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...THAT TOO AS A BANK GUARANTEEBudhiman Subba is accused of having embezzled Rs. 2 crore from State Bank of Sikkim vaultsduring his tenure as the branch manager at Sombaria, his hometown. He is up for bail, now thata chargesheet is still awaited six months since his arrest. He has been granted bail, but a catchkeeps his at Rongyek... TURN TO pg 2 FOR DETAILS

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RECAP SIKKIMRECAP SIKKIMDalit Sahitya

Academy

awards

SikkimeseGANGTOK: The 18th NationalConference of Bharatiya DalitSahitya Academy saw a number ofeminent Sikkim residents being hon-oured with awards including PKLamichaney (Dy S.P), Sikkim Po-lice. The Conference was held onNovember 26 at Talkatora Stadium,New Delhi. Sheila Dixit, Chief Min-ister of Delhi was present as theChief Guest while the Governors ofHimachal Pradesh; Dr. Suraj Bhanand Haryana, Babu Parmand pre-sided over the function along withMinister of Social Justice, Dr. SatyaNarayan Jatia. An eleven-memberdelegation represented Sikkim.

Mr. Lamichaney was conferredwith the Dr. Ambedkar VishistaSewa Puraskar by Dr. Satya NarayanJatia, for his devotion and contribu-tion towards society. Other recipientsfrom Sikkim of the Dr. AmbedkarFellowship were - Mrs. ShantiSingh, Teacher TNSS, Gangtok,Jagat Singh, Co-Op, Robin Sewa,Co-operation Department, KBGadaily, Sikkim Police, ManiDutraj, Co-Op, Chintamani Cintury,Co-Op, Anita Sewa, Teacher,Namphok and Jeewan Burdewa,Sikkim Cable TV.

SGC ALUMNI

GETS GOINGGANGTOK: The Sikkim Govern-ment College Alumni Associationhas finally been formed. The Alumniwas formally registered on Novem-ber 22. Its aim is the promotion andall round development of educationin the State. The Alumni activelyparticipated in the recently con-cluded Silver Jubilee celebrations ofthe College.

With the aim to encourage andboost the morale of the students, theCollege Alumni decided to awardprizes to the toppers of the annualexaminations in various streams.

RK Rai, former principal of theCollege, was also felicitated on theoccasion. Besides, the Alumni alsomade a contribution of Rs. 50,000to the College.

Court wants Rs. 1 crore bank guaranteeas Sombaria bank embezzlement

accused’s bail

Deploying AIDS awareness at Dikchu

DIKCHU: World AIDS Day wasobserved here on December 1 by thelocal NGO, Dikchu Youth WelfareAssociation in collaboration withNehru Yuva Kendra, Gangtok andSikkim State AIDS Control Society.

SDM (Mangan), P. WangdenLepcha, presided over the functionas the Chief Guest. The list of spe-cial guests included Mrs. AnitaVerma, President, NHPC LadiesWelfare Association and JohnMorecock, Assistant Director,NAROPA, University of Colorado,USA. Dr. Kalzang Diki, NGO Ad-visor, SSACS, was present as theresource person as was Dr. InduRawat, Medical Officer, DikchuPHC. The programme was attended

by the panchayats, general publicand labourers engaged in the NHPCStage V hydel project here.

Dr. Diki gave a talk on the cur-rent status of AIDS and deliberatedon the theme “Stigma and Discrimi-nation”. The staff of Springdaleschool presented a short play onAIDS and the gathering was showna 30-minute film on AIDS titled,Subah Hone Tak.

Awareness sessions were heldwith drivers and labourers of theNHPC dam site where they wereupdated on the threats posed by theHIV virus, and how AIDS could beprevented. Posters, banners and leaf-lets on AIDS were put up and dis-tributed as part of the awarenessdrive.

Red ribbon badges were put oneveryone to make people aware of the

alarming increase in the number ofAIDS cases in India and also to showthat there is hope even after AIDS.

The SDM and the Special Guestcongratulated all the members of the

Association and NRC volunteers forhaving addressed such an importantissue as AIDS from their platformand promised their support for anyfuture initiatives on this line.rajdhani

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GANGTOK: Arrested on July 12 foralleged embezzlement of Rs. 2 croresof State Bank of Sikkim money,Budhiman Subba is still in judicialcustody even though the SessionsCourt (South/ West) had granted himon October 15, nearly two monthsago. Subba continues with his stay atRongyek State Jail because he has asyet been unable to arrange the Rs. 1crore bank guarantee which the courthas set as his bail amount.

The Court’s don’t normally setsuch high or strict bail bonds, butseems to have made an exception inSubba’s case given the amount thatis unsettled on his account. The ac-cused has since moved the HighCourt for a lower bail option, but eventhe HC returned his plea to the Ses-sions Court on December 2 with thesuggestion that the lower court lookinto its bail ruling again. His freshappeal is to be heard at the SessionsCourt (South/ West) on December 5.

Subba’s plea for bail was upheldwhen the 90 days awarded to theinvestigating agency, in this case the

Vigilance Directorate, lapsed with-out a chargesheet being tabledagainst him. The bail conditions,however, kept him behind bars fortwo extra months. It remains to beseen whether the Court orders morelenient bail terms this time around.

As for the delay in the prepara-tion of the chargesheet, informedsources reveal that the delay hasbeen caused because Vigilancesleuths have to labour through fiveyears of bank documents, get themverified and crosschecked by expertsbefore framing charges.

Subba is alleged to have misap-propriated close to Rs. 2 crores fromthe bank vaults while serving asBranch Manager at Sombaria, whichalso happens to be his hometown.His arrest by the Vigilance Directo-rate was prompted by a complaintfiled by the SBS head office.

The official complaint filed withVigilance details that a surprise check(reportedly conducted by the Vigi-lance Officer appointed at SBS) ofthe Books at SBS, Sombaria, revealeda shortfall of Rs. 48.59 lakhs on oneday alone. Interestingly, Mr. Subbaturned up the next day with Rs. 48

lakhs to make up for the shortfall.The alarm bells had, however,

already been sounded and a detailedexamination of the accounts was or-dered. The internal audit team de-cided to check accounts from April1, 1998 onwards (presumably thefinancial year that Mr. Subba tookcharge of the branch at Sombaria).By the time the internal audit teamhad checked the accounts up toMarch 31, 2000, the amount “miss-ing” totalled at Rs. 1.25 crores.

Further scrutiny of records atSombaria revealed that another Rs.73 lakhs remained unaccounted forthe financial year 2000-2001. The to-tal amount that Mr. Subba is allegedto have embezzled now stands at Rs.1.97 crores. All within three years.

This figure could still go higheras the bank claims that several “un-accounted/unrecorded fraudulenttransactions of TDRs and Fixed De-posits” total to about Rs. 23 lakhs.

Preliminary investigations by thebank’s internal audit and vigilancesleuths reveal that Subba would is-sue TDRs, FDRs and overdraft re-ceipts from his office and not reflectthem in the Bank’s accounts. The

a NOW REPORT

figure, which investigators believemust have been reasonably low atone time escalated out of hand toreach the Rs. 2 crores that stares thebank in lost revenue at present. Itmight be of interest to note here thatthe operating cost of running 22branches across the State for SBSstands at Rs. 4 crores.

The SBS complaint with Vigi-lance also alleges that Subba has nothanded over important documentssuch as DD Books, TDR Books tohis successor despite several remind-ers. Till these books are recoveredand then tallied with the records atthe branch, the actual amount em-bezzled might never be known. In-formed sources reveal that severalpeople have already approached thebank with receipts of deposits madeat the Sombaria Branch which arenot reflected in its books.

What makes the whole episodemore quixotic is that Subba contin-ued as Sombaria’s Branch Managereven after the misappropriation wasuncovered sometime in May 2001.It took a year before the machineryat SBS moved to have him sus-pended on May 24, 2002.

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04-10 Dec, 2002; NOW! 3

UPFRONTUPFRONT

GANGTOK: Short supply to thegovernment is a common occurence,but what does one do when the con-signment in question is for some-thing as specific in its use as elec-tronic voting machines. Panic wouldbe one option.

A First Information Report waslodged here at the Sadar Thana onNovember 27, 2002 which reportedthat 10 Electronic Voting Machineshad gone missing from a consign-ment that the Election Departmentrecieved on November 13 fromHyderabad.

