According to local media reports, police complaints have been filed by TMC functionaries against Alipurduar MP John Barla, Jalpaiguri MP Jayanta Roy, Dabgram-Fulbari MLA Sikha Chatterjee. The absurd, turned to bizarre Yesterday when a group of Congress leaders led by WB Congress Working President and former Matigara-Naxalbari MLA Shankar Malakar filed another FIR against all the three leaders mentioned above, and for good measure they have added the name of Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba too, alleging that “he has demanded formation of Gorkhaland state in the hills.”

For the longest time, we have all felt the shrinking of democratic space in West Bengal, but this new degree of intolerance and using administrative forces to bully anyone even making a passing mention of a constitutional provision doesn’t bode well for the people living here.

Constitutional Provision

May be those filing FIRs are now aware but Article 3 of the Indian Constitution, which makes provisions for the formation of a new State or Union Territory (UT).

Article 3 reads, 

“Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States: Parliament may by law

(a) form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;

(b) increase the area of any State;

(c) diminish the area of any State;

(d) alter the boundaries of any State;

(e) alter the name of any State; Provided that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States, the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired Explanation I In this article, in clauses (a) to (e), State includes a Union territory, but in the proviso, State does not include a Union territory Explanation II The power conferred on Parliament by clause (a) includes the power to form a new State or Union territory by uniting a part of any State or Union territory to any other State or Union territory”

Since the formation of a new state or UT is enshrined in the constitution, so why is voicing the demand for the same being deemed as a criminal offence?

Congress Hypocrisy

What is absolutely absurd is Congress functionaries joining the jamboree of filing FIR against the demand for a new state or Union Territory. Perhaps they forget that it was the Congress-led UPA government in the centre that formed Telangana state. Such was their passion for creating a new state that they shut down Lok Sabha TV from broadcasting the proceedings of the house, which reportedly saw Andhra Pradesh MPs being gaged and dragged out of the Parliament when they voiced against Telangana statehood.

Keeping the merits of the Gorkhaland state or a Union Territory for North Bengal apart for now, what is absurd, yet sinister is the filing of police complaints against anyone and everyone who feel that a separate administrative unit is preferable for the North.

Fear Factor

After the 2017 Gorkhaland Andolan, the hills have witnessed largescale violence perpetrated by those in power, against those who supported a separate Gorkhaland state. Thousands of cases have been filed against individuals, mostly aimed at harassing them and bullying them into submission.

For instance, the leaders of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha – Bimal Gurung and others were labeled as “terrorists” by the TMC government, and cases were filed against them under the dreaded UAPA, forcing them to go underground. However, once Bimal and company gave up their demand for Gorkhaland statehood, they have not only been allowed to return home but the majority of the charges against them have been dropped. But in the interim, family members of many Gorkhaland supporters suffered. Their homes sealed, aging parents harassed and there was this general sense of fear prevalent among the people, as one never knew who would get picked up next.

Perhaps in filing FIR (police complaints) against these politicians, those in power – like the TMC supporters are seeking to consolidate their political space by forcing everyone to shut up, and those and those who have been rendered powerless – like in the case of Congress, are seeking to create a semblance of political space for themselves for the upcoming local civic body and panchayat polls. But in doing so, they are creating an untenable situation, which goes against the very essence of our Constitution and against the Fundamental Rights enshrined therein.

Can we hope for courts to take Suo moto cognizance against this subversion of law and put an end to this theatre of absurd?

The post Police Complaints for Asserting a Constitutional Provision in North Bengal Doesn’t Bode Well for Democracy appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Imagine, the plight of a child, whose parents hardly earn Rs 6000 per month working in the tea gardens buying her a smartphone so that she can attend school online, and her having to travel for miles every day just to access the cellular network to attend it. The majority of the students in North Bengal are forced to live this reality.

Frustrated about the difficulties facing their village, Anil Thapa the President of Sumripani Gram Sudhar Samitee under Darjeeling District shot off a letter to Ravi Shankar Prasad the Minister for Communications, “Lack of internet services to our kids is nothing lesser than the heinous crime barring them from the rights of having a better education. We do believe that we too are a part of “Digital India” that our beloved PM dream and aspire of… are we lesser Indians to suffer and live in this grim situation forever?” [sic] he questioned. Dipendra Dipzo Khati, Secretary of the organization says, “We are living in a dark zone, there is no network coverage for the majority of the people in Pokhrebong valley, how can our children ever hope to become competitive, they are being deprived of their right to education as enshrined in our constitution. We too pay taxes, we too are citizens of the same country so why has the government failed to provide basic internet facilities for our region?”

