Everything about Sikkim totally explained
Sikkim (
Nepali:, also
Sikhim) is a
landlocked Indian state nestled in the
Himalayas. It is the least populous state in
India, and the second-smallest in area after
Goa. The thumb-shaped state borders
Nepal in the west,
China to the north and east, and
Bhutan in the southeast. The Indian state of
West Bengal borders Sikkim to its south. The
official language of the state is
English, while there's a sizeable population who converse in are
Nepali,
Lepcha Bhutia, and
Limbu. It is an ancient land also known as 'Indrakil' or garden of
Indra, the king-god of heaven, in Hindu religious texts.The predominant religions are
Hinduism and
Vajrayana Buddhism.
Gangtok is the
capital and largest town.
Despite its tiny size, Sikkim is geographically diverse, owing to its location on the Himalaya. The climate ranges from
subtropical to high
alpine.
Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest peak, is located in the northwestern part of the state on the boundary with
Nepal, and can be seen from most parts of the state. The Lepchas, original inhabitants of Sikkim called it
Nye-mae-el or
paradise and the
Bhutias call it
Beymul Demazong, which means
the hidden valley of rice.
History
The earliest recorded event related to Sikkim is the passage of the Buddhist saint
Guru Rinpoche through the land in the 8th century. The Guru is reported to have blessed the land, introduced
Buddhism to Sikkim, and foretold the era of monarchy in the state that would arrive centuries later. In the 14th century, according to legend,
Khye Bumsa, a prince from the
Minyak House in
Kham in Eastern
Tibet, had a divine revelation one night instructing him to travel south to seek his fortunes. His descendants were later to form the royal family of Sikkim. In 1642, the fifth-generation descendant of Khye Bumsa,
Phuntsog Namgyal, was consecrated as the first
Chogyal (king) of Sikkim by the three venerated Lamas who came from the north, west and south to
Yuksom, marking the beginning of the monarchy.
Phuntsog Namgyal was succeeded in 1670 by his son,
Tensung Namgyal, who moved the capital from Yuksom to
Rabdentse. In 1700, Sikkim was invaded by the
Bhutanese with the help of the half-sister of the Chogyal, who had been denied the throne. The Bhutanese were driven away by the Tibetans, who restored the throne to the Chogyal ten years later. Between 1717 and 1733, the kingdom faced many raids by the Nepalese in the west and Bhutanese in the east, culminating with the destruction of the capital Rabdentse by the Nepalese.
In 1791, China sent troops to support Sikkim and defend
Tibet against the
Gurkhas. Following Nepal's subsequent defeat, the
Qing Dynasty established control over Sikkim.
Following the arrival of the
British Raj in neighbouring India, Sikkim allied with them against their common enemy, Nepal. The Nepalese attacked Sikkim, overrunning most of the region including the
Terai. This prompted the
British East India Company to attack Nepal, resulting in
the Gurkha War of 1814. Treaties signed between Sikkim and Nepal — the
Sugauli Treaty — and Sikkim and British India — the
Titalia Treaty — returned the territory annexed by the Nepalese to Sikkim in 1817. Ties between Sikkim and the British administrators of India grew sour, however, with the beginning of British taxation of the
Morang region. In 1849 two British
doctors, Sir
Joseph Dalton Hooker and Dr
Archibald Campbell, the latter being in charge of relations between the British and Sikkim Government, ventured into the mountains of Sikkim unannounced and unauthorised. The doctors were detained by the Sikkim government, leading to a punitive British expedition against the Himalayan kingdom, after which the
Darjeeling district and Morang were annexed to India in 1835. The invasion led to the Chogyal becoming a puppet king under the directive of the British governor.
In 1947, a popular vote rejected Sikkim's joining the Indian Union and
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to a special
protectorate status for Sikkim. Sikkim was to be a
suzerainty of India, in which India controlled its external affairs, defence, diplomacy and communication. A state council was established in 1955 to allow for constitutional government for the Chogyal. Meanwhile trouble was brewing in the state after the Sikkim National Congress demanded fresh elections and greater representation for the Nepalese. In 1973, riots in front of the palace led to a formal request for protection from India. The Chogyal was proving to be extremely unpopular with the people. However, a popular belief among the inhabitants of the former kingdom is that the Indian Government at the time and her local agents fomented the unrest. In 1975, the
Kazi (Prime Minister) appealed to the
Indian Parliament for representation and change of Sikkim's status to a state of India. In April, the Indian Army moved into Sikkim, seizing the city of Gangtok, disarming the Palace Guards. A
referendum was held in which 97.5% of the people voted to join the Indian Union. A few weeks later on
May 16 1975, Sikkim officially became the 22nd state of the Indian Union, and the monarchy was abolished.
