SIKKIM OBSERVER  Saturday   Aug 10-16,  2013    

Sikkim OBSERVER

Turns

 27

 THIS WEEK

TNA fund drive had consent of parents, teachers and ex-students: Principal

Give sufficient funds to TNA, ex-education minister KN Upreti tells govt

Gangtok, Aug 9: The ongoing fund drive for construction of school toilets has the approval of parents, teachers and ex-students, according to Tashi Namgyal Academy Principal Kuldip Singh Heran.

Reacting to newsitems on the subject, Heran said the initiative for construction of “modern toilet facility” for junior school students came from ‘TNA Alumni Association’, which had requested students and staff members for “voluntary contribution”.

Subsequent to the alumni body’s request the matter was discussed during the ‘Parents Teachers Meeting’ to seek their “co-operation”. “During the meeting no parent disapproved” of the school circular “regarding contribution for construction of toilets,” the Principal said in his letter to Sikkim Observer. Besides Ex-Tenacians, staff members of the school have also contributed for construction of toilets.

The Principal explained that funds collected for the said purpose have not been used so far and if the TNA Board wants the contributions to be returned “we will return back the same”. The Board is expected to meet on August 17.

Heran pointed out that TNA “never gave any kind of unnecessary financial burden to the parents” and since he took over the institution on January 2012 the school has not asked “any kind of donation from parents for admission of their wards in our institution”.

He said 90% of the school budget is spent on payment of salaries of 136 (76 teaching and 60 non-teaching) staff members. Part of school budget has been used for renovation of hostel toilets, maintenance and development of school infrastructure, purchase of computers, buses and smart class boards.

Ex-education minister reacts: Meanwhile, former education minister and Ex-Tenacian KN Upreti criticized the State Government’s “apathy” towards the “prestigious institution”. In his press statement, Upreti said it is a “matter of shame” that TNA “has to survive on donations for even constructing its toilets and other minor repairs”.

Upreti urged the government to “grant sufficient fund as grant-in-aid” to meet the school’s financial requirements.

“TNA is one of the most prestigious schools in the country. It has produced many eminent personalities many of whom are well-placed in the Sikkim Government. We must all cooperate to take TNA to higher level in all respect,” said a concerned parent.

Lepcha body award for CM

Gangtok, Aug 9: The Renjyong Mutanchi Rong Tarjum yesterday presented its Mayal Kumchee Award to Chief Minister Pawan Chamling on the concluding day of the two-day celebrations of the annual Tendong Lho Rum Faat festival.

The award, presented for the first time, is the “highest honour” to an individual, according to an IPR release quoting the citation of the award.

Former minister and Sikkim Lepcha Association President Sonam Dupden Lepcha thanked the Chief Minister for his efforts to preserve Lepcha identity, culture and tradition.

GJM chief calls for opposition unity on Gorkhaland

Kalimpong, Aug 9: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung said that a separate state can only be achieved only if people make the supreme sacrifice and called upon opposition parties to join the movement for Gorkhaland.

Conceding that the path leading to statehood is difficult, Gurung said, “The aspiration of Indian Gorkhas would not be fulfilled merely by singing and dancing. For this we need to sacrifice our lives.’

Addressing more than 10,000 people gathered at Kalimpong’s Damber Chowk to pay their last respect to Mangal Singh Rajput, the first Gorkhaland activist to commit self-immolation, Gurung said, “Statehood cannot be achieved merely by singing, dancing and clapping. The time has come for everyone to come to the field and make sacrifice,” The Hindustan Times reported.

Gurung, who resigned from the post of chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) after the Centre decided to create a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, also called opposition parties in the hills to come forward and join the movement.

 “The time has come for opposition parties to come out of their comfort zone and join the Gorkhaland movement. Come out with your parties’ respective flags and join the movement. We are ready to sacrifice our lives and the Centre and the state government should also understand that even people belonging to minority communities are ready to sacrifice for Gorkhaland,” Gurung said.

Mahindra P Lama, former vice-chancellor of Sikkim Univer sity has given a call to all political parties of the Hills, Terai and Dooars to meet the prime minister in Delhi with the demand for a separate state.

He has also invited all the present and former Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly, West Bengal from this region to join in the delegation.

