Sikkim’s third through the UPSC challenge this year

iNSPIRED

Last week, NOW! published a parallel interview with two of the three Sikkim students who have cleared the UPSC exams this year. Tenzing Loden Lepcha completes the successful trio and although the plan was to publish the interviews of all three together, he could not be contacted in time for various reasons. Here we complete the conversation:

TSHERING EDEN

NOW: How does it feel to have cracked the UPSC exams?

TENZING: Thankful, thankful to God that I could make it through to the final list and then it’s a feeling of relief that the hard work that I have put in has brought dividends and then finally its sheer happiness.

How did you prepare for it? Coaching classes, number of study hours, the choice of subjects and so on...

Well, since I was working I could not attend any coaching classes; also, I had limited time at my disposal so my strategy was to ensure that I study at least 4 hours on weekdays and 7-8 hours on weekends. This was my work plan for the 1.5 years that I took to clear this exam.

Apart from the usual 4 hrs I ensured that whenever I had time at hand in office I would look at online materials for current affairs from websites like Wikipedia, www.thecalibre.in, government websites etc. This helped me with my general studies content which is an important part of this exam.

From the optional subject point of view I took Public Administration and Psychology primarily because the subjects interested me and at the same time the materials for these subjects are easily available and this makes things simpler while chalking out the study plan.

What were the most difficult times for you during the preparation and the exam? How did you deal with them?

Preparing for civil services is one of the most interesting yet arduous processes that one can go through, the sheer length of the exam process and the uncertainty of the outcome at the end of it is taxing on your faculties both mentally and emotionally. Some days the preparations are really good and on other days self doubt creeps into your mind and you feel emotionally exhausted.

What is important is to constantly speak with your near and dear ones so that there is an avenue to release the negative emotions and get recharged to continue the preparations with motivation.

As for me I would constantly talk with my parents and my fiancée who has been an immense source of motivation and encouragement through this journey. They have been the cornerstone of my emotional strength and I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Considering not many from Sikkim opt or clear the UPSC exams. Was that discouraging or a challenge for you?

Well the thought never occurred to me when I started off as by then Agya Karma Bonpo ( IAS Sikkim Cadre 2010 ) had already got through the exams , but when I was thick into preparations the enormity and the difficulty level of this exams dawned upon me. So, yes the start was not much of a problem but what became challenging was the process of keeping myself motivated for this exam. Eventually by Gods grace, a bit of effort and my support system from my family, fiancée and friends I could make it through.

As a continuation of the earlier question, what made you take on UPSC exams considering it is almost seen as ‘impossible’ by most here in Sikkim? So, what was your motivation?

Well the reasons for starting the preparations was very personal, but as things progressed and I started to understand the importance of these services the feeling of being able to be a part of a system that brings about change and development was a huge motivating factor in itself. The prestige that comes with the job is also an added benefit. Lastly, getting through this exam would mean that I might get a chance to serve the people of Sikkim in a capacity that would be very satisfying and enriching.

What was the reaction of friends, family, even acquaintances when they first came to know that you plan to sit for these exams?

ENCOURAGEMENT, that’s the one word that would best describe the reaction of my family and friends when I decided to sit for this exam. After that it was all-out support in whatever way they could do like providing pep talk when I doubted myself, regular visits to Enchey Monastery on my behalf, getting certain documents attested so on and so forth.

Having been through it all, what advice or suggestions do you have for those in Sikkim who aspire or are preparing for the civil services?

All I can say is Believe in yourself, don’t think that there are 4 lakh candidates sitting for the exam, instead think that you are amongst that few thousand who are serious about this exam and as such you have the best chance of getting through. With this belief and attitude dive straight into preparations and keep communication with your support systems of family and friends. If you take this approach success will surely be yours.

Finally, what is life like post the dreaded exams?

Well, it’s not changed much; just that I am waiting for my Service allocation so that things get clearer and in the meanwhile I am serving my notice period in my current job which ends next month. Apart from that I am a bit relaxed , been catching up on some movies and the usual stuff and the icing on the cake is that as I am assured a service with the Government of India which makes these few months blissful! 

Special! 3/4,50,000 Special!

iNSPIRED

NITIN NEGI AND TSETEN NORDON CARGYAL, TWO OF THREE FROM SIKKIM WHO  CRACKED THE UPSC EXAM THIS YEAR, ON THEIR SUCCESS

Nitin Negi

Three young Sikkimese cracked the Union Public Service Commission exams this year. Nitin Negi, Tseten Nordon Cargyal and Tenzing Loden Lepcha have made it past the all India selection process which had around 4.5 lakh applicants this year. The three Sikkimese have found place in the 910 who were finally selected and are now waiting for their service and cadre allocation, which will take place in July.

Tseten Nordon Cargyal

Over the years, the state has seen many successfully clear the UPSC exams but three in a year makes for quite a success story. With its beginnings set during the British Raj, the historical significance and import adds to the glory of being part of the civil services. The plethora of opportunities that free economy has opened up is yet to diminish the number of aspirants or the prestige associated with the civil services. A job with the UPSC offers respect, security, a comfortable pay-check, the opportunity to serve the public and more importantly the power to bring about real change.

There are three stages in the examination, starting with the Prelims or Preliminary Examination. Candidates who make it through the Prelims then sit for the Main Examination (Written) who are then further shortlisted for the Personality Test or Interview which is the final test of the candidate’s mettle. After successfully clearing the examination the candidates are then allotted cadres based on their ranking in the merit list. The high rankers are allotted the Indian Administrative Service [IAS], Indian Foreign Service [IFS] or the Indian Police Service [IPS]. Others get into Group A or Group B services which include the Indian Revenue Service [IRS], Indian Audit and Accounts Service, and so on, based on their rankings.

A chosen candidate is sent for training. After training he or she is sent as a probationary officer serving under the district magistrate or in government schools, secretariats, and other postings which involve on the field experience. The positional hierarchy is as follows: Under Secretary; Director; Joint Secretary; Additional Secretary; Secretary; Cabinet Secretary.

In the districts the highest position belongs to the district magistrate and the deputy commissioner is in charge at the divisional stratum. Based on seniority, an officer may be chosen to represent the country at international bodies like the WHO, UNHCR, etc.

As the three from Sikkim who got through the all India civil services exams this year await allocation of their respective cadres, NOW!, got in touch with two of them to know what the whole experience has been like and to get some words of encouragement and advice for others from the state interested in a career in civil services. 

How does it feel to have cracked the UPSC exams?

NITIN: Cracking the UPSC civil services exams feels really good! Last year I had reached the interview stage but could not make it to the final list and it did feel bad when I missed out then. It took quite a lot of effort, patience and luck to achieve it. Though my ranking is not so good to get into an All-India Service, I would like to try on improving my rank by reappearing.

TSETEN: It is a gamut of emotions...happy, relieved, vindicated but above all BLESSED!

How did you prepare for it? Coaching classes, number of study hours, the choice of subjects and so on...

NITIN: I took coaching for optionals i.e. Public Administration and Geography in Delhi. General Studies I prepared on my own.  The subjects I chose were basically because of my interest in those subjects. A few months ahead of the examinations I would put in at least 6-8 hours of studies which increased gradually with exams nearing.

TSETEN: I attended coaching for my optional subject, Psychology, as it is quite a technical subject and I had no background in it.  Public administration is a very general subject which can be mastered by going through standard books and being aware of what is going on in the country in terms of administration.

I did not have any fixed number of study hours but I would just like to dispel the notion that this exam needs 15 hours of study everyday!! That’s impossible and a highly exaggerated figure... more than quantity its the quality that matters.

I worked with weekly targets rather than the number of study hours.

What were the most difficult times for you during the preparation and the exam? How did you deal with them?

NITIN: At times it was really hard to keep the motivation going, to put in the effort and hours for the exam. However, family, friends and well-wishers were always around encouraging. Also the civil services exam demands lots of patience and perseverance which I developed over the years with my trials with earlier attempts.

TSETEN: The nature of the exam is such that it takes a whole year... starting from prelims in May, mains in October and the interview in April next year. Firstly, it was a constant struggle to keep ourselves motivated and not get distracted. It IS a general tendency to slack after one stage and begin studies seriously for the next stage. 

Secondly, the doubt of making it or not? Having a close knit circle of friends preparing for the same exam and supportive family members helped me stay on track.

What made you take on UPSC exams considering it is almost seen as ‘impossible’ by most here in Sikkim? What was your motivation?

NITIN: Over the past couple of years we have consistently had people from Sikkim cracking the exams which has been a very encouraging sign. While, not having many from Sikkim should be a challenge not only for me but for every aspirant from Sikkim to prove that it is possible to compete and excel at this level for people from Sikkim too and be a part of the civil services, however the disadvantage of it is we have none or very few to seek for guidance when we are starting with the preparations.

