The National Council for Technical Education (NCTE) has rejected the appeal put forth by Ram Krishna B.Ed College, Darjeeling – and ordered once again that the registration of RK B.Ed College Darjeeling stands cancelled and that their courses won’t be recognized by the NCTE.
We, the people of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, wholeheartedly welcome the initiative to initiate Constitutional Amendment to implement the three-tier Panchayati Raj in these two districts. Panchayati Raj has been the backbone of Indian democracy. It envisaged incorporating all the villages and its population in the nation-building processes. Further, as the majority of the population lived in the villages it was an endeavour to make them equal stakeholders in the decision-making the process and the developmental activities. Panchayati Raj system came into existence when the Community Development Programmes failed due to the lack of governance and monopoly of the few. Panchayati raj was implemented to decentralise democracy.
On November of 2014, a father was in a rush to go to the temple and told his 11-year-old daughter to hurry. For the father-daughter duo this was an everyday routine, two of them would go to the temple together and head back home. That day, the father had to run errands and the daughter was slightly delayed, so he went ahead. He waited for his daughter to show up at the temple but she didn’t. Around 11 AM when he finally came home, his daughter wasn’t around. When his daughter didn’t come back for the longest time, he started to panic and went around asking. It was almost like his daughter had vanished. A search ensued.
Some hurts are so deep, it gets radiated. You don’t have to spell it out; it’s there for everyone else to see. On the 23rd of October, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s hurt in losing Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat was for everyone to see. She had come to Kurseong for an administrative review meeting, but she couldn’t keep a lid on her politics and that betrayed her feelings.
Two decades, not a very long time passing, I walked away from the hills leaving behind the perfect chill hanging in the air, the muscatel cuppa tea amid those mountains, life then was always beautiful with the lovely smell of the pines and the burning dry leaves. The mist and the medley of the sun rays passing through the burnt orange leaves of the solitary maple across the famous patisserie “Glenarys” still resonate in my mind as I keep walking my imaginary walk through the mist towards the tempered sunlight of yore….
He added, “Initially they were shouting slogans, which quickly turned into a physical attack accompanied by Khukuri, knife, other sharp weapons and heavy stone pelting on our supporters and myself. Many of our BJP party workers and our alliance partner GJM party workers have been injured in the attack, who were sitting duck against a well-organized ambush. My private security officer was stuck on chest and upper body following his attempt to cover me from the oncoming barrage of blows and stones thrown at me. My Personal Security Officer was also injured when stones pelted on us hit his legs.”
Darjeeling Everyday is a delicious feeling. Here in Darjeeling, the festive seasons are almost to end and we are now at the best part of the entire season – the Tihar days. Everything about this time of the year is beautiful – bright sunny days, smiling mountains, milky white clouds (if any), delicious food, selrotis, flowers, vailo, dewsi, vai tika, dakshina, drinks and what not? If you get greeted by pleasant weather mixed with the aroma of saipatris added to a clear view of the mountains, you are here.
In another case of Racism against people from North East, a lady from Darjeeling was refused from entering into a club in Delhi, for no reason, or better to say for a reason that all of us know, but the culprits won’t accept – that she belonged to Darjeeling and thus looked different than others.
On August 17, West Bengal tourism minister Gautam Deb addressed a press conference at Mirik in Darjeeling. Exuding his obvious concern for the Gorkhas and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue, he said, “If NRC is implemented in the Darjeeling hills, the hills will become empty, out of 15 Lakh people there will be no one to live there. Most Gorkha brothers and sisters and senior citizens they will be driven out from Darjeeling hills, both Darjeeling and Kalimpong, including Kurseong and this Mirik [sic].”
The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Hockey Association organised an Inter-School Hockey Tournament for boys and girls at St. Robert’s School Ground on 22nd of September. The event marked the revival of school level hockey in Darjeeling Hills after five long years. The Joint Secretary of Bengal Hockey Association Kolkata, Dr Mohammad Khalid Hussian graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.