Not everyone is a topper…

…but if you look around, there are options for everyone

TSHERING EDEN

The ICSE class XII results are out and like every year news is abuzz with lists of toppers with ridiculously high scores. Schools set out to outdo each other releasing names of their toppers. In the midst of all this, we give little thought to students who have just about managed to scrape through or who have made “average” scores. While toppers debate on which course or college to choose from among the many options they now have, for the larger majority, nerve-wracking times lie ahead.
It is however, not the time to feel bogged down. There are many avenues to explore that do not necessarily require high scores. Not all toppers become super successful and if you look around you will see many people who did not ace their XII exams but are still making a good living. Most students look at pursuing higher studies in conventional courses as the be all and end all. However, there are many alternative courses which are as good.

AAP- So quickly from a Party with a difference to a party that is no different

AAP was able to instil the fantasy of idealism in politics, only to, unfortunately, squander it in the pursuit of absolute power, argues SALEM LEPCHA

April 2011, the atmosphere was charged with a critical frustration of one and all against the rampant corruption of vested interests, and Anna Hazare came to the helm of the movement against corruption. Reaching a crescendo with the unearthing of 2G scam, Commonwealth financial impropriety and Coalgate saga, the movement fuelled the already simmering anger and resentment among the people. The term ‘policy paralysis’ found a place in the grammar of planning (a euphemism to government’s yawning failure and anomaly in its policy implementation). In such an unfortunate setting, the AAP against corruption was born in 2013. It wasn’t like any other political outfit but was more a movement; was bold and determined. The party came as a breath of fresh air to the nation’s political environment vitiated by corruption and vices of all shades. It brought about a new era in politics in post-Independence India. 

Should Local Protection trump women’s identity issues everytime?

TSHERING EDEN

On 27 January 2015 the State Cabinet decided to make it mandatory for all married daughters of the old settlers of the state to furnish their own, their father’s and their husband’s residential certificates when applying for trade licenses, contract works, driving licenses and other benefits and services. Less than a month later, on 23 February, the Cabinet approved partial modification to Notification No. 66/Home/95 dated 22 November 1995 as amended pertaining to issue of Certificate of Identification and with it denied the provision of CoI to nonlocal women married to Sikkimese. Certificates of Identification, everyone knows, are essential for just about everything in Sikkim, from being able to conduct business to applying for government employment to receiving State benefits. For old settlers, this role is played by the residential certificates they will be issued in keeping with the 26 April 1975 cut-off date announced recently by the Chief Minister.

Teachers should welcome, not protest transfers

a ViewPoint by SANTOSH SUBBA on the teachers transfer row

A recent order for transfers of teachers has given rise to an unwarranted protest by some teachers in the garb of Sikkim Teachers Association or STA. They seem to have misunderstood the words “service” and “servant”. They are to render their service to the people irrespective of whether they are comfortable with the time and place where they are to render their service. Freedom for choice of place of work is available only in business and in entrepreneurship and for this, they must stop being a government servant and start a business, for, so long as they are government servants, they have to abide by all the rules laid down for government servants, transfer being one. The salary that they draw from the public exchequer every month is not for their comfort but for the service they have to render to the people.

Why Organic Poultry farming makes sense PRAMADA GURUNG

Traditional backyard poultry farming is an age-old practice around the world. This backyard poultry sector consists of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons and guinea fowls. They are scavengers and largely subsist by scavenging in gardens, around the farm feeding on crop residues, insects, worms and green forages. Highly resistant to diseases, poultry is reared by small marginal farmers to supplement their income and livelihood. The growing demand for indigenous eggs and low investment in backyard sector provides an opportunity for the rural poor particularly women for more gainful supplementary income generation opportunities for the family. Small farming families, landless labourers and people below poverty line are able to raise indigenous chicken with low inputs and harvest the benefits as eggs and meat via scavenged feed resources. The most preferred quality chicken meat and egg come from the backyard poultry sector.
Organic farming has been an integral part of life in many parts of the country. Raising organic poultry can be very satisfying. Farming organic chicken in our own backyard is more satisfying. The main aim of organic farming is to establish and maintain soil-plant, plant-animal, animal-soil independence and to produce a sustainable agro ecological system based on the local resources. The poultry sector plays a significant role in improving the socio economic condition of rural masses.
Sikkim being an agricultural state and rich in organic farming, organic poultry farming can be a great supplement. Organic poultry is poised to transform the poultry sector to the next level of animal agricultural development and the agricultural cycle is incomplete without the involvement of domesticated livestock that play a major role in the cycle under the organic livestock farming.
[The writer is studying at College of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry, Selesih, Aizawl, Mizoram]

