Mt. Khangchendzonga ascent hurtful to indigenous communities: Sikkim CM to Amit Shah
In a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, the Chief Minister said the recent ascent of the peak by a five-member team from the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS) from the Nepal side on May 18 hurt Sikkim's indigenous communities.
India's tallest peak, at 8,568 metres above sea level, Mt. Khangchendzonga straddles the Sikkim-Nepal border and is considered one of the most difficult Himalayan mountains to ascend. Climbing activities are banned in Sikkim, where the mountain is worshipped as a guardian deity, but are allowed from the Nepal side.
The mountain was scaled for the first time in 1954 after several mountaineers made futile attempts for more than half a century, some losing their lives.
'The letter comes amid rising local sentiment that the sanctity of Mt. Khangchendzonga must not be compromised in the name of adventure or tourism, regardless of which side the expedition originates from,' Mt. Tamang wrote on May 24.
'It is with deep reverence and concern that we bring to your kind attention the recent reports regarding the scaling of Mt. Khangchendzonga from the Nepal side,' he said.
The Chief Minister said the act of scaling the 'sacred' peak by the team from NIMAS based in Arunachal Pradesh's Dirang was 'a violation of both the prevailing legal provisions and the deeply held religious beliefs of the people of Sikkim'.
Living deity
Mr. Tamang said Mt. Khangchendzonga – the name translated into 'five treasures of the high snows' – holds profound spiritual and religious significance for the people of Sikkim.
According to the Sikkimese belief system, he explained, these divine treasures remain hidden and would be revealed to the devout when the world is in grave peril.
'The mountain is revered as the abode of the principal guardian and protector-deity of Sikkim, known as Dzoe-Nga. This sacred being is worshipped as the Pho-lha, or the chief of the entire assemblage of supernatural entities of Sikkim. These deities were recognised and anointed as the guardian deities of the land by Ugyen Guru Rinpoche, also known as Guru Padmasambhava, the Patron Saint of Sikkim,' the Chief Minister said.
He pointed out that the Sikkim government banned all climbing activities on Mt. Khangchendzonga through notifications in 1998 and 2001 under the Sacred Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
Nudge Nepal
Mr. Tamang urged Mr. Shah to diplomatically dissuade the Nepal government from allowing mountaineers to scale Mt. Khangchendzonga in deference to the deeply held spiritual values of the indigenous communities of Sikkim.
Organisations such as the Sikkim Bhutia Lepcha Apex Committee have been pursuing a complete ban on scaling Mt. Khangchendzonga, specifically from Nepal.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
24 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Congress slams Centre as World Bank report highlights poverty, inequality in India
NEW DELHI: The Congress expressed concerns on Sunday over a recent World Bank report that said poverty and inequality remain concerningly high in India, and requested the Centre to take steps, including bringing in GST reforms and ending corporate favouritism. Citing the World Bank's poverty and equity brief for India in April 2025, Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said three months after its release, the Narendra Modi government's "drumbeaters and cheerleaders have begun spinning the World Bank's data to make the staggeringly out-of-touch claim that India is among the world's most equal societies". He said in a statement issued on April 27, the Congress had highlighted some of the key concerns that the World Bank had raised in its report. "These concerns continue to be relevant, and any attempt to engage with the report must grapple with them seriously," the Congress leader said. He said the World Bank report highlights that wage disparity is high in India, with the median earnings of the top 10 per cent being 13 times higher than the bottom 10 per cent in 2023-24. "Moreover, 'sampling and data limitations suggest that consumption inequality (as measured by government data) may be underestimated'. "More updated data (adoption of purchasing power parity conversion factor from 2021 as compared to that of 2017) would result in a higher rate of extreme poverty," Ramesh said in a statement, citing the report. He said the report also stated that changes in the questionnaire design, survey implementation and sampling in the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-23 "present challenges for making comparisons over time". "As a lower middle-income country, the appropriate rate to measure poverty in India is that of USD 3.65/day. By this measure, the poverty rate for India in 2022 is significantly higher at 28.1 per cent," Ramesh said, citing the report. "The report is therefore rather clear: poverty remains concerningly high, and so does inequality," the former Union minister added. He said the good news that the Centre is so desperately trying to wrangle out of this report is partly attributable to the limited availability and uncertain quality of government data as well as to the selection of benchmarks to measure poverty. "No country that has a poverty rate of 28.1 per cent can make a justifiable claim to being one of the most equal societies in the world," the Congress leader said. He added that in the statement issued by his party in April, "we had also outlined several takeaways for Indian policymakers from the report. These also continue to remain relevant".
