MEDIA AND GAME

Army vehicle crush one girl to death

Gangtok,05 May : An army heavy vehicle crushed an 18 year old girl to death while seriously injuring another girl at 2nd Mile, Chandmari above Gangtok today morning.

The victim, Nari Maya Gurung was killed at the spot while her sister Susang Gurung (19) was seriously injured, said police. The girl has sustained injuries in her head and has been rushed to Central Referral Hospital here.

However, there are slim chances of her survival, it was informed.

Police has taken the army driver into custody. Police are investigating whether the accident was due to a break-fail or the vehicle was overspeeding.

National level women football championships from this August.

Gangtok, 05 May: Sikkim, the home State of Indian football team captain Bhaichung Bhutia is gearing up to organize and host the first ever national level women football championships this August.

We are organizing the All India Women Football Tournament in the month of August, said Menla Ethenpa, general secretary of Sikkim Football Association (SFA), the organizers.

SFA will be inviting the top four women football team graded by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to participate in this maiden tournament, said Mr. Ethenpa. At least two teams from Sikkim and other teams from the neighbouring areas of Darjeeling district will be featuring in the tournament.

“Bhutan has also expressed its interest to participate in the tournament”, said Mr. Ethenpa.

Though AIFF has been organized national level women football championships, the endeavor by SFA should be first in the nation.

By inviting the top women football teams in the tournament, we want to inspire and promote the upcoming women footballers of Sikkim, said the SFA general secretary adding the tournament will be an annual event.

The finals of the tournament are scheduled on August 15.

The proposed All India Women Football Tournament by SFA has taken the football calendar in Sikkim to three events.

The first event, Chogyal Sir Tashi Namgyal Memorial Cup organized by SFA began from today at Paljor Stadium.

In the first match, Namchi based Siniolchu club defeated Young Star football club by 2 goals to one.

There are 16 teams participating in this knockout men’s football tournament, which is an annual feature. Apart from six teams from Sikkim, teams from Kolkata, Delhi and neighbouring Darjeeling district also feature in this event.

The Chogyal Sir Tashi Namgyal Memorial Cup also known as Independence Cup used to be held during the month of August. It was shifted to May to make room for the proposed All India Women Football Tournament to be held on August.

After these two events, the showpiece football tournament of Sikkim, All India Governor’s Gold Cup is scheduled to be held during the month of September-October later this year.

Border trade through Old Silk rout Resume from Monday

Nathula,04 April:

The Nathua border trade for the fourth consecutive year today started today with a low key participation from the Indian traders.

However sixty Chinese traders in the first day crossed the border to operate their business for this year.

The border reopened at 11am in the morning. On other side none of the Indian traders could cross the border due to non availability of the travel pass.

Amidst slight drizzling of snow fall Ujwal Gurung, the Director of Commerce and Industries Department, Sumitra Pradhan, the Deputy Secretary offered khadas to the traders at the Nathula post.

Later both the traders accorded each other a warm welcome at Sherathang Mart hoping for a more business prosperity this year.

‘We are not pretty happy with the response from the Indian traders on first day’ said Kesang Diki, an official from Trade and Commerce (TAR) from the Chinese region.

While interacting with the media she said, as usual the revision of the lists of items is the major factor in which the business transactions will depend this year.

‘India desperately needs to come up with more infrastructure facilities for the smooth trade, she pointed out.

Pretty dismayed with the non-availability of the travel pass the Indian traders also expressed their dissatisfaction even for not reaching up to Nathula border.

‘ Understanding the urgency we request the concerned authority to kindly issue the pass as earliest as possible’ Anil Kumar Gupta, the General Secretary of Indo-China border trade association told the reporters.

On other hand Ujwal Gurung, the Director of the concerned department informed the Ministry of Commerce and Industries Department has already sanctioned Rs. Cores for the construction of a high class mart at Sherathang and the work would be soon commenced.

‘Also the construction work of parking yard, cafeteria would be soon accomplished’ he added.

Stating that the matter of revision of lists of items still lies in the Ministry he said, Mani Shanker Iyer, the Chairman of NEC has already placed a proposal to declare Nathula trade as open trade under Most Favored Nation ( MFN).

Nathula Trade which was reopened in the year 2006 had a total export of Rs 10 lakhs, 27 lakhs and 97 lakhs for the year past three successive years .

While the import were merely Rs 10 lakhs, 7 lakhs and 1 lakhs.

