SDF - Sikkim Democratic Failures
20 years and still bragging strong.
The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) celebrates the 20th anniversary of the party's foundation. God knows how they happened to call the event 21st foundation day. A party can be founded but once. So, it must be they celebrated an anniversary, and every child knows that the initial event is not counted. However, to do the state party justice it must be mentioned that this slight deviation is atypical. Commonly, the gap between the party's rhetoric and related performance is abysmal. This can best be demonstrated when comparing the claims expressed in the celebratory speeches held all over the state with the smashing findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India after investigating the conduct of the administration.
From the party's side, it sounds: "SDF has completed two decades because it is the party of every Sikkimese and looks out for the youth, the employees, the senior citizens, and every individual irrespective of class, creed, community or faith with the same concern. Rest assured, our government will continue after the next elections and so will continue the all-round development programmes that the SDF Government has initiated."
As far as the youth is concerned, the CAG states that the state has accorded the education sector the highest per capita expenditure in the country (almost five times the national average). All the same, the enrolment ratio decreased during the period 2007 - 2011, most remarkably at the upper primary level with a decline of 38%. A perspective plan was not finalised and annual plans were prepared merely for the purpose of availing budgetary grants.
In respect to all-round development, the CAG complains that, due to imposition of penalty at abysmal low rates for delay in commissioning of hydro-electric projects, the state lost between Rs. 2,514,40 crore and Rs. 2,622,76 crore per year as compared with other Northern states. Non-imposition of regular contributions towards local area development led to a loss of Rs. 245,20 crore annually. The agreements favoured the IPPs at the expense of the Exchequer.
The way the Chamling-led cabinet handled the earthquake of September 18, 2011, does not leave a better impression either. The Government of Sikkim published a related White Paper in December 2012 which hardly represents more than a memorial: A collection of eyewitness reports with lots of photographs depicting the damages caused by the earthquake and the celebrities visiting Sikkim during the subsequent days and weeks. We learn that Shri Speciman donated five sets of toileteries and that Smt. Speciwoman had to be hospitalized for more than seven days. We scan a chapter of four pages entitled 'Experiences and lessons learnt' to extract a content that could be expressed in a single line: We have to improve preparedness for unforseen natural calamities. To that end, the government has taken countless steps. (Translated into plainspeak, this means: Committees and working groups have already been nominated and members draw salaries, however, they have not yet delivered anything.)
But nowhere within these 160 pages does the administration provide accountability for the considerable sums received for relief and rehabilitation. Folks interested in such negligibilities have to consult third party work to get what they are looking for. Sai Manish, senior correspondent of Tehelka, has a comprehensive compilation¹ of the related factors to his credit, sort of a corresponding Black Paper. His conclusions are shattering:
- The quake survivors have been left to fend for themselves.
- Officials sat on files for months making excuses.
- One year after the quake, not a single house had been rebuilt.
- The Chamling administration failed to utilise existing funds and mismanaged crores that were received as aid.
These findings are confirmed by Tseten Lepcha, citizen of Chungthang and working president of the Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), in a press release² distributed recently. He reveals that, 18 months after the earthquake, the worst affected North of Sikkim has got no support from Gangtok worth mentioning. He credibly blames the government of having distributed funds at discretion irrespective of factors like loss of lives and health or severity of damages.
Both, Sai Manish and Tseten Lepcha, hint at the unbearable truth: The SDF administration diverted badly needed funds from the worst hit North to the South regardless of the comparably slighter damages. This is where the main clientele of the party lives, hence, there is a higher return on investment in terms of votes.
This much about looks out for every individual with the same concern. The facts draw a picture far from that.
When examining the heroic achievements claimed by the Sikkim Democratic Front for the last two decades, there will always remain one which has to be regarded as substantiated: The integration of Sikkim into the Indian mainstream, especially the Indian mainstream political culture. Accordingly, the SDF-powered administration of Sikkim represents a miniature version of the UPA-led Central Government: Unable to face the challenges of our time, stuck with urgent reforms shelved, mainly occupied with fending off corruption scandals and retaining power and devoid of credibility. In short: A team of Undera...
... well, some of us dislike that word. Of course, it fits. But, alas, it's been raised by a foreigner!
Chopel Serkhangpa, 12th March 2013
¹ Sai Manish: Where did the Money go?, Tehelka, Vol. 9, No. 42, October 20, 2012
² Tseten Lepcha: Chungthang - The Kalapani of the 21st Century, Press Release, March 8, 2013
Photo Credit: Nicholas Roerich, Star of the Hero, Detail, Tempera on Canvas, 1936, Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York