15 March, 2004; NOW! 1

C M Y K

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NO SHOWSOPPOSITION LEADERS FAIL TO TURN UP

FOR JORETHANG ALL-PARTY MEETING

SEC. 144IN SOUTH

SIKKIMFROMTODAY

FIRE RAGES ASFIREMEN SIT NEXTTO DEAD PHONE

FIRE TENDER ROLLS IN LATE; ASIINJURED AS MOB TURNS UNRULY

KALIMPONG, 14 March: In anindoor meeting held at the RamKrishna Rangamanch today, thebranch committee of the People’sDemocratic Front [PDF] wasformed with Col. DK Pradhan asits Convenor. This branch commit-tee was formed simultaneouslywith another branch committeeformed at Kurseong today.

PDF, an opposition front, wasformed by the coalition of five par-ties namely, Akhil BharatiyaGorkha League, Congress [Hills],CPRM, BJP and GNLF[c] earlierlast year as a united platform ofparties opposed to the GNLF in theDarjeeling hills.

Col. Pradhan’s name for theKalimpong Convenor’s post wasproposed by JB Rai of CPRM, whois also a central committee mem-ber of the PDF, and seconded byABGL general secretary Dr. HarkaBahadur Chettri. Later, twenty-seven other executive memberswere elected from the four differ-ent parties of the PDF excluding the

Kpg gets aPDF branchcommitteeKARAN SHAH

turn to pg 4

JORETHANG, 14 March: Oppo-sition “leaders” were conspicu-ous in their absence at the all-party meeting called by the DC[South] here today to discuss theconstituency’s preparation forthe up-coming simultaneous pollsscheduled for 10 May. The rul-ing party leaders, in contrast,were present in full force witheveryone from the incumbentarea MLA, Bhoj Raj Rai, to pro-spective SDF candidates Bina Raiand Binod Rai present along withparty general secretary MohanDungmali and others. The Oppo-sition, inform official sources,were represented only by a fewparty workers with no “leader”participating in the Meet.

While this may just be reflec-tive of the absence of an organisedOpposition in the constituency,which has seen more oppositionfrom within the ruling party thanfrom without in recent times, themeeting did see some important is-sues get addressed. The irony of

PURAN TAMANG

Opposition leaders not showing upafter all the noise they have madein recent times about violence di-rected against them in the area wasnot lost on those who attended themeeting today.

SP [South], MS Tuli, whilespeaking to NOW!, explained thatJorethang was picked for the firstall-party meeting in South Sikkimas much for the reason that it sharesa border with neighbouring WestBengal, as for the fear that theTharpu-incident of Soreng a weekago might spill over to this “politi-cally sensitive” constituency.

Jorethang has suffered because ofits identity as a border town and manysocial ills that plague it stem from thisreason. In an obvious admission tothis situation, an important call madeby the DC at the meet related to iden-tification of “outsiders”.

Panchayats from all over theconstituency were invited to the

meeting and expressly requested tokeep an eye out for “any” non-Sikkimese. Clear directions werepassed that should “any” outsiderbe noticed, the nearest thana be in-timated immediately so that theycould verify his antecedents andcheck against any prospective trou-blemakers.

As a special check against peo-ple from outside the constituencycoming to create trouble, the dis-trict police has already passed onspecial instructions to all checkposts to conduct thorough checksand ask for proper identificationfrom “suspicious” persons, the SPinformed. A check post has alsobeen set up at Hingdam nearRavangla to monitor movementsbetter, it is learnt. Similarly, tem-porary police posts have been pro-vided for Lingi and Borong whichare presently distant from policeassistance.

The SP [South] also assuredthat police personnel will hence-forth conduct 24-hour patrolling inthe constituency and also requestedthe business community to bearwith the “extra strict” checks thatwill now be in force and could de-lay transportation of their goods.

The meeting, convened by theDC, also saw the announcement of

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turn to pg 3

TURN TOpg 4 FOR

DETAILS

2; NOW!; 15 March, 2004

C M Y K

NOW!FIRST WITH THE NEWS

ED-SPACE

I once had a student; we will call him NG,who was what you would call a geek.He belonged to that category of pupils

who learnt computers in school as a sixthsubject and found in computer programmingan entirely new and comfortable world thathe could relate to.

Much to the chagrin of his parents,who had very little idea of what their boywas getting into, NG so completely im-mersed himself into writing pro-grammes, making software and doingother projects that his studies suffered.While more mediocre fellows managedto pass the board XII exams with rela-tively good marks and went down to theplains to take up various professionalcourses, NG was stuck here inKalimpong without a pass certificate andworse still, a stronger obsession with writ-ing programmes which by now were get-ting more sophisticated and ambitious.

What fuelled his fixation further was thefact that the age threshold of people makingbreakthroughs in his field was getting lowerand lower. People like Shawn Fawning andAnkit Fadia were his role models. The former,while still at college had managed, by virtueof Napster, to change the world’s perspec-tive on information and entertainment. AnkitFadia a schoolboy, on the other hand hadmanaged to earn the deference, of all peo-

ple, the FBI, withhis forays into the

esoteric area of codebusting and encryption called

steganography.In this brave new world of bits and

bytes these young people were the frontiers-men who constantly pushedthe boundaries of whatcould be done and definednewer possibilities in the digital world.

The structured logic and syntax of pro-gramming languages, lends it self more eas-ily to the pliable minds of youngsters and thealmost religious zeal with which NG took

upon himself the task of doing somethingequally significant and pathbreaking was, atleast to me, an effort worth encouraging. ButI was also in a sense confounded by the factthat a person who asked intelligent questionson matters as diverse as prime factors andprovidence could fail in class XII.

Anyway, the yearsrolled on, NG managed tosomehow scrape through

and enrolled himself into a BCA corre-spondence course while at the same timeearning his pocket money at an online bro-kerage. What NG did not do and I admirehis guts for that, is come back to his father’s

hardware store to sell cement, or primers forthat matter. Not because there is somethingimplicitly wrong in managing a hardwarestore, but because NG had decided in hisheart that was not the job for him. He stuckit out in his own unconventional course oflife, finding creative fulfilment in gettinghis projects printed in magazines like DataQuest and proselytising the likes of me onthe merits of Linux.

