Nar Bahadur Bhandari Fellowship launched to honour former CM Bhandari’s contributions will never be forgotten: Golay

ISABELLA GURUNG
GANGTOK: Chief Minister P.S. Golay on Monday launched the Nar Bahadur Bhandari Fellowship (NBBF) scheme to honour the former three-time Chief Minister of Sikkim on his 80th birth anniversary.
The Nar Bahadur BhandariJayanti was observed at ChintanBhawan here. Bhandari had passed away on July 16, 2017 at an age of 77 years.
The NBBF, launched today, aims to provide opportunity for Sikkim’s brightest and most promising graduates to pursue higher studies in the world’s top 20 universities.
In his address, the Chief Minister spoke about late Bhandari adding that the former Chief Minister was a true son of the soil and an able administrator.
“Having worked as a teacher for many years, Bhandari has contributed a lot towards Sikkim. He is popularly remembered for his efforts to include the Nepali language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India. He is popularly known as the architect of modern Sikkim. His contributions will never be forgotten,” expressed Golay. He also recalled working and learning from Bhandari for many years.
“The N.B.BhandariJayanti has been declared as a State holiday since last year, and this is the first time that that the State government is celebrating the former Chief Minister’s birth anniversary. The main aim is to make the future generation understand his contributions for the better future of Sikkim and to keep his legacy alive,” said Golay.
Golay highlighted on the NBBF scheme and expressed that the fellowship has been introduced to honour Bhandari and his contributions towards Sikkim in various fields.
The NBBF scheme aims at recognizing and nurturing the most brilliant minds of the next generation Sikkimese, providing students the exposure and platform amidst the finest education of the world, paving the way for academic excellence and not limiting to financial constraints or prospects and taking the best from Sikkim to the best of the world. Ushering a culture of academic excellence, the scheme also aims at creating a new benchmark as a commitment to scholarly merit in higher education.
The fellowship will be awarded annually to a graduate student who succeeds in securing admission to a Master’s course in the top 20 universities of the world. The fellowship would be an all-expense paid scheme covering tuitions, travel and living expenses. The recipients of the fellowship shall be known as Nar Bahadur Bhandari Fellows- a title which will be a life-long conferment. The appropriate guidelines on the fellowship scheme will be notified in due course, it was informed.
Chief secretary S.C. Gupta highlighted how late Bhandari laid the foundation of modern Sikkim and his contribution towards education, rural development especially rural connectivity and availability of drinking water supply.
SLA deputy Speaker Sangay Lepcha, ministers, dignitaries and senior officials of the government attended the function.