UTTARAKHAND’S AWAKENING:COLLECTED ARTICLES

1997-2002

Rajiv RawatUttarakhand Support Committee

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

UTTARAKHAND REMAINS IN THE HEART .............................................................................4

UTTARAKHAND, OUR DREAM MUST SURPASS UTTARANCHAL, THE REALITY ................................6

UTTARAKHAND'S BANE ................................................................................................ 11

HISTORICAL & CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZATION IN UTTARAKHAND: SOME ISSUES...................... 13

STATE OF THE STATE: GETTING OVER A SHAKY START........................................................ 17

UTTARAKHAND SUPPORT COMMITTEE CONDEMNS PERSECUTION OF NGO................................. 20

THE TEHRI DAM: DEVELOPMENT OR MALDEVELOPMENT?...................................................... 21

1999: THE YEAR IN REVIEW .......................................................................................... 23

THE STRUGGLE FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL ........................................................................ 26

HEROES AND HEROINES OF UTTARAKHAND....................................................................... 29

OUR CHIPKO HERITAGE: OUR TRADITIONS AND HISTORY REMEMBERED.................................... 33

SOME THOUGHTS ON KARGIL......................................................................................... 35

THE TRUCE ............................................................................................................... 37

A ROAD TO NOWHERE ................................................................................................. 40

APOCALYPSE IN UTTARAKHAND I: THE FIRE THIS TIME ........................................................ 42

APOCALYPSE IN UTTARAKHAND II: THE EARTHQUAKE AFTERMATH......................................... 43

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FIGHTING THE LIQUOR HYDRA....................................................................................... 45

BOGGED DOWN AGAIN ................................................................................................. 46

A TIME FOR CHOICES................................................................................................... 48

TOWARDS A NEW UTTARAKHAND: THE PROMISE AND PERIL NOTES FROM NORTH AMERICA .......... 50

THE TRUE MEANING OF UTTARANCHAL............................................................................ 59

REMEMBRANCE .......................................................................................................... 61

LANDSLIDES: AN ENVIRONMENTAL TRAGEDY..................................................................... 62

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY: A NEW BEGINNING ................................................................. 64

UTTARANCHAL PLANS HELD UP ..................................................................................... 66

UTTARAKHAND SUPPORT COMMITTEE ISSUES CHALLENGE TO POLITICIANS............................... 67

THE GUNS OF AUTUMN ................................................................................................ 71

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UTTARAKHAND REMAINS IN THE HEART

August 28, 2002

Uttarakhand vs. Uttaranchal – the controversy is more than a debate over semantics. Itstrikes at the core of our identity as a people, and what our people struggled for in theUttarakhand Andolan. The fact that a state was formed in November 2000 bearing the name"Uttaranchal" is only a historical footnote in the long history and heritage of "Uttarakhand" –the Northern Reaches, abode of Shiva, source of the Ganga, and wellspring of our cultureand identity. This we cannot forget in the coming years of hard struggle, not just forprogress and uplift, but the survival of the land itself.

In the first ever Uttaranchal state election of February 2002, the Congress party, on the brinkof a major comeback in the hills after more than a decade in the political wilderness,promised the citizens of the new state that once coming to power, they would change itsname to the ancient and true name, Uttarakhand. As the election results rolled in, it becameclear that this promise had helped Congress edge out the BJP to claim a simple majority inthe state assembly.

Two years earlier, the BJP moved the UP assembly and Lok Sabha to approve statehood forUttarakhand, yet, in keeping with their long running practice of appropriating movements,chose to name the new state "Uttaranchal", ostensibly for its less separatist connotations.However, what the BJP did not understand was that the name Uttaranchal was a slap in theface of those who truly struggled selflessly for Uttarakhand. Many saw it as a crude attemptby the politicians to steal the movement from the people, as well as suppress the identity ofa region that figured prominently as Uttarakhand in Hindu legends and scriptures forthousands of years.

Indeed, the BJP was once strongly opposed to statehood, and had a change of heart only inthe late 1980s when the rich electoral dividends of shifting policy became clear. However,instead of taking up the indigenous cry for Uttarakhand, upholding "Uttaranchal" seemed morepalatable and amenable to their brand of politics. Rather than an autonomous state,democratically governed, with a distinct identity, and its policies answerable to the people,the BJP wanted just another administrative unit of a centralized state, where nationalintegration meant assimilation into the amorphous Hindi-Hindu-Hindustani culture. Sadly, theBJP was able to get away with this sleight of hand as many Uttarakhandis lacked the self-confidence to claim autonomy as Uttarakhand. Settling for Uttaranchal seemed politicallywise, lest the rest of India forget the many sacrifices the region had made for the life of thecountry and mistake the Uttarakhand Andolan for a separatist movement. In a society whereassimilation into plains culture meant upward mobility and "paharis" were looked down upon,the BJP leaders also figured that –anchal would be more acceptable than what they saw as astrident call for –khand.

Even still, the irony of the BJP choosing Uttaranchal was not lost on its own ardent grassrootssupporters, some of whom felt ultimately betrayed by the party leadership. For years, theBJP had positioned itself as the guarantor of Indian culture, but in changing the name, and

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almost doing so for Jharkhand, they misjudged the passions and pride of the people andrevealed themselves to be only the latest in a series of political exploiters of people'ssentiment. This feeling was so strong, that the electorate of the new state ousted them fromoffice in their first chance at the polls, not because the people had a great love of Congress,but because in the moment of truth, the BJP put politics over the people's aspirations.

