collaboration with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and various United Nations Agencies.

The overarching theme of the Summit is “Making Growth Inclusive and Sustainable in South Asia”. The 3-day event will focus on framing observations and recommendations for the 18th SAARC Meeting of Prime Ministers to be held in Nepal. The Summit will involve politicians and civil-servants from member countries alongside professionals, experts, academics, business leaders already involved in Track-I / Track-II level of South Asian development agenda. There will be representations from all the 8 South Asian countries and also from many countries abroad.

Bhutan PM gets KISS award

Thimphu, Sept 11: Bhutan Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley received this year’s KISS Humanitarian Award 2012 at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) campus in Bhubaneswar. Thinley received the prestigious award at a ceremony held in KISS premises on Saturday.

Silvia Escobar Moreno, Special Ambassador for Human Rights Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Member of the Board of Helsinki Espana, Spain, Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Minister of Education, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and Anne F. Stenhammer, Representative and Regional Programme Director, UN Women, South Asia Sub-regional Office also graced the occasion.

Ten million travellers to Tibet  

Lhasa, Sept 11: Tourist arrivals to Tibet are anticipated to exceed ten million this year, according to Tibet Tourism Bureau Communist Party committee leader Yu Yungui.

Yungui said more than seven million tourists journeyed through Tibet between January and August; representing a 25 percent year-on-year increase, Xinhuanet news reported.

Themed cultural and activities, festivals and events attributed to the increase in visitor numbers. Large-scale advertising also aided in attracting tourists to Tibet, according to  Yungui.

These tourists are expected to deliver 12 billion yuan (US $1.89 billion) in revenue and boost the region’s gross domestic product by 17 percent, Yungui said.

According to government figures, Tibetan tourism employs 300,000 residents. Authorities are planning to welcome 15 million tourists annually by 2015.                                               

 Tibetan flag hoisted in eastern Tibet

 Dharamsala, Sept 11: In growing expressions of defiance against China’s rule, protesters have pulled down a Chinese flag and raised the Tibetan national flag at a school in eastern Tibet.

Leaflets calling for Tibet’s freedom, written in red ink, were also scattered around the flagpole.

According to exiled Tibetans with contacts in the region, the Chinese flag at a school in Dzachukha Wonpo region of Kardze in eastern Tibet was pulled down at around midnight on Friday. Instead, the ‘banned in Tibet’ Tibetan national flag was hoisted, phayul.com reported.

The same sources also confirmed that many leaflets carrying the words ‘Freedom for Tibet’ written in red ink were scattered on the school grounds.

Local Chinese government officials arrived at the school on Saturday and removed the Tibetan flag and the leaflets. Although no arrests have been made so far, officials have vowed to investigate the incident, the report said.

In the same region, earlier this year in February, Tibetans pulled down a Chinese flag at a flag raising ceremony.

A few days later, coinciding with the call for a global solidarity vigil for Tibet on February 8, Tibetans in Akhori town of Gyalrong in Amdo Ngaba region, pulled down all Chinese flags from government offices and hospitals in the town.

Earlier this month, despite heavy restrictions over the possession of portraits of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Tibet by the Chinese government, Tibetans in Bathang region paraded large pictures of the exiled spiritual leader.

Defying Chinese orders, Tibetans taking part in the enthronement ceremony of Trulku Tenzin Nyima, a reincarnate lama, at the Changkar Monastery were seen carrying large portraits of the Dalai Lama on their motorbikes.

Around 10,000 Tibetans had taken part in the ceremony on September 1.

Tibetans have been tortured and jailed for up to six years in prison over the possession of the Dalai Lama’s pictures and Tibetan national flags.

Editorial

SLOW & STEADY

Burma Is Opening Up

Myanmar government last month said it was abolishing the harsh practice of directly censoring the country's media, the most dramatic move yet toward allowing freedom of expression in the long-repressed nation. Under the new rules, journalists will no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication as they for almost half a century. However, the government still has the right to crack down on journalists and even close publications deemed a threat to national security.