In Todey-Tangta, which falls in Kalimpong District, the situation is even grimmer. The majority of the residents here are reliant on farming for their subsistence. Due to the lack of internet and cellular connections of Indian companies, around 1500 students from the region here are forced to rely on whatever little internet they can access using the Bhutanese network. But income is low, so not every parent can afford to pay for access to the Bhutanese network, which costs around Rs 200 per day. Residents here have similarly written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, “It’s been ages, that India acquired its independence but the present day scenario of Todey-Tangta still reflects the acrimonious circumstances which seem unconvincing for the rest of the country. It is extremely disheartening that even being a part of this country we have to rely upon our neighboring country Bhutan for modern-day facilities like telecom and internet”. [sic]

In Milikthung, which falls under the Mirik sub-division, around 1200 students are similarly suffering. A letter from the Nava Pravat Sangh, a village-level body, to the Union Minister of Communications reads, “we don’t have any means of communication i.e mobile networking at our place… our villages Kharbani, Chotakothi, Tingling, Piplaybotey, Noldara even don’t have any network. In this pandemic situation of Covid, students are having their online classes, but our students are lacking or unable to attend their online classes due to network problem.” [sic]

On March 19, 2021, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had informed the Parliament that “Over 1.54 lakh gram panchayats are now ready to provide high-speed broadband services under BharatNet project. We are targeting 5519-gram panchayats (GPs) to provide internet connectivity through satellite media, as on March 1, 2021, 3587 GPs have been connected.” Could it be possible that all the remaining gram panchayats that are yet to be connected are those from the Darjeeling hills, Terai, and Dooars region? Even if it’s not, the reality is, the majority of the villages in North Bengal are deprived of internet connection.

“A BSNL internet service tower in our village could help a lot. We would like to request you to initiate whatever it takes to reach out to the concerned offices to help us with better internet services in our village” is how the letter by Sumripani Gram Sudhar Samittee to Darjeeling Member of Parliament Raju Bista concludes.

BSNL which itself is in dire need of rescuing, can it come to rescue these villages and the students who continue to live in the “internet dark zone”. Will the students from North Bengal ever get a level playing field as the students from the rest of the nation?

There are many such questions, but no one willing or able to answer them.

This article was originally posted in The Statesman.

The post No Country for the Unconnected – Students Suffer (Online Classes) Due to Lack of Access to Networks in North Bengal appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

The recent days have induced a lot of changes in our approach towards the lockdown, social distancing and thereby the corona crisis. Although the people look to be more eased up and casual than anytime before, the numbers and statistics of the late, speak loud and clear about an inevitably major crisis that we are staring right into. The story is no different for us in North Bengal, or to be more correct, it is even worse than what could be imagined.

Just a week-long of data shows that the COVID19 has been spreading like wildfire in the North Bengal region posing many serious questions about the handling and controlling of the virus. The data shows that the number of confirmed cases between 29^th May and 7^th June in North Bengal has increased by as much as 357%, from 152 confirmed cased to 544 confirmed cases. Similarly, the number of active cases in the North Bengal region has also seen a steep rise of 252% in the same period of time, where the number of active cases increased from 123 to 310.

It is important here to note that the rise in Corona cases in North Bengal has been significantly high for all the districts under it, including Darjeeling and Kalimpong, where the number of confirmed cases has increased in Darjeeling by 593% between 29^th May and 7^th June, while the number of active cases has increased by 957%. As for Kalimpong, the number of confirmed cases has increased by 257% and the number of active cases has increased by around 1100% within the same time.

 The graphs below could be used to understand the scenario in a more comprehensive manner:

The above graph shows the change in the total number of confirmed Corona cases across different districts in North Bengal between 29^th May and 7^th June. The blue columns in the graph indicate the number of confirmed cases on 29^th May while the red columns indicate the number of confirmed cases on 7^th June. The graph clearly shows that the number of confirmed cases have gone up for all the districts within the period by a considerable amount the worst hit by the increase was Cooch Behar. Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri do are also very significant in terms of percentage of growth. North Dinajpur is indicated to have the highest number of confirmed cases of all the districts as of yet.

