HIMALAYAN GUARDIAN     Wednesday July 16-23, 2013  

Abide by SC verdict on IT issue: Chamling

Gangtok, July 16: While stating that the State Government would abide by the Supreme Court’s decision on a petition filed by the Association of Old Settlers of Sikkim (AOSS), Chief Minister Pawan Chamling said his government would, however, contest the issue legally.

This decision came during a meeting of the ruling party’s legislature party held here on Sunday. During the celebrations of Bhanu Jayanti on Saturday, Chamling said the matter regarding income tax exemption for old settlers of the State was in the apex court and would be “dealt legally” and “we should now abide by the court decision,” an IPR release said.

Chamling pointed out that he was in favour of IT exemption for old settlers. However, the Chief Minister’s failure to defend the Sikkimese Nepalese against the AOSS’s allegation in its writ petition that they were ‘foreigners’ has not gone down well with the people. In fact, Chamling said the Opposition had misguided the people on the issue.

Chamling’s remarks on Article 371F have also been sharply criticized by the Opposition. He is supposed to have said that it was up to the Centre if it wants to scrap Art. 371F from the Constitution. This article provides special status to Sikkim.

Opposition parties, including Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and Sikkim Sangram Parishad (SSP), said Art 371F is based on assurances given to Sikkim during the merger in 1975. The SPCC said if the Chief Minister is not able to safeguard bonafide Sikkimese he should step down.

Nepal hurdle: delimitation of constituencies

Kathmandu, July 16: Nepal is facing a constitutional hurdle over delimitation of electoral constituencies as it prepares for November 19 constituent assembly (CA) elections.

According to political leaders, if the problem is not addressed immediately, it will affect the election plan. For delimitating the constituencies under the first-past-the-post election system, the government has formed a constituency delimitation commission (CDC) a month ago but it has not made any progress yet. In 2008 CA elections, there were 240 electoral constituencies but they need to be re-demarcated as per the 2011 national census.

On the one hand constitution calls for increasing the constituencies in line with the population increase, but on the other hand it prohibits increasing the constituencies beyond 240. The CDC held discussion with top leaders of four major parties yesterday for clearing the hurdle.

“The CDC representatives told us about the constitutional difficulties and we are working to remove it,” NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel told reporters after the meeting.

Parties are also divided on the basis of constituency delimitation.

‘No political intention behind subsidy cut to Bhutan’

PM congratulates Bhutan PDP leaders

Bhutan’s Prime Minister-in-waiting Tshering Tobgay

New Delhi, July 16: India said Monday it looks forward to “intensive consultations” as soon as a new government is in place in Bhutan and denied there was any political or other intention in the subsidy cut of kerosene and cooking gas to the Himalayan nation.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said: “We expect intensive consultations as soon as a new government is in place in Bhutan.”

To a query on subsidy cut, he clarified that “the issue of subsidy relates to the delivery mechanisms of India’s development partnership with Bhutan, it has no political or other intentions,” IANS reported.

“We will certainly engage with Bhutan on this,” he said.

He also clarified that it was not “the intension of India to in any way adversely impact on the poor in Bhutan or on people in Bhutan in any manner”.

India “looks forward to engaging on this matter with Bhutan as soon as possible”, he said.

India had cut off the kerosene and cooking gas subsidy to Bhutan last month as the 10th Plan, under which India was providing such assistance, expired on June 30.

The spokesperson described the election process in Bhutan, in which the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) emerged victorious, as the “consolidation of democracy” in the Himalayan country.

The PDP won the elections, capturing 32 seats, while the incumbent Druk Phuensum Tshogpa of former Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley could manage just 15 seats in the 47-member National Assembly. The elections were Bhutan’s second parliamentary elections since the country became a democracy in 2008.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on Sunday written to PDP leader Tshering Tobgay, congratulating him on his party’s victory and promised India’s “steadfast and unflinching support”.

He also assured that New Delhi will remain “sensitive to Bhutan and its interests” and said he has instructed his officials to “prepare for the discussions on our plan assistance to Bhutan”.

“I would like to avail of this opportunity to assure you of the steadfast and unflinching support of India and its citizens for the steady steps that Bhutan is taking to further strengthen democratic processes and institutions. India is a privileged partner of Bhutan and it’s people in their socio-economic progress and development,” Singh said in a statement.

Citizenship certificates issued to ‘foreigners’: Baidya

Baidya

Kathmandu, July 16: Despite haggling among political parties over the distribution of citizenship certificates, Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) gave out over 600,000 national IDs in one month.