My strongest influence and inspiration has been my father, who recently retired from the Indian Police Service. And my late mother was always a source of constant motivation, she was in the state government service. Their struggles and achievements have always been inspiring. At the same time, civil services provides one of the best platforms to serve the people and the country.

We in Sikkim have also been really fortunate to have had some such civil servants serving and leading with example, their contribution and dedication in serving the people and the state have been inspiring.

TSETEN: I was influenced by my father, who is in the Indian Information Service, an allied service under the civil services. The nature of the job wherein life changing policies are made, the social prestige and the challenges the service provides in changing lives of many people, particularly the poor and downtrodden....motivated me. I was optimistic that it was not impossible to crack the exam, given the determination and hard work.

What was the reaction of friends, family, even acquaintances when they first came to know that you plan to sit for these exams?

NITIN: I have always had encouraging and positive reactions from family and friends. In fact my parents were greatly determined to see me achieve my goal of joining the civil services. It is really necessary to have positive vibes around you when you are appearing for such an examination which demands a lot of effort and patience.

TSETEN: My family and friends were supportive and encouraging.

Having been through it all, what advice or suggestions do you have for those in Sikkim who aspire or are preparing for the civil services?

NITIN: My advice to aspirants from Sikkim would be to be very sincere with their efforts, remain focussed and to be patient. I would also like to suggest future aspirants that having a back up plan as far as jobs or studies are concerned when they plan to sit for the UPSC Civil Services examination is desirable, though I myself had no such back-up plan when I began with my preparations. However for the past one year I had been working on other options too along with the civil services exams, with me getting through some banking exams like the IBPS exam and State Bank of Patiala PO and also having secured a seat for MBA in Rural Management in the Institute for Rural Management Anand (IRMA). So I had a few other options in case I would not have got through this year.

TSETEN: My advice to the aspirants would be....believe in yourself, don’t give up because when you give up you never know how close you were to success. If you are determined then nothing is impossible!

Finally, what is life like post the exams?

NITIN: Having my name on the final list of selected candidates was a dream come true! It is a really happy, proud and satisfying feeling. As I have already mentioned my rank is not good enough to get me into an All-India Service so I would like to try getting into it by reappearing and improving my rankings however as of now I am looking forward to joining the service which I would be allotted. I would like to thank all my family, friends, teachers and well-wishers for their support, encouragement and 'positive vibes'. I would like to specially thank Mr. AK Chand (IPS) Sir for his guidance in my preparation during the past one year.

TSETEN: I had always imagined this moment to be grand and out of the world but frankly, not much has changed. Other than the fact that I now have a very good job... life is still the same!

Tseten suggests...

GENERAL STUDIES

1. Magazines like Chronicle, Yojna, Science Reporter

2. History NCERT books, class 11 and 12

3. WIZARD geography 

4. Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity 

5. Wikipedia

6. Newspapers like The Hindu and Indian Express

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1. New Horizons by Mohit Bhattacharya

2. Public Administration by Fadia and Fadia

3. Indian Administration by Fadia and Fadia

4. 2^nd ARC Reports of Veerappa Moily Committee

5. M.M. Punchi Commission Reports on Centre State Relations

6. IIPA journals

PSYCHOLOGY

1. Robert Baron’s Book on Psychology

2. NCERT Class 11 and 12

3. Any reliable coaching notes

3. Wikipedia 

Witness to a Felling

ONGDEN LEPCHA
A ten-year-old child standing by the window, asks his mother. “What are those people doing on the slope?”
“I think they have come to cut a tree,” replies the mother.
Minutes later, the child asks again, “Why is one of them climbing with a rope tied on his back?”
By now, the man has climbed a few metres below the top of the slope. He slowly unties the rope and wraps it around a tree. In the meantime, the child pushes his mother aside at the window to get a clearer view.
An old man, cockeyed, with a round bluish cap on his head, whistle hanging from his neck, lights a few sticks of incense. He makes a round of the tree before placing the incense sticks on the ground.  A boy standing nearby, hands a glistening axe to the old man. The man tries his hand first by striking on the base of the standing tree. The first few hits disperse the butterflies and insects on the tree.  The ants are in nervous scramble as their nest gets disturbed. Sweat streams down the old man’s wrinkled face and he passes the axe to the boy. The boy strikes at the tree for a few minutes and shifts the axe to his other hand.
Now, the tree is half cut.
The old man directs his companion standing few metres away to pull the rope. The child watches them eagerly, without blinking. The striking continues...
The old man blows his whistle for the first time, passer-bys turn and look. The residents of the vicinity look towards the tree for a last time, the tree which stood for years. The National Highway comes to a standstill. Again the old man gives instructions to strike and pull simultaneously.
The tree sways.
Finally, the tree cannot bear the strikes, profusely bleeding it slowly leans and falls to the ground with a loud bang scattering leaves, twigs and branches in every direction.
In two days, the child counts upto twelve tree stumps.
The child tells his mother, “It’s looking like a playground”.
Weeks later, the child’s father returns home from the frontier. Early next morning, he takes a round of the kitchen garden. He is sipping a cup of hot Temi tea when the slope catches his eye. Noticing that not a single tree stands there, he’s dumbstruck.
Later in the evening, sitting beside a fire hearth he narrates to his family members.
“We grew up together and were separated only by a permanent black line. They (trees) randomly grew up on that damp slope without moving an inch despite the scorching sun, bone biting chill, its stomata blocked by carbonmonoxide.  They grew from seeds dispersed by birds and the wind. Not from somebody’s green finger or any other mission. This patch of small wood was full of life. I like being in the midst of nature, in green places where there is a lot of fresh air to breath. It never once crossed my mind that this slope could turn bald like an old man’s scalp. What has befallen the nests of the owl and the squirrel- predator and prey breathing next to each other? What has happened to the single Orchid species, a vertical movement which bloomed for the first time a year back on the uttis tree?  Now it takes donkeys years to see a mature tree or small wood on this slope. Each tree on this slope had a specific story and emotional bond attached to me”.
He paused for a moment and added, “Two adult malata trees were on the edge of the road.  Their spreading canopy almost overlapping each other, just like a teenage couple walking arm in arm.  The female tree used to produce small greenish fruit seen hooked only by house pigeon. Once seen feeding by a single rare visitor-green pigeon. The canopy of a male tree annually gets enshrouded by foliage of one woody climber.It bloomed for the first time last year, in the first week of May. Large, numerous, white fringed flower blooms in pitch dark and drops to the ground before morning sunlight hits the tree. It was a male indreni, Trichosanthes tricuspidata”.
“When paiyoo blooms it signifies the approaching chill of winter in the eastern Himalayas. One single paiyoo had been blooming annually for the past seven years or so. This paiyoo used to bloom in clusters, light-pink, the size of our vanishing mandarin, coming out in every branchlet, not encountered elsewhere. When in bloom it was a sight to watch the horde of birds hooked to its nectar, followed by a pair of squirrels when the fruits ripened. This tree, looking so vibrant and alive some years ago is also no more. A heart wrenching sadness surrounds me. But the scene is vivid and fresh as ever”.

