Monday, September 23, 2013

“Freedom is the ability to understand and take a decision”

CM SPEAK-
Intro: Chief Minister Pawan Chamling interacted with more than 500 youth from all parts of the State on 02 March, 2012 at Samman Bhavan. An excerpt from his address on the day:

I have always respected the youth. While listening to your suggestions I was trying to understand what kind of a world you want to build. We struggle a lot in life and we get unhappy. The reason for our problems is our illusions. We fail to understand the truth. Man has been searching for the truth for millions of years and his search is still on. Scriptures say “Charaiveti, Charaiveti” which means “Go on! There is no end to knowing”.
Our ancestors lived in a totally different age. We cannot survive with that mindset today. If our thoughts are not like that of the first world, we will not be able to live in today’s world. We have tried to provide opportunities and facilities of the first world to the Sikkimese people but the have not been able to use them properly. It is because of our third world mentality that we have not been able to benefit from the opportunities of the 21st century.
You all must contemplate and reflect. It is said that incidents reveals the truth. An incident in Palestine has become an example for the world. Laila Khalid, a Palestinian woman led a group of youth and hijacked a plane from Jerusalem airport and landed it in Uganda airport. When asked why they hijacked the plane, they said that they wanted international recognition of the plight of the Palestinians and that they should be reckoned as revolutionaries and not as terrorists. Youth have fought in this manner for their community. This is the identity of the youth. You should not feel proud to be called an educated unemployed youth. You must proudly announce that educated youth of Sikkim are not unemployed. This will create a separate identity for you.
If anyone is unemployed in Sikkim, it is because he does not work and not because there is dearth of work. This is the difference between the unemployed youth of Sikkim and elsewhere. A wise person learns from his weaknesses and his mistakes. You oppose the Government if you don’t get a job. What does this mean? Unemployment is not a problem of only today. It is a problem of tomorrow and the future. If anybody opposes the Government for not getting a job, that person cannot be called educated. If youth become so negative then Sikkim will be ruined. We all must work together to solve the problem of unemployment. We have to save Sikkim.
Government is needed for the people and for the future of the Sikkimese. People must be concerned about the Government. Youth must look for solutions for every problem. We must not blame anyone. The Government is always with the youth. You are the third generation of educated lot in Sikkim. We are making all efforts to make this generation educated and disciplined society. When Sikkim merged with India, the literacy rate of Sikkim was 17%. Many Government job vacancies came up. Many people came from outside Sikkim. Today the literacy rate of Sikkim is 93%. Everyone is educated. So it is becoming increasingly difficult to get a Government job. We initiated Capacity Bulding programme and started Livelihood Schools. We don’t want a vacuum between demand and supply. The objective was to produce manpower that would cater to all the demands.
Today’s demands are not ordinary like it was in the past. There are demands for skilled man power, for food products and cosmetics. We started the Livelihood Schools to cater to such demands. But even this did not change the mindset of the youth. Even after being trained, they run after Government jobs instead of using their skills. Bill Gates started his software company after he dropped out of college. He started hiring people who were more educated and qualified than him. People in Western countries give more importance to the work and not the post. This is first world mindset. But we have the tendency to respect the post more than the work. We need a paradigm shift to change this mindset.
We must become self-reliant. Let’s start this Pavitra Kranti. We must become competitive. Let cooperation and competition be the identity of our society. We have brought the people of Sikkim to the national mainstream. Now we have to take Sikkim forward as Sikkimese community. Even today job for our people is synonymous with Government job.
The day our youth become like the youth of Japan and Singapore, our State will become like Japan and Singapore. Only material development is not enough. We have to develop our mindset too.
More than 500 youth have come here today. You must destroy the undesirable elements in Sikkim like the five Pandavas destroyed the Kauravas.
I am talking for you and your future. I am future-focussed. You must not say we have unemployment because there are no Government jobs. We must worship hard work. Government job falls in the white collar category like IT and software. Blue collar jobs are industries, hotels etc. Green collar jobs comprise of eco-friendly and organic jobs. Blue and green collar jobs have been created here. Many companies have come to Sikkim. We must be able to benefit from these companies.
Sikkim is number one in all sectors. We must protect this pace of development. You must protect the peace and tranquillity of Sikkim. The September 18th earthquake had an impact on tourism as well. I am just a helper. You have to protect Sikkim. We can make the kind of Sikkim we want.