Congratulations! KC PRADHAN

The much awaited 2014 election results are out. The people of Sikkim have voted for peace, development and continuity. SDF is now at the helm of power for the next 5 years which, on completion, will make for a quarter of a century of governance – a record in Indian politics. SKM in the opposition with 10 seats is a welcome sign for a healthy democratic polity. This is in itself a welcome “change”.
The result has firmly established the fact that people at large are for peace and continuity. The Parivartan wave, it appears, was limited to the upper strata of urban society with the people at the grass-root level quite at ease with the development that is taking place in Sikkim. Even in urban areas, the call for change was confined to the East district and the result in most of the constituencies would perhaps have been different had the SDF party had the prudence to select ‘sons of the constituency’ and leaders that the people wanted. This error in judgment is what the opposition has taken advantage of.
On the brighter side, the ruling party must be at ease as the burden of slotting winners either in the Ministry or other various coveted posts is lighter. More importantly, ushering in veteran ‘rested’ politicians with vast political acumen is a welcome sign. On the other hand, the opposition with 10 members can be an effective force to steer governance in the right direction and keep everybody including the bureaucracy on their toes. The democratic set of polity has now dawned in Sikkim in the truest sense. Gangtokians and those around the capital have always been anti-establishment but if that brought a good number of opposition members and should be welcomed. The peaceful conduct of election and the prevailing peace in its aftermath is to be lauded.
Across the Teesta, the Morcha’s choice proved correct. With BJP’s astounding victory in the nation, the people of Darjeeling have much more to look forward to, to fulfill their century long aspiration. We wish them well.
At the national level, the mantra is going to be development in the economic front with vast opportunities for the people. Some juggling may be required in terms of re-orienting our existing policies and priorities. Prudence lies in working fast on these spheres with the appropriate approach towards development vis a vis human resources and infrastructures.
Our congratulations and all the very best to all the winners and the Government in the offing in particular. We sincerely hope Sikkim will forge ahead in greater measures with combined strategy drawn from all segments of the society. The days of bickering are over. The leader of the opposition instantly congratulating the leader of the winning party signals a good beginning of bonhomie and a sense of grace. Let Sikkim bloom on all fronts. Good Luck.

Let the young fly KC Pradhan

On my regular visits to the Raj Saloon at Deorali for a haircut, I usually park my car along the Deorali School road and take the few steps up and wait to cross the highway. Of late, I have taken to walking on the Butterfly Flyover and going up the sleek steps, halting for a while at the top to look around and climb down straight to the Saloon. All was well in the beginning, but now I see a steady deterioration both in the cleanliness and the type of people that take the fly-over. My last visit was a week back and as I reached the top late in the evening I saw some smoke coming out from one of the cubicles and on closer look saw a bunch of teenaged boys smoking merrily huddled on the floor. “Was it marijuana?” I wondered, and worried for such young boys and their future. I thought it would be the right place for some right thinking person to join them and get to know their feelings. Perhaps a reformed addict would be the answer. As we all know, a poacher like Jim Corbett turned out to be the best conservationist. This is exactly what district police chief Handa used to do [in Darjeeling]. He would join the people playing cards on the streets during the Gorkhaland agitation in the 1980’s, becoming part of them, gossiping and getting enlightened before launching any police action. People loved his way of handling such situations - he was both loved and feared. He made himself a part of Darjeeling.
The thought haunted me throughout my haircut. I had reached half an hour before the appointed time and a teenager was having his hair cut. Raj whispered something and the boy instantly agreed to wait till I got my hair cut first. I said that I could also wait since I had reached before the appointed time, but Raj told me that the boy was having an intricate style haircut and that it might take a while. The gesture touched me and I thanked the boy still sitting on another chair with his hair half done as I finished and left. I did not take the fly-over while returning as I found the street rather empty and easy to cross.
Getting a haircut is one occasion where we come across a cross section of people and chit-chat with Raj adding bits to the gossip. This reminds me of our elderly barber – Chaju - at the Indian Forest College in Dehradun who had gone through a dozen batches of forest officers by the time we came under his scissors. He used to give some useful tips to young probationers about the do’s and don’ts and they worked!
Anyways, for my last haircut, in a short span of just an hour I had come across two sections of teenagers - one obviously going astray and the other remarkably well behaved. I mulled over this. I realized that Gangtok lacks places and spaces for such young people to meet, interact and showcase their talents. This reminded me of the Pioneer Clubs I had the experience of seeing in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan of the then Soviet Union. We visited one which was full of young people from 7 to 18 years of age. After their school hours [from 8 am-2pm], they would meet here in their own groups and engage in various activities with some resource persons to guide whenever required in fields like chess, music, oration, dramatics, swimming etc. Some little kids wearing neat aprons served us some cookies made by them and the Indies (Indian) class entertained us with Bharat Natyam. It was thrilling.
I feel very strongly that instead of grandiose structures of very little relevance in Sikkim as our natural beauty is paramount, we desperately require facilities for the younger generation to hone their latent talents and receive the grooming to become better citizens. There are resources and programmes already but what is required is some imagination to do it right. Unless we think and plan for a solid foundation for our children, rest of the ventures in the name of so called ‘development’ will be pointless. They are full of energy and if entrusted with a job they like, they will come up with so many innovations which our straitjacketed education denies them. We must set a new path for our youngsters. The next Government should give a thought to such a venture with strong local public participation under the departments of Youth Affairs and Human Resource Development. The many Panchayat Bhawans and other monumental structures could well be used for such purposes.