Awaiting a coherent approach in the battle against TB

TSHERING EDEN
The recently established ‘DOTS Plus site’ which houses MDR TB patients is located in a corner of the STNM Hospital, Gangtok, near the private ward building. A big airy room with windows stretched across one wall receives a light breeze and sunlight. There are 10 beds, of which 5 are occupied. There are few others walking about who are there to attend to the patients. Of the five patients, three are in their early twenties while the other two are middle-aged. The stillness in the room is broken by the intermittent coughs coming from the patients. What one cannot miss are the masks that cover the mouths of most of the patients and their caregivers. What one cannot also miss is what it signifies – the dread and more importantly the very nature of the disease i.e. TB is communicable and a lethal one at that.
Just 21 years old, Dawa [name changed] knows this well. He contracted MDR TB from a close friend who was suffering from it. With no history of TB, Dawa directly contracted the Multi Drug Resistant strain of TB. He is currently undergoing treatment at the DOTS Plus site here at STNM Hospital. As his sister tries to explain the process of treatment he went through, Dawa, who is weak and angry, interrupts, “It is all their fault. It is because of them that I am like this now”. What fault is he talking about and whose is it?
Dawa’s case exemplifies the myriad problems that the treatment of TB, particularly, the drug resistant strain, is faced with, not just in Sikkim but across the nation. Understanding his case would give a clearer picture of the ‘fault’ he is talking about. Dawa was first diagnosed with TB around 10 months ago when he showed symptoms of the disease. He was then put on TB treatment at STNM Hospital under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme [RNTCP] which is a WHO recommended programme followed in India. Under RNTCP, there is a standard set of guidelines to be followed in the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of the disease.
Dawa was first put on treatment for TB for 6 months and when he failed to show any improvement i.e his sputum test came ‘smear positive’, he was directed to take a culture test. A culture test normally takes around 2 months or less, but Dawa’s culture report did not arrive even after 2 months, by which time, his condition had deteriorated. It must be noted here that almost 9 months had passed since his treatment began.
His family then took him to a private doctor who confirmed he had MDR TB and prescribed MDR treatment drugs for him which were administered to him at STNM Hospital. After waiting for two and a half months for the culture test results, Dawa was informed that there was some “problem” with the sample that was sent and was asked to send another sample. However, they had already sent another sample through a private diagnostic centre here, the result for which would be delivered between 21 days to one and a half months they were told.
Dawa’s case raises some pertinent issues with regard to the culture test and role of private practitioners. Firstly, precious time was lost in getting a culture test which could have been done earlier.  According to WHO recommendations, if careful monitoring during the first 2-3 months of treatment show suspected resistance to any of the drugs, a culture test should be immediately taken. However, these are just recommendations and different countries have adapted the WHO programme to suit their conditions and logistical challenges. The RNTC programme followed in the country uses a strategy that enrols patients with a very high risk of MDR-TB into RNTCP DOTS-Plus activities and treatment with the RNTCP Category IV regimen. This is being followed because “RNTCP does not have sufficient quality assured laboratory capacity to do culture and DST in all TB patients”. Patients who are defined as an “MDR-TB suspect” should be identified and investigated further for MDR-TB.
MDR-TB Suspect can be any of the following:
- Any TB patient who fails an RNTCP Category I or III treatment regimen;
- Any RNTCP Category II patient who is sputum smear positive at the end of the fourth month of treatment or later; or
- Close contacts of MDR-TB patients who are found to have smear positive pulmonary TB (PTB) disease
Dawa, unfortunately did qualify as an MDR TB suspect on the last criteria mentioned above and should have taken a culture test much earlier. Speaking to NOW!, a doctor here informed, “After four months of treatment, if a patient’s sputum reports are still smear positive and the patient has a history of contact with MDR TB patients, the patient has to be asked to take a culture test”.
It can also not be denied that considering the sensitive nature of treatment of drug resistant TB, confirmation is absolutely necessary before starting treatment. A culture test detects the existence of Mycrobacterium tuberculosis in the body while a DST [Drug Susceptibility Test] is used to detect if this bacteria is resistant to any particular drug.
According to MDR TB Update 2011 published by WHO - Over 60% of MDR TB cases occur in China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa alone (“RICS” countries). When compared to the number of detectable MDR-TB cases if DST was accessible to all TB cases notified in the world, the 53,000 cases reported by countries in 2010 represent less than a fifth of the estimated burden.
The report also states that coverage of DST for TB patients remains low and resultantly a minority of drug-resistant TB patients are detected and notified.  Information remains incomplete. The number of MDR and also XDR [Extensively Drug Resistant] TB patients is rapidly rising in the state. According to this doctor here, a very rough estimate of the number of MDR patients in the state is between 300 to 400. In this context, the importance of DST cannot be emphasised enough. As admitted by the RNTCP report, the lack of quality assured laboratories to carry out such testing severely handicaps treatment of drug resistant TB. This shortage means DST is advised only after careful screening by doctors based on the criteria mentioned earlier.
Currently there are 23 such functional labs in the country, these include 4 NRLs (Tuberculosis Research Centre [TRC], Chennai, National Tuberculosis Institute [NTI], Bangalore, Lala Ram Swarup Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory diseases [LRS], Delhi and JALMA Institute, Agra) 12 State level IRLs (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Orissa, Jharkhand, Haryana and Puducherry). Seven other labs (BPRC-Hyderabad, PD Hinduja-Mumbai, CMC-Vellore, SMS-Jaipur, RMRCTe [ICMR]-Jabalpur, JJ Hospital-Mumbai, DFIT Nellore) and more labs are in the process of accreditation in a phased manner. The accreditation of the IRL [Intermediate Reference Laboratory] at Gangtok is still under process.
RNTCP has established a nationwide laboratory network, encompassing over 13,000 designated sputum Microscopy Centers (DMCs), which are being supervised by Intermediate reference laboratories (IRL) at the state level, and National Reference laboratories (NRL) & Central TB division at the national level.
Another factor is the cost involved, a culture test costs normally costs Rs 8,000 but in Sikkim, a referral from STNM Hospital brings down the cost to Rs 200. This is certainly a relief for patients here but in a case like Dawa’s where patients are forced to go to private labs without the STNM Hospital referral, the cost can go even higher. At present, samples of TB patients of Sikkim are sent to a RNTCP recognised laboratory for testing in Blue Peter Health Research Centre, Hyderabad. This brings us to the other problem of not only the extra time that is added to the already lengthy procedure of culture testing, but also the problem of contamination of samples, as it occurred in Dawa’s case.
The doctor here revealed that, “Earlier, the samples were sent to a lab in Chennai but there were a lot of cases of contamination, so much so that the lab refused to take in samples from Sikkim. So, now they are being sent to another lab in Hyderabad”.
Contamination is an inherent problem with culture testing as it is and the added distance and time incurred accentuates this problem, it was informed. “Even sputum samples that are collected at local centres are not done in the proper manner. The staff is not properly trained or qualified and are not aware of the significance of the task at hand. Most times they are only worried about the numbers they need to show at the end of a day or month,” expressed another doctor. It is another thing that sputum testing itself is an outdated and questionable form of testing riddled with various weaknesses. What all of this goes to suggest is that diagnosis and testing which are crucial for a TB or MDR TB patient is a serious concern in the state.
Time doesn’t wait for anybody it is said, and for TB patients time can kill. A wait of 9 months as in Dawa’s case, is “too long a wait” for a MDR patient admitted one doctor here. Caught between the need to accurately determine the MDR strain of TB for fear of further aggravating or even giving rise to drug resistance because of faulty treatment and the lack of adequate and reliable testing facilities, it is not just the patient who suffers. In a year, a single MDR patient can infect at least 15 people with the disease. This in turn could very well mean that at least 4500 in the state are infected with the MDR strain of TB.
 A test which can determine drug resistance in a patient in the least amount of time and easily accessible is the obvious solution. Good news, however, came in February earlier this year with India clearing the proposal to set up a new diagnostic test GeneXpert that will test and confirm MDR TB within 120 minutes at 18 sites across the country. Funded by USAID Country Mission with technical assistance from WHO India, the initial results of this project will come in the next few months. This facility is being planned for Sikkim as well, but there are issues of adequate space to house the equipment, it is learnt. If successful, this would significantly increase the speed of diagnosis.
That said, it remains to be seen at which stage of diagnosis or treatment this test would be used because the problem with culture or DST test also seems to lie in when it is advised to patients.
The other issue that Dawa’s case raises is the role of private practitioners. When he went to a private doctor as his condition worsened, this doctor confirmed he had MDR TB. On what basis was this diagnosis made? At the time, all Dawa had was the sputum test result and it is difficult to comprehend how the doctor diagnosed Dawa with MDR TB on the basis of this and prescribed MDR TB treatment to top it off. If his culture test results prove otherwise, then the treatment for MDR he is getting at the moment is likely to trigger further resistance.
It is here that awareness and training figure in as extremely important. As a doctor remarked: “The RNTCP and DOTS programmes are absolutely brilliant on paper, but it is in the implementation that things don’t quite turn out as they are supposed to. Training for all medical staff, both private and government, has to be taken up in earnest in order for the programme to work effectively”.
The Government of India recently declared TB as a notifiable disease which means every case of TB diagnosed in private or government hospitals will now have to be notified to the government. This would mean information on every TB case will be recorded. It is certainly a positive step towards at least having complete information on the number of TB cases, however, it again remains to be seen how it will play out on-field. Critics point out that duplication of records, human rights aspect of the effect on the patient of revealing such data in sensitive socio-cultural conditions, implementation hurdles could weigh down what at present looks like a positive step.
Apart from private doctors, private laboratories that undertake culture testing is another serious concern. Considering the importance of correct diagnosis when it comes to TB and its drug resistant strains, laboratories without proper credentials cannot be entrusted with such testing. As informed earlier, there are only a few accredited labs in the entire country excluding some private ones recently added.
Dawa’s earlier outburst does seem to hold water as someone as young, he now lies at the DOTS plus site here unable to even speak or walk properly, hand fed by his sister, a testimony of the devastation that MDR TB brings down upon human bodies.
Sharing this space is also a middle aged woman, although with a prior history of TB and treatment, she was also advised culture testing after 6 months of initial treatment. There are two other young female patients in their early twenties also in the same room. One of them has been there since it opened its doors on 06 March earlier this year and says she does not remember how many but has seen numerous admitted and discharged from this very ward.
Reports of a new TDR [Totally Drug Resistant] form of TB in January this year in Mumbai brought to light the severity of the problem that is drug resistance together with the need to intensify efforts to tackle it. Despite the labyrinth of medical jargon and complex data that can disorient, discourage and blind, the fact of the matter is that MDR TB is here and Sikkim, like the rest of the world needs to up its ante.

