Here are some pictures from the Walkathon organized by the Rotary Club of Kalimpong on May 5th 2007.
The ‘Walk To Share’ started at Mela Ground and ended 15 km later at Halpu Ground, Bermiok division of the Munsong cinchona plantation.
Most of the participants were school students.
Here is the link to the news article from May.
And here are the pictures:
Go to the gallery for full sized pictures.
Prashant’s sister Archana and mother Indira (centre) at the rally. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha
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Kalimpong, June 14: A massive rally in support of Indian Idol contestant Prashant Tamang wound its way through the streets of this hill town today with his mother Indira and elder sister Archana in tow.
Braving a light shower, Prashant’s fans, including a huge contingent of students, went around the town shouting slogans in support of the policeman who has become the hero of the hills.
“SMS in favour of Prashant” and “Prashant you march forward, we are with you,” shouted the rallyists as people lining the streets voiced their approval. (more…)
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Debesh Das (right) with bursar David Foning and Tapan Kumar Pradhan, Director Saptashree Gyanpeeth in Kalimpong on Wednesday.
Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha
Kalimpong, June 13: It is too early to say, but the hill town could well be an IT hub of the country if the wishes of a private trust come true.
Bengal IT minister Debesh Das today said the Dr Triguna Sen Trust has evinced an interest in setting up an IT park here. The trust has a plot of land in Kalimpong, he said while addressing an interactive session at Dr Graham’s Homes here.
The minister was here to lend his support to a BPO training academy being set up by the school. “This is a right step at an appropriate time. Such an academy is needed in several places,” Das said.
Pointing out that by 2010 India will need 50 lakh professionals in IT and IT enabled services, the minister said: “Starting of this BPO school is important if it can produce a talent pool (required by BPOs).” Referring to the number of education institutions in the hills, Das said these, too, could be harnessed into creating a talent pool for the BPO industry.
“I have seen in Calcutta that about 25 per cent of the workforce in some companies is from the Northeast. The hills and Siliguri have a good opportunity for growth in the BPO industry because of its proximity to the Northeast. Other advantages are low rent and price of land.”
D.K. Chaudhury of BPO Academy said the institute will churn out 1,000 personnel every year. He also thanked the minister for a broadband Internet connection in Kalimpong. Homes bursar David Foning said schools in the hills have supported the academy.
One morning this 14 year old traveling musician turned up outside my door with his Chaar Taarey (four-stringed) Sarangi. He was from Dhankota, Nepal and was traveling around the area door-to-door singing nepali folk songs.
Enjoy the video. A kalimpong.info exclusive!
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Gangtok, June 11: It may be only a small step, but it has brought hope to second generation Nathu-la traders.
Sikkimese businessmen have sought Rs 20 crore as compensation from China for losses suffered by them after trading through the 14,400-ft border outpost was stopped in 1962 following the Chinese aggression.
The Chinese have agreed to look into the matter.
Many of these traders had family businesses at Yatung and other areas of the Chinese-occupied Tibet in the 1950s. They had been given 48 hours to wind up their trade, failing which they would have been arrested. About 100 traders from Sikkim and another 100 from Kalimpong fled China at that time. Nathu-la was sealed and remained shut for more than 40 years till it reopened on July 6, 2006. (more…)
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Kalimpong, June 10: The posts of president and vice-president of the Association of Schools for ISC, Bengal chapter have gone to the hills for the first time this year.
The election took place at Rockvale Academy which has been hosting the 10th annual general meeting and regional conference that concluded here today.
While Rabindra Subba, director of Himali Boarding School, Kurseong, was elected the president by a slender margin of three votes, Prakash M. Pradhan, director of Rockvale, was elected his deputy unopposed. Navarun Dey, principal of Central Model School, Calcutta, will be the new secretary. (more…)
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Kalimpong, June 6: Academics from across the state and the Northeast will converge on this hill town on June 9 and 10.
Kalimpong will host the 10th annual general meeting and regional conference of the Association of Schools for ISC, Bengal chapter. The town is credited with remarkable performances by ICSE-affiliated schools in the board exams this year with cent per cent success.
The Rockvale Academy will host the meet.
Over 100 delegates, mostly heads of institutions of some 260 ICSE schools, will take up issues unique to their region. Holding the ICSE exams between November end and early December for the hills’ schools is one such.
“This is for the first time that the conference is being held outside Calcutta,” said Rockvale director Prakash M. Pradhan told The Telegraph. (more…)
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Kalimpong, June 5: She may be from this tiny town, but the entire nation recognises her green crusade.
Jyotsna Sitling, an Indian Forest Service officer from Kalimpong’s Chivvo Bustee now serving in Uttarakhand, was awarded the nation’s highest environment award — Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Purashkar — in Delhi today.
The award carries a silver lotus, a citation and Rs 5 lakh.
The project director of the World Bank-sponsored Livelihood Improvement Project for the Himalayas in Dehra Dun, Sitling was selected for mobilising social and financial resources for environmental cause between 1995 and 2004.
Thanks to her efforts, the Unesco in July 2005 enlisted the Valley of Flowers National Park in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve as a World Heritage site.
The 1987-batch forest service officer is happy with the honour. “Environment will always top my agenda. My objective is to create a sound environment system with community participation in mountainous areas,” Sitling told The Telegraph from Delhi.
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Kalimpong, June 4: The body of 20-year-old Suchitra Chettri, who had been missing from Saturday, was recovered from the bottom of a cliff at Ramitaytar on the outskirts of the town today.
Suchitra, who studied in Class XII in Sai Institute of Education and Research (formerly known as Kamal Jyoti School) here, had apparently committed suicide by jumping off the edge of the cliff from a height of more than 1,000 ft, police said.
According to family sources, Suchitra had been reprimanded by her uncle on Friday evening after she returned late from school and lied to him about it. “She told me that the principal had held her back, but when I called up her principal, he denied doing so,” said her uncle G.B. Chettri. (more…)
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Kalimpong, June 1: Milkmen in the hills today chose a novel way to prove their point.
Organised by the Himalayan Farmers’ Front this morning, a “positive protest” galvanised farmers of Jangbirtar and its surrounding areas into selling 3,200 litre of milk to the Himalayan Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited (Himul) — double the quantity collected daily.
“The idea was to dispel the claim of the Himul authorities that the hills do not produce enough milk, forcing them to buy from the plains,” said Yusuf Simmick, adviser to the farmers’ front. (more…)
