Mangan eyes a slice of the Tourism pie, wants permits issued19 fromJuly, 2004; NOW! DAC 1 ON pg 4 pg ON Namchi sports Monday, 19 July, 2004 Vol. 3 No. 102 Gangtok Rs. 3 SBICAR hostel team LOAN flagged off to the most convenient option Sanction & Disbursement in South Korea 1 day Lowest interest rate at 9% a NOW REPORT No prepayment charges No processing charge NAMCHI, 18 July: The 14-mem- Loan up to 90% ber football team from Namchi Free accidental death Sports Hostel, the only team from insurance of the borrower India to be invited to the Inter-re- Repayment up to 84 months ligious Peace Sports Festival to be contact PT Bhutia 98320 35786 held in Asan, South Korea, from or Chettri 94340 12824 20 July onwards, was given a warm send-off by the Sports & Youth Affairs Minister, PS Tamang, and officials from the Sikkim Football Association. Need to launch a strong Speaking on the occasion, the Minister expressed hope that more teams from Sikkim will follow women’s organisation Namchi Sports Hostel to foreign shores to participate in prestigious tournaments. He also assured that expressed henceforth, local teams going erative Society. The camp was spon- abroad or to participate in national SUBASH RAI meets will be flagged off in simi- sored by the State Social Welfare lar fashion to boost their morale NAMCHI, 18 July: A four-day Advisory Board under its Manavi and appreciate their achievement. long awareness camp for women or- Sanrakshan Abhiyan scheme. Mr. Tamang also hoped that ganized by Sikkim Women’s Coun- Chief Guest, Tika Chamling, in the decision to reach better sports cil was inaugurated here on Satur- her address said that every woman infrastructure to the districts will day at the Working Women’s Hos- must contribute something for the see many more achievers in the tel by Tika Maya Chamling, presi- upliftment of women in society. lished Nayuma Women’s Coopera- Chief Guest, Tika Maya Chamling, field of sports. dent of the Nayuma Women Coop- Mrs. Chamling who has estab- tive Society, which provides train- speaks at the inauguration of the 4-day ing as well as markets the products awareness camp at Namchi. [seated, of educated unemployed girls, said left to right], Shanti Pradhan, president, IN THE WAKE OF THE HANNAH FOSTER MURDER CASE Sikkim Women’s Council, SIMFED that this was a small part of her chairperson, Nimthit Lepcha contribution towards the cause. She urged all educated and literate launch a strong women’s organi- women to teach and help those less zation immediately and assured all BHARATI SPEAKS ON fortunate than them. help from her side. This state-level Mrs. Chamling also called association should concentrate on HER MARRIAGE TO upon women intellectuals to turn to pg 5 AN INTERNATIONAL HONGHONG KONGKONG BAZARBAZARExpo 2004 WITHSTOCK NEW JUST LOW RATE!!! ANY ITEM Rs. 90 - Rs. 150 CRIMINAL * Chinese Crockery * Chinese windchimes * Attractive Home articles school girl, Hannah Foster in England, * Chinese charging torch KARAN SHAH * Chinese ladies bags * Chinese body spray Maninderpal Singh Kohli, today disclosed * Chinese toys * Chinese alarm clock KALIMPONG, 17 July: A her feelings on the arrest of her husband. * Chinese ladies shoes * Chinese dying mat shocked Bharati Das, newly Speaking to the media for the first time * Paris & Germany wed to the accused in the mur- since the dramatic arrest of her husband [who Maninderpal Singh Kohli, aka perfumes & Scents And many more... der and rape of an English turn to pg 6 Mike Davis HOTEL BAYUL, MG MARG, GANGTOK 2; NOW!; 19 July, 2004 ED-SPACE We ain’t seen nothing yet very monsoon, television NOW! screens and column inches FIRST WITH THE NEWS Eof newspapers are flooded with news of floods. Our region is Environmental Concerns in an area of either too much water in the monsoon, or too little during Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science & Environment, while speak- the dry season. Sometimes, like this ing at a book release function at Gangtok recently, welcomed the year, this paradox of penury and State government’s commitment to go 100% organic. Her support to the initiative was based on more than just environmental con- plenty is concurrent. While the cerns, it was also economic. Pointing at the obvious, she reminded eastern half of Nepal is reeling un- the people that India was too poor a country to first wreak havoc on der floods, the western side is in nothing natural about the increas- year’s flood in the eastern and cen- the environment and then clean it up. That was a luxury that the the grip of a serious drought. ing loss of life. The death toll and tral tarai and the drought in the land did not enjoy and pre-emptive action was the best way to go Ever the since the Himalayan displacement is a man-made dis- west. But