On becoming an I-League State

KARMA YOUGYAL
It did not happen overnight. The effort and determination of Mr. Baichung Bhutia in shaping the United Sikkim Football Club (USFC) into an I-League Team by roping in vibrant sponsors and launching the team in the arena of Professional Football greatly contributed to this maiden achievement. The persistent appeal to the All India Football Federation for the allotment I-League 2nd Division matches by the past and present President and General Secretary of Sikkim Football Association made it possible to happen ultimately.
The emergence of a number of football players from Sikkim at the national scene led by the likes of Sanju Pradhan, Nirmal Chettri, Ashish Chettri, Ong Tshering Lepcha, Bikash Jairu, Sanjay Chettri, Santu Subba, Raman Gurung, Sagar Rai, Nim Tshering Lepcha, Uttam Rai, Nim Dorjee Tamang all products of Namchi Sports Hostel proved that Sikkim has the talent and if nurtured correctly, has the potential to go to the top in the footsteps of the iconic Baichung Bhutia. The success story of these players at the national scene, supporting their families economically can be predominantly attributed to the Scheme “Search for more Baichungs” conceived and started by the author of this article by drawing inspiration from one of the speeches of the present Chief Minister. I must put on record the valuable contributions made by Mr. Hangu Norden Lepcha, Late Soloman Lepcha and Mr Suren Chettri for their untiring and dedicated service in shaping these boys.
Before dealing with the impact of being the I-League state let me briefly narrate the history of the football Association in Sikkim as Sikkim Football Association at the helm of affairs and as the major stake holder in this I-League venture.
Sikkim Football Association was formed in the year 1976 after Sikkim merged in the National mainstream and the legacy of the game of football is drawn from the erstwhile Gangtok Football Association which was synonymous with Kumar Sporting Club, predominantly a Football Club established by the then late Crown Prince of Sikkim during 1940s. This team won the first cup outside Sikkim in the year 1948.
The actual growth and popularity of football in Sikkim started with the launch of the All India Governor’s Gold Cup Football Tournament in the year 1979 with the blessings of the first Governor of the state Shri B.B. Lal. The Association has never looked back since then, facing challenges and confronting trials and tribulations.
Sikkim, the tiniest state of the Indian Union with a population of less than half a million has given some of the best football players to the country, such as late Pem Dorji, Kul Bahadur Chettri. Karma Lodey Bhutia is perhaps the first Sikkimese school boy to represent the country at the Asian International Football Championship in Seoul, South Korea. Baichung Bhutia, the legendary National Captain and as the days go by more and more players from the state are slowly but surely dominating the National scene. To name a few, Ong Tshering Lepcha who captained the India U-19, Sanju Pradhan and Nirmal Chettri are dominant part of the Golden Brigade- East Bengal, Michael Lepcha represented India in school football team in ASFC in Japan. Ashish Chettri represented India U-14 team in Iran. Bikash Jairu, Robin Gurung, Santu Subba, Sanjay Chettri, Nim Tshering Lepcha, Sagar Rai and Nim Dorjee Tamang are vibrant players donning the colors of various premier clubs in the country. The latest addition being Uttam Rai, a member of the India U-17 presently touring the USA as part of their exposure-training.
Sikkim girls are not far behind from their male counterparts either in spite of limited exposures. While Mrs. Pushpa Chettri represented the country way back in 1986 at the Asia Cup Women’s Football Championship held in Jakarta, Indonesia, Miss Anuradha Chettri played for the country in 2009 and Ms. Nima Lamu Bhutia represented India in FCA U-19 at Dhaka, Bangladesh.
SFA is committed towards the development and growth of Football in the state, which in the near future would feed the country with more players from the abundant resource of its upcoming rich talented young players.
Now that Sikkim has been elevated to the prestigious elite group of vibrant football states known as “The I-League States” with the qualification of United Sikkim Football Club to First Division I-League. The repercussions are enormous in terms of value added professional football from the point of the quality and standard of football that the state is open to witness, from meeting the infrastructural requirement for hosting the home Matches for USFC to testing the organizational skill of the state Association. Everyone connected with these important aspects of being the I-League State need to gear up and roll up their sleeves right away to accomplish and strive towards achieving a sustainable goal.
With this achievement Sikkim has been firmly placed on the Map of the Professional Football of the country of 1.2 billion population. Sikkim is now at par with the elite states like West Benga l(Kingfisher East Bengal, McDowell Mohun Bagan, Prayag United SC), Goa (Dempo SC Pvt. Ltd. Churchill Brothers SC, Salgaocar S.C, Sporting Clube de Goa), Maharashtra (Air India, Mumbai FC,Pune FC),Kerala(Chirag United), Karnataka (HAL Bangalore) and Meghalaya (Shillong Lajong FC) with regard to standard of the game, basic infrastructural requirements and the organizational capabilities. If we deal with these important aspects of being the I-League state, the responsibility of sustaining at the top distinctly lies with different agencies.
As regards the standard of the game and to maintain the I-League status, the responsibility lies with USFC and its Management, its promoters, its players, its Coach and support staff and above all Mr. Baichung Bhutia, his determination and charisma to galvanize home support for the home team. I wish the Team would look more homely with more players of Sikkimese origin which will surely help gain support not only moral support but financial support after all we have entered the arena of Professional Football. When we can spend lacs of rupees sending SMSes to make Prashant Tamang the Indian idol, there is no reason why the generous sports loving people will not come forward. You only need to create a fan based network that will reach every Sikkimese house hold. Its not that we do not have domestic players, there are scores of players like Sanju, Nirmal and others signed for other premier clubs in the country. However, it should be best left to the wisdom of the think tank of USFC who cannot afford to be carried away by emotions. They must work a strategy to sustain the status they have earned and be among the top and aim to beat the Golden Brigade and Mohun Bagan on their own turf.
Thanks to the visionary and innovative Chief Minister of Sikkim, the up gradation of the Paljor Stadium was undertaken at the right time understanding the need and aspirations of the sporting fraternity of Sikkim. The laying of the Astro Turf as the playing surface has brought in multi-faceted advantages from its utility point of view as well as a democratic protocol as a destination for the I-League matches. It made it possible for us to dare to bid for the recently concluded I-League 2nd Division and placed Sikkim at the highest level as far as football is concerned. Yet we cannot be optimistic, the challenges ahead are huge and time is running out. When the next season of I-League starts in September, 2012, we must be 100% ready with required infrastructural facilities. The Paljor Stadium will host 13 odd Home Matches for USFC against teams like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Churchil Brothers, Air India, Chirag United and so on. There will be a huge media presence both print & electronic and Live TV coverage of all the matches. The matches will be played partially day and night according to the television time slot allotted for these matches and hence the Paljor Stadium will have to be up graded with:
• Flood Lighting Systems.
• An exclusive Media Centre fully equipped to cater to the visiting media persons.
• Well placed TV Camera platforms in the stadium
• Commentary Boxes separately for TV and Radio.
• A well equipped Medical Centre within the stadium complex capable of handling emergencies.
• Well furnished Players’ and Referees’ Change Rooms with running hot and cold water.
• Will the Digital Score Board ever become functional.
I am sure the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs must be gearing up as it understands the urgency and importance of the above facilities.
Provided all the wishes are fulfilled, the gigantic responsibility lies with the Sikkim Football Association as the major stake holder of the entire event. It is time that it regroups under its new leadership and cannot afford to be complacent. It must gear up and show the organizational capabilities and skills to its best and in a professional touch by taking lessons from the errors and omissions of the recently concluded I-League 2n Division at the Paljor stadium
The I-League is not just a high standard football matches confined to the Paljor Stadium alone. The amount of media coverage and their very presence in the Capital will help Sikkim’s exposure in terms of Tourism, trade and industry and its overall development as a happening state.
[The writer is a retired Joint Director, Department of Sports & Youth Affairs]

