Gorkhaland is possible on linguistic minority basis: Luizinho Faleiro GANGTOK, July 29: “I feel that the Gorkhas should be given a separate State on the basis of linguistic minority. Goa was given the status of a separate State when I led the demand on the basis of linguistic minority”, said Luizinho Faleiro, the AICC member and Sikkim in-charge of Congress. Speaking to a delegation team of Sikkim chapter of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh Faleiro assured to take up the Gorkhaland issue with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Sikkim unit of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) today met Faleiro in Gangtokand submitted a memorandum for the support of the Congress party towards the Gorkhaland demand. In its memorandum, the Sikkim BGP highlighted to the Congress leader about century old demand of Indian Gorkha community for the separate State ofGorkhaland. “It is a demand of 12.5 million Indian Gorkhas spread over 22 states of India, including Sikkim”, said the Parisangh in its memorandum while adding that it is a national organization spread all over the country looking after the welfare of 12.5 million Indian Gorkhas. The Parisangh also highlighted its seven main points to the visiting Congress leader besides presenting a document on Gorkhas to him The Parisangh also briefed the Congress leader that the Gorkhaland issue is more of a national identity issue of the Indian Gorkhas. Faleiro advised the Parisangh to take up the issue on a national level. He justified the demand for Gorkhaland for the national identity of Indian Gorkhas. He said that if the Gorkhas were given the status of a linguistic minority then the separate State of Gorkhaland will be possible. Morcha wants SDOs out - Only elected representatives for municipalities: Gurung outfit