Of course with his BCA too the same oldstory of his fiasco with the XII boards re-peated itself. But the story took a more happyturn when the multinational Dell, recognis-ing the potential of non linear thinkers likeNG, gave him a break and took him undertheir wings at their Bangalore headquarters.

NG in spite of all the right things that hedid not do, by virtue of his intellectual brav-ery and commitment to something that heloved doing managed to break on to the otherside. He thus avoided joining that burgeon-ing crowd of people stuck with jobs they hate.

NG may or may not do things as profoundas some of his role models, but I am con-vinced that his life story teaches us an im-portant lesson. In this day and age, it is pos-sible to follow your dream and make a live-lihood out of doing what you love. All youneed is the stamina to carry on and the cour-age to believe in your self.

by PRAVEEN MOKTAN

Artist, filmmaker, keenphotographer, columnist with

international magazines...It’s hard to pin Twang Yang

down. Born to a Chinese fatherand Tibetan mother,

he grew up in Kalimpong andworked in Sikkim.

NOW! serializes Twan Yang’sautobiography, Houseboy in

India...

-4-

Sometimes I had also to look after the stall at ourdoor when my sister took a rest inside. On mar-ket days I had to go to sell our sweets and things

at the same stand, which we hadkept on from my father’s time. I hadto get up early, at five o’clock inthe morning, and the first thing Ihad to do was to go for water fromthe tap or I would not get a place inthe line.

About a year or a year and a half afterI had come to live with this family, ourbrother Twan Ku, Nanni Amala’s secondson, lost his place in the workshop becauseof some foolishness, and then the elderson, Kua Yen Pu, also lost his work there.Now there were only two wage earners inthe house, and their earnings were notsufficient to support so many persons.My mother’s business of sweets and bis-cuits was not very profitable at this timebut she had to do her best with it to makesome money anyhow.

A cinema house had recently been builtin Kalimpong, large enough to hold four hun-dred people, and my mother had con-tracted to keep a stall to sell oursweets and things there. The gate-keeper of the cinema was our neigh-bour, and this meant that he alwaysgave me a chance to see the pictures,but often I had no time to go. Duringthe day we had to prepare everythingfor the evening sales.

And so this is the way in whichwe made our living in those old daysin Kalimpong.

On Saturday night we would allhave to work hard until ten or eleven. Some of us wouldpeel the monkey nuts to make sweets, some wouldbake biscuits, and some cut them into shape in molds.On other evenings we went to bed at eight thirty ornine, and would be fast asleep before ten.

Among our old customers was the keeper of an eat-ing shop at paying. When I was nearly seven years old,my father had said to me: “Twan Yang, you are now a bigboy, so you must take the biscuits every day to Payung.” I

was still very small, but in the hills evensmall boys have brave legs, and I feltrather proud to do this work. I did itfor about three months before my fa-ther died, and then continued it after-ward. Every week on Sunday morn-

ing I would put so many biscuits in a bam-boo basket, which held about twelvedozen. It felt to me to weigh about ten

pounds. I carried the basket on my back,kept in place by a bamboo strap on the fore-head. I took a strong stick and set out on mylong walk at about seven o’clock.

On summer mornings the clear sky, andthe fine view of the hills lit up by the rays of

the sun, the rich green of the trees, theblowing of the cool wind from the north-east, the singing of the many birds wing-

ing up and down the hillside were verypleasant for my living young soul. At this early

hour very few people were about. On my way Iwould meet a group of four Tibetan beggars pray-

ing while clapping their hands to thetune of their prayers, and I would smellthe incense, which the householdersburn at this time of the morming. Thedistance from Payung to Kalimpong isabout seven miles. I stepped out brisklytowards Tirpai Hill, where there is asmall village near the Tibetan monas-tery. From this part of the hill the viewtoward Kalimpong is most beautiful.Toward the north is the greatHimalayan snow mountain,Kanchenjunga. The sun’s rays made the

snows glare and glitter, so that no eye could look longerat them than a minute. Using my stick in every step forease in walking I felt happy whilst proceeding on myway, whistling and heading for the hill of the homes.

to be continued

Small Boy withBrave legs

Danger! Turbulence Ahead!Elections are at hand and everybody who wants to be anybody iscoming forward with a take on things. Every leader wants to beheard and every party youth wants to be noticed. Dictions are get-ting polished up and speeches being rehearsed. Second-hand ve-hicles are suddenly in demand and printers and tailors are bookedfor months with party pamphlets and flags to stitch. The obviousboom in the election cottage industry is welcome, but, it is the otherside, the darker side, of campaigning that should get everyone wor-ried. Since most leaders behave like leaders for most of the fiveyears and become public representatives on the last couple ofmonths in the runup to the polls, they take the easy way out ofraising emotive issues. Given the uneasy times we live in whenpeople, despite years of education teaching them otherwise, throwall sobriety to the wind and get possessed by paranoia, this ploy isalmost always successful. The minority can now expect to hear itsleaders hold court on how they are going to get swamped and themajority community can expect its “Kothey Meetings” to debate onhow they continue to be meted out second-class treatment.

Will you hear these pronouncements made at public gather-ings? Of course not. These demons are too ugly to be faced inpublic. They live in the realms of the shadows and are whisperedin kitchen meetings and house to house contact programmes. Butdoesn’t that give the game away. If a minority is truly on the brinkof extinction, shouldn’t they be hollering from rooftops and if themajority has indeed been relegated to the back-bench, would theyhave suffered in silence for nearly three decades. One might pointout here that the two groups did make a lot of noise some timeback. Yes, they did. But sometime back. When elections were stilla safe distance away. Has anyone heard even a murmur fromthem ever since early polls were called for Sikkim? Xenophobichectoring are the shortest route to getting noticed and everyonewho indulged in it has got noticed. By whom? We shall know inthe coming days when the candidates are announced. Thankfully,the voter distribution in Sikkim, no matter how lopsided it appearson paper, is the safest check we have against anyone going over-board. Now, hopefully, public displays of paranoia and empty jin-goism will end. Everyone will talk communal harmony and broth-erhood and launch equally vacuous diatribes on corruption in theother camp and claims to understand the problems of the people.