Allegation that SDF is behind dual citizenship charge against VC laughable

“OUR ONLY GROUSE WITH DR. LAMA IS THAT HE DID NOT WORK IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE SIKKIMESE PEOPLE”

BHIM DAHAL & PD RAI

Sections of the media have recently levelled veiled charges that the Sikkim Democratic Front Party and more specifically its President, Dr. Pawan Chamling, are behind the statement of one Dr. Shiva Kumar Sharma, a resident of Sumbuk. He apparently had applied for a post in the Sikkim University and was denied the same. He has alleged that Dr. Mahendra P. Lama has dual citizenship.
We condemn this media writing as both false and mischievous. Let us trace the history of the ramification of this allegation.
Ever since India gained Independence 64 years ago the Citizens of this country of Nepali/Gorkhali ethnicity or descent have been time and again targeted as immigrants. Radical groups have indeed taken up cudgels. They forget that the community have given their blood for this nation many a time and will continue to do so. This issue comes up again since Shiv Sena MP, Anant Geete gave a statement in the House stating that there are 70 Lakh immigrants from Nepal in India during the debate on the Kokrajhar issue in Parliament on the 8th August.
However to settle this question we have two major movements in the course of this history.
One is the formation of Sikkim as the 22nd State of India in 1975 vide Constitution amendment and insertion of Article 371 F into the constitution of India. A large number of Sikkimese of Nepali ethnicity therefore in one stroke became the citizens of India. The others being Sikkimese of Lepcha ethnicity and Sikkimese of Bhutia ethnicity. There are a few Sikkimese of Business community also. Sikkimese is defined as those who have the original Sikkim Subject Registration Number and form. Descendents have the Certificate of Identity (COI).
The other movement is the demand for Gorkhaland which is in process. More recently the Bimal Gurung led Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) has taken office. Government of India and the West Bengal Government recognises the legitimate rights of the Indians of Nepali/Gorkhali ethnicity living in the Darjeeling hill districts as well as those extra areas carved out of the other parts where there is a domination of such people. It is worthwhile to mention here that our Party passed a resolution insisting on the formation of Gorkhaland in the Sikkim Assembly. This is no mean task as such an issue does not even fall under our jurisdiction. However, our support for the people of the GTA has been unwavering especially when it comes to the question of the Gorkha identity.
Hence this immigrants issue is a settled one.
However, it will continue to surface time and again because of the Indo Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in 1950. The treaty allows for free movement of goods and people across the two countries and a close collaboration on matters related to defence and foreign affairs. This treaty also granted rights to Nepalese and Indian citizens to reside and work and even obtain citizenship in India and Nepal respectively.
Hence during the Maoist insurgency in Nepal large number of people did emigrate to different parts of the world to find work. Many have come into India as well and are living in India under the aegies of this treaty. This must be the answer whenever this question crops up.
Now the kind of allegation against Dr. Lama which is referred to is not new.
Ex Member of Parliament from Assam, Mani Kumar Subba, has been targeted for his citizenship issue. His case was even handed over to the CBI and is currently still in the Supreme Court.
Our President and Chief Minister of Sikkim, Dr. Chamling has been at the receiving end of this same kind of allegation. His case has been dismissed by the Delhi High Court. Allegations have been leveled by our own people and that too from Sikkim. In fact the effigy of his has been burned in Siliguri at the behest of these people.
The moot question therefore is where was the Gorkha Parisangh and other Nepali jati organisations when these cases were in full flow? Where were these pious thoughts which now they have for Dr. Mahendra Lama?
We therefore ought not to throw stones when the house is made of glass. This adage is perfectly made for this situation.
Hence the allegation that SDF is behind Dr. Sharma is laughable at best.
Dr. Lama assumed the position of the first Vice Chancellor of the Sikkim University thanks to our State Government’s efforts. The State Government’s demand for the Central University and insisting on bringing ‘one of our own’ as its first VC was acquiesced to by the Government of India. However, Dr. Lama failed to read the aspirations of the people of Sikkim. He therefore did not work in the best interests of the Sikkimese people. We have no other issue with him.
Dr. Sharma a PhD. in his own right and is a responsible member of the Sikkimese community. His allegation is to be dealt with even as others like M. K. Subba or Dr. Chamling have dealt with it in the past.
And all the fuss about insider outsider is media created and distorted version. The Sikkimese people have given their mandate and that too overwhelmingly to the SDF Party. In the course of the progress and development of Sikkim a large number of job and other economic opportunities have inevitably happened. The demand for skilled and other manpower will always be filled whether from within or from outside the State. Hence when the Party President and Chief Minister raises the concern that most of these opportunities are not being taken up by Sikkimese people he is making a statement which is of deep concern for the people of Sikkim. It is therefore telling the people of Sikkim that they have to work harder to keep these opportunities which is meant for the people of Sikkim within the Sikkimese fold. It does not have to be termed or described as anti outsider people sentiment.
Who will safeguard the interest of the Sikkimese people other than the party which has been given the mandate by the people? It is also the right and duty of every Sikkimese to do this by becoming competent and taking on the responsibility to do so.
We again condemn the veiled allegations as have been highlighted earlier against our party and President, Dr. Pawan Chamling.
[the writers are the Spokespersons of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front]

