Talk:Sikkim

Hidden POV's

The section called Sikkim#Under the British Raj has this passage:

In 1849, two British physicians, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Dr. Archibald Campbell, the latter being in charge of relations between the British and Sikkimese governments, ventured into the mountains of Sikkim unannounced and unauthorised. The doctors were detained by the Sikkimese government, leading to a punitive British expedition against the kingdom, after which the Darjeeling district and Morang were annexed to British India in 1853. The Chogyal of Sikkim became a titular ruler under the directive of the British governor as a result of the invasion.

References

Both the segments are problematic, but it is the first segment that worried me the most. How did anybody claim that the doctors went "unannounced and unauthorised". What is in the Blackwood's magazine? Who wrote it? Why was a citation from 1890 used, when there are dozens of contemporary histories of Sikkim available? Looking into the history, here is what we find:

• In 2005, an editor called Nichalp added an enormous amount of unsourced content, part of which was the claim:

In 1849, a pair of British doctors ventured into the mountains of Sikkim unannounced and unauthorised. The doctors were detained by the Sikkim government, which led to a punitive British expedition against the Himalayan kingdom following which the Darjeeling district and Morang were annexed in 1861.

• A year later, an editor called Gowron beefed it up by adding the names of the two doctors and the tidbit that one of them was "in charge of the relations between British and Sikkim governments".
• In 2009, an editor called Hometech (now blocked) added the professional looking citation. The page number was quite precise, but no author has been specified and no url given, so nobody was able to verify it, until today.

So what does the citation say?

Fifteen years afterwards Dr Campbell, the Superintendent of Darjeeling, and Dr (now Sir Joseph) Hooker, while travelling in Sikkim with the permission of the British Government and the Raja, were seized and imprisoned by the influential monopolist, Namguay, popularly known as the Paglå Diwån, or mad Prime Minister of Sikkim. This treachery was punished by the annexation of the entire Morang, and a large area of the middle hills bounded on the north by the Great Rungeet river. But Namguay, though ostensibly dismissed from office, continued to exercise great influence through his wife, an illegitimate daughter of the Raja. Criminals were harboured in Sikkim, and British subjects were kidnapped from our own territory for the purposes of the slave-trade between Sikkim and Bhutan. Having exhausted all ordinary forms of protest, the Government of India found it necessary in 1860-61 to order the occupation of Sikkim by force ...

References

It doesn't say they went "unnaounced and unauthorised". It is quite the opposite. Still Risley was a British official. We can't take him at his word. Here is a modern source from a JNU professor:

Tsugphu Namgyal’s retirement from State affairs due to advanced age provided an impetus to Trokhang Dronyer Namgyal’s [the Diwan's] ambitions. In 1848 Trokhang Dronyer Namgyal refused permission to Joseph Hooker, a noted British botanist, to explore Sikkim. Later, however, he granted the permission when Archibald Campbell, first Superintendent of Darjeeling (1839-64), threatened to report the matter to the British Government. Towards the end of 1849, Campbell and Hooker, who had been travelling in Sikkim with the prior permission of Tsugphu Namgyal, were arrested near the Sikkimese-Tibetan border. Most Sikkimese at this time were for a policy of friendship with the British. These included the Tsibu Lama, who was the agent of the King of Sikkim in Darjeeling (1849-61 ). As he was unable to secure support for his action even from Tsugphu Namgyal and the Tibetans, Trokhang Dronyer Namgyal released Campbell and Hooker.

References

Once again it is made clear that the doctors had the Raja's permission and it was the influential Dewan that had misbehaved.

This is the phenomenon that I am beginning to call wikilaundering. Random POV's added by long-gone editors ages ago, have been a laundered by adding authentic-looking citations so as to preserve the POV's forever. I encourage all editors to reject all edits that add citations to existing content without explanation or verify that the citations actually support the content that they purport to support.

Postscript: Joseph Dalton Hooker is indeed an extremely notable botanist. He also happens to be the first one to travel around in Sikkim and describe its geography. It is he who declared that the Dongkya Range begins at Mount Gipmochi, which became an article of faith to the British and got put into the 1890 Convention of Calcutta. Sir Joseph never went into the Chumbi Valley. If he did, he would have known that Gipmochi further back and nowhere part of the Chumbi Valley itself. It is because of this error that China is able to build a military garrison on top of the Doklam Plateau, much to the detriment of Bhutan as well as India. Almost all encroachments of China into the Indian subcontinent are based on British errors of this kind. China cleverly exploits all such errors, while also bad-mouthing "British imperialism" at the same time. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 12:51, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

Sikkim ki rajdhani

Sikkim 110.225.80.189 (talk) 07:15, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

Kangchenjunga, the highest peak in India

K2

8611 metres

The highest peak in Indian subcontinent

Highest Peaks in States of India - List of Highest Mountain Peaks in India (byjus.com) Nepalilanguage (talk) 11:34, 9 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 July 2022

Please add the protection template. I have a large headache. 70.71.80.27 (talk) 19:00, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

 Not done: this is the talk page for discussing improvements to the page Sikkim. Please make your request at the talk page for the article concerned. Kautilya3 (talk) 20:32, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 February 2023

President Groupadi Murumu appointed Lakshman Prasad Acharya as Sikkim's new governor. The change isn't reflected in Wikipedia yet! Lokeshvenkat17 (talk) 04:23, 13 February 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Lightoil (talk) 02:30, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

Cardamom production

Its kerela not sikkim which accounts for the largest share of cardamom production in india.. please change that in the top section. https://agriexchange.apeda.gov.in/India%20Production/India_Productions.aspx?hscode=1101 2405:201:300E:CCEB:E06D:CCFC:1F3F:2DC4 (talk) 12:37, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

 Done. I removed it from the lead. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 14:36, 16 February 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 26 February 2023

Ganga Prasad is no longer governor of Sikkim as of 12th February 2023.

Governor of Sikkim is now referenced as Lakshman Acharya.

Source - https://web.archive.org/web/20230212165153/https://www.voiceofsikkim.com/lakshman-prasad-acharya-is-sikkims-new-governor/

Individual's pages have this information up to date, but the section 'Government and Politics' still references Ganga Prasad as current governor. CartagoDelendaEst (talk) 14:59, 26 February 2023 (UTC)

Done. --Mvqr (talk) 13:58, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 March 2023

For capital and largest city, the format must be like this: | seat_type = Capital
and largest city | seat =

49.146.22.36 (talk) 06:09, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: Your proposed change will display "Gangtok and largest city". Changing the "seat_type" to "Capital and largest city" would make the parameter too long M.Bitton (talk) 14:42, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

Infobox replacement

The {{Infobox settlement}} used on this page is going to be replaced with {{Infobox Indian state or territory}} as per the Proposal and Consensus of RFC. Any questions/suggestions? Discuss Here.

You can also contribute by replacing Infobox settlement with Infobox Indian state or territory on other pages , or by improving this one. Tojoroy20 (talk) 22:34, 12 March 2023 (UTC)

Infobox Picture Order

This is very minor, but the order of the pictures is wrong in the infobox caption. The pictures are stated as being in clockwise order from the top left. However, the Temi Tea Garden picture should come before Rumtek Monastery in clockwise order, and in the infobox, they are reversed.

2601:5CC:C500:F470:29E3:C130:58D4:3848 (talk) 00:55, 17 March 2023 (UTC)