The Uttarakhand Andolan, as an expression of our people’s dearest hopes and aspirations, did not end with the granting of statehood to Uttaranchal, but rather entered a far more dangerous and uncertain stage. Now we have our own masters, kith and kin, and no one else to blame for the ills and afflictions of Uttarakhand – the social backwardness and plunder of our natural heritage. As such, the struggle must continue until a just, prosperous, and equitable future– a lasting testament to our martyrs – dawns over our hills and for all her peoples.

The key needs remain:

• Democratic Renewal & Accountable Governance
• Women's Emancipation & Empowerment
• Ecological Rejuvenation & Sustainable Development
• Social Justice & Economic Equity
• Cultural Diversity & Communal Harmony

Until we accomplish these, all of us together – united across region, caste, creed, age, and gender – cannot rest for Uttarakhand’s future hangs in the balance. Our beloved Devbhumi calls us to wake from our slumber. We, her children, near and far, must answer this call and demonstrate the courage of our convictions, selfless service, and devotion to save our dear land from potential environmental ruin and social disintegration.

The following are a series of recommendations and agenda items that we, as supporters of various Uttarakhand struggles overseas, hope political candidates of all parties will consider as they embark upon their election campaigns for the first ever state assembly polls on February 14, 2002. Although far from complete, this body of suggestions illustrates the considerable work ahead for the nascent state and the high expectation of a people whose hopes cannot afford to be dashed again. We humbly offer them in good faith to those politicians of good will who can put away partisan differences to work towards a better Uttarakhand and a better India.

DEMOCRACY & PEOPLE’S EMPOWERMENT

Of all the goals of the Uttarakhand Andolan, the most significant, but most neglected, required the reinvigoration of the instruments of people’s governance and the vesting of ultimate sovereignty in the people themselves. The movement made history by representing a genuine people’s movement, where politicians had no place but to listen to the people. Transcending electoral politics that had ripped the social fabric and traditional harmony of the hills, Uttarakhandis strove for unity – between Garhwal and Kumaon, between the different castes and tribes, between Paharis and recent migrants, and between the different religious communities. This difficult but noble endeavour now stands on a knife’s edge, as politics as usual rears its ugly head once more in the void and confusion left by a fragmented and disoriented movement. Uttarakhand cannot afford to go down that path again, and any new government must govern for all Uttarakhandis, and especially for those it barely represents through its representatives.

Democratic governance can also be bolstered significantly by centering administrative and cultural activities in the hills, at Gairsain, equidistant from Garhwal and Kumaon. This may not necessarily entail relocating the entire bureaucracy to Gairsain, but at least holding a yearly open-air assembly (maha sabha) of an empowered panchayat assembly. This would help maintain a proper perspective on the needs and hardships of hill life, while ensuring a greater measure of accountability from government officials.

Within the confines of politics as usual however, politicians can still make a clear break from past practices by holding periodic "town hall" meetings as in other democracies. Politicians should as a rule answer to their constituency and meet with them regularly for representative democracy to function properly. However, direct participatory democracy and involvement of the public in economic planning and decision-making should be encouraged either through the panchayat system, or by convening constituent assemblies in every district.

WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION

Women-friendly policies must be instituted including leadership development to prepare women to hold at least 50% of all assembly and panchayat leadership positions as well as enacting liquor prohibition, regulation, and rehabilitation for men. The shackles of household duties, illiteracy, and conservative family relations must be broken for the harder working half of Uttarakhand’s population to enjoy the liberty they have earned through their blood, sweat, and tears. Meanwhile, health awareness programmes for women living in the hills may be pursued. These policies cannot wait – they ought to be enacted immediately so that women take their rightful place as leaders in the new Uttarakhand.

PRESERVATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS

The Uttarakhand Andolan suffered grievously from state repression, and cannot allow any new administrative structure to practice the same suppression of civil liberties and disrespect of human rights. All residents of Uttarakhand must enjoy the full spectrum of civil rights without fear of discrimination, police brutality, or harrassment by the authorities. The rights of women, minorities, dalits, and the poor are especially vulnerable, and the law must be fashioned to protect and serve them.

