As school students, many of us first encountered Sikkim through geography textbooks and atlases that spoke of the mighty Khangchendzonga. The “mountain massif” stood before our imagination as distant Himalayan peaks wrapped in Lungta prayer flags, clouds and snow. Nearly one-fourth of Sikkim’s land is embraced by the Khangchendzonga National Park, but facts alone never fully explained the reverence it commands across the state. For centuries, Khangchendzonga has lived in the folklore of the indigenous communities as a sacred civilisational force — the protector of land, memory and consciousness of Sikkim itself. The great Lama Lhatsun Chenpo interpreted this belief with poetic brilliance, calling the five summits as the Five Treasures of the Eternal Snow, “the peak most conspicuously gilded by the rising sun is the treasury of gold, the peak that remains in cold grey shade is the storehouse for silver and other peaks are vaults for gems, grains and the holy books.”
During my recent visit for Sikkim’s 51st Statehood Day celebrations, this lore revealed itself with renewed contemporary relevance.
The first treasure is gold, and nowhere is Sikkim richer than in its people. Development acquires permanence only when it grows from the confidence of communities, and Sikkim offers compelling evidence of that truth. At the Statehood Day celebrations, the traditional attire, a symphonious performance on “Lepcha, Bhutia, Nepali milkar baney pehchan sacchi” (united, they form a true identity), and ceremonial customs of the Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali communities reflected that social harmony. Conversations around me moved seamlessly between Nepalese, Hindi and English. Today, it has become one of Sikkim’s defining strengths, that many larger regions continue to aspire towards. Such harmony has translated itself into governance and public life with remarkable maturity.
This takes us to the second treasure, silver, which manifests itself through Sikkim’s elemental beauty and biodiversity. The Teesta and Rangeet rivers revealed themselves between the dense forests and clouds, while unbloomed cherry trees stood amongst the slopes of tea gardens, awaiting the onset of winter. The silver of Sikkim revealed itself most vividly at the Swarnajayanti Maitreya Manjari Orchidarium, where 120+ varieties of orchids welcomed tourists. Each flower bloomed with remarkable delicacy, carrying colours and forms that truly reflected the botanical richness of the state. I watched tourists pause before each exhibit with curiosity, scanning QR codes and plaques to understand their origin and conservation journey.
What fascinated many visitors, was the realisation that the orchidarium was only a window to the world of Sikkim’s botanical wealth. One-fourth of India’s floral diversity is found within this small Himalayan state. This gives its ecological wealth scientific, cultural and economic significance of immense national value, as Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi aptly observed during his recent visit, describing the state as “heaven on earth”. This acquires greater meaning upon witnessing how environmental responsibility continues to shape infrastructure and tourism across Sikkim with a vision of sustainable development.
The third treasure is gems, and in Sikkim these gems are cultural, spiritual and civilisational. They appear in various monasteries, in the grand Buddha Park at Ravangla, in the Bhaleydhunga skywalk overlooking the valley and in the sacred geography blessed by Guru Padmasambhava himself.
Sikkim continues to preserve a sense of spirituality that feels increasingly precious and pristine in today’s restless world. This spiritual inheritance now coexists with modern aspirations.
The Namchi-Temi-Ravangla tourism circuit, being conceptualised by the ministry of development of north eastern region (MDoNER) with the Sikkim government, reflects a developmental vision that strengthens ecotourism while simultaneously deepening spiritual and cultural circuits across the region. Among its most ambitious components is the Bhaleydhunga ropeway and skywalk project. Deeply rooted in local tradition, Bhaleydhunga has long been revered by villagers who undertake pilgrimages to seek blessings at the sacred summit. Today, the journey has become significantly more accessible through the 3.5 km ropeway, the longest in India that will take you to the Bhaleydhunga Skywalk at 3200 metres, the highest in the world.
The fourth treasure, grains, carries the story of sustenance. Sikkim’s journey as a 100% organic state, is among the most important developmental achievements in contemporary India. The state’s success in organic farming, cardamom cultivation and sustainable agriculture demonstrates how mountain ecosystems can sustain prosperous local economies.
To support this, we launched Mission Sikkim Organics, a ₹360-crore initiative designed to transform Sikkim into a globally integrated premium organic economy through targeted interventions in the value chain. The treasure revealed itself most memorably during my visit to Temi Tea Garden, Sikkim’s only tea estate and among the most distinguished agri-tourism enterprises in the world.
At Temi, I tried plucking tea leaves alongside the swift pluckers moving steadily across the slopes. My pace lasted only a few moments before laughter broke out around me and the pluckers resumed the task effortlessly with their practised ease. Perhaps, it is this closeness to the land that gives Temi tea its toasty warmth and subtle floral finish. Though its true distinction lies in the fact that the tea is entirely organic. The fermentation, drying and final bamboo packaging — every stage at Temi is processed organically. In a century increasingly defined by climate uncertainty and strain, the state has demonstrated that environmental responsibility can strengthen economic resilience rather than constrain it.
The fifth treasure, the holy books, is Sikkim’s intelligence. It lives in education, where the new educational institutions and the permanent campus of Sikkim State University in Namchi reflect a future that respects tradition while opening doors to knowledge, skill and innovation. The future of Viksit Bharat shall depend substantially upon how effectively such institutions nurture talent across frontier regions of the country. PM Modi’s visit made this clear, as he spoke of education, connectivity, health care, urban development and tourism as the pillars of Sikkim’s next phase. The old and the new meet here with unusual grace, and the result is a development model rooted in heritage.
The five treasures of Khangchendzonga continue to illuminate Sikkim’s journey with remarkable relevance even today, and their influence is visible even in the state’s developmental achievements. India’s smallest state by population, with 6.5 lakh people, today possesses the highest per capita income in the nation at ₹7.07 lakh. Sikkim embraced organic farming at a time when the world remained preoccupied with chemical yields, and today stands as the world’s first and only fully certified organic state. This is a land that could have yielded to the constraints of geography, mountainous, remote and landlocked, yet transformed every apparent limitation into possibility.
When India completes one hundred years of Independence in 2047, Sikkim too shall approach the milestone of its platinum jubilee of statehood. The aspirations of Viksit Bharat 2047 and Viksit Sikkim 2047 shall continue to strengthen one another with shared purpose. Perhaps generations from now, school students reading about Khangchendzonga will understand that the mountain never merely guarded Sikkim. It shaped one of India’s most thoughtful visions of development.
Jyotiraditya Scindia is minister of development of north eastern region and minister of communication, Government of India.The views expressed are personal
