Darjeeling MP SS Alhuwalia Writes to PM Modi against Mamata's repressive and arbitrary order

11:45 AM

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West Bengal

BREAKING: Darjeeling MP SS Alhuwalia Writes to PM Modi;  Seeks immediate intervention to end the "draconian emergency-like measures undertaken by the Mamata Banerjee government"

Taking strong exception to the filing of FIRs against Sahita Academy Award winners and heads of reputed schools in the hills by the police, Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia has written to PM Narendra Modi asking for his "immediate intervention to ensure that people of Darjeeling as well as North Bengal are saved from the draconian emergency-like measures undertaken by the Mamata Banerjee government." 

Here is the text of the letter released to the Press by his office...

"Respected Modi ji,

I am writing this letter to you in great anguish and in great urgency from Oslo, as I feel that your intervention is immediately needed to ensure that people of Darjeeling as well as North Bengal are saved from the draconian emergency-like measures undertaken by the Mamata Banerjee government to stifle the voices of dissent being raised in Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars against her repressive and arbitrary order q.

On 16th of May, 2017 West Bengal Chief Minister Miss Mamata Banerjee announced that Bengal would adopt a three-language policy and that Bengali language will be made compulsory in schools. Miss Mamata Banerjee had posted on her Facebook profile that “If the student chooses Bengali, Hindi, English, Urdu, Gurmukhi, Nepali, Alchiki as a first language, he/she may opt for two other languages of their choice. One of the three languages would have to be Bengali. The two other choices are completely dependent on what the student chooses.”

In the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars most students opt for Nepali/Hindi as their first language and English as the second language and those inclined to learn more languages opt for Hindi/Nepali as their third language. Students who want to learn Bengali are allowed to do so with no hindrance whatsoever and every year almost all the schools across the hills have students who complete their education with Bengali as their second language. However, making Bengali compulsory would mean that these students would not have any choice on which language they want to learn and their right to choose - a fundamental right under our constitution - is taken away from them.

Imposition of Bengali language even as a third BUT compulsory language will mean they have to forgo learning either English ( a language necessary for employment opportunities), Hindi (Our National Language, one that binds all people of this Nation together, as well as being a language for opportunities throughout India) or their respective mother tongues ( the language that binds people, especially those from the minorities, with their identity, history and culture, and without which, they are put on the path of losing their link with their heritage) , sacrificing it in favour of the Bengali language.

Following this, the linguistic minority communities within Bengal started to voice in their dissent and questioned the intent of such a move. Among the linguistic minority communities who live in Bengal, the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars is home to one of the most linguistically diverse regions in India. Among three major non-Bengali communities who live in these regions, Nepali, which is one of the recognized National Languages of India under the VIIIth schedule of our Constitution, is the lingua franca of the Gorkha community; Kamtapuri is the mother tongue for Rajbanshi community; and, the Adivasi community in my region speak Hindi, Kurukh, Sadri, Santhali, Nepali, and other languages/dialects.

On the 30th of May, 2016 the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is a valued alliance partner of National Democratic Alliance, held a “Samiksha Sabha” to discuss the implications of compulsory imposition of Bengali language. This meeting was attended by eminent personalities from the Nepali academia, including Shahitya Academy Award winners Shri Jiwan Namdung and Shri Prem Pradhan, representatives of top schools in the hills, like St Paul's School, St Joseph's School (North Point), St. Roberts School, Vidhya Vikash Academy, among others, along with Shri Bimal Gurung, President of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and Chief of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. The meeting concluded with these eminent personalities opposing the compulsory imposition of Bengali language among the linguistic minority communities, and they agreed to register their protest by calling for a two day voluntary closure of educational institutions (on 1st and 2nd of June) in the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars region.

The bandh, I have been informed has been completely voluntary, peaceful, and thus successful today.