With a view to ensuring participation of citizens in the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for November 19, the government had launched two campaigns-one involving mobile teams and the integrated citizenship distribution campaign-across the country in the third week of April.

A Home Ministry source said 181,713 citizenship cards - 107,966 for women and 73,747 for men-were distributed at the local level under the mobile distribution campaign, The Kathmandu Post reported.

A citizenship certificate is mandatory for anyone to be listed in the new voter roll with photo and finger prints. According to Ministry officials, 421,381 citizenship cards-205,744 for females and 16,937 for males-were distributed under the integrated campaign. Records at the Ministry show that the number of certificates acquired by women in both the campaigns was higher than that acquired by men.

However, Madhes-based parties claim that their voters are still deprived of citizenship cards, while other parties like the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist and Rastriya Janamorcha have been demanding formation of a high-level panel to look into the distribution campaigns. They claim that the ID cards were being distributed "haphazardly."

Baidya has been publicly saying that the campaigns were aimed at distributing citizenship certificates to "foreigners".

"In the name of Citizenship Ordinance, the government has misused the citizenship certificates by distributing them to foreigners. Our party has officially decided to launch a nationwide awareness campaign against the rampant misuse of the national IDs," CPN-Maoist spokesperson Pampha Bhusal said.

Many Madhes-based parties are saying that the special campaigns have failed to incorporate a significant portion of the population in the Tarai who are without the certificates.

Himalayan Guardian July 17-23, 2013

Editorial

RISKY VENTURE

Bhutan Polls: From 2 to 31

Despite its prompt denial India will find it very difficult to erase the widely-held notion that its last-minute withdrawal of subsidy on kerosene and cooking gas during the election process has not affected the poll results to Bhutan’s National Assembly. The very fact that the ruling Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (PDP) won only 14 of the 47 seats in the Assembly while its rival People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s poll fortune rose to 31 from the previous 2 makes one doubt about the poll process, particularly when the outgoing Prime Minister Jigme Thinley was doing a good job.

An editorial in Kuensel, Bhutan's English-language daily - in which the government holds 51 per cent shares - wrote: "Many Bhutanese are hurt and angered by the timing (of the subsidy cuts), and feel it is a deliberate move to rock the elections."

New Delhi will have a lot of explaining to do in future and by – knowingly and unknowingly – influencing the outcome of the polls India will find itself in an uncomfortable position in the high Himalayas where China is increasingly becoming militarily and economically more aggressive.

Even powerful western countries are unable to ignore China these days and New Delhi’s discomfort on Thinley’s meeting with the former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of 

a multilateral meeting in Rio in 2012 was unnecessary. Indo-Bhutan’s relations are strong and cannot be easily disturbed. However, China’s dominance in the region cannot also be easily ignored. If Bhutanese leaders wish to learn how New Delhi plays its game in this strategic region they could learn a lot from the two former Himalayan kingdoms – Sikkim and Nepal.

Article 371F is based on 1973 Tripartite Agreement: Upreti

Gangtok, July 16: Former minister KN Upreti while criticizing Chief Minister Pawan Chamling’s remarks on Article 371F said this special provision in the Constitution is a product of India’s promises made during the merger as reflected in the historic Tripartite Agreement of May 8, 1973.

In a press statement, Upreti said it is “absolutely wrong” for the Chief Minister to say that “Article 371F stands at the pleasure or whim and wishes of the Central Government and so long as the Center desires and the Center may take away these privileges at any time if they desire.”

“Chamling should know that Article 371F is the product of pre-merger 8th May tri-partite agreement between the Chogyal, the Government of India and the political parties of Sikkim, which ensured full Constitutional safeguard to the three ethnic sections of the people of Sikkim namely – Sikkimese of Bhutia origins, Sikkimese of Lepcha origins and the Sikkimese of Nepali origins, who enjoyed full local protection right as Sikkim subjects during the pre-merger Chogyal’s Government,” Upreti said.

 “Taking advantage of such weak stand of our leaders and successive Governments a lot of encroachment and dilution has taken place from time to time. The Government with full majority of peoples’ representative in the house is fully responsible for taking strong stand on the matter and at no cost they should surrender or wholly be dependent on the court’s verdict,” Upreti added.

He went on to say, “High Courts or the Supreme Court are not the authority to make laws but their job is only to examine legally whether the laws made by the Parliament or the Assembly are right and is implemented properly.”

 “The Government instead of keeping mum and watching the situation should spell out their clear stand as to what steps they are going to take in the event of any aggression on encroachment on 371F of the Constitution,” the former minister said.