Cease work by college staff for salary
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| Teachers and other employees of Cluny Women’s College during the “cease work” on Thursday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha |
RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, Kalimpong, Sept. 8: The teaching and non-teaching staff of Cluny Women’s College here observed a “cease work” today to protest the delay in the payment of salary for August. The college authorities couldn’t disburse the salaries as a governing body member, who is authorised to sign on the pay cheques along with the principal, has been on leave for a month.
The government-aided college, which is run by the Sisters of St Joseph’s of Cluny, has 18 teachers and six non-teaching staff members.
Of them, seven teachers and five non-teaching staff are permanent employees.
Dipesh Roy, assistant professor of history, said the government released the salaries of the permanent staff on a quarterly basis, but the college used to pay the salaries every month from its own funds.
“The part-time staff members, on the other hand, are paid by the college. However, we have not been paid our August salaries since one of the two persons authorised to sign on the pay cheques has been absent for about a month. This is causing us unnecessary harassment, especially when Durga Puja is less than a month away,” said Roy, who is also the secretary of the teachers’ council of the college.
The principal, Dr Ram Bahadur Bhujel, and Pushpa Michael, a nun of the Cluny Sisters, are the two persons authorised to sign on the pay cheques.
“Pushpa Michael is the Calcutta High Court-appointed member in the governing body. Today’s problem has arisen because of her absence from the college without informing the governing body,” said the principal.
The institution was started in 1998 and is affiliated to the North Bengal University. The college has a student-strength of about 370.
Bhujel said the nun was away in Bangalore and she had expressed her inability to come here.
Later in the evening, the governing body held an emergency meeting and requested the staff members to resume work from tomorrow on “moral and ethical grounds”. The governing body also promised the staff to solve the problem in three days.
The teachers will hold a meeting at 9am tomorrow and take a call on whether or not to resume work.
क्लुनी महाविद्यालमा शुरु भयो पेन डाउन हड्ताल
डी.के वाइबा, कालिमन्युज, कालेबुङ, ८ सितम्बर। गत जुलाई महिना देखि वेतन नपाएका कालेबुङ क्लुनी महाविद्यालयका शिक्षण अनि अशिक्षण कर्मचारीवर्गले आजदेखि पेन डाउन हड्ताल शुरु गऱ्यो। उनीहरुले जुलाई महिना देखि अझसम्म वेतन नपाएको खुलासा भएको छ। उक्त समस्याको मुख्य जड कोलकताको हाईकोटबाट नियुक्ती पाएका सिस्टर पुष्प माईकल रहेको महाविद्यालयका कर्मचारीवर्गले आरोप लगाए। सिस्टर माईकलले हाईकोर्टबाट सञ्चालन समिति अनि संयुक्त चेक हस्ताक्षरको रुपमा नियुक्ती पाएकी छन्। उनले नियुक्ति पाएपछि महाविद्यालयका कमर्चारी वर्गले वेतन पाएका छैनन्। जसको फलस्वरुप आजदेखि अनिश्चितकालीन पेन डाउन हड्ताल शुरु भएको छ ।चेक हस्ताक्षरकारी सिस्टरकै अनुपस्थिकै कारण आजसम्म कर्मचारीवर्गले वेतन पाउँन सकिरहेका छैनन्। उनको अनुपस्थिले महाविद्यालयमा धेरै बाधा उत्पन्न भएको पनि कर्मचारीवर्गले आरोप लगाएका छन । सिस्टर माईकलको लापरवाहीले गर्दा पहिलो वर्षमा अध्ययनरत विद्यार्थीवर्गको पञ्जिकरण खर्च ३७ हजार रुपीयाँ पनि महाविद्यालयका कर्मचारीवर्गको गोजिबाट गएको बताए। १ सितम्बर सम्ममा विद्यार्थीहरुको उत्तर बंगाल विश्वविद्यालयमा पञ्जिकरण गरिनु पर्ने भएता पनि सिस्टरले चेकमा हस्ताक्षर नगरेपछि कर्मचारीवर्गले आफ्नो गोजिबाट पैसा तिरेको पनि उनीहरुले बताए। सिस्टर माईकल विद्यार्थीहरुको भविष्यप्रति गम्भीर नभएर उल्टो खेलाईचीँ गरिरहेको पनि कर्मचारीवर्गले आरोप लगाए।