Uttaranchal, our current reality, remains a pale shadow of what could be. In the two yearsfollowing statehood, it has become painfully obvious that the new Uttaranchal does notbelong to the people, but to the large landowners of the terai, petty babus in thebureaucracy, land speculators across the hills, and the big mafia-controlled contractors thatcontinue to exploit the natural resources of the Himalaya beyond the breaking point. Whilethe rich prosper, the hardships of the common man multiplies and their lot grows ever moreprecarious. The backbreaking work of women continues unabated and they remain deprivedof their political voice, despite all their sacrifices for Uttarakhand.

Moreover, a new class of colonizers has arrived from the plains and cities of Northern Indiawhere life is rapidly becoming unbearable. Land prices have skyrocketed as the wealthy fromurban centers, dreaming about summer homes to escape from the wretched heat andpollution of the plains, have bought up prime land all over Uttaranchal. Overdevelopment byabsentee landowners now represents a real threat, not just to the hill stations as in the past,but to the entire hills. Most grievously, the ugly concrete sprawl, land colonization, pollution,and vehicular congestion, are doing what two centuries of domination by the Gurkha and theBritish, coupled with the money order economy could not – uproot the patrimony of the hillpeople, devastate the natural beauty of the Devbhumi, and corrupt its spirit.

Despite the ravaging of the natural and cultural splendor of Uttarakhand, hope remains as thepeople's struggles continue on all fronts. The confusion wrought by the formation of the statemarking in the politician's mind an end to the struggle, will take years to overcome, but thecry for Uttarakhand will only grow until justice is done and our land regained. Until then,Uttarakhand, our Uttarakhand, will remain our dream, our inspiration, and our struggle.

Jai Uttarakhand!

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UTTARAKHAND, OUR DREAM,MUST SURPASS UTTARANCHAL, THE REALITY

Expanded Draft: January 17, 2002

The Uttarakhand Andolan, as an expression of our people’s dearest hopes and aspirations, didnot end with the granting of statehood to Uttaranchal, but rather entered a far moredangerous and uncertain stage. Now we have our own masters, kith and kin, and no one elseto blame for the ills and afflictions of Uttarakhand – the social backwardness and plunder ofour natural heritage. As such, the struggle must continue until a just, prosperous, andequitable future– a lasting testament to our martyrs – dawns over our hills and for all herpeoples.

The key needs remain:

o Democratic Renewal & Accountable Governanceo Women's Emancipation & Empowermento Ecological Rejuvenation & Sustainable Developmento Social Justice & Economic Equityo Cultural Diversity & Communal Harmony

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

The following are a series of recommendations and agenda items that we, as supporters ofvarious Uttarakhand struggles overseas, hope political candidates of all parties will consideras they embark upon their election campaigns for the first ever state assembly polls onFebruary 14, 2002. Although far from complete, this body of suggestions illustrates theconsiderable work ahead for the nascent state and the high expectation of a people whosehopes cannot afford to be dashed again. We humbly offer them in good faith to thosepoliticians of good will who can put away partisan differences to work towards a betterUttarakhand 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 ofultimate sovereignty in the people themselves. The movement made history by representing agenuine 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 ofthe hills, Uttarakhandis strove for unity – between Garhwal and Kumaon, between thedifferent castes and tribes, between Paharis and recent migrants, and between the differentreligious communities. This difficult but noble endeavour now stands on a knife’s edge, aspolitics as usual rears its ugly head once more in the void and confusion left by a fragmentedand disoriented movement. Uttarakhand cannot afford to go down that path again, and any

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new government must govern for all Uttarakhandis, and especially for those it barelyrepresents through its representatives.

Democratic governance can also be bolstered significantly by centering administrative andcultural activities in the hills, at Gairsain, equidistant from Garhwal and Kumaon. This maynot necessarily entail relocating the entire bureaucracy to Gairsain, but at least holding ayearly open-air assembly (maha sabha) of an empowered panchayat assembly. This wouldhelp maintain a proper perspective on the needs and hardships of hill life, while ensuring agreater measure of accountability from government officials.

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

WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION

Women-friendly policies must be instituted including leadership development to preparewomen to hold at least 50% of all assembly and panchayat leadership positions as well asenacting liquor prohibition, regulation, and rehabilitation for men. The shackles of householdduties, illiteracy, and conservative family relations must be broken for the harder workinghalf 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 maybe pursued. These policies cannot wait – they ought to be enacted immediately so thatwomen 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 newadministrative structure to practice the same suppression of civil liberties and disrespect ofhuman rights. All residents of Uttarakhand must enjoy the full spectrum of civil rights withoutfear of discrimination, police brutality, or harrassment by the authorities. The rights ofwomen, minorities, dalits, and the poor are especially vulnerable, and the law must befashioned to protect and serve them.