Child Labour: Are we really doing enough?

KARMA BHUTIA
With the ever increasing demand and supply of consumer goods and the economy of India escalating to new heights, it is proving extremely difficult to end Child Labour in our country. Although, the Constitution has policies safeguarding the rights of children the question is – are these bearing any fruit?
Every now and then we get to hear fortuitous news about apprehending illegal child traffickers only but what about the fate of those children who slog from dusk till dawn in tea stalls, some shrouded in factories, or concealed in brothels. One can examine the meretricious role of the character ‘Millimetre’ from the film Three Idiots and assume the depth of incision of child labour in the Indian society.
While many are willing to accept that the problem of child labour exists, very few people are willing to accept responsibility for the problem. Indian children are most exploited in volume as per the data released by CRY [Child Relief and you] and are often forced to work out of necessity, most employed children come from poverty stricken families generally from rural communities. The family’s poverty forces children into the work place. A father at a construction site in Sikkim whose children went to school remarked "What is the point of my children going to school when they won't get any suitable job that would be enough to provide the daily bread."
Although poverty is the main catalyst of the child labour problem, it is not, however, the only cause. Family debt is also a contributing factor. Often family debts will be passed on to the next generation forcing young children into bonded labour. As the CRY organization states, a case study in Sivakashi match factories found that even the child in the womb is pledged to the factory, and consumption and maternity loans are obtained on the undertaking that when the child is born, girl or boy, would work for the factory. Bonded children have no way of ending the cycle of debt created by their parents; their labour seems only to incur more debts as the master controls their fate. This cycle perpetuates with the children being bonded to their masters to repay even eight-generation old debts.
Nestle and Hershey's are both multinational giants synonymous for making chocolate bars and hot drinks products. It is learned that they were found flouting child labour norms, the raw material: like the cocoa beans which is imported from African countries such as Ghana and Ivory Coast which account for75% of cocoa production in the world, which is used to make chocolate products were actually prepared for export to manufacturing countries through hard labour by young kids. Most of the children were between12 to 16, children as young as seven have also been caught on camera working for these multinational companies.
To protect the pods from insects children aged as young as 12 have to spray the pods without protective equipment exposing themselves to hazardous chemicals.
Moreover, the question is how much are we informed and adhering to the fact of problems faced by children working as labour in Sikkim? There are hundreds of examples prevalent, just about every other chai shop employs early teenagers working as waiters, helpers, cooks etc under hazardous conditions. Young Adivasi girls and boys from the neighbouring state of West-Bengal are illegally trafficked every year across the state’s border. They are found serving alcohol in restaurants by the crack of dawn and plodding at work till late night. Apart from the drudgery the amoral insult the owner unleashes leaves a lot to ponder about on our social behavior and structure. Alien to our climate their hands swell like inflated balloons during winter because of the exposure to the cold water while doing the dishes. Yet we are never thankful and just remunerate them with meagre amounts enough for just a hand-to- mouth existence. The surplus value and the comfort they provide us with their hard labour must be paid to them to bring things at par.
There were reports that said that young school going kids in rural Sikkim are engaged as labourers at road construction sites during their winter vacations where they are susceptible to hazardous gases such nitrous and nitrogen oxide emitted due to burning of bitumen for carpeting.
RK Mishra, who studied child labour in the sari industry of Varanasi, once said that the child labourers were like caged-birds - condemned from their very birth to be captive workers. For now, the world must wait anxiously for these caged birds to be set free.
[recvd on email]

Don’t let complacency ruin opportunities

TRIBHUVAN RANA (MANGAR)

