Protest lock on traffic, threat of more

TT, Siliguri, Dec. 27: Members of the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha today set up blockades at Panchnoi, Sevoke, Teesta Bridge and Rangpo, bringing traffic to a grinding halt on three national highways that connect Siliguri to the hills, Sikkim and the Northeast. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s youth front has threatened to set up more blockades in the Dooars, to increase the timing from three to four hours and obstruct trains moving to and from the Northeast from tomorrow. Trains passing through Sevoke between 12 noon and 4pm — Jha Jha-Guwahati Express and Capital Express (Danapur-Kamakshya) — are likely to be affected if the protesters take to the tracks. The blockade started at 12 noon at all four points. Except for Panchnoi, where the block development officer of Matigara Samarjit Chakrabarty tried to persuade the students to lift the blockade, there was no intervention from the administration. Even at Panchnoi on NH55, a kilometre from Darjeeling More in Siliguri, a large police force whiled away the time for three hours. “It is not desirable to raise blockades on national highways. We are holding talks with the Morcha leadership and we are trying to persuade them to withdraw their agitation programme. We will not resort to any pressure tactics as that could make the situation worse,” said Surendra Gupta, the district magistrate of Darjeeling. Diptendu Saha, who had wanted to visit Darjeeling with his friends for a few hours, had to return from Darjeeling More. “We are going back to Calcutta this evening so we cannot afford to wait for the withdrawal,” he said. Vidyarthi Morcha general secretary Keshav Raj Pokhrel said the blockades were meant to send messages to the Centre and the state. “We want the demand for Gorkhaland to reach the state and the central governments. From tomorrow, we will organise more blockades in the Dooars and increase the blockade time. It will be from 12 noon to 4pm. During these hours, we will also obstruct trains that move to and from the Northeast,” he said a day after chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti warning the Morcha that steps would be taken to enforce law. “No national highway can be blocked like this. It will mean violation of a Supreme Court ruling that calls for maintenance of normal services on a highway. We will have to take steps to enforce the law,” he had said in Calcutta yesterday. At Sevoke, 25km from here, around 800 students squatted on NH31. The number of protesters was more at Sevoke since it marks the entry to Siliguri from Dooars, Kalimpong and Sikkim. Here, the vehicles queued up to 3km on either side of the blockade. The other two blockades were put up at Teesta Bridge and Rangpo, 35km and 60km from Siliguri. Both the spots are on NH31A, Sikkim’s only road connection with the rest of the country. The blockades were lifted at 3pm at all the places. GJMM block roads to press for cause SNS, SILIGURI, 27 DEC: Pressing its demand for a separate state, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha’s students’ wing activsts today put up roadblocks for three hours at several places on National Highway 55 and 31A. Gorkha Jan Mukti Vidyarthi Morcha supporters held up traffic from 12 noon to 3 p.m. at Panchanoi near Siliguri on National Highway 55, that connects the Darjeeling Hills with the plains. GJMVM supporters also put up roadblocks at Sevoke and Rongpo on National Highway 31A, that connects Sikkim with the state. “We would continue our agitation till we achieve our demand for Gorkhaland,” said an agitator. The GJMVM leadership, however, did not disclose its future course of agitation. “The government should accept our demand of a separate state. Otherwise we would relentlessly continue with agitation. We, however, are yet to decide the future course of the programme,” said another agitator at Panchanoi. Around 400 GJMVM supporters took out a rally from Sukna and staged the roadblock at Panchnoi near Siliguri today. The GJMM has also pressed its minority wings into the agitation contours since yesterday. The relay hunger strike programme staged by GJMM activists in front of administrative office at several places in the Darjeeling Hills today completed two days. Supporters of the GJMM's minority forums had started indefinite relay hunger strike at Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and the Pintail Village near Siliguri. Eleven GJMM activists from minority communities had participated in the relay hunger strike in front of the district magistrate's office in Darjeeling. The agitation has also been continuing in Kalimpong and Kurseong. “The agitation would continue till the government accepts our demand. It is now for the government to decide how it would prevent the situation from snowballing into intractability,” said a senior GJMM leader, Mr Binay Tamang today. Gorkhaland wish unrealistic, says Ghising SNS, JALPAIGURI, 27 