Darjeeling Municipality: In crisis? TT, Darjeeling, July 29: An administrative crisis is brewing in the three hill municipalities of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha objecting to the state government’s decision to run the civic bodies with the help of the respective subdivisional officers. With no hill resident filing nominations to the municipality elections following the Morcha’s boycott call, the government had decided to constitute a four-member board to run each municipality. From July 14 — a day after the five-year term of the municipalities came to an end — the SDOs were supposed to be assisted by the outgoing chairperson, vice-chairperson and a representative of the deputy director of local bodies. Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the spokesperson of the Morcha, said today: “We do not want the SDOs to head these local bodies as they are not elected representatives and have no idea of the people’s aspirations. An SDO heading a municipality would mean that we are handing over local self-governing bodies to the state government as an officer would be the signing authority (authorised to sign all cheques, normally done by a chairperson).” The Morcha has conveyed its objection to the state government and has proposed that the civic bodies should consist of the outgoing chairperson, vice-chairperson and the chairperson-in-council instead of the SDO. The number of chairpersons-in-council varies from one municipality to another, depending on the number of seats. The Morcha objection could hamper development projects in the civic areas as the outgoing chairpersons and vice-chairpersons, who are knowledgeable about the functioning of the civic bodies, may refuse to assist the SDOs. The Morcha which has linked the holding of the municipality elections to a three- tier panchayat system in the hills, today reiterated that it would not budge from its stand. “We want the three-tier panchayat to be implemented,” said Chhetri. “Accepting the present one-tier panchayat means that we are legitimising the DGHC.” His party led by Bimal Gurung has been agitating for Gorkhaland and is against the DGHC, which is a symbol of autonomy rather than statehood. As long as the DGHC exists, Gorkhaland may be far away, the party feels. A two-tier panchayat system came into existence after the DGHC headed by Subhas Ghisingh was created in 1989. Ghisingh did not want the powers of the panchayat samitis to clash with the DGHC and so did not ever allow the election to the second tier to be held. Since then only gram panchayats existed in the hills. From 2005, Ghisingh stopped elections to the panchayats as well saying that the Sixth Schedule status, which would have a different set-up, would be soon conferred on the hills. Surendra Gupta, the district magistrate of Darjeeling, admitted that the Morcha had written to him about its reservation. “The state government is of the opinion that since elections cannot be held, the municipality has to be run by an officer as per the norms of the municipality act. However, the government would be responding to the letter written by the Morcha.” Security GJMM focus for talks SNS, SILIGURI, 29 JULY: The GJMM leadership would stress most on the national security issue at the tripartite dialogue slated on 11 August in New Delhi. The party is now busy formulating the series of issues hitherto unaddresed in the previous two rounds of tripartite negotiations held on the question of Gorkhaland. The GJMM general secretary, Mr Roshan Giri today said that the proposed Gorkhaland state being surrounded by four international borders the national security question had assumed paramount significance. “We would like to emphasize that the formation of a separate state must prove a bulwark against the security threat from across the country's international border. The ceaseless influx from neighbouring Bangladesh with the political connivance and its serious security implications for our country would also figure prominently in course of the scheduled dialogue,” Mr Giri said. “The issue came up in the previous rounds of talks. We would this time project our views on the sensitive matter in the form of a memorandum which is being prepared now,” the GJMM leader said. Speaking on the matter, the party's media secretary, Mr Harka Bahadur Chettri said that they would address the security apprehensions centering round their statehood demand as expressed from the official sides during the two previous round of talks. “We would enlighten the Centre that the formation of Gorkhaland would help the country meet the security threat from across the international frontiers instead of the other way round. There is absolutely no reason to apprehend that the separate homeland for the Gorkha community in the strategically sensitive region would compromise the security perception of the country. Rather the reverse is true,” he said. He further stated that the party was busy giving the final shape to the issues they would raise at the talks. “We are finding out the important issues left unaddresed in the last two rounds. The deliberation would continue for some days to finalize the issues we would like to place in the dialogue agenda,” Mr Chettri added. BJP keen on pact with hill party for civic polls The office of Jaswant Singh opened at Ashrampara in Siliguri on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo TT, Siliguri, July 29: The BJP today said it would prefer to keep its “alliance” with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and they would together field candidates in the coming Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections. The BJP had fielded Jaswant Singh in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency and won the seat with the support extended by the Morcha. “We are in touch with the Morcha leaders. We have together won the Darjeeling parliament seat. Our party is interested in contesting the SMC elections on the same understanding and strategy and have high hopes that the alliance will perform well,” Biswapriya Roychoudhury, the Bengal general secretary of the BJP, said here today. Roychoudhury, who inaugurated an office of the Darjeeling MP at Ashrampara in town, said the alliance would contest all the 47 wards of the civic body on September 13. “Parleys are on with the Morcha leadership regarding the seat-sharing. I will be back in Siliguri in mid-August to finalise the candidates’ list. We are always in favour of forming an anti-Left civic board and will strive for that,” said the BJP leader. He also said the BJP was aware of the tie-up between two major anti-Left forces. “We know that the Congress and the Trinamul Congress will forge an alliance and want to clarify that no political party has approached us so far to form any alliance or for even an informal understanding. We are keeping our options open. If the BJP’s local leaders feel that it is imperative to keep the Left out of the power, they are free to take their own decision on tie-ups. The state leadership will not intervene,” said Roychoudhury. Arun Prasad Sarkar, the Darjeeling district president of the BJP, said the office would help Jaswant Singh interact with the residents in the plains of his constituency. “We hope that the office will contribute in speeding up development works likely to be taken up by our leader in the constituency.” Sikkim party for motion to get back Darjeeling SNS, GANGTOK, 29 JULY: The Gorkha Rastriya Congress (GORAC), a political outfit has urged the Sikkim Democratic Front -led state government to pass a resolution in the state Assembly in favor of unification of Sikkim and Darjeeling. The 32-member Sikkim legislative assembly is now in session. Citing historical evidence of Darjeeling being part of Sikkim, Mr DK Bomzon, president of GORAC urged the state government to reclaim its lost territory Stressing on the need of a separate state to resolve the identity crisis of the Gorkha people in India, he said that the proposed Gorkhaland territory was never a part of West Bengal in history. “If