For current News log on to http://kalimpongonlinenews.blogspot.com

KALIMPONG NEWS IS AN ONLINE NEWS SERVICE OF KALIMPONG PRESS CLUB

MAIL US AT kalimpongpress@gmail.com

KALIMPONG NEWS REQUESTS VIEWERS TO SEND THEIR COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS AND ARTICLES WITH PHOTOGRAPHS. FOR COMMENTS- COMMENTS SECTION OF LEFT HAND SIDE COLUMN OR " Comments " PORTION OF THE POST CAN BE USED. COMMENTS will be posted only after moderation as per the blogging ethics.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

DEVKOTA JAYANTI OBSERVED BY NEPALI SAHITYA ADHYAYAN SAMITY AT KALIMPONG
DEEPAVALI IN KALIMPONG
All Pix: Samiran Paul
UN to cut food aid to Bhutanese refugees in Nepal
16Oct, REUTERS, KATHMANDU: The UN will cut food aid to thousands of refugees from Bhutan living in camps in Nepal for the first time in 18 years because of severe food and funding shortages, the World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday.

About 90,000 refugees of ethnic Nepali origin are still living in camps supervised by the United Nations in southeast Nepal since they began fleeing Bhutan in the early 1990s alleging human rights violations and discrimination.

With no legal right to work or own land, the exiles are almost entirely dependent on food aid to meet their basic needs.

But yesterday, the WFP said with the “rapidly” diminishing food stocks it needed $4m from donors to prevent additional cuts and continue feeding the refugees through to January 2010.

“We are extremely concerned about the consequences of reduced rations on the health of the refugees,” Richard Ragan, WFP Nepal chief, said in a statement. “Without their full ration, the most vulnerable refugees will be forced to eat fewer meals or decrease portion sizes, leading to reduced nutritional status,” it said.

Analysts say the refugee issue has strained ties between Nepal and Bhutan, which have failed to reach an agreement to repatriate them despite several rounds of ministerial meetings.

About 20,000 refugees have been resettled in several Western countries under a third country resettlement programme started two years ago. More than 80,000 others have applied to go to Western countries.

‘World’s shortest man’ comes of age

Khagendra Thapa Magar from Nepal, thought to be the world’s smallest living man at just 22 inches (56cm), has turned 18 and now hopes to be officially recognised for his record size.

Four years ago, Thapa had his application for a Guinness World Record for the smallest man rejected because at just 14 he was too young to qualify. But on Wednesday he started adulthood and is now set to submit another application. “Now he has turned 18, we will forward the necessary documents to Guinness officials,” Thapa’s father, Rup Bahadur Thapa Magar, told AFP by telephone as the family prepared for a birthday celebration. “I want him to have a good future. I want him to be educated and live an independent life. “When he was born he was so small he could fit in the palm of your hand. But I am proud to be his father. He has brought fame not just for himself but for his country.” According to a website set up by his supporters, Thapa weighed only 600 grammes (21 ounces) at birth and his hobbies include “playing with pebbles” and “worshipping Buddha.” The current record for world’s shortest living man is held by He Pingping of China, who is 28.7 inches (73cm) tall. AFP

---------------------------------------------

A 2-foot tall Nepalese teen reportedly is waiting to be officially recognized by the Guinness World Records as the World's Smallest Man after celebrating his 18th birthday.

Khagendra Thapa Magar is head and shoulders shorter than the current title holder, 2-foot-5-inch He Ping Ping of China, the Daily Mail reported.

Magar made several bids for the world record in the past but was told that because there is no title for world's smallest boy or teen, the tiny dancer who weighs just 10 pounds would have to wait until he became an adult, the Mail reported.

"Now I have turned 18 I want two things: To be recognized by Guinness and to find a wife who is small like me. It is my dream to have four children," Magar told the paper.

World's smallest man still 'too young' for title, says Guinness

ANI, London, Oct 17 : The 22-inch tall Nepali teenager will have to wait for at least another year to be crowned the world's smallest man, as the Guinness has estimated that he is only 17 years old.
Khagendra Thapa Magar had contacted the Guinness World Records in 2006 through the Dwarf Association of Nepal claiming to be the shortest man in the world.
Magar was just 20 inches tall at that time, a good nine inches shorter than current record holder He Pingping of China.
However, he was not 18 and was not given the title.
Magar, who has added a couple of inches in the last three years, has now made a fresh claim for recognition by the Guinness as he says he has turned 18.
He hopes to gain worldwide fame as the world's smallest man and wants travel to "Japan, London and America" as well as wed a girl of the same height.
Times Online quoted Magar as saying: "God is great. He made me small in size but has now given me big name. What else could I have asked for.
"Suddenly ridicule has turned into praise. Earlier people used to make fun of me. Now they congratulate me."
"I keep on telling my father to find me a small wife... Now it's up to him to find a right match. I would love to have children but have not yet decided about the numbers," he adds.
However, the Guinness is still unrelenting.
Guinness World Records stated on their blog: "We are in possession of Khagendra's birth registration certificate, his certification of citizenship and his identity card. On the Nepali calendar, Khagendra was born on Asoj 18, 2049 which equates to October 4, 1992. This makes him 6,220 days old (as of today,
October 15, 2009) or 17 years, 11 days."
The Guinness added: "We are once again in touch with Khangendra and his family and have asked for re-confirmation of his birthday, on the off chance that there has been some misunderstanding. We are very excited to learn of this little Nepalese claimant - and have been for a few years now. But until we can clear up the discrepancy, the holder of the title of world's smallest mobile man remains with He Pingping."