CULTURAL AWARENESS & RENEWAL

Cultural awareness in Uttarakhand will necessitate fostering the Garhwali and Kumaonilanguages, and local dialects reflecting the diversity of the people of Uttarakhand. In schoolcurricula, 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. Boththe 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 teacheschildren the basics on how to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing society. Colleges need

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serious restructuring, as they barely function with the private tuitions increasingly filling thevoid of actual instruction. More specialized educational institutions such as technical orvocational schools suited to the region’s unique nature can be chartered, beyond the madrush for the IT panacea that can only provide so much employment for so many people. Highschool 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 needsof 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 isone initiative that can bring about large scale change combining both the education andhealth care sectors in a far reaching partnership. Doctors, nurses, and even specialists can betrained in large numbers in return for service in remote areas over a specified period of 3 to 5years. Not only would this generate employment opportunities for Uttarakhandi youth andinstill in them a sense of service, but it would also provide advanced educationalopportunities to students who could not afford high tuition fees otherwise. For their term ofservice, arrangements could be made to either buy or rent pre-existing households in selectedvillages for conversion to clinics, dispensaries, and emergency care centres. This would nestthese facilities in communities themselves at low cost to the state government. The healthministry need only facilitate the purchase or lease of abandoned property, and providesupplies 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 overlocal natural resources. As such, a single simple panchayat system with guaranteed fair andequal representation from all segments of society, and informed by local NGOs and women’sorganizations, 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 byinnovative technologies to lessen pressures on forests and cut down on foraging activities thatconsume most of women’s workdays in many areas. Various NGOs have been experimentingwith heating and small power generation devices, and these small-scale efforts ought to beseriously mooted and applied statewide. The traditional water mills of the region, currentlyin 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 takenon renewed urgency in face of rapid urbanization of Uttarakhand's hills and valleys. Article371 or a variant thereof must be imposed throughout the state to preserve landholdings forresident and non-resident Uttarakhandis with patrimony in the hills. The land mafia movedquickly in the months preceding and following official declaration of statehood, and theirspeculation has driven prices beyond the reach of common people. The rapid developmenthas also gobbled up enormous tracts of good agricultural and forested lands in the DoonValley, and the state government will need to intervene to arrest this sprawl before theconcrete jungle entangles all the terai and hills.

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ENVIRONMENT

Many policies regarding the environment have been enacted through popular pressure andpublic interest litigation, but enforcement has been feeble. As most vividly demonstrated bythe poaching incidents in Rajaji and Corbett National Parks, the government, judiciary, andpolice approach to environmental protection needs to be bolstered to ensure the rule of lawand safety of protected animals and parks. Moreover, the administration ought to periodicallyreview the usefulness and impact of measures designed to combat environmental degradationand 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 continueto challenge the very legitimacy of government agencies who appear unable to enforce bansor limits on these unsustainable practices. Even government-sanctioned projects haveneglected basic environmental standards as witnessed by the poor record of rehabilitatingsurrounding hillsides after road excavation and construction.

All this points to the need for the government to support local efforts to preserve theenvironment as well as to reduce corruption and the power of contractors and mafia thathave the most to gain from a lax enforcement policy. The nexus between the administrationand the criminal underworld has been rumoured for so many years that any new governmentwill 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 alsobe reined in due to the severe health hazards posed by carcinogenic and deformity-inducingdioxins that burning plastics release. Moreover, vehicular emissions and traffic congestion inthe urban centres of Uttarakhand needs to be eased. Air pollution has reached the point ofcausing respiratory ailments in a substantial portion of the population, and must be reducedin keeping with constitutional guarantees of the right to a clean environment.

DEVELOPMENT

Development, the battle cry of the Uttarakhand Andolan, cannot mean the indiscriminateexploitation of natural resources, the abrogation of people’s rights, or following the tired-oldmodel of development that has plundered the hills for 150 years. In the case of dams, futureprojects should be cleared by a panel constituted along the lines of the World Commission onDams. This landmark body has succeeded in bringing governments, lenders, utility companies,environmentalists, and displaced people together to ensure responsible development thatrespects people’s rights, ensures proper rehabilitation, and honestly appraises the economicworth and social and environmental impact of big dams. This will be needed to prevent futurecostly and unnecessary controversies such as the one that plagued Tehri whose residents arestill waiting for adequate compensation.

The experience of the Tehri dam itself cannot be repeated, as governments throughout theyears acted in bad faith and with forceful duplicity during various negotiations, paying scantattention to the human suffering and destruction wrought by dam construction on thesurrounding mountainsides. Meanwhile, contractors reaped enormous profits from both

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construction and delays in the project, while lingering uncertainty reigned over the fate ofTehri’s residents. This disregard for even the findings of their own commissions andagreements with oustees, has left a bitter legacy that can only be remedied by committingthe administration to abide by the findings of democratically-organised review and evaluationprocesses in future projects.

Besides hydroelectric power generation, the most often touted engine of economic growth forUttarakhand, tourism, threatens to undermine and degrade the very basis of this sector – thenatural and pristine beauty of the hills – unless clear and enforceable guidelines areestablished to accommodate the fragility of the Himalayan ecosystem. Indeed, tourism canhave a reduced footprint, if adequate care is taken along pilgrimage and trekking routes toreduce 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 localcommunities economically while respecting their natural environment. The government mustreverse the quickening drift of most Uttarakhand’s towns towards becoming virtual replicas oftheir counterparts in the plains. Not only does this contribute to a commercial monoculturewhere towns lose their distinct charm, but is rapidly eroding the surrounding countryside’slife-sustaining capacity and polluting it beyond recovery. Just as Indians cannot afford toimitate the American lifestyle – with its over-consumption, wastefulness, and socialfragmentation – Uttarakhand likewise must make a social, cultural, and economic break fromthe hegemonic consumer ethos engulfing it and all parts of this globalising world. As theDevbhumi, 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, thesetraditions must be fostered in the hearts of all Uttarakhandis, so that civic values, goodneighbourliness, modesty, and hospitality again become the models by which to live andprogress.

