SIKKIM OBSERVER Saturday   April 6-12,  2013    

Dalai Lama hopeful for peace with China under Xi

Dharamshala, April 5: His Holiness the Dalai Lama said the newly-elected Chinese President Xi Jinping represents a positive change in China. He is hopeful of a new era of reconciliation and peace with Beijing and its new leadership.

This disclosure was made at Salugara in North Bengal recently where the Tibetan spiritual leader gave religious teachings, Tibet Post reported.

Replying to media queries after his three-day teachings, the Dalai Lama said he knew Xi’s father.

Stating that change will come to China, the Nobel Laureate added it would not come immediately but “it may happen soon.”

Speaking to members of the Tibetan community, His Holiness explained that it is now almost two years since he devolved his political responsibilities to the elected Tibetan leadership. Not only has he himself retired, but he has also brought an end to the involvement of the Dalai Lamas in the political affairs of Tibet, a role that began with the Fifth Dalai Lama nearly four hundred years ago.

Bongthings connected to worship of Sikkim’s Guardian Deities to be honoured

Gangtok, April 5: Two Lepcha Bongthings (priests) – one alive and the other who passed away in 2011 – will be felicitated by the Tsuklakhang Trust here on Sunday for their long services to the people of Sikkim. The two and their ancestors have been performing the annual Pang Lhabsol pujas to the Supreme Guardian Deities of Sikkim – Khangchendzonga and Yabdu – for a long time.

Late Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha and Ren Pem Tshering Lepcha’s ancestors have been performing the annual rituals for generations, according to the Trust.

Late Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha, who passed away on October 29, 2011, was the son of late Ren Yangkyok Lepcha and late Renyu Champi Lepcha from Nung, located in Tingvong village, Dzongu, North Sikkim. He was better known as Nung Taso or the Kongchen Bongthing. He belonged to an ancient lineage of powerful Lepcha shamans who are the sole keepers of the ritual knowledge of the sacred Kongchen ritual.

Ren Pem Tshering Lepcha’s ancestors have been responsible for performing rituals in honour of Yabdü, the guardian deity protecting Sikkim’s southern gate, for over two and half centuries. 
He is the son of late Ren Pembo Lepcha and late Angu Lepcha of Chegra Busty, located above Teesta Bazaar in West Bengal. He descends from a line of Bongthings spanning more than forty generations, the Trust said.

The felicitation is “in recognition of the selfless service and contribution made towards preserving the ageless tradition of the unique Sikkimese festival of Pang Lhabsol,” and also to “offer good wishes and sincere prayers for his descendents long and healthy lives and perpetuation of their ritual lineage.”

The felicitation function will begin here at the Tsuklakhang Monastery premises on April 7 (Sunday) at 9.30 a.m.

All, including the media, have been invited by the Tsuklakhang Trust to witness this unique and auspicious occasion.

Sribadam sisters in national football team

(L to R) Lako Phuti Bhutia, Coach Palden Bhutia and Nima Lhamu Bhutia (pix: sikkimexpress)

Gangtok, April 5: Two sisters from Sikkim’s remote village of Sribadam in West Sikkim – Lako Phuti Bhutia and Nima Lhamu Bhutia – have made it to women’s national football team.

The two have been short-listed for the Senior Women’s National Football Coaching camp in Pune (Maharashtra), which began on Monday, according to Sikkim Football Association (SFA) General Secretary Menla Ethenpa.

Unfortunately, due to “personal reasons” Nima Lhamu could not make it to the training camp which is expected to end on May 10 next month. Lako, who is participating in the camp, has thanked the SFA and her Mangalbaria Football Academy coach Palden Bhutia for giving her the opportunity to represent the State at the national level. The two sisters are the daughters of Mikchen Bhutia and Late Pem Lhamu Bhutia of Sribadam.

The coaching camp will train the team members for preparation of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Womens Asia Cup Qualifiyer’s Round, SFA said.

Thank you, Ranbir: United Sikkim

Gangtok, April 5: After Bollywood superstar had agreed to promote Bhaichung Bhutia co-owned United Sikkim FC, USFC owners released a statement in its official facebook page thanking Ranbir Kapoor. The statement is as follows -

“United Sikkim FC owners, FidelisWorld and Bhaichung Bhutia, extend their gratitude and thanks to Ranbir Kapoor for his generous acceptance to be the brand and goodwill ambassador for United Sikkim FC.”

