Sikkim farmers' Delhi trip

TT, Gangtok, March 3: Santa Bir Subba, an organic farmer from the West district, will step out of Sikkim for the first time in his life. He has been selected along with nine others for a Sashastra Seema Bal-sponsored 10 day tour of Delhi.

Apart from the farmers, 20 girls from West Sikkim are also travelling to Delhi as part of Discovering India with SSB.

Today, both groups were flagged off by governor Shriniwas Patil from the White Hall complex here. The teams escorted by SSB jawans and officers took the Mahananda Express from New Jalpaiguri today.

"I have never been outside Sikkim. A tour of Delhi is something which I have not thought of in my dreams," Subba, 45, said. His village, Dentam, near the India-Nepal border, 120km from here, is an hour's walk off the nearest road.

Subba never went to school and he started helping his father in farming when he was 19. Now, he grows vegetables on his 1.5 acre plot.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of the SSB, Rup Singh, said the farmers would undergo four days of training at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Delhi from March 7. "It is the first time that SSB is organising the tour."

The participants' names were recommendations by panchayats.

The discover India trip is an annual program under which youths of remote villages are taken on tours. The girls will be taken to Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal and other places.