FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY SEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN 1985-90 Draft Proposal From GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM a,nning A nd DeirelopiM ent D epartm ent Govt. o£ Sikkim , Gangtok DRAFT SEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN 1985-90 CHINA SCALC 11600.000 MOTORABlI R0AO8--- BASE D UPON SURVEY OF INDIA MAP WITH TH£ PERMISSION OF ©GOVERNMENT Of INDIA COPYRIGHT 1979 THE s u r v e y o r g e n e r a l OF INDIA NIEPA DC D02086 Amdl Development IDepartmeinit Oovt. of Sikkim, Ga>ngtok lb '~ ) ,.s Upit, o; EducatioB^ , .M r !Tation . - w„w)>!£iaMOW DO C.No..M .p ...... •■•“ ; COIJTEU'PS Introduction i Agriculture 1 Soil and Water Conservation 32 Animal Husbandry 36 Dairy Development 53 Fisheries 58 Forest 62 Special Rural Development 72 Panchayats 82 Land Reforms 83 Cooperation 86 Irrigation 98 Flood Control 103 Power 105 Industries 117 Mining and Geology 131 Transport 139 Roads &- Bridges 148 Tourism 154 Scientific Services 158 Education 159 Art and Culture 173 Health and Family Welfare 177 Water Supply and Sewerage 182 Housing 192 Urban Development 195 Information and Publicity 198 Labour Welfare 202 Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes 204 Social Welfare 209 Nutrition 215 General Economic Services 219 Stationery & Printing 222 Public Works 224 Food & Civil Supplies 227 SEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN Introduction Although Sikkim became apart of the Indian Union only in May 1975 planned economic development had taken place in the State ever since 1954 when a technical team of the Planning Commission helped the State to formulate its first plan. The process of planning thereafter was not exactly in accordance with the general pattern prevailing in the other States. The State depended upon Central guidance in plan formulation and its financing. Every year technical teams used to visit the State and draw its annual plan within the frame work of the five year plans. After Sikkim joined the main stream, the fifth five year plan was started from 1.4.1976. Thereafter, the planning system became similar to the pattern in other States. The fifth plan however was required to be adjusted on account of the rolling plan of 1978-83 which had again to be replaced by the sixth plan from 1980 onwards. The actual expenditure of the 1979-80 annual plan was Rs. 17.79 crores and thereafter the sixth plan was finalised with an outlay of Rs. 122 crores. The actual expenditure in the sixth plan is likely to be in the region of 134 crores which means an addition of more than 12 crores to the approved outlay. The pattern of investment underwent certain changes during the sixth plan. In the first few plans the largest investment, in terms of percentage, was in the communication sector, it being between 40 to 50% of the plan outlay. This was understandable since the penetration of remote areas, which are normally inaccessible, was a sine qua non to the process of planned economic development. Gradually however, the investment pattern changed and by the time the sixth plan started the share of the primary sector, which was only about 15% to begin with, went up to nearly 30°/o. The investment pattern in the sixth plan was on the same lines This profile of investment is in consonance with the strategy adopted throughout the country to remove poverty and to confer gainful employ­ ment opportunities in the rural sector where population is concentrated. Physical features Sikkim is entirely mountainous with an area of 7,299 sq. kms. It is 114 kms. long and 64 kms wide and is bound by Bhutan in the East, Nepal in the West and Tibet in the North. Consequently it is strategically a very important State in the country. Although the State has an area of more than 7,000 sq. kms the habitable area is only about 2.500 sq. kms. since the rest of the area is perpetually bound with snow or high altitude forests. [ i ] The conditions in the State are such that the priorities in the plan have to be some­ what in variance with the States in the plains although the main objectives of removing poverty, providing more food and employment are equally relevant to Sikkim as in other States. Administratively, the State is divided into 4 districts conveniently called as North, South, East and West. In each district, recently two sub divisions have been created. Below the sub division are 405 revenue blocks. Each revenue block is taken as a village for economic planning. The Panchayats in the State are not coterminous with villages. There are 153 Panchayats in the State. Rainfall and climate The region is subjected to heavy rainfall - the average annual rainfall varying from 200 cms. with