‘Become Job Providers Rather Than Job Seekers’
You continue to be India’s longest serving CM. How do you manage the aspirations of the youth?
When I came to power in 1994, I coined a slogan: ‘Desh hamara Hindustan, Sikkim hamara Sukhistan’ (Our country is Hindustan, Sikkim is our land of peace). Despite being a state with international borders on three sides, Sikkim today is a land of peace and tranquility.
Under the SDF government, the people of Sikkim have been emotionally integrated with India. We are proud of the fact that Sikkim has outperformed the national average and leads most states on a broad range of social parameters. Development and empowerment of youth is our key focus and we have introduced various policies for this.
We are also working on a law that will make it compulsory for private companies to offer 90 percent jobs to locals. There have been numerous stories of successful young entrepreneurs from the state. However, a majority of the youth population still sees government jobs as the ideal career. I urge the students and the youth to exploit the unlimited prospects for entrepreneurship in sectors such as tourism, hospitality, agri-business, and several others areas. I urge our youth to become job providers rather than job seekers.
Sikkim, over the past few years, has positioned itself as India’s only organic driven agricultural state. How has the state benefited benefitted from it?
Sikkim has become a model state for the world as we have protected the nature without compromising on development. Fifteen years ago, we decided to shun chemical pesticides and fertilisers and return to natural methods of farming.
Today, Sikkim has the distinction of being the first state to go 100 per cent organic. Organic farming has not only boosted the rural economy but also contributed to an increase in the life expectancy of the state’s people by 10 years as a result of the various health benefits of organic products. It is interesting to note that while agriculture contributes 50 percent to carbon dioxide emissions, organic farming helps reduce CO2 emissions.
We are the country’s first and only organic state, and many young entrepreneurs have started leveraging this opportunity, and taking organic farming to new heights.
What other key sectors have invested in the state? What has been their contribution in generating revenue and employment in the state?
Favourable socio-political environment and the Northeast Industrial Development Policy have attracted huge private investment to Sikkim over the past decade, propelled primarily by tax incentives under the development Policy, as well as the Sikkim Industrial Promotion and Incentive Act, 2000.
Pharmaceuticals is an emerging industry in Sikkim, with the state being home to 14 major pharma companies with 50 manufacturing units. Also, the large number of streams and rivers flowing through the Sikkim have endowed the state with an immense potential for development of hydro electric power, which has again attracted investments.
Peace and stability ensured by the SDF government in Sikkim for the past two decades have been the biggest draw for investors. The pharma companies alone have generated 26,827 jobs in the state. The state industry’s contribution to the GSDP stood at 40.13 percent in 2016-17, which was merely 5.47 percent in 1993-94.
Sikkim has done very well on social indicators of development such as health and education. What did you do differently to achieve this?
We are probably the only state in India that allocates 20 per cent of its annual budget to education. Our per capita expenditure on education in 2016-17 was Rs 12,400, which is the highest in the country.
We not only encourage our people to go for the highest qualification possible but also support them by giving free education up to college level in all state government institutions.
We have also made education free for Sikkimese students in our two polytechnics. We offer free textbooks, exercise copies, uniform, raincoats, etc., so that no child is forced to drop out for want of uniform, shoes, etc.
We also have unique scholarship schemes. We currently have a literacy rate of more than 90 percent.
The chief minister’s Comprehensive Annual Total Check-up for Healthy Sikkim (CATCH) provides comprehensive health care, preventive and curative treatment on an annual and periodical basis to the poorest of the poor at their doorsteps.
We have started vaccination against cervical cancer. We want to make Sikkim a cervical cancer-free state. Better healthcare infrastructure has also helped to push the life expectancy of the people by 10 years.
We have many projects in the pipeline including a 1,000-bed multispeciality hospital at Sichey, Gangtok. We will be also starting a medical college where students from the state will be taught for free.
_20241014134707_original_image_42.webp)
