CHAKKA JAM TODAY -ALL TRANSPORTS JAC....Morcha blow to hill council projects ..REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATION

CHAKKA JAM TODAY -ALL TRANSPORTS JAC

KalimNews:Called by All Transport Joint Action Committee and supported by Janmukti Chalak Mahasangh 24 hrs Chakka Jam is observed today starting from 6 am today in the Darjeeling Hills and in the Terai regions claimed by GJMM . It has announced and is observing the transport strike in the NH31A as well as NH 55 inspite of a recent Supreme Court order. According to the ATJAC the strike is called in protest against the harassment made by the Siliguri Police to the Drivers of the Hill vehicles in pretext of inspecting vehicle documents. It is said that the vehicular papers of the hill areas are not valid as most of the taxes are not paid due to a call of the GJMM to boycott revenues of transport including road tax, fitness and allied taxes.

Morcha blow to hill council projects - Party wants permanent job status, threat to stall tender processes from February 7

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, Darjeeling, Jan. 27: The Janmukti Asthahi Karmachari Sangathan has decided to stop all DGHC tenders for development work from being processed from February 7, a move the union of casual workers hopes will force the government to grant permanent job status soon to its members.

The Sangathan is a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha affiliate and its decision is likely to halt all new projects, expected to be carried out this year.

Deepak Sharma, spokesperson for JAKS, told The Telegraph: “The state government had assured us that the process of regularisation (of jobs) will start from November 17, 2009. However, till date, we have heard nothing. Unless our members are regularised, we will stop all tender work from February 7 onwards.”

Even though the state government had given a written assurance to the casual workers that regularisation of the sanctioned posts (numbering around 3,200) would start from November 17, home secretary Ardhendhu Sen in his capacity as additional chief secretary later said the government could not promise any specific time frame.

B.L.. Meena, the administrator of the DGHC, said stalling the tender process would halt all development work in the hills.

As immediate effect, projects worth Rs 36 crore will be affected. The DGHC has in recent times received Rs 26 crore under the Special Central Assistance Fund, while the state government is likely to pool in another Rs 10 crore as Matching Grant soon. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg of funds the DGHC gets.

“After Cyclone Aila, we had got Rs 40 crore for relief of which we have spent Rs 37 crore. Since we had to undertake many emergency work, there is a liability of another Rs 30 crore,” said Meena.

“Liabilities” are construction works that is done with funds other than the sanctioned Rs 40 crore. The “liabilities” have to be cleared by the state and the DGHC is yet to get the money.

The council also receives around Rs 400 crore annually under the planned budget. A rough estimation of the break up of the funds received under the planned budget includes Rs 100 crore for 100 days’ work, Rs 150 crore for mid-day meal and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Rs 100 crore for rural development and another Rs 100 crore for construction of roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. Tenders have to be floated for some of the projects under the planned budget.

If JAKS goes ahead with its movement, none of the tenders for the schemes mentioned will be allowed to be floated.

Meena said the process of regularisation of the DGHC workers was taking time as it has to be approved by the state government followed by a concurrence from the finance department.

According to the administrator, the DGHC shells out almost Rs 20 crore each month for disbursement of salaries.

“We need around Rs 3 crore to pay the 6,000 odd casual workers. The council needs another Rs 17 crore per month to pay its 5,000-odd permanent staff. If the 6,000 casual workers of the council are regularised, the council will need Rs 40 crore per month for salaries and this is why we need the approval from the state for their regularisation,” added Meena.