यी समस्याहरु समाधान नभए सम्म कर्मचारीवगले आफ्नो हड्ताल जारी राख्ने भएको छ। हाईकोर्टबाट नियुक्ती पाएका सिस्टरले महाविद्यालको कार्यमा बाधा पुऱ्याउँन नपाउने निर्देश भएता पनि उनले उक्त निर्देशको उल्लंघन गरेको पनि कर्मचारीवर्गको आरोप छ।
महाविद्यालयको कार्यमा बाधा उत्पन्न भएकै कारण उनलाई सञ्चालन समितिबाट निस्कासित गर्न पर्ने पनि उनीहरुले माग गरेको छ। उक्त बिषयहरुमा जानकारी दिंदै महाविद्यालयका प्राचार्य डा.आर बी भुजेलले सिस्टर माईकल पूर्व सूचना बिनै बाहिर गएको बताए। हाल महाविद्यालयमा कार्यरत २ जना कर्मचारीको पिता सिकिस्त अवस्था हुँदा पनि उनीहरुलाई महाविद्यालयले वेतन दिन नसकेको बताए।
एकातिर दशैँको मुख छ भने अर्कोतिर वेतन नपाएर कर्मचारीवर्ग समस्याको चेपारोमा चेप्टिएका छन्। यतिमात्र नभएर शिक्षक शिक्षिकाहरुले महिनाको शुरुमै वेतन पाउनु पर्ने बंगालका मुख्यमन्त्री ममता बेनर्जीले घोषणा पनि अगावै गरिसकेका छन् भनै महाविद्यालयका शिक्षक शिक्षिकाले भने वेतन नपाउनु लापारवाही देखिएको छ। जसको निवाकरण गर्न कर्मचारी वर्ग पेन डाउन हड्ताल गर्न बाध्य बनेका छ्न। सोहि बिषयलाई लिएर आज आपत्कालिन बैठक सञ्चालन समितिको बसेर त्यसबाट निस्केको निष्कर्षका प्रतिलिपि हाईकोर्टमा पठाउँने पनि डा भुजेलले पत्रकारहरुलाई अवगत गराए।
वाहन दुर्घटनामा एक मरे पाँच गम्भीर घायल
प्रवीण खालिंग, कालिमन्युज, गान्तोक। सदर थानामा पर्ने ब्रज सिनेमा हलको नजिक गोसखान झोडामा आज लगभग 5-30 बजे बेलुकी भएको वाहन दुर्घटनामा एकको घटना स्थलमा नै मृत्यु भयो जब कि चालक समेत पांचजना भने घायल भए । प्राप्त जानकारी अनुसार गान्तोकबाट साम्दोग गैरहेको दैनिक सर्विस बोलेरो वाहनमा पांच यात्री सवार थिए। दुर्घटनामा अप्पर राक्दोङ 4 माईल निवासी 71 वर्षिय हर्क बहादुर पाण्डेको घटना स्थलमानै देहांत भयो भने उनको 29 वर्षीय छोरी गीता पाण्डे गम्भीर रुपमा घायल भइन। पांगथांग नर्सरी निवासी 46 वर्षिय प्रदीप थापा पनि दुर्घटनामा गम्भीररुपमा घायल भए। उसरीनै चालक औ दुइ अन्य युवक पनि घायल भएका छ्न।
घटनाको बारेमा पुलिसले छानबीन शुरु गर्दै प्रारम्भीक जांच शुरु गरेको एसडीएपीओ ओंग्मु भुटियाले बताए। जांच अनुसार वाहनको रफ्तार तेज थियो औ ओवरटेक गर्दा अर्को तिरबाट् आइरहेको बससंग ठोकिएर बोलेरो खाल्डोमा झरेको थियो। घायलहरुको चिकित्सा जाँच एसटीएनएम अस्पताल में भइरहेकोछ। घटनाको खबर खबर पाउन साथ क्षेत्रका विधायक तथा परिवहन मंत्री टीटी भुटियाले घटना स्थलको दौडाहा गरि अस्पतालमा घायलहरुसंग भेटेर स्थितिको जाँच गरे। घायलहरुको चिकित्सामा कुनै कमी नहुने बचन दिदै तिनले परिवारका सदस्यहरुसंग सरकारको तर्फबाट दिने सबै सहायता प्रदान गरिने आश्वासन दिए। विधायक उगेन ग्याछो भुटिया पनि अस्पताल पुगेर घायलहरुको जायजा लिए।
Railway Projects in North Eastern Region
PIB, KalimNews: Minister of State for Railways Shri K. H. Muniyappa in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today stated that augmentation/expansion of rail connectivity, including the one in North-Eastern Region is a continuous and ongoing activity. The North-Eastern Region is already connected to the rest of the country and the Golden Quadrilateral (since there is no Golden Triangle) through the Guwahati-Delhi and Guwahati-Howrah routes, he added.