According to police sources, theconsignment, a total of 90 trunks(each trunk containing 10 votingmachines), arrived in Gangtok only

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YAMA HOUSE, GANGTOK

GANGTOK: The StateGovernment has finally decided toshut down the Sikkim HousingDevelopment Board, a financialinstitution of the State. The decisionwas taken by the Cabinet onNovember 26 in the wake ofmounting losses and piling debts.

The SHDB is a loan refinancinginstitution financed by HUDCO. Itused to provide housing loans togovernment employees and residentsof Sikkim at interest rates rangingbetween 12 to 16 per cent as per theschemes.

A major factor behind SHDB’spoor financial health which has nowled to the present decision was thetilt of balance in favour of the banksas far as interest rates go. This madeit very difficult for SHDB to procurebusiness and subsequently itincurred losses. Non-recovery of

government dues also led to amismatch in SHDB repayingHUDCO, inform sources.

The Cabinet decision ofNovember 26 has now decided toshut down SHDB’s operations in aphased manner giving multi-voluntary retirement schemes to theemployees. The Housing Boardowes HUDCO about Rs. 57 croresof which the Cabinet has alreadyapproved a sum of Rs. 42.86 croresfor repayment of dues over fouryears. SHDB is expected to chip inwith Rs. 14.28 crores as downpayment towards servicing the duesto HUDCO. There is another Rs. 20crores due to SHDB from loans ithas already distributed.

There seems to be no chance ofthe State Government reverting onits decision to shut down SHDB.What remains to be worked out arethe logistics of the golden handshakeit is going to offer those employedwith the Board.

SHUTTERED DOWN: The Sikkim Housing Development Board officeat Church Road wears a desolate look now that its days are numbered.

Cabinet thumbs down

for Housing Boarda NOW REPORT

on November 13 even though it wasdespatched from Siliguri three daysearlier on November 11. Apparently,the transporters had to re-load theentire consignment from the Na-tional Permit truck from Hyderabadonto a smaller truck which couldnavigate the hill roads better. Thetruck, WB -73-3028, upon inspec-tion by the consignee on reachingGangtok was one trunk short.

After complaints to the carriers,the transporter filed a complaint atthe Bhaktinagar Police Station inSiliguri. But police officials inSiliguri refused to take up the casesince the shortage was detected inGangtok and the foul play, if any,would fall in its jurisdiction. So theyforwarded the case to Gangtok,where it was registered as a case oftheft against the driver.

ELECTRONIC VOTINGMACHINES IN A

DISAPPEARING ACT

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GANGTOK: Seven members ofSikkim Amature Taekwondo Asso-ciation participated the national Fed-eration cup championship at Aizwal,Mizoram organized by MizoramAmatuer Taekwondo Associationunder the banner of Taekwondo Fed-eration of India from 19-21 Novem-ber. The contingent did Sikkimproud when four of its members re-turned with medals.

Heera N. Pradhan won the Goldmedal in the middle weight category,

Jyoti Pradhan won the Bronze medalin fly weight category, Deki DomaBhutia returned with a Silver medalin feather weight category andMeera Chettri won Silver medal inlight weight category.

Ruben Pradhan of SATA, now aSAI student at Karnataka, won Goldmedal in fin weight category. He rep-resented Karnataka state and will becontesting for Sikkim from the year2003 as his contract with Karnatakaexpires at the end of the year 2002.

Medallists of this championshipare selected for National coachingcamp at SAI, Banglore for the forth

coming South Asian FederationGames, World championship to beheld in Germany and Olympic quali-fying championship.

On December 1, twenty mem-bers of Sikkim Amatuer TaekwondoAssociation left for Goa to partici-pate in the 20th Sub-junior boys andgirls national Taekwondo Champi-onship, 2002 organised byTaekwondo association of goa underthe aegis of Taekwondo Federationof India. The championships will beheld from 6 to 8 December 2002 inthe Multipurpose Hall, P.J.N. Sta-dium, Fatorda, Margoa.

a NOW REPORT

SATA fighters do Sikkim proud

Family of accident victim hurtby insensitive public glare

A couple of weeks back, a 27-year-old youth met with a fatal

accident early in the morning ofNovember 21. The victim sustainedhead injuries which eventuallyclaimed his life. The incident waswidely reported and distraughtfamily members now contend thatthe death was rather insensitivelyhandled.

A relative of the victim called upthe NOW! office in sobs pointing outthat even before the body washanded over to the family, statementswere being made of how the accident

was caused by “reckless driving”.“The victim has left behind a

young widow and a toddler. Therewas no consideration shown towardshow the family would feel when thedeath was written off as the victim’sfault even before a properinvestigation was conducted into theincident,” said a relative.

“How can “they” be so sure thatthe victim was not wearing ahelmet?” she questioned.

“They could have at least waitedtill the enquiry was over beforejumping to and announcingconclusions,” she added.

She also hinted that the victimcould have been carrying a

substantial amount of money on himwhen he met with the accident.

“We are not upset about havinglost the money, our loss was muchgreater than that. All we are upsetabout is how the entire incident wasripped apart by the media with suchauthority even though it was tooearly to form any conclusions,” sheadded.

Death, whether by accident ornatural, is always traumatic for thepeople left behind. It goes withoutsaying that such incidents, speciallyin a place as small as Gangtok, needsome sensitive handling. The familyhas suffered much, it could perhapshave done without the media glareon the entire episode.

by KARCHOONG DIYALI

4; NOW! 04-10 Dec, 2002

MANGANSENIOR SECONDARY

WELCOMESall Ex-Teachers and Ex-Students to the

GOLDEN JUBILEE

of the school on 10 & 11 December 2002

The Honourable Chief Minister has consented

to be the Chief Guest on the occasion

THE PROGRAM IS AS FOLLOWS:

DAY I - 10 December 2002

Games and Sports for the ex-students and ex-teachers at

Mangan Public Ground from 9:30 AM onwards: Chief Guest -

Hissey Lachungpa, Power Minister

DAY II - 11 December 2002

Golden Jubilee Celebrations at the Mangan School Ground

from 11:00 AM onwards: Chief Guest - Hon’ble Chief Minister

FOR ANY QUERIES CONTACT: Babulal Malu - 225098/ 223615;Ganden Lachungpa - 225273/ 220540; Nehru Pradhan - 225179;Ngawang Chhophel - 226690/ 222517

POWER-PLAYPOWER-PLAY

GANGTOK: The recent submis-sion of a memorandum to the Cen-tral and State Government by theSikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Com-mittee was the main agenda of theemergency meeting of the Executivemembers of Sikkim Lepcha Associa-tion and the Sikkim Lepcha YouthAssociation. The meeting took placeon November 27. The reason behindthe emergency session is apparentlythe fact that the signatures of themembers of the aforesaid organisa-tions are present in the memorandumbut were not endorsed by them.

In the course of the meeting,President, Sikkim Lepcha YouthAssociation, Ren. Namgyal Lepcharesigned from the Steering Commit-tee of SIBLAC ostensibly as he was“reposed with so many responsibili-ties to raise voices for the cause ofthe Lepchas.”

The house decided to stick to theminimum 50 per cent reservation inthe areas of job reservation, higherstudies and seats in the State Assem-bly for Lepchas. They also reaf-firmed that land transaction in theState should remain confined withintheir community.

ADHAKSHYAS DECIDED, CHAMLING

TO SEE PERFORMANCE BEFORE

DELEGATING MORE POWERS

GANGTOK: “The newly electedpanchayats will definitely be givenmore powers,” the Chief MinisterPawan Chamling said while addingthat the speed at which this devolutionof power took place would dependupon the “capacity and performance”of the respective panchayats.

“We are committed in principleto delegate more powers to thepanchayats, but we have to checktheir ability first,” Mr. Chamling saidwhile talking to NOW! recently.

When asked to comment on themake-up of the new panchayathierarchy, Mr. Chamling revealedthat the adhakshyas andupadhakshyas had already beenchosen and would be sworn onDecember 9 at the Janata Mela.

The adhakshyas chosen are: Mrs.Phurmit Lepcha [South], KNPradhan [East], Lobsang G. Tenzing

[North] and Rastaman Rai [West].Assisting Mrs. Lepcha in SouthSikkim will be BM Rai whileChandramaya Subba has beenchosen the upadhakshya for WestSikkim. New faces are promised forthe East and North.

“I am committed tostrengthening the institution ofpanchayati raj and want them (thepanchayats) to consolidate schemesand projects at the grassroots level,”Mr. Chamling said.

The Chief Minister, whose partyhas swept the recently heldpanchayat elections, reiterated thathe looked forward to responsivepanchayats who were answerable tothe people. “The panchayats are yetto reach that level,” he added.

