Training centre opened

TT, Kalimpong 1 Sept : The foundation stone for a vocational training centre to be run by Church of North India was laid at Mission Compound here on Tuesday. The centre is expected to be completed in one year and will offer professional and skill-development courses. The centre is being set up on a plot of one acre near Carmichael Ground and will also have hostels to house the students.

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Mrs Smriti Irani (Tulshi of Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thee) in town

KalimNews, Kalimpong 1st September : Mrs. Smriti Irani popularly known as Tulshi a character of the TV series Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thee visited Kalimpong today. She was greeted by Bharat Uday with a cultural presentation of items at Ramkrishna Ranga Mancha. Guests present i the programme were, Dr R. B Bhujel, Capt. Prakash M Pradhan, Smt Kalpana Prasad, Chandra sekhar Rao.

It is recalled that Bharat uday is an youth organisation founded on 17th june 2008 with an aim to inculcate and install sense of pride of being an Indian in every citizen of the country and work towards promotion of rural development, eradication of illiteracy, generation of awareness on environmental pollutions and prevention and campaign for health awareness.

MISBEHAVIOUR ACCUSED DIED OF HARD ATTACK

JALPAIGURI, 1 SEP: Employees of the Jalpaiguri and Malbazaar SDO offices and the DM Collectorate Avenue stopped official works after the death of a colleague Uday Narayan (42) in heart attack. The deceased was an employee of the Malbazaar SDO office. He was suspended yesterday following an alleged incident of misbehaviour with a child. According to the Jalpaiguri DM office unit of district coordination committee secretary Mr Ujjal Sarkar, the allegation was made by a 14 year- old girl Puja Sonar of Gorubatahn in the Dooars. “The girl had come to the Malbazaar SDO office on 26 August to collect her SC certificate where Narayan had allegedly misbehaved with her for making mistakes in the application form. The girl had alleged that Narayan had punished and insulted her following which her brother filed an FIR at the Malbazaar police station on 27 August. The incident created public anger and on 28 August labourers of several tea plantations demonstrated at the Malbazaar SDO office and the employee was suspended yesterday.”

The DM Jalpaiguri Mrs Vandana Yadav said they had suspended the clerk as their investigation committee found that he had scolded the girl harshly. Mr Sarkar said the allegations were false and he died today unable to bear the ignominy of suspension. SNS

Jaswant not to quit PAC chief’s post

SNS,NEW DELHI, 1 SEPT: Expelled BJP leader Mr Jaswant Singh today rejected the party's demand to step down as chairman of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), saying a decision on this can be taken only by the Lok Sabha Speaker and not by it. “I am not. This cannot be a decision that the party can take because the determination of the post and the decision is that of the Lok Sabha Speaker and not of a political party,” Mr Jaswant Singh told reporters in the Supreme Court premises on being asked about BJP asking him to resign from the post. Mr Singh also scotched speculation about his return to BJP. “You don't have to worry about it. The roads are closed,” he said when asked about the possibility of his getting back to the party. His remarks comes a day after senior BJP leader Mrs Sushma Swaraj conveyed to him the party's wish that he step down as PAC chairman. Mr Singh, being the senior-most of the three BJP MPs nominated to the PAC from the party, was appointed the chairperson of the committee. The other two BJP members are Mr Yashwant Sinha and Mr Gopinath Munde. As per convention, the chairpersonship of the PAC was given to the BJP as it is the main Opposition party. Asked about the ban on his controversial book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Gujarat, Mr Singh said Mr LK Advani and the party president Mr Rajnath Singh should have discussed the book with him before taking a decision to expel him. Brushing aside allegations of plagiarism, he said some mistakes have been pointed out which will be rectified in the book's next edition. The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Narendra Modi government on a petition filed by Mr Singh challenging the ban order. Gujarat government had banned the book on 19 August, two days after its launch, on the charge that its contents were against public tranquillity and national interest.

Mad rush for MP’s controversial book

Mohan Prasad, SNS, DARJEELING, 1 SEPT: The book ‘Jinnah India Partition Independence’ may have proved unlucky for the Darjeeling MP and ousted BJP leader Mr Jaswant Singh politically, the book is but proving a hit in the Darjeeling Hills.