what are we going to do about things, she stressed. She knew what she was talking about. mountains started forming after aster. They happen because the this year so the scale of the de- Having worked all over the country on environmental issues and the Indian plate bulldozed under landless have nowhere to go and struction is reduced next year? The dealing first hand with the surreptitious encroachment of pesticides the Eurasian landmass 60 million settle along vulnerable monsoon season is not the time to into everything [even coke, as CSE recently uncovered], she would years ago, the rising terrain acted floodplains, expanding cities en- be worried about floods, by the know what she is talking about. as a rain trap. Prehistoric monsoon croach on rivers, highways cut the time it starts raining it is already Here, one might wonder aloud why, when the environment rains lashed the young moun- too late. concerns every individual, such concerns are not tackled more tains as they rose, depositing Nature is neutral, it is nei- often. vast sediments on the Tethys elsewhere ther malevolent nor benevo- It is simple, as Ms. Narain pointed out, the environment con- Sea, ultimately filling it up to NEPAL lent. Floods are natural phe- tinues to be put under pressure because We know only two ap- form what is today the Indo- drainage basins and expensive nomena. We have to learn to live proaches - exploit and conserve. Neither is advisable. We have Gangetic plains. Earthquakes, embankments designed to control with them by being smarter about to go back to how the people who lived off the land originally ran flashfloods, cloudbursts and floods make them worse. where we live, how we live, and things - they had learned how to live with the environment. This landslides are the dynamic effects Just like earthquakes don’t kill not tampering with nature to make knowledge we have unlearnt in the mad rush for “development.” We have to re-educate ourselves now. Why? Simply because of the processes of mountain- people (poor housing and lack of problems worse. The Ganga- those who should do something about the deteriorating situation building and erosion. They have preparedness do) floods won’t kill Bramhaputra basin includes at [read government] just do not want to rock the boat and are com- always been going on, and they people unless we get in the way. least five countries, including Ne- fortable with the status quo. And, those who will be affected first always will. Bangladeshis have learnt to live pal. Rivers do not respect [the people] are just too ignorant, their traditional arrangement As human habitation in the with floods, in fact they are a vital manmade boundaries, and floods with nature having been thrown off course by the influence of the mountains and the plains down- part of the agricultural cycle as the happen when someone, some- State which directs everything now. We might be grooming an- stream grew, we started calling flood-borne silt replenish nutrients where constricts their drainage to other environmental disaster by copying western models of con- these seismic and water-induced in their fields. the sea. If we keep doing that, then servation when we should be reaching into our own pasts. events ‘natural disasters’. The It is the government’s duty to we ain’t seen nothing yet. events may be natural, but there is rush relief to the victims of this -editorial featured in Nepali Times RANGPO SECONDARY SCHOOL BEATS THE STEREOTYPE GROOMS BRILLIANCE DESPITE BEING A GOVT SCHOOL Brilliance at the school contin- Sikkim. According to them, indi- SUBASH RAI ued with their two classmates, vidual effort along with support t is a fact that this year the Sumitra Kumari Gupta and Amrita from family and teachers could IState’s Class X results were very Kumari Gupta having scored make any student a topper. poor with an overall pass percent- 77.40 and 77.20 percent marks re- On the query whether they age of around 32 per cent. As ear- spectively which makes them the were provided with any scholar- lier, this year too, private schools State’s second and third Govern- ship by the State Government, as were ahead of their Government ment School toppers among girls their girl classmates are enjoying counterparts. All toppers are all in the State. Ms. Sumitra scored at Central Pendam Secondary from private schools, reflecting a 95 in Social Science. School, the duo said, “We have no rather poor image of government- The Human Resource Devel- idea, as we are busy in school at run schools in the State. opment Department [erstwhile present.” However, some government Education Department] has pro- On being asked why govern- schools beat the stereotype of vided these girls with a scholar- ment school students fail to score mediocrity.