TENDONG LHO RUM FAAT CELEBRATED IN GANGTOK
ANUSHA GURUNG
GANGTOK, 08 Aug: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling today announced an exclusive quota for the Lepchas of Sikkim in higher education. This quota regime, earmarked for Lepchas as a primitive tribe group of the State, will be implemented from the next academic session onwards, the CM informed. He was speaking at the state-level Tendong Lho Rum Faat celebration hosted at the Mannan Kendra here today.
In a frank recounting of the Government’s pursuit of acquiring primitive tribe group status for the Lepcha community of Sikkim with the Centre, the CM admitted that this bid has not been successful thus far. Reassuring that all out efforts were made towards this end, the CM pointed out that in the interim, the State Government has gone ahead and declared the community as a Primitive Tribe group of Sikkim.
He stressed that even though nothing tangible had accrued to the Lepcha community by way of the PTG recognition, it had provided them with a clearer, more unique identity as the officially recognised ‘first citizens’ of Sikkim, the people indigenous to this land since antiquity. “You now carry this officially endorsed identity wherever you go,” he said.
With the institution of exclusive reservations in higher education for the Lepchas from the next academic session onwards, the first tangible benefits of their primitive tribe group status in Sikkim have begun, he announced.
“Given that the Lepchas are the first people to have populated Sikkim, we want to see them at the top. The facilities which have been extended to the community thus far, and the new initiatives being undertaken for them should be made good use of by the community. Everyone, the Lepchas included, should realise that in Sikkim, if the Lepchas lag behind, then the State will not develop in the true sense either,” he said.
He also declared that the Tower to Heaven project at Daramdin, which has been pending for too many years now, will now be expedited, he assured. On the delay, he shared that when he visited the project site to check on the progress after he had sanctioned it, he was shocked to notice that a project which was meant to celebrate the Lepcha tale of an attempt to make a ladder of pots to heaven, was being constructed like an ordinary building.
“There was no aesthetic sense, nor any sense about the significance of the story for Lepchas in the original design. Then began the long process of getting the right design and concept. I can announce today that the project is now finalised to everyone’s satisfaction and work will begin on it soon and this time, it will be completed,” he said.
He however refused to set a deadline to the project, explaining that rushing such important projects to meet deadlines was ill-advised. “What I can assure you is that the project, when completed, will celebrate the Lepcha story well and will make everyone proud,” he said.
The statue of Thenkong Mensalong, the CM informed, is another project for the Lepcha community which has been sanctioned in principle. What is required now is for the community to decide where the statue should be made. In this regard, he stated that although he had announced the project for North Sikkim, he had been told by subject experts that North Sikkim might not be a historically accurate location for the statue. “Now, I leave it for the community to decide where it should be constructed and advice the government accordingly,” he said.
On the status of scheduled tribes in Sikkim, the CM said that the government remains committed to their protection and welfare and pointed out that this commitment was also being reflected in economic and social indicators collated by national agencies.
According to records of the Government of India, tribes of Sikkim, in regards to per capita property, are the most well to do in the country. This was a unique status and affluence that history and the present government’s efforts have achieved for the scheduled tribes of Sikkim, the CM pointed out, inviting people to compare the travails of tribe groups across India and around the world with the affluence, identity and protection the tribals enjoy in Sikkim.
The CM reiterated that in the eighteen years that he has served as the Chief Minister, he has consistently worked towards delivering equitable governance and ensuring that every community enjoyed the freedom and support to nurture their respective cultures, tradition, beliefs and language. Individuality should not be suppressed and celebrating uniqueness makes people and communities more secure and confident. “Only the negatively inclined will see such expressions as being divisive, because secure identities make unity stronger and Sikkim is proof of this,” he said.
As for the Government’s efforts to secure better futures for the younger generation, the CM detailed the various schemes already underway towards this end and also announced today that from next year onwards, all graduates will be offered the chance to take an English-speaking course to upgrade their communication skills for the modern day job markets. An institute will also be opened in Sikkim to offer all interested courses to prepare for competitive exams, he also announced.
These were efforts of the government as a facilitator, he stressed, adding that the youth will have to use these facilities in earnest to secure better futures. “There is no dearth of opportunities in Sikkim and the service sector if booming at present with potential to grow even more lucrative in the near future. The Sikkimese should seize the opportunities or others will fill in the requirements,” he said.
Also today, the Chief Minister declared a Rs 2 lakh contribution towards the Tendong Lho Rum Festival Celebration Committee and Rs 15,000 each for all the cultural group which performed today.
Earlier, the programme began with a welcome address by OT Lepcha who detailed the observance of the festival in Sikkim and of how a 3-day prayer was organised at Mount Tendong in South Sikkim attended by Bongthings from all over Sikkim. Similarly, the Sikkim Lepcha Association president Sonam Dupden Rangkop thanked the Chief Minister for all his initiatives for the welfare of the Lepcha community including the declaration of Tendong Lho Rum Faat as a state holiday which made celebrations of Lepcha identity as observed today possible and the Primitive Tribe Group recognition of Lepchas that the present government has accorded.
The Forest and Tourism Minister, Bhim Dhungel, who was also the president of the organising committee, highlighted that there has been inclusive growth of the Lepcha tribe in Sikkim and credited the Chief Minister’s leadership for its success.
State topper in Lepcha language Nima Rizong and social worker CT Lepcha were also felicitated today and two books – “History of development of Lepcha language and literature”, and “Introduction of linguistic and phonetics of Lepcha language”, released by the Chief Minister.
