New Delhi, India: December 21, 2009 - IR Summary/Agencies/BBC -

A meeting is reported to have been called by the Indian government to discuss the creation of a separate state in the tea-producing Darjeeling hills, the deliberations have started, which the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has welcomed.

There are many vital questions like how a separate state is justified and whether it would be acceptable by West Bengal? The talks do not mean that the govt. would create a separate state, however, it has agree to conduct talks to know whether a separate state woule be justified from all angles; this is the most important question which is to be decided during the talks. However, it is a good beginning and would satisfy the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) who have been demanding this separate state for a long time.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has been demanding a separate State for a long time so as to get justice to Darjeeling's Nepali-speaking Gorkha community, which the Govt has now decided to look into it.

After the Govt. gave hint of creating a new state of Telengana, the issue of their demand took a new turn. In this regard, the Gorkha volunteers have ended a protest fast ahead of the talks.

This followed an appeal by the federal Home Minister P Chidambaram.

"We responded to his appeal to create an appropriate atmosphere for the talks," GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said.

The Indian government is represented by the country's home secretary GK Pillai and the West Bengal government by its chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti in the tri-partite talks.

There are many vital questions like how a separate state was justified and whether it would be acceptable by West Bengal? The talks do not mean that the govt. would create a separate state but would just talk whether it is justified from all angles, the foremost question which is to be decided during the talks.(Picture courtesy BBC).