Returning to our earlier mention of Kothey Meetings. Althoughcommunal parleys get played down in public, leaders continue topeddle them in homes. Here, perhaps the voters should clearly tellthem that if they feel so strongly about an issue, they should raise it inpublic and not in private homes. The hypocrisy needs to be exposed.

15 March, 2004; NOW! 3

C M Y K

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GANGTOK: Prashant is eight yearsold. He studies in class IV. Everymorning you can see him trudgingup the hill carrying his school bag.This year, his bag is particularlyheavy, making his shoulders stoop ashe walks. “He has started complain-ing of back aches,” says his motherAsha Rani. She is surprised that hecan have back problems at such ayoung age. But according to doctors,carrying too many books and thewrong bag can be extremely harm-ful for a child’s back.

Despite parents’ best efforts to protect their children from get-ting hurt, one of the greatestsources of potential injury whichoften goes unnoticed is the schoolbackpack. According to a recentreport on health, the school bags

A BAGFUL OF WOEScarried by children everyday cause pain and fatigue to as many as 50 per cent of children today.

“It’s heartbreaking to seethem carry so much load toschool. Sometimes I find itdifficult to carry my son’sbag myself,” complainsKesang Deki. The issue ofheavy school bags is some-thing all parents relate to.

With the growing syllabi inschools it is no wonder thatbackpacks have grown in size. Notonly have textbooks become heavier,the number of notebooks per subjecthas also increased. Add to that thepencil box, the geometry set, the lunchpacks and the water bottle and it isobvious the kids are carrying morethan they can handle.

“It’s a problem of thisgeneration, the heavy schoolbags put too much pressure

on growing bones. Moreover, themuscles of the shoulders are kepttense for a considerable period oftime,” says Dr. HK Chettri, aGangtok-based Child Specialist.

“The human skeletondoesn’t really form completelyuntil a person is between 19 and22 years old, so you can actu-ally create physical change ina person by overloading their

spine and overloading their ca-pacity to carry weights,” he adds.

Part of the damage is done bythe way children carry their load.With their bag tossed on one

shoulder, they dash down the hallfrom one class to another. Bags areslung on one side causing stress onthe muscles of the opposite shoul-

der due to lopsided distributionof weight. It is not long beforethis develops into a full-

fledged adolescent backache.

“Wearing a backpack on oneshoulder can also cause the childto lean to one side to compensatefor the extra weight, resulting in anasymmetrical spine, back pain, anda strained shoulder and neck,” in-forms Dr. Chettri. According to hima schoolbag which is designed insuch a way as to provide support atthe hip as well as the shoulder andback will be the best option.

But that is only one part of thesolution. The onus lies on parents,teachers and other educators to en-sure that our children do not be-come victims of back injury be-cause of something, which can beso easily corrected.

“Why can’t the schools allowstudents to keep half the books inschool? Why do they need to carrysuch a heavy load everyday,” asksan anguished parent.

Why indeed?

a NOW FEATURE

HOW CAN A

BLOWER SCALD?After reading “Scalded in HerSleep,” [NOW! dated 13 March], Ikept my leg as close as possible tothe blower at home and sat in frontof the TV for 2 whole hours [it wascold last night]. My leg was nei-ther scalded, nor even singed.

How can a patient, coveredwith a blanket, ever get scalded,that too by a blower!

If you don’t believe what I haveexperimented, try it out yourselfand I invite everyone to do thesame. In fact, before taking any“action” against the “errant” nurseson duty, let the authorities also tryit out themselves.Moina, for readers

�LETTERS

imposition of Section 144 in thedistrict from 15 March onwards.Henceforth, there will be no ralliesor public meetings without priorpermission from the district admin-istration and all licensed weaponsneed to be deposited with the localthanas immediately. Even carryingof traditional weapons will hence-forth be illegal as would be mov-ing around in motorcades of morethan three vehicles.

The district administration ap-pears confident to keep things undercontrol and are suspicious of only twothings - Tharpu aftershocks comingtheir way and muscle from neigh-bouring West Bengal creating trou-ble in the constituency. “The locals,as with the rest of the Sikkimese, aregenerally a peaceful lot who stayaway from poll violence,” a seniorpolice official summed up whilespeaking to NOW!

Contd from pg 1

Gloomy skies as natural as sunny daysthis time of year, says weatherman

GANGTOK, 14 March: The pe-riod between March and May isknown as pre-monsoon season inmeteorological language or hotweather season in simple languageor Kal Baishaki in Hindi.

March to May is usually a pe-riod characterized by the continu-ous and rapid rise in temperaturealong with a fall of barometric pres-sure in North India. At the sametime, there is a fall in temperaturein the southern Indian Ocean andthe adjacent land masses of Africaand Australia. This causes a steadynorthward transfer of hot windsalong with a similar transfer of theequatorial belt of low air pressure.

In March the highest day tem-perature of about 38 degree Celsiuscan be experienced in the Deccanplateau, while in April temperaturesof 38-43 degree Celsius can be feltin Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

By May, the temperature risesfurther in Northern India, particu-larly in the desert region of north-west, where it can rise to an extremeof over 48 degree Celsius causingdehydration deaths among cattleand humans.

KABHI DHOOP, KABHI PAANI

This is also the time of thedreaded “Loo” - a hot wave or windthat sweeps the cow belt claimingmany lives in its wake largely dueto heat-stroke.

A low air pressure begins tobuild over north-west India like atrough stretching from there to theChota Nagpur Plateau. A local cir-culation of air sets in around thistrough during this period of risingtemperatures and decreasing airpressures. This circulation is verysignificant, as it effects an indraughtof southerly winds from the adjacentwaters of Bay of Bengal.

On a hot day, due to the intenseheat or insulation warm air rises

upwards and mixes with the coldair circulating above and causeswhat is known as a Siberian high.This causes violent local stormswherein deep humid winds fromthe sea meet hot dry winds from the

land. This storm is accompanied byviolent winds, torrential rain andhail. They sometimes attain cy-clonic intensity and are very de-structive especially in West Bengal.These winds are calledNor’Westers because the accompa-nying squalls usually come fromthe north-west. In Bengal they areknown as Kal-Baishaki i.e. “Ca-lamity of the month of Baishaki”.