Summer vacations have just got over all over the country. It’s a delight to see children come home after working hard in the residential schools through the year. But what was even more delightful to see was a bunch of students from the state come home from some of the best schools in the country. These children come from very humble backgrounds. They are the ones who have held their ambitions in deep recesses of their hearts but no means to fulfil them until they were selected for the Special Merit Scholarship Scheme of the Chief Minister on the basis of state-level tests conducted to shortlist meritorious children at the Class V level.
It was the vision of the Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling that led to the inception of the Special Merit Scholarship Scheme of the Chief Minister to help such students to walk alongside their friends from better financial backgrounds. The Scheme was launched in 2010 and it may be noted that Sikkim is the first State in India to launch such an innovative Scheme.
This unique Scheme has come as a boon to those deserving students of Sikkim who cannot afford quality education. The Scheme was launched with the prime objective to make education accessible to the deserving but underprivileged students. As a result, more than 350 students are studying in coveted schools like Scindia School, Gwalior and Pinegrove School, Himachal Pradesh to name a few.
All of us who have come up the hard way know the pangs of not being able to afford good education despite the desire to excel. Our parents at the most could afford to send us to the humble and ubiquitous government schools. It was up to us whether we wanted to study or while away our time and grow up to be a liability.
Education’s always been taken for granted. We have a myopic view towards education. Education for us has always meant the infallible means to earn bread and butter. But things changed with the advent of the Sikkim Democratic Front. Education became a priority sector and great emphasis was laid on quality education. The Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling as an individual has always been a crusader for quality education.
I am truly happy that now students in Sikkim will not be deprived of quality education just because it is beyond their reach. In this regard, it would be wonderful to see 20% of the budget being allocated to education.
If we are to compare the statistics in the education sector in a typical before and after format, we clearly see the rapid progress that has been made in education. For instance, the number of students enrolled in schools in 1975-76 was 20,959 which increased to a whopping 1,61,737 in 2009-2010. Number of educational institutes has increased from 261 in 1980-1988 to 777 in 2009-2010. Literacy rate in 1994 was 56% while it reached 82.2% in 2011.
Some of the other milestones achieved by the State Government in the education sector have helped promote holistic development both in the context of socio-cultural advancement and also in the expansion of educational facilities. For example, through introduction of Sherpa, Gurung, Newar, Tamang, Mangar, Rai and Mukhia languages as part of school curriculum, we have promoted the cultural heritage of Sikkim. Limboo, Bhutia and Lepcha languages are being taught till graduate level to facilitate larger access to our indigenous languages. One of the most important decisions has been the establishment of a Sanskrit Vidyalaya and Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya in Sikkim to promote classical language and popularize usages in the everyday use.
The Government has reached out to the students like never before for the holistic development. The facilities that have been provided for students and teachers by the State Government are phenomenal! Teachers in Sikkim are the highest paid in the country! There was an increase of over 89% in the salary of teachers in 2011.  No wonder when I recently asked a teacher friend of mine if she intends to sit for any competitive exam, she replied “I am very happy being a teacher. I find teaching very fulfilling.” Such is the zeal for teaching.  But in the same breath, the quality of teaching needs some serious improvement. We must remember that quality is more important than quantity. If you go to see, a fly lays more eggs than a hen!
Teachers have to constantly update and upgrade themselves. They have to remember that teaching is a profession that creates all others. They cannot afford to be complacent.  Nothing should be more rewarding for a teacher to see his/ her student grow up into a successful citizen! I dreaded Maths while in school! I could not even understand the basics! But I somehow managed to scrape through in Maths in my Class X Board exam. After that I have never touched anything (to do with numbers)   except a calculator.  But in retrospect, I feel that had my Maths teachers given me some individual attention and assured me that Maths was not that difficult, maybe I would never have developed this ‘I hate you’ relationship with Maths. This is what constitutes breaking the glass ceiling, the imaginary high point which also restricts our potential to excel beyond the mundane!
Today luckily things have changed for better. The passion to excel is palpable among the students thanks to the advent of so many fun and interesting mediums of learning even if the teachers are not very cooperative. Students today excel both in their academics and extracurricular activities. They have brought laurels to the State in competitive events.
The Special Merit Scholarship Scheme of the Chief Minister has helped to foster a sense of healthy competition among the students. It has also provided exposure for the students who would otherwise stay within the confines of Sikkim. The idea that lies in popularising such Schemes is to underpin and underscore the message of competitiveness in children.
Buoyed by its success, for the year 2012, the State Government has doubled the number of beneficiaries to 200 from 100 in 2011. Out of the 200, 40 students are to be admitted to schools outside the State and the remaining 16 are to be admitted in public schools within the State.
Till date the graph of students has touched the figure of 350 across the State under this Scheme. The target is to provide the Scheme to 1000 students in the future. But this target will be difficult to achieve unless our attitude undergoes some change.  Our teachers should stop taking their jobs for granted. They should constantly grow and adopt new techniques of teaching to keep up with the fast changing world. Teachers have to be sincere towards their job and they should remember that teaching is a job that calls for the highest degree of responsibility as teachers can make or break the future of students.
Our children should learn from the youth of Bihar. Our students must think in broad terms and not limit themselves to Sikkim. In today’s competitive world students have to broaden their horizon and go out there and take the world in their stride. They cannot afford to be complacent and wait for an appointment letter (for a Government job) to fall in their lap!
And we must also do away with our self imposed ideas of protective shelter for our children. We have to accept the fact that it is perfectly ok for children to go out for work or higher studies. Exposure is the need of the hour. We cannot afford to stifle our children on the pretext of being protective parents. Manipur is a case in point. Delhi has a lot of youth from Manipur. A large chunk of Manipuri youth are either studying or working in cities like Delhi and they are doing well in both!
We must take a cue from states like Manipur. 17 candidates from Manipur cleared the IAS and other allied examinations this year. And it isn’t a mean feat! I doubt if this would have been possible if these aspirants had stayed back in Manipur debating day in and day out on the scrapping of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur or why North East still remains neglected by the mainstream. But these aspirants dared to rise above petty issues. They turned their weaknesses into strengths and dared to venture out. And for all we know our children might end up as round pegs in square holes when they grow up unless we make them venture beyond safe havens.
We are very fortunate that we truly live in a paradise. The State Government has given us everything that we could possibly need and want. We get subsidies on and for almost every possible thing. But that does not mean that we become freeloaders. We have to get out of this smug contentment zone. Independence sounds better as a verb than an adjective. Common people get your acts together. Enough of this lackadaisical attitude!
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has done this, done that... It has provided employment and made people self-reliant. So far, so good...  But seems NREGA has brought mixed blessings. Whether it has made us more active or more indolent is a debatable issue. We have simply lost the art of toiling. How many of us actually ‘sweat it out’ whether in the fields or on the treadmill? We have become too lazy too fast! But we forget that the whole game is about the survival of the fittest!
Parents must take genuine interest in the education of their children. Reading habits among students need to be inculcated. Parents also have the duty of instilling moral and ethical values in their children. Inner qualities of the children have to be developed. We must shift our focus from superficiality to profundity.
The other day a friend of mine told me about a friend of his who bought an expensive mobile phone for his school going son. My friend apparently told his friend that he could have bought a laptop for his son with the kind of money he spent on the mobile phone. What do you think?
Education is derived from the Latin word educatus which means to ‘bring up’ or ‘rear.’ Nelson Mandela has rightly said that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Today’s students are tomorrow’s agents of change. And Schemes like the Special Merit Scholarship Scheme of the Chief Minister act as facilitator for the change. Close to 50 percent of our population comprises of citizens between the ages of 1-19 years. With huge potential for human development, we have to work alternately to train our people and also create enough avenues for gainful employment.
Many of our children coming out of schools and colleges lack skills and knowledge and thus unemployable. This we have successfully addressed through establishment of Livelihood Schools and Capacity Building Institutes to train our youths in alternative professions. The youth are being trained for hospitality/ IT and a whole array of vocations that are in vogue with a very good placement record both in India and abroad.
With all these initiatives, I would not be surprised to see these kids making it to one of the world’s top 20 colleges under the Chief Minister’s Free Scholarship Scheme (which is another unique Scheme of the State Government). And I will not be surprised either if this evokes a feeling of regret in some of us. With so many opportunities all around, I only wish I was born a little later. Don’t you?
[The writer is a resident of Borong, East Sikkim. Article received on email]

