Monday, March 26, 2012

The Dilemma of Unemployment in Sikkim


KC Pradhan,

It was already midday [on Friday, 23 March 2012] and my driver had failed to return [to 6th Mile] in time from Gangtok. There was gherao at Sikkim University and all traffic jammed. On his return, he tells there were round 300 young people agitating for not having received any placement in the University’s recent recruitment process. They, I am told, were pacified only after the arrival of a convoy of VIP cars along with police and India Reserve Battalion personnel.
It made me both curious and sad.
Such a large number of our young people - well qualified, but jobless.
What they have looked forward to in life?
At the same time, a friend came calling for some advice along with her daughter who is well qualified with an MBA tagged to her name and still looking for a job in Sikkim. She was well placed in Kolkata, but her parents insisted that she return home only to leave her jobless here. Her frequent appearances in tests were to no avail, a situation made especially more complicated by the roster system consequent upon the politically-motivated Mandal Commission segregation of communities who had till 1994 been living in harmony, having come from the same economic background. I wondered why not have reservations on economic criteria across the board and not on the basis of tribe, class or caste as perpetuated in India for mere vote banks. Also, the luminaries who drafted the Constitution made it a point to highlight that the reservations were meant for 10 years only, but even after 60 years of independence, the malady continues dividing the society even further. Thanks to the Indian political system and our politicians’ farsightedness!
This dilemma of unemployment will grow manifolds and it needs in-depth study. Basically, it hinges on our educational system. We must plan how to spread our youth horizontally in various vocational courses rather than encourage them to go vertically only to churn out unemployable graduates. What is the glory of Universities when the educated youth are getting more or more unemployed and a liability on the society they aspire to serve? There is something wrong in our system and the curriculums so adopted. It is time to line up the opportunities on one hand and the educational talents required on the other to make a happy match for satisfaction of all.
Sikkim, in its wisdom, has made special privileges for its people - Indians of Sikkimese origin - as enshrined in the Constitution. The federal structure of States in the Union of India is coming very much in the news and the tempo will increase over the months. In Sikkim’s context, the privileges for its people are more than are available to subjects of any other state. It is time to look the issue de-novo, both legally and constitutionally, and ensure that the opportunities at whichever organization that makes a foothold in Sikkim - central, private etc - should first go to its people. Sikkim for Sikkimese should be the motto. But here I stop. This needs sacrifices. When the erstwhile kingdom was merged with the Union of India, there was no room for tribe or class. It was an afterthought in blatant violation of the sacred pledge when Sikkim as a country was merged. It is time to ponder whether we truly want to give a fair deal to our youth now and in the future. Eighteen years is a long time to empower those who were left out from the race. It is safe to say they have all come of age and at par due to the benevolence of the governance. It is now time to concentrate on the underprivileged and poor. This much of sacrifice should be forthcoming willingly and gracefully.
It is time to pull up our socks - all politics and communal trends kept at bay - and come out with a common voice which is loud and clear. This is the only course if the people of Sikkim want to ensure themselves a fair deal and live with dignity with their heads held high.
[the writer is a former Chief Secretary, Sikkim]

15 comments:

  1. there was version of this essay printed in the 23rd March edition of Sikkim Express. that piece which was published without the benefit of an editorial facelift (i appreciate NOW for that) was quite unreadable. forget about a CHIEF SECRETARY even a private school teacher would have been able to string his thoughts in a more readable fashion.
    KC PRADHAN should thank his stars that he belonged to an earlier generation. had he been around in today's job market, i am not so sure how he could have progressed beyond the chair of an Upper Divisional Clerk.
    i am also quite amazed at the vanity that allows one to send his dim essays to not one but two newspapers.

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  2. This is a very rude reaction to issues raised!! He at least had the guts to speak up under his own name....and in both ...edited or otherwise it clearly tells "both legally and constitutionally, and ensure that the opportunities at whichever organization that makes a foothold in Sikkim - central, private etc - should first go to its people. Sikkim for Sikkimese should be the motto" ....what more do u want in a place so subjugated by the rulers that ppl fear to speak up on anything- even as mundan and inanne a topic as picking up garbage!! He has had the courage to come out in the open under his name unlike in various networking sites where i have seen bold utterance under Pseudonames!!! and why don't u sit down then and write some thing worthwhile ....let us know what xactly should form an essay to become more than a UDC!!!! and as an afterthought ....start checking the simple applications submitted by well endowed PHds...u'll find nothing better!!

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  3. I totally agree with the views expressed by the first writer. The article lacks both clarity and practicality. It is really strange that after retirement people suddenly assume this "Voice of God" mantle, when, while in power, they are no more than shirkers. These folks suddenly see 'something wrong with the system'- something which eludes them when they are in service.
    There are other ways of leading a productive retired life...gardening being one of them.