These local stormy weatherconditions form in the hilly regionsof sub Himalayan West Bengal andSikkim generally in the afternoon,and sometimes during the eveningor at night and proceed in a south-erly direction. Hence, also therather dull and gloomy afternoonswith the shy showers experiencedin Sikkim and neighbouringDarjeeling hills.

No Shows

SAGAR CHETTRI

The weather promises to remain temperamental till May

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4; NOW!; 15 March, 2004

C M Y K

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DARJEELING, March 14, 2004:Close on the heels of a fire in a va-cant Forest Department quarter atJorbungalow on 8 March, cameanother blaze, this time at Dioc-esan-gaon, below the GovernmentCollege here. More than the dam-age itself, it is the finger it raiseson the prevailing infrastructure ofthe public utility services in the hilltown that has concerned localshere. In both the cases the Fire Bri-gade could not be informed in timebecause the only telephone line atthe fire station has been out of or-der since 8 March.

Today, at around 10:30 am amajor fire broke out in the house ofArun Rasaily, a Government Col-lege employee. There was no onehome at the time and most of theneighbours were attending a shradhceremony a few blocks away.

Panic spread when residentssaw the fire bellowing out from thewooden second storey. While onegroup rushed to inform the fire bri-gade, the other jumped into actiontrying to contain the rapidlyspreading fire.

BJP who was not present in today’smeeting.

Incidentally, Col. Pradhan is thebrother of the slain KalimpongGNLF leader CK Pradhan and ispresently heading the GNLF [C].

Further discussions were heldregarding the future programmes ofPDF and it was decided that theFront would participate in “fullforce” in both the Lok Sabhaand Municipality elections, andthat they would file candidates fromall 24 wards of Kalimpong. Thedecision on which candidate theFront would support in the LokSabha elections will be taken at itscentral committee meeting sched-uled for 20 March, later this month.

Col. Pradhan, while speaking toNOW! assured that he would han-

dle the post with responsibility andreiterated his commitment to bringabout “a political change” in theHills and pursue his plans for aseparate state.

When asked to explain the ab-sence of the BJP from today’s meet-ing, Dr. Chettri, while confirmingtha BJP remained a part of the PDFexplained that they were absentsimply because they had no pres-ence in Kalimpong. He, however,added that the district committee ofthe BJP had been contacted andthey had requested the Front meet-ing to be held without their attend-ance in Kalimpong.

Today’s meeting was chaired byMr. Rai of CPRM. The Front’s fu-ture programmes were outlined byits general secretary, Shravan Rai,with special focus on the upcomingLok Sabha polls.

Jayanta Chowdhury, a collegestudent living in the locality, whilespeaking to NOW! complained:“We telephoned the fire station butno body was answering.”

Little did he know that the tel-ephone was out of order. The lo-cals rushed to the Police town out-post. With the cops came the wire-less set which flashed a message tothe Sadar Thana which in turn de-puted personnel to inform the firestation, 4 kms away, of the incidentat Diocesan-gaon.

Precious time was being lost.“In the meantime, since we had

enough hands gathered for theShradh ceremony, we decided notto keep waiting for the fire tendersto arrive and immediately got towork,” disclosed Kishore Gurung,a local resident.

Since drinking water had beenbrought in for the Shradh ceremonyand the locality also had two re-serve tanks which had filled up dueto the heavy rains and hail of 7March, there was enough water tostart a fight against the fire.

Pipes were hastily strung to-

gether and water sourced to the site.The second floor was, however,completely gutted by that time.

“We did not get time to take outa single thing and now everythinghas been totally gutted,” lamentedRasaily.

The fire tenders rolled in ataround 11:45 am, more than an hourafter the fire was first noticed andthe first distress call made. The fire-men found themselves surroundedby an angry mob. They also did nothave a fire to put out since the lo-cals had already done so. They werelucky to have had the manpower andwater supply to do so. Pooja Rasailybelieves that had this not been thecase, the fire would have licked theentire congested colony.

The mob was obviously awareof this and seeing the fire brigaderoll in after even the embers hadbeen put out, it could not contain itsemotions. The situation soon dete-riorated from a shouting match tothe firemen getting pushed aroundand roughed up. The fire departmentpersonnel soon had projectiles be-ing launched at them and in the en-

suing melee ASI Haren Mahanto ofDarjeeling Police was seriously in-jured on the head. He was rushed tothe Darjeeling Sadar Hospital fromwhere he was shifted to a privatenursing home in Siliguri.

Police had to use force to con-tain the angry and unruly mob. Sen-ior officers including the AdditionalSuperintendent of Police, DSP andthe Inspector in charge of the SadarThana were present at the site.

“The police arrived as soon aswe were informed and even in-formed the fire brigade withoutwasting any time. The ASI who wasinjured was also helping put out thefire. I don’t see any reason for suchbehaviour against the police” saidTripurari, ASP.

The locals surrounded the firebrigade and demanded an explana-tion. Palden Lama, station in-charge, admitted that their phonehas been out of order since 8 Marchand that despite repeated com-plaints to the SDO [Telephone] andthe SDO Darjeeling, nothing hasbeen done.

“With the fire brigade being

shifted to Dali and closure of the pre-vious station at Chowk Bazar nextto the Police Station, it is a problemto inform of fires when the phone isout of order,” informed Lama.

Incidentally the present Fire Sta-tion at Dali, 4 kms from town fallsin the “shadow-area” of even cell-phone connectivity. Lama, however,added that they had asked the StateFire Minister to reopen the old firestation in town as a sub station.

“Though he has assured us thatit will be done, it will take time asthere is a shortage of staff,” he added.

The public wrath was then di-verted at the ongoing cease workat the Telephone Exchange for nonrepair of the line. However HNOjha, SDO [Phones] clarified thatthe cease work had nothing to dowith this.

“A telephone card has burntdown and resulted in the fire stationphone going dead. We have sent itto Siliguri for repairs and the phonewill be operational from tomorrow,”he assured. People of the localityhave now also demanded additionalphone lines for the fire station.