In retaliation, the Darjeeling District Administration at the behest of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has, however, filed an FIR against all the eminent people who had attended the meeting on May 30th. The FIR registered by the Inspector-in-Charge of Sadar Police Station, Darjeeling, Shri Saumyajit Roy, alleges these good people of “conspiring against the state.”, and carries the corresponding. relevant sections of the IPC.

My constituents fear that filing FIRs against these eminent personalities is just the beginning of an oppressive, authoritarian, despotic, and tyrannical regime unleashed by the Bengal government through the district administration to stifle the voices of concern and love for one’s mother tongue.

Sir, given all of the above, I humbly request you to kindly intervene and help to ensure that the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of our nation, which are guaranteed to people from every part of West Bengal, along with the rest of the nation, are not trampled upon by Mamata Banerjee led government in West Bengal.

I urge you to help my constituents in raising their voice against such draconian and dictatorial measures adopted by the Bengal government by extending your solidarity and support to them.

I look forward to your kind support and earliest intervention.

Thanking You,
With Warm Regards,
SS Ahluwalia"

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Bhaichung Bhutia inaugurates sports development office for north Bengal, push for cricket

11:21 AM

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sports news

Baichung inaugurates sports development office for north Bengal

Writes Prashant Acharya for EOI
SILIGURI 4 Jul 2016 Former footballer Baichung Bhutia today inaugurated the office of the North Bengal Board for Development of Sports and Games (NBBDSG) at the Kanchenjunga Stadium for the all-round development of games and sports in the region.

"The board will work for the development of sports and games in the seven district of north Bengal. Besides promoting football and other games, the board is working hard to bring IPL cricket league to Siliguri. But as the existing size of the stadium is small, we are planning to develop the infrastructure with the support of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). I have already discussed the matter with CAB president Sourav Ganguly. The names of the board members have not been announced yet; hence work and necessary procedures will start after the formation of the board," he informed.

When he contested the state Assembly polls as a candidate from Siliguri, Baichung had said his main focus would be to develop sports and games in the region. He had said, "I will change the entire picture of Siliguri within a year and promote sports and games, especially football, by developing a number of training centres."

Bhaichung Bhutia

The decision to open an office was after an announcement by chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her recent visit in Siliguri. She had announced the names of Baichung as chairman, table tennis player Mantu Ghosh as vice-chairman and GNLF chief Mann Ghisingh as board member. However, Ghosh and Ghisingh were not present at the inaugural function.

On the other news article published on Telegraph, Bhaichung push for cricket - Bhaichung Bhutia, the chairman of North Bengal Board for Development of Sports and Games, today said he would speak to Sourav Ganguly, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, on holding IPL matches at the Kanchenjungha Stadium here.

Bhutia, who inaugurated the sports board's office at the stadium today, also said he would try to bring Indian Super League football matches to the ground.

"I will talk to Sourav Ganguly so that we can get IPL cricket matches at Kanchenjungha stadium. We have a good stadium that can host big cricket and football matches," said Bhutia.

Sources said the former national soccer team captain had already spoken to the president of the CAB in this regard.

"Ganguly has suggested that the existing infrastructure of the stadium be upgraded as the size of the ground is not big enough to host IPL matches," said a source.

However, the All India Football Federation has already marked the stadium as one where only soccer matches could be hosted. 

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Nepali and Darjeeling: The importance of the language in Gorkhaland movement

11:27 AM

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WBCS

Writes Premankur Biswas 

April 23, 2016 Earlier this week, when the State Bank of India included Nepali in the revised list of official languages for its recruitment procedure in West Bengal, the Gorkhaland movement in North Bengal received boost of sorts.

Since 1907, the Gorkhas of north Bengal have demanded a separate administrative unit in Darjeeling, and the Nepali language has played an important role in the scheme of things. Even in this year’s Assembly Election, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the most prominent party of the area, has actively campaigned on this very issue.