Learn to sift facts from allegations and do what is best for Sikkim

VIEW POINT/ PINTSO TASHI LEPCHA
Pay no attention to what the critics say. Remember, a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic – Jean Sibelius
This is what I would suggest to the State Government given the rumour mongers trying to cry hoarse all around in Sikkim. Critics seem to be present everywhere. At home, at work, in social dos, at funerals, marriages and even in share taxis! We are becoming very good critics if nothing else. We have been gripped by an insatiable hunger to criticise. We never miss an opportunity to lambast the Government, mock its policies, jeer at its decisions, and criticise, criticise and criticise! We even target individuals depending on our mood!
I have nothing for or against the Government or anybody. I am just an average Sikkimese who believes in verifying facts before jumping the gun. That is all I want others also to do. Facts have to be brought to light and falsehoods have to be shunned. We cannot claim to be good citizens if we do not have the faculty of discrimination, if we do not have a sense of right and wrong.
Power projects in Sikkim have become a talking point. They have become everyone’s pet subject. In matters of economic proposition, hydro-power generation has provided a very convenient handle to individuals opposed to development and the ruling government, never failing to whip up local sentiments trying to impose individual wishes and settle political score. We hear of hydel project scams running into astronomical figures which are based on very complicated arithmetic beyond a lay persons understanding. And the figures keep increasing everyday in mysterious ways.
We live in a democracy and it is perfectly acceptable to criticise the Government and voice resentment. But we cannot create allegations out of sheer imagination. If to criticise is a right, then to examine the facts is a duty that all of us have.
As a layman, I understand that hydel projects are not an overnight phenomenon. They did not just appear out of the blue. They are the result of years of deliberations, meetings, discussions and paperwork. And Sikkim can no longer afford to live in exalted isolation being part of a federal democracy. It is answerable to the Central Government for all its actions.
We all know that whatever initiatives the State Governments take, they have to be in tandem with the policies of the Central Government. So why would hydel projects be an exception? The hydel projects have to be executed as per the National Policy of Government of India, The National Electricity Policy and under the Electricity Act. In the recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he highlighted the need for additional power generation in the next few years. The Central Government has also recently decided to give major push to infrastructure creation including increase in power capacity by another 18,000 MW.
Those of us who have been tracking the development of hydel projects very closely in Sikkim are aware of the Investors Meet(s) that were held in not so distant past so as to forget. There was widespread coverage in the media about these meets. It was in these meets that the State Government extended its invitation to industries and power developers to be a part of the developmental process of Sikkim.
The work of the State Government paid off when a number of reputed power developers visited and expressed their decision to invest in development of hydel projects in Sikkim. For hydel projects at the State Level, a Hydro Committee was also constituted in 2004 with the Chief Secretary heading the Committee. As a result the State Government signed Implementation Agreements for 32 hydroelectric power projects with a total installed capacity of around 4300 MW to various Independent Power Producers (IPPs) including NHPC.
As per the Clauses enshrined in the Implementation Agreement (IA) entered into with the developers, certain deadlines had to be achieved by the developer.
Since the developers could not adhere to certain specification in the agreement due to various reasons, as per officials of the Energy & Power Department, total of 16 (sixteen) Projects have been scrapped/cancelled as on date.
Therefore, the Implementation Agreements has been valid for only 20 power projects of which two projects namely – 510 MW Teesta-IV HEP and 60 MW Rangit-II HEP have already been commissioned and the remaining 18 projects with total installed capacity of 3774.50 MW are under various stages of execution. This is known to all.
After the devastating September 18th earthquake, we went crazy blaming the hydel projects for the earthquake. But we refuse to admit that hydel projects DO NOT cause earthquakes. To the extent that the devastating earthquake delayed the developmental process of the state which is open for everyone to see.
In our bid to criticise and scream and shout, we become blind to the benefits industries like hydel projects and pharmaceuticals have brought to the Sikkimese people. These industries have generated direct and indirect employment to thousands of Sikkimese people under various categories of employment generating handsome revenue to the state. But employment? You must be kidding! Employment for us strictly means a government job. Nothing less, nothing more.
Sikkim for the nth time is a hilly area with difficult terrain. I don’t think the Sultan of Brunei would be interested to have a Formula One racing track here. Or Nokia would be interested to open a factory in Sikkim. So we have to identify and rely on our natural resources and assets that will make us self-reliant. Countries like Bhutan and Canada have realised this fact early. Bhutan and Canada that have been doing extremely well in the hydel project sector.