CULTURAL AWARENESS & RENEWAL

Cultural awareness in Uttarakhand will necessitate fostering the Garhwali and Kumaoni languages, and local dialects reflecting the diversity of the people of Uttarakhand. In school curricula, folk heroes including Rajmata Karnavati, Sridev Suman, Chander Singh Garhwali, and Gaura Devi can be upheld as models of a great tradition of patriotism and activism. Both the cultural and agricultural heritage of the region can be promoted in the form of dance, song, cuisine, and preservation of Uttarakhand’s significant biodiversity.

EDUCATION

However, cultural renewal may only take place in a functioning school system that teaches children the basics on how to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing society. Colleges need serious restructuring, as they barely function with the private tuitions increasingly filling the void of actual instruction. More specialized educational institutions such as technical or vocational schools suited to the region’s unique nature can be chartered, beyond the mad rush for the IT panacea that can only provide so much employment for so many people. High school curricula could also be adapted for practical learning and less rote memorization, while providing students internship opportunities with various NGOs, government agencies, companies, and service organizations. This endeavour would additionally help meet the needs of pupils in the hills where hands-on knowledge and skills are in high demand.

HEALTH

Similarly, establishing or sanctioning existing medical colleges to train health care workers is one initiative that can bring about large scale change combining both the education and health care sectors in a far reaching partnership. Doctors, nurses, and even specialists can be trained in large numbers in return for service in remote areas over a specified period of 3 to 5 years. Not only would this generate employment opportunities for Uttarakhandi youth and instill in them a sense of service, but it would also provide advanced educational opportunities to students who could not afford high tuition fees otherwise. For their term of service, arrangements could be made to either buy or rent pre-existing households in selected villages for conversion to clinics, dispensaries, and emergency care centres. This would nest these facilities in communities themselves at low cost to the state government. The health ministry need only facilitate the purchase or lease of abandoned property, and provide supplies and stipends to the medical staff.

JAL, JUNGLE, JAMEEN

Water and forest rights remain at the core of daily needs in villages across Uttarakhand, reflected in the struggle for Uttarakhand representing also a struggle for local control over local natural resources. As such, a single simple panchayat system with guaranteed fair and equal representation from all segments of society, and informed by local NGOs and women’s organizations, could look after the water, forest, and land resources of Uttarakhand.

At the same time, household dependency on fuel and fodder needs to be alleviated by innovative technologies to lessen pressures on forests and cut down on foraging activities that consume most of women’s workdays in many areas. Various NGOs have been experimenting with heating and small power generation devices, and these small-scale efforts ought to be seriously mooted and applied statewide. The traditional water mills of the region, currently in a state of disrepair, can also be revived to generate electricity for household needs.

Land rights, one of the most highly contested issues in India since time immemorial, has taken on renewed urgency in face of rapid urbanization of Uttarakhand's hills and valleys. Article 371 or a variant thereof must be imposed throughout the state to preserve landholdings for resident and non-resident Uttarakhandis with patrimony in the hills. The land mafia moved quickly in the months preceding and following official declaration of statehood, and their speculation has driven prices beyond the reach of common people. The rapid development has also gobbled up enormous tracts of good agricultural and forested lands in the Doon Valley, and the state government will need to intervene to arrest this sprawl before the concrete jungle entangles all the terai and hills.

ENVIRONMENT

Many policies regarding the environment have been enacted through popular pressure and public interest litigation, but enforcement has been feeble. As most vividly demonstrated by the poaching incidents in Rajaji and Corbett National Parks, the government, judiciary, and police approach to environmental protection needs to be bolstered to ensure the rule of law and safety of protected animals and parks. Moreover, the administration ought to periodically review the usefulness and impact of measures designed to combat environmental degradation and ascertain their effectiveness. Indeed, throughout Uttarakhand, large-scale tree felling, over harvesting of medicinal plants, construction of multistoried buildings in sensitive areas, encroachment on reserved forests, limestone quarrying, and other illegal activities continue to challenge the very legitimacy of government agencies who appear unable to enforce bans or limits on these unsustainable practices. Even government-sanctioned projects have neglected basic environmental standards as witnessed by the poor record of rehabilitating surrounding hillsides after road excavation and construction.

