Press Release
Shri Pawan Chamling asks a set of 25 questions to the SKM government who has been saying that the SDF government did nothing in 25 years.
"Q. The SKM party continues to say that the SDF government did nothing for 25 years. What is your response?
Ans. There is a saying, ‘There's none so blind as those who will not see.” The moment they accept the reality of the SDF’s achievement, their politics will be over. So without wasting much time, let me ask them 25 questions.
1. When did Sikkim become the third richest state in India? What was Sikkim position before 1994 and what were Sikkim’s GSDP and state revenue and what were they in 2019 when the SDF left the government?
2. What was the percentage of BPL population in 1994 and what was it in 2019?
When did Sikkim have the world's steepest poverty reduction?
3. What was the total length of the road network in Sikkim and what was it in 2019? Ad a sidenote, let them tell us what it is now in 2023.
4. How many colleges, universities, medical, engineering, and hotel management colleges were there in 1994 and in 2019? Who worked and secured those 50 medical seats that the present government merged with Manipal Medical college?
5. What was the life expectancy in Sikkim before 1994 and what is it today? What was the number of doctors per 1000 people in Sikkim before 1994 and what was it in 2019?
6. What was literacy in Sikkim before 1994 and what is it today?
7. When were the left-out local languages of Sikkim recognised as state official languages? Which state government started reservation for all the Sikkimese communities and categories in government services, higher studies, panchyati raj institutions, urban local bodies and universal affirmative actions?
8. Can they list the man-made and popular tourist destinations that were constructed before and after 1994? How many tourists came to Sikkim before 1994 and during the 25 years of the SDF governance?
9. What was the forest cover in 1994 and what was it in 2019? What is it now?
When did Sikkim become the greenest state of India?
10. When did the Limboo-Tamang communities get constitutional recognition as Scheduled Tribes?
11. When was Sikkim included in the North East Council? When was Nathula Pass opened?
12. When did Sikkim secure an income tax exemption for all the Sikkimese people from the Centre? Which government made use of Article 371F to secure an income tax exemption for the Sikkimese Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali communities? Which government allowed the dilution of the Article 371F to grant a tax exemption to the business community and others by ‘redefining the term Sikkimese’?
13. Who started the CM Meritorious Students Scholarship and how many Sikkimese children have benefited so far?
14. When did Sikkim become India’s first Nirmal Rajya and first Open Defecation Free state of India? What is the status now?
15. How many pucca houses were made by the government during the last 25 years?
16. When was the Pakyong Airport built? When did the Sevoke-Rangpo railway project start?
17. Which government made India’s second biggest hospital, the New STNM Hospital in Sikkim?
18. What was the rate of unemployment in Sikkim till 2019 and what is it today?
Which government launched the One Family One Job and how many individuals were granted government jobs?
19. How many Sikkimese people got government jobs during the 25 years of the SDF government and how many job vacancies were created in the last four years?
20. When did Sikkim become the world's first organic state?
21. When and where did the national high profile money laundering MCX happen?
Under which government?
22. When and under which government’s watch was the definition of ‘Sikkimese’ changed? When were CAA, ONORC etc implemented, thereby abolishing Sikkim’s corresponding old laws such as Sikkim’s Motor VehicleAct, Sikkim’s Restricted Permit, the Sikkim Work Permit Act 1965, the Sikkim Food and Drug Act 1930 and diluting Article 371F? Which government allotted government land to the business community in Soreng? When did the violation of Revenue Order No. 1 begin?
23. When were Sikkim’s seven hydro power projects and prominent and historic lands such as Karfektar in Jorethang, the Old West Point School compound and the Old STNM hospital in the heart of Gangtok, Chakhung, etc. sold?
24. When was the Tashiling Secretariat (Home and Health departments) vandalized?
25. What was the SDF government’s budget and loan amount during its 25 years of governance? What was the SKM government’s budget and loan amount over the past 4years?
They know the answers but they have no courage to publicly admit them. Remember, the contributions made by the SDF government in 25 years were so massive that it would be impossible to fully describe them all. It was the combined effort of the SDF government and the people of Sikkim that achieved such feats and that, in turn, made Sikkim a national and even global model. We will continue to rebuild Sikkim from where we left off in 2019. Let me remind the people of Sikkim: The best is yet to come. The SDF party will only get better with time."
Judy Rai
General Secy., Press & Publicity Affairs
SDF
06.08.2023