Sikkim flourishes under 'One Family One Job' scheme
Source: Chronicle News Service / Jeijei Newmai

Imphal, May 24 2022: Sikkim, though a small, is a state known for all good reasoris - cleanliness, serenity, organic farming, no noise pollution and many others.

In a bid to know more about the state in the Himalayan region and mainly their developmental policies and schemes, a media tour to Sikkim for women journalists was organised by All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) from May 9 to 15 .

During the tour, this daily observed many enviable characters about the state, from their lifestyles to their policies.

The most significant of them is a scheme called 'One Family One Job', which aims at giving one government job to one family each.

The scheme launched in January 2019 has reportedly benefited about 17,742 denizens of Sikkim till date.

This scheme aimed at giving equal opportunity and equal development to all its citizens.

With the implementation of the said scheme, the employment rate has improved to 9.98 per cent in April 2022 from 8.67 per cent in October 2021, confirmed a Sikkim government official to The People's Chronicle.

The scheme is mainly for the marginalised section of the society whose family had never been in government service of both centre and state.

The age group for employment was kept at 18-55 years with a minimum of 10+2 educational qualification.

The job will be given initially on ad-hoc (contract) basis and as per the employee's performance and government's guidelines, their contract will be extended and made permanent.

With a population of approximately 7 lakhs, Sikkim is the first state not only in north-east region but also in the country as a whole to have implemented such citizen centric scheme.

The government official, who preferred anonymity, has opined that the successful implementation of the scheme is possible because of its small population.

With deeper research on this scheme, it is found that a budget of Rs 250 crore is allocated annually for this scheme.

The job positions range from Grade IV such as peon, clerk and LDC with a monthly salary of Rs 9,000 to Rs 18,000 in 12 select departments.

Another scheme that is successfully implemented in Sikkim is 'One family One Entrepreneur', which encourages self-reliance from one family each.

This scheme was launched on September 26, 2021 and Sikkim, being a tourism-dependent economy, is successful in the implementation.

It grants a minimum of Rs 50,000 with 30 percent subsidy to any unemployed youths.

This has empowered many people from the state mainly in hospitality industry and service sector.

Sikkim government is led by a regional party Sikkim Krantikari Morcha under the leadership of Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) as its chief minister.

It has 32 constituencies and out of them, four are elected women representatives.

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