The Uttarakhand Support Committee is a non-partisan network of concerned people in NorthAmerica who support the progressive and democratic forces in Uttarakhand, as they continuetheir struggle for a just and dignified future for the Himalayas and her peoples.

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UTTARAKHAND'S BANE

March 2, 2002

The Congress high command's choice of ND Tiwari as Uttarakhand's Chief Minister seems likeanother decision based on political expedience that belies the serious problems afflicting thepolitical class in Uttarakhand. Beyond the ridiculous fact that for both the BJP and Congress,the centre ultimately decides the CM post, the choice of ND Tiwari, veteran Congress leader,came as a shock to party workers and voters alike who expected Harish Rawat for the toppost. Rawat is credited for saving Congress from extinction and reviving it to fight and win thefirst state assembly elections. Although Rawat is not personally popular throughout the state,he has been a loyal and dedicated Congress party worker for many years. ND Tiwari on theother hand has been four times CM of Uttar Pradesh, yet like other "great" leaders from thehills who entered national politics (GB Pant, HN Bahuguna, MM Joshi, KC Pant), largelyabandoned his native hills for more fertile political pastures in the plains. Moreover, Tiwarinever participated in the movement for a separate state and actually opposed its creationwhile in office. In the next few months, h will have to work doubly hard to regain the trust ofthe people, especially beyond his traditional Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar constituencies.

Furthermore, Tiwari's comments at the press conference announcing his nomination were lessthan encouraging. Rather, he talked about the Tenth Planning Commission and shaping theeconomy of the state, as if there was no larger consideration, no passion or elation over thehistoric verdict against the status quo. Even some populist rhetorical flourishes would havedone, such as a loud and resounding "Jai Uttarakhand" or other such inspiring messagesinstead of quibbling over economic policies. Indeed, from first impressions, the seniorpolitician reflected the same bureaucratic mentality and lack of attachment to Uttarakhandthat frustrated Uttarakhandis in Nityanand Swami. Other recent comments have buttressedthis feeling that he will approach the CM position as more of a challenging assignment than avehicle to rousing the state and its identity. Unfortunately, because of the deep division inCongress between Rawat and Satpal Maharaj, the godman from Pauri Garhwal, ND Tiwari hasbeen called to step once more unto the breech. Indeed, history is not without a dark sense ofhumour as Rawat and Maharaj's jousting paralleled that of the various CM aspirants in the BJPthat eventually toppled Nityanand Swami. Therefore, for the sake of the next five crucialyears, Rawat and other party leaders will need to adjust their ambitions to share the burdenof governance and fulfil popular demands. It might be a bitter pill to swallow, but the long-suffering people of the hills cannot brook any more political infighting.

Without a resounding mandate from his own party, Tiwari will have to hammer out aconsensus among elected officials and apply his much-vaunted administrative experience tosteer the state out of a deep economic crisis and haggle with UP for a better deal from thedivision of assets. He will also need to institute a real panchayati raj with teeth, enforceenvironmental laws while respecting the rights of local communities, review currentcontroversial development projects and liquor regulations, and try to carry through with themost salient points of the Congress Party platform. (i.e., empowering women, changing thename of the state, considering a new capital, and stimulating economic development)Moreover, he cannot dither, but move quickly or suffer the same fate of the BJP who wasteda whole year with little to show from their 'Uttaranchal'. Tiwari though can still engenderenormous goodwill by simply remaining an accountable, hands-on leader who governsdemocratically and with creativity.

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Unfortunately, Uttarakhand's bane, as demonstrated by these repeated crises, goes deep --the entire political class in the region is held in very low esteem by the people and for goodreason. They have consistently put their own careers ahead of serving the greater good ofUttarakhand as witnessed by the intense factionalism that had gripped the BJP, Congress, andeven the smaller regional parties during the run up to elections. Distribution of tickets shouldhave been the least of their problems. The most important issue, building a new state withvision, imagination, and dedication, seems to have escaped them all, and no one projectedany passion and love for the people and their mountains in any discernable way. In fact, itwas this dearth of compassion and creativity and excess of venality and callowness thatprompted Uttarakhand activists to keep traditional politicians out of their Sangarsh Samitis.Tellingly, all the major parties ignored women in the selection of their candidates resulting ina tiny handful representing the backbone of Uttarakhand society and fire of the UttarakhandAndolan in the state assembly. Yet considering that 43% of electorate voted for small andindependent parties, there is room to grow for a third force in the region beyond theUttarakhand Kranti Dal that suffers a huge credibility problem after having sabotaged movesto form such a grand alliance this election. In the next five years, the foundation of such aregional party, bringing together women's groups, UKD, Janwadi Party, Jan Vikas Party, BSP,remnants of the SP, CPI, CPM, and other popular organisations can be established to challengeboth the BJP and Congress. A bold move would be for this third force to project mostlywomen candidates and break the political monopoly that men enjoy in the state. Moreover, itshould open up the political discourse to challenge the very structure of politics thatmarginalises people while purporting to represent them.

