KalimNews, 08 Nov : Nima Tamang Youth leader of GJYM was served notice of showcause by Bimal Gurung , President of Central Committee GJMM. He was charged of having misconduct with a doctor in Mullick's Nursing home on 3rd November . It is alleged that there was vandalism and manhandling with destruction of property in the Nursing home. Sunil Pradhan Coordinator of Yuwa Morcha notified the press about showcause notice.
It is also learnt that two Central Committee members namely Bijay Sundas founder leader (Coordinator) of Kalimpong Branch of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was served notice of show cause along with Nanita Gautam former President of women's wing of Kalimpong GJNM. But no official announcement regarding Sundas and Gautam is made.
The incident of Mullick's Nursing Home was not made public due to personal requests made by Dr. P.N.Mullick the proprietor as well as leaders of GJMM to the press. However a section of the press including Himalaya Darpan and Haal Khabar (a local news channel) published the news.
‘Birta Ko Chino’ fritters away into life of penury
SE, GANGTOK, November 7: He swam against a raging Teesta but has all but drowned in the harsh currents of a sustainable livelihood as even the people and State have forgotten their heroes.
‘Sarvottam Jewan Rakshak Padak’, the highest civilian bravery award of the country, has become a livelihood curse for 20- four-year old Pratap Rai who has given up all hopes of settling down into a sustainable and respectable trade.
Pratap, at the age of 21, had risked his own life and saved several people from drowning to their deaths when an over-packed SNT bus fell into the Teesta River on October 25, 2006. The mishap had taken place at 20th Mile, near Bageykhola on NH 31 A between Singtam and Rangpo where 22 passengers were killed and another 44 were injured.
During the time of the accident, Pratap a resident of Samardung busty across the River, with daunting courage risked his life and swam across the heavy current of the river and rescued three people from drowning. He also helped the rescue agencies in the evacuation of the injured persons to the local hospitals.
For the brave and courageous act, the 22 year old Rai had already received the State Jeewan Raksha puraskar during the State level Independence Day celebration in 2007. The award included a citation and Rs. 10, 000 cash reward.
Last year, the Centre awarded the Sarvottam Jewan Rakshak Padak’ to Pratap which included cash award of Rs. 75, 000 along with medallion and certificate as well as a miniature medal that can be worn at official ceremonies and State functions.
And this recognition and award has precisely morphed into a livelihood albatross for Pratap presently facing the prospect of a bleak future harbingered by an ungrateful society and pretentious government.
The hero-to-pauper story unfolds in Pratap’s own regretful introspection.
“I realize somewhere in the dim cavern of my mind that I have received the country’s highest civilian bravery award. I remember being felicitated and honoured at several places at that time”, says Pratap.
After a brief heady period of adulations and back slapping, Pratap now three years later, has been straitjacketed to find a sustainable means of income and is presently having trouble to arrange two square meals a day.
“I have ten years experience of driving a vehicle. I can drive any type of vehicle. But when I go asking for a driver’s job, the owners taunt me saying why such a big awardee has to ask for a job”, says Pratap.
“Whenever I go for labour work, the society here chaste me”, said the youth adding that though he had also wanted to work as a lifeguard in a raft, things did not worked out.
Pratap has already deposited the cash awards in a fixed deposit in the name of his daughter. He had also made frantic efforts to get a loan to buy a taxi but his dreams were cut short by the rules of the banks as he does not have land or other assets to mortgage.
The brave youth has faint memories of those early days of recognition and sabashis.
Today, Pratap sadly does not know where the ‘Birta ko Chino’ has dissipated. So much, that whenever the words ‘bravery award’ rings into his ears, the fear strikes an icy rod into his soul.
The forgotten hero is in more dire necessity of a sustainable means of income in the shape of a taxi vehicle for his family than awards.
INDIA Vs AUSTRALIA 6th One Day International MATCH in GUWAHATI
‘Sarvottam Jewan Rakshak Padak’, the highest civilian bravery award of the country, has become a livelihood curse for 20- four-year old Pratap Rai who has given up all hopes of settling down into a sustainable and respectable trade.
Pratap, at the age of 21, had risked his own life and saved several people from drowning to their deaths when an over-packed SNT bus fell into the Teesta River on October 25, 2006. The mishap had taken place at 20th Mile, near Bageykhola on NH 31 A between Singtam and Rangpo where 22 passengers were killed and another 44 were injured.