He further informed that as on April 1, 2011, twelve New Line Projects, four Gauge Conversion Projects and two Doubling Projects are under execution in the North-Eastern Region that will improve rail-connectivity. Eight New Line Projects and two Gauge Conversion Projects have been declared as National Projects and a dedicated fund (NERRDF) has been created to implement these projects. Under the New Line Projects all Northeast State Capitals, except that of Sikkim, would get connected by rail, however, Sivok-Rangpo new line project which will provide connectivity to Sikkim, has been taken up.Government of India
PM and Mrs. Kaur pledge to donate their eyes
PIB, KalimNews, New Delhi, September 08, 2011: The Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Gurusharan Kaur have pledged to donate their eyes. They signed the National Eye Donation Pledge form today on the occasion of National Eye donation day.
In a statement Dr. Singh and Mrs. Kaur said "we are aware that there are innumerable corneal blind patients in our country for whom the gift of sight will be a priceless one. We hope that people across the country will rise to the occasion and support the National Programme for Control of Blindness and help their fellow brethren."
They lauded the National Eye Bank and the Corneal transplantation teams at AIIMS and across the country for their efforts to illuminate the lives to those in need.
Balkrishna under scanner
PIB, KalimNews: The Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Shri R.P.N. Singh today informed the Lok Sabha that as per latest information available, no company with Baba Ramdev as Director is registered in the country. However, 34 companies are registered in the country with Acharya Balkrishna as Director. The details of the above companies, State-wise alongwith their annual turn-over are as under:-
Sl. No. | State/UT | No. of Companies | Annual Turn-over (in Rs. Lakhs) |
1. | Uttrakhand | 23 | 9484 |
2. | Uttar Pradesh | 5 | 4 |
3. | NCT of Delhi | 4 | 16306 |
4. | West Bengal | 1 | 800 |
5. | Maharashtra | 1 | 0 |
| Total (1to 5) | 34 | 26594 |
As filing of Annual Returns and Balance Sheets by companies for the year 2010-11 is due w.e.f. 1st October, 2011, the reasons for increase in turn-over of these companies in a short span of period cannot be identified at this stage.
The Minister was replying to a written question on the number of companies of Baba Ramdevand Acharya Balkrishnan functioning in the country; the details of companies and whether the Government has identified the reasons for increased turn-over of these companies in a short span of period.
Tea in Sikkim
Prabin Khaling, KalimNews, 8th September: A tea planting programme was carried out in an acre of Land in Raj Bhavan estate on 8th September 2011’ in the presence of the Governor of Sikkim, Shri.B.P. Singh. The Governor along with the Commerce & Industries, Minister, Ms. Neeru Sewa, Chairman Tea Board, Shri. Gagan Rai, planted saplings of tea at Raj Bhavan Organic Garden, this morning.
Talking to the media, the Governor said that the Minister Industries has assured that tea plantation will be again done in the Raj Bhavan complex next year. He said that the objective behind the plantation is to make Raj Bhawan an exemplary place having variety of organic flowers and plants.
According to the Raj Bhavan sources eight acres of the Raj Bhavan land will be brought under organic tea plantation in a phased manner. Temi Tea Estate is providing the technical expertise to the project. The altitude of Raj Bhavan estate as well as the fertile soil in the area is conducive to tea plantation. After the harvesting is over, the leaves will be sent to Tea Temi Estate for processing. The Raj Bhavan tea will be solely used for Raj Bhavan purposes. The project is an initiative of the Governor of Sikkim, Shri B.P. Singh.
The programme was also attended by the Comm-cum-Secretary, Shri. M.G. Kiran, Officials from Commerce & Industries Department and Temi Tea Estate and Officers and Employees of Raj Bhavan.
Minister’s visit to Government Horticulture farm
Prabin Khaling, KalimNews, Gangtok, 8 Sep:Shri. D. N. Thakarpa, Hon’ble Minister, FS & AD and Horticulture & CCD Department accompanied by Shri. Vishal Chauhan, Secretary Agriculture & Horticulture and Shri. D. K. Rai, Principal Director Horticulture along with senior officers of the departments made one day visit to Bermiok Agriculture and Horticulture farm on 06.09.2011.