Fest off, Adivasis lift strike

A deserted NH31 at Malbazar during the strike on Wednesday. (Biplab Basak) TT, Jaigaon/Siliguri, Jan. 27: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has decided to withdraw its agitation for the next two days even as the outfit observed a strike in the Dooars today. The withdrawal was prompted by the government decision to cancel the “tea-tribal” festival. The strike was peaceful but 35 Parishad supporters were arrested. The outfit had earlier announced that a rally would be organised at Malbazar and all government offices would remain closed tomorrow followed by another strike on Friday. “The strike we have called today was total. Transport, offices, shops and establishments remained closed throughout the Dooars. Educational institutions and tea estates, which were kept outside the purview of the agitation, were open,” said John Barla, the president of the Dooars-Terai regional unit of the Parishad. “We had called for the boycott of the tea tribal festival from January 27 to 29 but as the administration cancelled the fest, our leaders met in Nagrakata today and decided to withdraw the programmes scheduled for the next two days. We will, however, organise a mega rally at Malbazar on January 29,” Barla said. The Parishad leaders said they had called the strike to demand the Sixth Schedule status for the Terai and the Dooars and to protest the nomenclature of the fest, State Tea Estate and Forest Village Folk Festival. The accompanying brochure describes the fest as meant for tribals in tea gardens and forest villages. “We protested the name of the event as we are not something like ‘tea tribals’. Also, we feel the fest has turned into a platform of the ruling party and does not serve the purpose to portray the ethnic culture of the tribal population residing in this part of the state,” said Birsa Tirkey, the state president of the Parishad. “We had talks with the administration but the name (of the fest) was not changed forcing us to resort to the strike. Now that the event has been cancelled, we decided to withdraw our programmes.” During the strike, the Northeast Frontier Railway diverted some of the long-distance trains that ply through the Dooars to New Jalpaiguri. Pickets were set up in all major towns in the region, from Malbazar to Gayerkata, Birpara, Kalchini and Alipurduar. The strike was peaceful save a minor altercation between CPM and Parishad supporters at Birpara Chowpathi. Vandana Yadav, the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, confirmed the even had been cancelled. “The festival is organised to showcase the rich tribal culture in this part of the state and render an opportunity to tribal artists to prove their talents,” she said. “It is unfortunate that for security reasons, we have to cancel the festival that was scheduled from today.” Police picked up 35 picketers from Alipurduar subdivision. “The strike was peaceful,” said Anand Kumar, the Jalpaiguri police chief. Blockade derails DHR File picture of a Darjeeling-bound toy train stranded on NH55 because of the Morcha blockade TT, MRINALINI SHARMA, Siliguri, Jan. 27: The “impartial” road blockade of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has derailed toy train services in the hills. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) has not been exempted from the purview of the two-hour blockade ever since it began on January 22. “Whenever we organise blockades on NH55, we stop all vehicles, irrespective of whether they are carrying tourists or not. The same rule is applicable to DHR trains also as its tracks run parallel to the highway. If the toy train plies during the blockade, we will stop it because we have to be impartial,” said Shankar Adhikari, the convener of the Morcha’s Siliguri-Terai unit. Since Friday, the Morcha has been setting up blockades from 12 noon to 2pm at several places on NH55. However, there was no blockade on Saturday and Tuesday — Netaji’s birth anniversary and Republic Day. “Today, being a half-day for tea garden workers, we had not set up pickets at Salbari on NH55 as many of them come to the haat (weekly village markets) to shop. From tomorrow, blockades will resume at 12 noon and continue till 2pm,” Adhikari said. Two toy trains, plying from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling and vice-versa, are at the receiving end. Train 1D departs from NJP at 9am and its scheduled arrival at Darjeeling is 4.15pm. Train 2D leaves Darjeeling at 9.15am and is scheduled to reach NJP at 4.50pm. “Both 1D and 2D were stopped on two days of the blockade. Passengers had to wait for the blockade to be lifted. This has had a detrimental effect because the number of passengers in the trains has gone down considerably,” said B.M. Krishna, the senior divisional mechanical engineer (diesel) at NJP. Chartered rides