FIRE RAGES AS FIREMEN SITNEXT TO DEAD PHONE

ASI INJURED AS MOB TURNS UNRULYAMITAVA BANERJEE

Contd from pg 1

Kpg gets a PDF...

KALIMPONG, 14 March: Withthe official launch of the NorthernLights services, the wholeexisting scenario of customer serv-ice has been altered to a vast de-gree. With the introduction of privi-lege cards, the registered card hold-ers will be able to benefit from theservices provided by the agency.The only investment they have tomake will be the registration feescovering one year.

The benefits which result fromsuch registration include discountsat various centres ranging fromhotels to medical stores, garages,stationary shops, etc. The agency

KPG GETS SERVICE@ ITS BEST

also covers services on calls suchas pre-paid taxis, doctors, electri-cians and also sundry ones as thoseprovided by masons, barbers andbeauticians. Other miscellaneousservices like bill-paying assistancefor electricity, telephone and banktransactions are also included.

Also available, is the 24-hrsparamedic service. There is also aninsurance (no cash) for the givencard holders by Direct Sales Au-thority (DSA), under ICICI-Lombard.

The chief-executive officer,Rishi Pradhan said that the inspi-ration behind such a concept

“was basically the good of thegeneral people,”.

He added that the card holders

have to realize that there is no limitto the services provided “since itcovers almost all areas of day to daylife.” He also confessed that thegeneral people have been muchconfused over it.

With the introduction of such ahuge project it would also be possi-ble to solve certain unemploymentproblems, since it covers a huge areaof mundane affairs. “It will alsoopen its regional offices in Siliguriand Sikkim soon”, he revealed.

from OUR CORRESPONDENT

NOW! can be contactedat 953592 270949 or

emailed at sikkimnow@rediffmail.com

15 March, 2004; NOW! 5

C M Y K

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Rai to respond to allegations through the Press

GANGTOK, 14 March: Main-taining that he was yet to receiveany official intimation on the show-cause served to him by the rulingSikkim Democratic Front’s Politi-cal Affairs Committee for alleged“anti-party” activities, the GorkhaApex Committee chairman andSDF member, GM Rai, said that hewas planning to hold a press con-ference on Tuesday to present hisside of the story.

On being prodded further, he

added that since he has read of theallegations only from news reportshe would respond to them throughthe media itself.

The ruling party, in its PACmeeting held on 10 March, lastWednesday, had decided to serveMr. Rai a week’s notice to “stop”his anti-party activities or face ex-pulsion. Mr. Rai’s statements as aGAC representative has createdmany politically embarrassing situ-ations for the ruling Front and thenotice was obviously a move tocurtail GAC activities in the State.

Mr. Rai, however, remains ada-

mant that he has not indulged inany anti-party activities. “Our ar-guments on the seat issue are basedon facts and no one can ignore themforever,” he said.

As for his open lobbying to cor-ner the SDF ticket for CentralPendam [he has gone to the extentof stating that he will contest as anindependent if denied the partyticket], which many see as a directchallenge to party authority, Mr.Rai said that aspersions cannot becast on his bid for a party ticket.

“Everyone knows that if I amgiven the SDF ticket, CentralPendam will be a cake-walk vic-tory. If there are still sections work-ing to deny me a ticket and the partya confirmed victory, there is defi-nitely something fishy,” he said.

When asked whether he wouldbe as confident even if rumours thatCongress president Nar BahadurBhandari was considering CentralPendam as one of the constituen-cies to contest from, came true, Mr.Rai said that even Mr. Bhandari hadno hopes of winning against him ifSDF backed his candidature.

Mr. Rai and GAC have beenbelligerent participants of the de-limitation debate in Sikkim and hadearlier told NOW! that he wantedto now debate the issue of delimi-tation in the right forum - the StateAssembly. How he plans to do that,perhaps we shall learn in his Tues-day press conference which inci-dentally comes at the expiry of theone week ultimatum served to himby the SDF high command.

GAC chief confident of trouncing evenBhandari from Central Pendam

a NOW REPORT

GANGTOK, 14 March: An SDFbranch party office for Gangtokwas inaugurated here today by thelone Lok Sabha MP from SikkimBhim Dahal at Development Area,opposite the Community Hall here.Among those to attend the functionwere senior Gangtok SDF leadersDorjee Namgyal, YB Thapa, KBGurung, Anand Lama, BinodChettri, Loday Tshering Bhutia andparty supporters.

At the function Mr. Dahal, saidthat the inauguration was importantsince it was a party office for thecapital of the state. He spoke aboutthe policies and the intentions ofthe SDF party.

“The SDF was established onthe very basis of clear, clean andfair policies, irrespective of caste,religion and status,” he said.

He further said that the party’smain aim was to uplift the poor andthe needy as they were the very peo-ple who had brought SDF intopower. “Till all the rights of the peo-ple are not provided, the party willcontinue with its struggle,” he said.

In his speech, the MP also spokeabout the role of a party supporterand what their objective should be.

“Unity should be maintained,there should not be rivalry, peopleshould now decide that they haveto vote for the Party not for indi-

vidual candidates,” he said.He further mentioned that the

reason why SDF had lost fromGangtok for two consecutive termswas the lack of unity among the sup-porters whose loyalties were splitbetween the contenders and theparty. “Let’s all vote for SDF andmake up for the lost time,” he urged.

The selection of the site for anSDF party office must be worryingmany. It sits right at the top of theroad leading to the Congress [erst-while, Sangram] Bhavan.

SDF SETS UP GANGTOK OFFICEIN DEVELOPMENT AREA

a NOW REPORT

Lok Sabha MP, Bhim Dahal, speaks to SDF party cadre at the inaugu-ration of the SDF office for Gangtok at Development Area

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The Name is Kheadup Dorji Bhutia but immedi-ate friends and colleagues know him as Jerry.His cash for time routine makes him the Supervi-sor for the Irish Department in New Delhi. No, itis not what you think. He would have us believeit’s better than working in the embassy or theforeign language dept of whatever University. Hewouldn’t vouch for the IRA, though.

