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RESEARCH OPEN ACCESS Economy and Social Development of Rural Sikkim

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RESEARCH OPEN ACCESS Economy and Social Development of Rural Sikkim Chakraborty and Chakma. Space and Culture, India 2016, 4:2 Page | 61 DOI: 10.20896/saci.v%vi%i.198 RESEARCH OPEN ACCESS Economy and Social Development of Rural Sikkim Sushmita Chakraborty†* and Namita ChakmaῙ Abstract The tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim is well known for its multi-cultural and multi-ethnic identity. There is a political and historical debate regarding the identity of communities in Sikkim. Lepchas are considered as original inhabitants of Sikkim. Currently, Lepcha, Bhutia and Limbu are recognised as minor communities and have Schedule Tribes (ST) status in the state. Individual community concentration is mainly found in North and West Sikkim. Lepcha-Bhutias are found mainly in North Sikkim whereas Limbus are concentrated in West Sikkim. Community concentration is profound in rural areas. Gyalshing sub-division of West Sikkim has been selected for the present study. Purpose of this study is to investigate the Gram Panchayat Unit (GPU) level economy and social development of the rural areas based mainly on secondary sources of information. A field survey was also conducted to interact with the local people. Findings suggest that education and population density are the key determinants for GPU level disparity in social development of the study area. It has been found that the economy is primarily agriculture based and fully organised by organic farming system. Recently, homestay (eco)tourism business has been started here like other parts of Sikkim. Key words: Himalaya, indigenous community, rural economy, organic farming, homestay (eco) tourism, social development, Sikkim, India †Research Scholar, Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Barddhaman, West Bengal, India, Email: [email protected] *Corresponding Author Ῑ Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, Barddhaman, West Bengal, India, E-mail: [email protected] © 2016 Chakraborty and Chakma. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Chakraborty and Chakma. Space and Culture, India 2016, 4:2 Page | 62 DOI: 10.20896/saci.v%vi%i.198 Introduction observed that, different ethnic communities Until now very little is known about the socio- form majority populace of some rural units economic development of rural Sikkim. Sikkim, (major Limbu-Tamang population in Darap- which is an erstwhile Himalayan kingdom, Nambu Gram Panchayet Unit is 63.47% and became the 22nd state of Indian Republic in major Lepcha-Bhutia population in Tashiding 1975. Because of its location and size (7096 sq. GPU is 44.16% in whole sub-division). There are km), this state has political and strategic some rural areas, which are composed of mixed significance (Chhetri, 2012). ‘‘Sikkim Himalayan ethnic communities. All these communities are region has a cultural complex, a composite of manifested by specific ecological adaptations. several cultural cosmoses rolled into one’’ Ethnic groups have distinct cultural (Bhasin, 2011, pp. 42). The mountain homogeneity and the habitable areas of them environment and remoteness has created a are separated from outside population, which distinctive cultural heterogeneity in this tiny make a barrier of cultural and social mixing state. Indigenous communities include Lepcha, (Bhasin, 2011). Actually, Lepchas are indigenous Bhutia and Limbu. Presently, Nepali community to Sikkim (Tamsang, 1983, Foning, 1987, holds prime position in population size. They Gowloog, 1995 cited in Arora, 2007 and comprise 62.61% of the total population of Gazetteer of Sikkim, 2013). North Sikkim is Sikkim (Gazetteer of Sikkim, 2013). Out of the mainly inhabited by Lepchas (Dzongu reserved four districts, North and West districts are area) (Dewan, 2012) and Bhutias (Lachen and found to be more traditional due to their high Lachung areas). Limbu community is rural concentration, typical cultural traits and concentrated in the West district as per the way of life than other two districts (East and State Socio Economic Census of Sikkim, (2010). South). Their proportion has been increased from 18.43% (Linguistic Survey of India, 2001) to “Ethnicity is identity with a group of people 25.48% in 2010. Every community has different who share the cultural traditions of a particular religion, race, culture and social organization homeland or hearth. An ethnic group is tied to and wherever they found favourable physical a particular place because members of the and socio-economic condition, they started to groups or their ancestors were born and reside settle in there. there” (Rubenstein, 2003, pp. 213). Seemingly, different