While commenting on the one sourincident of the panchayat poll run-upthis year - the murder of a prospectivepanchayat candidate, the CM said: “Ipersonally condemn the act. If anyparty-member is found to be involved

in the incident, he will be expelledwithout hesitation. We will allow thelaw to take its course and serve justice.”

When asked to comment on theconfusing signals coming from thegovernment with regard to its policyon awarding hydel projects, Mr.Chamling insisted there was noconfusion. “Studies have revealedsix possible hydel projects on theTeesta, from Stage I to VI. Of these,we are committed in principle toaward stages I-III and Stage Valready underway to NHPC andStages IV and VI to Karnataka HydelPower Corporation. Microhydelprojects will be handled andcommissioned by the StateGovernment itself,” he said.

Commenting on the recenttremors of protest from among thetribal community with regard to theinclusion of Limbus and Tamangs inthe Scheduled Tribes list, the CMmaintained that there should be nomisunderstanding on this count.

“Protecting the interests of each andevery community of Sikkim is myresponsibility as the Chief Minister.I have already announced that if therights or protection enjoyed by anycommunity is waived during myterm in power, I will not only quitmy office, but also politics,” he said.

It might be recalled that in anearlier statement to NOW! the CMhad clarified that Limbus andTamangs were joining the ST list asindividual communities and were notbeing either clubbed as Bhutias orLepchas. The special reservation ofseats in the Assembly is for BLs andnot tribals he had pointed out whileadding that the State Government hadno plans of clubbing either of the twocommunities under Bhutia or Lepchabracket.

“No community should hold anyfears,” the Chief Minister said whileadding that everyone had a right toplace demands and get themselvesheard in a democracy.

a NOW REPORT

SCHOOL

Celebration

Lepcha assc

pulls members

out of SIBLACa NOW REPORT

NAMCHI: The office of the SikkimUnited Teachers’ WelfareAssociation was inaugurated here onNovember 23, last month. Besidesthe District Executive body, a goodnumber of teachers from in andaround Namchi were present for theinauguration, informs a Press releaseissued by the SUTWA.

The release further informs thatthe chairperson, KB Rai, who is alsoa senior teacher and headmaster ofNew Secondary School, Namchi,appreciated the “noble” ideasprescribed in the Association’sconstitution. He congratulated allthose who drafted the Association’sconstitution and maintained that ifimplemented properly, the documentcould help in providing qualityeducation to the future generations.

He also opined that the work ofthe Association should not be limitedto forwarding its demands to theGovernment and calling for bandhs.“You should also think of the welfareof the society by rendering selflessand sincere work,” he said.

The office at Namchi Bazaar hasreportedly been “lent” to SUTWA bySuren Moktan, a local resident.

a NOW REPORT

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GANGTOK: Former Minister, MBDahal, has been appointed the GeneralSecretary (Coordination) of the SikkimDemocratic Front party. Mr. Dahal’sappointment, informs an SDF release,has been cleared to facilitate “betterunderstanding and coordination” be-tween the different wings of the party.

BS Pant, whom Mr. Dahal re-places, has been appointed the Gen-eral Secretary (Political Affairs).

In another development, the rul-ing party inducted four new mem-bers into the Central ExecutiveCommittee. These are: LP Subbafrom Dentam, Lazi Om Bhutia fromLasithang, Machong, Mrs. Til MayaGurung, Parkha and Tek BahadurGurung, Pachey Samsing,

a NOW REPORT

4

04-10 Dec, 2002; NOW! 5

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FROM-THE-SPOTFROM-THE-SPOT

RHENOCK: Sometimes nothingless than a rude awakening will setthe wheels in motion. There is nobetter example of this than the Pri-mary Health Centre at Rhenockwhich bustles with renovation andrepair work now that even the ChiefMinister has gone public with his

revulsion at the squalor it was in.It might be recalled that about

two months ago, on September 14to be precise, the CM, PawanChamling, paid a surprise visit tothe PHC here. While the staff wastaken by surprise, it was the CMwho was in for a shock. The doc-

tors were missing and so was thestaff and when he saw the condi-tion of the toilets, the Chief Minis-ter is reported to have lost his cooland had some harsh words to say.

On November 29, when this re-porter reached the PHC, it wasbrimming with activity. Yes, thehospital is getting a face-lift. Theceiling has been repaired and thebroken window panes have beenreplaced. As for the toilets, they tooare clean.

This PHC has two doctorsposted. Both were however away onofficial duty in the last week ofNovember. Both were away ontraining stints - one in Gangtok andthe other in Kolkata. In their ab-sence a staff of one compounder andseven sisters were attending to thepatients here.

Interestingly, the hectic renova-tion work has led to shortage ofspace at the PHC. The male ward isbeing used as a storeroom forwooden planks and other equipmentof the carpenters who have report-edly been working here since “be-fore the pujas”.

The nurses on duty, however,

assured NOW! that if the needarose, then both the male and thefemale patients would have to behoused at the female ward itself.However, the female ward wasfound empty, since no patients wereadmitted at the PHC at present.

The staff admitted that the CMsvisit really helped the PHC since itprompted officials from the HealthDepartment to visit the site and im-mediately sanction the requiredworks. The hospital now also hasnew electrical wiring and improvedplumbing in place.

When questioned as to wherethe doctors were during the CM’svisit, one staff member said that theCM had dropped in after 2 pm andsince the hospital hours are from8am-2pm, both the doctors were notpresent at the PHC.

The staff supported the doctorswholeheartedly. “They work hardand even when patients come after2 pm all we have to do is informthem and they attend to the pa-tients,” added another.

They further informed NOWthat the doctors here are perform-ing their duties despite the acute

TINA RAI visits the Rhenock Primary Health Centre two

months after it received a severe tongue lashing from

the CM who was shocked by the squalor there. The CM’s

surprise visit has led to some good, she reports...

A BIT OF TONGUE-LASHING AND THINGSSTART MOVING FOR RHENOCK PHC

hardships they have to face. Thedoctor’s quarters near by are in astate of abject disrepair forcing thelady doctor posted here, Dr ReetaGautam to lodge at the nurse’s quar-ters while her colleague Dr. DPSharma in putting up in quartersmeant for grade IV staff.

The CM had also found two oldvehicles parked outside the PHC;these were ostensibly the ambu-lances. One local pointed out thatthese vehicles were removed the verynext day itself. The PHC now has aMaruti Gypsy and an ambulance andthe staff seem very happy about it.

But no official initiative can re-ally be glitch-free, can it? It is learntthat the vehicles are of little use atthe present because the driver wasrecently transferred out and no re-placement has been deputed as yet.

The local people, however,seemed to be quite happy with thenew initiative at the hospital. Sev-eral locals vouched that the CM’svisit worked as a wake-up call foreven those staff members who werenot very diligent earlier. “Now eve-ryone at the hospital is sincerely dis-charging his or her duty,” they state.

5

6; NOW! 04-10 Dec, 2002GANGTOK 04-10 DEC, 2002

SIKKIM MATTERS

DEEPFOCUS

RANJIT SINGH

ED-SPACE

There is no dearth of voluntaryworks and organizations inSikkim and they have been

around for many years. Every villageinvariably has a social organizationworking in a resolute manner for theprogress of the people. Be it a mar-riage ceremony or a funeral, a cul-tural function or emergencies borneout of natural calamities like land-slides, these groups with a socialbent of mind have always helped out.Ironically, voluntarism, in the con-text of Sikkim as a State, is still at anascent stage.

Times are changing and newideas are evolving. Today voluntary/non-governmental organizationsneed to brace themselves up for thechange in the very idea ofvoluntarism. If their zeal to serve thesociety they live in is combined withnew-age professionalism ofvoluntarism, these organizations canmake a sea change in the society.

While other states have marchedway ahead of Sikkim as far as NGOMovement is concerned, it is under-standable as their needs are also farmore urgent. Sikkim is better placedbecause such social ills as female in-fanticide, religious fanaticism, par-

tisan clashes, dowry etc are notrampant here. The urgency ofthe problems in other States ne-cessitated them to come up witheffective voluntary works. Butin no way should we be com-placent. In Sikkim, primary sec-tors of health, education and de-velopment in the difficult areasare still grossly inadequate. Theconcrete high-rises of the capi-tal city are not at all reflectiveof development elsewhere.