Nathu La trade to resume on Monday

Nathula, 3 May : The fourth edition of the annual Sino-Indian border trade at Nathu La, one of the three trading border posts between China and India, will resume on Monday after a six-month long winter break.
Apart Nathu La, the other two border trade check posts are Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and Lipulekh (or Lipulech) in Uttarakhand.
Sealed by India after the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Nathu La was re-opened in 2006 following numerous bilateral trade agreements.
Currently, agreements between the two nations limit trade across the pass to 29 types of goods from India and 15 from the Chinese side.
The annual border trade is restricted for participation of the traders from Sikkim and Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) only.
Under the bilateral agreement, the Indian traders visit Renguingang mart in TAR to buy goods from there, while their counterparts from across the border come to Sherathang Mart in Sikkim for trading purpose.
The traders of the two countries are issued Import-Export Code Number (IEC) and security passes by their respective authorities to enable them to visit the trade marts.
In spite of various restrictions put on for trading through Nathu La, the total value of the traded goods last year stood at Rs.9.6 million.
The Government of Sikkim will organize a function at Sherathang Mart on Monday to mark the formal inauguration of the fourth edition of the bilateral border trade.
Official delegations and traders of the two countries will attend the function.
The Sikkim Chamber of Commerce and the Indo-Chinese Traders Association of Sikkim (ICTAS) have urged the governments of the two countries for an urgent revision of the goods on the trade list to add commercial value to the business.
Most of the items listed in the schedule are obsolete and lack commercial value

Rahul can't understand Sikkim in mere 20 minutes: Chamling

Gangtok,27 April¬:Coming down heavily on Rahul Gandhi for his caustic observation about Sikkim, Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling today said the Congress General Secretary cannot understand the Himalayan state and its local issues in barely 20 minutes.
"He does not understand Sikkim and the issues of the state. One cannot comprehend the issues in 20 minutes," Chamling told reporters here in reply to a question about Gandhi's comments on the state of affairs in the Himalayan State, two days back.

Chamling said the 39 year-old MP's assessment that the state government had failed to fully utilise about Rs 5,500 crore granted by the Centre in past years and could not implement the central schemes like NREGA, were not true.

Sikkim has been one of the states to fully utilize the Central funds and implement the Central schemes, he claimed.

On the impact of Gandhi's electioneering in Sikkim, Chamling said the SDF has been firmly entrenched in the state politically and could not be adversely affected by the campaigning by the national leaders of other parties.

Youth must come forward in politics: Rahul Gandi

Gangtok, 25Apr il: AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi today said called upon the youths to come forward in active politics in order to change the present quality of politics in the nation.

“Unless the youths come forward to politics, then politics will not change. We have to maintain a uniform perspective in the nation”, said Mr. Gandhi while addressing a Congress election rally here at Paljor Stadium packed with thousands of Congress supporters.

In his brief address, the Congress youth leader spoke about his target of encouraging more youths towards politics through the youth wing of Congress.

“I always meet youths from Northeast States wherever I go in the nation. I am very happy and proud that they are coming ahead especially in service sector”, said Mr. Gandhi.

Maintaining that Congress party and his family shares special attachment with Sikkim and other parts of the Northeast region, Mr. Gandhi made an emotional statement by appealing the people to carry on the old ties. My family has a big space for Northeast region in our hearts and these old ties must be carried forward, he said.
Speaking on the context of Sikkim, the young Gandhi scion reminded the people that he had fallen in love with Sikkim when he was 18 years of age. “I had stayed in Gangtok during a month course at Sonam Gyatso Mountaineering Institute and I have toured all over the beautiful State of Sikkim. The tourism potential of Sikkim is unmatched in the nation and we will provide all possible help from the Centre to Sikkim”, he said
.
Reminding that the Centre has been sending huge funds for the development of Sikkim and Sikkimese people, Mr. Gandhi said that Central funds have not reached the people of Sikkim. “We have send Rs. 5,500 crores to Sikkim and sanctioned several big schemes like Mid Day meal and NREGA for the Sikkimese people. But it is unfortunate that these funds and programmes have not reached to the people here”, said he said.
“We must change this and if people are not happy then you can change the government here in Sikkim during the elections”, said Mr. Gandhi.

While assuring that the Congress party will give attention to the pending local issues of Sikkim, Mr. Gandhi underlined the need to establish a proper educational institute. “We will see that quality education reaches to you. We will keep on sending money to Sikkim”, he said.




Mr. Gandhi also assured all possible help from Centre to solve the problem of 30,000 unemployed educated youths in Sikkim. We will spare no efforts to solve the unemployment problem in Sikkim, he said. The voice of small States like Sikkim must be heard and we will listen, he said.
The Congress youth leader concluded his brief speech by promise to return to Sikkim again to continue with his goal of encourage more youths to politics and Congress party.