There is curiosity and there is compassion among those seeking to buy the book but there is a dearth of copies, which has increased the demand further more. At the outset only one book outlet, the Oxford Book and Stationary Co. in Darjeeling town is fulfilling the people's demand but the establishment's staff admit they are failing to meet the growing demand for the book. And now, it is out of stock while the inquiries keep pouring in. According to a staff of the outlet, Mr Bal Chettri, they had received 33 copies of the book from Delhi a day after its release. “The demand started growing with Mr Singh's expulsion from the BJP and we sold off the 33 copies in a jiffy. We still have 45 orders to meet but the books are yet to arrive from Delhi,” he added. Another book outlet owner Mr Rajen Chettri said that a lot many customers have returned empty handed since the last 10 days, as he could not fulfill their demand. “I received three copies from Kolkata and made good with it. I now have another 25 orders to meet,” he claimed. While many are interested to learn the contents of the book and the history of it all, there are those like Mr Kaizer Fajali of Darjeeling, who is interested to lay hands on a copy to know the cause behind Mr Singh's expulsion and the controversy behind it all. The demand for the book is just not restricted to Darjeeling. “There is no major book outlet here to cater to our demand for the book,” lamented a Kurseong resident Mr Pema Tshering Lama. When asked why he sought the book his candid opinion was: “It must be a good historical record. Moreover, the author’s opinion is also valuable.”

Darjeeling has suffered the worst calamities’ SNS, JALPAIGURI, 1 SEPT: Darjeeling district has suffered the most among the north Bengal districts in the recent spate of calamities ranging from landslides to floods. According to a report on the subject sent to the state government by the commissioner, Jalpaiguri division Mr J Sundar Sekhar, Darjeeling district has suffered 10 landslide deaths and about Rs 160 crore worth of property loss in the post Aila natural calamities. Adding on the subject, the Darjeeling district magistrate Mr Surendra Gupta said that rain and landslides in the Darjeeling hills have so far affected 2000 houses and over 12,000 people. “We are yet to reach some remote areas and calculate the losses sustained by those spots. The Kalimpong sub-division has been affected most by the natural calamities and we are still running several relief camps,” the DM said. According to the DC's report, two persons drowned in Jalpaiguri district and overflowing water from the Teesta, Mahananda, Jaldhaka, Leesh etc. rivers affected around 79,091 people and damaged over 5,000 houses in the district. The district has also suffered crop loss on 275 hectares of land amounting to a about Rs 98, 04,500 so far. The district has suffered a property loss of about Rs 3.33 crore. In Malda, the Fulohar river has affected around 11,785 people in 24 villages of Harishchandrapur-II and Ratua-I blocks. The flood also affected crop on 521.7 hectares of land and damaged over 5000 houses while in Cooch Behar district, 12 villages comprising of around 28,654 people were affected by flood. Over 700 houses were damaged in the district. While South Dinajpur district suffered a loss of around Rs 3 crore in property damage and lost over 3312 metric ton crop, on 5,300 hectares land, North Dinajpur suffered the least in comparison. The flood affected about 2252 people in 27 villages and about 400 houses in the district. The DC said that he has sent the report to the state government and required relief measures have been initiated in the districts. Finger at garden for jaundice death

TT , Alipurduar, Sept. 1: Deaths caused by water-borne diseases continue to haunt the closed Dheklapara Tea Estate with a three-year-old girl dying of jaundice last evening. Pinki Kheria, a resident of Baider line of the garden, was suffering from jaundice and malnutrition, said Sujan Sarkar, the block medical officer of health of Madarihat-Birpara. “The girl was suffering from jaundice. But before she could be hospitalised, she died,” he added. Dheklapara in the Madarihat-Birpara block has been hit hard by water-borne diseases. Last week two children died and at least 10 people were affected by diarrhoea. Thirty-one people, including 13 children, from several nearby gardens have been admitted to Birpara State General Hospital. Eight teams of 24 health employees have been visiting the Dheklapara, Dalmore and Joy Birpara gardens for the past four days and distributing halogen tablets and bleaching powder among the workers. “With the help of loudspeakers, we are telling them the dos and don’ts. If the gardens (management) do not take necessary step (to prevent the outbreak), we can do precious little. But still we are trying our best,” said Sarkar who is leading the campaign. The sabhapati of the Madarihat-Birpara panchayat samiti, Bikash Das, has blamed the negligence of the garden authorities for the spread in the diseases. “It is clear from the visit that the management is not taking initiatives to repair or replace the century-old pipelines in gardens. The pipes are damaged and outside pollutants entering through the cracks are contaminating the water which the residents have to drink. According to the Plantations Labour Act 1951, the management is bound to provide pure drinking water, quarters and health facilities but it is not doing anything. I have requested the garden management to look into the matter,” Das said. “I have written to the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri to take necessary action so that the estate authorities repair or replace the pipes and clean the reservoirs on time. Otherwise, the situation can turn grave.” The block health officer, however, described the present situation as “under control”. He said: “The main problems in the gardens are people do drink contaminated water and do not maintain hygiene in their households, ignoring the advice of the health employees.” The health workers were distributing disinfectant to the people to mix with water but the residents were not following the tips, he alleged. Bonus hike for Dooars tea workers TT, Siliguri, Aug. 31: The over four per cent hike in bonus has brought cheers to thousands of tea garden workers in the Terai and the Dooars. The hike will be applicable to 165 estates in the Terai and the Dooars, having a workforce of about 1.75 lakh. “After many years, the consensus on bonus was reached in the first round of the meeting. Given the prosperity of tea industry in the last financial year, we have mutually agreed to the new rates,” said U.B. Das, the principal adviser to the Indian Tea Planters’ Association. “We expect the workers to contribute to the improvement in the industry with better productivity and performance.” The bipartite agreement between tea planters and trade union leaders was signed in Calcutta yesterday. While Grade A gardens will get 18 per cent of their basic salary as bonus, those in Grade D will get 13.25 per cent. But in all four grades, the hike has been by four to five per cent, which is more than double the usual rate of increase of 1.5 to 2 per cent. “The tea industry has always shared its profits with the workers and this time, things being on our side, we have agreed to the higher rates,” said Prabir Bhattacharjee, the secretary of the Dooars Branch of the Indian Tea Association. “Workers must keep in mind this initiative by the planters and put in their best efforts to see the industry flourish,” Bhattacharjee added. Trade union leaders, too, have expressed their satisfaction over the hike. “In the past seven-eight years, the rise in the bonus was minimal, unlike this year. This time, we have succeeded in persuading the planters to pay bonus at higher rates, citing the improvement in financial conditions of the industry,” said Chitta Dey, the convener of the Coordination Committee of Tea Plantation Workers, the apex body of the unions that includes the Citu and the Intuc. “Workers have welcomed the decision as over the years they were accustomed to seeing minimal rise, that, too, after several rounds of bipartite talks,” Dey added. According to the agreement, the gardens in the Terai and the Dooars which are divided into grades on the basis of production, workforce and plantation area, will disburse the bonus by September 12, industry sources said. Although the bonus has been decided, the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, which claims to be representing the tribal population of the region, has demanded that the rate be made 20 per cent of the basic salary, irrespective of the grades. “We are aware of the profits earned by the estates in the past financial year and we want the bonus to be paid at 20 per cent,” a Parishad leader said. The bonus for garden workers in the Darjeeling hills is yet to be decided. The last round of talks over the issue, which was held last week, remained inconclusive. The date for the next round of negotiation has not yet been fixed. However, sources in the industry said the Darjeeling Tea Association would be under pressure following the hike in the Terai and the Dooars. The gardens in the hills always pay at a higher rate compared to those in plains and foothills. The Paljor stadium in Gangtok where the All India Sikkim Governor’s Gold Cup Football Tournament will start on September 5. Twenty teams, including Convenant Sporting Club from Nigeria, Three Star from Nepal and Bhutan XI, will participate in the soccer meet, which will end on September 22. The tournament is being organised by the Sikkim Football Association. Picture by Prabin Khaling, TT Dial China via Nathu-la TT ,Gangtok, Aug. 31: Reliance Communications and China Telecom have established the first direct terrestrial telecommunication link between Chinese and domestic markets through Nathu-la in Sikkim. The link was provided on Friday when the two telecom companies completed the laying of over 200km-long cable that passes through the inhospitable terrain of the 