The above graph again indicates the change in the number of active Corona cases across different districts in North Bengal between May 29^th and June 7^th. What is interesting to note here is that even though in the first graph we could see that North Dinajpur is attributed to the highest number of confirmed cases among all the districts, it is the only district that has seen a fall in the number of active cases through the week. In fact, as of 7^th June, the number of active cases in the district is lower than that of Cooch Behar and Darjeeling, just a little over that of Jalpaiguri. For all other Districts, there is a sharp increase in the number of active cases, the worst hit of all being Cooch Behar, which also has the highest number of corona cases at present.

The above two pie charts compare the distribution of Total Confirmed Corona cases across the different districts of North Bengal between 29^th May and June 7^th. As the pie charts show, North Dinajpur attributed to over 75% of the confirmed corona cases as on 29^th May, while the other district in total contributed to the remaining cases. Just in a week on 7^th June, we see that the situation changes drastically, with the contribution of North Dinajpur contracting down while that of the other districts inflating significantly.

The above two pie charts, similarly, compare the district wise composition of active corona cases in North Bengal between May 29^th and June 7^th. As the first pie chart suggests, as on May 29^th North Dinajpur had 86% of all the active corona cases in North Bengal, while the other districts had little to none active cases. Just a week later on 7^th June, Coochbehar is indicated to have the highest percentage of all the active corona cases in North Bengal consisting of 39% of the total active cases while North Dinajpur is indicated to have only 16% of the total cases.

In some cases, the number may seem to look small, but our concern is beyond the number of confirmed cases. As Corona, by its nature, spreads in a dynamic manner, the rate of increase becomes a major concern to think about. And as we can note, for all the districts in North Bengal have witnessed a rapid spike in the number of confirmed cases, which suggests that the virus should go on to multiply at a higher rate in the coming days, even for Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

The above table compares the change in the total confirmed cases of COVID19 across the country, the state with North Bengal. What comes as a major concern here is that in the past one week, the percentage increase in the total confirmed cases in North Bengal is more than twice higher than the percentage increase of the total confirmed cases in West Bengal or in India. The same can be noticed for the case of total active cases, which is shown by the table as below:

The above table shows that even in case of total active cases, the percentage growth in the number of cases is North Bengal is almost twice higher than that in West Bengal or in the entire country altogether in the past one week.

The sudden spike in the increase of the number of cases in North Bengal comes as a grave worry for all of us, as well as places a very serious concern having the lockdown eased out and people developing a very casual approach towards it. People have accepted Corona as the truth of the day and have already prepared to live with it. As such, the chances of the virus spreading in an even faster rate should be the closest truth we are walking towards.

But what should be the reason behind the abrupt rise in the number of cases in North Bengal? The delayed process of bringing in the migrants who had be stuck outside? One thing that we need to notice is that most of the recent cases confirmed in and around our region has been of migrants who came back from outside. Should the State Government’s reluctance to bring in the migrants at the earliest should be the reason? Or should it be the decision to send the migrants to home quarantine instead of institutional quarantine? Even those coming from the red zones were sent for home quarantine if they didn’t show any symptom. Could it be considered to be one of the major set backs in decision making?

Keeping the causes apart, the most important question we face today is if we are prepared to face the worst if it comes. Considering the rate at which Corona has grown in the past week, ugly possibilities couldn’t be ruled out. Do we have enough infrastructures to help us through the crisis if the situation goes out of hand?

Nonetheless, we hope all of us develop enough sanity to keep ourselves home and safe and thereby help in controlling the rising number of cases. Let us follow the protocols of social distancing and hygiene even if we are forced to step out for necessary works.

The post Beware North Bengal – Data shows Exponential Growth in COVID19 cases appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

We had written…

“Tungsoong Bridge on the Verge of Collapse

Toonsoong Bridge, a 280 feet long bridge on Balasun River connects, Tungsung, Balasun, Dhotrey, Rangbul, Pussumbing, Kalej valley etc. with Pokhriabong region. It, however, is in a miserable state today.

Every day students from Tungsung area risk their lives to get to their schools, walking across the bridge that can collapse anytime now. People going to Pokhriabong bazar have to risk their life through it too. With the Tea Garden shut down since 2015, the people of the region have to go to Pokhriabong and other places for livelihood and every day what they have to go through is this death trap.

