HIMALAYAN GUARDIAN     Wednesday June 5-11,

BJP slams Centre, State govt for neglecting Sikkim

Gangtok, June 4: The Bharatiya Janata Party has slammed the Centre for neglecting infrastructure build-up in Sikkim despite China increasingly showing border belligerence. The party’s national spokesperson, Prakash Javadekar who led the visit of the parliamentary committee on defence to the Indo-China border at Nathula in East Sikkim raised the charge. He also criticised the state government for not doing much in bolstering infrastructure in the strategically sensitive state.

The parliamentary team, he said, had visited the Indo-China border at Nathula to get a clear picture of infrastructure developments on both sides early Sunday morning.

Asked on their findings, he said: “We will submit a report to the Parliament and it is only after it is submitted things will be clear to all.”

“The Centre keeps neglecting Sikkim. What is needed for this landlocked state is good means of communication. The National Highway 31-A remains in bad shape, the proposed Airport keeps hanging for years, the rail link has not seen any progress beyond Bhoomi Pujan. No allocation has been made in this year’s rail Budget. The Centre should be more active in implementing the long pending connectivity projects - rail, road and air, The Statesman reported.

This is what should be the priority for a real developmental roadmap involving the landlocked, yet strategically important state,” he said. According to the BJP leader, the Pawan Chamling government is not making full use of funds for development schemes. "Both the Centre and the state government have failed Sikkim’s people. Sikkim deserves better,” the BJP leader added.

Nepal’s ex-king to tour Terai region

Kathmandu, June 4: Nepal’s sidelined monarch Gyanendra Shah is touring the Tarai districts of Nepal beginning June 10.

His trip to the southern plains to which Nepal’s friendliest neighbor India considers as its sole prerogative, will begin from the district of Saptari.

Gyanendra must have sought clarification from the Indian authorities, presume experts.

A press meet was organized by the Royalists in Rajbiraj today to announce the visit details.

 “His majesty will perform Pooja at the Kankalini temple in Bhardaha and Hanuman temple in Hanumannagar”, disclosed Kishori Mahato talking to the press men.

Bhardaha is located on the banks of the mighty Koshi River. Famous Nepali singer Udit Narayan hails from this place.

After visiting Saptari, King Gyanendra will travel to the districts of Siraha, Mahottari and Sarlahi.

It is almost certain that the failed republican parties of the country will take King Gyanendra’s visit to the Tarai as a conspiracy to derail the frail republican order, analysts claim.

Nepal villagers worry over decline in production of ‘Himalayan Viagra’

 (left)GOLD RUSH IN NEPAL: Nepalese hunting for yarchagumba

Every summer, Himalayan villages empty as locals rush to the mountains of northern Nepal to harvest yarchagumba, a high-altitude wild fungus that is prized for its aphrodisiac qualities.

In recent years, however, the yield has been severely depleted by over-picking and the probable effects of climate change, experts have warned, prompting fears about the future of the “Himalayan Viagra” harvest.

Last year’s season’s crop has been particularly poor, say the villagers who rely on the rare, parasitic fungus to earn money to feed their families.

“We returned home as we could not even collect more than 10 pieces of yarchagumba in a month,” Nar Bahadur Bohara, who had been harvesting in the remote northwestern district of Darchula, told the Kathmandu Post.

“Those who had collected 150 to 200 pieces last year could make it only 20 to 30 pieces.”

Fellow forager Narendra Thekare said the area had seen no rain for two months while winter snowfall, which is needed for the fungus to thrive, had been minimal.

“Production of yarchagumba has declined over the past five years. If this situation remains for some years, yarchagumba might vanish,” Thekare said.

Neighbouring China has a huge appetite for the obscure fungus, pushing prices above $11,500 per pound and putting its value somewhere between silver and gold.

Despite declining harvests, the export trade still brings essential cash into the impoverished local economy with Darchula district earning about $85,000 last year, according to officials.

Thousands of foragers in the mountains are able to support their families for a year with a decent haul from the April to June season, but competition for yarchagumba can turn violent.

In November a court convicted 19 villagers over the murder of a group of seven farmers during a fight in 2009 over the fungus in Nar, an isolated village 13,000ft above sea level.

