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

There were rumours in the streets that army vehicle would take over the National Highway for three days to transport warfare to Sikkim border, to which few days back the army personal had denied the news as baseless and disclosed no plans doing such in days to come too, as published in a local newspaper and all of a sudden there is this news published in internet about India, China armies clash in Sikkim. So whats the truth...whats cooking up? from Google news Extracted from Pakistan Defence India, China armies clash in Sikkim? The Indian and Chinese armies have reportedly been locked in sporadic exchanges of fire in Sikkim, where the two countries share a high-altitude border, since Tuesday night. A senior defence ministry official in Kolkata, where the Eastern Command is based, said the conflict had been on at Nathu-la pass — 54 km east of Sikkim’s capital Gangtok. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence, however, denied any shooting on the border. The defence offi...

Gangtok, Aug 20 (PTI) Border trade between India and China through Nathu La has gained momentum, with the country's export turnover in the last month alone indicating a significant growth. According to figures released by the Sikkim Commerce and Industries Department, the turnover of export from India reporting a figure of Rs 7.20 lakh in July. The export turnover at Nathu La, which reopened on May 19 this year, for the two till June stood at about Rs eight lakh export turnover. The total export turnover up to now stands at Rs 15.67 lakh. Textile products like shawls, blankets, utensils and copper items were much sought after by Chinese importers in view of the growing demand for them by the people of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Commerce and Industry Department officials said. Products like vegetable oil, canned food, tea, cigarettes and coffee were also much in demand by Chinese importers, they said. Expressing satisfaction with the growth of bilateral bord...

SHERATHANG, India (AFP) — Guo Ting stands patiently in the drizzling rain hoping to sell her wares, about half a dozen blankets wrapped in plastic, but only a few shoppers show up and nobody is buying. "Business is not good as the market is too small," says Guo as she waits for custom at the Sherathang mart, about five kilometres (three miles) from the ancient Nathu La border crossing between India and China. When the two Asian giants opened the 4,500-metre-high (15,000 feet) pass in 2006 to improve ties dogged by a bitter war in 1962 that saw the route closed for 44 years, many on both sides hoped it would boost trade. Two years on, optimism has given way to despair as the flow of traders has shrunk to a trickle because of red tape, poor facilities and sub-standard roads in India's remote northeastern mountainous state of Sikkim. Guo is among about 35 traders who cross the border daily from China's Tibetan region, while five or so Indians hawk their goods across Nath...

Amidst reports of intrusions by Chinese forces into Bhutan, India has made a move that is reflecting its unease on the eastern front border. Six thousand troops have been stationed near the Nathu La Pass close to the tri-junction of India, Bhutan, and China. The army says these troops belonging to the 27 Mountain Division were pulled out from Kashmir in the past three to four months. The Army chief has played it down in the new deployment. General Deepak Kapoor, Chief of Army Staff, says the reports of intrusions near Sikkim are a matter between China and Bhutan. While the Army chief may be keen to stay away from what is essentially a diplomatic row, the past few years have seen several violations of the international border with Chinese incursions being reported from Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. 

By HTMonday December 3, 12:33 AM Delhi has woken up to the rapid infrastructure development by China on its side of the border with the Northeast. A.K. Antony, on his first visit to Sikkim after becoming the Defence Minister, admitted that India had a lot of catching up to do and would now focus on the Northeast. "I admit we were not able to develop infrastructure in the border areas. There is no use accusing others," the minister said. There have been intelligence reports from the Indian forces on China expanding its road network, building three new airstrips and extending the Lhasa rail line towards the Chumbi valley in its south that lies at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan. Antony said the Chinese have been developing infrastructure "very fast" on their side. "In the past, the Northeast has not got enough attention.  We have realised the development of the entire region is very important," he said. He added that it was the gover...

By Sudhakar Jagdish Gangtok, Dec 2: The gate at the Nathula border post on the Indian side has the famous inscription of Julius Caesar-Veni, Vidi and Vici (I came, I saw and I conquered), but for Defence Minister A K Antony it changed to something like this -I came, I saw and I admitted to the poor conditions of roads on our side. The stark contrast of Indian roads was eye pinching if one just looked over the Chinese border where the three-inch plastic cover roads seemed even better than what Rajpath in New Delhi has. Antony too was overwhelmed by the fact and termed the contrast as an 'eye-opener'. "Chinese have gone very far in developing infrastructure on their side," Antony said, adding, " There is no comparison between our side and their side. So, that is the problem."  Flanked by Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, Antony shook hands with some Chinese army officials posted at the 14,200 feet border post, who were aware of an Ind...

Gangtok, December 1: The Border Trade through Nathula Trade Route started from 6th July 2006 and ended on 29th September 2006, last year. The traders had expressed certain problems and accordingly, the State Government took up the matter with Government of India to make this route a major avenue for economical and multifacet...

KOLKATA/GANGTOK: A few weeks before the first ever India-China military exercises, the real war games have begun. On November 8, Chinese forces demolished some unmanned Indian forward posts near two Army bunkers against which Beijing had raised objections since July. "The Chinese came, destroyed the posts and went back," said an Army officer. The incident is learned to have taken place around November 8.     The revelation came on the day a 12-member People's Liberation Army delegation landed in Kolkata on a recce for the military exercises to be held next month in China. The destroyed posts were near the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet border tri-junction. Intelligence sources in Gangtok on Friday said that a "third bunker" located near the two disputed ones had been destroyed by the Chinese. But, Army sources attached to formations overseeing the location said the structures were fiberglass huts, which are manned by a few soldiers when winter sets i...

Gangtok, Nov. 28: Sikkimese businessmen dominated trade through Nathu-la as the bilateral initiative between the hill state and Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China completes its second year on November 30. Trading through the mountain pass, located at a height of 14,400ft, will close on Friday for the year. The route had been opened for business this year on May 1 and the time frame has been extended to November through a central government directive.   According to official figures available from the Sikkim commerce and industries department, exports from the state from May to October stood at Rs 20.6 lakh. The import figures were comparatively much less at Rs 6.8 lakh. The trade transactions for the month of November are yet to be detailed. There was no transaction from the Chinese side in the months of May and September. Rice was the most exported item to TAR and comprised 70 per cent of the total transactions, officials said.  Tea came a distant second as it rake...

By.Major General (retd) Ashok K Mehta, on Rediff.com People have forgotten that India’s actual chicken’s neck lies along the 20km narrow Siliguri corridor formed by Nepal and Bangladesh. Staring ominously at the chicken’s neck is the Chinese dagger made by the strategic Chumbi valley whose two shoulders — one in Sikkim and the other in Bhutan — are personified in the majesty of Paunhuri and Chomulhari peaks that merge at the historic Sinchula Pass on the trijunction of China, Bhutan, and India. This is also the tip of the dagger just 100km away from the Siliguri corridor and a rather China-friendly Bangladesh. From a military and operational context, Sikkim is closest  to Lhasa. North Sikkim and the Chumbi salient — the gateway to the erstwhile trade route between Lhasa and Calcutta — offer India tactical and strategic military options against China, and vice-versa. In 1911, Captain Francis Younghusband pioneered the invasion of Lhasa through the Chumbi valley fighting battles ...