The Challenge of Being a ‘Chinki’ in Dilli

TSERING EDEN
“Chingles Hotline [Call me. I know you want to.]”
These words appear in bold against a bright yellow background accompanied by a smiling “Oriental-looking” girl staring right at the reader. The phone number in a larger font is placed at the centre of this advert published in a leading national daily’s New Delhi edition a few weeks ago. There is no mention of what this “hotline” is about or other such details leaving everything to the reader’s imagination.
Prejudice, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is ‘a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience’, and can therefore be said to be an imagined idea of what a people, place, profession etc., is like. The advertisement in question aptly plays with this mix of prejudice and imagination to achieve what it wants to. The ad ran just for a day, but it signifies what has been happening for the past many years and is still happening in the National Capital Region of New Delhi. People from the North East Region of the country, women in particular, fight not just the heat, dust and everyday pains but the deep prejudices held against them by the people of the so-called ‘mainland’.
Seemingly harmless, this sort of warped representation in the popular media actually perpetuates and deepens the already existing prejudice, if not in the conscious then definitely the subconscious minds, of its consumers. The fragmented but in-your-face association of the word “Chingles” [ref chinki], the model used, the underlying [or perhaps obvious] meaning of a ‘hotline’, all come together in the readers mind to form an idea that later turns into opinion that is miles away from reality.
In reality, this kind of off-handed misrepresentation leads to numerous rapes, attempted rapes and molestation cases going unreported. The North East Support Centre and Helpline [Delhi] website [www.nehelpline.net] carries records of some cases that came to them and in most of these cases, no FIRs were lodged with the police. The denial of even lodging an FIR or First Information Report which is the first step and plays a vital role in the successful investigation of a case, obliterates any hope for justice.
Why this denial?
News magazine Tehelka’s latest expose on what the policemen of the national capital think of rape, especially the victims, explains this. In a Gurgaon policeman’s words, interviewed during Tehelka’s two week sting operation, “Yahan pe Darjeeling aur Nepal tak ki ladkiyan business purpose se aye hai… wo jaate bhade pe hain. Baad mein paisa nahi mila to rape case bata diya jata hai (Girls from Darjeeling and Nepal have come here for business purposes. They go with men for money. Later, when the money is not sufficient, it becomes a rape).”
The Tehelka story focuses on the callous, insensitive and debasing attitude of policemen which translates into “flawed first information reports [FIRs], erroneous procedures in collating medical evidence and shoddy investigation”.
Prejudice comes in the way of fair delivery of justice as proven by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) records cited in the story which shows a dismal 34.6 percent conviction rate in rape cases in the capital. When you belong to the North East, Darjeeling, Ladakh or even Nepal, this general prejudice, accentuated by racial discrimination, elevates the problem to a whole new level.
This racial discrimination is a larger problem that prevails in the capital and remains unaddressed to this day. The recent racial profiling that took place during the anti-China protests in the city which saw a large number of ‘Tibetan-looking’ persons getting arrested or detained holds proof. A Shahrukh Khan gets detained at the New York airport for a few hours and it makes national news but the scores of North-Easterns who wound up in police stations across the capital about a month back created no stir as it rightly should have. This writer, on a visit to Delhi at the time, was lucky not to face any unpleasant situation, but was advised by friends to hide the religious threads and pendant [typically Buddhist, therefore running the risk of being mistaken for a Tibetan] around her neck to avoid rousing the suspicions of the Delhi police. Avoid and ignore are some of the keywords that North-Easterns are quite familiar with in the city.
To conclude, Chingles is a mouth freshener/chewing gum by the makers of Rajni Gandha pan masala and the advert ran for one day i.e 01 April. A call to the printed phone number was met by an automated reply which had a woman telling you, in a flirtatious tone, that it was an April Fool’s Day prank, that you had been fooled and finally that you should try their newest product - Chingles. Make any sense?

ENOUGH!

Stop Discriminating People from the North-East India is a group that began two years ago on popular social networking site Facebook and seeks to spread awareness about the region via “constructive engagement with the government, national institutions and the conscious citizens of India”. An update posted on the page on Sunday reads:

“Delhi police known for racial profiling: Yesterday I got harassed by two Delhi cops (lead by Senior Police Constable Naresh Kumar) who frisked me and my young DU student friend William without any reason at a grocery market nearby Ber Sarai flyover around 8 pm. 

When I asked why? They abused back by saying “Chup (Shut up)” and questioned why I was carrying a Rs.500 note and said to each other “Lena ke liye gaya (They went for buying that)”. What’s that supposed to mean? Can’t I go to buy vegetables or food? Or do they think north-eastern people are habitual offenders? 

Earlier I used to ignore such ill-treatment by the Delhi cops, but lately I’ve realized that it was partially our fault for not reacting to such situations, which has further increased their wrong perceptions. 

Anyway, it is not too late, let us set this as an example to our fellow brothers and sisters to raise their voice against such discriminatory attitude of Delhi police. Keeping quiet will only alienate us further more. 

RAISE your voice and let justice triumph!” 

Click here to view the page.

On a Journey Called the “Red Fest”

DEWAKER BASNET
What could have been more memorable for an event than a band member postponing his marriage because his band got an entry into the grand finale of a music competition! The Red Ribbon Super Band, the musical intervention of the Red Fest, aimed at promoting awareness about HIV and AIDS, supporting of people living with HIV and also supporting of clean and drug free music saw these stories and more.
The Red Fest, a three month long intervention of the Sikkim State AIDS Control Society (SSACS) to promote awareness about HIV and AIDS amongst the youngsters of Sikkim and also encourage them to stay away from drugs has been an amazing experience.
For an ordinary person a logical question would be – “Why would someone postpone such a big event in his life just to participate in the finals of a musical contest?”
The answer goes much beyond the logic…It goes to the bonding that everyone had with the Red Fest…it goes out to the care and support each one of them showcased to the cause and said in their own beautiful ways that – “We support people living with HIV and AIDS, we support the cause that they also deserve being treated as humans as anyone else, and we support the cause of getting high on music without getting high on drugs”….Some questions certainly have a connection with the heart.
For, it certainly takes a lot to support a cause like the cause belongs to you. At the Red Fest that’s been the case!
The bonding of the Red Fest has belonged to everybody. From Sikkim State AIDS Control Society, to the various NGO’s who’ve been a part of it, to the media who’ve been a pillar of support, to the participants of the Red Fest, to the friends and parents who have come to support the participants…it certainly belonged to one and all.
Take for instance, the volunteers of the various NGO partners who have worked day and night to make every single event of the Red Fest a festivity. They have been the heart of the Red Fest, working day and night to make every event of the intervention as special as the last one. The pride that runs in their faces after the completion of a successful day of the Red Fest is phenomenal, be it positive interventions or the Red Five Football Tournament or the Red Ribbon Super Band Competition.
And with many of them having a tryst in the past with substance abuse and drugs, one would feel so glad that the three month engagement of the Red Fest has certainly given them a small yet defining direction to get back to the mainstream. These volunteers have been instrumental in almost all the aspects of the Red Fest.
From small things, like, putting up posters and banners early in the morning to big things like, taking up catering services and waking up at 5 am to prepare breakfast for the delegates as well as the participants. A germination of purpose and direction was definitely showcased in a lot of these volunteers at the Red Fest.
 The Red Fest has been interesting in the way the interventions were formatted too. First there was Positive Interventions – the initiative to promote awareness about HIV and AIDS amongst school students, then the Red Five Football Tournament –reinforced the message that it is better to play sports than take drugs and parallel to it the Red Ribbon Super Band –which aimed at driving home the message across youngsters to keep music drugs free.