During the time of the accident, Pratap a resident of Samardung busty across the River, with daunting courage risked his life and swam across the heavy current of the river and rescued three people from drowning. He also helped the rescue agencies in the evacuation of the injured persons to the local hospitals.
For the brave and courageous act, the 22 year old Rai had already received the State Jeewan Raksha puraskar during the State level Independence Day celebration in 2007. The award included a citation and Rs. 10, 000 cash reward.
Last year, the Centre awarded the Sarvottam Jewan Rakshak Padak’ to Pratap which included cash award of Rs. 75, 000 along with medallion and certificate as well as a miniature medal that can be worn at official ceremonies and State functions.
And this recognition and award has precisely morphed into a livelihood albatross for Pratap presently facing the prospect of a bleak future harbingered by an ungrateful society and pretentious government.
The hero-to-pauper story unfolds in Pratap’s own regretful introspection.
“I realize somewhere in the dim cavern of my mind that I have received the country’s highest civilian bravery award. I remember being felicitated and honoured at several places at that time”, says Pratap.
After a brief heady period of adulations and back slapping, Pratap now three years later, has been straitjacketed to find a sustainable means of income and is presently having trouble to arrange two square meals a day.
“I have ten years experience of driving a vehicle. I can drive any type of vehicle. But when I go asking for a driver’s job, the owners taunt me saying why such a big awardee has to ask for a job”, says Pratap.
“Whenever I go for labour work, the society here chaste me”, said the youth adding that though he had also wanted to work as a lifeguard in a raft, things did not worked out.
Pratap has already deposited the cash awards in a fixed deposit in the name of his daughter. He had also made frantic efforts to get a loan to buy a taxi but his dreams were cut short by the rules of the banks as he does not have land or other assets to mortgage.
The brave youth has faint memories of those early days of recognition and sabashis.
Today, Pratap sadly does not know where the ‘Birta ko Chino’ has dissipated. So much, that whenever the words ‘bravery award’ rings into his ears, the fear strikes an icy rod into his soul.
The forgotten hero is in more dire necessity of a sustainable means of income in the shape of a taxi vehicle for his family than awards.
INDIA Vs AUSTRALIA 6th One Day International MATCH in GUWAHATI
15 minutes did all the damage today. They did bowl well. There was swing there and they exploited it well,” said Dhoni. “The way we lost in Mohali and Nagpur, as a team you don’t want to lose like that. But full credit to Australia, they took the games away,” he added. Australian captain Ricky Ponting said that it was the most satisfying series win for him. It was a great effort from the Australian team in the series where they have struggled with injuries and lost five players during the first four matches.
“Perhaps the most satisfying series win I have been involved in. To get 11 players on the field has been a challenge in some of the games. Our fielding has been outstanding, in a couple of close games it has been the difference,” he said. Man of the Match Doug Bollinger, who picked up five for 35, said that it has been a great learning experience for him.“I am real happy today. It all came together in what has been a fantastic tournament. I just went there and kept things simple. This tour has been a good learning experience on different kinds of wickets and conditions,” he said.
INDIA BATTING-MS DHONI |
| INDIA BATTING |
INDIA BATTING-SACHIN TENDULKAR-OUT :Praveen Kumar-BATTING-HALF CENTURY
| INDIAN BATTING-TOP ORDER |
ALL Pix: Nanda Kirat Dewan Guwahati |
Darjeeling Sans liquor? Poor Joke in bad Taste
Anand Soondas TNN, 7 Nov, NEW DELHI: Raksi, an old man in Kalimpong whom people have rarely seen sober after sundown used to say, was his amrit. He may have been right. Living off his ramshackle vegetables shop just below 10 Mile Street, he's still quite robust for his 76 years of hard life. Of course, his staggering and stuttering go up markedly during the night, but that can't be ascribed to old age.
Because Krishna Bahadur doesn't merely consume alcohol raksi in local Nepali he keeps it close to his heart, sometimes worships it. When his parents migrated from the high mountains of Nepal in the early 1900s, plagued by hunger, cold, alienation and the belly-churning feeling of being uprooted, they often huddled together over mugs of chhang, a drink made from fermented millet. That was their water of life, a source of warmth, strength and sustenance.