Chinese fireworks

caleidoscope

South Block may be sparring with the Chinese authorities over Arunachal Pradesh, but another Chinese infiltration has taken place near West Bengal — in the fireworks market. Crackers carrying Chinese script are being sold in the city in large numbers. Keeping Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta and Katrina Kaif company on the labels are children with Mongolian features. These are mostly products of Standard Fireworks, based in Sivakasi, which, the packets explain, have been manufactured in collaboration with a Chinese company. China has a strong pyrotechnic presence in the world market.

“This is Light House. The sparks will go up to a height of five storeys. Then there is Cheers, a flower pot that will throw up coloured balls,” said a salesman at Bazi Bazar, a mela held by fireworks dealers, on the Maidan. Other fireworks have names such as Grape Garden and Beautiful Flowers. Each packet asserts that no child labour has been used in the manufacture.

The packaging is fraught with international irony. Polaris rockets carry a US flag as their label at the top end while carrying their Chinese collaborator’s name in English and Chinese at the bottom. The brand under which it is being sold is called Peacock, India’s national bird.

“The Chinese products offer greater variety than the the local manufacturers and are of better quality. They come to Sivakasi to get labelled,” says salesman Abid Hussain of fireworks dealer Kamala Prasad Gupta & Sons.

Officials at Bazi Bazar were surprised to hear of Chinese fireworks. “Last year, a consignment headed for India was stopped at the entry point. They were reported to be very cheap and very good. If such products are allowed into India, our local industry would be ruined,” said Sanjay Kumar Dutta, the secretary of the Burrabazar Fire Works Dealers’ Association.

It is not as if the local products are giving up without a patriotic fightback. Flower pots from Indira Fire Works shows a personage no less than Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose charging on horseback.

Bengal in Bilaat

The UK will have another Bangla utsav. The first Bilaat Bangla Utsav will be held at Elliot Hall, Harrow Art Gallery, Middlesex, on March 20 and 21.

Several personalities and organisations from the world of culture from this part of the globe will participate. Sandip Ray’s Hitlist will be screened, there will be an addasession, a celebrity talk show, performances by Haimanti Shukla, Indranil Sen, Mehreen and Shama Rahaman. Actress June will do a spoof on credit cards. The band Cactus will also perform and Sutapa Bandyopadhyay will recite Tagore poems.

The event, the brainchild of Susmita Bhattacharya, a London-based Rabindra Sangeet singer, will be held in alliance with Panchamukhee, a London charity organisation.

Over the top

When you get your driving licence buy a helmet too. And make sure it’s a big one, conspicuous to all bike-laden police sergeants and on-their-feet traffic constables. Our lawmen, being unable to trust the driving aptitudes of Calcuttans at the wheel and the protective capacity of motor cars, referred to as tin cans by cynics, are passing a broad hint to motorists to guard their head in much the same fashion that bikers do.

The lawbook may not include this accessory as a driving necessity yet but when has genuine concern been thwarted by printed protocol?

Moumita Bhattacharya is one such unhelmeted Calcuttan whose head was the focus of such motherly attention. The Sector V employee was being driven down Behala Chowrasta in her sparkling new wine-red Alto by her unhelmeted chauffeur when her car was found to be at fault. A notice from West Bengal police landed at her Sakherbazar doorstep, slapping her with a fine of Rs 100. Her “offence” the notice stated, was “driving without helmet”.

The troubled software professional discussed the matter with colleagues. Before Pujas, she was told, the police get more concerned about commuters.

“If you refuse to pay Rs 100 and point out the glitch on their part, you’d be charged with some other offence, carrying a higher fine amount,” was the prescription. She meekly deposited the fine at the prescribed bank.

Did Moumita buy herself a helmet this Puja? We haven’t found that out. But we did dig into our archives and found a similar instance that occurred last April. The car was a Maruti 800 but in this case the “offender”, a lawyer, had refused to pay.

Contributed by Sudeshna Banerjee and Doel Bose, The Telegraph

No comments: