Darjeeling belongs only to the Gorkhas?
Prior to its occupation by the British East India Company in 1835, Darjeeling was part of Sikkim and was known as Sikkim Darjeeling. In fact, the word Darjeeling is derived from the Tibetan words ‘dorje’ meaning thunderbolt and ‘ling’ meaning a land, hence Darjeeling means ‘the land of the thunderbolt’. The original inhabitants of this beautiful hill station were the Lepchas. In 1839 there were not more than 100 Lepchas living in the region.

The importance of Darjeeling emerged from the three ‘Ts’ – Tea, Tourism and Timber. With the slopes of the Darjeeling hills and its climate being ideal for the commercial cultivation of the tea crop, the British administrators in order to develop tea cultivation leased out forestland to the planters. The demand for workers for the expanding tea estates started the influx of the large number of migrants from the neighboring states of Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. The Nepali-speaking Gorkhas formed the largest migrant community in the Darjeeling Mountains. Within 10 years of British occupation of the region, the population of the region rose from 100 to 10,000 in 1849. The Gorkhas who are claiming a separate state for themselves have actually settled in the region in the last 150 years.

Gorkhas betrayed by their own leaders
During the eighties, Darjeeling was hit by fierce agitation by The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) under Mr. Subash Ghisingh for a separate Gorkha State or the Gorkhaland. After a series of talks between the government of West Bengal and the central government, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council was set up as in 1988 as an autonomous body for the social, economic, educational and cultural advancement of the Gorkhas and other people living in the hill areas of the district of Darjeeling.

However, over the past two decades the economic condition of Darjeeling went from bad to worse despite of huge sums of money coming from the West Bengal government to fill the coffer of the Gorkha Hill Council. Development of Darjeeling was restricted to a few roads largely used by the tourists and building temples, a resort in the Dooars, a lavish guest house in Kolkata and of course for increasing the wealth of the GNLF leader Subhas Ghisingh. The West Bengal government was denied permission to audit the accounts of the Gorkha Hill Council.

Two decades of deprivation have suddenly brought to the fore a rejuvenated demand for a separate Gorkha State once again and now under a new leader and new organization – Bimal Gurung and Gorkha Liberation Forum (GLM). The irony of fate is that Mr. Bimal Gurung had been a trusted lieutenant of Ghisingh and had been a part of the Gorkha Hill Council. While their own men have betrayed them, the people of Darjeeling are considering the Bengali-speaking population of the state as their main enemy. Tourists visiting the region had been attacked by the members of the GLM.

With corruption persisting among the leaders of the region, by simply forming a separate state based on ethnicity, will the people of Darjeeling benefit?

Source:Darjeeling gov
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Even after a public outcry over the initial goof-ups by the Noida police and a series of transfers and new appointments in the police force to speed up the investigations for a number of days, it was not clear as to who could have murdered Arushi and Hemraj. However, the case has been finally solved and the outcome horrendous to say the least. Arushi’s father, Dr. Rajesh Talwar, has been arrested by the police and her mother Dr. Nupur Talwar has been detained on abetment charges.

So, what was the real motive behind the murder? According to Gurudarshan Singh IG Meerut Zone, Arushi was murdered for discovering an illicit affair her father was having with a colleague. Even Hemraj came to know about the affair and he had spoken about it to some of his acquaintances. To make matters worse for Dr. Talwar, his daughter and servant had been discussing amongst themselves about the affair that made them come close to each other.

Finally, what caused this incident might be described either as honor killing or as a sudden act of rage. On May 15, when Dr. Talwar returned home at around 11.30 pm he found Arushi and Hemraj in an objectionable position. Talwar then took Hemraj to the terrace on the pretext of telling him something, struck him with a heavy object, and then cut his nerves with a sharp instrument. After that, he came back and killed Arushi.

This incident raises a number of questions that are social as well as psychological in nature. To hide ones extra-marital how can a father reach such extremes that he murders his own daughter? Even Arushi’s mother’s role is very strange. She knows about her daughter’s murder but does not speak out. When such a gruesome incident is happening in the house, she takes no step in stopping it. If parents and their offspring lead such isolated lives then what use is of having a family living under a single roof? Or have natural parental feelings of love and compassion lost their meanings in our current materialistic world?

Source:scribe-spot
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The problem of Bangladeshi infiltration is largely economic in nature. However, concealed within the large number of poor Bangladeshis, who work as cheap laborers and domestic helps in Indian cities, are a large number of anti-national elements. According to a recent observation made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, counterfeit notes are in large circulation along the India-Bangladesh border. Illegal migrants are able to obtain ration cards, driving licenses, voter identity cards and even PAN cards. Terrorist groups are recruiting Bangladeshis to spread violence in India.

The Central Government had instructed the states to take sustained action to detect foreign nationals, including Bangladeshis illegally staying in the country. Unfortunately, a porous border and a corrupt surveillance mechanism have made the task of preventing illegal migration difficult.

Source: The Australian
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The superiority of Indian Muslim men has been guaranteed by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPL), the guardian of Muslim personal law or Shariat in India. Disgusted by the lack of democratic elements in the board, Muslim woman activists instituted the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) in 2005. In March 2008, the AIMWPLB released a model Nikahnama or marriage deed for Muslim women rejecting divorce through SMS, email or phone, recognition of the right of women to seek divorce or Khula and accepting the triple talaq only when it is spaced out over a period of 3 months.

There is little interest in India to reform the Muslim law. In 1986, the Congress led Parliament nullified the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Shah Bano case on divorced women’s right to maintenance to appease the Muslim male vote bank. According to Zeenat Shaukat Ali, author of The Empowerment of Women in Islam: With Special Reference to Marriage and Divorce, in India it is not Shariat that is practiced but it is the Anglo-Mohammedan law that evolved during the British rule. The Privy Council had ruled against reference to the Koran or the original texts of Hadith but had preferred instead on some dubious commentaries of the Hadith. Unless the Indian Parliament realizes that for the well-being of the Indian Muslim women it should not obstruct progressive Supreme Court rulings and allow implementation of AIMWPLB’s recommendations, the state of Muslim women in India will not improve.

Source: Daily Mirror
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The question that comes to every mind is how are these massive Bangladeshi infiltrations occurring despite of 24-hour vigil along the Indian borders? Can the Border Security Forces deny their own responsibility? The 4,096 km long India-Bangladesh border is porous making for easy crossing. It has been often alleged that the Indian BSF and the Bangladeshi BDR are often lured with money by agents enabling smooth crossing over. The illegal migration is largely economic in nature. The overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi migrants work as domestic helps or as low paid laborers. It is nothing unusual for the Islamic militant groups to take help from a minor section of these poor people to spread terrorism in India.

However, there is a social repercussion to this illegal Bangladeshi immigrant problem and linking these people to terrorism. Often right-winged political parties take this opportunity to brand every Indian-Bengali-Muslims working outside West Bengal as Bangladeshi forcing them to leave these states. While illegal immigration and associated terrorism is a real problem but politicization of Indian intelligence agencies, using them largely for spying on opposition political parties rather than monitoring on terrorist activities has given rise to intelligence failure in the country.

Source:Asia sentinel
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