Yarchagumba is effectively two organisms, the larva of the Himalayan ghost moth and the Cordyceps fungus. The fungus spores attack the larva while it lives beneath the ground, killing it and causing a mushroom to sprout out of its head.

There has been no definitive research conducted by Western scientists but Chinese herbalists believe the fungus, an excellent balance of yin and yang, as it is both animal and vegetable — boosts sexual performance.

Boiled in water to make tea, or added to soups and stews, it is said to cure a variety of other ailments from fatigue to cancer.

TIPA organizes Himalayan cultural show in Dharamsala

Dharamsala, June 4: Tibetans' Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) organized an Indo-Tibetan cultural exchange programme in Dharamsala that witnessed the participation of artists from India, Tibet and Nepal.

"It's a combined program of Nepalese and TIPA (Tibetans' Institute of Performing Arts), dancing group and this is an exchange of culture between Nepalese and Tibetans and plus we have asked the Hijackers musical group of Indians to backup the event," said organizer of the event, Ajay Lalhal.

The artists enthralled the audience by their unique cultural performances, ANI reported.

People from India and abroad gathered at the institute to watch the programme.

Participants see the event as a medium to promote their culture and exchange artistic knowledge with each other.

Nawang Yengchen, a Tibetan artist, said that it's a good idea to learn something as well as to know each other and their culture.

"Lots of foreigners have come and just to show our culture and to preserve, to show that we are just preserving our culture when we are in exile," said Yengchen.

The famous musical band, the 'hijackers", also performed at the function.

Himachal demands reimbursement on Dalai Lama, Karmapa expense

Shimla, June 4: Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday sought central assistance to strengthen civil and military infrastructure in its areas along the border with China.

Raising the issue in the chief ministers' meet on internal security here, Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh requested the central government to provide liberal financial assistance to strengthen police and civil establishments in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts, which fall along the Indo-Tibet border.

He requested the union government to enhance financial allocations under the Border Area Development Programme, IANS reported.

Pleading that a broad-gauge rail line be built to link Manali with Leh in Jammu and Kashmir, he said this would help in transporting men and material to border areas of Ladakh, which are strategically important from the security point of view.

He also demanded 100 percent funding for police for equipping forces with high-altitude mountain gear and disaster management equipment to tackle natural disasters.

Singh also demanded reimbursement of the entire expenditure on security for Tibetan spiritual leaders the Dalai Lama and the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who reside in Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, reported PTI.

He said that at present only a part of expenditure of the Dalai Lama is being reimbursed by the Ministry of External Affairs while the entire expenditure on the security of the Karmapa is being borne by the State.

He said the state would set up a Tibetan refugee unit in the state intelligence department, and a Tibetan refugee cell in Dharamsala.

Editorial

COMBATING GRAFT

Media Must Come Under RTI

BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s stand on the media as far as combating corruption in high places is concerned should be appreciated. He has suggested that efforts should be made to bring media groups and NGOs under RTI (Right To Information). Today, public figures and public enterprises include media representatives and their media houses. They cannot be exempted from transparency and accountability. Even in smaller cities and towns in India the media exerts enough influence in public life. Their activities, therefore, must come under public scrutiny. In many place pro-established media houses and individual journalists are favoured by the authorities as far as issue of advertisements and other facilities are concerned.  Public money cannot and must not be spent arbitrarily.

Setting a new bench mark in transparency in politics, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has held political parties are answerable under the Right to Information Act. A full bench of the commission comprising chief information commissioner Satyananda Mishra and information commissioner M L Sharma and Annapurna Dixit has directed several major political parties in the country to comply with the provisions of mandatory proactive disclosures clauses given under the RTI Act and put those details on their websites. The CIC held that political parties "affect the lives of the citizens, directly or indirectly in every conceivable way and are continuously engaged in performing public duty. It is, therefore, important that they become accountable to public." The same yardstick must also apply to the media as its role in public life is also very vast and influential.

Manipur girls victims of Jaipur’s Grace Home run by pastor

Imphal, June 4: Following interaction with families in Manipur who had sent their children to a Jaipur-based illegal children’s home, social activists have alleged that batches of children went back home with severe physical deformities, sexual abuse - and in one case even pregnant. Four children reportedly died on their way back home.