Hunger, Poverty and Democracy in India

SHIBSANKAR JENA
In one of the most shocking revelations to hit the nation, it recently came to light that 42 percent of the malnourished children in the world live in India and that 92 percent of the mothers here are not even aware about healthcare systems available for them and their babies or their rights. These, as per the HUNGAMA Report released by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 10 January, 2012. The Prime Minister admits that the disturbing statistic is a national shame. With this shocker still fresh in the mind, in a debate telecast on NDTV on 27 Jan, Justice Kurtzy mentioned that on an average, 47 farmers commit suicide in India every day. The two realities bring to the public sphere, a debate relating to the journey of Indian democracy and development since 1950.
Although there may be a doubts cast by intellectuals, civil society and others on the nature of the data, the very conceptualization of malnutrition and hunger and the methodology of the survey, what cannot be denied is that India is the largest contributor to hunger in the world. It was Mahatma Gandhi who first dreamt of a hunger-free India and it was the first Prime Minister of the nation, Pandit Nehru who said children were the future of India and that the country should think of how to capitalize human resources. Sixty-three years of democracy and development since, it is accepted that almost half of India’s energy, intelligence and the human productivity is going waste, despite many schemes, plans and developmental programmes initiated by both the central and state governments.
Whose fault is this? Government and politics? Bureaucracy? Or the society itself?
The answer could be approached from any of the three sides, but the HUNGAMA survey says it is largely due to the traditional socio-cultural practices and lack of education and awareness among the rural population. In other words, the main problem lies on the ground, not in the governance and bureaucratic approach. According to MP Sachin Pilot who is one of the members of this Citizen’s Alliance which commissioned the HUNGAMA Report, the problem can be solved through proper co-ordination and active participation of Gram Panchayats, Aangan Wadi and NGOs.
Is this a right way to tackle this problem? Are awareness programmes and strengthening of Gram panchayats and Aangan wadi enough to solve the problem?
I do not believe so, because, the interpretation of the HUNGAMA findings is not accurate. Malnourishment is not only due to socio-cultural practices like the patriarchal ideology in the family or due to the lack of awareness, but also due to the growing marginalization of the poor in the global market system, high rate of exploitation of the marginalized people by some local market agency nexuses, rapid decline in food crop cultivation to cash crop production which leads to the food insecurity and the negligence of the government to give top priority towards children’s issue and mother healthcare systems, and also inefficient bureaucratic implementation and corruption.
Although our Constitution’s framers had seen a dream of Indian society without Hunger, Inequality or Poverty, it is the ideology of politics through which development issues have been determined. Now we accord higher priority to the reservation policy, market expansion, building dams, industry etc in pursuit of higher profits and leverage to influence people for votes. Issues likes hunger, malnourishment, maternal healthcare etc are given lesser priority because they have lesser impact on voting behavior.
Another important contributor to the high rate of malnourished children in India is the rapid increasing of food insecurity and declining of food sovereignty. Food insecurity is due to increasing addiction among growers for cash-crop production. The introduction of cash crops also destabilizes the food sovereignty through mono-cropping systems where people are forgetting their local ways of production and consumption.
In this context, I would like to cite one example from my research work in Bolangir district of Orissa. This district, along with the districts of Kalahandi and Koraput (in the popular discourse of development, called “KBK”), is the largest contributor to hunger and poverty in India. This region is recognized as dry land area with drought prone region. Traditionally, this region developed a system of mixed cropping (for example rice with mug cultivation) to tackle the drought. The logic was that if there was low rainfall, rice production will be low but mug production would be high and enough to tide over the drought. But the introduction of cotton farming in the Eighties led to a decline in the traditional farming system and most of the farmers started to grow cotton as the market value of cotton was high. This caused a huge disturbance in the local agrarian system as most of the big farmers and land owners switched to cotton farming and in doing so, also took away the lands they had earlier given to tenant farmers. This resulted in the disintegration of the social structure in the region and triggered mass migration of the poor to the cities like Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad seeking manual labour jobs. At the same time, there was also a deskilling of the farmers who gradually forgot the indigenous farming systems and started to depend on fertilizers and modern methods of cultivation.
The present situation of this region is very pathetic with the land which has been used for cotton cultivation lying fallow because it has lost its fertility. Due to this, most of the smaller farmers have lost out and are looking for alternative jobs for survival. To take the profit of this situation, there are some local agents (locally called as Dallals) deployed by the brick making companies based in Chennai and Hyderabad who arrive in the region, contact the farmers, pay lump sum money like Rs. 10,000 or 15,000 during the farming season to buy the entire family as labourer to work in brick kilns. These farmers take the money as it is essential to invest in agriculture. After the end of the agricultural season they move to these brick kilns and work without pay as bonded labour. The sad irony is that every individual has to produce at least 300 bricks a day irrespective of how long they have to toil for it. One of my respondents informed me that most of the elderly in the family had died due to this overwork. This is the highest form of exploitation under which an entire family of five members is bonded to produce Rs. 900 worth of bricks per person everyday for a collective remuneration of Rs, 10,000-15,000. One brick sells for Rs. 3 in the market.
This is one of the major factors not only in this district but in the entire KBK collection of three districts of Orissa which has created a vicious poverty cycle. As a result this, the region suffers from hunger and produces a large number malnourished children. A regular report featured in Oriya newspapers is of parents from this region selling their children for meager amounts. This fact can be interpreted in two ways; Firstly, these families, due to their poor economic condition, are unable to feed their children, so that they have no option but to sell them away, secondly, by selling their children they get some money to maintain their remaining family. Taking this reality into consideration, can we still believe that it is largely socio-cultural practices and lack of awareness which produces malnourished children or do we begin to accept that it is largely due to poverty, exploitation and the marketisation of production?
[The Writer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Systems and Anthropology, Sikkim University]

“Nothing Happens by Chance”

WHAT STARTED OFF AS A LOGISTIC NIGHTMARE IS TODAY THE WORLD’S TALLEST TESTAMENT TO FAITH
INTRO: On 18 February, 2004, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling inaugurated the 135 ft tall statue of Sikkim’s patron saint, Guru Padmasambhava, at Samdruptse above Namchi. On the seventh anniversary of this historic event, NOW! reproduces a special feature authored by PEMBA THONDUP which formed part of the newspaper’s special coverage of the momentous day. Mr. Thondup, then a Special Officer in the Chief Minister’s Office, is sadly no more among us but his work, like this fluid account of this special project, sustains…
[this feature was first published in NOW! issue dated 18 Feb 2004]
Guru Rinpoche, as Guru Padmasambhava is more commonly known, visited Sikkim in the Eighth century. He is said to have meditated in all the four corners of the State and fortified it against all the negative influences and established the Nyingmapa order of Tibetan Buddhism here. He is also believed to have compiled and left behind his teachings and guidelines in sacred safe places under the care of Dharmapalas and Dakinis in this, now blessed land, so that the Dharma would flourish here. Guru Rinpoche permeates the very ethos of Sikkim and now, nearly thirteen centuries after his passage through Sikkim, the land is paying a grand homage to its Patron Saint. On 18 February [2004], the Chief Minister will inaugurate the 135 ft. statue of the Guru at Samduptse about 5 kms from the south district headquarters of Namchi.
While no one can today deny that it is in the fitness of things that such an extravagant thanksgiving be propitiated to the Guru by the people most touched by his teachings, it was a project that almost did not happen. Announced by Mr. Chamling during the Pang Lhabsol celebrations in 1996, it was received with awe by some and scepticism and doubt by most. Sikkim after all had never undertaken a philanthropic project so big.
The lack of experience aside, the sheer logistics were too challenging for most people to even comprehend. The site was located on a hill-top with no motorable access and the nearest town was 8 kms away and there was also not a drop of water in the vicinity. To construct and install a 100-plus feet statue atop such a remote place, therefore appeared not only insane but a task impossible to execute.
While many thought it a fantasy of an idealist, some others were less charitable and dismissed the announcement as a political gimmick. A vast majority did not take it seriously and subsequent delays presented further opportunity to the detractors to allege that the ruling Government was merely playing with the sentiments of the tribals of Sikkim, who are mostly Buddhists.
Recollecting those days now, the Chief Minister says he remained unmoved by negative comments. In his heart he knew that he would see the project through, he reminisces. The project did get a propitious beginning when His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived at Namchi in South Sikkim on 21 October, 1997 to lay the foundation stone the next day. The significance of the day was not lost even on the weather. Although it had rained throughout the night at Namchi, on the appointed day the entire region was swathed in glorious sunlight.
However, the project, despite the best of efforts, was consistently getting delayed. It was perhaps awaiting another religious prompting and this came in the form of Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche who was convinced to take charge of the design, construction and installation of the statue.
How this near impossible task was finally accomplished is perhaps best explained in the words of Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche himself. Speaking at Samduptse to those associated with the project on 16 December, 2001, he said: “According to Dharma, nothing happens by accident. It’s our karma and prayers that we all have gotten together in one place to work on such a sacred project. The Chief Minister, even though he is not Buddhist by faith in this life time, must surely belong to the lineage of Boddhisatvas from the previous lives. That is how he is able to think of such a project and also be in a position to make it happen.”
Treated to such a motivational speech, work on the project began in the earnest and sailed through unhindered. More than 1000 labourers and scores of experienced engineers and highly skilled architects and sculptors laboured through nearly three years to complete this awe-inspiring and towering statue. Hundreds of volunteers from different regions and surrounding villages also offered a helping hand to this prestigious project. More than 48,000 bags of cement and tons and tons of Tata Steel were used for the statue which itself is made of cement, concrete and copper.
Now that it is ready, it can be said without dispute that the 135 feet statue is the tallest Statue of Guru Rinpoche in the world. It is much taller than the famous bronze Buddha at Kamakura, Japan, cast in 1252, which stands 42 feet and has a circumference of 97 feet, or the gigantic statue of Maitreya [Jhowo Jhampa] at Tashilhunpo Monastery at Shigatse which stands at 85 ft. None, as the records show, is as grand as the one at Samdruptse.
The project today stands as a testament to team effort. Every cog in the wheel worked in perfect timing to ensure that the structure, when completed, met all the technical as well as aesthetic requirements. Although the total cost of the project at Samdruptse works out to Rs. 6.76 crores, the statue itself cost little more than Rs. 4.55 crores. The high-powered committee comprising of secretaries of Tourism [the implementing department], Buildings & Housing, Roads & Bridges, Ecclesiastical, Forest and Finance departments worked in close consultation with Dodrupchen Rinpoche and his Chorten Trust to ensure that work was never hampered for lack of coordination.
The statue is designed according to traditional Buddhist edicts of statuary proportion and moulded as per the measurement and other details explained in the Thekcha composed by the great Vajrayana teacher Je Mephan Rinpoche. The precise measurement of every segment of the statue of Guru Rinpoche has been meticulously extracted from the original scripture. Aware that when an image drawn by a Lharipa on a smaller scale was transformed to the proportions laid out for the Samdruptse Project, the errors multiplied and the image proportionately lost in originality, the Dodrupchen Chorten Trust monitored each stage of the construction and ensured that the gigantic statue of Guru Rinpoche was proportionately and faithfully replicated from the measurements given in the Thekcha on the miniature statue.
Dodrupchen Rinpoche recalls how, when he was first approached by the Chief Minister to undertake the project in 1997, he had tried to opt out by pointing out that he had no “experience or worldly education” to take on a project so big. “He [the CM], however, insisted that I take on the project because worldly people will not know how to go about such an important project in true spirit. That made me think. When he, as the leader of our society, was making such an effort to build a statue of Guru Rinpoche in this sacred hidden land, then, I being a lama should help realize his prayer come true. I decided to take on the project,” the Rinpoche said.
For Sikkim that was one of the most positive decisions taken in recent times.
Coming back to Dodrupchen Rinpoche’s “nothing happens by accident” statement. Mr. Chamling, when asked to share why he decided on such a huge project said that the day his Government assumed power in 1994, he decided in his mind to take some concrete steps to pay a fitting tribute to the great saint who had blessed Sikkim 1200 years back and whose teachings permeated not only the Sikkimese ethos, but also had a profound effect on generations of people throughout the world. Through this project he also hoped to strengthen the religious foundation Sikkim. The Chief Minister feels that the mandate that brought him to power is not just to shepherd development in the social sector, but also promote, cultivate and foster the various religions and faiths that knit together the gloriously colourful social fibre of Sikkim.
Samdruptse was handpicked by the Chief Minister for this noble venture because of its historical background. History records that in the eighteenth century, Princess Pedi Wangmo conspired with the royal physician to murder her half brother, the king of Sikkim at the time, Chogyal Chagdor Namgyal. Official summons were sent to apprehend Pedi Wangmo and execute her. In the absence of prompt communication facilities during those days, the executors of the royal summon were told to send smoke signals from the peak of Samdruptse the moment the “evil” Princess is executed. Eventually, when the smoke signal billowed from the top of Samdruptse, it announced the victory of good over evil. Mr. Chamling selected Samdruptse so that just as the peak had sent out a message of the victory of good over evil some 300 years back, it may send out prayers for love, compassion and kindness in the present times.
The site received instant religious approval when Dodrupchen Rinpoche, who first visited Samduptse on 5 May, 1997 along with the Committee constituted to oversee the implementation, expressed that no site could have been more suitable and ideally located than the remote hilltop of Samduptse.
Six years later, in a grand religious ceremony held at Samdruptse on 28 November, 2003, His Eminence officially handed over the completed statue to the Chief Minister. The Chi-tyo Chi-len [handing and taking over] service was attended among others by Rajya Sabha MP, PT Gyamtso, Dy. Speaker, Sikkim Legislative Assembly, Palden Lachungpa, Tourism Minister, KT Gyaltsen, senior secretaries of the State Government including eminent Rinpoches and prominent representatives of Dodrupchen Chorten Trust.
Venerable Dodrupchen Rinpoche later thanked the Chief Minister for entrusting such an important project to a “humble” Lama like him and assured that he had completed the Statue with the best of intentions to benefit the people of Sikkim and all sentient beings. The Rinpoche, while reiterating that he had executed the project as per the wishes of the Chief Minister, said he was now handing over the completed statue to the Chief Minister personally so that he could chart the future course for this great beginning.
On 18 February, the statue will be gifted to the people.

