Darjeeling

Rukmani, A Living Martyr of Gorkhaland.

During the unprovoked firing by the CRPF stationed at the Thana Dara crossing into the oncoming peaceful procession several people dropped dead on the spot. Young Rukmani Chettri was hit by bullet shrapnels that pierced the side of her face and entered into her neck area. She fell bleeding onto the ground. In a matter of a few minutes, the dead were strewn on the street. There was panic amongst the agitators and blood was splashed everywhere on the road. Someone found her laying unconscious, and took her, along with others, dead or wounded, to the sadar hospital.




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’ 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.



Cheapening Chowrasta: रोटेपिंग र डाइस लाग्नूको बेर छ

When we were young, you needed a special permit to drive from Bhanu Bhawan to the Zoo. Today, there are many “taxi stands” that have come up on the Mall Road. Who permitted those stands? So much so, even the Mahakal Mandir premise has been converted into Hotel and Taxi Stand zone. Another half has been taken over by the so called “hawkers”. Whatever little is left, is at times converted into “gundri bazar”, at times to “dog show” venue, at times to “marathon venue”, at times to “political rally venue”, at times “government program venue”…


Forced Legitimacy vs Genuine Rights: Dissecting the GTA Teachers’ Recruitment Scam

Even if for a moment we consider that giving away jobs to the volunteer teachers was right, we come up to question how the volunteer teachers were selected. Was a fair and open opportunity given to everyone to compete for the volunteer posts? Was the information dissemination done freely and fairly? Was everyone who got regularized, actually a “volunteer teacher”?


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 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.