In 2000, in a major embarrassment for the government of People's Republic of China, the seventeenth
Karmapa Urgyen Trinley Dorje, who had been proclaimed a Lama by China, made a dramatic escape from Tibet to the
Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. Chinese officials were in a quandary on this issue as any protests to India on the issue would mean an explicit endorsement of India's governance of Sikkim, which the Chinese still regarded as an independent state occupied by India. China eventually recognised Sikkim as an Indian state in 2003, which led to a thaw in
Sino-Indian relations. In return, India announced its official recognition of
Tibet as an integrated part of China. As part of a significant pact between India and China signed by the prime ministers of the two countries,
Manmohan Singh and
Wen Jiabao, China released an official map clearly showing Sikkim as part of the Republic of India. On
July 6 2006 the Himalayan pass of
Nathula was opened to cross-border trade, a further evidence of improving sentiment over the region.
Geography
The thumb-shaped state of Sikkim is characterised by wholly mountainous terrain. Almost the entire state is hilly, with the elevation ranging from 280 metres (920 ft) to 8,585 metres (28,000 ft). The summit of the
Kangchenjunga is the highest point. For the most part, the land is unfit for
agriculture because of the precipitous and rocky slopes. However, certain hill slopes have been converted into farm lands using terrace farming techniques. Numerous snow-fed streams in Sikkim have carved out river valleys in the west and south of the state. These streams combine into the
Teesta and its tributary, the
Rangeet. The Teesta, described as the "lifeline of Sikkim", flows through the state from north to south. About a third of the land is heavily forested.
The lofty Himalayan ranges surround the northern, eastern and western borders of Sikkim in a
crescent. The populated areas lie in the southern reaches of the state, in the Lower Himalayas. The state has twenty-eight mountain peaks, twenty-one
glaciers, 227 high-altitude
lakes, including the
Tsongmo Lake,
Gurudongmar and
Khecheopalri Lakes, five
hot springs, and over 100 rivers and streams. Eight mountain passes connect the state to Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal.
Flora and fauna
Sikkim is situated in an
ecological hotspot of the lower Himalayas, one of only three among the
Ecoregions of India. The forested regions of the state exhibit a diverse range of
fauna and
flora. Owing to its altitudinal gradation, the state has a wide variety of plants, from tropical to temperate to alpine and tundra, and is perhaps one of the few regions to exhibit such a diversity within such a small area.
The flora of Sikkim includes the
rhododendron, the state tree, with a huge range of species occurring from subtropical to alpine regions.
Orchids,
figs,
laurel,
bananas,
sal trees and
bamboo in the lower altitudes of Sikkim, which enjoy a
subtropical-type climate. In the temperate elevations above 1,500 metres,
oaks,
chestnuts,
maples,
birches,
alders, and
magnolias grow in large numbers. The
alpine-type vegetation includes
juniper,
pine,
firs,
cypresses and rhododendrons, and is typically found between an altitude of 3,500 to 5 000 m. Sikkim boasts around 5,000 flowering plants, 515 rare orchids, 60
primula species, 36 rhododendron species, 11 oak varieties, 23 bamboo varieties, 16 conifer species, 362 types of
ferns and ferns allies, 8
tree ferns, and over 424 medicinal plants. A variant of the
Poinsettia, locally known as "Christmas Flower", can be found in abundance in the mountainous state. The orchid
Dendrobium nobile is the official flower of Sikkim.
The fauna includes the
snow leopard, the
musk deer, the
Bhoral, the
Himalayan Tahr, the
red panda, the
Himalayan marmot, the
serow, the
goral, the
barking deer, the
common langur, the
Himalayan Black Bear, the
clouded leopard, the
Marbled Cat, the
leopard cat, the wild
dog, the
Tibetan wolf, the
hog badger, the
binturong, the
jungle cat and the
civet cat. Among the animals more commonly found in the alpine zone are
yaks, mainly reared for their
milk, meat, and as a beast of burden.