Well actually he works with ebookers.ebookers is Europe’s leading online travel agencyoffering complete one-stop shopping with a hostof travel products and services. Currently, theyhave offices in 12 European countries. Thatshould de-mystify his calling card.

NOW! finds out what his work is all aboutand how he made it to the top.

For further de-mystification - ebookers have out-sourced their business to India and there noware 10 European countries [Ireland, France, Ger-

many, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Switzerlandand Netherlands] with their back offices in Delhi.

“Right now,” he says, “I am working with the Eu-ropean Operations which includes all the above men-tioned countries excluding theUK, as the supervisor for theIrish Department in Delhi.”

Well, we didn’t want tosound dumb but for your sakewe did. After all no one wantsto be snubbed by big-city livewires. They have a way. Butthen, we reminded ourselves,he’s a son of the soil – ourvery own Gangtok soil thoughmuch concretized now. So, weventure, what exactly wouldbe your job profile?

He is very lavish with his ex-planation just like the Sikkimesein their welcome address tomake you feel at home.

“My designation makes mefully responsible for meetingthe targets set for the team andalso, if possible, exceedingthem for ‘GCI’. Along with thisI have to ensure that all servicelevel agreements are met by theteam. And apart from monitor-ing calls and providing feed-

GANGTOK, 14 March: TheSikkim Flower Festival, 2004, be-gins tomorrow, 15 March, with thetheme: “The Orchid Show.”

Organised by the Flower Festi-val Committee of Sikkim, this is anannual feature for the exhibition-cum-competition of Orchids.

This year, the Orchid Show hasmore than 500 exhibits from allover Sikkim as well as fromDarjeeling and Mirik. All in all,

there are approximately 300 varie-ties of orchids on display at theFlower Exhibition Centre encom-passing all shades and sizes - white,red, brown, polychrome, golden,yellow, purple, ivory et al.

The Flower Festival is beingheld at the Flower Exhibition Cen-tre at White Hall Complex. Theshow will be officially inauguratedon 15 March at 2 PM.

Entries for the competition sec-tion were accepted on 13 and 14March. The main objective behindorganising the exhibition is to en-

courage floriculture in the state.Another objective is to developtourism through floriculture.

There are seven competitive di-visions in all – A to G. Each divi-sion has two prizes except for Di-vision G which has one prize forthe award of Best Orchid of theShow. All awards carry cash prizes.

The orchids were judged todayand the announcement of the win-ners will follow the inauguration.All prizes are sponsored by FFCand the judges are all orchid expertsfrom Sikkim as well as the nearbytowns of Kalimpong andDarjeeling.

a NOW REPORT

Your chance to see more than 300 varieties of OrchidsTHE ORCHID SHOW, 2004, BEGINS TODAY

NAMCHI, 14 March: SikkimParyavan Sangh, a Bikmat basedNGO from South Sikkim, is all setto participate in a meet involvingnon-governmental organisations ofthe entire north-eastern region. Theconference is a two-day affair andwill be held at Guwahati, Assam,for which its representatives leaveon 15 March. The Meet, slated for17-18 March is being organised bythe Centre for Environment Edu-cation and UNDP.

Sikkim Paryavan Sangh largely

works in the field of environmentprotection. Last year the NGO hadundertaken the Tendong NaturalReserve Project in Tendong with thehelp of UNDP. The project involvedthe establishment of a WaterPanchayats for a total of 10 villagesalong with a protection programmefor the water sources there. Thisproject is still active in the area.

At the Small Grant Programmeto be held at Guwahati, the Bikmat-based NGO plans to showcase itswork in greater depth and detail. En-vironment specialists from all overIndia and abroad are expected to con-verge at Guwahati for the occasion.

a NOW REPORT

Environmental concerns take ParyavaranSangh from Bikmat to Guwahati

back to the team member, I have to see to it that the mem-bers are provided full support and are fully informed ofpolicies and procedures. This ensures minimal attritionand maximum retention of the team. All these are vital forthe taking of correct and timely decisions.

I am also periodically given ‘Conversion’ and An-cillaries’ assignments.” He finally finishes and one re-alizes this is one son who’s made his father proud.

He further explains that he also has to coordinate/manage relationships with various departments so that theyfunction smoothly. “Reports have to be made regularly toupdate the parent country – Ireland – as well as Delhi toupdate them on team performance. I am also required tointeract with internal and external customers,” he says.Other related tasks require him to develop and maintainperformance through daily analysis and follow up in linewith the Performance Improvement Policy and ensure dataprotection policy and training is adhered to.

“I may be required to undertake projects or othertasks when required to ensure that the job role is ful-filled”, he finally finishes, this time for sure and youwonder whether he sleeps at all.

But as he emphasizes, the work environment is fan-tastic. “In fact you do not even feel you’re in India”.

With around 80-90 peoplefrom the other countries work-ing together in an office andforeign tongues floatingaround along with foreign per-fumes one would be forgivenfor forgetting his country. Butaren’t we all envious.

It is also quite a learningexperience working in such anenvironment. “Our office”,Kheadup says, “is also quippedwith the latest technologiesfrom computers to phone lines.We learn a lot through inter-acting with them and pick upfew foreign words and someof us even learn to speak intheir language. I have made alot of good friends like Jackob(Norwegian) Anne (Finnish)Noreen (Dutch) and Geraldine& Samantha (Irish).”

Kheadup finally getsdown to his roots and says thathe was born in Gangtok, in

LOCAL LAD TAKES THEI.T. LADDER

- Kheadup Dorji Bhutia -

turn to pg 7

Sitting pretty unassumingly top left isour Kheadup among a variegated lotgracing the cover of the Week. You

don’t need a pointer to recognise him.

15 March, 2004; NOW! 7

C M Y K

� ELSEWHERE

Nepal to contest for UNCouncil membership

KATHMANDU, 14 March: Ne-pal has formally decided to contestthe election for non-permanentmembership of the United NationsSecurity Council for 2007-2008term. A cabinet meeting held Thurs-day took a decision to this effect.

Nepal Foreign MinistrySpokesman Dr. Madan KumarBhattarai confirmed the decisionsaying, “Nepal will start lobbyingfor the 2006 election for the Coun-cil’s temporary members.”

