THE OLD SETTLERS OF SIKKIM

1. WELCOME NEWS OF REDUCTION OF POVERTY IN SIKKIM

   
   Letter:
   ‘Poverty in Sikkim drops from 30.9% in 2004 to 13.1% in 2009-10’. This news published in your newspaper on 22 March came as music to my ears. On March 20th, The Statesman had carried the article Poverty down in some states, up in N-E.  The moment I read the headline I jumped to the article just to see if Sikkim had joined the league of the poor states in the North East. Thankfully Sikkim did not find a place in the list.
   The exclusion of Sikkim can be attributed to the fact that Sikkim is seeing unprecedented growth and development for the last many years. The drop in poverty bears testimony to this fact. The news item says that the percentage of BPL families in Sikkim is half of the national average of 29.8%. The State Government is well within its goal of declaring Sikkim as a poverty free state.
   There has been a drop in poverty in both rural and urban areas in Sikkim. This clearly indicates the holistic approach of the State Government towards development and upliftment. Urban areas are doing well in Sikkim due to the opening of numerous industries and the availability of endless opportunities. In rural areas development has been phenomenal. This has been made possible due to the various schemes of the State and the Central Government which are directly aimed at raising the standard of living of the people.
   The Planning Commission in its report has said that the Poverty Line will be revised from time to time. Now the only challenge that lies in front of the State Government is to insulate Sikkim from poverty so that the revision does not have any impact and the figure drops further to 0% as envisaged by the State Government.
   Jashoda Chettri, Gangtok