Look Out Notice issued against GJM leaders.....Legendry Gorkha Musician Manohari Singh Passes Away.....Asok sop worry for Morcha union Manager washed away by garden rivulet

KalimNews : CID probing the murder case of slain ABGL leader Madan Tamang issued look out notice against eleven suspected persons in the 21st May incident. The names figured in the arrest warrant included Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders like Nicole  Tamang, Dinesh Gurung, Kismat Chhetri, Alok Kanta Mani Thulung, Keshavraj Pokhrel, Puran Thami, Tenzing Khambachey, Dinesh Subba, Sanjay Tamang and Suraj Singh. Earlier the list of six accused named by CID as directly involved in the murder didnot have the name of Nicole Tamang, Dinesh Subba, Sanjay Tamang and Suraj Singh.(link-http://kalimpongonlinenews.blogspot.com). The eleven names in the FIR lodged by Laxman Pradhan Secretary of ABGL included Bimal Gurung, Asha Gurung, Ramesh Allay, Harka Bdr Chhetri, Binay Tamang, Pradeep Pradhan and Roshan Giri.

Tamang was killed in a broad day light of 21 May when he along with his party followers were readying to hold a rally on the occasion of foundation day of the ABGL at Club Side, Darjeeling. After the demise of Tamang the political scenario of Darjeeling has not been favourable for the Morcha as the finger of allegation has raised against its top brass leaders.

Gorkha Musician Manohari died

KalimNews : Legendary Gorkha musician and senior assistant to late Rahul Dev Burman, Manohari Singh passed away today (13 July) at Lilawati Hospital, Mumbai at 4 PM due to cardiac arrest. Singh was 79. The funeral service of late Singh will be held at his Santacruz located residence tomorrow on 14th July. Singh was last seen playing saxophone in the popular reality show Indian Idol with the famous singer Asha Bhonsle. On his sad demise legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar has expressed her condolence and said, "he was a good saxophone player, great arranger and a fabulous human being." Similar message has been sent by Asha Bhonsle, widow of late Burman, on her twitter. She has said, "Very sorry to hear about the death of Manohari Singh." Amitabh Bachchan has also expressed his condolence in his twitter on the demise of late Singh.(link-http://kalimpongonlinenews.blogspot.com)

Singh had played saxophone in the latest films Veer Jara, Chalte Chalte etc. However his musical talents are greatly admired for his playing in the Burman's hits of 1970s. Sitaron Se Aage was his first break in the bollywood music world when he played for S.D. Burman, father of late R.D. Burman.

A large number of Nepali speaking Gorkha artists including Ranjit Gazmer were attached with the Burman father and son.

Asok sop worry for Morcha union - DGHC CASUAL WORKERS CONDEMN MINISTER PROMISE

Casual workers of the DGHC at the meeting of the Janmukti Asthahi Karmachari Sangatan in Darjeeling on Tuesday. Picture by Suman Tamang

TT, Darjeeling, July 13: A Gorkha Jamukti Morcha affiliated workers union today lashed out at Asok Bhattacharya for trying to hijack what the party feels is its initiative by announcing that casual workers in the hills would be made permanent at the earliest.

The Janmukti Asthahi Karmachari Sangatan, a body of contractual workers of the DGHC, in its meeting at the Gymkhana Club attacked Bhattacharya for attempting to “politicise” its demand for job regularisation, indicating that the minister had managed to touch a raw nerve and create a flutter in the hills.

Bhattacharya had announced here on July 2 that the state government would start recruiting 1,000-odd teachers to the primary and secondary schools in the hills. The CPM had further hinted that even the DGHC workers, most of whom are contractual, would be made permanent depending on their educational qualifications.

Two days after the minister’s job assurance, the Morcha’s education monitoring cell and the Janmukti Secondary Teachers’ Organisation said they would not be fooled by such statements from someone who has nothing to do with education in the state. They said they had already had a dialogue on the subject with education minister Partha De and the procedure of regularisation was not as simple as Bhattacharya seemed to indicate.

Today’s meeting at the Gymkhana Club was a clear sign to hold its flock together following the CPM’s announcement.