Fortunately, Sikkim canboast of a government whichhas constantly reiterated itscommitment towards pro-poorand people centric policies. Butif Sikkim is to make strides inthe field of sustainable develop-ment, it’s imperative for thepeople to take it upon them-selves to coordinate this proc-ess. Infusing professionalism inthe voluntary sector could wellbe a new beginning with prom-ising results. As often deliber-

ated by the Chief Secretary, SWTenzing, the gestation period ofpolicy-making by the govern-ment and its implementationleaves a lacuna that can only befilled by social organizations.

There are several donorsagencies-both national and in-ternational, which are keen onfunding organizations to carryout projects to help the deprivedand the underdeveloped. Or-ganizations on their part shouldbuild their capacity to be ableto tap the resources. Recordkeeping, reporting, accountingand most important of all - sin-cerity of purpose are the param-eters in on which they need towork on. No funding agencywould want to see its fund go towaste. For this, the image of the

VOLUNTARISM AND SIKKIMVISITORSGALLERY

SAMDUP BHUTIA

voluntary organizations should becredible. It’s high time for profes-sionals like doctors, engineers, ar-chitects, accountants etc. and moreand more educated youth to ventureout in this field and lend their ex-pertise for making voluntary organi-zations professional.

The basic misconception thatNGOs are secluded from the govern-ment needs to be discarded. The onlydifference between the two being thatindependent organizations have a moredirect reach with the grass-root peopleand their immediate problems. Thus,they can effectively mobilize the re-sources towards their benefit. However,if the government and voluntary organi-zations work in tandem with each other,the results would be wonderful. Peo-ple, irrespective of whether they belongto rural or urban Sikkim, can have aperfect health status, relevant educa-tional facilities and overall develop-ment. The possibilities are endless.

The writer is a resident ofRanipool, East Sikkim

On the face of it this seems aperfectly logical and justpiece of legislation - as yet

only in the proposal stage. It mighteven seem a bit late in the day, andsome may even taunt the governmentfor proving themselves yet again tobe an entity which works on the prin-ciple of cause and effect in a worldwhere Prevention is the watchword.The proposal of the Deputy PM andHome Minister, LK Advani that rap-ists should be sent to the hangmanprovides some fodder for thought notonly in regard to the crime of rapebut also and more pertinently on theconcept of capital punishment.

Crimes against women in Indiashow little signs of decline, althoughthe code book is bristling with lawsand women’s rights groups havebeen working tirelessly to raiseawareness and create an ambienceof social monitoring and support. Ac-cording to the National CrimeRecord Bureau’s statistics a womanis molested every 26 minutes, an in-cident of sexual harassment occursevery 42 minutes and for rape thefrequency is 34 minutes. Almost aquarter of the victims are below theage of 16 years and though the pen-alty is severe, convictions are rare.The figures could double if the vastmajority of unreported cases aretaken into account. Ironically, therape laws make no distinction be-tween rape of a minor and that of anadult. Perhaps the governmentshould focus on this oversight.

It certainly does make one thinkif the final step towards capital pun-ishment is what is required to bring

down the incidence of rape and othercrimes against women. The proposalhas given rise to a paradoxical situ-ation. Women’s organisations andactivists are objecting to the pro-posed measure. Needless so say, thedeath penalty would further reducethe number of convictions. Evidencefrom the world over has shown thatwhen judges are about take the ex-treme step of awarding capital pun-ishment, they are nearly always as-sailed by doubts and look for rea-sons to acquit. Also inherent in thisproposal can be seen the rush on thepart of the government to pile thedirt under the carpet.

Consequences never form part ofa criminal scheme. The death pen-alty was never able to form a creasein the minds of murderers nor hasamputation shortened the arms of

robbers in some Islamic countries.Crime and criminals still aboundwhile legal procedures go round andround.

Hanging is definitely not the so-lution for rapists. If anything the pro-posed legislation focuses on thewrong part of the problem. Ratherthan focus on what to do with a con-victed rapist the government shouldfocus on how to get them convictedin the first place and for that theywould first need to catch him. It isfar more important to clarify relevantclauses in the law against rape so asto make conviction inescapable. Itis also imperative, if justice is to bedelivered and for the deliverance ofthe victim that the legal process bespeeded up. What is needed are spe-cial courts which guarantee quickand efficient trials. To win the trustof the people and women in particu-lar it needs to be demonstrated thata rape case can throw up a convic-tion within four months with theconvicted put behind bars. Microlevel changes in society are neededas laws alone cannot alter social at-titudes and mores.

Everyone has an opinion. All of us have a take on things. We all have something that’s

worth sharing. NOW! offers you the platform to do the sharing. “Visitors Gallery” is

space on the opinion/essays page reserved for original essays by NOW! readers. Use

it as you please. The essays may however, be edited for length and content. Send all

entries to NOW!, Gairi Gaon, Tadong, Gangtok. Or email: sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

Not Unless The Audience Demands ItIn the absence of an Opposition, it is only normal for the people toturn to the fourth estate to function as the belligerent watchdog snap-ping at the heels of the powers-that-be perpetually. Nothing wrongwith the expectation, but what does it achieve? Very little in the presenttimes when the masses themselves have decided to exploit the sys-tem for whatever it is worth and resort to groupism whenever indi-vidual interests are threatened. The greater common good has beenforsaken and although the conscience still pricks, it does not promptaction any more. Take the biggest expose of them all - the Tehelkarevelation of corruption in defence deals. What has come of it? Thetainted leaders are back in harness and the journalists who broke thestory are jobless. What has to be understood is that newspapers can-not battle on in a vacuum. The readers who form a newspaper’s sup-port base have to be more responsive. Each time a major issue israised they have to make public their opinion. They do not have toagree with the newspaper’s editorial slant, but they have to form anopinion and then voice it. With each response from a reader and witheach moulding of a public opinion, a newspaper grows stronger andmore representative of the people it addresses. People who sign inas “concerned Sikkimese” or “concerned readers” while holding courton what is wrong with the State and the way it is being run are doingwhat almost every politician attempts to do - fire off personal salvosfrom the shoulder of the Press. While this is acceptable, as also thePress’ duty to report, when in the public interest, it is unfair to use thenewspaper’s domain to wage a battle of words to further personalinterests. What everyone should also realise is that a newspaper doesnot have the cushion of anonymity which unsigned letters guarantee.A newspaper has to stand by its report and its reporters when it startsdrawing flak. It can do so only when it has the backing of strong sourcesand documentary evidence when breaking Big Stories. Thus, the free-dom of words and issues which an anonymous letter has cannot beaccommodated in a report which carries a newspaper’s printline. Alsoto be deliberated upon before splashing a “sensational” story are therepercussions. Here a bit of self-censorship comes into play. Whilethere are some schools of journalism which believe that the story isbigger than everything else, in a place as small and condensed asSikkim, the larger picture has to always be kept in sight. To raise anissue which is then exploited by certain groups only to be droppedafter the right price has been agreed upon vitiates the ideals behindthe raising of an issue. Several issues uncovered by newspapersduring the course of their work have been resolved much more con-structively when raised outside the public domain and kept away fromthe exploitative hands of opportunists. This is especially true for Sik-kim. In the end, it goes without saying that a newspaper can be onlyas strong as its bottom-line and vociferousness of its readers...

Fastrack Justice, NotThe Gallows

6

04-10 Dec, 2002; NOW! 7

[K]NOW SIKKIM[K]NOW SIKKIM

Researching Sikkim is, metaphoricallyspeaking, like groping your way in atunnel with hope in your heart and a

sieve in your hand. While the proverbial lightat the end of the tunnel does exists, the path tothe end is littered with exaggerations, contra-dictions, juxtapositions and ambiguity. Withvery few well researched documents to helpin the task, it becomes all the more arduous.Of course, there is the Gazetteer of Sikkim, aswell as the History of Sikkim compiled byMaharaja Sir Thutob Namgyal and MaharaniYeshay Dolma (translated by Kazi Dousandup)touted as the Bibles of Sikkimese history, thereis, however, no account of Sikkim which isinfallible. Translations, interpretations and thelike are always subject to the personal short-comings of the translators and interpreters.

It is a widely prevalent misconception thatSikkim’s history begins with the coronationof Phuntsog Namgyal as the first Gyalpo orking of Sikkim in 1642 A.D. It would be moreprudent to state that it is the modern history ofSikkim which begins with his coronation atNorbughang.

