A Low Decible, Low on Rhetoric Model of Development

Pawan Kumar Chamling has been one of India's longest serving Chief Ministers - 22 years, 111 days as on date. Only two CMs come to mind, who come close to Mr.Chamling - Mr.Manik Sarkar of Tripura and Mr.Naveen Patnaik of Odisha. Mr.Chamling leads a Landlocked Sikkim, which is bounded to the north and northeast by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, to the west by Nepal, to the southeast by Bhutan, and to the south by the Darjeeling district of the Indian state of West Bengal.

Chamling has been Chief Minister of the state since 1994, and the State has made tremendous improvement in all areas of human development, in spite of the intensity and frequency of natural calamities, impacting both its ecosystem services as well as livelihoods. Originally the land of Lepchas, Sikkimese society bears a strong influence of Tibetan Lamaic traditions and Hinduism as well. The benevolent rule of the early Lepcha rulers and the later Buddhist influence has shaped the social and political evolution of the state in a peace loving society. The state today is a beacon of peace, and has remained peaceful despite so many provocations in its neighborhood.

While it may be argued that governance of such a small population spread over an equally small geographical area may seem a relative advantage, however in reality Sikkim’s geo-physical characteristics have always posed special challenges for public administration and human development. The state’s physiographic set-up makes the lives of  people extremely vulnerable to earthquakes and landslides. The region has experienced relatively moderate seismicity, with 18 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater over the past three and a half decades. Besides, being a small mountainous state it has been a severe challenge to ensure universal access to essential goods and services. But, ever since Chamling took charge of the State as its Chief Minister, the State has won more than 80 national and international awards from government institutions and reputed non-governmental organizations in various developmental, environmental and innovation sectors. Chief Minister Chamling's vision for sustainable tourism has seen Sikkim bagging national awards and international recognition with unfailing regularity. 

Extreme poverty is now virtually absent in the state. Almost all children are in school. In 2015 Sikkim also had the fourth lowest cognizable crime rate of 119.3 (per 100,000 persons) in India; as against West Bengal's, Gujarat's and Tamil Nadu's at 193.0 , 203.6 and 723.2 (per 100,000 persons) respectively.

The Chamling government had consciously stepped up social spending from 27% in 2001 to 37% in 2012–13. Sikkim’s average annual increases on its budget allocations over this period were 12% for education, and for the health sector 18%. Sikkim now has the third lowest levels of malnutrition in the country, following Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. The state has achieved universal sanitation coverage for all households. The State also boasts of  female labour force participation at 40 %, which is significantly higher than the national average of 26%. In  2011, Sikkim reported the lowest percentage of the population below the national poverty line, at 8%.

Even in terms of action plan for dealing with climate change, Sikkim has made remarkable progress, and can provide replicable models for other states for addressing climate change issues, impact and adaptation strategies. Sikkim was the first state to carry out micro-level climate change related vulnerability assessments of rural communities. The Sikkim State Council of Climate Change has been constituted to ensure appropriate policy interventions. A nodal department for climate change has also been set up. A Glacier and Climate Change Commission has been constituted which works with several other relevant institutions for in-depth studies on climate change.

Consumption is, after all, one of the chief and widely accepted measures of well-being, and therefore monthly per capita consumption expenditure for states is a very good measure of assessing general well being in a state. Analysis of state-wise monthly per capita consumption expenditure data, accessed from Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation at the time of writing this post, indicates Rs.1565 for rural Sikkim (vis-a-vis rural Gujarat - Rs.1536) and Rs.2608 for urban Sikkim (vis-a-vis urban Gujarat - Rs.2581), at their prevailing levels of industrial investments and other forms of livelihood.

If any state needs to be truly lauded for its development model, and its developmental be considered as a 'model' model - Sikkim is surely a forerunner in the list. If someone has to be upheld as a Vikash Purush...Chamling perhaps deserves that accolade more than anyone else in the country.

But sadly, India doesn't like to hear such success stories, stories that don't have rhetoric and noise.

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Prominent awards and honours bestowed upon Sikkim since 1994 under the leadership Chief Minister Chamling include:
1) Number 1 in Sustainable Competitiveness (2011)
2) Number 1 in the Environment Sustainability Index of Indian States for the year 2009
3) Sikkim earned the rare distinction of being the first and only State in the country to achieve 100 percent physical coverage in rural sanitation in 2008, and that in an extremely hostile and fragile Himalayan topography.
4) Second best performing State in Panchayat Empowerment & Accountability Incentive Scheme Award in 2008-09
5) Prime Minister’s award for 2011-12 for its initiative ‘Excellence in Rural Management and Development
6) India Today ‘State of The States’ Awards in 2004
7) The first national award for ‘Best Tourist Performing State’ in Northeastern States category from the Ministry of Tourism in 1998-99. Sikkim won the award for four the next four consecutive years and then continued from 2005-06 onwards. In 2006-07, Sikkim won the national award for ‘Best State for Tourism Related Programme.’ The State also won the ‘Most Innovative and Unique Tourism Project Award 2010-11’
8) JRD Tata Memorial Award in 2008 for outstanding performance in population, reproductive health and family planning programme. 
9) Bagged three national awards for MGNREGA implementation in 2009-10.

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