SDF supports ‘Gorkhaland’ demand, raises tribal status for Sikkimese Nepalese

Gangtok, Aug 9: While supporting the demand for creation of a separate state of Darjeeling in neighbouring West Bengal, Sikkim Democratic Front legislators on Sunday reiterated their demand for tribal status for ‘left-out’ Nepali community in the State.

During a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, the legislators observed that a resolution on the issue was passed by the Sikkim Legislative Assembly on March 29, 2011.

The resolution demanded formation of Gorkhaland State and also stated that it is the ultimate and permanent solution to ease out hardships suffered by the Sikkimese people.

Referring to Assembly seat reservation for Sikkimese Nepalese, party spokesperson Bhim Dahal said seats for Nepalese in the State Assembly would be reserved if the ‘left-out’ Nepalese in the State are declared tribals.

The Burman Commission’s report on providing tribal status to the remaining Nepali community has already been passed in the Assembly and forwarded to the Centre, Dahal said.

 So far, only Limbus and Tamangs among the majority Nepalese in the State have been granted tribal status. The ruling party also reiterated its promise on reservation of Assembly seats for State’s Limbus and Tamangs in the Assembly.

SC allows old settlers to amend petition                                          Gangtok, Aug 9: The Supreme Court has allowed the Association of Old Settlers of Sikkim (AOSS) to amends its application during the hearing of case last Friday.

The apex court has also allowed Manita Pradhan to “step out of the petition” owing to her “ill health and personal difficulties,” said AOSS President RC Mundra in a press statement last week.

In response to public request, the AOSS on July 31 made an application to the apex court to make “necessary amendments”, including the request for striking off income tax exemption granted to bonafide Sikkimese, Mundra said.

Mundra said the use of “certain words and phrases” in AOSS’s writ petition has “hurt the sentiments of our Sikkimese brothers”.

To please China, Centre drops Arunachal, Sikkim from proposed World Bank loan

New Delhi, Aug 9: The Indian government has dropped Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim from a World Bank loan proposal to avoid running into Chinese objections over multilateral financial aid to projects in the border areas, according to two government officials.

The initial proposal for a Rs.11,000 crore loan to strengthen electricity transmission and distribution in the northeastern region covered Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. After excluding the two states, the loan amount is around Rs.8,115 crore. The projects in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are to be financed by the government, The Wall Street Journal reported.

To be sure, the proposal is still in the works and is yet to be formally presented to the World Bank. “The government is seeking the loan only for six northeastern states from the World Bank for the comprehensive scheme for strengthening transmission and distribution in the north eastern region.

Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, which were earlier included will be funded through a separate window under the NLCPR (non-lapsable central pool of resources),” said an Indian government official, requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

“It was due to the China factor that the two states were dropped, but it wasn’t the case that the government proposed and World Bank rejected funding for them,” said the official.

“Even for the six states, funding has still not been approved and the finance ministry is finding ways to work around raising the headroom for GoI (government of India) borrowing from World Bank for this.”

Ties between the neighbours have oscillated between conflict and a tense bonhomie over the past few decades. China claims 90,000 sq. km of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and occupies around 38,000 sq. km in Jammu and Kashmir, which India claims is its own.

“While Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim were part of the original plan, they were later dropped and the projects will now be funded by the government of India,” a senior government official said, declining to be named.

Finance ministry officials said they were not aware of the matter. Strategic analysts were critical of India’s strategy, describing it as being timid.

“Whatever be the concerns behind not seeking assistance for Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, be it anxiety about China or keeping areas contiguous to China underdeveloped, the logic does not hold,” said C. Uday Bhaskar, distinguished fellow at the New Delhi-based Society for Policy Studies.

“India cannot appear to be so timid if it is staking a claim to these states. If you are staking a claim then you have to treat them as any other state and address economic development, of which power is a primary requirement,” said Bhaskar.

A row broke out in 2009 over a $2.9 billion Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan with China protesting the inclusion of a water management project in Arunachal in the lender’s country assistance strategy for India.

“The two states were earlier a part of the proposed loan which is in the works,” said another government official, who also didn’t wish to be identified. He tried to play down the China angle and said, “It is well known that World Bank doesn’t give loan to the border areas.”