varying intensity differing from drizzles to heavy showers and to torrential rains. The maximum rainfall is received during the months of May to early September. The terrain of the State being hilly there is wide variation in climate and vegetation. The temperature decreases with increasing altitude. The elevation varies from 300 metres to 5500 metres. The habitable area is normally only up to 2,100 metres. i . Population After the integration of Sikkim as a full fledged State of the Indian Union., it participated in the all India programme of conducting the decennial Census of 1981. According to the 1981 Census, the population of Sikkim was 3.16 lakhs of which 2.65 lakhs (83.B5°/q) was reported from the rural areas and the remaining 0.51 lakhs (16.15%) from the urban areas. East district accounted for the highest population with 1,38,762 (43.85%) distributed over 128 revenue blocks and 3 towns followed by the South district with a population of 75.976 24.02%) residing in 145 revenue blocks and 2 towns. West district with a population of 75,192 (23.76%) spreading over to 120 revenue blockis and 2 towns and the North district with 26,455 persons (8.36%) located in 54 revenue blocks and one town. The density of population varies from 145 per sq. km. in the East district to 6 per sq. km. in the North district with a State average of 45 per sq. km. The sex ratio measured as the number of females per 1000 males, at the State level is 835 while West district records a maximum of 906. The least ratio of 789 is recorded in the North district. As regards the composition of the population, the Sikkim Nepalis account for the highest number followed by Bhutias, Lepchas and Sherpas. Within the Nepali group, the Kami, Damai, Sarki and Majhi are notified as Scheduled Castes and account for 5.78% of the total population of the State. They are spread more or less evenly in all the districts. Bhutias, Lepchas and Sherpas, notified as Scheduled Tribes, constitute 23.27% of the population of the State with very heavy C ii ] concentration of 53.57% in the North district to as low as 17.52% in South district. The recently conducted survey of population, births and deaths indicates an annual growth rate of 2.41% for the State as a whole with 2.75% for the rural sector and 1.85% for the urban -sector/ Applying this growth rate to the 1981 base figures* the population as on 1st March, 1984 is projected as 3.42 lakhs. Land Use Pattern Et Agriculture Of the total geographical area of 7 29,900 hectares, a major share of 36.34% is under forests followed by 28 64% of barren and unculturable land. In addition, permanent pastures and grazing land including culturable waste and land put to non agricultural uses account for 14.04% and 9.58% respectively. Thus the land available for cultivation is about 11.40% of which 0.57% is under miscellaneous tree crops and groves. The area under crops is distri­ buted over 31,061 holdings with 35% located in East district, 33% in West district 25% in South district and the remaining 7% in North district. As regards size of the holdings, about thres'fourth of the holdings are below 3 hectares of land accounting for an operated area of about 53 55% Of the remaining, most of the holdings have an area between 3 to 20 hectares covering 61,44%. As most of the holdings in the North district are under cardamom crop average size of the holding is higher in North it being 7.71 hectares. Although a wide variety of crops is grown in the State, the more important among them are maize, paddy, cardamom, wheat orange, potato and millets. The area under the major crops is given in the statistical supplement. The altitude and temperature naturally influence the cropping pattern. Cultivation takes place in three seasons namely the pre-kharif, kharif and rabi. Since the available land, which can be brought under cultivation without disturbing the ecology of the hills, is very restricted, the future agricultural pattern has to revolve around optimum utili­ sation of existing cultivable land through the introduction of a package of services like better and improved varieties of seeds, larger doses of fertilisers, wide spread use of plant protection systems and the conservation of top soil, all of which are important in increasing the productivity per unit area. The agricultural strategy in the 7th plan will accordingly be essentially to improve productivity which is consistent with the National objective of improving productivity and pro­ ducing more food for the Nation. The various schemes contemplated during the plan will accor­ dingly revolve around the basic premise that within the available land there should be more in­ tensive cultivation leading to increased food production.