The success of the Tala project has spurred Bhutan to develop its hydro-power resources. Primarily fuelled by the hydro-power projects, especially after the commissioning of the Tala project in the middle of the last decade, Bhutan's GDP growth has averaged over 7 per cent during the past six years. In 2007 and 2008, Bhutan actually grew faster than China, with growth rates of 12.6 per cent and 10.8 per cent respectively, according to Asian Development Bank estimates. Bhutan's economy is projected to grow at 7.2 per cent this year, according to estimates firmed up by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Faced with the challenges of climate and territory, the Canadian energy industry has developed expertise in the generation and transmission of energy, in particular clean, reliable and renewable hydroelectric power. Over the years, Canada has also become world-renowned for its hydro power project design and construction. That today the country is home to some of the largest and most powerful hydro power facilities in the world, eg:
• Churchill Falls underground power plant in Labrador (5429MW).
• Robert-Bourassa Complex near James Bay, Quèbec (5328MW).
• Daniel-Johnson arch and buttress dam on the Manicouagan river, Quèbec (214m high).
Today there are approximately 450 hydroelectric power plants operating in Canada and more than 200 small hydro plants (<10 MW). Canada also has more than 800 dams that are used for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation and flood control. With an installed capacity of 67,121MW (year 2000) Canada is the world’s biggest producer of hydro power, leading the US, Brazil, China and Russia with production of more than 13% of the global output of hydro power.
Canada generates about 350TWh/yr of hydro power, an amount that represents more than 60% of the country’s total electricity production, and further opportunities remain for new hydro power project development across the territory. Another 118,000MW of hydro power, twice the amount that is currently in operation, could technically be developed. Every province has some remaining potential.
Hydro power projects must undergo a lengthy regulatory process, including comprehensive environmental assessment and public consultations. This regulatory process significantly slows down the development of new hydro power projects. However, the growing concern for greenhouse gas emissions should lead to the development of new hydro capacity to address climate change while helping to meet growing electricity demand. Electricity consumption has increased by only 2.2% (year 2000), and the average projected increase is 1.3% per year over the next two decades.
So if Bhutan and Canada can reap benefits from hydel projects, why not Sikkim? The only thing that keeps us from deriving benefits is our cynical attitude and an attitude that promotes individualism rather than collectivism. We have to see the larger picture instead of indulging in blame game and mudslinging. If we continue to resort to blame game among ourselves, no one will be the winner. It will become endless in an era of number games. People from other states hardly care and people from New Delhi would also not be bothered to listen to our wranglings at a very local level in Sikkim. Therefore, the loss is all ours while others in other parts of the Country are entangled with their own problems..!
In any case, we need to understand that all these power projects in Sikkim are under Build Operate Own and Transfer basis. After 35 years, projects would be handed over to the State Government and the land would be reverted back to the Government. Unused land will be reverted to t6he land owners after the project is reverted to the State Government.
The State Government has confirmed that the Government has never stood guarantor to all the projects and has agreed upon to invest its 30 percent of equity share towards completion and commissioning period to save ourselves from interest payment. Sounds very rational. The 12% free power and 15% free power after 15 years is a foregone conclusion. The state will get free power and as per equity share, dividend will come to the Government revenue.
Among claims and counter-claims, let truth prevail. All the power projects once commissioned/ completed will add approximately 2,000 crore as revenue to the State Government. Apart from this, Sikkimese people have directly or indirectly got employment opportunities.
We hear or overhear talk about winds of change blowing hard all around. But let me inform you about the People’s Action Party of Singapore. It is undoubtedly the most prominent political party in Singapore's history. Ever since winning the 1959 GE to form the government, it has made the then mosquito net of Asia into a first world country under Lee Kuan Yew. He served as Singapore's first Prime Minister for 32 years and PAP's secretary-general for nearly 40 years. PAP has been able to retain its invincible position because the people of Singapore know that it is a party with a vision and mission, a party that delivers on its commitments.
Therefore, there is no force and rationale in the argument of change without any qualifying character to it. We say Change for better. Is the purported alternative better than this?? This is a question that people must always define. Like in Singapore, we can well visualize the same leadership and party as long it does not deviate from the principle and ideals that it stands for in the interest of the Sikkimese people, State and the Nation.
The State Government has said again and again on its commitment to make Sikkim the best state in the country. It has set certain deadlines for itself to achieve the targets. This is only possible if we put our unwavering faith and trust in the Government and let it work in the best interest of the Sikkimese people.
We must not falter because of the criticisms and allegations. We must continue doing whatever is in the best interest of the Sikkimese people even if it means upsetting a handful of those who can never be pleased.
[The writer is a resident of Rinchenpong]