Of the times prior to the coronation, reli-gious texts are the main purveyors of infor-mation. These are couched in the main lan-guage of the time - Tibetan and/or Lepcha-and inevitably have religious connotations. Itwas only in the latter half of the 1800’s, around1886, with the advent of the British in Sikkimthat English became the administrative lan-guage. This coupled with the emergence ofand growing popularity of the Nepali languagemeant, in effect, that the folklore, nuances andtraditions of the local Sikkimese languagebecame increasingly obscure, mostly from lackof use.

While each of the Himalayan communi-ties like Bhutias, Lepchas and Tsongs had theirown distinctive cultural, social and historicalethos, the system of modern education broughtwith it the need to know more about the ac-tual nuances of the history of Sikkim.

Thus it was with the coronation ofPhuntsog Namgyal in 1642 A.D. that the con-cept of ‘Sikkim’, per se, as a political entityor a nation state with definite boundaries firstcame about. Prior to this, ‘De-mo-jong’ as itwas then known was loosely described as aregion in the eastern Himalaya.

De-mo-jong is reputed to be GuruPadmasambhava’s hidden land. The obviousbut incorrect conclusion drawn here would bethat it is the only hidden land. In the Thang-yik-Shel-brag-ma it is mentioned:‘In the east there is the hidden country ofPadma-ling.In the South West there is the hidden countryof De-mo-jong.In the North West there is the hiddencountry of Khangpa-jong.In the North East there is Lung-sum-jongThese are the three Ijongs.’

Thus it becomes clear that not one but sev-eral hidden countries existed as per the proph-ecies and books of Avalokiteswara and GuruPadmasambhava. But it is said that Sikkim isthe most sacred of all these sacred hiddenlands, being multiply blessed by a series ofgreat souls.

If you look at Sikkim geographically youwill find that it was nestled between the pre-dominantly Buddhist Tibet in the north andbounded by the Indo Aryans in the south withthe Himalayas themselves forming the greatdivide. As happens with all civilizations, themigration and interaction resulted in the popu-lation imbibing flavours from neighbours todevelop a distinct local culture.

We started off this series with an ostensible battle royale - to shrug off the dual demons of apathy and recency bias. Or sowe surmised. But we stand corrected. Forget apathy, the readers were surprisingly most vigilant and feedback of a ratherprivate nature - phone calls and direct interaction - poured in.I have to make the following statement at the risk of sounding bombastic: What was particularly heartening was that therespondent base was most definitive - from senior citizens, who now maintain a quiet profile, to the younger generation,who now clamour to know their roots - all of them read and reacted.We have decided to tackle this Sikkim special series in a chronological sequence to give it a sense of direction and tomaintain continuity. This week we give you the background of the articles and the spirit in which they should be taken.

TENZIN C.TASHI

If you consider Bhutan, you will find about15-16 ethnicities making up the total popu-lace. Similarly, the earliest records mentionthree autochtons in Sikkim - Bhutias, Lepchasand Tsongs. Each had their own cultural, reli-gious and political inclinations. Even the ori-gins of the words differ vastly. Interestingly,there is no word ‘Bhutia’ or ‘Lepcha’ in Sik-kimese. People of Tibetan origin -from Tibetand Bhutan- were called ‘Lhorig’ or ‘Lhopas’while the Lepchas were referred to as ‘ Monpa’or ‘Monrig’ .

It was the British who used the word‘Bhotia’ to describe the people of Bhot or Ti-bet. The name ‘Lapchey,’ meaning scurrilousspeakers, was apparently a contemptuous termused by the Nepalis when referring to theLepchas. The British anglicised the word‘Lapchey’ ‘Lepcha’. The History of Sikkimmentions that according to the traditions ofthe Tsongs (called Monthum) “when the pio-neer lamas of Tibet visited Sikkim, for the firsttime, a tribe who revered the Kartog Lama astheir guru, followed him from Tsang , and set-tled with him in Sikkim. Hence the derivationof the word Tsong is expressive of their casteor tribe but the Goorkhas call them Limbus.”

‘Lhoke’ existed from the beginning of thehistory of Sikkim to the middle of the century.It was not a written language but a dialect.With the establishment of the Namgyal dynasty‘Denjong ke’ became the court language.

The Lepcha ‘chi’, the Bhutia ‘arak’ andthe Nepali ‘rakshi’ all essentially refer to anintoxicating drink or brew. So whether you call

it ‘chi,’ ‘arak’ or ‘rakshi’ it means one and thesame thing. But it is not so simple when one’sethnicity hangs in the balance. When you usethe word ‘Nepali’ for instance, the first wrongassumption would to infer that Nepalis meanthe people of Nepal just as the Bhutias are fromTibet. But this would obviously have thewrong connotations for the Nepalis of Sikkimwho have lived here for generations and donot have any real ties with Nepal. TheBhutanese in fact do not call the Nepalis any-thing but ‘Lhotsampas’.

You must realise that the history of Sik-kim, much like the Anglo Saxon Britian, re-flects a composite culture that evolved overtime with the migration of people from differ-ent places. It is claimed that the Nepalis donot like being known as people of Nepal be-cause then it makes them ‘immigrants’. Butthen it does not really stand to reason. On thecontrary, you have the Namgyal rulers tracingtheir lineage back to the Min-yak dynasty ofKham in Tibet, to the legendary Khye Bumsa,which technically makes them“immigrants”too.

So the term ‘Nepali’ should be understoodto describe the community, the ethnicity asopposed to nationality. The dictionary de-scribes ethnicity as pertaining to races. Thisis the important difference. A Sardar driving ataxi in New York may be an American nationalbut that does not render him any less an In-dian as far as ethnicity goes. Similarly theChinese in America while embracing Ameri-can citizenship still retain their ethnicity as

Chinese as is evident in their Chinatowns.Culture is a set of basic values, percep-

tions, wants and behaviour shared by a groupof people or a particular society. Culture andtraditions are dynamic, they evolve over a pe-riod of time. The gradual mixing of the smallersubcultures result in a unique way of life so inthis vein, the Nepalis in Sikkim have also im-bibed certain Sikkimese flavours like the useof khadas and the drinking of chaang.

The recent furore over the use of the term‘Sikkimese’ in context with Teohar by a localweekly shows that people are increasinglymixing politics with religion, ethnicity andcommunity. There is thus a need for an effortto bring a synthesis of the subcultures that to-gether give Sikkim its unique flavour.

There are some aspects unique to Sikkim,which, unless documented, are going to be lostforever, or worse, badly twisted and misrepre-sented. Take for instance the promotion of PangLhabsol as a predominantly Bhutia festivalwhen actually it was the National Day duringthe days of the Chogyals! Or take the websitethat claims Phintsok Namgyal was the ‘boyking’ who was also to be the Fifth Dalai Lama!Phuntsog was no boy king, he was all of 38years when he was crowned Denjong Gyalpoand it was on this occasion that the Fifth DalaiLama, well and alive in Tibet, sent him a gift.

Let me quote VH Coelho: “The term Sik-kimese thus has no single or common linguis-tic or ethnological interpretation.”

Let our much-touted communal harmonynot remain limited to rhetoric...

A LOOKBACK..

A LOOKBACK..

19

8; NOW! 04-10 Dec, 2002

MORE ON THE SIkKIM

DOC IN UK

We are really proud of “the Sikkimese Robocop in London”,

Dr. Ajey Raj Adhikari for creatinghistory in the world of medical sci-ence. Here, I would like to sharesome more details about his qualifi-cations which were missed in thefeature. He earned his MBBS degreewith a Gold Medal in 1982, did hisMS in Orthopaedics from AIIMS,Delhi and MCH (OrthopaedicSuperspecialisation from the Univer-sity of Liverpool, England, in 1996and FRCS from England in 1999.

He is the eldest son of Mr. TPSharma, ex-Chief Secretary, andMrs. Rukmini Sharma, former Head-mistress of Upper Syari Govt. Jr.High School.Santosh Adhikari, Tadong

NO VICTORY FOR THE

VICTORIAN

I had a good laugh after readingyour article “A Victorian twist to

Sikkimese hospitality” (Nov 27-03

LETTERS�

Readers are invited to share their views, opinions and reactions to news-items carried in NOW! The lettersmay be edited for language and content and the name of the writer withheld on request. Personal attackswill not be carried, but letters raising pertinent issues will be shared with readers. Please mail all feedback toNOW, Gairi Gaon, Tadong, Gangtok East Sikkim; email: sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

Dec. 2002; vol 1 no.24) But after thatI did give some serious thought to it.

Do you think that the people whospend their money and time to readyour paper have no taste in life? andare culturally ignorant, blind fools?Who cannot see beyond a fake poly-styrene façade? Every sane personin town knows that the buildinglooks like a cheap bollywood set,desperately trying to recreate Euro-pean splendor. My sincere apologiesto the proprietors (who I believehave spent a fortune) but let’s befrank and talk straight!