The Chief Minister Leads the Way

KC PRADHAN on the CM’s Sikkim Bhraman, how it has drawn remote areas into the development and empowerment process and how the people at large at the civil society should respond to the CM’s call to cleanse Sikkim of corruption and denial…

I am closely following the Chief Minister’s 40-day village-to-village grassroot level public interaction tour through all corners of Sikkim both, on the local TV channel and the dailies, with considerable interest and delight. Meeting people from far corners of the State like Dhupidara, Labdang, Karchi, which I consider the most neglected, and making the Heads of Departments see the ground reality has gladdened my heart. I had occasion to see their plight and have often hoped that development start from such far away corners. It has been a good 50 years since I saw them literally in rags and to see them in pictures now, well dressed, empowered and articulate enough to demand their rights, I say to myself, “Yes, Sikkim has really changed and changed for the better. All other sentiments set aside.”

Education of First Generation Students

SEBASTIAN V.J.
Almost in all underdeveloped and developing countries, educating the first generation is a great challenge. Who are the people belonging to the first generation? Those who are receiving formal education for the first time in the family can be called first generation students. There is also a degree of difference with reference to the level of education (primary, secondary and tertiary-under graduate, post graduate and doctoral degree) of the immediate parents.
Very often, educators get frustrated with first generation students. They don’t have self initiative in the learning process, lack of motivation and interest, high level of fatigue, poor retention, less exposure to mass media etc. Home environment is not always conducive for learning, lack of self discipline and prone to bad habits may even have anti-social behaviour. What else the teacher requires to get frustrated? If you are a frustrated teacher there are some other reasons also to point out. In psychology all these come under defense mechanism.

Reaching Barsey, through Rain and Hail

ANUPA RAI
WITH A YEAR having passed since the ‘green caps’ took over Singba [in North Sikkim] with the then acting Governor, MK Narayan, inaugurating the International Rhododendron Festival, time has come for its concluding phase. Well, what would have been a more apt spot than the Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary as the venue for a send off to the yearlong IRF in Sikkim?
A walk from Hilley to Barsey on 12 April thus began high on energy and riding on expectations, only to be dulled by the persistent rain which inundated the entire hike. On Ram Nawami, Barsey remained soaked with thunder showers and intermittent hailstones. The recently widened trekker’s trail connecting Hilley to Barsey was worst for the rain, with the rushing water bringing down fresh mud to layer the cemented trail. Progress was sluggish.

Loyola College: An Appraisal

SANDHYA RAI, an Assistant Professor at the Loyola College of Education, Namchi, presents an introduction to the institution as it prepares for a peer-team visit by the National Assesment and Accreditation Council…

Loyola College of Education, a Catholic Minority Private Institution situated at Namchi, South Sikkim, awaits a momentous occasion as the Peer Team Visit by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has been scheduled for 14 and 15 April. The staff and students have worked hard on preparations for the visit. Loyola College of Education is the first institution to be assessed and accredited by NAAC in the state of Sikkim.
The College was started in response to the request of the Government of Sikkim and is named after St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Founder of the Society of Jesus. The Society of Jesus was founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius of Loyola and its members are popularly known as the Jesuits. It is an international Catholic Religious Order with its members engaged in activities such as education, social action, legal aid, communication, pastoral works, adult and rural literacy programmes, environmental studies etc.

What Sikkim Was

by TENZIN C. TASHI
Rain has always cleansed. And hail has always peppered. And yet, a large-cross section of Sikkimese society braved the rain and the hailstorm on the 6th April evening of the world premiere of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Sikkim’. More than fog, Vajra Cinema was shrouded with a barely contained excitement that was as palpable as my own quickened breathing.
A trio of kho-clad musicians playing traditional instrumental music on stage set the tempo for the evening. There were traditional choktses on stage for the principal dignitaries, and practically everyone was in khos in honour of the occasion. It was easy to believe, if only ephemerally, that we had been transported back to the Sikkim of yore that was shortly going to unveil itself under the maestro’s baton.
After a brief and dignified function that incredibly included six addresses in about half an hour, the much-awaited moment arrived-the screening of ‘Sikkim’.
There has been so much hype and hoopla over this film. People claim that ‘Sikkim’ was ‘banned’, that the Chogyal was shown in bad light, and of course, we had the court step in to stay the proposed screening at a film festival in Kolkata recently. Also, there has been a lot of build-up around this film as the last unseen work of that brooding genius, Satyajit Ray. Reams of newsprint and megawatts of verbal horsepower have been exhausted over what ‘Sikkim’ is and what it is not.
If anyone expected fireworks, they were restricted to outside of this tiny gem of a film. The rolling of the simple title ‘Sikkim’ evoked a spontaneous roar from the lucky multitude in Vajra, there ‘By invitation only’ while others gate crashed, albeit electronically, by smsing and ‘facebooking’ those inside for real time updates.