In a place where the minimum temperature drops below zero and summer is often a chimera, alcohol is not an indulgence for many, especially the poorer lot who shiver under balding, fraying quilts as droplets of water outside their unheated shacks turn into tear-shaped goblets of ice.
Before global warming finally takes away the cold (there are already refrigerators installed in some houses in Darjeeling district), the hills will continue being attached to raksi, chhang, tongba, aila, jaar, nigar and the pretender, IMFL, by an umbilical cord.
In fact, to give the use of alcohol religious sanction, culture itself has been wrapped around the wine glass. At the sacred Mahakal Daara in Darjeeling, which on a clear day stares at a shimmering snow-clothed Kanchenjunga above and rolling hills that lead to the expansive plains of Siliguri below, Buddhists come with an offering of tongba for their deity. More often than not, the devotee has fortified himself with generous helpings of the hard-hitting liquid before sparing some for his god.
No festival or celebration is complete without jaar-raksi. Among the Rai, Limbu, Gurung, Lepcha and some other indigenous clans and tribes, alcohol forms an integral part of both diet and worship. Traditionally, raksi has been put at the feet of Bhairab, Mahakaali, Durga as prasad. They don't mind their gods and goddesses getting inebriated, just like themselves.
Teetotalers are not considered very healthy or wise, and they find themselves left out of all the fun during community gatherings. In the rare wedding party that serves no alcohol, the guests come back grouchy and irritable.
Apart from the weather, there is another major reason why alcohol has such an important place in the life of the hill people. Surviving in a region not conducive to either industry or agriculture, most Nepalis have remained poor and fermentation was done to ensure no food was wasted.
It is in this context that Bimal Gurung's anti-alcohol diktat has to be seen in. If history is any indication, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is making a Himalayan blunder. It's like taking away chaas from the Gujarati and feni from the Goan. Moreover, to an already impoverished lot, this will add to the misery of a substantial chunk which depends on sale of alcohol for a living. Then there is always the possibility of people spending a larger part of their meager incomes scrounging for alcohol which will readily be available in the black market. That will be bad news for thousands of families. Tourists, too, will take a detour to Sikkim after hearing of this pea-brained plan. More bad news, as tourism is bread and butter for a large section of the population there.
The anti-arrack movement in Andhra backfired so badly that wives later had to beg for withdrawal of a similar order. It won't work in Darjeeling too. Finally, there is the question of violating a fundamental right. But when have politicians in the hills bothered about this minor point, either when they are sober or when they are drunk, which they mostly are.
Liquor banned in Darjeeling
MyNews.comNew Delhi: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) issued a diktat that there would be no liquor in Darjeeling from November 7,apparently to derive state government of the revenue it earns from liquor sale in the hills. Bars, restaurants and liquor shop owners in Darjeeling have no other choice but to give up their sole means of livelihood.
An excise department official said, “They want to stop the flow of liquor revenue to the state Coffers has no logic, its because they are more concerned about the health of the Darjeeling people”.
There would be a major impact on those who depend on liquor business to run their family. In the Three hills sub divisions, there are 53 licensed bar and restaurants, 19 licensed shops and 24 country Spirit outlets.
The Darjeeling bar and restaurant owner’s association also refused to talk. The association secretary Dharmendra Poddar said, “we tried to meet Bimal Gurung to request him not to close the liquor shops, but could not. We have no choice but to shut shop.”
Darjeeling, Nov. 8 (ANI): In a bid to push forward their demand for a separate state within India, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Saturday forced all liquor shops and bars in Darjeeling to close down.
“This is just the beginning. Liquor is just symbolic, you wait and watch what we will do in future. Government gets direct tax from liquor, so we are blocking it,” said P.V. Singh, GJM Sub-Divisional Secretary of Kurseong division.
The Gorkhas or the ethnic Nepalis have been demanding their “Gorkhaland”, which they want carved out of West Bengal to protect their heritage.
At least 1,200 people died in the first Gorkhaland campaign in the 1980s, but protests ended after Gorkha leaders accepted limited autonomy.
New protests erupted in 2008, but both the State government and the Union government rejected the demand for a separate state. (ANI)
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