Machendra Subba, president, JAKS, said: “Our weakness should not be politicised. The state government had earlier given us a written assurance that our jobs would be regularised but they have failed to act on their promise.”

The casual workers had started an indefinite hunger strike in September 2009, following which then home secretary Ardhendu Sen had faxed a letter to the Darjeeling district magistrate to start the regularisation process. “The government has authorised the DGHC to start regularisation process against the sanctioned vacancies in all categories which it is authorised to do as per the existing act and the recruitment rules there under,” the letter read.

This essentially meant that at least 3,472 contractual workers of the DGHC were to be made permanent against an equal number of vacancies. The total number of casual workers stands at 6,287 and the fate of the remaining 2,815 was to be decided in a meeting to be convened in Calcutta later, Sen had said.

After he was gheraoed by the contractual workers, B.L. Meena, the administrator of the DGHC, had given a written assurance to JAKS on October 30 that the regularisation process would start from November 17, 2009. But later the state government said the frequent closure of offices was delaying the process. Meena, on his part, also maintained that the assurance had been given under duress.

Today, Subba said the recruitment for the vacancies must be from within the casual workers. “We want immediate regularisation of the 3,472 workers after which additional posts have to be created to recruit the other workers as promised by the government. Once all the causal workers are recruited, we will have no objections if the state goes in for further recruitment.”
KalimNews: A young boy studying in Class X of St George's School in Pedong was electrocuted and died. Injured Suman Lepcha 18 yrs of Santuk, Mirik was taken to Pedong Hospital where he died.

Manager washed away by garden rivulet Alerts on Teesta and Jaldhaka

Workers carry boulders on boats to construct an embankment along the Fulhar in Malda on Tuesday. Picture by Surajit Roy

TT, Jaigaon/Siliguri, July 13: An assistant manager of a Dooars tea estate died last night after he was swept away by a flash flood that surged down a rivulet flowing through the garden even as the weather office forecast that the heavy rainfall in the sub-Himalayan region would continue.

Debasish Mondal, 29, a trainee assistant manager of Chengmari Tea Estate in Nagrakata, Jalpaiguri district, was carried away by the turbulent waters caused by the flash flood while he was riding to his bungalow from office on a motorcycle.

“Yesterday was the date of payment. He (Debasish) disbursed the salaries among the workers till about 6.30pm and then headed for his bungalow. He must have gone barely 500 metres from the office and found the swelling Kothijhora, one of the rivulets flowing through our garden and might have tried to cross it,” said garden manager D.S. Parmer.

“The water level had risen abnormally because of rain in the Bhutan hills.

At that time, water was around 2-3ft high over the culvert. He seems to have somehow lost control and was swept away along with his motorcycle.”

As the news that Mondal might have been washed away spread, local people and workers launched a search to find him. Finally, police said, the body was found about 500 metres downstream, with the motorcycle lying nearby.

Representatives of the Tea Association of India, of which Chengmari is a member garden, described the incident as unfortunate. Debasish was a resident of Purbasthali in Burdwan district. One of his brothers, Jagannath Mondal, is the manager of Malnadi Tea Estate.

With the rainfall continuing in the sub-Himalayan region, officials at the North Bengal Flood Control Commission (NBFCC) confirmed the rise in water levels of the rivers. “We are keeping a watch on the situation and have already issued primary alerts in the unprotected areas on the left bank of the Teesta and in the Jaldhaka near NH31,” said an official on duty at the control room of the NBFCC.

Meteorologists at the Regional Met Office in Jalpaiguri said the rains are here to stay for quite a few days.

“The monsoon is good this year with substantial and even excessive rainfall in the sub-Himalayan foothills. This is mainly because of the prevalence of the monsoon trough that is a low pressure zone with heavy moisture and active air circulation over the area. Foothill regions like Siliguri and Terai plains and Jalpaiguri district will experience heavy rainfall this month,” said G.N. Raha of the Jalpaiguri Met Office today.

According to Raha, in June, the rainfall recorded in Jalpaiguri exceeded the average normal shower by around 30cm, which is very high .