The architect behind the projectis a shortsighted individual. Thebuilding can be aptly documented asa case study for architects fromaround the country, to help educatethem about modern architecturalblunders and confused cultural iden-tity. The whole concept is painfullyout of context! People travel fromaround the world to experience Sik-kimese culture, lifestyle, hospitality,architecture (whatever is left of it!!)but to their utter bewilderment they

DESPATCHESDESPATCHES

find a inferior replicant of their homeaway from home in distant, unique,picturesque Sikkim. This structureadds a new dimension to Gangtokand firmly establishes it as a hide-ous concrete jungle replete with fineexamples of what not to do in archi-tecture and town planning.

I pray and ask for young Sik-kimese architects with vision, con-fidence and the audacity to questionand rethink the status quo, searchand define our very own identitywhich embodies a distinct traditionalSikkimese flavour and also satisfiesour contemporary urban needs. Thishopefully with infrastructural sup-port from the government, privateorganizations and individuals wouldemancipate us from todays haven ofunoriginal architectural mediocrity.

May the quality and success ofyour paper grow exponentially.Tseten Lachungpa, Tibet Road,Gangtok

GO NOW!

I have been meaning to write thisfor sometime now. So here goes. I

am a Sikkimese settled abroad. Longused to quality reporting abroad, Iwas very disappointed with thecaliber of our local papers. Uninter-esting presentation and extremelypoor English are only some of theways in which other papers insult theintelligence of educated people.

Let me take this opportunity toconvey how glad I am that there isfinally a local paper that takes painsin presentation as well as inclusionof features.Name withheld on request

PRICED RIGHT

I would like to congratulate NOW!for becoming improved with every

issue. Really you are doing a big fa-

vour for us. I always tell my son toread NOW! because you will learnto use good English.

Also your price is very good forcommon people like us. Please donot price higher and please keep thesame quality.

Wishing you good luck and TashiDeleg for the future.Tsering Bhutia, Pelling

NO HIKE

I’m a regular reader of your paperand what I like most about it is

the quality of the paper. It’s reallyvery good and size also is perfect.But now I’m quite worried about theprice. Hope you won’t increase it.Please, please don’t try increasingthe price. Your price and paper qual-ity is perfect match.All the best.Lcangyaap, Gangtok

DARJEELING: In a major break-through, the Darjeeling Police onNovember 25, unearthed a major evilthat is taking an alarming proportionin the Darjeeling hills.

Working on a tip off the Policeraided a New Mount View Hotel onPound Road, Chandmari, Darjeelingand booked 4 men and two womenunder the Immoral Traffic Act.Binoy Tamang (23) of Chandmari,Rishi Thakuri (24) and Ratan Dayali(28) of Pokhriabong and 43 year oldSunil Subba son of the proprietor ofthe Hotel were arrested along with19-year-old Poonam Tamang ofSukhi Pokhari and 30 year oldSwapna alias Sakun Chettri ofRajbari, Darjeeling.

According to CT Bhutia, Inspec-tor-in Charge (IC), Darjeeling SadarThana , Poonam and Binoy werefound in a compromising position inroom number 18 of the hotel. Usedcontraceptives were also found fromthe rooms. The rest tried to escapebut were caught by the Police.

On interrogation the women re-vealed that they were in the fleshtrade for the past 4 to 5 years. Theyalso admitted that they gave a per-centage of their income to the Ho-tel. The register of the Hotel wasseized by Police but there was noentry of the accused in the Regis-

ters. Separate charges have beenfiled against the Hotel owner too, in-formed the IC.

The clients of these women usedto contact them over mobile phones,said the IC.

“Though it is just the tip of theiceberg we hope to mobilize majorcrack downs on hotels and placeswhere flesh trade flourishes” saidBhutia. The accused were producedto the Court the next day.

Flesh trade has reached alarm-ing proportions in the Darjeelinghills but it is very difficult to pinpoint as there is no fixed red lightarea, most involved in these trade areflying sex workers, feel many NGOsworking in this field.

“We knew of this from a longtime but as we could not pin point,the issue gradually died down” saidMajor (Retd.) KP Malla, TechnicalAdvisor, District AIDS ControlCenter (DACC).

He said that in 1999, he, alongwith a few NGOs, had spoken to somesex workers and their contact persons,offering them Rs. 1,000 monthly tostop this trade. The offer was turneddown since the sum was meager andthe sex workers earned much morespecially during the tourist season.

This revelation was quite alarm-ing. Hotels and restaurants as pickup points were playing a major rolein the promotion. The flying sexworkers are from a motley group

from towns, tea gardens and villagesthat dot the hills.

“The biggest danger in this isthat even the rural population is be-ing exposed to high risk factor ofAIDS,” said Malla. A few monthsago a team from Kolkata State AIDSPrevention and Control Society hadvisited the Darjeeling Hills with thebasic intention of mapping high riskzones. It was found that there weremore than 150 flying sex workers inthe 3 sub-divisions of the DarjeelingHills.

Police sources also informed ofsome people in town who in thename of manpower consultancies areinvolved in girl trafficking speciallyto the Middle East.

Noreen Dunne, eminent socialworker of Darjeeling blames it on thesocio-economic background of thisregion. The region being economicallybackward, more and more girls arebeing lured into this trade. Other thanthis, there is also the problem of bro-ken homes, incest and daily torture bydrunken male members of the family.

“There is also the lure of living aglamorous life, plenty of easy moneyand experimentation which has pro-moted this trade in a different sec-tion of society which is not economi-cally backward,” she informed.

“First it was poverty, malnutri-tion and Tuberculosis and now wehave a high risk factor of AIDS” shesaid.

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RANIPOOL: The inauguralfunction of the Silver Jubileecelebrations of the Home Guards andCivil Defence forces was observedhere at Ranipool on December 1, lastSunday.

The Chief Guest, Minister forTourism and Land Reveneu, KTGyaltsen, took the guard of honour. Thecelebrations also saw several Civil

Defence workers awarded with medals.These were: DC (East), VB Pathak,senior Gangtokian, KB Gurung, ManiYonzon, Namgyal, Ashwin Oberoi, GDAgarwal, Ramesh Periwal, KailashAgarwal, KN Lepcha, Paru Lhamu, N.Bhutia and Rinchen Dorji Bhutia.Three Homeguard personnel were alsoawarded.

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ARITAR: A nurse with a lantern inhand might make a good visual if welived in the times of Florence Night-ingale, but it appals the senses whennurses in Sikkim, which incidentallyclaims to have capacity to generate8,000 MWs of hydel power, tend topatients by the light of a candle. Thatis exactly the scenario with the Pri-mary Health Sub-centre at Aritar ineast Sikkim. Since July 14 earlierthis year, this PHSC has been func-tioning without electricity, MitraBindya Pradhan, senior AuxiliaryNurse Midwife (ANM) NOW! Eventhough the staff has notified the De-partment, the bulbs here refuse toswitch on.

The staff at the PHSC also com-plained that the medical supplies tothem were not enough to meet thedemands of the centre. This centrecaters to a population of over 2,000.This, Ms. Pradhan explains is muchhigher compared to other sub-cen-tres. Added to this figure are patientsfrom neighbouring subdivision ofKalimpong in West Bengal whoknock on the doors of the PHSC fortreatment.

Binod Sampang, the in-chargeof this sub centre stressed thatthough the medical supply falls

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short yet they cannot deny such fa-cilities to patients coming from theborder areas.

“We cannot help it. They are alsohuman beings and since they don’thave such facilities in their vicinity,they come to us,” he added.

The centre receives about 30patients on a normal day and mostof the cases relate to injuries, cutsand wounds. The PHSC also han-dles delivery cases, but complicatedcases are referred to Rhenock hos-pital.

Ms. Pradhan added that the area

in Aritar PHSC’s care also has TBpatients who have been referred tothe PHC at Rhenock and then thereare some mentally challenged pa-tients to care for too.

Though the timing of this subcentre is from 8am to 2 pm, the staffwork round the clock with patientscalling on them at night hours too.

The staff told this reporter thatthe people here are very cooperativeand listen to their advice too.

Meanwhile work continues atnight with under the jaundiced glareof candles and lanterns.

