HAIL TO THE HERMON KNIGHTS

“We Shall Overcome”

Knowles

Dear Hermonites,

   First of all on behalf of the alumni let me wish our beloved alma mater Mount Hermon School and all Hermonites everywhere a very Happy Birthday! Today it is MHS’s 117th Birthday.

   Ever since the first week of the New Year (2012), when the Sikkim Hermonites Association (SHA) took the initiative to involve all Hermonites to campaign for ‘MH Revival’, there has been an overwhelming response from the alumni of all ages and places on the school’s future. The concern for our beloved alma mater – Mount Hermon School (MHS) – from Hermonites of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and right down to the present generation is not only very encouraging but also very inspiring. This is great! Which school in the world can boast of the ‘Hermonite spirit’? Hardly any. It is, therefore, our honourable duty to preserve this rich and unique heritage of MHS.

   Barry Ison – former MH student and teacher – once explained this unique phenomenon: “It is not emotion; it is passion.”

Stahl

   In the past so many decades since I left the old and friendly walls I never failed to think and even dream of MH! This is but natural for all Hermonites but more so for a person like me who did his schooling (1963-1972), Teachers Training College (TTC – 1974-1975), and even taught at MH for four years (1976-1979).

   Ex-students of the school under Rev. Mr. DG Stewart, who not only revived MH when he took over in 1953 but actually placed it among one of the best boarding schools in India – MH was on top of the list in 1961-62 – are still showing great concern for the school. This is amazing and an inspiration to us all.

“We Shall Overcome”

   Ever since its inception in 1895 when the school (then called Arcadia or housed in Arcadia cottage, located on the Lebong side of Chowrasta in Darjeeling) was born MH has had its ups and downs. But we pulled it through. With faith in God and missionary zeal our founders – Miss Knowles, Miss Stahl, Mr. Dewey and Bishop Fisher – made sure that failures and obstacles were stepping stones to success.

Fisher

   After shifting the school from near Chowrasta to above the railway station in Darjeeling and calling it Queen’s Hill School the school grew in leaps and bounds leading to the acquisition of the present premises for further expansion.

   Fifteen years after the school was renamed Mount Hermon School in 1929-30 MH almost closed down due to dwindling enrolment. The cause of this was the Second World War when many of its foreign students and staff members of the school left MH. It was Mr. Dewey, Bishop Fisher and finally Mr. Stewart who helped MH to pull through the crisis and regain its past glory. Mr. Graeme A. Murray, who stepped into Rev. Stewart’s shoes in 1964, built on the foundation laid by his predecessors. There was no looking back for MH after Mr. Murray’s takeover.

   However, in the 1980s MH and many schools in the hills passed through a very difficult and trying period due to uncertain political situation in Darjeeling. But Rev. Mr. John Johnston from Australia and later Mr. Jeff Gardner (India) kept the school going. Thereafter, MH faced a crisis of another sort as those who headed the school stayed only for a brief period.

Dewey

   The present Principal Mr. George Fernandes, who worked under Mr. Murray, Mr. Johnston and Mr. Gardner and who is also married to an ex-Hermonite (Saroj Pradhan), was able to stabilize the situation when he took over in 2000-1. We are, therefore, grateful to Mr. Fernandes for his contributions to the school.

    Hermonites all over the world have expressed their apprehension of MH’s future after Mr. Fernandes retires this month. Damages caused by the recent (Sept 18, 2011) earthquake to the main school building and falling enrolment, coupled with Mr. Fernandes’ departure and doubts over who is to step into his shoes, have prompted Hermonites to play a leading role in the choice of the next Principal.

   Hermonites now want an able and trustworthy Hermonite to head the school during this very trying period. They have backed Mr. Jigme N Kazi’s (Sikkim) candidature for the post and want the Managing Committee to appoint him as the next Principal.