Sadly, all this has taken a great toll on the people of Uttarakhand and all but destroyed theirtrust and faith in the bankrupt political process. Tragically the toll has also been personal,with the suicide of the UKD president's wife, Indu Bhatt, and the bitter disappointment of theCongress president, Harish Rawat. As such, Uttarakhand's problems will never be solved bypolitics as usual, but will need a patriotic revolution, just like the rest of the country, tobreak the divide-and-rule tactics and iron triangle of corruption, nepotism, and egoism by ourpolitical class. The fact that the vote for the Congress was more a vote against the status quoshould put the politicians on notice -- the hill people's patience is wearing thin. In fact, thestruggle for a new Uttarakhand must take centre stage again, this time above and beyondsimple statehood, to real people's democracy and real people's rule.

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HISTORICAL & CONTEMPORARY GLOBALIZATION IN UTTARAKHAND:SOME ISSUES

June 12, 2001

For: Process of Rapid Globalisation: Repercussions for FragileMountain Areas and Mountain Communities [Electronic

Conference, Kathmandu, Nepal: ICIMOD, May 4-May 28, 2001]

While linking the trends in contemporary globalisation to somehistorical developments, Mr. Rajiv Rawat comments on someimportant concerns and facts about potential impacts ofglobalisation with special reference to Uttarakhand, India.

- N.S. Jodha Moderator, ICIMOD

It has taken a long time for me to collect some thoughts on this topic, on how to relate twoareas of interest that I have not considered together until now. Although broad concepts andideas about the impact of globalization on mountain communities can be ascertained througha common sense corollary understandings of its preceding paradigms (i.e., mercantilism,colonialism), the topic itself embraces such an enormously complex set of interactions ofsocial, political, economic, cultural, and environmental trends, it is quite difficult to study,without devoting a whole research career to it.

As an activist in the nascent "anti-globalization" movement in North America (WTO, IMF,World Bank, and FTAA campaigns) and a supporter of Uttarakhand affirmation and autonomy,I have mostly studied and witnessed the darker side of historical globalization. However,there are many potential bright spots and opportunities during this time of rapid change and Iwill mention those alongside critiques of each for a more balanced view. Although woefullyincomplete, I hope these sketch notes can be of some use in framing the discussion both inthe abstract and concrete sense.

Historical globalization

For us in Uttarakhand, globalization is not a new process, but perhaps can be said to havebegun in earnest during the time of the 'Gorkhayani', when the kingdoms of Garhwal andKumaon fell to Gurkha expansionism at the end of the 18th century. Though Gurkha ruleproved mercifully shortlived (yet brutal in the extreme), the collapse of the independentkingdoms of Uttarakhand paved the way for the entry of the British by 1815, when lands tothe west of the Kali river were ceded to the East India Company under the treaty of Sagauli.

However, within a generation, the British "liberators" would come to see Uttarakhand as avital source of raw materials, particularly, forest products such as timber and resin to feedthe industrial revolution and extensive railway projects of British India. The same pillagingoccurred under the auspices of the restored kingdom of Tehri Garhwal and was managed by"scientific forestry". The economic and ecological balance of the region was further upset bythe establishment of reserve forests through various Forest Acts of the late 1800s, thusfurther depriving the native hill villages of their commons. With these echoes of the

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enclosure movement that drove peasants from their lands in Europe, village life inUttarakhand was disrupted, thus setting the stage for another hallmark of 20th centuryUttarakhand society -- the money order economy.

Thus, Uttarakhand has lived with globalization for some time. The outmigration of men folkhas only accelerated this past century, while local subsistence agriculture has beenundermined by dumping of items like mill-polished rice from the plains. The forestrypractices of the colonial era forest department continued through independence, and actuallyintensified post 1962 (India-China conflict that closed the border, forcing particularly theborder communities to integrate into the rest of the Indian economy as opposed to the moreglobal trade they carried on over centuries).

Contemporary era of globalization

The current trends in globalization present some particular problems to mountaincommunities. I would like to point to the excellent write up introducing mountains on thePeople and the Planet home page at <http://www.peopleandplanet.net>.

Apart from the markedly negative socio-economic repercussions, several benefits are oftencited for the most recent phase of globalization, encompassed primarily by rapid marketintegration during the information age. I've outlined three below with discussion points foreach:

1. Mega project dams

Mega Project Dams, being the most symbolic of the mega infrastructure projects, areoften cited as the physical representations of the developmentalist era of massive state-led industrialization, now being eclipsed by private market incentives for economicinvestment and growth. However, many of these hydroelectric complexes, such as Tehriand Arun III, have a firm footing in the new economy as they support the burgeoning needsof the rapidly expanding urban consumer culture.

