SIKKIM OBSERVER  Saturday   Feb 16-22,  2013   

Nepal Maoist leader compares Prachanda with Sikkim’s LD Kazi

     Portrait of Sikkim’s former chief minister Lhendup Dorje Kazi hangs above Nepal Prime Minister Babulal Bhattarai and      

     Prachanda

Kathmandu, Feb 15: If Vice Chairman C.P. Gajurel of Nepal Communist Party-Maoist is to be believed then his revered former party boss Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal  (Prachanda) of Unified Maoists is pushing the nation to precipice with the sole objective eventually to handover the sanctity of mother Nepal to India.

He equated Nepal’s Pushpa Kamal to Sikkim’s Lendhup Dorje Kazi, telegraphnepal.com reported.

Dorje, under similar circumstances presently prevailing in Nepal, had conspired against his own motherland to finally handover the country of his birth to “expansionist India,” the report said.

“In the manner similar to Lendhup Dorje of Sikkim, leaders of Unified Maoists Party are surrendering themselves to the mercy of foreigners eventually to handover the sanctity of their country.”

Gajurel made this tantalizing remark while talking to his party cadres in Rolpa on Sunday.

SKM takes ‘Parivartan’ battle to districts

DAS supports SKM, demands Akshay’s suspension

                 PS Golay at Sikkim Krantikari Morcha’s launch in Singling, West Sikkim, on February 4, 2013.

Gangtok, Feb 15: Unperturbed by the brutal police lathicharge on party supporters that injured many the newly-formed Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) leaders swung into action and took the battle for ‘Parivartan’ to the districts.

Party offices were set up in remote Dzongu in North Sikkim, Jorethang in South Sikkim and Rongli in East Sikkim this week. SKM was formed in Singling in West Sikkim last week on February 4 under the leadership of rebel ruling party MLA PS Golay.

SKM got support from opposition parties which staged a day-long dharna in front of east district collectorate here yesterday. Democratic Alliance of Sikkim (DAS), a recently-formed platform of the Opposition, demanded immediate suspension of IGP (Law and Order) Akshay Sachdeva, who allegedly motivated police personnel to make the lathicharge here at the SKM central headquarters on Monday.

DAS has urged the State Government, Governor BP Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee to ensure that people’s confidence in the rule of law and democratic values are restored in Sikkim.

During its public meeting held in Singtam, South Sikkim, on Sunday DAS leaders urged SKM to join them to accelerate the movement for change in Sikkim.

Addressing the meeting, former chief minister and Sikkim PCC chief NB Bhandari said all Opposition parties need to unite to oppose Chamling’s misrule and form the government.

Breather for old settlers in Sikkim, SC stays recovery of income tax dues

New Delhi, Feb 15: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the recovery of income tax dues from “old settlers of Indian origin” in Sikkim and sought the Union government’s response to a petition that challenged the collection of the central tax from them.

Last year, around 400 families in Sikkim refused to file income tax returns and demanded exemption that applies to those who have Sikkim Subject Certificates, The Telegraph reported.

The Chogyal had issued the Sikkim Subject Certificates (SSC) to people living in the state during 1961 under the Sikkim Subject Regulation Act of 1961. The 400 families, also known as “old settlers”, came to the State before 1975, when Sikkim merged with India, but they do not possess the certificates. The Centre had exempted SSC holders from paying income tax in 2008 after an amendment in the Finance Act by the Parliament based on the State’s request.

That year, Association of Old Settlers Of Sikkim filed a petition with a Rajya Sabha Committee saying it was discriminatory and violated Article 14 (equality before law) and 15 (prohibition against discrimination) of the Constitution.

Yesterday, senior counsel K.K. Venugopal and counsel Senthil Jagadeesan, who appeared for the Association of Old Settlers Of Sikkim, submitted that Clause 26 AAA of Section 10 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, was discriminatory and violated Articles 14 and 15 as 95 per cent of the State’s population that was exempted from paying tax “includes about 70 per cent people of Nepalese origin, and the entire exemption has come about to appease the electorate.” The remaining 5 per cent was to pay the taxes.

