Empowered Futures

Editorial -
The Chief Minister, while addressing his party-workers as the SDF party president on Sunday, reminded them that real change cannot come with sops and handouts. The people had to be empowered if things were to really improve in Sikkim, he stressed. Empowerment is not the same as rights, that, the citizens of India already enjoy in plenty. Empowerment demands a wider realization of the rights, the responsibilities that come with it and a stronger desire for pride and establishing self respect. These are virtues that rarely serve the ends of politics well, at least in the short term because support is more safely secured through dependence. An empowered people, after all, are unlikely to be swayed by rhetoric and will rarely be available as ready fodder for the intemperate demands of active politics. Populist measures on the other hand provide instant gratification and attract immediate praise even if they deliver only short-lived impact.
There was a time when the masses needed to be pampered. And they were. Now, Sikkim has to get more realistic, experiment with some effective empowerment. This transition to the next level will not be easy because indulgence is not easily abandoned. The rural folk have been prioritized, anyone who has seen the numbers in which they now travel to the district headquarters and the capital, the ease with which they make demands and get heard will agree with this observation. Now is the time to provide coherence to their plans. Not only is this desirable, it is also an urgent need now. The Sikkimese economy has survived [and quite obviously also prospered] on Central grants for far too long. While this patronage makes for comfortable living, it also makes the people lethargic. There might not be instances of abject poverty in the State, but there are equally fewer success stories outside the circle of the government and its coterie. The real problem with the Sikkimese economy is that it is too dependent on the State exchequer. If the departments do not release payments in time, the market ebbs and every time arrears are paid out, it’s festive season for everyone. This overdependence can prove crippling the day the State cannot support all the kitchens any more. The inverted economy that Sikkim has cannot be supported forever; in development jargon, it’s not sustainable. It’s wonderful that it has lasted this long, but someone, somewhere will pull the plug someday. Sikkim should start sustaining itself. For that the sops will have to be phased away and replaced with rewards for hard work and celebration of merit. It is going to be tough since the State takes care of everything from subsidizing rations to paying for the education of the children. The desire to work hard has atrophied and needs to now be coaxed back to strength. The inherent lethargy and the refusal to work hard has to be exorcised and the plethora of skill development programmes need to be worked to inspire new motivation as well. The Labour Department data which posts Sikkim as having the highest unemployment rate in country reflects as embarrassingly on the youth and their desire to work as it does on the government and its ability to employ.