Month: August 2018

26th Bhasa Manyata Diwas was celebrated at Manan Kendra,Gangtok.

Gangtok, August 31: (IPR) The 26th Bhasa Manyata Diwas was celebrated at Manan Kendra today, which was organized by Sikkim Pragya Prathistan. The Chief Minister Mr. Pawan Chamling graced the occasion as the chief guest and he was accompanied by Minister for Information and Public Relations, Mr. A.K Ghatani, Chief Secretary, Mr. A.K Shrivastava and other senior government officials.

Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister, Mr. Chamling stressed on the need for students, academicians, intellectuals to take up Nepali language seriously in order to carry forward from the National level to International standards.

“I pay my respect to those architects who have played crucial roles in the recognition of Nepali language in the Indian constitution. Even after the recognition of Nepali Language in the 8th Schedule of India Constitution on August 20, 1992, we have failed to develop the language further and take it forward’. He said that Nepali language is one of the most significant and popular form of expression of vast number of Nepali speaking communities and literature, language binds people irrespectiveof boundaries and caste.

Stresssing on the importance of this day, the Chief Minister said “every Nepali speaking people should love and be proud of our own language. We should honour every language of each community and encouraged the young generation especially students to take interest in language, literature, culture and tradition to take it forward from hereon.

The Chief Minister also highlighted the roles played by former Chief Minister, Late Nar Bahadur Bhandari, his wife former Member of Parliament, Mrs. Dil Kumari Bhandari and Shri Anandmani Singh Thapa. Nepali language he reiterated is the lingua-franca and a connecting language for all the communities of the state and thus it is more important that the importance of the language is understood and not taken for granted. Nepali language has come to this stage after works of literary giants have contributed significantly and now the time has come to put an effort to more literature and studies of the past so that the glory and stature of it is revived.

Stating his point to the students in the audience, Chief Minister said that due to the colonized mindset, we have failed to reach zenith in the language parameter and the time has now come to be innovative, constructive with a sense of ownership, responsibility and accountability which would improve the human development of the state and the society.

During the programme, Chief Minister made several announcements:

a. From next academic year, Nepali Teachers will be recruited at Primary levels.
b. Rs. 5 lakh presented to Sikkim Pragya Prathistan from Chief Minister Fund.
c. Rs 2 lakh for publishing of Nepali Magazine for students.

Eminent literary personality, Mr. K.N Sharma was conferred with first Rashmi Prasad Alley 2018 Purashkar which was handed over by the chief guest.

Earlier, panel discussion was held where four eminent personalities, Mr. Balaram Pandey, Mr. Rupesh Sharma and Mr. Bijay Kr. Subba shared their views and observation on present scenario of Nepali language and its use in various fields.

Organizing committee also felicitated Chief Minister, Mr. Pawan Chamling for his contribution towards the Nepali language and for being the longest serving Chief Minister in the entire country.

The programme also had the presence of Vice Chancellor of Sikkim State University, literary figures, students of central and state university and students of Nar Bahadur Bhandari Degree College.

Special Summary Revision, 2018

Namchi, 31st August:The Election Commission of India declared commencement of Special Summary Revision (SSR) w.r.t 01.01.2019 as the qualifiying date with effect from 1st Sept, 2018 to 31st Oct, 2018. Consequently, pre SSR training was conducted for Booth Level Officers and Supervisors of South District on 31August, 2018 at Community Hall, Namchi.
At the outset Under Secretary, Election Department welcomed all present. She briefed the Supervisors and BLOs about their roles and duties with regard to the upcoming SSR. She also requested all BLOs to use and popularize National Voters’ Services Portal (NVSP), Election jingle which will be broadcast from 1st Sept, 2018 in local radio stations and the latest released Youtube video. Election Department, South engaged two BLOs namely Shri Basudev Khanal and Shri Chet Prakash Rai of Assembly Constituencies Barfung and Namchi Singhithang respectively as Resource Persons for the said event considering their expertise, knowledge and innovative ideas. Shri Khanal briefed everyone about filling up various Forms and documents that are required to be collected by the BLOs. He also apprised the gathering on how to maintain BLO register. Shri Rai then took over and gave a detailed presentation on NVSP and BLO hybrid app.
The program ended with distribution of honorarium, Forms, stationaries and posters. US, requested all to work in coordination with each other and make SSR, 2018 a success.

District level workshop on Child Rights organised at Mangan, North Sikkim.