“In Siliguri, the rainfall however, was around 10 per cent less than the average but even then, it was sufficient. This month, both the places recorded high rainfall with 56cm in Siliguri and 36cm in Jalpaiguri. Heavy and continuous rainfall will be experienced throughout this month at these places as the moisture trough will prevail. As for the next 48 hours there will be heavy to very heavy rainfall in these areas,” Raha said.

Among other places, while Gangtok has received normal rainfall of 62cm in June and 20cm in July (average normal rainfall is 68 cm for June and 71 cm for July), figures of Darjeeling are not so good. It is 28cm in June and 36cm in July (average normal rainfall is 49cm for June and 75cm for July).

“Gangtok has recorded normal rainfall but figures suggest that Darjeeling has not received very high rainfall. This is because the monsoon trough is not prevalent in the hilly area,” Raha said.

Gorkha Community should be united : RECHEAL TAMANG

Rupak, Dimapur:Gorkhas of Dimapur celebrated the 196th Bhanu Jayanti at Dimapur Town Hall today with glittering cultural dances and songs. The programme organized by the Gorkha Students’ Union, Dimapur was graced by the Chief Guest . Rechel Tamang , President Of Gorkha Mothers association  Dimapur, Yubraj Limbu VDB secretary and Padum Phukuri  treasurer of DGU.

Speaking at the programme, the chief guest emphasized on the need of honesty and  education in the society. She urged the young Girls to join hands for all round development of the society.

The Guest of honour at the programme Yubraj Limbu urged the students to study hard and work for the welfare of the society with  discipline.

The President of Gorkha Students Union Dimapur pointed out  that the Students  should not be involved in Politics  and requested the young generation  to come forward for the strengthening of the said union. Intellectuals and representatives various organization attended the programme .

It may be mentioned here that Bhanu Jayanti is celebrated every year on July 13 in honour of Bhanubhakta, a nineteen century (1814-1868) Nepali poet who translated the great epic – “Ramayana” from Sanskrit to Nepali.

In an interview on the topic “ Hamro Sankriti  kina Belaudaicha ”  Loknatha Lopchan  V- President  DGU  said that we are ashamed of observing the Bhanu Jaynati cause our  Culture is getting lost  and we are unable to preserve it. He further said until and unless the parents are taught how to keep our culture alive  its not possible.

Puspa Chetri  V- President  of Nagaland Gorkha Association  stated that it’s due to our our negligence and we are ashamed of speaking in our own Mother Tongue. 

Jumbo dung turns toy train model- Ex-ias officer’s paper dream picks up steam

A miniature of the DHR ‘B class’ engine; (above) TR Raghunandan with the model in Bangalore. Picture courtesy: TR Raghunandan

Mrinalini Sharma, TT, Siliguri, July 13: A keen lover of the Darjeeling toy train has moulded hand-made paper from elephant dung into a replica of the locomotive.

The former IAS officer, T.R. Raghunandan, had to spend only Rs 300 to make a difference of the sort.

What had begun as an experimental project in November 2007 to teach children “kitchen table modelling” — making models with simple household material — at the National Rail Museum in Delhi turned out to be Raghunandan’s most-prized hobby.

“I was posted in Delhi from 2004 to 2009. We were preparing for the museum weekend when Mayank Tiwari was the director of the Museum. I thought it would be a nice idea to get children introduced to kitchen table modelling. I set up a stall at the annual event and used the DHR ‘B Class’ engine as the subject for model making. Of course, I was unable to complete the work during the two-day workshop, but that’s when it started,” said Raghunandan, who also served as the adviser to the museum in 2007.

Although he had visited Darjeeling only once in 1984 and has never taken a ride on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), Raghunandan’s fascination with the heritage train started in the late 60s when he had watched Aaradhana. A coy Sharmila Tagore was peeping through the toy train window to see a youthful Rajesh Khanna singing Meri Sapnon Ki Rani Kab Ayegi Tu on a jeep as it sped alongside the tracks.