The Farm is situated at an altitude of 3,000 feet above mean sea level in the South district. The total area of the farm is 21 Ha and considered by the department as most important farm. The main purpose of the visit was to develop the farm as “model farm” of the state for production of elite planting materials of different fruit crops and to develop orchards of sub-tropical fruits plants as demonstration plots, besides production of quality seeds of cereals crops. He had inspected the bamboo nursery established at the farm where 1,10,000 Nos. bamboo seedlings are being raised for distribution to the interested farmers during May, 2012.
He had also made visit to the Post Entry Quarantine ( PEQ ) green House facility unit established for maintaining 1500 Nos. different varieties of Pear and low chilling apple imported from South Korea recently. He had instructed the department to speed up the construction of the HI-Tech Green house for orange budding which is under construction. His full day visit to the entire farm land on plot to plot basis could noticed High density guava orchard of 2,500 Nos. plants, 200 Nos. budded orange orchards, 500 Nos. orange seedlings orchards, banana plantation of 1 Ha, 300 Nos. litchi plantation and 62 Nos.
Asiatic pear orchards. Although, the plantation was new, the performance was quite satisfactory and encouraging, minister stated. On his way to the lower farm he had visited the soya-bean seed production scheme and up-land paddy trial conducted by the Agriculture department. He had also visited the Bambusetum where 45 species of bamboo plantation have been maintained by the Horticulture department in the farm itself. On his way back to Gangtok he had visited a private tissue culture unit at Topakhani, a unit established under assistance from Horticulture Mission in North East and Himalayan states.
When you send your kids to school, pray they aren’t forced to become rally cattle
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| Children in school uniform — one has no option but to squat on the road — take a break from the rally on Rani Rashmoni Avenue on Thursday. These students are not those feared to have been kidnapped. Picture by Sayantan Ghosh |
TT, Calcutta, Sept. 8: Children are not safe in school if there is a rally in this city.
At least 45 children from a government-run New Alipore school, some of them barely 10 years old, were herded into a Matador van and sent to central Calcutta without their parents’ consent.
Some of them thought their children had been kidnapped when they arrived at Sahapur Mathuranath Vidyapeeth after hearing from people in the neighbourhood that many of the students were missing.
The headmaster made it worse for the parents, saying the students had not come to the school at all and showing them the register that marked them absent.
He was telling a white lie. The boys had indeed not attended classes because leaders of the student wing of Trinamul ally SUCI had taken them away before the school began. Some of the leaders entered classrooms to ask the boys what they were still doing there when they had a rally to attend.
Headmaster M.M. Mansoor could not explain how people who had nothing to do with the school could enter classrooms and take children away. “It happened between the closing time of the primary section and the start of the senior school. So, the school cannot be held responsible,” he told The Telegraph.
Mansoor claimed ignorance about the allegation that some students had been picked from classrooms and some teachers had campaigned in favour of the event.
At Rani Rashmoni Avenue, processions from various parts of the city and Sealdah and Howrah stations converged. Students from many other schools were made to march and join the rally.
Many parents alleged that the teachers had made it a practice to supply children for political events. But they panicked because most of them did not know there was a rally today, like unsuspecting passengers stranded in various parts of the city because of a string of protests by the SUCI’s DSO and groups of labourers. (See Metro)
After the guardians lodged a kidnap complaint with Behala police station, the organisers hurriedly put the boys in three small vans, which dropped them at Sealdah station, outside Alipore Zoo and at Majherhat.
The fear of mob fury may have prompted the move to drop the students in various places far from the school, police sources said. The parents collected the boys from there. Some students took trains home from Sealdah.
The complaint, drafted in the presence of Trinamul MLAs Arup Biswas and Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, accuses “a political party” of kidnapping the boys.
“The guardians have not named any political party but they were angry and said that no political party has the right to kidnap their children and make them walk in political rallies,” said a senior officer of Behala police station.
The officer said it was impossible to haul up the headmaster as the complaint “does not blame the school at all for what happened to the children”.
Could the police initiate action on its own against a school that allows its children to be taken away by outsiders? “If the parents are not complaining, what can anyone else do?” asked the officer.
The SUCI is a fringe party with proven ability to organise disruptive rallies.
Its bigger mainstream cousins are equally skilled at herding children to rallies. SFI leaders denied the allegation today but children at Left gatherings are a familiar sight.
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Children being marched to the rally venue through the heart of Calcutta
on Thur |
A Trinamul student leader mentioned the schools from which he was supposed to organise children for public meetings.
DSO leaders defended their action, saying it was a students’ movement. “Since our movement is against the abolition of the pass-fail system till Class VIII, we wanted school students to participate in today’s programme,” said Sujit Patra, a DSO state committee member.