In Uttarakhand, major development projects conceived on a grand scale for largelyoutside interests, have a particularly harmful effect on the environment. Likemarginal/peripheral regions in other nations, few economic benefits accrue to hillresidents who carry the full ecological burden and are also displaced by hydrodevelopment. Reasons for this can be traced to those communities that rarely are incontrol or receive a fair share of the generated income, as national priorities precederegional or local. In the case of India, the marginal state of the hills can also be attributedto the presence of powerful, heavily populated neighbouring states. This demographic andpolitical challenge further marginalizes smaller powers with less representation in theIndian polity, and even with statehood as Uttarakhand recently achieved, the exigenciesof power politics still prevail.

How globalization will affect these dynamics is hard to see, although marginal peopleswithout political empowerment seem likely to be marginalized further, as has been thecase of indigenous peoples elsewhere residing in areas of substantial natural and energyresources.

2. Increased market access of cultural and fair trade products

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Can cultural exports to niche consumer markets replace the trade of real commodities?This is a controversial premise, but sometimes the only alternative offered for the survivalof traditional agriculture, artisanship, and handicrafts. Fair trade certified products too,while a promising prospect for the sustainable and ecologically sensitive harvesting ofcrops with livable returns for growers, have yet to escape their specialty status andsignificantly affect consumer's choices, without which they cannot have much impact.

Despite best efforts, I believe that the market will still prevail until a different economicincentive regime comes into place that is global in scope. However, contemporaryglobalization is a race to the bottom for wages and lowered production costs. Sincemountain commodities have higher costs in terms of transportation, soil productivity, andother fixed geographic-related factors, current trends will replace self-reliance andentrench a crippling dependency on outside imports, while cultural homogenization willcontinue to marginalize potential mountain exports.

However, building an external market for cultural commodities, if done in the right way,and if appreciated by a fairly large internal market, can possibly overcome the risks ofliving traditions of the hills becoming museum pieces. However, it might prove difficult tomaintain the integrity of folk traditions while catering to a larger market that could diluteor warp them. Although there is nothing new in this debate, it is still highly contested.Yet when the very survival of cultural heritage is at stake, protecting and promoting it byall means necessary often becomes the rule of the day.

3. IT-led economic development

Can information technology, and software engineering in particular, bypass heavyindustrialization as a means to provide jobs and income to impoverished regions? If this isproved to be possible, any region well placed to integrate itself into the new economycould substantially benefit, without having to further stress its natural resource base.

Some parts of the Himalayas are well placed for this kind of economic development thatlargely depends on a highly educated labour force, steady supply of electricity, and goodtelecommunications infrastructure. Many of the urban centers of the new state ofUttaranchal are former hill stations with more than above average exposure to Englishlanguage educational institutions. Although local children have been largely excludedfrom the elitist schools of the region, the new state government can build upon theexpertise, infrastructure, and fame of these schools, and extend their mission toeducating pupils from remote villages of the hills. At the very least, they can serve aseducational nodal points for local inhabitants.

Hydroelectricity production potential is also substantial if managed with local needs inmind. Mini-hydel mills and alternative energies like wind and solar can sustain bothvillages and computer centers. However, substantial investment would have to be made inbuilding up this infrastructure if there is to be a chance to transform the economicpotential of the region. Most importantly, local democracy will be the key in ensuring thatthe benefits of such development return to the hill communities, as opposed to anotherplundering opportunity for powerful politicians of neighbouring states working on behalfof their numerically vast constituencies.

However, the recent downturn in the information economy and uncertain growthprospects, coupled with the late start of such initiatives and competition from otherstates, present important caveats if not obstacles to the full realization of these kinds of

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hyped development thrusts. Whether the information technology boom turns out to bemore illusion than reality remains to be seen.

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STATE OF THE STATE: GETTING OVER A SHAKY START

Uttaranchal PatrikaVol. 3, No. 1 (January 2001)

Although getting off the ground was difficult enough, the new state of Uttaranchal facessignificant hurdles that will require all the ingenuity, dedication, and good will Uttarakhandiscan muster. We in North America can help too.

MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN

The November inauguration of the new state of Uttaranchal came as somewhat of an anti-climax for the people of the hills. The demand had been raised over and over again over thelast six years, supported by four different state legislatures, and three separate centraladministrations. The struggle was carried to every nook and cranny of the UttarakhandHimalayas, and opposed bitterly in the plains districts of Hardwar and Udham Singh Nagar.Eventually, the decision for statehood came swiftly, leaving little time for the administrationto prepare.

The central government in its haste chose November 9 as the official inception date, aninauspicious day according to local astrologists. Ominously reminiscent of India's original star-crossed tryst with destiny on August 15, the government likewise moved the ceremony up tomidnight of the preceding day. Unfortunately, the astrologers' warnings would prove fateful,as the appointed governor S.S. Barnala (of Punjab), swore in Nityanand Swami (of Haryana) asChief Minister to little fanfare and much discord and dissension.

The new state plunged almost immediately into political strife, as partisan sniping anddissension within the BJP's own ranks came to the fore. The original decision to make DehraDun the provisional capital and to locate the high court in Nainital, did little to placate thevociferous protests of popular organizations in the hills. Both the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal andUttarakhand Mahila Manch staged large-scale warning rallies ahead of the ceremonies,demanding that the hamlet of Gairsain, nestled between Garhwal and Kumaon, be declaredthe official capital. Meanwhile, egos clashed within the new cabinet, with three leadingcontenders for chief ministership boycotting the inauguration, only to be brought to heel bythe party for the time being.