MH Revival

   Several names were floated for the post of MH Principal last year. However, during Mr and Mrs. Johnston’s visit to Darjeeling and Sikkim in December – January 2012 it was revealed that though Mr. Barry Ison, Mr. John Glasby and Mr. and Mrs. Sherab (Roslyn) Namgyal – all ex-students and teachers of the school –were willing to help the school they would not be able to take the top job at the present juncture. Mr. Kazi’s name was then proposed and the Sikkim Hermonites Association (SHA) passed a resolution on this and urged all Hermonites to support his candidature and other resolutions on ‘MH Revival’. Sherab and Roslyn (SC 1972 & 1971), who were on a visit to Sikkim from Australia during this period, supported this move.

Johnston, Murray and Stewart

    One of the suggestions of the Hermonites is to have at least two active and credible Hermonites in the Managing Committee, which not only frames policy matters of the school but also appoints the Principal. Two other suggestions made by the Sikkim chapter and endorsed by global Hermonites was allotment of a space for the alumni to function from the school premises and also to route all Hermonites-initiated projects and funds of the school through Hermonites International (Hi!), a global body conceived during the centenary celebrations in 1995, when many ex-principals and teachers and students were present, and formed in 2005-6.

   No matter what the future holds for MH the resolution on ‘MH Revival’ must go on. It must not begin or end if and when Mr. Kazi gets the top job. The campaign for MH Revival is led by Roslyn & Sherab (Australia), Dipak Mirchandhani (UK) and Lucinda Gibbs (India). They are being assisted by a group of active and concerned Hermonites from all over the world.

   The Methodist Bishop, who resides in Bangalore and who is temporarily the Chairman of the Managing Committee of the school, has been briefed on the prevailing situation. We are eagerly awaiting his response to our proposals.  However, irrespective of what the Managing Committee decides on MH’s future the campaign for MH Revival must go on. The present crisis has motivated us into action. This is a good thing and must go on. We must say and sing the hymn “We Shall Overcome” and mean it and show the world that we can triumph over all our trials and tribulations.

   They may succeed in taking a Hermonite out of Mount Hermon, but they will never succeed in taking Mount Hermon out of a Hermonite!

   We must continue to believe that the Almighty is on our side and that He has a great future for MH and that while the past has been great and small the best is yet to come!

Hail Mount Hermon! And Happy Birthday to MH and All Hermonites!

(Jigme N Kazi)

President

Hermonites International (Hi!)

Email: jigmekazi@gmail.com

+9434630097

Gangtok, Sikkim

March 12, 2012

BHUTAN BECKONS, SO LONG SIKKIM!

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
(The Bible, 2 Timothy 4:7)

To those who know me well this move will not come as a surprise. After nearly three and half decades in Sikkim I’ve now decided to move on and pursue my next dream – to set up what hopefully will one day become one of finest educational institutions in the Himalaya.
Last month, me and some of the ex-students and staff of our alma mater, Mount Hermon School, Darjeeling, decided to start a boarding school in Paro Valley in western Bhutan. The location seems perfect in all respect. Ah, a school up on the mountain and down by the river!
My active engagement with Sikkim affairs came to an end in the summer of 2004. I spent the past decade or so tying up loose ends and now its almost time for me to move on. There’s a calling to which I must respond timely and positively.

So I call upon all my friends and fellow Hermonites, family members and relatives, supporters and sympathisers, allies and adversaries et al to wish me luck in my new mission. Your continued support and contribution – cash & kind, ideas & inputs etc. – will be greatly appreciated. We are thinking big but starting small.
Therefore, help us to move forward inch by inch, step by step, one day at a time towards the fulfilment of our hopes and aspirations.
Cheers!

(Posted on my Facebook page on March 7, 2017)

Former CJI Justice Altamas Kabir is no more

“India has lost a legal luminary”

Hailed as one of the brilliant judges of the Supreme Court, former Chief Justice of India, Justice (Retired) Altamas Kabir passed away on Sunday (Feb 19) after prolonged illness. He was 68.

Justice Kabir was unwell for quite some time. Suffering from kidney-related ailments, Justice Kabir was admitted to a private hospital in the city last week. He breathed his last in Kolkata, where he spent many years as lawyer. Justice Kabir is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son.