The state education minister had once spoken of abolishing the promotion system till Class VIII. But it was only his “personal opinion” and he had clarified that the government had not even considered introducing the change.
Ironically, most children at today’s rally said they were in favour of scrapping the promotion system.
The DSO was also protesting sex education at the secondary level, calling it “commercialisation”.
Patra said his organisation had met the headmasters of various schools and requested them to allow students to participate in the rally.
A Class IX-A student of Mathuranath school, not far from the New Alipore petrol pump, said he was in classroom around 10.50am today when a dada came and asked him to join the rally. “When I said I needed the teachers’ permission, he told me that he had already spoken to them.”
Some guardians arrived at Mathuranath around 3.15pm. “Someone came to my home and said many children had been kidnapped. We rushed here and found our children missing,” said Chaitali Bagh, whose son Samar is a Class VIII student.
Once the headmaster claimed the boys were absent, the parents went on the rampage. Then they went to New Alipore police station. A police team went to the school and gathered from local sources that the students could be at the rally.
New Alipore police called the Lalbazar control room. The control room contacted officers at the rally venue, who asked the organisers to return the children at once.
Barrage locked in land dilemma - Teesta project: Centre’s condition on funds forces state to tread cautiously
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| The Teesta barrage at Gazoldoba. File picture |
TT, Calcutta, Sept. 8: The Mamata Banerjee government is in a fix over the Teesta Barrage Project. The issue once again is land.
Since it has been declared a national project, the centre has said that it would shoulder 90 per cent of the cost and would give it in the form of a grant. But it has set the condition that it has to be completed by 2015. If the deadline is missed, then the grant would be turned into a loan which the cash-strapped state government cannot afford.
This is what has put the state government in a corner. For, to complete the project, it would have to acquire at least 3,000 hectares of land in north Bengal, mainly in South Dinajpur and Malda districts and chief minister Mamata Banerjee has not, so far, given the nod.
“We have the funds, equipment and a technical team ready to do the job. But we need land. The land department is working hard. Let us see what can be done,” said Manas Bhunia, the state irrigation minister.
Government sources said the land policy that Mamata had announced was in its last lap and is likely to be placed in the next cabinet meeting. “Unless the land policy is declared, it will be very difficult for the government to proceed on any project that needs land. The chief minister is firm in her opposition to acquiring land. What would be the fate of projects like the Teesta Barrage is not known,” a senior irrigation department official said.
The Centre is providing Rs 2,998 crore for the project, declared a national one in 2010.
“If the project is not completed by 2015, the state will have to bear the cost as the funds will then be regarded as loan. The state government is not in a position to bear this additional burden. A solution has to be found immediately,” a senior official of the state finance department said.
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| The Teesta river as seen from Sevoke. Picture by Kundan Yolmo |
The irrigation department has received Rs 377 crore to be spent this financial year for the construction of canal for the project. The total land required for the project is 15,000 hectares and so far 10,500 hectares have been acquired.
The three barrages on the Teesta, Mahananda and Dauk and the four main canals are ready but the construction of the branch canals have been hit hard with non-availability of land.
Mamata has set two conditions for acquiring land for state projects: security and to prevent national disaster.
The Teesta Barrage project was launched in 1976 to provide irrigation to 9.22 lakh hectares in north Bengal and to generate 67.50 MW hydropower. The government has already spent Rs 1,200 crore.
Bhunia today said he was willing to talk to the disgruntled land losers who had filed over 150 cases in court in protest against the “poor compensation” paid to them for the land acquired from them. This has effectively put the lid on any further progress in the project. “I am ready to talk to anybody. That is the reason I have roped in the elected representatives from all the levels for negotiating with the villagers and also monitor the project,” Bhunia said.
Asok, Deepa slam Mamata over Teesta
SNS, SILIGURI/BALURGHAT, 8 SEPT: When the chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, is supposed to have torpedoed the much-publicised Teesta deal, involving India and Bangladesh, evidently to cater to her newly-acquired north Bengal constituency, two prominent political leaders from the region, Mrs Deepa Dasmunshi, known as the bete noire of the chief minister, and the CPI-M strongman from Darjeeling district, Mr Asok Bahattacharya, slammed Miss Banerjee, terming her decision to stay away from the bilateral meeting in Dhaka as “a monumentally suicidal one”.