People from surrounding areas say that numerous small incidences have taken place which could go bad to worst anytime, any day. People speak about people avoiding close accidents numerous times in the bridge.

Local people say that numerous surveys by numerous departments (DED, GTA) and administration have been done but not a single piece of wood has been provided so far. They say that the last repair work was done in 1998 under DGHC. After that, no one has bothered for its maintenance and safety of the people.

Ironically not the administration but local people from around Tungsoong and Sumripani have been repairing on their own since long.

Monsoon has already arrived in Hills and the prevailing pathetic condition of this bridge (only medium of connection) in this season of heavy rainfall is inviting an untoward disaster for the local people or anyone who happens to walk through the bridge.

This alarming condition or the danger that is looming large in the lives of the people of the region is due to apathy of the present GTA or the state government who claim big development been done in the Hills.

We are very THANKFUL to Shri. Amar Rai the Chairman of North Bengal Development Department for kindly taking cognizance of the issue. Today the Officials from NBDD went to visit the site and conduct survey. We have been informed that the NBDD will develop a Detailed Project Report and soon work will start.

The post North Bengal Development Department to Fix Tungsoong Bridge appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Desperate Father

Baroghoria Gram, which falls under Kranti police station in the Malbazar sub-division of Alipurduar District where the incident took place, is like every other typical village in Dooars, North Bengal. It is predominantly an Adivasi village, and there is not much to write about in terms of infrastructure. Suffice it to say, infrastructure in the form of basic health care is nonexistent. Abhiraj Oroan – a tribal child was born in this faraway village with imperforate anus – a rare birth disorder where the child has an improperly developed anus, and therefore can’t pass stool normally from their rectum out of their body. He would release stool through a small hole in his navel.

His father Pandit Oroan (35) was desperate, with a very limited income. He was desperate to have his son operated on, a date for which was set towards the end of December this year. This operation, known as anoplasty, could have opened up Abhiraj’s rectum and the child would have been able to have a normal stool procedure. Sadly the operation cost money, which Pandit Oroan didn’t have.

Unable to collect funds needed to pay for the operation, Pandit took the most unfortunate decision.

His wife, who is still in grief stated, “around 7 PM on the 2nd of December he took the child out… I didn’t think much, only later we found that he had drowned the baby in the well behind the house and had hung himself by the tree.”

Failed system

Across India, the Central Government has introduced “Ayushman Bharat” scheme, which provides for up to Rs 5 Lakhs health insurance per year to economically marginalized families, and has helped hundreds of thousands of people like Pandit Oroan. However in West Bengal, the benefits of this scheme are yet to percolate down to the grassroots level. Bengal has resisted the introduction of Ayushman Bharat scheme, instead they are adamant on increasing the scope of their existing “Swasthya Sathi” scheme.

In Bengal, the state government had started a group health scheme “Swasthya Sathi” – that covers mostly contractual and part-time government employees, back in 2016, and they have shown their willingness to join the Ayushman Bharat scheme, but the modalities are yet to be worked out. This has left millions of economically marginalized families deprived. Though “Swasthya Sathi” scheme does call for inclusion of “deprived sections of the society” in its fold, on the ground the scheme is yet to reach deprived families, like that of Pandit Oraon.

Back in Barogharia Gram as the news of this murder-suicide spread, locals along with police officials rushed to the site of the incident. While a huge crowd had gathered after their death, the father-son didn’t have any saathi to count on, when they needed help the most.

“As the Bengal government has been unable to provide proper health care support to the marginalized families, shouldn’t they ethically step aside, and permit the Central government scheme to take care of them?” Many have started to ask.

Dooars: He killed his son, before he killed himself

[TheDC news desk]

The post NO SAATHI CAME TO THEIR RESCUE – Father Murders Disabled Son, Hangs Himself in Dooars appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

While the people are regaling in their being able to order in branded stuffs at a cheaper price, the local shopkeepers and small businesses have been most hit. In Dooars, small entities have started to lose business and are fearful of having to close shop. Local shop owners complin that during the past few years, the volume of shopping during Dashain (dusherra) and Tihar (diwali) have gone down considerably. This obviously has a trickle down effect, as subsidiary businesses have also started to suffer.

Rajiv Nag, a cloth merchant from Luksan bazar in Dooars says, “this online shopping trend has made life difficult, particularly for those businesses with smaller capital… our sales have gone down, we are starting to get worried.”