Sikkim claims the Darjeeling Hills the West Bengal government would have no alternative but to accede to the claim. The state government itself stated the Darjeeling Hills as part of Sikkim in a resolution passed in the state Assembly some years ago,” Mr Bomzon said. He further suggested that the combined territory could be renamed ‘Gorkhaland and Sikkim’and would be made an autonomous state on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir. “If that is not acceptable, Sikkim can pass a resolution to create a separate Gorkhaland state,” he said. The Gorkha Rastriya Congress has been raising voices in favour of Sikkim-Darjeeling merger over the last ten years. Sikkim party likely to merge with Cong SNS, GANGTOK, 29 JULY: Setting aside ideological differences, the Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad Party, a Sikkim-based regional outfit is likely to merge into the Sikkim Pradesh Congress Party. The state Congress sources informed that the SHRP had already submitted a memorandum to the Congress High Command over the merger proposal and it was under consideration. The merger is likely to take place in the presence of the AICC member in charge of Sikkim Mr Luizinho Faleiro who is camping now in Gangtok. When asked to comment on the matter, the state Congress president Mr Nar Bahadur Bhandari said that the issue lay with the SHRP leadership. The Congress and the SHRP were mauled at the hands of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front in the last Parliamentary elections. Viewed against this backdrop, the merger move might be construed as an attempt by the Opposition to put forward a challenge to the ruling party. Earlier in February 2009, three national parties, namely the Congress, BJP and CPI (M) and two regional parties, Sikkim Gorkha Prajatantrik Party and the SHRP formed the United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance. But it failed to make any dent into the SDF's support base in the state as was evident from the election outcome. Ramjhora land deed on cards - workers await dwelling rights The closed Ramjhora Tea Estate: Deal done TT, Alipurduar, July 29: The workers of the closed Ramjhora Tea Estate are all set to be the first in Bengal to be handed over settlement papers or pattas for their homestead land. The principal secretary of the land and land reforms department, P.K. Agarwal, said over the phone from Calcutta today that Ramjhora had been chosen as the estate had no owner and was free of any lease agreement. He had visited the garden, located in Alipurduar subdivision, on June 7. “After the cancellation of the lease, the Ramjhora garden land is once again vested with the government. So, we decided to hand over settlement papers to the workers staying there. We are currently undertaking a survey on the number of workers and their homestead land. A departmental team will visit the garden on August 8 to review the progress of the survey. Hopefully, we will be able to hand over the papers to the workers in three months,” said Agarwal. The official said he was looking for a new owner as the workers had requested him during his visit to Ramjhora. He added that six of the 13 closed gardens in the Dooars would reopen before the Pujas this year as the negotiations to find new owners for them were in their final stages. Agarwal said there was a problem in distributing settlement rights to workers of gardens where the owners had leased land. “We are trying to look for a solution to the problem and are planning to keep the homestead land out of the purview of future lease agreements. Ramjhora will be the first tea estate where the labourers will be given land title deeds.” Ramesh Sharma, the Ramjhora secretary of the Intuc-affiliated National Union of Plantation Workers, said the labourers had appealed to the state government for land rights. “Once the workers get the rights, they will be able to use the deeds for bank loans and can set up shops and even construct rooms for tourists,” said Sharma. Ramjhora was shut down on August 11, 2002 when the number of registered workers was 1,103. Since then, 137 workers have died and the garden is plagued with drinking water crisis, leading to health problems among the dwellers. Principal of technical institution gheraoed SNS, Kurseong 29 JULY: The Jan Mukti Vidhyarthi Morcha and the students of Darjeeling Polytechnic Institutions today gheraoed the principal of the institution at 10.30 a.m. this morning and are yet to release him. The Jan Mukti Vidhyarthi Morcha Kurseong branch president Mr Sonam Lama said that for the last few months they have served several representations on several demands to the principal of the institution and other concerned authorities but so far no proper response has been made. Hence, they have taken more determined steps. The principal, Mr Pujan Sarkar, said that he had forwarded the representatives to the concerned authorities, including the director of the technical institution and the secretary of the state council, several times. He added: “I have already done what I can do from my side and have been in touch with the concerned authorities regarding the demands of the students.” Mr Lama said that since they had not received any proper response from the government, of which the principal is a part, they have decided to make him an instrument to pressurise the government. RISE IN CASES OF HIV/AIDS AFFECTED CHILDREN Lok Sabha News: 29 July, PIB: DS/GK With the expansion of Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (ICTC) from 1476 to 5155 and facilities for providing treatment from 52 to 217, the number of detected HIV positive children increased from 2253 in November, 2006, to a cumulative total of 52,973 in May, 2009. The year-wise, state-wise number of HIV positive children is given in Annexure 1. All HIV/AIDS patients are provided free laboratory investigations and treatment in various Government supported facilities. At present, 7,58,698 HIV+ persons are being provided services under National AIDS Control Programme (Phase-III). For advanced cases of AIDS, free investigations and treatment facilities are available in 217 medical facilities where treatment is being provided with Anti-retroviral drugs to 2,32,908 patients, of whom 14,474 are children. 10 Centres of Excellence have also been established for providing second line Anti-retroviral Treatment to 460 patients who are resistant to first line ARV drugs. In addition, 7 Regional Pediatric Centres have also been established to treat complicated cases of AIDS in children. State-wise number of ART Centres and Centres of Excellence are given in Annexure 2. Measures taken by the Government to check spread of HIV infection include Targeted Interventions for High Risk Groups, Blood Safety programme, Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections, Integrated Counseling and testing services, Prevention of Parent to Child transmission, condom promotion and public awareness programme. The major source of infection in children is through vertical transmission of the HIV virus from their positive pregnant mother to the infant. To arrest this trend, the Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) Programme is being implemented since 2002. Under this programme, services relating to short term prophylactic drug treatment and safe delivery practices including counseling & safe infant feeding methods are provided to HIV infected pregnant woman. In the year 2008, a total of 41 lakh pregnant women were counseled and tested, of whom 19,986 were found positive and 10,179 mother baby pair received prophylactic treatment to prevent transmission from infected mother to infant. Comprehensive preventive, care and treatment services have resulted into stabilization of HIV epidemic. The prevalence of HIV has reduced from 0.45% in 2002 to 0.34% in 2007. Some high prevalence States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra have also shown decline in HIV prevalence rates. This information was given by Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