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DEVELOPMENTDEVELOPMENT

KOLKATA: Taking time out froma very busy campaigning schedulein Gujarat, Union Minister Commu-nication & Information Technology,Pramod Mahajan arrived at theNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose Indoorstadium here on December 1 to in-augurate INFOCOM 2002 – an ex-position of the latest in informationand communications technology.

Organised jointly by BusinessWorld (Ananda Bazar PatrikaGroup) and NASSCOM (NationalAssociation of Software & ServiceCompanies) many local, nationaland international firms are partici-pating in the event. This is beingbilled as the first of its kind in theeast and northeast – a national eventbeing heralded as a look east

The youngest brother’s adoption is now officialGANGTOK: It’s finally officialnow. The Rajya Sabha on Novem-ber 29 passed the North EasternCouncil (Amendment) Bill 1998paving the way for Sikkim’s formalinclusion as the eighth member ofthe NEC. The Bill was tabled by theUnion Minister Arun Shourie, Min-ister-in-charge of Department of De-velopment of Northeastern Region(DONER), and passed after a 2-hourdiscussion in the morning session ofthe Upper House.

The ruling party MP in the RajyaSabha, PT Gyamtso is reported tohave participated in the debate andlater thanked the government forhaving tabled and passed theAmendment.

It might be recalled that Sikkimfirst demanded inclusion in the NECin 1988 when the then Chief Minis-ter, Nar Bahadur Bhandari, raisedthe demand in a memorandum sub-mitted to the Prime Minister on Oc-tober 9, 1988.

Sikkim had to wait for a decadebefore the Centre announced in May1998, that Sikkim would soon bemade a part of the NEC. By thistime, Mr. Bhandari had done a turna-round on a demand first raised byhim and suggested that Article 371Fof the Constitution, which grantedSikkim its special status would getdiluted if Sikkim were to join theNEC. He, however, could not findsupport for his fears from any con-stitutional expert, all of whom main-tained that the Council is mandatedto function as a Zonal Council of thenortheastern States and also as a re-

gional planning body emphasisingon development of the region. TheAct, all accepted, does not have anyeffect whatsoever on any of the con-stitutional safeguards and specialprovisions that are available to theconstituent states of the Council.

Interestingly, Mr. Bhandari in his1998 letter protesting the inclusionof Sikkim in the NEC raised thesame points he had expressed shockover in a memorandum submitted tothe Prime Minister while he was inpower in 1990.

“To our utter surprise, shock anddismay, the Centre has, in a recentcommunication to the Sikkim Govern-ment, said that Sikkim suffers fromlack of geographical contiguity withthe North Eastern region and such thedemand for inclusion in the Councilcannot be considered,” the memoran-dum, signed by all the then 32 MLAsand 2 MPs had read in 1990.

In contrast, in May 1998, after theSDF Government convinced the Cen-tre to go ahead with the inclusion, Mr.Bhandari, in his letter to the Presi-dent wrote: “Notwithstanding Art371F of the Constitution we are sur-prised and bewildered as to how Sik-kim could now be inducted as one ofthe North Eastern States. Furtherthere is no geographical contiguitywith the 7 North Eastern States.”

The protests notwithstanding,Sikkim is now all set to officiallybecome a part of the NEC. Those inthe know of things believe this couldhappen inside a month’s time. “Thisis just an amendment of the NorthEast Council Act, 1971. It has al-ready been debated and passed bythe Rajya Sabha where the NDAgovernment is in minority. It will

now go to the Lok Sabha only as aformality. It won’t even be debatedthere,” said Political Advisor to theChief Minister, BB Gooroong, whiletalking to NOW!

While responding to queries ofhow this formal inclusion willchange things for Sikkim since it wasalready getting a share of the NECfunds, Mr. Gooroong stated that tillnow Sikkim was getting only whatthe NEC decided to send its way.“Now that we are an official mem-ber of the NEC, we can actuallyclaim our share,” he said whilepointing out that now Sikkim couldexpect to fully benefit from all thespecial provisions available for theNEC member states.

While the fruits of now beingincluded in the NEC domain are yetto be tasted at least a long wait hascome to an end. The Bill for amend-ment has been pending in the Par-liament for quite some time now andhas even lapsed once. Sikkim hasthus far “officially” been a part ofthe Eastern Zonal Council and con-stantly protested that it shared littlein common with the member States.

The amendment has also pavedthe way for the re-entry of Governorsinto the Council. In fact, most of thedebate on the Bill focused on this as-pect apart from deliberations on effec-tive monitoring of Central funds to in-clusion of representatives of chambersof commerce in the Council.

Replying to the debate, Mr.Shourie reiterated the support forcontinuation of Governors as mem-bers of the Council on the groundsthat Governors in the region had aspecial role to play. He also arguedthat political uncertainties in the re-

gion also required that Governorscontinue as permanent members ofthe Council. Apart from oppositionto Governors continuing as membersof the Council, MPs particularly

a NOW REPORTSINCE THE FOCUS IN SIKKIM IS NOW ON ATTRACTINGINVESTMENTS, LISTED BELOW ARE SOME OF THE FISCALINCENTIVES ASSURED TO NEW INDUSTRIAL UNITS ANDTHEIR SUBSTANTIAL EXPANSION IN NEC MEMBER STATES...

i. Government has approved converting the Growth Centres andIntegrated Infrastructure Development Centres into a total TaxFree Zone for the next 10 years. All industrial activity in thesezones would be free from Income Tax, Excise for a period of 10years from the commencement of production. State Governmentwould be requested to grant exemptions in respect of SalesTax and Municipal Tax.

ii. Industries located in the Growth Centres as also new industrialunits and/ or their substantial expansion in other identified areasin the North Eastern Region are eligible for Capital InvestmentSubsidy at the rate of 15% of their investment in plant andmachinery, subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs. 30.0 lakhs. Thescheme is effective from 24.12.1997 to 31.3.2007 and NorthEastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. has beendesignated as the Nodal Agency for disbursement of subsidyto the eligible units on the basis of recommendations of theState Level Committee/ State Government.

iii Also, in case of first generation entrepreneurs, North EasternDevelopment Finance Corporation Ltd. is providing 85% funds(60% as Loan and 25% as Equity) against 15% contributionfrom the entrepreneur. In case of commercial borrowings, theratio of North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd.Loan and entrepreneur’s contribution is 60:40.

iv An interest subsidy of 3% on the working capital loan is providedfor a period of 10 years to the new units in North Eastern Region,after commercial production. The scheme is effective from24.12.97 to 31.3.2007. The working capital requirements areworked out as per the Nayak Committee.

v. Similar benefits are available to the new industrial units or theirsubstantial expansion in other Growth Centres or IIDs orindustrial Estates/ Parks / Export Processing Zones set up bythe States in the North Eastern Region. New industrial units ortheir substantial expansion in the specified industries locatedoutside these Growths Centres and other identified locationsare also eligible for similar fiscal incentives.

those from the North-East madestrong pitch for their inclusion asmembers of the Council tostrengthen the hands of the ChiefMinisters.

A P P E A LAll ex-students of Sikkim Govt. College are hereby notified that Sikkim Govt. College

Alumni Association has been formed and registered vide No. 199 (ASSN) LD/2002/

395 dated 22-11-02. The Association proposes to take up many broad based activi-

ties for all around development of education in the state for which your active

participation is keenly solicited. For this all ex-students are requested to register

themselves with the Association and to facilitate this process. An office would be

functional in the campus of the college every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from

1 pm to 3 pm.

INFOCOM 2002 kicks off in Kolkata;

7-member team represents Sikkimcompeller of sorts. Later in theevening at a local hotel the formallaunch was conducted in the midstof all delegates and dignitaries.

Sikkim is participating in a smallway. A seven-member delegationfrom the IT department, NIC and theprivate sector is led by the ChairmanSIDICO and Member PlanningCommission, PD Rai. Sikkim’s ex-hibits include information kits aswell as software developed by a lo-cal entrepreneur. Mr. Rai is alsoslated to address the event puttingacross Sikkim’s IT agenda to thewho’s who in this sector.

“It is just to test the waters thisyear. Next year we will participatein a much bigger way. Kolkata tak-ing the lead is indeed good news forus – more and more of our youngpeople will be encouraged to take upventures in this sector even as the

broad band availability will be upand running within months” he saidwhen contacted.

The Union IT Minister, in hisaddress made a very emphatic casefor building a future based on eq-uity. He emphasised the digital di-vide, which must be bridged at allcosts. He said that the Governmenthad to intervene as the haves andhave-nots in our country wouldnever meet – even now the going istough. He emphasised the case of theNorth East where more than 450computer information centers havebeen set up. He also said that Gov-ernment would provide mobile te-lephony to the North East by themiddle of next year.

