Editorial

Forgotten Worries
Another year is drawing to a close and in a year where much happened by way of natural calamities and political rumblings, it is still social concerns that underline the problem areas for Sikkim. As one looks back at the year past, one cannot but replay the misgivings which had come visiting during a recap this time last year – of the society at large and the government in power not having done enough to address social challenges which amplified through 2011.
Today’s edition carries news of two suicides and one rape of a minor in Sikkim. Suicides claimed a 36 year old lady and a teen half her age in separate incidents. The horror of rape visited a minor at her own home. The incidents were spread across Sikkim, the suicides occurring in West and South Sikkim and the rape reported from East district. By now, it is clear to all in Sikkim that crimes, even crimes against children, and suicides are not specific to any area or profile and have infiltrated every strata and region. It is a worrying scenario, but what is even more so is the continuing absence of earnest social or governmental involvement in addressing either of these situations. At the end of another eventful year, it needs to be admitted that the Sikkimese society has failed itself miserably.
Crime appears to be on the rise as do suicides. Addiction continues to convert more people at younger ages and corruption refuses to contain itself. Much as one would want to believe, these are not problems erupting out of poor governance, they are ills that a poor social fabric foments. There have been few, very few instances, where people have come together to further a collective cause, the manner in which individuals and their organisations came together for earthquake relief being one such case in point. But the wave of humanity appears to have crested in the wake of the earthquake and then collapsed to the routine. There have been too many indications of a disinterested society more comfortable at sweeping its responsibilities under the carpet than addressing issues and solving them. Violence against minors and the disturbing number of suicides are too obviously disturbing and frequent to escape notice any more, and yet, with alarming facility, these distressing signals are swept under the carpet and ignored. The lethargy one often associates with the bureaucracy is as acute among the people who should make up the civil society and Sikkim remains the poorer for it. Agreed there have been individual initiatives, some of which have dropped out while some continue to struggle, but there has been no consolidated effort towards addressing social challenges. Every initiative that should have come from the people has come from the government instead. This does not always work, because if the people themselves are not motivated enough or concerned enough, then mere legislations are of little help. The present times are times of change, rapid change, and unless the society remains involved in this change, monitoring and moulding it, it will soon realise that they have mutated into something ugly when they could have metamorphosed into something much prettier. With our vacuity, we also cripple the chances of an improved future for the coming generations. That will be a guilt difficult to live down...