TRANSFORMING MODES OF GOVERNANCE

In retrospect, the fierce tensions displayed during the launch of statehood, thoughdistressing, came as no great surprise to those who have witnessed the ups and downs of theUttarakhand Andolan. Moreover, the movement itself has come to reflect the deep divisionsand complete breakdown of harmonious relations of recent times. What started with theBritish divide-and-rule politics that took the shape of heightened caste competition withinregimental ranks, found its way into Uttarakhand's post-independence electoral politics,culminating today in the morass of clashing egos and power games. In this way, each batch of"netas" has failed to live up to the people's expectations. Even the few able and honestleaders have had a difficult time maintaining power, without having to participate in thedegrading horsetrading process.

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However, the Uttarakhand Andolan and social movements of the hills have also proposed --and put into practice -- myriad innovative solutions, most small and localized to the problemsof good governance and accountability. Their efforts, some celebrated and some unheraldeddespite their good work, should be relied upon to guide any developmental endeavours andstructural reforms that the government is considering to achieve its short and long termgoals.

As such, the government should limit its intrusion into the affairs of local communities bydevolving power to the panchayats. This is in accord with the 73rd and 74th amendments tothe Indian Constitution, and necessary to meet the requirements for home rule and fulfill thecentral demand of the separate-state autonomy movement.

Meanwhile, although the Indian parliament has failed to pass the Women's Reservation Bill,the Uttaranchal assembly should go one step farther, and allocate 50% of all seats to women.From the historical experience of the last 40 years of social movements, this would have aremarkably positive impact on governance, as women have been at the forefront of everymovement for the defense of Himalayan culture, society, and the environment. It would alsorestore Uttarakhandi women to their rightful place as guardians and stewards of their localityand give them the power to enact change effectively.

JAL, JUNGLE, JAMEEN

Recently, the new government has made encouraging comments about fighting the localmafia. However, it must go further and combat their collusion with the plains-based liquorand natural resource mafias that are plundering the hills of jal, jungle, and jameen. Alarmbells were sounded recently with the skyrocketing land prices in and around Dehra Dun.Other scenic regions are also being bought up by wealthy city people from Delhi andsurrounding states. The new government will have to decide whether to enact alien land lawslike those of Himachal that bar outsiders from owning land in absentia.

Furthermore, the state government will need to reevaluate all the major developmentprojects currently underway. It makes little sense for the new state to fund these projectswithout in the end receiving an equitable and sustainable benefit in return. Furthermore, itis unacceptable that hill residents should bare the ecological costs, while electricitygeneration and water resources accrue to Delhi and other states. The Tehri Dam is one suchdisastrous mega project that is only proceeding due to the momentum garnered by massivefinancial outlays. The dam at Vishnuprayag is also environmentally unsound. Hundreds ofplanned dams in the region must likewise undergo thorough review, and if found destructiveto the environment and life-sustaining capacity of the hills, should be scrapped or shut down.

Most importantly, the new administration must make supplying drinking water to every villagea top priority, even as it proceeds to stabilize the ecological balance of the region. Inaddition, the state administration should take the long view of combatting water scarcitywith rejuvenating Uttarakhand's once lush deciduous forests. By encouraging successful localreforestation initiatives and scaling them up to state-wide application, the government canmake a huge contribution by siding with the people as opposed to the contractors and forestmafias as the erstwhile UP government was wont to do. The state officials can furtherdemonstrate their good faith by empowering and extending full cooperation to NGO leaderswho have achieved demonstrably good results.

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NEW ECONOMIC HOPES

As in other places in India, information technology is being sought as a potential answer toeconomic underdevelopment in Uttaranchal. Proclaimed by both the chief minister andgovernor, and supported by expatriate community initiatives throughout India, developing theIT sector will require careful and steady investment alongside training programs that drawupon the considerable educational facilities in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions.Additionally, proximity to Delhi, presence of numerous English language institutions, a cleanand relatively cool environment, and high intellectual capacity represent key advantages forinvestors and entrepreneurs looking to establish new businesses in a hospitable climate.Meanwhile, government-industry partnerships could focus on revamping the communicationinfrastructure and ensuring that local students gain employment from such ventures.

WHAT WE CAN DO

While the onus for Uttaranchal's progress will rest primarily on the elected officials of thenew state, those living in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and other parts of the developedworld can contribute substantially to the economic development, political reform, socialuplift, and environmental revitalization of Uttaranchal. The formation of the UttaranchalAssociation of North America represented a key first step to affirming the Uttarakhandinational identity abroad and can play a vital role in various initiatives of the government,private sector, and civil society. In many ways, the overseas community can do even more, asit will be unhindered by the political paralysis and corruption that has so discouraged anddisillusioned such endeavours in India.

Working together, Uttarakhandis living abroad, in India, and in Uttaranchal proper can lift thenew state out of its initial doldrums, and achieve more than each alone, working in theirindividual capacity. The challenge ahead is to forge mutually supportive relationships andsolidarity to escape the pessimistic politics of the past and establish together, an optimisticvision for the future.