All this points to the need for the government to support local efforts to preserve the environment as well as to reduce corruption and the power of contractors and mafia that have the most to gain from a lax enforcement policy. The nexus between the administration and the criminal underworld has been rumoured for so many years that any new government will have to take a resolute stand against these relations and enact stringent conflict-of-interest laws for politicians and bureaucrats alike.

POLLUTION

Plastic bags that are fast becoming the major menace to the environment in urban areas, must be heavily regulated or banned outright. Incineration as a means of disposal must also be reined in due to the severe health hazards posed by carcinogenic and deformity-inducing dioxins that burning plastics release. Moreover, vehicular emissions and traffic congestion in the urban centres of Uttarakhand needs to be eased. Air pollution has reached the point of causing respiratory ailments in a substantial portion of the population, and must be reduced in keeping with constitutional guarantees of the right to a clean environment.

DEVELOPMENT

Development, the battle cry of the Uttarakhand Andolan, cannot mean the indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources, the abrogation of people’s rights, or following the tired-old model of development that has plundered the hills for 150 years. In the case of dams, future projects should be cleared by a panel constituted along the lines of the World Commission on Dams. This landmark body has succeeded in bringing governments, lenders, utility companies, environmentalists, and displaced people together to ensure responsible development that respects people’s rights, ensures proper rehabilitation, and honestly appraises the economic worth and social and environmental impact of big dams. This will be needed to prevent future costly and unnecessary controversies such as the one that plagued Tehri whose residents are still waiting for adequate compensation.

The experience of the Tehri dam itself cannot be repeated, as governments throughout the years acted in bad faith and with forceful duplicity during various negotiations, paying scant attention to the human suffering and destruction wrought by dam construction on the surrounding mountainsides. Meanwhile, contractors reaped enormous profits from both construction and delays in the project, while lingering uncertainty reigned over the fate of Tehri’s residents. This disregard for even the findings of their own commissions and agreements with oustees, has left a bitter legacy that can only be remedied by committing the administration to abide by the findings of democratically-organised review and evaluation processes in future projects.

Besides hydroelectric power generation, the most often touted engine of economic growth for Uttarakhand, tourism, threatens to undermine and degrade the very basis of this sector – the natural and pristine beauty of the hills – unless clear and enforceable guidelines are established to accommodate the fragility of the Himalayan ecosystem. Indeed, tourism can have a reduced footprint, if adequate care is taken along pilgrimage and trekking routes to reduce and properly dispose of garbage, while encouraging conservation and frugality in the "abode of gods".

Truly, Uttarakhand must evolve a new model of development that empowers local communities economically while respecting their natural environment. The government must reverse the quickening drift of most Uttarakhand’s towns towards becoming virtual replicas of their counterparts in the plains. Not only does this contribute to a commercial monoculture where towns lose their distinct charm, but is rapidly eroding the surrounding countryside’s life-sustaining capacity and polluting it beyond recovery. Just as Indians cannot afford to imitate the American lifestyle – with its over-consumption, wastefulness, and social fragmentation – Uttarakhand likewise must make a social, cultural, and economic break from the hegemonic consumer ethos engulfing it and all parts of this globalising world. As the Devbhumi, it must preserve its traditions that are not only found in the temples and shrines, but in every forest grove, stream, meadow, field, and mountaintop. Most importantly, these traditions must be fostered in the hearts of all Uttarakhandis, so that civic values, good neighbourliness, modesty, and hospitality again become the models by which to live and progress.

— Rajiv Rawat
Uttarakhand Support Committee