It added, “The United Sikkim FC warmly welcomes Ranbir Kapoor into the United Sikkim family and shares their delight in having a genuine football lover and an achiever like Ranbir Kapoor as the club’s ambassador. His international appeal and acceptance as a global youth icon and celebrity would definitely go a long way in promoting United Sikkim FC among his millions of fans, both within and outside India.

United Sikkim FC players and officials are also grateful to Ranbir Kapoor for becoming their ambassador. We thank Ranbir Kapoor for his selfless approach to promote us and we are encouraged by his gesture.”

Bhaichung Bhutia, co-owner of the Sikkim based club was ecstatic over the development. “We are proud to unveil Ranbir Kapoor as our brand ambassador. We have known each other for quite some time. He is a keen follower of football,” said Bhaichung to The Times of India on Tuesday.

CHOGYAL WANGCHUK NAMGYAL

On his 60^th birthday, Sikkimese want him to come back home

Gangtok, April 5: Wangchuk Namgyal, the 13^th Chogyal of Sikkim, turned 60 on Monday (April 1).On this ‘auspicious occasion’, the National Sikkimese Bhutia Organisation (NASBO), expressed its greetings and long life to the Chogyal, who has dedicated his life to religious and spiritual activities.

“On the auspicious occasion of the 60th Birthday of His Majesty, the 13th Miwang Denjong Chogyal Wangchuk Tenzing Namgyal, this organization expresses its greetings to all the Sikkimese people,” NASBO President Sonam Lama Kaloen said in a press statement.

“This organization shall be holding prayer meetings wishing for the long life of His Majesty as also in anticipation that His Majesty would soon resume back to his seat at Gangtok Palace…,” the statement said.

Prince Wangchuk, as he was known then, was crowned the 13^th Chogyal on February 19, 1982. It was on this day that his father Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal was cremated at a historic event when elected members of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly led by former chief minister BB Gurung offered khadas and acknowledged Wangchuk as the next Chogyal.

 Though Sikkim’s Namgyal dynasty traces its origin in the former kingdom to the 13^th century it effectively ruled Sikkim from 1642 to 1975, when Sikkim became the 22^nd State of the Indian Union amidst allegation that India had annexed Sikkim.

Meanwhile, NASBO yesterday celebrated the 90th official birthday of the 12th Denjong Chogyal Palden Thondub Namgyal.

NASBO members offered khadas to the portrait of the Chogyal during a ceremony and acknowledged the former Chogyal’s “bold stand” during 1973-1975 when the former kingdom faced a difficult period.

Editorial

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

For Free And Fair Polls

If Nepal’s controversial move to hold elections under the supervision of a former supreme court chief justice as caretaker prime minister succeeds India ought to re-think of hold national and state elections under a similar system. Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who has just returned to his country after a four-year self-imposed exile, wants the general elections in his country to be held under army supervision. He says there would be law and order problem if elections are held under the present political dispensation. In India, people, by and large, are fearful of misuse of power and show of money power by the ruling elite during elections. They want a level playing field for a free and fair polls. One writer rightly said: “In many regimes, democratic competition is undermined less by fraud or repression than by unequal access to resources, media, and state institutions. When opposition are denied access to finance and mass media, their ability to compete in elections—and survive between elections—is often impaired.”

Much the same feeling persists in India’s northeastern State of Sikkim. Since the 1974’s elections to the Sikkim Council, followed by the ‘special poll’ in 1975, the Sikkimese people have always feared and doubted the credibility of ‘elections.’ Communal passion was whipped when pro-Sikkim Sikkim National Party won majority of Council seats in 1973 elections, leading to Sikkim’s ‘merger’ with its protecting power in April 1975. The outcome of the Assembly polls in November 1989 and May 2004 are dark shadows in Sikkim’s quest for genuine democracy. The Sikkimese people are widely aware of misuse of ballot boxes and electronic voting machines by the establishment if polls are held under the prevailing system. As the next Assembly polls in Sikkim draw near the Sikkimese people have started saying that if polls are not held under President’s rule the ruling party Sikkim Democratic Front, which has been in power uninterruptedly for nearly two decades,  would stand to benefit. Unfortunately, India does not have the necessary law to hold elections under President’s rule. Our MPs and MLAs would not agree to such a law.