AID FOR BPL CANCER PATIENTS

Lok Sabha News, PIB. 29 July:The Government has recently set up the “Health Minister’s Cancer Patient Fund (CPF) to provide financial assistance to Below Poverty Line (BPL) cancer patients. The Cancer Patient Fund has been established as a separate corpus within the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) with a total outlay of Rs. 100 crore to be utilized specifically for treatment of BPL cancer patients in the country. This fund would be managed and monitored through the management and technical committee of the RAN. This information was given by Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

INDO BHUTAN JOINT TECHNICAL TEAM ON FLOOD MANAGEMENT

Lok Sabha News, PIB, 29 July:A Joint Group of Experts (JGE) and a Joint Technical Team (JTT) on flood management have been constituted a Joint Group of Experts (JGE) on Flood Management has been constituted between India and Bhutan to discuss and assess the probable causes and effects of the recurring floods and erosion in the southern foothills of Bhutan and adjoining plains in India and recommend to both Governments appropriate and mutually acceptable remedial measures.

The first meeting of JGE was held in Bhutan from 1st to 5th November, 2004. The JGE had series of discussions and also made field visits to some of the affected areas which included the sites prone to landslides and dolomite mining areas. Based on the discussions, the JGE felt that a more detailed technical examination is required and accordingly a Joint Technical Team (JTT) under the Chairmanship of Member (PID), North Bengal Flood Control Commission was constituted.

JTT held its first meeting in April, 2005 and studied some sources of sediment load, nature of slides and suggested further studies and preparation of maps to be taken up for deciding remedial measures to be recommended by the JTT. JTT also recommended in its preliminary report the followings short term and long term remedial measures:

i) Delineation and inventory of micro and macro watersheds common to India and Bhutan.

ii) Identification of potential hazard zones and presentation of zonation maps.

iii) Impact assessment of degradation in the upper reaches and the impacts on fluvial dynamics of rivers of North Bengal.

iv) Impact assessment of land use pattern.

v) Frequency and periodicity of extreme events (rainstorms) in the areas of adjoining Bhutan and North Bengal.