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  4. Hey guys can't u see...what he is saying - that every institution that comes in whether it be govt or pvt should first cater to the Sikkimese in terms of giving them jobs!!! what more do u want him to say!!! Gardening he already does....rather proficiently i must say!!!

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  5. "Hey guys can't u see...what he is saying - that every institution that comes in whether it be govt or pvt should first cater to the Sikkimese in terms of giving them jobs!!!"

    To say that is a no brainer. I guess even the guys getting caught peddling drugs will tell you essentially the same thing.
    Does that mean you should wrap that one pearl of wisdom in an oyster of bad prose and send it to a couple newspapers as OP-ed pieces?

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  6. So why not u begin sending pearls of wisdom in an oyster of perfect prose.....its so easy to sit and find faults with others....do it and show it us!! and one thing more ...he says there should be no reservation on caste or tribe lines....which is true in so many ways.....the former rulers of Sikkim are also now eligible for the reservation under STs right??? and the dhudhwallah remains a dudhwallah....no benefits in the erst while kingdom nor under the Union of India.....fate has surely played a cruel joke on them!!!

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  7. If your dudhwallah has not risen above his station in life then it is the culpability of the government and its organizational machinery, please don't blame fate or anybody else. That the article in question is a badly written one is without any doubt, its intention notwithstanding.
    It is not just bad prose that ails the article in question, but also the unforgivable sins of inconsistency and lack of clarity.
    The writer seems to be against reservations of any kind and yet, at the same time, wants jobs in Sikkim to be reserved only for the people of the State. Now how do you juggle this apparent contradiction? To be against reservation would be to welcome meritocracy, which would entail opening of the job market to the rest of India. If reservation is abominable then there should be across the board withdrawal of it.
    By the way, selling milk is a highly profitable enterprise considering the exorbitant price of milk and dairy products these days. I am not sure your patronizing comments about the fate of dudhwallahs would be welcome to them.

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    Replies
    1. Your response is a good way forward - towards the "pearls of wisdom in an oyster of perfect prose" !! Keep it up. and whatz patronizing about calling dudhwalla a dudhwallah!! Don't go reading meanings where they are not intended!! and what's wrong in seeking a piece of the pie of any institution /org that comes into Sikkim- they do so make money out of our dear Sikkim, so taking in a few people at the jobs they have shouldn't harm them and would at best reduce the attrition caused coz of outsiders flooding the state !!

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    2. First of all, that 'pearl of wisdom...' phrase did not come from me. Secondly, you seem to have lost the thread of our discussion here by drifting into the supposedly ill fated world of the dudhwallahs.
      We are primarily discussing an article which makes great pretensions to being thought provoking and erudite; that it lacks both need not be overemphasized here.
      Nobody is arguing that the locals should not be given preference over others for jobs in the State. It is the article's inconsistency which is the moot point here. The writer is playing god by marrying two completely opposing concepts- job protection and annulment of reservations.

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    3. i think JD has got it right. the article seems to suggest that while one should do away with intra-state reservations, the protection of sikkim jobs for sikkimese should remain. there is a glaring inconsistency in that point of view.
      but there is more insidious intent. he seems to be suggesting that the education policy should be engineered to apportion labour for the job market.that is certainly a dim view of education. not to mention personal rights and preferences.
      finally in an article allegedly written with prescriptions to mitigate unemployment there is no mention of local entrepreneurship. he seems to assume that (i) the govt should still continue be the largest employer and (ii) if jobs are going to be created in the private sector it is going to be so due to the intervention of actors from out side the state.

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  8. Have you guys read another ex CS, Sonam Wangdi.

    That man should be sent to SU for some serious training.

    He and his research. I want to snigger and giggle again.

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    Replies
    1. Yes have read the pieces by Mr. Wangdi....but i guess paucity of younger beter writers must be making the editors pander to the whims of these fellows who insist on sending their pieces!!! and ya do continue with the sniggering and giggling!! -at the research, the sorry plight of SU, the duality of human behaviour and various others!! what else can one do!!!

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  9. the dudhwalla might be a bihari, so I doubt he will progress in Sikkim. the politics of ethnicity is against him.

    kc pradhan wants to care for sikkimese as it protects his interest, who would give him a job, if it were not for protection.

    all our CS's wouldnt get jobs anywhere else, except in hamro sikkim.

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    Replies
    1. The dudhwallah in the context of Sikkim would i presume be the folks who carry the cans from Luing, Ranka and the surrounding areas.....biharis came much later into the scene! and not to demean the work done by the bureaucrats, they have in whatever way contributed to the betterment of Skkim, tho keeping their intersts first!! and what's wrong with wanting to be within Hamro Sikkim, it is indeed pyaro Sikkim too!!!

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