scheduled for February are another area of concern. These rides, which cost Rs 20,000, are the major source of revenue for the DHR. Conducted usually between October and April, such rides are popular among foreigners. “If the chartered rides are obstructed in February, it could damage the DHR’s reputation among foreign tourists. There are six such rides lined up in February,” Krishna said. The Morcha, however, is not ready to relent. “We will continue with the blockades till the state and central governments fix a date for the next round of tripartite talks,” Adhikari said. NO STUDENT TO BE HELD BACK TILL CLASS VIII TNN, KOLKATA: No annual examinations, no anxious wait for report cards, no fear of the red mark or being held back — at least till Class VIII. Schools — government, government-aided and private — cutting across education boards cannot detain students till Class VIII under the central Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill (RTE) passed in Parliament. The Bengal government has also decided to do away with annual screening as provided in RTE. It's just a matter of time before it is decided when and how the new system will come into force.  "This is a central legislation and has constitutional bindings as well. Under the new system, schools can't screen students during admission and detain them till Class VIII," school education minister Partha De said. If the 'liberal' system is a reason for parents to panic, worry not. There has been a turnaround in the evaluation process as well. Schools can't blame students alone for poor grades. Instead, teachers have to work hard and help the laggards achieve EE grade in Class VIII. "The idea is to enable students, not to eliminate them," a state official said. Scrapping of annual examinations has been an issue of serious debate since the mid-1980s, when the Left Front government asked government-aided primary schools to switch to the "continuous and comprehensive evaluation" system up to Class V. SUCI made it an election issue, complaining that such a system under the existing infrastructure would spoil state-sponsored primary education. This system and banning of English till Class V was a major reason for parents taking their kids to private schools. Now that the Centre has done away with promotion and detention and urged schools to switch to continuous evaluation, the debate has been triggered once again. Shri Shikshayatan Girls' School principal Indrani Ganguly is averse to the change. "I don't think the quality of students will improve if exams are done away with. Ever-yone needs to learn and cope with strategies. Our education system is such that there is no motivation without exams. Besides, they help prepare for public exams," she said. Antony overrules chief in land case Minister Antony and army chief Kapoor SUJAN DUTTA, TT, New Delhi, Jan. 27: Overruling the army chief, defence minister A.K. Antony has asked for disciplinary proceedings that may lead to a court martial against the military secretary, Lt Gen. Avadhesh Prakash, after he was indicted by an internal inquiry in Calcutta in the Sukna land transfer case. The investigation convened by army chief-designate and eastern army commander Lt Gen. V.K. Singh recommended that the military secretary’s services be terminated because Prakash had used his power to curry favour with a Siliguri-based businessman. But army chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor had issued a showcause notice to Prakash demanding an explanation why administrative action should not be taken against him. Prakash is due to retire at the end of this week. Senior officers in army headquarters are scheduled to attend his “dining out” farewell party tomorrow. If a court martial is ordered, Prakash will have to appear before it even after his retirement on January 31. Lt Gen. G.M. Nair is slated to take over as the next military secretary tomorrow. The military secretary is responsible for all transfers and postings of army officers and even processes the papers for the appointment of the next chief. A source in the defence ministry said Antony had made his views known to the army chief after the military secretary had responded to the showcause notice. A court martial is most likely, the source said. Prakash may be the seniormost officer — the military secretary is one of eight principal staff officers (PSO) to the army chief — to be court-martialled. In only one instance has the government summarily sacked an officer equivalent to a general. Navy chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat was sacked by the Vajpayee government in December 1998. But Admiral Bhagwat won back his privileges on Supreme Court orders. In another case, Lt Gen. (retired) A. Sahni went to high court and got a stay on court martial proceedings against him. The Supreme Court lifted