In 1917, in a petition of the Hillmen’s Association to Edwin Montague (the then secretary of state for India) it was stated that “Darjeeling’s inclusion in Bengal was comparatively recent and only because the British were rulers common to both places. …Historically, culturally, ethnically, socially, religiously and linguistically there was no affinity whatsoever between Bengal and Darjeeling.”

Nepali was recognized as an official language of West Bengal in 1961, and in 1992 was recognized as one of the Official Languages of India under the VIIIth Scheduled of Indian Constitution

According to Michael Hutt’s seminal book on the Nepali Diaspora— Being Nepali without Nepal: Reflections on a South Asian Diaspora, in the 1951 census the then District Census Officer A. Mitra, (ICS) stated that only 19.96% of the population (numbering a total population 88,958) in Darjeeling district spoke Nepali. He did this by presenting only Kami, Damai, Chettri , Brahmin, and Sarki as Nepali speaking– while the rest of the hill populace Limbu, Gurung, Rai, Mangar, Sherpa, Newar, Lepcha and others whose lingua franca was also Nepali were counted as separate entities on the grounds of having their own dialects. According to Hutt, the total Nepali speaking population in Darjeeling District at that time was 66% (2.90 lakhs). Based on this manipulated data, Nepali was not included as the national languages of India.

Finally in 1961, Nepali was recognized as an official language of West Bengal, and in 1992, Nepali was recognized as one of the Official Languages of India under the VIIIth Scheduled of Indian Constitution.

However, till date Nepali is not offered as an optional subject in the West Bengal Civil Services Examination.

However, in 2011, right after coming to power, CM Mamata Banerjee had included Nepali as one of the six “second official” languages of the state. She also included Nepali as one of the languages for answering question papers in the examinations by the Public Service Commission in February this year. However, The Darjeeling Chronicle, an online civil society forum, which has been actively campaigning for the inclusion of Nepali language as an optional language in the WBCS examination, says that it’s not same thing. “To be able to answer the questions in Nepali is not the same thing as having Nepali as an optional paper,” said Upendra Pradhan, activist from the Darjeeling Chronicle.

Via indianexpress

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Teesta Torsha Exp looted at New Jalpaiguri station, Woman injured

12:24 PM

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Siliguri

Some 25-odd women, travelling in the ladies compartment of New Alipuduar-bound Teesta Torsa Express early this morning, were robbed of money and other valuables by an armed dacoit who wielded a knife at them.

A young woman, who tried to resists the loot, was injured after the miscreant attacked her with the knife. The incident took place between New Jalpaiguri and Belakoba railway stations in Jalpaiguri district around 3.30 am.

The Teesta-Torsa Express, which runs between Sealdah and New Alipurduar stations, had just rolled out from New Jalpaiguri that the dacoit, who was in travelling by the same train in the posing as a passenger, got into the ladies compartment.

Wielding the knife point, he asked them to part with their mobile phones, money and other valuables. Failing this, he would kill them, he thundered.

 Woman injured as armed dacoits loot Teesta Torsha Exp off New Jalpaiguri station

Anita Saha, who was travelling in the compartment, tried to put up a resistance but was attacked by the dacoit with the knife. She sustained injuries on her hand and shoulder. After this, the miscreant looted valuables from the remaining 24-odd women travelling in the compartment.

Several of the victim passengers said that they had shouted out for help but no Railway Police Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel came to their rescue.

Through with the loot, the dacoit jumped down from the train as it slowed down while approaching Belakoba station.

The robbed women lodged FIR at the New Alipurduar GRP station when the train reached their later in the morning.


Via newsmen

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Things Gorkhas need to know about Narendra Modi's election rally in North Bengal

9:26 AM

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Sikkim

Here are the four things that Gorkhas need to know about P.M.  Narendra Modi's recent election rally in North Bengal for campaigning BJP candidates for Assembly Election 2016 in Bengal.