DEC: The Gorkha National Liberation Front supreme, Mr Subhas Ghising said that the Gorkhaland aspiration was nothing but a pipe dream and the Sixth Schedule happened to be the best solution for the long lingering Darjeeling imbroglio. He said this while talking to a number of his supporters from the Terai and the Hills who have congregated at his rented residence in Jalpaiguri today. The Ghising loyalists demanded that the GNLF leader should embark on a new movement in view of the political volatility lingering in the hills. Later addressing the media, Mr Ghising claimed that the statehood aspiration could never be fulfilled by way of political dialogue. “Given my talks with several leaders across the political persuasions, I am unshakably convinced that no headway is possible in course of the dragging dialogue even it is held at the political levels,” he said. “The previous round of tripartite dialogue held in Darjeeling this month has proved a fiasco despite the rhetorical flourish being indulged in by the GJMM top brass. “The preponderant hill-based party must understand that bringing the hills under the sixth Schedule of the Constitution is the only feasible solution left to the Indian Gorkha populace concentrated in the Darjeeling Hills,” he affirmed. Ghisingh’s autonomy pill for hills TT, Siliguri, Dec. 27: GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh today prescribed a remedy for the Darjeeling imbroglio — an amended Sixth Schedule with more power to the DGHC. The former DGHC chairman, who ruled out his immediate return to the hills, also expressed his apprehensions over the fifth round of talks that his rival, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, wanted at the political level. Ghisingh’s comments came after more than 300 GNLF supporters from Belgachi, Chenga and Sukna areas of Kurseong subdivision assembled at his rented house in Jalpaiguri this morning, asking him to return to the hills and resume political activities. “We want amendment of the Sixth Schedule and more power to the DGHC before it is implemented in the hills,” Ghisingh said. “Conferring the status will, to a great extent, resolve the problems and will be another step towards separate statehood.” Earlier, the GNLF supporters led by Rajen Mukhia, a leader from Panighata, assembled in Jalpaiguri’s Collegepara, waving flags. “We are being regularly tortured by the Morcha and want an end to this suffering,” Mukhia said. “We have come here to urge the chairman (Ghisingh) to return to the hills, hold a public meeting and resume activities.” With more and more supporters flocking near his house since 10.30am, Ghisingh, who was upstairs talking to leaders like Dawa Pakhrin and K.N. Subba, was forced to come down around 1pm. “I don’t want to return to the hills right now as my going there will create tension and might lead to bloodshed among the Gorkhas,” he said. “The GNLF is working in a planned manner and will take up consistent political activities in due course of time.” Later, the GNLF chief told journalists that he had talked to leaders of different parties, including P. Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee (Union ministers of the Congress), Biman Bose (CPM leader) and Mamata Banerjee (Trinamul Congress chief), on the statehood issue. “Nothing much on Gorkhaland has yielded at the fourth round of tripartite talks held in Darjeeling last week,” he said. “As it has been decided to hold talks at the political level within the next 45 days, I feel that will also not be effective as top leaders of some major parties whom I have talked to are not endorsing the demand. It must be understood that Gorkhaland is a long-drawn process which can be achieved step-by-step.” CM queries new state panel plan TT, New Delhi, Dec. 27: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today questioned the Centre’s plan to set up a second States Re-Organisation Commission. Toeing his party, the CPM’s line, Bhattacharjee said it would open a Pandora’s box for innumerable demands for new states with a “direct bearing on West Bengal”. “For what (should the second Reorganisation Commission be created)? There are already demands for creating 28 more states. More will come," the chief minister who is here to attend a politburo meeting said. Hinting that there was no consensus on Gorkhaland in the Bengal Assembly, the chief minister said it would be difficult for the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to pass a unanimous resolution on Telangana as political parties are “badly divided” on the issue. Bhattacharjee said he had wanted to know from the Prime Minister about the Centre’s strategy to check the unrest in Andhra Pradesh on Telangana as it has a direct bearing on Bengal, where the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has been demanding Gorkhaland. Certain Cooch Behar based outfits had been demanding a separate state of Greater Cooch Behar and Kamtapur. “I gathered from the Prime