Articles by TheDC News Desk

KURSEONG, KALIMPONG and MIRIK MUNICIPALITY

Local, Regional September 13, 2024

KURSEONG, KALIMPONG and MIRIK MUNICIPALITY ELECTIONS – Calcutta HC Gives 6 Weeks to WB Govt

HC observed: “Despite the constitutional mandate and the observation of the Supreme Court, we find that the State of West Bengal has not taken any action to hold elections and form Board of Councillors for Kurseong and Kalimpong municipalities, and Mirik notified area.”

The court directed the Principal Secretary of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department to consider the representation of the petitioner and “take a proper and legal decision bearing in mind constitutional mandate and the Supreme Court decision”.

Isabella Gurung

Global June 19, 2024

Shout Out to Isabella Gurung of Kurseong

Sikkim Express journalist Isabella Gurung is representing India at the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) titled ‘Call to Climate Action: Building Public Awareness through Media Advocacy’- a project for India at the United States of America (USA) from June 15 -July 6.

2024 General Elections

Elections June 5, 2024

2024 General Elections: Darjeeling LS Constituency – A Summary

In 2024, the contest was between two major party – BJP and TMC, however, the contest had been made interesting by the entry of individuals, who are popular on social media. The interesting equation was made further interesting by the entry of Kurseong MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma, who entered the fray against his own party BJP’s official candidate Raju Bista.

Hill Students'

Local May 6, 2024

HILL STUDENTS’ DENIED HOSTEL FACILITIES AT NBU – Demand Fair Calculation of Distances

The students from Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars used to have hostel rooms given on priority, considering the actual distance needed to travel to NBU, difficul geographical conditions, physical remoteness of the place from where students would come etc. However, students allege that since the past few years, the NBU administration has only noted the distance denoted in the Google Map, without considering the actual time taken for reaching NBU, while allocating the hostel rooms. Because of this, majority of the hill students are being deprived of hotel rooms by NBU authorities.

BJP Manifesto

Elections April 14, 2024

BJP Manifesto Silent on Gorkha Aspirations

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday, April 14, released its manifesto or ‘Sankalp Patra’, with the tagline “Modi ki Guarantee”, for the Lok Sabha election 2024. Their 67-page manifesto, which is more of a big canvas policy statement, has avoided mention of all political issues, including – Gorkha aspirations.

There is no mention of PPS, or inclusion of 11 left-out Gorkha sub-tribes as Schedule Tribes.

Incompetence of Gorkha Hill Football Association

Local April 14, 2024

Incompetence of Gorkha Hill Football Association Exposed

The Indian Football Association’s (IFA) circular mentioned that the players had to prove that they were born between 1st January 2008 and 31st December 2009. GHFA had the responsibility of ensuring children qualified and all documentation was completed. Surprisingly, only 6 of the 20 children met the requirements. The rest were rejected due to lack of proper documentation verifying their date of birth. Subsequently, the entire team was disqualified and they did not play a single game in this important tournament.

Biren Ghatani

The Faces In Our Midst December 15, 2023

Biren Ghatani, Kalimpong

While chatting with him, I got to know that his name is Biren Ghatani – once healthy until 2003, he progressively lost strength below his waist. Despite a decade-long search for a cure, none could be found. He turned adversity into opportunity, self-learning the art of knitting.