“The chief minister cannot be faulted for trying to protect the interests of the state she leads. But her gesture on the matter is not in sync with the culture of Bengal. When the Prime Minister was visiting the neighbouring country after a span of over a decade to better bilateral relations involving two important players in the volatile region, the chief minister from West Bengal should have shown the minimum courtesy,” she said.
“The stance the chief minister has taken on the sensitive issue has come as a bolt from the blue. She did not raise cavil when the National Security Adviser, Mr Shiv Shankar Menon met her and finalised the nitty gritty of the PM’s trip to Bangladesh. Her idiosyncratic decision would not just tell upon the bilateral ties which started thawing after ages but would harm the interests of the state in the long run. Miss Banerjee missed the golden opportunity to better relation with our neighbour ~ a tragic failure in view of the success Jyoti Basu achieved,” she said.
Echoing her, the former state urban development minister, Mr Asok Bhattacharya said that Miss Banerjee should not have made the impulsive decision. “We wonder whether her decision is in consonance with the principles on which our country’s federal polity is based,” he said. “We have all along demanded a 25 per cent water share from Teesta. But there is a decorum to place the state’s point of view, particularly when the stakes involving India were high on the matter. She would have better convened an all-party meeting instead of unilaterally gone for such a suicidal decision,” the senior CPI-M leader opined.
Residents demand proper sewerage system
The residents of Trimohini, a town adjacent to Bangladesh border in south Dinajpur, are reeling under problems owing to the district administration’s apathy regarding a long-standing demand for proper sewerage system.
Field day for ‘turncoats’ in contest
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| The team members of Loreto Convent Darjeeling who emerged winners in the debate. (Kundan Yolmo) |
TT, Siliguri, Sept.8: It was a war of words today at the “Confluence Debate 2011” where students from 11 schools slugged it out to argue for a topic and then speak against their own points.
The debate marked the end of the three-day inter-school event, christened Confluence. The programme was hosted by St Michael’s School in association with The Telegraph at Savin Kingdom near Siliguri.
The new element at the debate this year was the “turncoat” round or elimination round, in which speakers started by speaking in favour of a topic and then changed their views.
“Each team has two members and one of them would speak both for and against a particular topic. The contestant will be given a minute to speak for the motion and another minute to oppose it. Four best teams will be selected from the 11 to participate in the finals,” said Parnab Mukherjee, the moderator and judge of the debate.
The participants chose from two topics: “syllabus kills creativity”, and “Indian sports is still a metaphor for underachievement”.
“India has excelled in sports like polo, hockey, chess, shooting and cricket and we have sportsmen like Abhinav Bindra and Mahendra Singh Dhoni who made us proud. This year, we have also won the ICC Cricket World Cup and can easily boast that what cricket is to India, football is to Brazil. But does Brazil play cricket with the same zeal that India plays football? The answer is no. So it is wrong to say that India is an underdog in sports world,” said Ashwin Chettri of Gyanodoy Niketan, Darjeeling while arguing against the motion.
But Ashwin immediately switched sides at the tinkle of the bell. “Sport in India is ridden with corruption and there is lack of proper facilities for budding sportsmen. It is merely a handful few from the elite society who make it big and those without resources go unrecognised. Take for example, shooting in India. There are very less facilities for the sports in our country. But Abhinav Bindra is an ace shooter today because he had the financial backup of his rich parents,” he argued.
The children were judged on the basis of speech layout, clarity, originality, on the spot humour and audience response.
Loreto Convent Darjeeling, St Augustine’s School Kalimpong, Jermel’s Academy Siliguri and Gyanoday Niketan Darjeeling made it to the finals for which the topic was “Indian middle-class is so self-absorbed that they hardly understand the poor.”
Both members of the teams participated in the final rounds, conducted in classical format.
As the event concluded, Parnab chose Loreto Convent Darjeeling as the best, followed by St Augustine’s School Kalimpong. Gyanoday Niketan Darjeeling and Jermel’s Academy Siliguri were adjudged third and fourth respectively.
Ashwin and Debsmita were adjudged the best speakers.
“We hosted the fourth edition of Confluence this year and its huge success is attributed to the participation of all the schools. We plan to invite schools from Guwahati and Calcutta next year,” said Robin Chakraborty, the vice-principal of St Michael’s School.
After the debate, prizes were awarded to the winners.
Car rally
TT, Siliguri: A car rally that started from Kathmandu on Tuesday entered India through the border at Panitanki on Thursday. Twenty five cars are taking part in the rally that will reach Gangtok and return to Kathmandu on September 13. The cars will cover a distance of around 2,000 km.
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