Chief Ministers of Jharkhand,Assam and West Bengal will attendthe function tomorrow.

a NOW REPORT

22

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GANGTOK: In the latest develop-ment of the Chief Minister’s SelfEmployment Scheme (CMSES), ahalf day consultation programmewith Micro-monitors was held at theSIDICO office on November 28,2002. PD Rai, Chairman SIDICO/SABCCO chaired the meetingwhich was attended by SIDICO/SABCCO officials, micro-monitorsand members of the Fourth Estate.

Mr. Rai gave a brief training ses-sion to the participants during whichhe stressed on micro-monitoring be-ing a new way of looking at support-ing the Young Entrepreneurs. Witha target of 2400 beneficiaries orYoung Entrepreneurs (YE), it be-comes obvious that SIDICO alonecannot monitor all the YEs. Hencemicro-monitoring came about as anew way of handling and mitigatingthe risk not only for SIDICO but alsofor the YEs.

One Micro-monitor will look af-ter, advise, guide, motivate andmonitor about 5 to 15 YE’s thusmaking it much easier for SIDICOin that SIDICO would be able tomore easily interact with the micro-monitors than all the beneficiariesinvolved in various self employmentschemes and spread over the fourdistricts.

The enormous significance ofthe CMSES becomes more apparentwhen you look at the statistics:· About 60% of the populationtoday is below the age of 25 years· There are about 15,000 to 20,000

unemployed youth in the State atpresent.· Class X and class XII passedcandidates form a major bulk of theunemployed.

While MM’s can leverageSIDICO’s resource base, they wouldessentially help the YE succeed, Mr.Rai let on. Moreover, the MM wouldbe in a better position to giveSIDICO feedback in the form it re-quires. SIDICO will be providing themicro-monitors with simple feed-back forms that would be collectedfrom them by Field Officers. Thereporting system will be clearly men-tioned in the format but it will bethe responsibility of the MM to givean honest feedback.

Micro-monitoring also becomesan important interface between YEand SIDICO. A Young Entrepreneurmight feel hesitant to directly ap-proach SIDICO but can probablyrelate to the micro-monitor, as a per-son who will solve his problems, bethey pertaining to marketing, tech-nology or even motivation.

The question and answer sessionthat followed the Chairman’s pres-entation threw up some interestingquestions. While commenting onwhere the CMSES was headed, Mr.Rai mentioned that the progress anddevelopment of the State wouldthrow up many opportunities andhuge amounts of money would beavailable by way of developmentprojects. “Even if 50 per cent of theyoung entrepreneurs can make alivelihood for themselves by usingthe CMSES funds, it would be a suc-cess. The young entrepreneurs can-

not work alone, they need to employat least 2 to 3 other people so themultiplier effect will come about.We have been stressing all along thatthey should employ local peoplealone and not use or bring in peoplefrom outside the state,” said Mr. Rai.

Responding to a query as to whatwould happen should the YE not re-pay the money to SIDICO, Mr Raisaid that the entire process of theCMSES was computerized and withmicro-monitoring, a checking sys-tem would be put in place. Therewould be no excuses for the YE sothey would have to perform anyway.Also should they misuse the money,the support system of the Govern-ment or the institution would not beavailable to them in future so it is agreat risk they would take by tryingto default on payment of the CMSESloan. On the contrary, SIDICO hopedto use the repaid capital to financemore schemes and also to furtherinvolve successful Young Entrepre-neurs by inviting them to addressfresh batches of Young Entrepre-neurs.

Mrs. TY Gyaltsen, Manager,CMSES informed NOW! that start-ing from Dec 15 this year, the ChiefMinister would be personally givingabout 700 Young Entrepreneurs fromall the Districts their CMSES loansat the Janata Mela or SahuliyatVitaran. These Young Entrepreneurshave successfully completed theirtraining program, handed in projectreports and attended a counsellingsession/ interview at SIDICO and areall set to start out on the road to in-dependence.

a NOW REPORT

MICRO-MONITORING SUCCESSSIDICO wants micro-monitors to help with craftingsuccess for new breed of young entrepreneurs

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Published by Lt. Col. (retd) P. Dorjee and printed at Darpan Publishing House, Siliguri. Editor: Pema Wangchuk. Now! Near Ayurvedic Clinic, Gairi Gaon, Tadong. East Sikkim. ph: 03592 270949 email: sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

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Rural Sport?

Kids at Jorethang load their catapults for another afternoon of takingpot-shots at roving pigeons and the odd lamp-post. a NOW! pic

AnotherWalk,AnotherMessageSikkim Home Guardpersonnel trudgethrough the streets ofGangtok en route totheir walk to Rangpoalong with CivilDefence volunteers onDecember 3. The walk,which whilecommeorating theSilver Jubilee of thetwo formations alsosought to informpeople on the need toprepare beforehand forsuch natural calamitiesas landslides andearthquakes.

Apropos your article “A tent, de-fiant soldiers, 12 players and

you have a cricket match on hand”published in NOW! (Nov 27-03Dec). The article has been evidentlypublished without clarifying thematter with the army authorities. Thesame is forwarded as under: -(a) The helipad in Rangpo groundwas required to be activated on 23Nov 2002 morning to cater to a pos-sible VVIP helicopter landing. Thesame was communicated to the or-ganisers of the cricket match bereftof any element of rudery or misde-meanour, with a polite request tojointly resolve the matter as a resultof which the cricket match com-menced as per schedule with thehelipad activation party of the armybeing a mute spectator in one cornerof the ground. The organisers of thecricket match, on their part, promisedto vacate the field in case requiredfor a helicopter landing; howeverthere was none. The cricket matchtherefore commenced and continueduninterrupted till the army personalleft shortly thereafter before noon.(b) The organisers of the cricket matchalso, on their own, willingly permittedthe helipad activation party of the armyto make all arrangements as required.The same was done without interfer-ing or causing any obstruction whatso-

ever to the cricket match which com-menced and continued uninterrupted.(c) It is categorically stated that ar-gument/altercation or any act thateven remotely suggests rudeness orinsensitivity on part of the army didnot take place on the cricket fieldon 23 Nov 2002. Both parties ami-cably resolved the matter.(d) The helipad activation party leftRangpo Mining Ground before noonon receipt of orders that the helipadwas no longer required to be acti-vated. The cricket match was verymuch in progress unobstructed anduninterferred when the army person-nel left Rangpo ground.(e) The army has activated RangpoMining Ground in the past for thepurpose of VIP/ VVIP helicopterlandings. No complaint/ objectionwhatsoever regarding misdemeanour/harassment by army personnel hasever been received from any source.2. In consideration of the facts men-tioned hitherto, the article is a miscon-strued collection of false and baselessinformation as regards the involve-ment of the army. A written statement,duly signed by Mr. Gopal Sharma, aSikkim Cricket Association (SCA)official present at the site and wit-nessed by Mr. Sonam Detchu Bhutia,2nd OC Rangpo Police Station deny-ing any such incident involving thearmy is attached, that be publishedalong with this rejoinder.3. Your correspondent was obviously

not present at the site at the time ofthe incident. It would therefore beappropriate and in order of yourweekly to publish an unconditionalapology to the army for havingcaused unjustified and avoidableconsternation and disrepute to thearmy and the officer concerned inparticular which has also adverselyaffected the goodwill and cordialcivil-military relations in the State.sd/-R. Manchanda, Lt. Col,Offg Commanding Officer

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I, Mr. Gopal Sharma, hereby certify and

categorically state that the incident as re-

ported in the weeklies Weekend Review

and NOW! (27 Nov-03 Dec, 2002) is incor-

rect, false and baseless as regards involve-

ment of the army. The offr incharge of the

army at the Rangpo Mining Ground on 23

Nov 2002 was most humble and polite.

There was no incident of misdemeanour/

misconduct or misbehaviour in any man-

ner by the officer-in-charge of the army at

Rangpo Mining Ground on 23 Nov 2002.

Both the parties i.e. the army and the or-

ganisers of the cricket match amicably set-

tled the matter and therefore the article as

published is a misconstrued collection of

false and baseless information. I also cer-

tify that no complaint against the army was

lodged at Rangpo Police Station on 23 Nov

2002 or on subsequent days.

Mr. Gopal Sharma, ITI Rangpo

Sikkim Cricket AssociationOfficial.

REJOINDER

Fabricated story has caused avoidable consternation andadversely affected civil-army relations

24