the stay. At the very least, the overruling of the recommendation of Gen. Kapoor, who was striving for “administrative action”, is a slight to the army chief. But so unusual is the move to direct a switch from “administrative action” to “disciplinary action” that it can be seen as evidence of the mild-mannered Antony having concluded that the army chief was being too protective of his principal staff officer. It also means that the government has taken the Sukna land transfer issue as much larger than a case of suspected corruption involving the military secretary and Siliguri-based realtor Dilip Agarwal. More important, it was a breach of security rules in the strategic “chicken’s neck” or Siliguri Corridor. This was brought out in the report of the court of inquiry (The Telegraph, January 13) convened by V.K. Singh. “Administrative action” can mean non-recordable censure, recordable censure or sacking. While the censure can be given by the army chief, it is only the government that can terminate the services of an officer as punishment. After the investigation in Calcutta, the army chief issued a showcause notice to Prakash asking him to explain why administrative action should not be taken against him. A source in the army headquarters said the chief was contemplating a “censure”. Court martial sentences can vary from censure to cashiering (being stripped of rank and privileges and dismissal). By ordering disciplinary proceedings against Prakash, Antony has sent a political message, too: that the instrument of court martial will now be used against senior officers also. Another lieutenant general, P.K. Rath, who was the commander of the Sukna-headquartered 33 corps, is also likely to face a court martial. REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATION IN KALIMPONG REPUBLIC DAY CELEBRATION IN DELHI RELAY HUNGER STRIKE OF GJVM IN KALIMPONG PARTICIPANT STUDENTS OF -LAVA JR HIGH SCHOOL Rally of Janmukti Karmachari Sangathan in Kalimpong  Pics: Samiran Paul & Agencies PADMA VIBHUSAN and PADMA BHUSAN and PADMA SHRI AWARDEES 2010 Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The awards are given in all disciplines/ fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. The awards are conferred by the President of India at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan sometime around March/ April. This year the President has approved 130 awards including 13 in the category of Foreigners/ NRIs/ PIOs. These comprise 6 Padma Vibhushan, 43 Padma Bhushan and 81 Padma Shri awards. There are 17 ladies among the awardees Padma Vibhushan  Sl.No. Name Discipline State/ Domicile 1. Shri Ebrahim Alkazi Art Delhi 2. Shri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman Art Tamil Nadu 3. Smt. Zohra Segal Art Delhi 4. Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy Public Affairs Andhra Pradesh 5. Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Science and Engineering UK * 6. Dr. Prathap Chandra Reddy Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu Padma Bhushan Sl.No. Name Discipline State/Domicile 1. Shri Ilaiyaraaja Art Tamil Nadu 2. Shri Aamir Khan Art Maharashtra 3. Shri Akbar Padamsee Art Maharashtra 4. Shri Allah Rakha Rahman Art Tamil Nadu 5. Pandit Chhannulal Mishra Art Uttar Pradesh 6. Smt. Kumudini Lakhia Art Gujarat 7. Shri Kuzhur Narayana Marar Art Kerala 8. Prof. Madhusudan Amilal Dhaky Art Gujarat 9. Ms. Mallika Sarabhai Art Gujarat 10. Prof. (Dr.) Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana Art Andhra Pradesh 11. Pandit (Dr.) Puttaraj Gavai Art Karnataka 12. Shri Ram Kumar Art Delhi 13. Shri Shrinivas Vinayak Khale Art Maharashtra 14. Ustad Sultan Khan Art Maharashtra 15. Shri B.K. Chaturvedi Civil Service Delhi 16. Shri Moosa Raza Civil Service Delhi 17. Dr. P.R. Dubhashi Civil Service Maharashtra 18. Shri Fareed Zakaria Journalism USA * 19. Shri Anil Bordia Literature and Education Rajasthan 20. Prof. Bipan Chandra Literature and Education Delhi 21. Shri G.P. Chopra Literature and Education Delhi 22. Prof. Mohammad Amin Literature and Education Delhi 23. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Literature and Education Delhi 24. Prof. Tan Chung Literature and Education USA * 25. Prof. Belle Monappa Hegde Medicine Karnataka 26. Shri E.T. Narayanan Mooss Medicine Kerala 27. Dr. Noshir M. Shroff Medicine Delhi 28. Dr. Panniyampilly Krishna Warrier Medicine Kerala 29. Dr. Ramakant Madanmohan Panda Medicine Maharashtra 30. Prof.(Dr.) Satya Paul Agarwal Medicine Delhi 31. Prof. Abhijit Sen Public Affairs Delhi 32. Shri Sailesh Kumar Bandyopadhyay Public Affairs West Bengal 33. Shri Sant Singh Chatwal Public Affairs USA * 34. Prof. Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj Science and Engineering USA * 35. Prof. Bikash Chandra Sinha Science and Engineering West Bengal 36. Shri Jagdish Chandra Kapur Science and EngineeringDelhi 37. Dr. Balagangadharanatha SwamijiSocial Work Karnataka 38. Shri Eknath Rao alias Balasaheb Vikhe Patil Social Work Maharashtra 39. Capt. C.P. Krishnan Nair Trade and Industry Maharashtra 40. Dr. Kushal Pal Singh Trade and Industry Delhi 41. Shri Manvinder Singh Banga alias Vindi Banga Trade and Industry UK * 42. Shri Narayanan Vaghul Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu 43. Shri S.P. Oswal Trade and Industry Punjab Padma Shri Sl.No. Name Discipline State/ Domicile 1. Shri Gulam Mohammed Mir Public Service Jammu and Kashmir 2. Ms. Rekha Art Maharashtra 3. Shri Arjun Prajapati Art Rajasthan 4. Ms. Arundhati Nag Art Karnataka 5. Ms. Carmel Berkson Art Maharashtra 6. Ustad F. Wasifuddin Dagar Art Delhi 7. Smt. Gul Bardhan Art Madhya Pradesh 8. Smt. Haobam Ongbi Ngangbi Devi Art Manipur 9. Shri Hari Uppal Art Bihar 10. Shri K. Raghavan Art Kerala 11. Guru Mayadhar Raut Art Delhi 12. Shri Mukund Lath Art Rajasthan 13. Shri Nemai Ghosh Art West Bengal 14. Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi Art Orissa 15. Shri Rajkumar Achouba Singh Art Manipur 16. Dr. Ram Dayal Munda Art Jharkhand 17. Shri Resul Pokutty Art Kerala 18. Shri Saif Ali Khan Art Maharashtra 19. Dr. (Smt.) Shobha Raju Art Andhra Pradesh 20. Ms. Sumitra Guha Art Delhi 21. Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar Art West Bengal 22. Shri D.R. Karthikeyan Civil Service Delhi 23. Dr. Ranjit Bhargava Environment Protection Uttarakhand 24. Shri Arun Sarma Literature and Education Assam 25. Prof. Arvind Kumar Literature and Education Maharashtra 26. Ms. Bertha Gyndykes Dkhar Literature and Education Meghalaya 27. Prof. Govind Chandra Pande Literature and Education Madhya Pradesh 28. Prof. Hamidi Kashmiri Literature and Education Jammu and Kashmir 29. Prof. (Dr.) Hermann Kulke Literature and EducationGermany * 30. Shri Janaki Ballav Shastri Literature and Education Bihar 31. Dr. Jitendra Udhampuri Literature and Education Jammu and Kashmir 32. Dr. Lal Bahadur Singh Chauhan Literature and Education Uttar Pradesh 33. Shri Lalzuia Colney Literature and Education Mizoram 34. Ms. Maria Aurora Couto Literature and Education Goa 35. Dr.(Smt.) Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy alias Y.G. Parthasarathy Literature and Edn Tamil Nadu 36. Prof. Ramaranjan Mukherji Literature and Education West Bengal 37. Dr. Ranganathan Parthasarathy Literature and Education Tamil Nadu 38. Fr. Romuald D’Souza Literature and Education Goa 39. Prof. Sadiq - Ur - Rahman Kidwai Literature and Education Delhi 40. Mr. Sheldon Pollock Literature and Education USA * 41. Dr. Surendra Dubey Literature and Education Chhattisgarh 42. Dr. Anil Kumar Bhalla Medicine Delhi  43. Dr. Arvinder Singh Soin Medicine Uttar Pradesh 44. Dr. B. Ramana Rao Medicine Karnataka 45. Dr. Jalakantapuram Ramaswamy Krishnamoorthy Medicine Tamil Nadu 46. Dr. K.K. Aggarwal Medicine Delhi 47. Prof. Kodaganur S. Gopinath Medicine Karnataka 48. Dr. Laxmi Chand Gupta Medicine Delhi 49. Dr. Philip Augustine Medicine Kerala 50. Dr. Rabindra Narain Singh Medicine Bihar 51. Dr. Vikas Mahatme Medicine Maharashtra 52. Dr. Rafael Iruzubieta FernandezPublic Affairs Spain * 53. Prof. M.R. Satyanarayana Rao Science and Engineering Karnataka 54. Prof. (Dr.) Palpu Pushpangadan Science and Engineering Kerala 55. Prof. Ponisseril Somasundaran Science and Engineering USA * 56. Prof. Pucadyil Ittoop John Science and Engineering Gujarat 57. Dr. Vijay Prasad Dimri Science and Engineering Andhra Pradesh 58. Dr.(Ms.) Vijaylakshmi Ravindranath Science and Engineering Karnataka 59. Ms. Anu Aga Social Work Maharashtra  60. Shri Ayekpam Tomba Meetei Social Work Manipur 61. Shri Deep Joshi Social Work Delhi 62. Dr. J.R. Gangaramani Social Work UAE * 63. Shri Kranti Shah Social Work Maharashtra 64. Dr. Kurian John Melamparambil Social Work Kerala 65. Baba Sewa Singh Social Work Punjab 66. Ms. Sudha Kaul Social Work West Bengal 67. Dr. Sudhir M. Parikh Social Work USA * 68. Shri Ignace Tirkey Sports Orissa 69. Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan Sports Tamil Nadu 70. Shri Ramakant Vithal Achrekar Sports Maharashtra 71. Ms. Saina Nehwal Sports Andhra Pradesh 72. Shri Vijender Singh Sports Haryana 73. Shri Virendra Sehwag Sports Delhi 74. Dr. Alluri Venkata Satyanarayana Raju Trade and Industry Andhra Pradesh 75. Dr. B. Raveendran Pillai Trade and Industry Bahrain * 76. Shri Deepak Puri Trade and Industry Delhi 77. Shri Irshad Mirza Trade and Industry Uttar Pradesh 78. Brig. Dr. Kapil Mohan Trade and Industry Himachal Pradesh 79. Dr. Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel Trade and Industry Gujarat 80. Shri T.N. Manoharan Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu 81. Shri Venu Srinivasan Trade and Industry Tamil Nadu Note: * denotes awardees in the category of Foreigners/ NRIs/ PIOs.