'I identify with the humble village huts; I identify with the sweat and blood of the oppressed,' said Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling. During the last 25 years our government, led by Chamling, has been successful in eradicating poverty from the state. When we talk of poverty, we speak not just of income and wealth, or the lack of material possessions. The definition is much wider, extended to non-material aspects of human well-being.
This has been the larger trend in recent times where the emphasis has shifted to the 'basic needs' of the poor, with more attention to indicators related to human development like health, education and nutrition.
When Sikkim became the 22nd state of India in 1975, the country's rural population was 78.6 per cent of the total population. Around the same time, Sikkim's rural population comprised 90.6 per cent of the total population. Between 1975 and 1990, Sikkim was one of the most backward states in the country with a BPL population of 41.43 per cent, literacy rate of 57 per cent and a per capita GSDP of just Rs 8,457.
Under the first government of L.D. Kazi, BPL population actually increased from 48.14 per cent (1973) to 55.89 per cent (1977). Strong anti-incumbency on the issue of poverty brought N.B. Bhandari's government into power. However, poverty reduction was meagre at best, standing at a staggering 41.43 per cent in 1993. Hence, rural development was of utmost importance for the social and economic development of state.
There have been enough studies showing that schooling and better nutrition can be correlated to higher income and enhanced productivity. However, it is usually observed that education holds lesser appeal for poor families primarily because of the opportunity cost of children who would be working instead of being in school. This is where the state interventions providing quality education and health facilities at an affordable or free of cost becomes necessary.
Chamling's newly formed Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) came to power in 1994 on the slogan hailing 'Halle, Kodaley, Khali Khutte': the ploughmen, the farmers and the barefooted. A series of measures were taken to pump the money back into Sikkim's villages and its people, cementing Chamling's credentials as a progressive, pro-poor leader. Sikkim has come a long way since then, in the last two decades the Sikkim government has achieved growth of essential infrastructure like roads, transport, and industries, as well as eradication of rural poverty, improving employment opportunities, encouragement to traditional craft and industries, providing education to all, widespread health facilities and providing low cost houses with essential amenities for the poor.
To achieve this feat, the state's policies and the government focused on the development of the state by increasing focus on rural areas and activities that form the backbone of the state's society, culture and economy. Seventy per cent of budget allocation plan was earmarked for rural development as 80 per cent of the state's population lived in villages.
However, the welfare schemes served only a facilitating function and not an end in itself. The state's prosperity has a lot to credit to a number of government policies. Simple the licensing system for rural traders and businessmen provided an impetus to businesses. No toll tax for rural products in markets ensured that the village populace gets a fair price and access to markets. Free electricity to the poor up to 50 units ensured it as a basic right, in addition to free education and a robust healthcare system. From 1993, house upgradation grants under Rural Housing Scheme gave Rs 20,000 per household to poor people for construction of modern, pukka houses.
Access to government jobs is among the best in all Indian states, with 10 per cent of state population holding government jobs as against the average of 3.55 per cent in the rest of India. Sikkim is the only state that earmarks 70 per cent of its revenues towards salaries for state government employees. The One Family One Job Scheme takes this even further.
More than eight in every 10 Indian workers are informally employed or work in informal sectors, excluded from employment rights, benefits and social protection. Thanks to OFOJ, Sikkimese youth are protected. When SDF came to office in 1994, there were around 19,000 regular government employees and 1,000 temporary employees. As of now, Sikkim has nearly 1 lakh regularised employees on its pay rolls. Sikkim has a population size of 6.10 lakh with an average of five persons living in a family. After the successful implementation of OFOJ, 1,22,000 families will be entitled to the employee benefits.
This is no mean feat for the second smallest state in India! The scheme provides dignity of labour to our young citizens who are going to be our state's future. This will empower the young people of Sikkim to move freely around in social circles and climb up on the social ladder.
Today, the development activities continue and have accelerated with great vigour in the villages across Sikkim. Greater opportunities have been placed in the hands of the people of rural Sikkim through innovative initiatives to encourage self-sustainability.
However, Sikkim's success story could not have been written without the intensive decentralisation of administration. While the Panchayati Raj system was formalised with legislation in 1992, Sikkim is arguably the frontrunner in adopting it. Beginning 1993, a number of Gram Vikas Kendras and Gram Prashashan Kendras came up in the state. They continue to play a central role in dissemination of central and state grants and grassroots development planning.
These are all major milestones for the SDF government to continuously and consistently strive for the betterment of Sikkim while inspiring the rest of the country to follow suit.
(The author is a sitting Lok Sabha MP. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at pdrai8@gmail.com)
--IANS
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