Burmese President Thein Sein's recent major reshuffle in his cabinet is aimed at ensuring greater and speedier reforms in Burma. Significantly, Kyaw Hsan, former information minister, widely seen as a hard-liner, has been replaced by Aung Kyi, former labour and social welfare minister, who has been acting as a liaison between the government and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the latest cabinet reshuffle.

Opposition leader Suu Kyi’s visit to US this month to receive Washington’s highest honour coincides with the likely homecoming of the legendary former general Kyaw Zaw are strong indications that Burma is finally opening up to the world and embracing its former rebels and comrades. These developments will surely be welcomed by Burma’s neighbours, particularly India and Thailand, which stand to gain in all respect. Though ruled by the military junta for nearly half a century Burma is steadily pursuing the path of freedom and democracy.

Sikkim Hermonites to felicitate Hermonite Justice Altamas Kabir

Gangtok, Sept 11: A delegation of alumni of Mt. Hermon School, Darjeeling, will pay a visit to Delhi next month to felicitate senior Supreme Court Judge Justice Altamas Kabir when he becomes the Chief Justice of India (CJI) on September 29.

CJI SH Kapadia, who retires on September 29, has recommended Kabir for the top post of the country’s judiciary.

Kabir (64) studied at Mt. Hermon School and Calcutta Boys School. Both the schools are run by the Methodist Church of India.

Kabir began his legal career as a lawyer in the Calcutta High Court in 1973 and was appointed as a permanent judge of the same court in 1990.

He is the nephew of late union minister Humayun Kabir, who served with Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

Delhi and Sikkim Hermonites will felicitate Kabir in New Delhi after he assumes office, senior lawyer and alumnus of Mt. Hermon Udai P. Sharma said.

Kabir is also expected to be the Chief Guest during the annual Speech Day function of Mt. Hermon School, which falls on November 24.

Alumni of Mt. Hermon, who are known as Hermonites, will come from various parts of the country for the Speech Day. “A grand reunion of the Hermonites is being planned for the special occasion in Darjeeling in November,” Hermonite Uttam Pradhan, Vice-President of Sikkim Hermonites Association, said.

Telangana statehood demand keeps ‘Gorkhaland’ dream alive

Kolkata, Sept 11:  The BJP’s promise to create a separate Telangana within three months of getting elected has fuelled the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s aspiration of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

In a closed-door meeting of the party held in Darjeeling last Thursday, all the leaders resolved “to fight for the separate state”, terming the newly formed Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) as the “first step in achieving Gorkhaland”.

The GJM leaders are of the opinion that if the BJP comes to power after the next general election due for 2014 and Telangana is carved out of Andhra Pradesh as promised, then they would pressurise the Central government for Gorkhaland in return for the support of the people of the Hills.

It is to be noted that BJP leader Jaswant Singh is an MP from Darjeeling, who won after getting the backing from the GJM in the 2009 polls.

Meanwhile, state BJP president Rahul Sinha said his party has always been in favour of Gorkhaland.

“Our party always supports formation of small states. We support the cause of Telangana. We also support the cause of Gorkhaland as people of the Hills have been neglected for decades,” Sinha said.

Decision to promote 150 officials is ‘historic’, says Chief Secy

     Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso addressing a function in Gangtok recently.

Gangtok, Sept 11: The State Civil Service Association has expressed its gratitude to Chief Minister Pawan Chamling for the cadre review of the State Civil Service undertaken by the State Government and the promotions of the officers under the State Civil Service.

The decision to promote one hundred and fifty officials is ‘historic’, Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso said. He said such an act reflected the Chief Minister’s commitment for the welfare of the people in the State.

The Chief Secretary also extended his thanks to the Chief Minister on behalf of all civil servants and said that they are extremely grateful to him and assured him of all support for fulfillment of the aims, policies and programmes of the government.

While addressing the officials, the Chief Minister congratulated the officers and said that the government is the policy making authority and the bureaucracy is the implementing authority of policies adopted by the government and hence coordination between these two is very important for the welfare of the people and the State.