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Sikkim has made great progress in terms of
human and gender development in the last three decades. For example, literacy
has gone up from 17.7 per cent in 1971 to 78 per cent in 1996-97, well above the
all-India average of 62 per cent. The infant mortality rate, similarly, went
down from 88 per thousand in 1987-89 to 51 per thousand in 1997. The state does
not have the problems of female infanticide and dowry deaths, and in 1995,
female enrolment ratio in middle school was higher for girls than for boys.
During recent years there has been considerable progress with the Human
Development Index (HDI) improving from 0.454 in 1991 to 0.532 in 1998.
Per capita income
(net state domestic product at factor cost at 1980-81 prices) more than doubled
from Rs 1,571 in 1980-81 to Rs 3,492 in 1991-92. This increase was much sharper
than the 37 per cent increase in the average per capita income in the country.
The rapid increase resulted in per capita income in Sikkim, which was lower than
the all-India average in 1980-81, exceeding the country average by 57 per cent
in 1991-92.
In spite of good
progress in HDI, the Gender Development Index (GDI), and per capita income,
problems of poverty and unemployment persist and the sustainability of the
development strategy of the past is under serious doubt. Doubts about the
sustainability of the strategy get reinforced by the deceleration in the growth
of HDI and GDI in recent years. For example, the HDI, after increasing from
0.454 in 1991 to 0.509 in 1995, improved only to 0.532 in 1998. Similarly, the
increase in the GDI from 0.499 in 1995 to 0.528 in 1998 was smaller than the
increase from 0.445 to 0.499 between 1991 and 1995.
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