May 28-03 June, 2003; NOW! 1 EUROPE eeman(Meals) JA PURE VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT TOUR GANGTOK; WEDNESDAY, May 28-03 June, 2003 Sirf Khana CALL FOR BOOKING: Tashila No Bar TOURS & TRAVELS FIXED THALI 94341-53567 Rs. 40 ONLY Telephone: JEEMAN (MEALS), KUNDEH-KHANG BUILDING, NEAR SADA THANA, TIBET ROAD, GANGTOK. Phone: 225098. 229842 / 222978 SIKKIMNOW MATTERS VOL 1 NO 47! Rs. 5 E-MAIL: [email protected] Why the Representation of People Act was amended and how Enough of Appeasement and Intimidation, Let’s Try Logic Now TURN TO pg 5 FOR DETAILS SAKEWA ABANDONED! he way things are going, the Sikkim Bhutia-Lepcha TApex Committee [SIBLAC] might have to soon drop its claim to representing Lepcha associations. While the youth wing of the Sikkim Lepcha Association had already withdrawn its officials from SIBLAC some months back, the parent body, the Renjong Mutanchi Rong Tarjum, on LEPCHA BODY May 21, last Wednesday, decided to pull out of the Apex SAKEWA IS MORE Committee since they feel SIBLAC was going beyond the single-point agenda of redefining the Scheduled THAN JUST A Tribes Order which the Lepcha Association had decided to lend support to when SIBLAC was first formed. Mem- FESTIVAL, IT IS bers of Lepcha associations who continue to associate THE VERY WALKS AWAY with SIBLAC activities will be doing so at their individual capacities and not representing the Tarjum anymore, IDENTITY OF senior office bearers of the Sikkim Lepcha Association told NOW! SIBLAC, in the meanwhile has reacted to the KIRAT RAIS: decision as the handiwork of “vested interests” out to divide the BL community. CHAMLING FROM SIBLAC TURN TO pg 3 FOR DETAILS TURN TO pg 6 FOR DETAILS SSP OBSERVES FOUNDATION DAY SGMI INSTRUCTOR SANGRAM GETS SCALES EVEREST INTO ELECTION n a day when screaming winds on the dian to have scaled Everest from the Northern Oworld’s highest peak beat back more than face and now he also holds the unique achieve- hundred climbers, Nadre Sherpa, a 35-year-old ment of having summitted Everest again on the instructor with the Sonam Gyatso Mountaineer- 50th anniversary of the first successful ascent MODE ing Institute in Gangtok, conquered Mt. Ever- by Hillary and Tenzing on May 29, 1953. TURN TO pg 4 FOR DETAILS ON PROMISES BHANDARI est. In 1996, Nadre Sherpa became the first In- TURN TO pg 7 FOR DETAILS PLANS TO FOR ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2003 WITH Near Krishi Bhawan, Tadong JOINT CERTIFICATION FROM Gangtok. Phone 270876 presents Below Power Deptt, Kazi Road Gangtok. Phone: 227917 Education Partner Nayuma Building, Namchi Bazar Namchi. Phone: 263919 STEP IN TO YOUR NEAREST CENTRE TODAY e-mail: [email protected] 1 2;GANGTOK NOW! May 28-03 June, 2003 MAY 28-03 JUNE, 2003 ED-SPACE NOW! More Hope For Sikkim 3% SIKKIM MATTERS Prudence - Never Misplaced The State Government, sometime back, set up a high-level committee to examine the issues arising out of the inclusion of the Limbu and Tamang communities in the Scheduled Tribes list. In its first order of business, the committee decided to call on all Limbu and Tamang organisations to submit detailed lists of all the subcastes in their respective communities. There will definitely be those who will scoff at the move as an- other attempt at delaying the benefits accruing to the two com- munities in their new identity as tribals. But Sikkim, with its con- tinuing problem of having bracketed communities as Bhutia in 1978 without consulting the people and their representatives should know that such prudence is not misplaced. In the case of the Limbus and Tamangs, the problem is not so much as including communities that don’t belong to either category, but Aloka Guha, Chairperson, National that of exclusion of subcastes that should be a part of their Trust for the Welfare of Persons definition. Limbus for example have some 62 subcastes and with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Tamangs about 15. While most officials in Sikkim will be able to Disabilities, with Dr. Bela Cintury, recognise a Limbu or Tamang surname, officials elsewhere might President, Spastic Society, Sikkim, not be as conversant with the two communities. at the Sikkim Spastic Centre To cite the example of neighbouring West Bengal. Bhutias a NOW! pic and Lepchas are recognised as tribals even there, but getting Trust Act and its workings was a tribal certificate is much more complicated. Ever noticed why SARIKAH ATREYA on the recent visit of the held here on May 26, which was almost everyone hailing from the Darjeeling district writes his/ Chairperson, National Trust for the Welfare of organised by the Trust along with her surname as Bhutia, Lepcha or Sherpa? It is because in- Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental the State Social Welfare Depart- terpretation of the Schedule Tribes Order, 1978, by officials