Justice Altamas Kabir enrolled as an Advocate in 1973 at Kolkata Bar Association. Justice Kabir practised in the District Court of Calcutta and later in the Calcutta High Court. Nephew of the well-known Bengal writer and politician, Humayun Kabir, Altamas Kabir was known for his erudition and tongue-in-cheek humour.

Former and late Chief Justice of India Justice Altamas Kabir being felicitated by alumni (Hermonites) of Mt. Hermon School (Darjeeling) at his residence in New Delhi in 2012 after being appointed as the 39th Chief Justice of India. (Left to Right) Advocate Mahesh Singh, Jigme N Kazi, Justice Altamas Kabir, Krishna Goenka, Advocate Udai P. Sharma and Karan Anand.

Born on July 19, 1948 in Kolkata, Justice Kabir completed his LLB and MA from the University of Calcutta. The soft-spoken judge started his legal career in 1973 when he enrolled as an advocate.

As a lawyer Justice Kabir was considered an authority in both Civil and Criminal cases. As an advocate, Kabir practised in the Calcutta high court and the district session court between early 1970s and late 1980. He was appointed as a judge in the Calcutta High Court in 1990.

In March 2005, Justice Altamas Kabir was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. Later that year, he was elevated to the Supreme Court on September 9. Three years later, he was appointed the 39th Chief Justice of India on September 29, 2012. He retired on July 18, 2013 after a brief tenure of about nine months. Justice Kabir was the fourth Muslim to hold the top post in India’s history.

Justice Kabir’s amicable behaviour endeared him to fellow judges and lawyers.

Says Supreme Court advocate Parmanand Pandey, “In the death of Justice Altamas Kabir,we have lost a judge, who gave more importance to equity in his verdicts. He was very indulgent to lawyers in giving patient hearings.Courts presided over by him used to sit normally up to 6 or 6.30 p.m. Once he heard me quite at length and I thought to have carried the day.While dictating the order, he was about to dismiss my SLP but in the nick of the time the then puisne judge RM Lodha whispered something to him in his ears prompting Justice Kabir to ask for some clarification from me, which turned the table in my favour. I never saw him misbehaving with anybody. 
He was eclectic and humane to the core.One of his sisters is married to a Hindu and another cousin Liela Kabir is to a Christian and famous politician George Fernandes.His uncle Humayun Kabir was a known Bengali writer and a freedom fighter.”

Born in Faridpur (now in Bangladesh) on July 19, 1948, Justice Kabir studied at Mount Hermon School in Darjeeling and Calcutta Boys School and Presidency College, Kolkata.

He is the nephew of late union minister Humayun Kabir, who served with Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

During his brief tenure as Chief Justice of India, Justice Kabir delivered several landmark judgments particularly on human rights and election laws.

As the Chief Justice, he was part of the Supreme Court Bench which heard the case of the two Italian marines in 2013.

In another noted judgement in December 2012 as the Chief Justice of India, Justice Kabir along with Justice H.L. Dattu directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to go ahead with its probe into the disproportionate assets case against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav.

In May 2011, Justice Kabir with Justice Cyriac Joseph, quashed the disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs by the then Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah as it did not fulfil the criterion of natural justice and fair play.

Expressing her condolences Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: “Condolences on the passing of former CJ Altamas Kabir ji. My thoughts with his family/colleagues. India & Bengal have lost a legal luminary.”

(Ref: India Today, The Hindu, Hindustan Times)

China teases India, blocks a Brahmaputra tributary in Tibet to build dam

As India mulls utilizing its full entitlement under Indus Waters Treaty to make Pakistan feel the pinch of its terror policy, China has teased India again in Tibet. China has blocked an important tributary of Brahmaputra river to construct a dam in Tibet.

The state-run news agency of China, Xinhua has reported that China "on Friday blocked a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo (the Tibetan name for Brahmaputra) River as part of its most expensive hydro project." The hydel power project is cause of concern for India as the dam may impact the flow of water into the lower riparian countries including Bangladesh.

"The Lalho project on the Xiabuqu River in Xigaze (which is very close to Sikkim), involves an investment of 4.95 billion yuan (740 million U.S. dollars)," Xinhua reported.