“Believe me the only time I visited Darjeeling was in 1984 and I’ve never stepped on the toy train. It still remains a dream for me. My fascination with the heritage railway, however, started with the song from Aaradhana. The shots and the song still make my heart beat faster whenever I hear it,” said Raghunandan in an email to The Telegraph.

The former IAS officer of the 1983 batch had served as the deputy commissioner for rural development and panchayat raj secretary in Karnataka. His last posting was as joint secretary of panchayati raj before he resigned in March this year. Currently, Raghunandan is based in Bangalore and works as an independent development consultant with the UNDP, the Swiss Development Corporation and an NGO.

A chance encounter with Mahima Mehera gave him the novel idea of using handmade paper from elephant dung.

“While at the museum, I met Mahima, who runs an agency that supplies handmade paper made from elephant dung and I thought it would be a good idea to use this paper,” he wrote.

At least 300 snapshots of DHR Class B 777 — displayed at the museum — taken from every angle were used by Raghunandan to draw out the basic dimension of the chassis and the wheels.

“It was a tedious job, because a lot of repetitive work is involved. I started putting together the basic shape of the super structure — the boiler and the cabin — when the proportion and shape were right. The work then proceeded to cylinders and driving levers,” said Raghunandan.

The smoke stack, the saddle tank, the side tool boxes, the pressure oiling system followed.

A shampoo bottle cap came handy for the headlight. A beer can cut into strips and covers from notebooks and files were used for stiffening some parts of the engine to get the shape right. A bottle cap formed the steam pressure gauge and an empty ball point refill was used as the whistle. Asphalt gravel pounded to bits served as coal for the steam loco.

“I had difficulty in getting some compound curves right, because paper tends to bend and wrinkle. But with slight wetting of the paper with dilute adhesive, I found that the paper could be shaped over curves with some nudging,” said Raghunandan.

“The consistency of the paper varied from batch to batch. While the first batch must have come from a health freak elephant that consumed a lot of fibre, the second was obviously from a rather more laid back one, which seemed to have had a preference for heavy milk shakes,” he joked.

And with a cost of only Rs 300 but with a tremendous effort spanning 1000 hours, the DHR paper model was completed in March.

The ex- IAS officer said the former DHR director Subrato Nath and Adrian Shooter, who owns a DHR locomotive in the UK, had provided “useful technical advice”.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society — a UK-based association of toy train lovers — is all praise for the model. “The model was spotted by the DHRS technical and modelling co-ordinator, David Churchill. It is a very delightful model and very, very accurate,” David Charlesworth, the editor of the DHRS quarterly magazine, wrote to The Telegraph.

What next? Raghunandan plans to add DHR carriages to the model and replicate the Sukna station.
Sip success through US tea contest

A tea garden at Mirik and (below) the web page of The Tea Council of the USA, inviting entries for the Sip of Success contest

Avijit Sinha, TT, Siliguri, July 13: The Tea Council of the USA will organise a contest to popularise tea more in the country, especially among younger generations, with the prize being a trip to the brew belts of India, Sri Lanka and Kenya. The winner will also be offered a job in a reputed tea firm in the US.

“We’re launching this contest to continue educating the public, including young people, on the emerging science supporting the health-related benefits of drinking tea, as well as its delicious taste,” said Joe Simrany, the president of The Tea Council of the USA.

According to him, the objective of the contest is to generate more publicity for the brew while highlighting various types of tea produced in countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya.

“It has been also found that as many young people and recent graduates are out of work, the prospects of winning a contest that could possibly lead to a good job in the tea industry might prove very appealing to them,” said Simrany.

Titled “Sip of Success”, the contest is open to residents of the US and Puerto Rico who are college graduates and have attained 18 years of age.

Tasia Hurt, who is associated with the contest and is taking care of public relations, told The Telegraph that the participants need to make a two-minute video, showing their passion for tea and knowledge of its health benefits.

“All the entries must be original videos created by the entrants and must contain at least one valid message regarding the health benefits of tea, and more specifically, black, green, white or oolong variety of teas,” said Hurt in an email. “The last date for submission of the entries is September 7 this year after which, the final judging will be done by a panel of representatives of The Tea Council of the USA, based on criteria like health-related message, creativity, individuality and popularity.”