Public Undertakings and New Enterprises in Sikkim

by KC PRADHAN

I SAW WITH A tinge of sadness that the industrial flagships of the yesteryears - Sikkim Jewels and SITCO - are in the process of closing down with golden handshakes offered to its staff- the package varying from 4.5. lakhs to 10 lakhs. It was at the time of PP Pherwani and even Gyamtso Tashi in earlier times in Sikkim Jewels and Taga Khampa in SITCO that these institutions reached their zenith and were must-visit institutions for all dignitaries, from the Presidents to Prime Minsters to Ministers, from the Centre.
The world has changed, times have changed and so has the technology. It was expected that the executives in these institutions would be keeping abreast as to what was going around and keep changing the technology and the product as the market demanded. It is simple logic.

Resurgence of the Himalayan Rhododendrons

Author [in fur cap] with forest officers- P.O. Pazo, S.M. Rai, C.D. Lama and retinue of camp followers
including village headmen at camp at Hilley before going to Chiwabhanjyang. Just declared
‘Rhododendron Sanctuary’ warden- Kaloo Sherpa at right (sitting). Fr. Karma, FG Namgyal
and  FG Anna Purna Subba [behind S.M. Rai] also in the picture. [Bersey 1969]

BERSEY RHODODENDRON SANCTUARY
The closing ceremony of the International Rhododendron Festival 2010-11 begins 25 March. In an aptly timed contribution, respected forester, KC PRADHAN, shares a chapter from his well-received book, “Life & Times of a Plantsman”. The extract below recounts his visit to the West Sikkim Forest Division in 1969 and of how the idea of a Rhododenron Sanctuary at Bersey was born and how, with it, started the process which earned Sikkim’s Rhododendrons their rightful position as a wealth worth celebrating…

SOMETIME AFTER MY return from Yale, I visited the west forest division. This was in April 1969. I was accompanied by P.O. Pazo, Saharman Rai, L.B. Lama, and a host of other forest staff. We trekked from Hilley to Bersey and found the whole hillside ablaze with a pinkish to an almost white hue of Rhododendron arboretum var. campbelliae. We decided on the spot to declare the area a Rhododendron Sanctuary and got the area marked roughly with the help of natural features. Everyone accepted the need to appoint a chowkidar (caretaker). A dumb fellow - a daredevil nevertheless - accompanying us, Kalloo Sherpa, was the instant choice. He did a really good job and kept all the cow-herders under strict control.

Peace and Conflict Studies: Scope and Prospects

Satyabrat Sinha
This essay intends to create awareness about the discipline of Peace and Conflict Studies and generate an interest in what is a widely applicable Social Science. Very few of us have any idea of Peace and Conflict Studies. It is a Social Science discipline dealing with the issue of Peace and Conflict in all aspects of human sphere - international, national, local as well as individual. Much like all aspects of commercial activity falls within the sphere of Economics, similarly, all aspects affecting Peace is the concern of Peace and Conflict Studies.

Bhum-Chu at Tashiding Monastery

Tashiding Monastery in West Sikkim

Acharya HISSEY WANGCHUK
Bhum-Chu is an auspicious event observed at Tashiding monastery every year with great faith and glory by devotees from all over the country, with this day eagerly anticipated by every Buddhist. From the 8th day, until the morning of the 15th of the first month of the Tibetan calendar, the Thugjaychenpo khorwaledol text is recited in the lead up to the distribution of the sacred water [this year, the occasion falls on the intervening night of 18 and 19 March, and the Puja, or sadhana, started 6 days ahead). During earlier times, these prayers generally started from the 1st day of the 1st month and continued till the 15th. On the morning of the 15th, the most auspicious event takes place when the sacred Bhum-pa [vase] is removed from its casket. This is witnessed only by aristocrats, officials and high lamas. As per tradition, only three cups of sacred water are taken out: one cup is for the royal family, one for the monks, and the third cup for the general masses gathered for the ceremony.

Sikkim to choose its Red Ribbon Star on 12 Feb

JOURNEY OF THE RED-RIBBON SIKKIM STAR CAMPAIGN

by LUBHANA RAI
Mobilizing and educating on HIV/AIDS through infotainment is one of the mediums to draw participation of one of the most vulnerable groups, the youths. With an aim to spread the awareness from urban to rural population Sikkim State AIDS Control Society initiated the “Red Ribbon Sikkim Star”, a theme-based performing art competition, part of the Multi-Media Campaign 2010-11. Keeping in view the importance for involvement of youth, the competition was categorized in 3 divisions- music, song and drama.
The campaign made its debut with a stakeholders meeting on 26 September 2010. During the meeting various aspects and objectives were discussed along with the launching of the campaign promo supported by an appeal by Project Director SSACS Dr. V. Singhi,  Indian Football Captain, Arjuna awardee Baichung Bhutia and singer Girish Pradhan. The meeting was attended by representatives from various Government Departments, NGOs, NYK, Sikkim University, Sikkim Armed Police, Jail officials, FBOs, members of SNP +, 1st AIDS Ambassador, media personnel and SSACS officers.
After the successful completion of the stakeholders meeting, training on IPC (Inter Personal Communication) for the effective implementation of MMC was conducted in four batches to members of Red Ribbon Clubs and FBOs. A total of 140 members were oriented on the importance and proper execution of the MMC. The IPC was followed by aggressive advertisements through print, electronic, Private FMs and All India Radio.
With hope and aspiration to spread the message of HIV/AIDS through music, dance and drama, Sikkim SACS rolled out the first ever “Red Ribbon Sikkim Star” competition initiating from Mangan, North District on 13th December 2010. Even though the participation was minimal, it was really heartening to see performances coming from closed doors of rural areas to an open stage projecting their ideas through various medium. Sincerity and hard work of the contestants from North District were appreciated by Judges and audiences.
Only 5 teams/ solo artists could secure themselves to the Semi-Final round. Leaving the purity of mountains and handful of dedicated contenders from North District, the audition was then shifted at the Capital, Gangtok in East District. With superfluous zeal and beaming confidence, large number of participants surrounded the venue anticipating to be crowned as the 1st Red Ribbon Sikkim Star. The unborn creativity was unleashed during the two day auditions conducted on 15th and 16th December 2010. From Gangtok 15 team/ solo artists were selected for the next round.
The next audition was held on 18th and 19th December 2010 at Namchi, South Sikkim. Participants from all walks of life had registered for the auditions, be it from the far end remote areas to the populous urban areas. A total of 15 team/ solo performances were selected from South District. The final two day auditions was held at Gyalshing, West Sikkim on 21st and 22nd December. This district unveiled some true talents which was unexpected and unforgettable. These surprise packages come from some of the secluded and media dark areas. From dawn till dusk the participants queued anxiously waiting for their turn. Finally 10 individuals/ teams were shortlisted for the Semi-final round.
The gift of versatile talent from this tiny Himalayan State flabbergasted the organizers and judges. With mesmerized senses the journey of District Level audition came to halt leaving behind many aspirants. At the end of the auditions 45 individual/ team were selected for the Semi Final round which was scheduled for 5th and 6th January 2011.
The two-day Semi Final was conducted at Government college auditorium, Gangtok wherein, the selected 45 groups showcased enormous talent. Every performance, be it dance, song or drama kept everyone wondering especially the blend and synchronization of HIV/AIDS message with the performance. After long wait of 48 hours the results were announced and 7 teams/ artist will be competing for the coveted title of ‘Red Ribbon Sikkim Star’.
The participants were judged by panel of 6 renowned personalities namely Mr. Madhu sudan Lama (lyricist and composer), Mr. Narayan Rai (lyricist, composer and singer), Mrs. Bimla Pradhan (singer and lyricist), Mr. R. D. Lepcha (theatre specialist), Mr. Uttam Pradhan (actor) and Dr. DS Kerongi (Deputy Director M & E, SSACS).
The Audition and Semi final rounds were recorded and telecasted episodically on Nayuma Entertainment Television, the only local cable in Sikkim.
The Grand Finale of “Red Ribbon Sikkim Star” is scheduled for 12th February 2011.The winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 75,000 along with various attractive gifts. The 1st and 2nd runner-up will be handed over a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and Rs. 30,000 respectively.
Chief Minister Pawan Chamling will grace the occasion as the Chief Guest.
[The writer is Assistant Director, Sikkim State AIDS Control Society]