Mangan 30th August (IPR) : A one day district level workshop on Child Rights cum coordination meeting was conducted with several stakeholders by the District Child Protection unit of the Social Justice Empowerment and Welfare Department . The Program was chaired by Hon ble Zilla Adhakshaya North, Ms Namdey Lepcha, and attended by Sr. SP Mr K Shangderpa, Jt.Director SJEWD, Smt Bandana Rai, Jt. Dir HRDD, Members of the Juvenile Justice Board ,CMO North ,SDMs, BDOs, CDPOs,members of NGOs, , Zilla Panchayats and Gram Panchayats of North Sikkim . The workshop was conducted to create awareness on the various Child Protection laws and welfare provisions for rehabilitation of OAS (Orphaned, Abandoned and surrendered) children and children in conflict with Law.
The District Child Protection Officer, Mrs Wendy Mair made a presentation on the child protection mechanism in Sikkim as per the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act 2015. The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) which was launched in 2009 in partnership with the State Governments/UT Administrations has strengthened the prevention of child rights violation. Under the ICPS scheme various infrastructures for protection services and financial support for implementation of the JJ Act 2015 is provided by the Central Government. The ICPS has thus enabled better quality of services and increased investment in child protection. For implementation of the ICPS at the district level, a District Child Protection Unit under the District Collector has been set up. A Children home for rehabilitation of Children in need of care and protection unit is being set up in the District.
The District Child Protection Officer also made a presentation on the model guidelines under Protection of Child from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act. She explained the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders to assist the victims in getting justice and for rehabilitation.
The Project Officer, State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), Mr Peter Rai gave a presentation on the Adoption procedures as per the JJ Act 2015. The resource person explained the online procedures for adoption of children and stated that procedures as per JJ Act should be followed. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) which has been set up in all the district have to play a major role in the proper adoption of children. He also informed about the online portal carings.nic.in Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) .
The Joint Director, SJEWD Smt Bandana Rai while speaking on the occasion said that awareness on child related laws and schemes are being conducted in all the districts. She stated child abuse is a major social problem and must tackled with the collaborative efforts of the community. She also informed that trainings would also be conducted for members of CWC(Child Welfare Committee)
The Honourable Adhakshya North Sikkim stated that the Panchayats should play a major role in the dissemination of various acts and protection measures related to children. The learning from the workshop should be used in enlightening the public and make the people aware of the rules.
During the open house discussion, various suggestions regarding awareness generation in schools and villages were received from the Panchayats.
A play on child abuse was also performed by the students of North Sikkim Academy to generate awareness on the child abuse and trafficking.

11th State Geological Programming Board Meeting (SGPB) held at Manan Kendra,Gangtok.

Gangtok, August 30: (IPR) Chief Secretary Shri A.K. Shrivastava chaired the 11th State Geological Programming Board Meeting (SGPB) here at the conference hall of Manan Kendra today.
The meeting had the presence and participation of Commissioner cum Secretary Land Revenue & Disaster Management Department Shri Tsegyal Tashi, Secretary RM&D Department Shri D.R. Nepal, Secretary Mines, Minerals & Geology Department Smt Ambika Pradhan, senior officers of concerned Departments, District Collectors, officers from the Army, BRO Swastik, Director Geological Survey of India, and officers of the Mines, Minerals & Geology Department.

The Chief Secretary made a detailed review of the action taken report on the 10th State Geological Programming Board Meeting and deliberated on the agenda points received from various Departments of the State Government and Central Agencies for the 11th SGPB Meeting.
Chief Secretary in his remarks called for the need to sensitize each member of the society and the implementing departments and agencies on safety norms and stability parameters while constructing Government and private infrastructures considering the geological sensitivity of the region.

Earlier, Secretary Mines Minerals & Geology Department and Member Secretary, SGPB, Smt Ambika Pradhan in her opening remarks gave a brief background of the action taken on the agenda points from the previous Board Meeting and the proposals for the 11th Board Meeting. She stated that the agenda points deliberated in the SGPB would be placed before the Central Geological Programming Board. She informed that the SGBP was constituted in the year 1981-82.

Director, Technical Coordination and Head of Office, Gangtok, Geological Survey of India, Shri Vijay V. Mugal made a power point presentation on the activities carried out by the ASI and also the projects proposed for future.
Likewise, Senior Geologist, Mines Minerals & Geology Department Shri Keshav Luitel made a presentation on the recent activities, past achievements and proposed activities of the Department.

Officers of Forest Department, LR&DMD, RM&DD, Energy and Power Department, Science & Technology Department, Central Government agencies and district administration participated in the deliberations.

Sikkim HRDD delegation calls upon the MHRD Minister Sri Prakash Javadekar on NIT Issue

Delhi August 29, 2018: (IPR) A high level delegation of the Sikkim led by the Hon’ble Minister for Energy and Power Sri DD Bhutia and accompanied by Human Resource Development Department Hon’ble Minister Sri RB Subba today called upon the Union Minister for Ministry of Human Resource, Government of India Sri Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi today. The Sikkim delegation also had the Additional Chief Secretary/HRDD Sri GP Upadhyaya and NIT Sikkim Director Prof Mahesh Govil who met Sri Javadekar and Sri Sukhbir Sandhu, Additional Secretary MHRD at Shashtri Bhawan.

The meeting was convened for finding out a suitable and permanent solution to NIT Sikkim land issue. During the meeting, a DO letter of Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri Pawan Chamling to Sri Javadekar was also handed over to him by HM Energy and Power Sri DD Bhutia.

Sri Javadekar assured the delegation from Sikkim that he himself will visit Sikkim very shortly since it is long overdue issue and will also send MHRD empowered committee to finalise the site of NIT before he visits Sikkim.

The Union Minister Sri Javadekar also assured that funds for construction of the Institute shall also be expeditiously released.