The winner, sources in the council said, will embark on the international internship in mid-October 2010, beginning with a tour of Darjeeling and Assam in India. She or he will undergo a training in Assam for six weeks before travelling to Sri Lanka for another leg of internship. Finally, the winner will go to Kenya before returning to the US in December.

“During the internships, the winner will learn about all aspects of tea cultivation and processing. He or she will live in tea estate bungalows, earlier resided by Britons. This is a great opportunity for any youth living in the US,” said Hurt.

What comes next for the winner is a job internship in January 2011 in SalonTea under the tutelage of Tracy Stern, a tea entrepreneur in the US. SalonTea is a lifestyle brand in the US and has presence in locations beyond the country, like Dubai and Paris.

Stern, who is also the national spokesperson for the contest, feels the initiative can help bring in young people to the tea industry. “It is an opportunity for me to bring the new generation of young entrepreneurs in tea industry and show that there can be a rewarding career in it,” she said.

As of now, according to the council, tea can be found in almost 80 per cent of the US households and on an average, over 127 million Americans drink brew everyday.

The contest will be held in association with the Tea Board of India, the Tea Research Association of India, the Tea Board and Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka and the Tea Board and Tea Research Foundation of Kenya, Hurt said. “These are government bodies which control the tea industry in these countries. By joining hands with them, it is expected that the contest would become more popular among US youths and the winner can also get the best quality of training during internship in these countries,” she said.
How far Gorkha-Adivasi bonhomie will go
BY ROMIT BAGCHI,SNS, SILIGURI, 13 JULY: The Gorkhaland protagonists are never inclined to yield an inch concerning their zeal for the Dooars. Their conviction rather gains in strength in the face of setbacks. And now, when the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha clout in the hill appears to be waning fast, it seems to have scored some crucial strategic points in the long restive Dooars. It now looks poised to blunt the arsenal being sharpened in the anti-GJMM camps, with a definite thaw discernible in the prolonged Gorkha-Adivasi icy equations, at least in the Dooars theatre of the larger battle space.
The Gorkha obsession with the Adivasi-dominated Dooars is long and deep. They pushed the region into the geographical contours of the proposed separate state far back in 1917 in the form of a petition submitted to the former secretary of state, Edwin Montague. This was the second such petition, the first one being submitted a decade back in 1907. Since then, the obsession with the Dooars on the part of the statehood protagonists has never flagged. Strategically, they have retreated from time to time only to spring back with renewed vigour.
The Gorkha claim on the Dooars seems invincible, being based not just on bubbling emotions, but on “sound” logic. The Darjeeling-based Gorkha intellectuals claim that their association with the Dooars dates back to the Mahabharata times when the “Kirat” king, Bhagadutta, is supposed to have participated in the epic Kuruskhetra war on the side of the Kauravas over three thousand years ago. The Kirat sphere of suzerainty supposedly extended up to the slopes of the Himalayas in the plains that included parts of Assam and the present Dooars. Quoting the celebrated ethnologist, the late Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, they claim that the present Nepali community, as descendents of the ancient Kirats, had their settlement in the Dooars since far off times.
The Dooars-forays on the part of the Gorkhaland protagonists are evidently part of a long-term strategy, which the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad state president, Mr Birsha Tirkey, calls “insatiable Gorkha land lust”.
But nobody can deny that the strategy has started yielding tangible results at long last, with the protracted ABAVP resistance showing signs of mellowing in the GJMM-intended direction.
Things might precipitate into a vertical split in the Adivasi organization and Mr Tirkey is not ruling it out, though he is confident that the majority of the Adivasi population spread over the Dooars would reject the pro-GJMM overtures.
If at least a section of the ABAVP Dooars-based leaders split the outfit in their eagerness to deepen the Gorkha-Adivasi bonhomie, it might signal a magical transformation in the region’s political equations. It might have an electric impact on the fast shifting political trajectory in the restive hills, with the GJMM, grappling with the collective disenchantment, clearing the setback to its reputation caused by the 21 May assassination of Madan Tamang.