Nepal has already served twiceas a temporary member in theCouncil after it entered the UN inDecember 1955. It was member ofthe Security Council in 1969-70and 1988-89.

courtesy Kathmandu Post

Bhutanese refugeesplan SoS to world

The Bhutanese refugees, leadersare preparing to appeal to the

international community in the an-nual United to internationalise theirissue during the annual United Na-tion’s meeting at Geneva, begin-ning day after tomorrow.

Leaders Tek Nath Rizal, RatanGazmere and Garima Adhikari areexpected to attend the meeting andraise the issues of over 1,00,000Bhutanese refugees languishing incamps in Nepal. The decision wastaken in the two day-long meetingof Human Right Council of Bhutanthat ended today. The meeting alsodecided to begin “indefinite hungerstrike” between 23 to 25 March.Rizal will sit on his scheduled hun-ger strike to pressurise the govern-ments of Nepal and Bhutan and alsoto call upon the international com-munity for repatriation of refugees.

The Nepal government, how-ever, is yet to issue travel docu-ments to Rizal for going to Geneva.According to Rakesh Chettri, arefugee leader, Gazmere andAdhikari have their travel docu-ments. “Rizal will be travelling forthe first time, and so he has appliedto the Ministry of Foreign Affairsfor travel documents in keepingwith his refugee status.”

The Nepal Foreign Ministry hasforwarded Rizal’s document to theMinistry of Home Affairs, but is notsure the government will issue thetravel documents. Chhetri added,“The reason we are forced to knockon international community’s doorsis we want refugees to return homewith dignity.”

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October 1979. He did his school-ing in Tashi Namgyal Academy andwent to Ramjas College, Delhi, todo his graduation under Delhi Uni-versity in Commerce. He followedit with a PG in Tourism Manage-ment from Delhi.

“After doing my PG in TourismManagement I saw an advertise-ment in

A paper, where ebookers werehiring Travel Sales Consultants.After three grueling interviews Iwas hired on the 6 August 2001 andafter about a year and three monthsI was promoted as a Team Leaderof the UK Online Department. Af-ter another three months of my ten-ure in the UK online department Iwas given the responsibility ofstarting the Irish Department inDelhi” Kheadup tells us.

He plans to work outside andgain much needed experience andexposure. “I will be leaving the Irishdepartment next month as I have re-cently been promoted as a Shift Man-ager for ebookers Delhi” he reveals.

It wasn’t all that difficult, com-ing from the hills, to adjust in a bigcity, he says. “The only thing thatyou need to work in the city and dowell is “DETERMINATION”, hesays it like it is. He did face a prob-lem though. He couldn’t conversein Hindi all that well. “I wish I hadpaid more attention during myHindi classes in school. I cannotread/write in Hindi but I can under-stand quite a bit. But this problemoccurs only when I travel out dur-ing weekends”, he explains.

“It is not so difficult for us towork in the city, in fact, we havean advantage over others as we aremore hardworking, better commit-ted and we also speak good Eng-lish.” is what he would like to tellhis brothers here.

And how often do you visityour home?

“I try to come home at least twicea year but sometimes I cannot evenmake it once a year due to the workload”, he replies. Well, I certainly canforgive you for that but how about aplacement for my cousin? But really,it’s fine as long as you’re head is highand aim for the sky.

Local Lad..Contd from pg 6

NEW DELHI: Your MP is gettingolder, but not necessarily wiser. Theaverage age of an Indian memberof Parliament is 55 years. While20% of the members are above 56,nearly half the 540-odd MPs aremere graduates. Those with doc-toral degrees and other high aca-demic qualifications made up 3-5%of the entire lot. Most Lok Sabhamembers are sons of the soil, com-ing as they do from an agriculturalbackground, women representa-tives accounting for around 9%.

These interesting socio-eco-nomic details are part of the firstvolume of a reference hand bookon the general elections, broughtout by the Press Information Bu-reau under the ministry of informa-tion and broadcasting here.

Three Moroccans and two Indians arrested in connection with

the deadly train bombings in Ma-drid have been arrested and werebeing questioned by Spanish au-thorities as the country prepared forgeneral elections on Sunday.

The five were apprehended inthe capital late on Saturday as in-vestigators followed up cluesgleaned from a bag containing anunexploded bomb from one of thesites of the attacks. Their arrestscame the day Spain held funeral

Two Indians held in connectionwith Madrid terror strikes

services for some of the 200 peo-ple killed in the blasts. Another1,500 were wounded. Two Span-iards were also being questionedbut had not been arrested, said In-terior Minister Angel Acebes onSaturday. The minister, who hadpreviously declared the Basqueseparatist group ETA was the gov-ernment’s prime suspect, refused tosay whether the arrests pointedmore towards involvement by Is-lamic extremists.

“We must not discount any-

thing,” he said. Whatever informa-tion the suspects may yield couldprove crucial to the outcome of theelections. The ruling conservativePopular Party (PP), which is seek-ing a third term in part on thestrength of its hardline stanceagainst ETA, has been unsettled byaccusations by some relatives ofThursday’s victims and many vot-ers that it was dismissing severalclues pointing more to involvementby Islamic radicals, possibly evenAl-Qaeda.

KNOW YOUR MP: HE’S 50-PLUSAND HAS FARM EXPERIENCE

Releasing the handbook, I&Bsecretary Pawan Chopra said, Vol-ume II, which offers more detailsabout the candidates, will be re-leased soon after the screening andwithdrawal of nominations, whileVolume III, containing the analysisof the election results will come outafter the polls.

What will make the proponentsof ‘India Shining’ glow, is that thenumber of undergraduate MPs hassteadily declined. In 1952-57, thefirst Lok Sabha had more than ahundred of them, while the 13th LokSabha has 15 — down to 2.8% from23.2 %. But the climb in the numberof graduates, post graduates and oth-ers with higher academic qualifica-tion in comparison, has been mod-est. If the 15 “doctoral degree” hold-

ers in the first Lok Sabha are takeninto account, the graduation to 27now is hardly flattering.

The average age of the mem-bers remained in the late forties forthe first few decades, but enteredthe fifties in the Eighth Lok Sabha,falling again to 46-odd years justonce in the Twelfth Lok Sabha in1998-99.