Biru Munda who has been working for a courier company based-out of Chalsa noted, “till last year we used to go to rural villages and tea gardens, may be once a week, if at that… these days, we are visiting rural villages on a daily basis… I think people are getting attracted to online shopping due to lower prices and they are spoilt for choices… its good for our business…”

While “Digital India,” has indeed made the market really competitive for sellers online, off-line local businesses are starting to suffer. It will be a while before we will know the extent and impact of this phenomenon at the grassroots level, but suffice it to say, the online shopping phenomenon is changing market practices and trends in the rural India.

गाउँ बस्ती अनि कमानका इलाकाका साधारण मानिसहरुमा पनि अनलाइन सोपिङप्रति आर्षितत हुन थालेका छन । स्मार्ट फोनको सदउपयोग गर्दै दैनिक जीवनमा प्रयोगमा आउने प्रायः सबै समानहरु अहिले उपभोक्ताहरुले अनलाइन सोपिङद्वारा घरमान नै मगाउन थालेका छन । यसले गर्दा पारम्परिक ढंगमा संचालित रहेका बजार प्रणाली प्रभावित हुन थालेको छ । र स्थानीय कम पूँजी भएका व्यापारीहरु मारमा परेका छन । दशैँको बजारमा पनि पोहरको जस्तो विक्री नभएको व्यापारीहरुले बताएका छन । अनलाइन सपिङले स्थानीय बजार प्रभावित बनेको लुकसान बजार कपडा व्यापारी राजीब नागले बताएका छन । कारसाना अघि भन्दा अहिले दशैँको समय अनलाइन सोपिङ मार्फत गाउ वस्ती अनि कमानका उपभोक्तारुले अझ धेर समानहरु माग गरेको बताइएको छ ।

दशैँ नजीक आएकोले उपभोक्ताहरुले कपडा, जुता अनि सजावटको वस्तुहरु अनलाईन मार्फतनै धेरै मगाइ रहेको चालसाका एक जना कोरीयर सेवाकर्ता बीरु मुण्डाले बताए । तिनले भने अघि अघि हामी सप्ताहमा एक दुइ दिन मात्र कमान वस्ती इलाकामा पार्सल लिएर आउने गरथ्यौं । तर यसपाली भने साधारण मानिसहरु अनलाइन सपिङप्रति धेरै आर्कित रहेका छन । र यसको माग पनि बढेको छ । हामी आजभोली प्रायः दिनौं नै ग्रामीण इलाका उपभोक्ताहरुको पार्सल लिएर आउने गर्छौ मुण्डाले भने । यसै पनि बजारमा भन्दा अनलाइन सपिङमा वस्तुहरुको मूल्य कम हुन्छ । साथै समय समयमा अफर पनि रहेकाले महँगा वस्तुहरु पनि कम मूल्यमा पाउन भएकोले ग्राम वस्तीका मासनिसहरुमा अनलाइन सपिङप्रति झुकाउ बढेको पाईन्छ ।

प्रायः सबै मानिसहरुको हातमा स्मार्ट फोन छ । यसैको लाभ उठाउदै साधारण मानिसहरुमा पनि अनलाइन सपिङको बाणी बस्तै गएको देखिएको छ । एक जना लुकसान बजारका व्यापारी सुरोजित विश्वासले भने, अनलाइन सपिङको कारण स्थानीय बजारहरु अहिले प्रभावित बनदै गइ रहेको छ । अनलाइन सपिङको माध्यमबाट आफुलाई मन परेको समानहरु ग्राहकहरुले घरमानै मगाइ रहेका छन । दशैँको कपडा अनि जुताहरु धेरै जसो ग्राहकहरुले अनलाइन सपिङबाट नै मगाइ रहेको हामी घर गाउमा देखि रहेका छौं । ग्राहकहरुले चाहे जस्तो समान कम मूल्यमा घरमानै पाएको कारण ग्राकहरु बजार आउन बन्द गरेका छन । र यसले दशैँको बजारलाई पनि प्रभावित बनाएको छ । गाउ वस्तीमा पनि इन्टरनेट सेवा उपलब्ध भएको कारण साधारण मानिसहरुले स्मार्ट फोनको सदउपयोग गर्न थालेको अनलाइन सपिङले प्रमाणित गरेको छ ।

[Special Correspondent: Nand Poudel]

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