CM announces Newar Study Centre for Namthang

GANGTOK, 18 Sept: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling today announced that the State Government will construct a Newar Study Centre on the 3.5 acre spread belonging to the Sikkim Newar Guthi land in Namthang, South Sikkim. He was addressing a special function organized by the Guthi to celebrate Indra Jatra festival here at Mannan Bhawan. The Sikkim Newar Guthi also felicitated the Chief Minister for his consistent patronage of the identity and cultures of the different communities of the State and for his support similar aspirations of the Newar community here.
The CM also took the opportunity to announce that the State will also establish a Language and Cultural Study Centre in Gangtok to support documentation, research and better understanding of these aspects of the different communities of Sikkim. Also today, the CM reiterated the Rs. 50 lakh grant commitment for the Newar Bhawan project coming up in Gangtok.
Applauding the Newari community of Sikkim for their contributions towards the state-building process through the years, the Chief Minister also commended the community for the commitment with which it has nurtured its art and culture and urged them to sustain the process.
Stressing that since he was first elected to the CM’s post in 1994, he has shunned vote-bank politics worked towards supporting all communities and their unique cultures and traditions, the underlined the need to nurture languages.
While on the topic, he shared that at present, 15 languages were in use in Sikkim, of which Majhi was the most vulnerable, on the verge of vanishing. In this regard, he added that the present government, since it was voted to power, has been consistently working towards preserving the state’s cultural heritage and needed more proactive involvement of the people.
Also on the occasion, the CM asserted that the State government has never dithered from providing social justice to the people and pointed out that Sikkim was one of the few states where all communities were developing and prospering in equal measure in all fields.
He urged the Newari community to further hone their traditional skills and work on promoting the unique aspects of their culture.
The programme included Newari cultural and folk performance and release of books and CDs.