It was submitted that the demographic profile of Sikkim, according to the 2004 voters’ list, shows that Bhutia-Lepcha (STs) are about 20.64 per cent of the population, Nepalese constitute 69.71 per cent, Sherpas are 4.31 per cent and others make up 5.34 per cent (old settlers: 1.5 per cent and migrants: 3.84 per cent).

The petition said, discussions between Sikkim and the Union of India disclosed that SSC holders and those who became citizens in 1990-91 after the Sikkim Citizenship Amendment Order 1989 should be exempted for political reasons and to maintain ethnic peace in the state and SSC holders who had voted for the merger of Sikkim with India be rewarded by granting exemption.

“This is the reason for the differential classification whereby 95 per cent of the population in Sikkim is exempted from the Income Tax Act, 1961, while 5 per cent of the population including the old settlers of Indian origin are liable to be taxed,” a member of the association said.

Most old business community members in Gangtok have welcomed the apex court’s verdict. “We have been discriminated on the income tax issue. During the Chogyal era all Sikkimese, including the business community, came under the same tax law,” said A. Agarwal, a local businessman.

Dalai Lama to unveil Buddha statue in Sikkim next month

Gangtok, Feb 15: The Tibetan temporal head Dalai Lama will inaugurate a 135-feet tall statue of Buddha at Ravangla in south Sikkim on March 26.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama with former chief secretary TT Dorji at Mani Chokhor Ling Monastery at Buddha Park, in Ravangla, South Sikkim, on 19 December 2010.

 The Dalai Lame will also open a Buddha Park being built here.  Buddhist devotees from Southeast Asian countries have been flocking to Sikkim in recent years, after it has been added to the Buddhist tourist circuit.

Parts of the holy Buddha relics will be brought on this occasion from Southeast Asian countries, a state government official said.

Ravangla is a small tourist town in South Sikkim from where the mountain peaks of Kanchejunga, Pandim, Sinialchu and Kabru are clearly visible.

Ravangla has a sizeable Tibetan community, and the Ralang monastery of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism is located six km away from Ravangla.

The prayers for the Dzung ceremony will begin on February 21 at  a Ravangla monastery and the Dzung ceremony will be performed by His Eminence Goshir Gyaltshab Rinpoche on the final day at the Park on February 25.

Editorial

LEPCHA RIGHTS

Mamata Takes The Initiative

The West Bengal Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval for the formation of a separate Lepcha Development Board for the welfare of the Lepcha community in Darjeeling. Members of Lepcha community ended their indefinite hunger strike in Kalimpong on Tuesday after the State Government reportedly issued a notification for setting up of the Lepcha development council named as Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board. Lepcha agitators in Kalimpong on Tuesday withdrew their indefinite hunger strike when North Bengal Development Minister Gautam Deb arrived in the hill town with a message from Mamata Banerjee that the Lepcha Development Board would be made functional at the earliest.

Only last week, during her visit to the hills, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had, after a meeting with the representatives of Lepchas in Kalimpong, announced her decision to set up such a board. She had said that she would make another such body for the Buddhists of the hills. The formation of a Lepcha development body had been a long-standing demand of the Lepchas who have been reduced to an insignificant minority in their ancestral homeland. The Lepchas have no territorial demand and want the Board to be formed to preserve the community’s culture and work for its general uplift.

The Kalimpong-based Lepcha Rights Movement (LRM), which began an indefinite hunger strike in Kalimpong on February 7 with 45 supporters, want the Board to be under the State Government instead of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA). The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) views the move to form the Board and to keep it under the State Government as a bid to divide the hill people. The new body will "undertake all necessary activities for the protection, promotion and safeguard of Lepcha language and culture." The Board will be formed under the Backward Class Welfare Department of the State Government, which will also nominate its chairperson and vice-chairperson. The office of the Board will be located in Kalimpong, where most of the Lepchas in Darjeeling live