Second meeting of JGE was held on February 26-27, 2008 at New Delhi. In the meeting, the preliminary report of Joint Technical Team, report of Joint visit (Dec. 2006) by India - Bhutan Experts Team to Tsatichu Lake in Bhutan, Permission of Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) for construction of bullheads (caged deflector) on river Manas near Mathanguri and the issue of sudden release of water from Hydro-electric projects in Bhutan leading to floods in Indian territory were discussed. After detailed discussions, the JTT was reconstituted with the modified Term of Reference (ToR) to include some rivers/streams to be identified by JTT based on their field visit, flowing from Bhutan into Assam, for further studies/recommendations for remedial measures.

It was also recommended by JGE that the JTT should recommend specific studies required for qualitative and quantitative sediment assessment for rivers. In regard to short term and long term measures indicated in JTT report it was decided that JTT may review and provide the specific recommendations. Further, during the meeting, it was decided to undertake another joint visit by India and Bhutan Experts Teams to the landslide dam (Tsatichu) site in 2008. In the meeting it was also recommended that the JGE should meet twice a year.

The recommendations of the 2nd meeting of JGE were accepted by the Government and the JTT has been reconstituted with Chief Engineer, Central Water Commission, Shillong as Leader of Indian side.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Water Resources, Shri Vincent H. Pala in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

CONNFERENCE OF TOURISM SECRETARIES DISCUSSES EXPERIENCES ON INNOVATIVE PROJECTS, INITIATIVES AND BEST PRACTICES ADOPTED BY THE STATES FOR DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION OF TOURISM

PIB, 29 July:A day long Conference of State/Union Territories Tourism Secretaries was held here on 28th July, 2008 under the chairmanship of Union Secretary of Tourism Shri Sujit Banerjee. The objective of the Conference was to interact with the States/Union Territories and share the experiences on innovative projects, initiatives and best practices adopted by the States for development and promotion of tourism. Experience of innovative projects and new initiatives were shared by some of the States. The upgradation of dhabas, restaurants, and introduction of a unique mobile guide facility in Madhya Pradesh, introduction of Hop on - Hop off tour and tourism friendly auto rickshaws with trained drivers in Chennai, Farm House tourism with village culture and cuisine as its main components in Punjab and constitution of Amer Development Authority for development and conservation of Amer in Jaipur were the key features of the presentations made during the conference. Thereafter, there were discussions among the States on these new initiatives. To meet the demand of skilled manpower in the tourism industry, discussions on broad basing of hospitality education, training and skill development and certification were held. The initiatives taken by the Ministry on broad basing of hospitality education, 6-8 weeks skill training programmes for youth who have passed standard-8 for those employed in the sector and skill certification programme were highlighted. The States/UTs were urged to make use of such initiatives and central financial assistance for creating quality hospitality training infrastructure and development of human resource as per the needs of the sector. Union Secretary of Tourism Shri Sujit Banerjee also urged the States/UTs for speedy implementation and monitoring of the projects sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism. He said Several mega projects have been sanctioned during the last two years. This is our flagship programme for holistic development of destinations and circuits. We therefore, need to monitor the progress of these projects on a regular basis to ensure their timely implementation, Shri Banerjee added. He also advised the Tourism Secretaries to take advantage of the conference on World Class Infrastructure being held on August 19, 2009 so that the work of conservation, landscaping etc. may be standardized to world class level. He emphasized that quality of the infrastructure has to be ensured. The representative of National Informatics Centre (NIC) made a detailed presentation on the Project Monitoring Information System (PMIS), a new software, the Ministry is going to launch shortly for effective monitoring and online submission of project proposals by the States/UTs. The Ministry stressed on creation of tourist amenities like toilets and wayside amenities to facilitate travelers. Sulabh International has offered the expertise for this purpose. The representative of the National Highway Authority of India also made a presentation about the progress of creation of wayside amenities along the national highways. He highlighted some of the locations that have already been identified for creation of Wayside amenities. The Ministry of Tourism also discussed the matter with a view to explore the possibility for integrating its efforts with the concerned agencies for creation of wayside amenities for tourists.