ment. At the workshop, Ms. Guha there forcs them to do. If, for example, a Bhutia person signs Retardation and Multiple Disabilities, and what the stressed on the training of home- his surname as “Thondup,” he is refused a tribal certificate visit could mean for Sikkim Trust is to enable and empower per- based care-givers under its Reach because “Thondup” is not recognised as a tribal according to local Police Station in a sons with disabilities to live as in- & Relief Scheme. the guidelines available with officials there. Since a detailed dependently and as fully as possi- “This Scheme will be very directive outlining all the subcastes of Limbu and Tamang com- small town received a ble within and as close to the com- munities is still possible, it should be seen through. Acomplaint one day that a beneficial for a hilly state like Sik- The other initiative of the high-powered committee was to re- particular family living in the area munity they belonged to; to provide kim, where parents with a disabled quest the Directorate of Census Operations to conduct a spe- was involved in “smuggling” and need-based services and to deal with child cannot come to the Centre cial survey to identify the exact number of Limbus and Tamangs “antisocial” activities. The com- problems of the persons with disabil- on a daily basis. Under this in Sikkim and their concentration in different constituencies. plainants reported that the family ity who do not have family support scheme, care-givers will be trained This data is imperative if the political rights of the two commu- was hiding something, covered in a and most importantly, to promote to look after a disabled child within nities have to be cornered. The Centre will not decide on seat blanket all the time, inside the house. measures for the care and protec- their own community,” she said. allocations without the exact figures. A special census survey When the Police raided the tion of persons with disabilities in Ms. Guha also asked the State may, however, not be required because the one already held one-room house, they found a bun- the event of the death of their par- government to take up various in 2001 was quite exhaustive. It should contain the informa- dle covered by a blanket in one cor- ents or guardian and evolve a pro- other schemes of the trust like day tion required, but we won’t know about that till the Census ner of the room. When the blanket cedure for the appointment of legal care, respite care and residential Report, 2001 becomes official some time in September. was pulled away, the Police, and the guardians and trustees for them. care centres for the disabled. The hurry among the two communities to corner all the rights neighbours, to their utter shock, “The Trust works through lo- “We financially support regis- that they are now entitled to is understandable, given the close found a severely disabled person cal initiatives called Local Level tered NGOs with the running of such to three decades that they have struggled for tribal status. It bundled underneath the blanket! Committees, which are headed by Centres,” she said. The Spastic So- would, however, be in their benefit to exercise some self control This is a true-life incident that DCs and includes a disabled per- ciety of Sikkim became the first NGO now that they make a new beginning. A mistake at this juncture Aloka Guha, Chairperson, Na- son and an NGO. Currently there in Sikkim to register with the Trust. could take much more than 3 decades to correct - the unre- tional Trust for the Welfare of Per- are 369 LLCs in the country. There One of the most significant solved confusion over who is Bhutia being a case in point. sons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, are a number of grant-in-schemes aspects of the Trust is the appoint- Mental Retardation and Multiple of the Trust that are operational ment of legal guardians for per- Too Public For Comfort Disabilities narrates to every au- through registered organisations,” sons with disabilities. dience she addresses. Ms. Guha said. “Many a times, a person with For someone who has donned the greasepaint, the refrain “This story reflects our society’s The statistics provide an alarm- disability may require a legal that they attract too much attention is rather confounding. Less double-standards and the stigma at- ing picture. Conservative estimates guardian if his parents have left confounding though, that the recent public rantings of a sen- tached to a family with a disabled based on the 1991 census put the him some property or when he ior political leader that his “image” has been tarnished in re- child, especially in rural and eco- number of people with disabilities wishes to open a bank account or portage triggered by something that he let loose in the public nomically backwards areas of the at 61 million in India.