Ukhrul District Alliance for Child Rights has filed a report to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, pointing out over 30 cases of physical and sexual abuse of children lodged in Grace Home in Jaipur, said a report in The Indian Express.

Grace Home, run by Pastor Jacob John, was raided on March 12. In two other following raids, 53 children were rescued by an NGO FXB India Suraksha, Rajasthan Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Jaipur Police.

From the rescued lot, one girl had complained of repeated rape and another of molestation. Since a large number of the rescued children - 23 out of 53 - were brought in from Manipur, social activists in the state attempted to reach out to the children who were pulled out of the home by their families between 2004 and 2009.

The report states four children died: two on their way back in the train, one in Grace home and one died of TB after reaching her house.

Other children who were pulled out of the illegal home came back with severe physical deformities; particularly knock knees, and mental retardation.

“Almost all of them have disfigured legs. This is observed mostly in girls. Girls said they were given two types of medicine as vitamins. Some got severe stomach pain after consuming the medicine.

One girl said she did not take the medicine when other girls complained of stomach pain. Incidentally, her legs are not disfigured.”

Tangkhul Shanao Long, Delhi president Felicita Shongvah told The Sunday Express, “A number of minor girls were sexually exploited and in one case, the girl got pregnant.

It is said she has delivered the baby, who is with her grandmother now, while the girl is missing. The children also confided they saw Jacob sleeping with the girl inmates.”

It may be mentioned that Pastor Jacob John was brought to Nagaland on May 7 and was kept in police custody for 5 days.

The eight trafficked children from Nagaland rescued from dubious children’s homes in Jaipur on March 12 were brought back to Nagaland April 4.

Imphal, Agartala airports to be upgraded

Agartala, June 4: Airports Authority of India (AAI) has begun preliminary work to upgrade the airports in Imphal and Agartala as international airports as part of India’s “Look East” policy to boost the region’s connectivity and trade with Southeast Asia, officials said.

“As part of the ambitious plan, the terminal buildings, air traffic control towers, runway and other necessary infrastructure would be expanded and further strengthened in both Agartala and Imphal airports,” an AAI official told IANS.

“Over Rs.160 crore would be spent to gradually develop Imphal and Agartala airport to international standards.

Modern Air Traffic Control towers are being set up at a cost of Rs.10 crore each in the two airports,” said the official, asking not to be named.

Currently, Guwahati airport is the only international airport in mountainous northeastern region comprising eight states, including Sikkim. Since 2010, Bhutan’s Druk Airlines has been operating flights from Guwahati in the Bangkok-Guwahati-Paro (Bhutan) route once in a week.

AAI chairman V. P. Agarwal and Civil Aviation Secretary K. N. Shrivastava will hold a high-level meeting in Agartala June 6 on the upgradation of the Agartala airport as an international airport.

“Upgradation of Agartala airport, development of two other abandoned airports in Tripura and modernisation of the airport would be discussed in the June 6 meeting,” Tripura transport secretary Kishore Ambuly told IANS.

The Tripura government has long been demanding to operate flights between northeastern states and adjoining Bangladesh to boost trade, tourism and people-to-people contacts.

According to Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Imphal Airport would become an international airport in July this year.

For some time, the North Eastern Council (NEC), a regional planning body, and the Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) have been trying to operate a regional airline to connect selected airports in eight northeastern states.

With Guwahati as the hub for the new regional airline, there are 11 operational airports in the northeast, including Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Silchar in Assam, Dimapur in Nagaland, Agartala in Tripura, Aizawl in Mizoram, Imphal in Manipur and Barapani in Meghalaya.

The proposed regional airline would also be connected with the Bagdogra airport in West Bengal.

The official said that at least 12 new airports are expected to be operational in the near future in the region.

“To develop five airports in the northeastern region, projects worth Rs.141.17 crore have been sanctioned recently on a 60:40 funding basis (60 percent by NEC and 40 percent by Airports Authority of India),” the official added. The five airports include Guwahati, Imphal, Barapani, Jorhat and Dibrugarh.