Kunda Dixit says in "Why Sikkim works" (#126) that Sikkim is governed ten times better than Nepal. How could he measure that? Comparing the development data for Nepal and Sikkim shows that only medical doctors per capita are eight times more than ours. He is trying to compare apples and oranges. Nepal may be ten times bigger than Sikkim but our population is almost fifty times greater. Nepal's population density is five times higher than Sikkim\'s.

Sikkim is simply a state of India, like one of our zones. We should not ignore the fact that the government of India pumps resources into Sikkim. Rulers always advocate their good governance, as chief minister Pawan Chamling does. Just look at the history of Sikkim before it became one of the states of India in 1974, and you will get a different picture of governance.

Suraj P Shrestha,
Lakehead University Canada