This world is competitive. One day, jobs will be saturated. We want to ensure that our people are not poor even if the jobs are saturated. Our environment is our asset. We have to protect it. We are richly endowed in terms of natural resources. Sikkim is one of the eighteen biodiversity hotspots of the world. We have 30 mountain peaks. We are making a skywalk in Bhaley Dhunga. If we remain poor in a rich State like Sikkim, we should understand that it is because of our behaviour. The creativity, time and strength of our youth are being wasted. This is a great loss for the human society. Enemies of the people want to see this kind of loss. You must be able to recognise such enemies. Our politics is to ensure the victory of the Sikkimese people and to make them self-reliant. If you want to do politics, engage in politics that will lead to the victory of the Sikkimese people and not your personal victory. I have been leading the party for 20 years. I am working hard for the people of Sikkim day and night.
If we have problems, it is our job to look for solutions. We must look for alternatives for solutions. I hope you have heard about Dutch disease. This disease started in England (Netherlands) in 1982. The people of Holland left everything and ran after gas and coal mines. They started making lot of money by selling gas. People stopped focusing on other sectors. Gradually, the deposits in gas and coal mines were exhausted. Business came to a grinding halt. Ordinary people were the worst hit. Factories were shut down. Factory workers became unemployed. We must take a lesson from this Dutch disease. Lots of opportunities have come to Sikkim. People have stopped working in their fields. We should not witness a Sikkim disease like the Dutch disease. We must give continuity to our traditional professions and simultaneously adopt new professions depending on the opportunities.
We must be able to fulfil our demands. All our work must be sustainable. Let’s move ahead with the dream to make Sikkim an eco-city-State. Let’s not make Sikkim a concrete jungle but a Sikkim where every village has all the basic facilities.
Politics becomes good if politicians are good. Politics is mandatory in democracy. You must take responsibilities and move ahead in life. Politics is done for the country and the people. Politics means willingness to die for the truth. When you suggested that housewives must be engaged in productive work, I was reminded of the Lijjat papad initiative. Let’s find means to make our housewives productive. We must make our human resource employable.
One of our biggest problems is our inability to accept the truth. Our society is a society that hides problems. We must bring our problems in the open. We will constitute youth awards from the coming year to encourage the youth. The award will carry a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh. Most of the billionaires in the world are in the age group of 30-35 years. Youth must take up all the jobs in the service sector in Sikkim. You must execute programmes like Green Mission, Ten Minutes to Earth etc. You must take the responsibility to develop the mindset of the people. You must be vigilant. You must condemn lies and falsehood. You can go into journalism. We will provide loan up to Rs. 10 lakh.
Youth must take the responsibility to make Sikkim better. I have made a note of all your suggestions. We will table an anti-drugs law in the next Assembly session. We will introduce a law that will prohibit sale of liquor to children below 18 years. We will introduce career counselling and aptitude test in schools.
Employees must do the work of the people because the salary they get is the money of the people. Our State is a consumer State. Now we must become a producer State and make Sikkim a producer State.
Politics is an intellectual debate. Politics is to make people know the truth. An educated person is one who can take decisions by himself. An educated person knows how to respect work. I feel that as long as the society is weak, the powers and means will be in the hands of a few people. We have to make strong Panchayats who can create an aware society. Panchayats have a big responsibility to make the society aware. That is why Panchayats must be strong and capable.
You must be youthful in your thoughts and knowledge. I am youthful in politics. Human beings have tremendous potential. We started the Co-operative movement. We must make the movement successful. We want to uplift the poor and women.
All the industries, business, banks, factories are for us. They must be the way we want them to be. If anybody violates our laws and deprives locals from jobs then it is a punishable offence. You must protest if anyone is working against our rights. A leader must be truthful. The State and country will suffer if the leader is of wrong kind.
There is despair in the world. Religion and trust are fast disappearing. If this is happening in Sikkim too, we must rectify it. Freedom is not doing what one pleases. Freedom is discipline. You get freedom when you take responsibilities. A man who takes responsibilities becomes powerful. In today’s world, we get respect by the work we do and not by birth or position. We must be free from our desires. We all have requirements. We become unhappy because of our wishes and weaknesses. If we are not alert and lack decision making power, our requirements blind us. Therefore, we must always be aware about our requirements. We need to develop self-discipline. We must think alike. I am your well-wisher. Let’s start a Pavitra Kranti in Sikkim. Let this interaction create a new history.
Thank You!

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