Xigaze is also known as Shigatse and it is from this location Brahmaputra flows into Arunachal Pradesh.

The hydel project was launched in June, 2014 and scheduled to be completed in 2019. Its reservoir was designed to store up to 295 million cubic meters of water, the agency reported.

NOT THE FIRST DAM

This is not the first time that China has tried to alter the flow of rivers, flowing into India. In 2015, China operationlised the largest hydel project in Tibet, Zam Hydropower Station, built on Brahamputra river.

China's first dam on the main upper reaches of the Brahmaputra was built at Zangmu in 2010. The green light was given for three more dams in the 2011-15 five-year plan, on which work is on-going.

Though, China has maintained that its dams are run of the river projects, which are not designed to hold water, India has expressed deep concern over the implementation of the hydel project. The hydropower project on Brahmaputra or its tributaries make the northeastern states vulnerable for both untimely flood and lack of water.

NO WATER TREATY

There is no water treaty between India and China but the two countries have devised an Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) on trans-border rivers. The two governments signed a memorandum of understanding on strengthening cooperation on trans-border rivers under which Beijing provides data to India on the water flows.

China's decision to block a Brahmaputra tributary came at a time when India has mounted diplomatic and strategic offensive against Pakistan in the aftermath of Uri terror attack, in which 19 jawans lost their lives. China's response to Uri attack and subsequent developments has been very guarded.

Some of the rivers under the Indus Waters Treaty originate in Tibet including Indus and Satluj.

(India Today – Oct 1, 2016)

THE WAY WE FOUGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS  

   A decade and seven years ago, six Sikkimese representing the three ethnic communities of Sikkim – Lepchas, Bhutias and Nepalese – held a 12-hour hunger strike in Gangtok on October 2, 1999, demanding restoration of their political rights on seat reservation in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly.

(Left to Right) Tenzing Namgyal, Jigme N. Kazi, Nima Lepcha, Pintso Bhutia, K.C. Pradhan and Gyamsay Bhutia.

   The participants were:  the Late K.C. Pradhan, former Minister and Advisor of the Sikkimese Nepalese Apex Committee (SNAC), Nima Lepcha and Pintso Bhutia, Convenors of the Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha Apex Committee (SIBLAC), Jigme N. Kazi, Chairman of the Organisation of Sikkimese Unity (OSU), and Tenzing Namgyal and Gyamsay Bhutia of the SIBLAC.

   The protestors “sought the blessing of the ‘Father of the Nation’ and the Guardian Deities of Sikkim in their struggle on restoration of their political rights” as reflected in Article 371F of the Constitution of India.

   “We held the hunger strike on October 2 to remind the world that we were determined to struggle on till our demand on restoration of our political rights were met. While others fought the elections we fought for our people. We are not concerned with who wins or loses in the polls; our main concern was that if the Assembly seats were not restored to us in the near future we would be the ultimate losers and the electoral process would then become a meaningless ritual as the Sikkimese people would have no future to look forward to.”

Ref: The Lone Warrior: Exiled In My Homeland, by Jigme N. Kazi, published by Hill Media Publications, Gangtok, 2014. 

After surgical strike, China 'hopes' India, Pakistan can resolve issues through dialogue

By IANS , Sept 29, 2016

BEIJING: Following India's claim that it launched "surgical strikes" on the terrorist launch pads in Pakistani Kashmir on Thursday, China has said that Beijing was in touch with both New Delhi and Islamabad through "various channels".

Responding to a question during the daily briefing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson here said: "We hope that they (India and Pakistan) can carry out dialogues to properly resolve disputes and maintain regional peace and security."

The statement comes after tensions between Pakistan and India escalated after India announced that it has carried out surgical strikes on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control, which divides Jammu and Kashmir between the two countries.

Pakistan has dismissed Indian claims that it carried out any strike on terrorist launch pads on territory under its control.

The spokesman added that China was a friendly neighbour to both Pakistan and India.

Asked about the Kashmir issue, the spokesperson said: "China has been following the Kashmir situation and takes seriously Pakistan's position on Kashmir."