14,200ft high mountain pass. Bilateral trade between India and China is conducted through Nathu-la. The cable, linking Yadong in China with Siliguri in India, will provide direct connectivity between all major Indian and Chinese locations as well as expanding high-bandwidth coverage to more rural and urban areas in both the countries, sources in Reliance Communications said. Prior to this link, the only connectivity option between the two countries was undersea cable routes through Hong Kong or Singapore. However, the undersea networks were vulnerable to disruption from typhoons and earthquakes, the sources said. Both international traders and consumers in the region will benefit from the link, which is expected to improve Internet connectivity and voice clarity. Punit Garg, the president of Reliance Communications, said: “India and China represent the largest growing economies in the world and the current global economic environment requires ever increasing high-bandwidth, converged applications to be run between two domestic markets.” Describing the cable link as a “landmark”, Han YiHu, the managing director of China Telecom, said: “This represents many years of planning and hard work. We are very pleased with the increased dedicated bandwidth availability, connection speed and security this cable will provide to Chinese based enterprises and consumers.” Countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and even Pakistan and Bangladesh will also benefit in the long term. The Sikkim Chamber of Commerce has congratulated the telecom companies for the feat. “This is another milestone in improving the relationship between the two Asian giants,” said S.K. Sarda, its president. Pollution pledge must for permission - Siliguri organisers told to give undertakings, pandal scramble for Mamata & men TT, Siliguri, Aug. 31: Nineteen Durga Puja organisers in Siliguri will have to give individual undertakings while taking permission to hold this year’s festivity. September 16 has been set as the deadline for submitting the undertakings in which the organisers have to declare that they would abide by pollution control norms. Not only that, while applying for permission, the organisers have to mention the time of immersion, route map of the immersion procession, approximate number of people who will be in the procession and the number of vehicles as well. “Of the 19 clubs here, 15 in the Siliguri police station area (and rest are under Pradhannagar police station) violated the West Bengal Pollution Control Board’s sound pollution norms by using loudspeakers last year,” an officer of the Siliguri police said. “This year, we will request the puja organisers to take necessary measures, as the members of the pollution control board will also visit the different pandals to monitor the situation,” the officer added. He, however, did not elaborate on the punitive measures that will be taken against organisers who violate the rules on sound pollution. “Organisers will have to submit undertakings and the law will take its course if any one reneges on the promise,” the official said. Pollution control board sources said all organisers would have to restrict the use of loudspeakers. “They cannot be used after 10pm,” a board official said. The Siliguri police had yesterday organised a meeting with the representatives of different organisers at a private hall in Burdwan Road here. About 100 representatives from several clubs had participated in the meeting. They assured the law enforcers of maximum co-operation during the festivities. “We had always tried to stick to the rules of pollution control. This year, we will be even more cautious,” said Bhaskar Majumdar, the assistant secretary of a Pradhannagar-based club. D.P. Singh, the superintendent of police of Darjeeling, said: “During the puja, we will visit the pandals to check the measures taken to prevent fire, power consumption and whether there is enough space for pandal hoppers. We will also check the entry and exit routes. Apart from that, close circuit televisions will be installed in some of the vital points of the city and there will traffic restrictions as well. But the arrangements will be finalised only after the coming Siliguri Municipal Corporation polls.” Inter college debate competition on the topic "Is industrialisation progress hampering our sustainable life ?" was held in Science Centre , Kalimpong on 30th Aug 09. Organised by the Science Centre , Kalimpong Clunny Women's College, kalimpong, Kalimpong college, St Joseph's College Darjeeling and Ghoom Jorbunglow College, Darjeeling participated in the competition. The winner of the debate competition organised by science centre was St Joseph's College. 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Nava Thakuria, Daiy Khabor@khabor.com India's seven difficult northeastern provinces The seven states of Northeast India, connected to the mother country only by a thin strip of land that abuts West Bengal, have been in turmoil since India won independence from Great Britain in 1947. The region's 50 million people are a sea in which at least 39 armed outfits swim, fighting for demands ranging from sovereignty to self-rule. It is this region more than any other that felt itself the unwelcome focus of an essay on a Chinese website in August by a Chinese political scientist named Zhan Lue that argued that India could be split into 20 to 30 nation states by pushing for the local aspirations of indigenous communities including the Assamese, Nagaz, Kashmiris and Tamils. They hardly need China's help. Alienated from the mainland and surrounded by Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Burma and virtually bifurcated by the presence of Bangladesh, the seven states have lost at least 10,000 dead due to insurgents or to counter-insurgency operations controlled by the Union government in New Delhi. In addition, fear psychosis has remained intact since the 1962 Sino-Indian war over India's objections to China's occupation of the uninhabited Aksai China region, considered a strategic link between the Chinese-administered territories of Tibet and Xinjiang via China National Highway Route G219. The people in the region witnessed a Chinese juggernaut that crossed India's easternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh and marched into Assam. In a war fought under harsh conditions, sometimes