communities of Sikkim are Every human society has particular structure. characterised by their individual culture, Sociologists study the morphology of the customs and tradition and they derived their society, but “a human society is not merely a identities from Jati Purana,1 ethnographic collection of individuals arranged systematically accounts and historical accounts constructed into a set of groups and categories. It is also from time to time (Gazetteer of Sikkim, 2013). based on a set of norms and values, of modes “Till 1982, few anthropological studies had of action which are considered right, proper been carried out in Sikkim after its integration and desirable” (Béteille, 1989, pp. 15). In case in 1975 with India” (Bhasin, 2011, pp. 41). of rural West Sikkim, the character of the Lepcha, Bhutia and Limbu communities are society is basically agrarian where agriculture is considered as indigenous people of Sikkim the major economic activity. It is quite obvious (Gazetteer of Sikkim, 2013). From the Sikkim that, development is not same everywhere State Socio Economic Census, 2010, it is rather there exists disparity and inequality. Regional disparity is a worldwide phenomenon, which has spatio-temporal variation, and there 1 Jati Purana is a part of Vedic text literature of India. Jati exists an unequal distribution of social, means caste and purana means old literature. It denotes economic and development parameters the pilgrim spots, status of caste hierarchy in South Asia, (Chakraborty and Chakma, 2015). It means their profession, pride, etc. several ethnic communities and caste find their identity history from those old divergence or inequality of characters, literature. phenomena or process having specific Chakraborty and Chakma. Space and Culture, India 2016, 4:2 Page | 63 territorial allocation and occurring at least two cultivation), fruit processing are becoming the entities of the territorial structure viable mode of organic farming by using (Kutscherauer, 2010). Taking into account this complete organic manure. Gyalshing sub- brief background, this research aims to division is not outside this new mode of examine the economy and social development livelihood and therefore, it has become of rural Sikkim with reference to the Gyalshing important to highlight these social and Sub-Division as a case study. The study begins economic aspects. with an introduction to the study area, followed Rationale by a rationale for selecting the study area. It then discusses the methods deployed for this Study of economy and social development in research. In the final section, that is, in the rural areas is a highly relevant part in results and discussion section, the results are contemporary social sciences, which in turn analysed. could help the policy makers and planners for further development of the less developed The Study Area areas. In similar contexts, this study was West district of Sikkim (27°06'35"N-27°35'5"N undertaken. This remote sub-division shares its and 88°12'4"E-88°21'3"E) covers 1166 sq. km international boundary with Nepal and area with a population density of 117 therefore, has strategic significance. Gyalshing people/sq. km (Population Census of Sikkim, sub-division consists of highest rural units (68 2011). It is a part of lesser Himalaya consisting villages in 2011) in the district. As the study of Daling group of rocks, which overrides the focuses on the society and economy of rural Gondowana super group. The entire West Sikkim, it is therefore justified to select mountainous terrain of West Sikkim ranges this sub-division, which contains a high from 300mt from (minimum elevation) Rangit proportion of rural areas displaying a better river valley in south to 6706 mt (maximum rural scenario. The ethnic community elevation) Pandim peak in north (Geology and concentration in this sub-division is also high. mineral resources of Sikkim, 2012). West As per the report of Sikkim State Socio district consists of two subdivisions, that is, Economic Census, 2010, total Limbu-Tamang Gyalshing and Soreng. Gyalshing sub-division population in Gyalshing sub-division is 18955, consists of 68 inhabited and 5 uninhabited higher than Soreng (15,811) and in case of villages, which form 26 GPUs with 94.40% rural Bhutia and Lepcha, the total Bhutia-Lepcha population (highest) in West Sikkim. There are population in Gyalshing sub-division is 14047, 117 villages in West Sikkim. Primary sector of higher than Soreng (10,423). The administrative economy in this sub-division comprises 59.98% and political history of Sikkim started revolving cultivators, second highest after North District around this sub-division from Yuksom, the (73.70%) and 36.13% of agricultural labours prime capital
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