"China believes that the Kashmir issue is a left-over from history which shall be resolved by relevant parties through dialogue and consultation." (The New Indian Express)

Column

The next president unbound by the 'Obama overreach'

By Victor Davis Hanson

Donald Trump’s supporters see a potential Hillary Clinton victory in November as the end of any conservative chance to restore small government, constitutional protections, fiscal sanity and personal liberty.

Clinton’s progressives swear that a Trump victory would spell the implosion of America as they know it, alleging Trump parallels with every dictator from Josef Stalin to Adolf Hitler.

Part of the frenzy over 2016 as a make-or-break election is because a closely divided Senate’s future may hinge on the coattails of the presidential winner. An aging U.S. Supreme Court may also translate into perhaps three to four court picks for the next president.

Yet such considerations only partly explain the current election frenzy.

The model of the imperial Obama presidency is the greater fear. Over the last eight years, President Barack Obama has transformed the powers of presidency in a way not seen in decades.

Congress talks grandly of “comprehensive immigration reform,” but Obama, as he promised with his pen and phone, bypassed the House and Senate to virtually open the border with Mexico. He issued executive-order amnesties. He allowed entire cities to be exempt from federal immigration law.

Perils of presidential power

The Senate used to ratify treaties. In the past, a president could not unilaterally approve the Treaty of Versailles, enroll the United States in the League of Nations, fight in Vietnam or Iraq without congressional authorization, change existing laws by non-enforcement, or rewrite bankruptcy laws.

Not now. Obama set a precedent that he did not need Senate ratification to make a landmark treaty with Iran on nuclear enrichment.

He picked and chose which elements of the Affordable Care Act would be enforced — predicated on his 2012 re-election efforts.

Rebuffed by Congress, Obama is now slowly shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention center by insidiously having inmates sent to other countries.

Respective opponents of both Trump and Clinton should be worried.

Either winner could follow the precedent of allowing any sanctuary city or state in the United States to be immune from any federal law found displeasing — from the liberal Endangered Species Act and federal gun registration laws to conservative abortion restrictions.

Could anyone complain if Trump’s secretary of state were investigated by Trump’s attorney general for lying about a private email server — in the manner of Clinton being investigated by Loretta Lynch?

Would anyone object should a President Trump agree to a treaty with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the same way Obama overrode Congress with the Iran deal?

If a President Clinton decides to strike North Korea, would she really need congressional authorization, considering Obama’s unauthorized Libyan bombing mission?

What would Americans say if President Trump’s IRS — mirror-imaging Lois Lerner — hounded the progressive nonprofit organizations of George Soros?

Partisans are shocked that the press does not go after Trump’s various inconsistencies and fibs about his supposed initial opposition to the Iraq War, or press him on the details of Trump University.

Conservatives counter that Clinton has never had to come clean about the likely illegal pay-for-play influence peddling of the Clinton Foundation or her serial lies about her private email server.

But why, if elected, should either worry much about media scrutiny?

Obama established the precedent that a president should be given a pass on lying to the American people. Did Americans, as Obama repeatedly promised, really get to keep their doctors and health plans while enjoying lower premiums and deductibles, as the country saved billions through his Affordable Care Act?

More recently, did Obama mean to tell a lie when he swore that he sent cash to the Iranians only because he could not wire them the money — when in truth the administration had wired money to Iran in the past? Was cash to Iran really not a ransom for American hostages, as the president asserted?

Can the next president, like Obama, double the national debt and claim to be a deficit hawk?

Congress has proven woefully inept at asserting its constitutional right to check and balance Obama’s executive overreach. The courts have often abdicated their own oversight.

But the press is the most blameworthy. White House press conferences now resemble those in the Kremlin, with journalists tossing Putin softball questions about his latest fishing or hunting trip.

One reason Americans are scared about the next president is that they should be.

In 2017, a President Trump or President Clinton will be able to do almost anything he or she wishes without much oversight — thanks to the precedent of Obama’s overreach, abetted by a lapdog press that forgot that the ends never justify the means. (Chicago Tribune)

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of “The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.”