After agriculturists who previ-ously thronged the Lower House,professional politicians have cometo rule the roost. This is interestingas the third Lok Sabha in 1962-67had just one of their ilk, whereasnow they are 108 in number.Though members with a legal back-ground outnumber others, theyhave been declining in number overthe years.

Bookies do brisk business as India winMUMBAI: Despite a crackdownby police on Friday, and a stunningperformance by darkhorse Indians,bookies from the country’s com-mercial capital claim that they stillsucceeded to make money fromSaturday’s one-dayer at Karachi.

The Indian team, which wasdismissed by bookies as loserssince the beginning and rated at Rs1.35, was later rated at 33 paiseimmediately after India posted amammoth total of 349. But as the

match entered an interesting phasein the last 25 overs of the Pakistaniinnings, bookies suddenly jackedup rates of both teams to Rs 10each, sources said. As a result,bookies made some fast money,which they claimed has helpedthem to offset losses which theywould have incurred due to the highprices quoted for India before thematch began. In the cricket bettingbusiness, the team which has moreprobability of a win is rated less

than a rupee. In case of Pakistan ,bookies had rated it at 68 paise,which means that if one were to putmoney on Pak, he would get backjust 68 paise if the team won, whichmeans a losing proposition. But incase of India , bookies rated it atRs 1.35, meaning that on every ru-pee bet, the returns would be Rs1.35 in case India won.

8; NOW!; 15 March, 2004

C M Y K

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

THEFINALONE �

today in

History14th March

44 BC: Roman Emperor GaiusJulius Caesar is assassi-nated by conspirators led byBrutus and Cassius.1937: The first central bloodbank, to preserve blood fortransfusion by refrigeration, isestablished at Cook CountyHospital in Chicago.1992: An earthquake hitseastern Turkey, killing an esti-mated 800 people

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BHOJRAJ KA RAJ IN

DANGER

Poor Bhojraj Rai. Nobody seemsto be happy with the man. Not

the Congress, not his partymen, notthe people of his constituency. Noteven when he single-handedly triedto take on the Congress the otherday at Soreng. Hearing that theever-busy Ashok Tsong was com-ing with 50 vehicles filled withparty youth to Soreng, the mancharged into them with five vehi-cles of his own. For his effort, hewas assaulted and his vehicle dam-aged. One would think this wouldget him into the good books of hisown party. But a couple of dayslater, rumours flew thick and fastabout how his own party youthwere gunning for him. Meetingsagainst him were also being organ-ised in his own constituency by hisown party folk. These meetingsdetail how he has done nothing forthe place in his tenure as an MLA.But someone please tell me, whatis it with Jorethang and its weak-ness for leaders with names begin-ning with “B.” In contention for theJorethang gaddi after “B”hojraj are“B”inod and “B”ina Rai.

...CHORI, TO NAHIN KI...

After its anguished reaction tothe ‘ransacking’ of its Presi-

dent’s office at Development Area,the Congress party has gone mys-teriously silent, making many won-

der as to what the whole hullaba-loo was all about. At that timeBhandarisaab was away in NewDelhi and his deputies had claimedthat valuable documents, includingconfidential papers that the partypresident had kept with him since

the beginning of his po-litical career, were sto-

len. They re-fused to bes p e c i f i c ,

saying thatMr. Bhandari

would himself disclose all once hewas back. But the day has come andgone and there has been no men-tion of the robbery. Some say thatMr. Bhandari is happy with the rul-ing government’s offer to hand overthe case to the CBI as the docu-ments contained corruption detailson many ruling front members andthis saves him the bother of filingcases. While other sceptics claim

that the real reason for his silenceis that he does not want to rake upthe issue, as the papers in fact de-tailed his own misdemeanours. Peo-ple will say anything! And here’ssome more. Corruption details, ifMr. Bhandari does have them, canbe culled only from official docu-ments - files, as we know them.

Now, there is a standing rule on Filesmoving out of government offices.It is illegal. Then there is the hassleof trying to prove that he did havethe files in the first place for whichhis sympathisers in the bureaucracywill have to testify to the same. Tofeed and leak information is onething, but show me one bureaucratwilling to come on record and I havebravery award ready for him/ her...

AJIT WHO?

Still on the Congress, could theyfind no one better than Ajit Jogi

to bolster their image in the state? Theman has not only been stamped out

in his own state, but was also sus-pended by the Congress soon after.When was the suspension takenback? Don’t remember reading any-thing on that. But apparently the partythought they would use him to woothe tribals here! Whatever. But thestate Congress is quite upset that theman came empty-handed and leftwith no promises of funds rolling in.With nothing new to offer, kuch paisahi mil jaata…they complain.

DISGRUNTLED

Promotions do not always spreadhappiness. This is apparent in

Namchi. The junior level staff at thePower Department here are in factvery unhappy about this. And why?According to them all the depart-ment engineers are so busy runningaround to ensure that they get ‘pro-moted’, they have forgotten to evenpay salaries to their juniors. ‘Theengineers only care for what is goodfor them and do not bother abouthow we feel,” they claim. Willsomeone verify this?

ODDLYENOUGHNUN FACES JAIL FOR DRUNK

TRACTOR DRIVINGWARSAW: A Polish Benedictinenun is facing jail for driving a trac-tor into a car while drunk outsideher convent in southwestern Po-land.

The 45-year-old nun will becharged with drunk-driving andcausing an accident, which carriesa prison sentence of up to twoyears, a police spokesman wasquoted as saying.

He said the nun was 17 timesover the country’s legal alcohollimit for driving.

WIFE-POISONER HIRED AS

ETHICS LECTURERLONDON: A scientist dubbed the“Safeway Poisoner” and jailed fortrying to poison his wife has beenemployed by a British university tolecture students on ethics.

Paul Agutter served seven yearsof a 12-year sentence for attemptedmurder after he laced his wife’s ginand tonic with deadly nightshadein 1994 and then tried to cover histracks by spiking drinks in aSafeway supermarket.

Agutter will be teaching adulteducation classes, including a one-day course on “Therapeutic Clon-ing: Ethics and Science.”

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