Minister that the government is seriously trying to hold consultations with all parties in Andhra Pradesh and at the national level,” said Bhattacharjee. He had called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday morning. Bhattacharjee admitted that a separate Telangana was bad news for Bengal. “Our party has always been against any further division of states. At present, it is neither possible, nor desirable.” Small States: Buddha Gets PM's " Assurance ConsensusENS, Kolkata Dec28:With the Gorkhaland agitation gaining more steam after the Centre’s go-ahead for Telangana formation, a worried West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh his — as well as the CPM’s — opposition to creation of smaller states. Bhattacharjee took up the Telangana issue when he met the Prime Minister. He wanted to know what the Centre was doing to end the impasse in Andhra Pradesh and pointed out that the issue had a “direct bearing” on his state since there were demands for creation of three new states — Gorkhaland, Kamtapur and Greater Cooch Behar — in Bengal. In what could be good news for Bhattacharjee, the Prime Minister told him that the Central government would not proceed with formation of Telangana until and unless there was a “consensus”. Singh said the Centre was “seriously trying” to start a dialogue with all political parties in Andhra and also at the national level to build the consensus. The CPM is opposed to creation of smaller states except on linguistic basis. “The Telangana issue has a direct bearing on our state, especially in the hill areas and other parts. It is a very difficult situation for us. Some forces are already demanding a separate state,” Bhattacharjee told reporters. The Prime Minister’s stress on consensus has strengthened Bhattacharjee’s case. With the CPM not sympathetic to creation of Gorkhaland, there is a little chance of consensus, and the Chief Minister could use this argument in the future to prevent bifurcation of Bengal. The Chief Minister also mentioned that the Assembly had to pass a unanimous resolution for creation of a new state. “We are opposed to bifurcation of states. Divisions of states are neither possible nor desirable,” he said. Bhattacharjee also shot down the idea of setting up a second States Reorganisation Commission. “That will open a pandora’s box. There are already demands for creating 28 more states. More will come,” he said. ‘Bengal to get new Guv before R-Day’ The Centre is likely to appoint a new full-time Governor of West Bengal within a month. “I had some discussion with the Prime Minister. The appointment of a full-time Governor will be done before the Republic Day,”Bhattacharjee said. Hill threat to highway traffic- Roads to Darjeeling, Sikkim & Northeast to be blocked every day Morcha supporters on a relay hunger strike in Darjeeling town. Picture by Suman Tamang Darjeeling, Dec. 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s student wing today threatened to paralyse traffic bound not only for Darjeeling but also Sikkim and the Northeast. All the three national highways in the region will be blo-ckaded from noon to 3pm on Sunday, the outfit announced, adding that it was an “indefi- nite” agitation, meaning the traffic trauma could be an everyday affair. “The students have now decided to hit the streets to press for Gorkhaland…. The blockade will go on indefinitely and if there is no positive response from the Centre on the statehood demand, we will not hesitate to organise indefinite hunger strikes along the national highway,” said Keshav Raj Pokhrel, the general secretary of the Vidyarthi Morcha. He did not say whether the blockades would be for three hours every day. “Tomorrow, we will block the roads from noon to 3pm. The timings for the other days will be announced later,” Pokhrel said. Three national highways pass through Darjeeling district — 55, which connects Darjeeling town with Siliguri; 31A, which connects Sikkim with the rest of the country; and 31, the lifeline for the Northeast. Fed up with frequent Morcha bandhs and blockades, the Sikkim government had ear-lier threatened to move court and seek damages. The land-locked hill state depends entirely on the highway for its essentials. Following a plea from a Sikkim resident, the apex court had in July issued notices to the Morcha and the Bengal government. In Calcutta, state chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said: “No national highway can be blocked like this. It will mean violation of a Supreme Court ruling that calls for maintenance of normal services on a highway. We will have to take steps to enforce the law.” The Morcha students did not disclose the places where they would put up the blockades. They claimed to have written to the President, Prime Minister and the home minister, informing them about their agitation. After a brief lull for Christmas, the hill outfit today resumed a piped-down version of its earlier fast unto death. Eleven members of the All Gorkha Minority Front and the Janmukti Hotel Owners’ Association began the “relay hunger strike” outside the district magistrate’s office in Darjeeling. Similar protests are being held in Kalimpong, Kurseong and Pintail, on the outskirts of Siliguri. Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “This hunger strike is to tell the Centre we want Gorkhaland. There is talk of a states reorganisation commission being formed but our protests will continue.” Observers said the Centre’s go-slow on statehood to Telangana had prompted the Morcha not to revert to the “indefinite hunger strike” which it had put on hold two days before the December 21 tripartite talks in Darjeeling. Center has no plans to set up 2nd SRC- Moily Sify News Mangalore, 26 Dec:  Amid a grouping of political parties from Telangana stepping up its campaign for a separate state, the Centre on Saturday said it had no plans to set up a second States Reorganisation Commission and ruled out imposition of President's rule in the state. "There is no proposal before the Centre to set up the second SRC to go into the demand for creation of new states," Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters here. He was reacting to questions on renewed violence in the region and political parties from Telangana setting an ultimatum to the Centre asking it to announce a time-frame by Monday for formation of the separate state, failing which an indefinite bandh would be enforced from December 29. "The Centre and Andhra Pradesh Government will make all efforts to resolve the crisis on Telangana issue. The union government respects the sentiments of people", Moily said. The statement made by Home Minister P Chidambaram, who favoured wider consultations among political parties after opinions remain divided on Telangana, has been "misunderstood", Moily said and attributed it to the present "confusion" that has triggered a fresh spell of protests in Telangana region. Moily ruled out the prospect of Andhra Pradesh coming under central rule in the wake of law and order problem it faced on Telangana issue. "We have an elected government. It is capable of handling the situation," he said. Brevity sermon to priests - Keep it to 20 minutes, says Catholic bishops’ body Pope Benedict XVI delivers the Christmas Day message at the Vatican. (Reuters) CITHARA PAUL TT, New Delhi, Dec. 26: St Paul is said to have delivered a sermon from evening till dawn but in India, the Catholic Church is about to set priests a 20-minute limit. Keep it short, to-the-point, relevant and interesting, goes the message from the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), which is writing to the various dioceses. The non-binding time limit applies only to the sermon delivered during the Sunday mass. “Ideally, it should be 10 minutes. It can go up to 20 minutes but not more than that,’’ a CBCI source said. “Some priests have a tendency to deliver long, boring sermons and most listeners get distracted.” Perhaps the most famous and influential sermon of all time, the Sermon on the Mount, can be read in less than 10 minutes. The longest, apparently, is a 93-hour marathon by a certain Dr Donald Thomas. The Sunday sermon, or homily, mostly covers a theme from the scriptures and adds instructions on how to lead a pious life. But the CBCI wants priests to also draw on public issues of the day. “People are so busy that the sermon really needs to be relevant to everyday life. The preaching should pertain to things that concern them,” the letter being prepared by the CBCI says. The CBCI has suggested using the “new media’’ to liven up the homilies. Its directive says: “To attract more youth, the priest needs to update himself using the modern technologies.” Sources said priests would be encouraged to use computers and slides during sermons. This is in keeping with a directive the Pope issued early this year encouraging the use of technology to reach out to the faithful. Some among the laity are perked by the Church’s move. “I have often dozed off during sermons; some priests will show no sign of stopping even after half an hour. If the new directive is implemented in true spirit, it will be a great relief,’’ said Sharon Fernandez from Mumbai. Some, however, feel that “capsule sermons’’ are no good. “Sermons have their own purpose. If a parishioner has no time to listen to the priest, he or she better sit at home,’’ said Kochi resident Mariam Kurien. Others said it was not a sermon’s length that mattered but its content. “A sermon can be boring even if it lasts only five minutes. The effectiveness of a sermon depends on how it relates to an ordinary person’s life,” said G. Joseph from Bangalore. The Bombay Archdiocese has been the first to introduce the new time limit, having issued its own circular last week, the CBCI source said. The Rajya Sabha had introduced a similar plan last year to force members to keep their Zero Hour speeches short. It used German technology that automatically