Historic Recognition of Sikkimese as One People

The Direct Tax Laws and sections exempted from paying Income Tax in Sikkim are back in the news. We reprint, with a fresh title, an extract from the editorial published when the Income Tax exemption was formalised by the Parliament in the year 2008. This as much to relive the moment from three years ago, as to recall what the development meant for Sikkim. This editorial was first published on 04 March, 2008…

editorial:

The amendment to the Finance Bill tabled by the Union Finance Minister [on 29 Feb, 2008] is of much more significance that just the Income Tax exemption announced for Sikkim Subjects. It is a historic development and one without any recent precedence in the country in that special treatment has been announced for “a people”, not a community, caste, or religious denomination. The amendment mentions exemption for the “Sikkimese”; an explanation attached to the amendment, defines Sikkimese as Sikkim Subject Certificate holders and their descendents. The Sikkimese are receiving special treatment as a collective group for the first time. Thus far, special treatment has been based on ethnicities. Delhi has never acknowledged the people of Sikkim as a united group and even leaders here have acquired the rhetoric which speaks of the people of Sikkim segregated as Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali; a coinage that got into currency with the Tripartite Agreement of 1973 and continues to remain in circulation. The State is too small for such divisions and it is ironic that this message had to be driven home with an amendment of the same Bill, which in 1994, had cleaved Sikkim into even deeper divisions.
As far as the Direct Tax Laws are concerned, it is citizenship which earns exemption, nothing else. Everyone who decided to take on the risks of becoming subjects to a King because they loved the land more is now being recognized for their commitment to this land. Our country is not known to not make such relaxations easily, but has routinely lavished Sikkim with special treatment, provisions of Article 371F being one case in point. The neighbouring Hills have shed tears for a century now and blood two decades back and still continue to await a recognition of identity on their terms. For Sikkim, the Centre has reiterated the individuality of “Sikkim Subjects”. Interestingly, not even the 8 May Tripartite Agreement of 1973, nor even Article 371F make any specific mention of “Sikkim Subjects.” The news of exemption is celebratory in itself, and the admission of the fact that the Sikkimese command recognition as a single unit and not broken down communities, even more so.

Unfortunately, it appears that the pride that would have responded with spontaneous jubilation over this development is in short supply; replaced, it appears by instinctive suspicion and indifference…

To be fair, part of the hesitance might be coming from a suspicion that the announcement comes with a rider. Even then, the recognition alone is worth congratulating each other. But inherent suspicions are easy to exploit and even very simple, explicit undertakings can be woven into complexities that attempt to confuse. While financial speak is gobbledygook for most, a reading of the amendment makes some things very clear. The amendment seeks to exempt Sikkim Subjects and their descendents from the purview of Central Income Tax on income earned in Sikkim, including income from dividends or interests on securities. As for the confusion over the year from which this amendment is to come into effect – 1990; the reason should be known to anyone who followed the arrival of Central Income Tax to Sikkim. The 1989 Presidential Notification and the 1994 Act which extended Direct Tax Laws to Sikkim come into effect from 1990 onwards. It has always been that way on paper. In 1994, when an amendment was made to exempt the Scheduled Tribes of Sikkim from Income Tax, even that was to come into retrospective effect from 1990. That is the base year for Central Income Tax’s extension to Sikkim. Till 1994, and since then, a deferment was discussed, but never formally settled between the State and the Centre and hence the base year never officially changed. Until that happens, amendments for exemption should logically get into effect from then onwards. Yes, the present exemption leaves out communities and individuals here who perhaps deserve to be counted among Sikkim Subjects by virtue of the sheer number of generations that they have lived here and the contribution they have made to the kingdom and the State. If the Sikkim Subject Rules were still extant, they would even qualify to get registered in it. Their inclusion among the exempted is definitely a demand that needs to be pursued. This exclusion would not have happened if the anomaly, if that is how Sikkim sees it, had been addressed earlier. It surely has been talked about for a very long time. Maybe now something can be done to secure them recognition as “Sikkimese” and make the picture complete…