Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

Puppet Show performed by Dhumketu Puppet Theatre, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Govt. of India) of Kolkata, Eastern Region held at North Sikkim schools from November 7 to 9, 2015. The program was organized by ICDS Dzongu, under the supervision of CDPO, Netuk Lepcha. The theme of the show was 'BETI BACHAO BETI PADHAO' (Deepak Sharma)

from sikkimexpress ST Gyaltsen, Gangtok In reference to your article dated March 3, 10 titled “Precarious Gangtok if earthquake hits” regarding the assessment of NMID is timely. The people in the State are living in a fool’s paradise. It is a disaster waiting to happen. The disastrous situation is compounded by the fact that all the 30 or more odd dams already constructed, under construction or on the anvil for tendering or negotiations with construction companies are concentrated in an area of 70 km by 40 km which is a high density of dams per square kilometre. Also, it is true that dams are required for power generation and would contribute to revenue generation in this revenue-starved state. And on the positive side dams are relatively less polluting than thermal and coal power plants. However, dams are environmentally damaging and also leave carbon footprints. On th...

Gangtok, Dec. 6: Rahul Gandhi will send a high-level, fact-finding delegation of the Congress to Dzongu in North Sikkim where the Lepchas are up in arms against proposed mega hydel power projects. The Congress general secretary came up with the decision soon after some members of the joint action committee, formed to preserve the Lepcha reserve of Dzongu, called on him this morning. The agitation launched by Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) and other supporting organisations at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi entered its second day today. “We are elated with Gandhi’s decision,” said Tsteten Lepcha, the chief coordinator of ACT. The protest against the mega hydroelectricity power projects in Dzongu has been shifted to New Delhi from here after it failed to elicit a positive response from the Sikkim government. The protesters are getting a lot of support from environmentalists and other social groups. Along with the protests in New Delhi, the relay hunger strike in Gangtok a...

By Source: The Telegraph on November 22,2007 Kalimpong, Nov. 2 1: The Rong Ong Prongzom (Lepcha Youth Association) has threatened to abandon its peaceful protest and resort to “other means” because of a lack of response from the Sikkim government over the Dzongu issue. The ongoing protests, which include relay hunger strikes, against the setting up of hydel projects at Lepcha reserve Dzongu in North Sikkim are being spearheaded by a joint action committee comprising different Lepcha organisations from Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills, including the Prongzom.  The Lepchas have been on a relay hunger strike in Gangtok, Darjeeling and here for various periods of time. The Prongzom will wait till November 30 — when their relay hunger strike will enter the 100th day — for the response from the Sikkim government before announcing its next phase of agitation. “Our youths are tired of sitting in peaceful protest. They want to abandon satyagraha (non-violence) and resort to o...

Dzongu (Sikkim): With 22 dams being built on the river Teesta in Sikkim, entire tracts of tropical forests will be submerged which will kill the states' only lifeline, the river Teesta. In a last ditch effort, the Lepcha community is on an indefinite hunger strike. Teesta V project involves 18 kilometres of tunneling. It's also called a run of the river project in which the river water is diverted through a long tunnel, dropped downstream while the height is used to generate electricity. There is much less obvious displacement because of this but the question is by playing with the forces of nature by making the river go underground is it going to cause one of India's biggest environmental damage? And now angry citizens -the Lepchas have embarked on a satyagraha with a 16-day relay hunger strike to save this the national park and biodiversity under threat from the hydel projects. "These are going to affect the mountains, the amount of digging, the amount of ...