The
avifauna of Sikkim is comprised of the
Impeyan pheasant, the
crimson horned pheasant, the
snow partridge, the
snow cock, the
lammergeyer and
griffon vultures, as well as
golden eagles,
quail,
plovers,
woodcock,
sandpipers,
pigeons,
Old World flycatchers,
babblers and robins. A total of 550 species of birds have been recorded in Sikkim, some of which have been declared
endangered. butterfly species found in the
Indian subcontinent, 695 have been recorded from Sikkim. These include the endangered
Kaiser-i-hind,
Yellow Gorgon and the
Bhutan Glory amongst others..
Economy
Macro-economic trend
This is a chart of trend of gross state domestic product of Sikkim at market prices estimated by the
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees.
| Year |
Gross State Domestic Product |
| 1980 |
520 |
| 1985 |
1,220 |
| 1990 |
2,340 |
| 1995 |
5,200 |
| 2000 |
9,710 |
| 2003 |
23,786 (External Link ) |
Sikkim's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $478 million in current prices.
Sikkim's economy is largely
agrarian, based on traditional farming methods, on terraced slopes. The rural populace grows crops such as
cardamom,
ginger,
oranges,
apples,
tea and
orchids.
In recent years, the government of Sikkim has promoted tourism. Sikkim has a vast tourism potential and by tapping into this the state has grossed an earnings windfall. With the general improvement in infrastructure, tourism is slated to be the mainstay of Sikkim's economy. A fledgling industry the state has recently invested in is
online gambling. The "Playwin"
lottery, which is played on custom-built terminals connected to the
Internet, has been a commercial success, with operations all over the country. Among the minerals mined in Sikkim are
copper,
dolomite,
limestone,
graphite,
mica,
iron and
coal.
The opening of the
Nathula Pass on
July 6 2006 connecting
Lhasa,
Tibet to India is expected to give a boost to the local economy, though the financial benefits will be slow to arrive. The Pass, closed since the 1962
Sino-Indian War, was an offshoot of the ancient
Silk Road, which was essential to the
wool,
fur and
spice trade. The Gangtok
helipad is the only civilian helipad in the state. The closest
railway station is
New Jalpaiguri which is situated sixteen
kilometres from Siliguri.
As India's least populous state, Sikkim has only 540,493 inhabitants, with 288,217 males and 252,276 females. It is also one of the least densely populated states with only 76 persons per square kilometre. Its growth rate is 32.98% (1991–2001). The
sex ratio is 875
females per 1000
males. With 50,000 inhabitants, Gangtok is the state's only significant town. The urban population in Sikkim is 11.06%.
It is common to hear
Western rock music being played in homes and in restaurants even in the countryside.
Hindi songs have gained wide acceptance among the masses. Indigenous Nepali rock, music suffused with a Western rock beat and Nepali lyrics, is also particularly popular.
Football and
cricket are the two most popular sports.
Noodle-based dishes such as the thukpa, chowmein, thanthuk, fakthu, gyathuk and wonton are common in Sikkim.
Momos, steamed dumplings filled with vegetable,
buff (buffalo's meat) or
pork and served with a soup are a popular snack. The mountain peoples have a diet rich in beef, pork and other meats.
Alcohol is cheap owing to the low excise duty in Sikkim and
beer,
whiskey,
rum and
brandy are consumed by many Sikkimese - indeed, Sikkim has the highest alcoholism rate per capita of any Indian state.
Almost all dwellings in Sikkim are rustic, consisting of a
bamboo frame, woven with pliable bamboo and coated with
cow dung, providing a warm interior. In the higher elevations, houses are made of wood.
Government and politics
Like all
states of India, the head of the state government is a
governor appointed by the
Central Indian Government. His appointment is largely ceremonial, and his main role is to oversee the swearing in of the
Chief Minister. The Chief Minister, who holds the real executive powers, is the head of the party or coalition garnering the largest majority in the state elections. The governor also appoints the cabinet ministers on the advice of the Chief Minister. Sikkim has a
unicameral legislature like most other Indian states. Sikkim is allocated one seat in each of both chambers of India's national
bicameral legislature, the
Lok Sabha, and the
Rajya Sabha. There are a total of 32 state assembly seats including one reserved for the
Sangha. The
Sikkim High Court is the smallest high court in the country.
Further Information
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