1.PM Modi Reasserts Commitment Towards Gorkhas - Credits MP SS Ahluwalia For Pushing for It
Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again touted the process of including 11 Gorkha communities into ST as his government's commitment towards the Gorkhas.
Speaking at Siliguri, he said, "for years the demand for inclusion into ST was pending... But Ahluwalia ji continued to push for it and he told me, I have promised our Gorkha friends we have to make it happen... and that is what made this possible... the process has started in earnest...."

2.PM Modi Contrasts Development in Sikkim vs Darjeeling - Chides Bengal Govt
Coming down heavily on Mamata government for not taking care of the Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars region, PM Modi yesterday said, "look at your next door neighbor Sikkim... today they are the 1st Organic State in India... where as look at this region.. its has everything similar... other than the fact that the Govt in Sikkim cares for its people, where as Bengal doesn't."

3.Darjeeling‬ MP SS Ahluwalia Reminds PM Why We Need a Central University
Taking advantage of the presence of PM Narendra Modi in Siliguri, yesterday Darjeeling MP reminded him of some of the main issues confronting our region. Most important among them was the formation of a Central University in Darjeeling Hills.

4.PM Modi All Praises for ‪Darjeeling‬ MP SS Ahluwalia
Speaking at the public rally yesterday, PM Narendra Modi was all praises for Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia. Modi remarked that "your MP works very hard for his constituents and has even woken me up at midnight to address pressing issues concerning Darjeeling region... with such an MP... even I feel delighted to work harder."
PM Modi also credited MP Ahluwalia for pushing forward the issue of ST status for 11 Gorkha communities.

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NBU Exams postponed due to Assembly elections 2016

11:23 AM

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Siliguri

Siliguri, March 11: The North Bengal University (NBU) today postponed Part I, II and III examinations of BA, BSc and BCom honours and general streams from April 4 to May 25 as the previous dates clashed with the Assembly elections.

Sushanta Das, the controller of examinations at the NBU, said Part I, II and III papers of the BA, BSc, BCom (honours) and Part III papers of general courses would start from May 25 and end on June 9.

"After these exams are over, BA, BSc and BCom papers of Part I and Part II general courses will begin from June 13 and end on July 19," he said here.

Das said the decision had been taken after the district administrations of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri had requisitioned colleges under the varsity for election purposes.

"We have received letters from the authorities of Siliguri College and Parimal Mitra College in Malbazar, saying the respective district administrations had requisitioned the colleges for the Assembly elections on different days in March, April and May, that is till the completion of the election process. We have got to know that colleges in other districts, too, may be requisitioned for the purpose. Under these circumstances, we had to postpone the undergraduate examinations of the colleges affiliated to the NBU from April 4 to May 25," Das said.

North Bengal University (NBU)

The controller of examinations said around two lakh students would be appearing for the undergraduate exams under the NBU.

"We will have around two lakh students appearing for the examinations in different colleges under the NBU this year. The new exam schedule will be dispatched to the colleges on Monday so that the authorities can inform their students," Das said.


Telegraph

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Mamata Banerjee please Siliguri journalists ahead of assembly poll

9:07 AM

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Siliguri

Siliguri 21 Jan 2016 Ahead of Bengal assembly poll Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seemed to very kind on the journalists of North Bengal.

During her speech after the opening function of Bengal Safari Park, the CM announced of providing land for Siliguri Journalists Club at Ektiashal near Siliguri and sanctioning Rs 20 lakh for the construction the club building from the MP fund.

She said journalists who are working for the upliftment of the society should have a proper place and good environment to work.

MsBanerjee also announced free health benefits equal to the employees to state government for accredited journalists and asked other journalists to start the process for accreditation by contacting the concern authorities. She also said that she will instruct the concernment department heads to provide all supports for the journalists.

She said, "I have brought a couple of good news for journalists, one is providing land and sanctioning Rs 20 lakh and the other is free health benefits equal to that of the state government employees."

She also informed that the notification will be given and journalists can avail the said benefit from March end. She also brought 200 woolen shawls for the journalists as a winter gift. 

Source EOI

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