switched off an MP’s microphone after he or she had spoken for three minutes. Media matters ishan joshi, Stateman NS, 27 Dec We’ve come a long way, baby… was the line from the film. But it applies in large measure to the media in these parts too. Traditionally, issues of conflict and collaboration (a) came into play between the Indian ~ largely print ~ media and the policy establishment and; (b) were played out in notions of developmental journalism, viz to be “nation builders” or “watchdogs”. And the latter was the main ethical dilemma reporters and editors wrestled with from 1947 till, to put a date on it, the process of economic liberalisation was kicked off in 1991. In simpler terms, this dilemma was articulated as: How does the publication present and disseminate the information accessed by it? Television has, however, since ~ for better or worse ~ established itself as the first point if not primary source of information for at least the English-speaking/reading consumer, leaving print to decide whether it wants to compete with it in the information market or occupy the infinitely more complicated and subjective “knowledge” space. In this contemporary mix, of media print and audio-visual going hell for leather in the competitive, commercial arena of its choice, there is an intertwined, subterranean issue that’s on the mind of every media player and/or watcher of even middling intelligence but one which remains in the main unarticulated. So, let’s be mildly subversive and say it out loud: What price ownership, or more to the point cross-ownership, in media? For, and I apologise on behalf of my tribe (though I have no right to do so) if you haven’t heard of this before, that’s the critical issue in terms of the consequences it has for democracy, the exercise of citizenship and, what concerns this hack, a free Press. The ownership models are, or at least ought to be, pretty well-known: Family-owned, public or private limited companies with dominant shareholders, Trust-run, et.al. Each has its own challenges and opportunities. But as media theorist Jurgen Habermas amongst others has pointed out, the public sphere works most effectively for democracy when it is institutionally independent not only of the state but also of society’s dominant economic forces. Champions of the free market, and I include myself among them, would see the post-1991 growth of the media market in India as testimony to the entrepreneurial dynamism that has been unleashed thanks to liberalisation. But, as the Union information and broadcasting minister prepares to flesh out and table in Parliament the Broadcast Bill which will apparently also deal with the issue of media cross-ownership, it’s perhaps time to point out exactly what is at stake here. The largest Indian enterprise in the print media offers a classic case study of a business group of considerable vintage diversifying out of print into TV, radio, Internet, advertising, event management and a variety of other media ventures, with little resistance from any regulatory policy or body. A 24-hour news channel, a film, entertainment and celebrity-tracking channel and control of 30-odd FM radio broadcast circles are all part of its enviable portfolio. On the hand, a south India based media entity that began in the realm of cable and satellite (C&S) broadcasting rapidly expanded its influence into satellite television, print (it now owns one of the largest circulated vernacular dailies) and FM (it controls around 40 circles in north and south India). Lest you get the wrong end of the stick, this is not a case of sour grapes; indeed, both these examples, along with other such, only highlight an optimum utilisation of the routes to media consolidation open to these business groups and are a compliment to their well thought-out strategic and business plans given the rules of the game. These conglomerates can certainly not be blamed ~ that’s definitely not the burden of this song ~ and can even validly be championed for being successful. But these examples also do serve to bring out in sharp relief the need to examine the issue of putting in place cross-media ownership restrictions from a public interest viewpoint, rather than the governmental-bureaucratic perspective that has so far been customary in India. The adoption of a new paradigm that transcends the dichotomy between government control and free enterprise is essential if one believes that something as precious to a liberal democracy as the flow of information, perhaps even knowledge, depending on ones business, cannot be the monopoly of a few. We have something to learn from the Western European model rather than the American on cross-media ownership regulations to ensure free market principles are not compromised by monopolistic patterns in that most vital of areas ~ the right to varied and even conflicting information and/or points of view. Only once these are in place, does it become, as it should, a matter of choice.