at elevations up to 4,250 meters (14,000 feet) the Indian army, overwhelmed by a massive People's Liberation Army invasion, were forced to give way all the way to the busy town of Tezpur*, some 250 km east of the Assamese capital of Guwahati, before the Chinese suddenly deserted the location and declared an unilateral ceasefire. The war took thousands of lives from both the sides. The US government came to India's support, flying in supplies to India and threatening Beijing to force the Chinese to withdraw their army from Indian soil despite India's official policy of non-alignment. India's relations with China have been periodically tense ever since, with Beijing continuing to argue, sometimes more heatedly than other times, that Arunchal Pradesh is a part of Tibet and hence belongs to them. Nearly a century and a half before China's 1962 incursion, the region was invaded by the Burmese army, which was later defeated by British forces in 1826 to preserve it as a part of the greater Indian territories. The separatist groups and their sympathizers argue that Assam and the rest of the Northeast were never a part of India before the Yandabu Agreement which the British forced the Burmese to sign at that time. With freedom in 1947, the Northeast came under Bharat (greater India). A magnificent region, it consists of dramatic mountains and some of India's most famous rivers, particularly the Brahmaputra and the Barak. It is the home of the Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary. It is often described as having more folklore and tradition than any other region in India. But there are individuals and communities in the region who even today prefer not to identify themselves as Indian. So when Zhan Lu argued that India could be splintered into 20 to 30 nation states and eventually supporting the insurgent groups of the country, the Northeast expressed shock and anguish. There is continuing apprehension here that as New Delhi has gone closer to Washington, Beijing may find it irritating, causing China to join hands with India's neighbors to counter New Delhi's influence. After an initial silence, the Indian foreign ministry in a statement clarified that 'the article in question appears to be an expression of an individual's opinion and does not accord with the officially-stated position of China on India-China relations conveyed to us on several occasions.' The statement issued on August 10 however cautioned that opinions and assessment on the state of India-China relations should be expressed after careful judgment based on the long-term interests of building a stable relationship between the two countries.' There are five major groups fighting for various causes in the region. The most important is the United Liberation Front of Asom, followed by the Dima Halong Dauga, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, the National Socialist Council of Naqalim and the United People's Democratic Solidarity, all fighting low-intensity wars of liberation. The other 35-odd are an alphabet soup of causes and crusades, some so obscure that authorities are unable to identify them. But Xan Lue to the contrary, there are no Maoists in Northeast, though many try to float the image. Even though ULFA describe themselves as followers of Marxism-Leninism and Maoism, the assertion has little credibility. Rupam Baruah, a political scientist based in the Assamese capital of Guwati, said in an interview that "What is amazing, the Chinese writer echoed the language of ULFA in the article." Now banned as an insurgent group, ULFA was established in 1979 with the aim of making Assam a sovereign country. After three decades of armed movement, however, the outfit has lost its support base among the Assamese community primarily because of its disruptive and inhuman activities. ULFA has opposed elections in Assam but they have lost the electorate. Although the group seeks to prevent celebration of India's Independence Day on August 15 and Republic Day on January 26, they are largely ignored by citizens who defy their diktats. Recent media reports that ULFA leaders have sought refuge inside China have been taken seriously by analysts. After Bangladesh and Burma turned hostile to the ULFA, analysts say, the leader Paresh Barua began to seek relationships with with the Chinese government. The ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowa even wrote an official letter to Beijing few months back asking support for their armed movement. Amid the debate, both the Indian and Chinese soldiers as usual observed India's Independence Day at the city of Bumla in Arunachal Pradesh on August 15. A special border personnel conclave was organized in which a Chinese delegation was led by Colonel Yang Zijing reaffirmed the commitment on both the sides to strengthen friendship and also maintain peace and tranquility along the international border. That India wants to maintain a warm relationship with China was articulated by New Delhi's another significant initiative to honor a Chinese scholar and Indonologist, Ji Xianlin, who has immensely contributed by translating various Sanskrit texts into the Chinese. Honoring Ji Xianlin with India's third highest civilian honor, the Padma Bushan, was a major initiative by the Indian government, argued Jiang Kui of Beijing University, who also said in a telehone interview that it would make a lot of difference in the way many Chinese look at India hereafter. For many reasons, it will be difficult to separate the Northeast from the mainland, as the numbers opposing the armed struggle against Delhi are increasing. More and more students from Northeast are goiing to Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune for studies and many continue to work in other parts of India. Communication facilities have been developed in the region and the local media, once uniformly anti-New Delhi, has changed its character. Though common resentment against the Union government continues, nobody is pursuing separatist theory to go with Islamabad, Dhaka or Beijing. Thus Zhan Lue's* wish for an insurgency to break up China appears to be little more than a fantasy. But, given the instability in the poverty-stricken region, far from Delhi, which has ignored it to its detriment, it is a dangerous fantasy that gives encouragement to the flock of insurgents. *A sharp-eyed reader caught our typo.