Sikkim govt-sponsored Everest expedition runs into trouble

March 2012 in Gangtok: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling with IHCAE Director GT Bhutia    

  (extreme right) and mountaineer Kazi Sherpa (left) of IHCAE, who represented Sikkim in the 2012 Everest Expedition. (file pix)

Gangtok, April 5: The Sikkim government- sponsored Everest expedition in Nepal has run into rough weather as mountaineering associations have demanded that the trek be postponed in order to ensure all climbers get equal opportunity for selection.

Seven mountaineers have been selected by the Indian Himalayan Centre for Adventure and Ecotourism (IHCAE) for the Rs 1.4 crore expedition scheduled to commence from the first week of this month, PTI reported.

The IHCAE is a division under the Sikkim Tourism department and is based in Chemchey, South district.

Top mountaineering associations claim that qualified and veteran mountaineers were kept in the dark about the selection process, and thereby denied rightful opportunity to be considered by the IHCAE.

The mountaineering associations include Sikkim Mountaineering Association, Sikkim Amateur Mountaineering Association, Travel Agents Association of Sikkim and Sikkim Association of Adventure Tour Operators.

The associations argued that a pre-Everest expedition within Sikkim could have been conducted by the organisers to select the best mountaineers available in the State.

“An Everest expedition is like the Olympics for every mountaineer. While we thank the state government for providing an opportunity to the Sikkim climbers, we are sad to see that experienced and qualified mountaineers were kept in dark about the selection process. Even the mountaineering associations here came to know about the expedition only after seven members had been selected,” said Deepak Chhetri, the general secretary of the Sikkim Amateur Mountaineering Association.

IHCAE director G.T. Bhutia said it was his discretion to choose the men and women for the Everest climb. “Being the director, powers are bestowed on me to choose the people for the Everest expedition. The expedition has been approved after IHCAE placed a proposal before the government. As far as the selection is concerned, the seven mountaineers are from Sikkim who have undertaken many expeditions before. The question of postponement does not arise as bookings for logistic support and other formalities have already been completed.”

Chhetri alleged that the IHCAE had not provided an opportunity to all mountaineers in the State for selection for the Everest expedition and accused Bhutia of arbitrarily and clandestinely choosing the seven. “We fail to understand on what basis these climbers were selected when there are several others with superior experience,” he said.

States participate in 10-day handicraft exhibition

Gangtok, April 5: Neeru Sewa, Minister for Commerce and Industries Department inaugurated Gandhi Shilp Bazar 2012-13 at Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom complex here on Tuesday.

The 10-day exhibition-cum-sale of genuine handicrafts products has been sponsored by the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

A total number of 150 stalls have been allotted to artisans from all over India and local artisan from Sikkim, an IPR release said.

The participant’s states are Meghalaya, Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, West Bengal, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Madya Pradesh, New Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The exhibition is an annual feature of Sikkim Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd.  and is proving boon to artisans as their products are sold  at large numbers. It also provides big platform for artisans to have direct interaction with the buyers. The basic objective for organizing such kind of exhibition is to promote genuine handicrafts products.

Suspicious transactions in Sikkim, Goa casinos under intelligence scanner

New Delhi, April 5: The threat of terror financing is getting scarier and bigger by the day. In the last year, the country’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies have detected 1,444 suspicious cases of financial transactions allegedly used to exclusively fund terrorist activities. The cases have been forwarded to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-Ind), which has been tasked to probe money laundering and terrorist financing.

The FIU is examining suspicious transactions in businesses such as casinos in Sikkim and Goa. The agency received 12,655 suspicious reports last year from various casinos in the two states, which are now being analysed to probe the nature of the money. Memorandums of Understanding have been signed with 19 countries, including Mauritius, the Philippines, Australia, Canada, USA and Japan, to share related information for further exchange of information to counter online gaming, money laundering and terrorist financing.