Editorial

BATTLING GRAFT

United In Misdeed

   Setting the stage for a standoff in the Supreme Court on the autonomy issue, an assertive Centre has junked CBI’s stand for more power for its Director, saying an all powerful chief without checks and balances entails the risk of ”potential misuse”. Reflecting its double standards on the issue the Centre while rejecting CBI’s opposition for an Accountability Commission for the agency, said that the need for an “external, independent and strong watchdog is imperative”. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) also took a tough stand on CBI’s plea for an independent committee headed by CVC to grant sanction for prosecution of senior bureaucrats and insisted on retaining such powers. The government stand raises questions on its assurance of ensuring autonomy given to the Supreme Court which had described CBI as a “caged parrot” that has to be insulated from interference by political executives and external influences.

   Slamming the Centre’s move to keep parties outside RTI, former Supreme Court Judge Justice (Retd) N Santosh Hegde rightly argued they are public bodies answerable to the people, who want to know from where they get funds from. Hegde said political parties are certainly involved in administration one way or other. "Who's the government? It's the political party in power", he said, adding opposition parties also control activities of their ruling counterparts. The proposed amendments to the RTI Act state that declaring political parties as public authorities under the RTI would "hamper their smooth internal functioning since it will encourage political rivals to file RTI applications with malicious intentions". That all major political parties are united in their fight against greater accountability and transparency in the functioning of the CBI and their reluctance to come under the RTI are indications that the political class in India do not have the will to take strong measures to curb corruption in the country.

India treats Bhutan as its ‘protectorate’: Chinese expert

Beijing, Aug 9: An expert with a Chinese government-controlled thinktank has accused India of interfering in Bhutan's elections that resulted in the toppling of the ruling party. The expert said in an article published by Beijing-based Global Times that India wants to control the "buffer state" out of a fear of Chinese aggression.

"As a country located between China and India, Bhutan serves as a buffer and is of critical strategic importance to the Siliguri Corridor, a narrow stretch of land that connects India's northeastern states to the rest of India," wrote Liu Zongyi, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies.

"The corridor is considered a vulnerable bottleneck for India's national security. Delhi worries that China will send troops to the corridor if a Sino-Indian military clash breaks out," he wrote in the Global Times which is known to take a harsh stance on New Delhi.

The article said India treats Bhutan as its "protectorate" and controls its economic lifeline. It said Indian officials play politics with petroleum subsidy to influence the elections to bring about a victory for the main opposition People's Democratic Party.

China is upset because the election has robbed Beijing of an opportunity to extend its market and reach closer to the Indian border as it is doing with Myanmar and Nepal, sources said. The outgoing Peace and Prosperity Party had tried to enhance its relationship with China and resolve border problems between the two countries.

The article suggested that the sovereignty of Bhutan's royal family and the political elite as also its democracy was at risk because of India's influence.

"India won't allow Bhutan to freely engage in diplomacy with China and solve the border issue," it said. "India's interference in Bhutan's election is a tragedy for Thimphu. Bhutan is still firmly under Indian control," it added.

Repair work begins at Lachen nunnery

Lachen, Aug 9: The Tibetan Heritage Fund, an NGO from abroad, has started repair works of  the Mani Lhagang (nunnery) in Lachen, North Sikkim.

The nunnery, located above the village and next to the Lachen monastery, is more than 100 yrs old  and was founded by Dzogchen Sungrap  Gyatsho Rinpoche. Restoration work began last month.

The nunnery has one of the biggest  mani khorlos (big prayer wheel) in the State.

Chungthang Teesta project to produce power by year-end

Gangtok, Aug 9: Sikkim's largest hydel project, the 1200 MW Teesta Stage III at Chungthang in North district, delayed by the 18 September 2011 earthquake is expected to begin phase-wise generation by the end of the year.

The project was originally scheduled to be commissioned by November 2011, a deadline made impossible by the September 18, 2011 earthquake.

Senior officials at the Energy & Power Department said that the first phase of operation of one of the six turbines of 200 MW capacity each is expected to begin in December 2013 and all six turbines made operative by April next year.

A major hurdle in completion of work on the project site is the construction of Rangchang bridge which had collapsed on 19 December, 2011.

Once the bridge was restored, equipment could be trucked to the project site at Chungthang and final work on the project undertaken, the officials said.

Former Secretary to the state government KN Bhutia, recently appointed chairperson to the Teesta Urja board of directors by the government, is monitoring the project development.

Teesta Stage III is a joint venture project between the state government and Teesta Urja Pvt Ltd.

The state government will get 12 per cent of the generated electricity from the project free of cost along with one per cent more as environment cess.