Some Resolves, a Month Down the Line

Editorial:
It will be a month today since Sikkim was jolted by an earthquake which tipped the Richter Scale at 6.8 and left the State and its people reeling in its wake. The relief and rehabilitation works have found their rhythm now and the State has submitted a Rs. 3,500 crore budget for short-term rebuilding works.
Given that the interim budget was cleared for Rs. 1,000 crore, the Rs. 3,500 crore funding should also come through as will the many more crores that Sikkim will require to build the required long-term resilience now that earthquakes and natural disasters have become a reality which cannot be ignored any more. As Sikkim begins this process, it should be prepared to side-step opportunism which is bound to return as the memories of the earthquake fade further in time. The genuine concern and goodwill which surfaced in the immediate days after the earthquake need to be sustained and lay the foundation for a more involved citizenry and a more proactive bureaucracy. In his address at a recent coordination meeting, the Chief Minister directed that the rebuilding process be initiated with the endorsement of the people. This is a welcome course correction from the approach in which ‘development’ was presented as ‘for’ the people. Working with the people requires that not only is their advice and consent sought, but also heeded. That will make the immediate task of rebuilding a truly collaborative effort and if pursued in the right earnest, will also set up a long-term alliance for all development works. This will obviously require a paradigm shift in how public servants approach their service and in how the public sees its role in state-building. Development has been decided for the people thus far in Sikkim and even though groups might express gratitude on paper, they harbour suspicions of profiteering by the ‘deliverers’ of development. While these suspicions might be exaggerated, it also has to be admitted that they are not unfounded. The trust-factor lost, the sense of ownership one expects people to display never materialises. Also lost due to this model is the volunteerism one expects of the society and the accountability one expects from the administrators. Now has arrived the opportunity to realign demand and delivery.
The ferocity of the earthquake caught Sikkim by surprise on the evening of 18 September. A disoriented Sikkim was shell-shocked initially, but pulled itself together with remarkable solicitude. The NGO sector has been a subject of ridicule and circumspection for their ineptitude for long in Sikkim, but in the wake of the earthquake, these organisations came together refreshingly well and used their organisational networks with genuine concern to offer relief and assistance to affected people. Impressively for Sikkim, there has not be one instance of cheating or fraud in the name of the earthquake even though natural disasters have a disturbing track-record of attracting scamsters and opportunist profiteers. In Sikkim, from youth groups to professional organisations, after the shock had worn off, stepped up impressively to reach out and comfort the affected areas. While these efforts could have benefitted from a more organised and coordinated effort, it is in the disjointed spontaneity that one sees the genuineness of the effort. While some salaried government personnel have displayed distressing disinterest, on the whole, the government machinery has measured up to the challenge and worked well within its limitations and adapted fast to complications on ground. Now that a month has passed since the earthquake, and realising that once the shock wears off and news stales, the spontaneity too will be lost, the State and its people should make a conscious effort to sustain the collaboration. Accountability should be prioritised at all levels and consultative planning institutionalised. With his Sikkim Bhraman, the Chief Minister initiated a process of taking the government to the people and the planners to ground realities. This should not be a one-off experience, and in the wake of the earthquake and the challenge of rebuilding, has become a necessary commitment if Sikkim is to seize the only silver lining that the pall of the earthquake has cast.