India Gazette
an hour ago
- India Gazette
Reuters' X account withheld in India, Centre says
ANI 06 Jul 2025, 15:05 GMT+10 New Delhi [India], July 6 (ANI): There has been no requirement from the Indian government to withhold the Reuters account on the social media platform X, the Centre said on Sunday An official spokesperson for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) today said, 'There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem.' The X handle of the international news agency Reuters is currently unavailable for users in India with a message stating that its account has been withheld in India 'in response to a legal demand.' Users who attempted to access the Reuters account in India encountered the message- 'Account withheld. @ Reuters has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.' The X handles of Turkiye's TRT, China's Global Times also encountered the same 'account withheld' message. On its help centre page, the Elon Musk-owned platform X explains such messages 'about country withheld content' means that X was compelled to withhold the entire account specified or posts in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order or local laws. 'If you see the above message, it means X withheld content based on local law(s) in response to a report filed through specific support intake channels,' the X page detailed. (ANI)
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Active negotiations under way with over a dozen countries to finalise BIT
India is actively negotiating bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with over a dozen countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, Oman, European Union, Switzerland, Russia, and Australia, a government official said. Besides these nations, talks are underway with Tajikistan, Cambodia, Uruguay, Maldives, Switzerland, and Kuwait. These investment treaties help in protecting and promoting investments in each other's countries. With India approaching to become the third-largest economy and a hub for global manufacturing, the government is taking a series of measures to further improve its investment regime that encourages investors. "It is expected that in the next 3-6 months, BIT with some of these countries will be finalised and announced," the official added. The government in the last Budget has announced revamping the current model Bilateral Investment Treaty to make it more investor-friendly and attract foreign players. The country signed BITs with two countries in 2024. Last year, the Centre announced implementation of these treaties with the UAE and Uzbekistan. Unlike a chapter related to investment promotion or facilitation in free trade agreements recently concluded, the investment protection element under a BIT provides a wide range of obligations and commitments bestowed upon foreign investors, which are expansive in nature. In a BIT, the provision of mandatory exhaustion of local legal remedies for a period of five years before resorting to international arbitration is beneficial for both the investor and the state involved in a dispute. India's approach of requiring local remedies aligns with its stance to protect taxpayer money and avoid prolonged and costly legal battles, while simultaneously providing arbitration as an alternate dispute resolution mechanism to investors. Recently, India reduced the time period of local remedy to three years under the India-UAE BIT 2024. "India remains committed to negotiating agreements that safeguard its economic interests while balancing investor confidence and domestic policy space," another official said. There is an ambitious effort of reconstructing India's BIT network to pre-2015 levels on renewed terms and consistent negotiations with a wide range of partners, with balance of interests between investors and the host state. At the same time, India has committed to well-recognised international standards of protection and beyond to afford a stable investment protection framework for foreign investors. Commenting on BITs, Rumki Majumdar, Economist, Deloitte India, said these pacts will offer the country a unique advantage by enabling India to craft highly customised partnerships based on mutual strengths. "Unlike multilateral frameworks, which often require compromises to suit a broad group of nations, bilateral treaties will allow India for case-by-case negotiation, ensuring that the terms reflect the specific economic complementarities between itself and its partner countries," she said. Majumdar added that India should focus on BITs as not just legal instruments, they must be strategic economic enablers, helping India jointly unlock higher value from its comparative and competitive advantages. According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, India must "pull out all the stops" and improve tax certainty and stability to attract more foreign direct investments into the country. FDI inflows into India crossed the $1 trillion milestone in the April 2000-March 2025 period, firmly establishing the country's reputation as a safe and key investment destination globally. Last fiscal year, it stood at $81 billion. About 25 per cent of the FDI came through the Mauritius route. It was followed by Singapore (24 per cent), the US (10 per cent), the Netherlands (7 per cent), Japan (6 per cent), the UK (5 per cent), the UAE (3 per cent) and Cayman Islands, Germany and Cyprus accounted for 2 per cent each. The key sectors attracting the maximum of these inflows include the services segment, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, trading, construction development, automobile, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