The Urja hawa methai

DAWA LEPCHA

In the section ‘Revenue From Sale Equity Energy Component’ in the White Paper commissioned by the state government on hydro electric projects in Sikkim, it is clearly mentioned that:  “The state government is to have 26% equity share in all the independent power projects that are being implemented in the state”. The capital amount for this equity is to be arranged as loans by the companies, which will be paid back at approximate interest rate of 15%. The bleak prospect of this arrangement is mentioned that, even if there is a 25% return of the equity, the state will be left with very meager amount until the time the loan for the equity share is paid off. Which means we are not sure when we will be getting the full revenue benefits that is being touted so much, from these hydro power projects.
It is also mentioned that, the state being a minority stake holder in all these projects (IPPs) it will have very little say in the decision making. Is this what is exactly happening in the case of Teesta Urja 1,200 MW power project. As per a national daily, the company sold 50.9% of its stake to a company from Singapore without the knowledge of the state government! It is also alleged that the company has denied the government the 26% equity share, a pre- condition in the MoU! Why is this condition being blatantly violated? What is happening? Will the other companies follow suit? Has the state government put in the equity amount? These are just the tip of iceberg. We don’t know how much is hidden underneath.
Teesta Urja is certainly in a bad shape post September 2011 earthquake and the Jagan Mohan Reddy episode, so it naturally is trying to wriggle out of the quagmire and the state. One of its ex-engineers, who is engaged with some other project now in north Sikkim pointed out that work progress was only about 20%. At this rate he was not sure when the project will be completed.
All said and done, at the end of the day, if we are not careful, it is us the common man who will have to face the music in future and bear the burden.