“A casino sector assessment committee was constituted under the Director (FIU-Ind) which carried out a comprehensive review of the casino sector and has made several recommendations to the government for strengthening the anti-money laundering regulatory frame for this sector,” FIU report stated.

Apart from casinos, reports are also being received about attempts by some real estate agents and dealers in precious metals and stones, and other high value goods to create a non-breachable financial firewall for their illegal activities in terror funding.

PEOPLE & PLACES Sikkim

Saluting The Ritual Keepers of Sikkim’s Guardian Deities

The Tsuklakhang Trust (Sikkim) on Sunday (April 7, 2013) will honour Late Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha of Dzongu, North Sikkim, and Ren Pem Tshering Lepcha of Teesta Bazaar, West Bengal, for their valued services in the performance of  the annual Pang Lhabsol rituals to Sikkim’s Guardian Deities – Khangchendzonga (Kongchen) and Yabdu – for a very long time.

“Their lineage is said to have performed the worship” of Sikkim’s protecting deities “since time immemorial,” read the Tsuklakhang Trust’s citation of the two Lepcha Bongthings (priests).

CITATION Highlights

Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha

Late Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha was the son of late Ren Yangkyok Lepcha and late Renyu Champi Lepcha from Nung, located in Tingvong village, Dzongu, North Sikkim. In the village and beyond he was better known as Nung Taso or the Kongchen Bongthing. He belonged to an ancient lineage of powerful Lepcha shamans who are the sole keepers of the ritual knowledge of the sacred Kongchen ritual. On the 29^th of October 2011, late Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha passed away at the age of 84 in his home in Nung during a minor earthquake.

His clan, the Garkum tsum ptso, is associated with the powerful mountain deity Kongchen and traces its ancestry back to the soldiers (vik) of Kongchen. Their lineage is said to have performed the worship to this protective deity since time immemorial. The importance of this lineage for the appeasement of Kongchen and the worship of Sikkim as Beyul Demoshong was recognised by the Chogyals of Sikkim. Henceforth, the annual ritual to Kongchen and the other protective mountain deities of Sikkim became an integral part of the Sikkimese festival Pang Lhabsol.

Late Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha assisted his father with the performances of the Kongchen ritual and learned the sacred knowledge of his clan. The elaborate ritual was then discontinued after 1975, but until today it is still held on a village level. Sadly, the sacred knowledge of this ritual has not been passed on to Late Ren Samdrup Taso Lepcha’s son, but the community bears hope that his grandson will take on the responsibility and carry on the ancient tradition of the Kongchen ritual.

Ren Pem Tshering Lepcha

Ren Pem Tshering Lepcha’s ancestors have been responsible for performing rituals in honour of Yabdü, the guardian deity protecting Sikkim’s southern gate, for over two and half centuries.  He is the son of late Ren Pembo Lepcha and late Angu Lepcha of Chegra Busty, located above Teesta Bazaar under Kurseong Sub-Division of West Bengal. He descends from a line of Bongthings spanning more than forty generations.

The ritual for Yabdü is an integral part of the sacred Pang Lhabsol celebration which is unique to Sikkim. It is observed at the end of August or early September, on the immediate Friday preceding the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar when Pang Lhabsol is observed at the Tsuklakhang in Gangtok.

Bongthing Ren Pem Tshering Lepcha has been holding the annual Pang Lhabsol ritual for Yabdü since 1962 following the demise of his late father. In olden days, the ritual used to be performed in a jungle above Kali Jhora and Teesta but this was discontinued at the time of his late grandfather due to attacks by tigers and other wild animals.

Born around 1935, Bongthing Ren Pem Tshering Lepcha is now close to eighty years old and, having no son, has been training his nephew Ren Tashi Lepcha for the past three years with the view of ensuring the ritual’s continuity. He leads a very humble and pious life dedicated to ritual and prayer for the benefit of Sikkim and all sentient beings. His personal association with the Palace and subsequently with The Tsuklakhang Trust spans more than fifty-one years. He is the only surviving Bongthing in the area who is not only a repository of the old culture, traditions and values but also one who still celebrates Sikkim as Beyul Demoshong, the sacred hidden land blessed by Guru Padmasambhava.