Winter and the routine

DEEPAK TEWARI

The temperatures are dipping, and the woollens are out. Thank God for the regular sunshine of late but Accuweather says January would be cloudy, rainy and very cold.

Boots, long coats, holidaying down at the plains- we know what is coming out through social media in the next few months. Wishing everyone a warm and joyful winter.

As our kids with a lot of effort wake up early in the morning to attend their final exams, I can only imagine what must be going through those young minds. How they plan their vacations? Ours back then would mostly be about sports, picnics, khet ma khelnu. These days kids are more about travel, gadgets and so on. 

The State though may not have the luxury to spend the 3 cold winter months like the yesteryears. We have the 50th State Day knocking. May 16 next year will see hordes of VVIPs arriving led by the nation's Prime Minister. I am sure we are looking to turn this into a reformative year, one not just about celebrations and golden jubilee fests.

This is an opportunity to sow seeds for long term reforms. Reforms that will make Sikkim self sufficient , reforms that will create ample employment and vibrant economy, reforms that will take our farm economy to the next level, reforms that will leave Sikkim and its resources with its own people forever.

The Governments will hold the key to the kind of Sikkim that will be created in the next 50 years. Having said that, It is equally the responsibility of the citizens to facilitate the good reforms. We are all to gear up. The announcement by the Chief  Minister to constitute a State Niti Aayog is pleasing to ears. A strong planning and monitoring body is the need of the hour. A welcome move that. The composition of such a group will be interesting to see. I wish to find Sikkimese researchers, professors and an array of experts of high repute form a major part of the proposed Aayog.

Talking of reforms, we see a lot happening in the school education sector. Before we talk of them, the fact that our kids are waking up earlier than before to match up to the revised school timings is nice. We are all up early, the kids are fresher, back home early, valuable extra hours earned. I would vote that the timings be applied throughout the State.

The Gangtok traffic has also improved remarkably. The odd even stipulation does cause a little inconvenience but the gains are much much more. I would like to thank the administration for dealing with the terrible traffic problem.

Also notable is the leadership and managerial acumen of our Gangtok Senior SP Tenzing Loden Lepcha. An IIM, Ahmedabad alumni  an IPS and most importantly a local. It feels great to see a local man shine and shine bright.

Back to reforms. So 97 schools are closing. The positive that I see here is that the department is thinking, looking at statistics, engaging in detailed discussions and coming out with proposals. The proposal to hang locks on 97 institutions though has been controversial. I am not a big admirer of ideas that support closing public institutions.

Less students should not be the reason to close down schools. That's no reform. Reform is to implement ideas to fill up the empty seats in such centers. If the shut down benchmark would be applied to places like  ICDS and Primary Health Sub Centers, then how would that be?

Schools are no different. Can't be locking them up forever. Credit to the Department that it has sought views of the general public on the matter of permanent closure of the schools. I hope that the idea isn't implemented. Closing down permanently the lottery dens and keeping schools open would draw a lot of applause instead.

Sikkim Krantikari Morcha prepares for the next Rolu Diwas. A historic event that gave birth to a party which sits in power today with all 32 seats after 16 years of  the first picnic. Rolu is historic indeed. May the passion, the sentiments and the need that led to the gathering of the Krantikaris at Rolu field 16 years ago not be defeated today by the brightness and dazzle.

My greetings to SKM.

(Deepak Tewari is a social commentator. Views are personal. Email: tewarideepak@yahoo.co.in)