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UTTARAKHAND SUPPORT COMMITTEE CONDEMNS PERSECUTION OF NGO:CALLS FOR RELEASE OF ALL EMPLOYEES

For Immediate ReleaseApril 26, 2000

B O S T O N - The Uttarakhand Support Committee (USC) calls on the government of UttarPradesh, including the state officials operating in Almora district to cease in their crackdownof the NGO Sahayog, to free all its employees from jail, to recompense the organization forlosses incurred by the actions of mobs, and to offer continued protection to all public healthworkers in the Kumaon Himalayas.

Recent news reports recounting the woes of Sahayog, a voluntary organization operating inAlmora have come as a shock. For publishing educational public health materials that may ormay not have carried vulgarities, the organization has been targeted unfairly and with ananimosity far beyond impact of a 35 page public health booklet. Although it is possible thatthe pamphlet may have given offense to some, the violent reaction is reprehensible.

As such, the USC, an organization that has promoted pride in Uttarakhandi identitythroughout the world with its Internet presence (http://www.uttarakhand.org), sees thecurrent uproar over Sahayog's alleged insult of Uttarakhand's sexual mores as a terriblemisunderstanding and the violence and jailing as beyond the bounds of legitimate reaction.Those agitators that purport to be defending Uttarakhandi pride, are only tarnishing it withoverwrought indignation and embarrassing all Uttarakhandis with their narrow outlook.Furthermore, they may very well endanger other projects seeking to ameliorate the dismalstate of health in the region, especially regarding the reproductive health of women. Theattack on Sahayog also raises concerns over the safety of other volunteers working the hillsand should be opposed strenuously. The USC therefore calls on anti-Sahayog agitators todesist from further attacks, and to discuss calmly their concerns with the NGO staff.

Sahayog has been working in Kumaon since 1992. The pamphlet in question has been incirculation for several months. It only stands to measure that anti-social elements areseeking to capitalize on the controversy by politicizing the issue. As such, the SupportCommittee also expresses its concern over the involvement of political outfits in the currentcontroversy. Though the reaction of the mainstream parties are predictable, mostdisappointing is the position and actions of the UKD. It seems rather ironic that the Kranti inthe UKD's name has come to mean reactionary as opposed to revolutionary under the currentcircumstances. If the leaders of the party continue this opportunistic course, they may verywell reveal themselves to be unfit to govern a future state. In addition, by calling forrestrictions on the rights of their citizens, the agitators are preventing important informationfrom being disseminated to the public and may very well exacerbate the looming publichealth crisis in the hills.

AIDS education is controversial but necessary in a country that has the largest number of HIV-infected individuals in the world and faces a health care catastrophe in the coming decade.Despite reservations about the contents of pamphlet, the USC applauds Sahayog's courage infacing the difficult issue.

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THE TEHRI DAM:DEVELOPMENT OR MALDEVELOPMENT?

April 7, 2000

At 260 meters height, the Tehri Dam will be one of the highest in the world, and will displaceover 100,000 people and flood 27,000 hectares of land. Its peak capacity will be 2400 MW.Most of the generated electricity will supply the central grid.

Despite all the propaganda about "progress" and "development", much skepticism hasremained over the benefits of the Tehri Dam. It is important to ask, benefits for whom? Whoshould control and benefit from the resources of a region? Opposition to the dam over itssevere environmental impact, economic merit, and adequate compensation, have largelybeen glossed over in the national press, although in groundbreaking studies in scientific andenvironmental journals, the Tehri Dam has not fared as well. However, when the bureaucraticgears are set in motion, the machine is hard to stop, although political parties have exploitedthe issue on both sides! (Both the United Front and BJP originally came out against the damright before elections, only to reverse their policies once in office. Same as in the Narmadasituation). Opposition was once fierce, but the full weight of the bureaucracy and itspropaganda arm have all but crushed the movement. Time will tell whether the Himalayasand Ganges survive this sledgehammer.

Here are some significant reasons why the Tehri Dam is not all that it's cracked up to be:

The dam is being build over the confluence of the Bhilangana and Bhagirathi in a seriousearthquake prone seismic zone that looks to become more active in the near future (Twomajor earthquakes in the 1990s -- 1991 Uttar Kashi, 1999 Chamoli). Any earthquake ofover 8.0 in magnitude, incidently predicted in the next century by seismologists, couldcollapse the dam, or at least cause reservoir levels over the height, leading to a floodingdisaster.

Constructed on a feeder river to the Ganges, the project has elicited opposition fromHindu leaders including the VHP and Rishikesh-based Sants who see the dam as asacrilegious violation of the river's right to flow unimpeded.

Enormous water resources will be devoted to filling the hydro-electric reservoir, thusdepriving the parched Tehri and Dehra Dun districts of more drinking water that hasbecome critically scarce in recent years.

Deforestation, leading to soil erosion in surrounding slopes, is predicted to cause heavysiltation, clogging the turbines and reducing the expected power generation significantly.The desilting process is also expected to be very expensive and would gobble up much ofthe generated electricity.

The development has opened up a huge scar in the landscape, as the roads needed tosupply the project have brought both pollution and geological disturbances.

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Cracks have already developed, much to the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation'sembarrassment, in two sections near the control shaft gate (May 1998), portending furtherproblems with the enormous edifice.

Electricity generated by the plant will almost exclusively be supplied to Delhi and theplains, thus deriving little benefit for local communities.

The U.P. Electricity Board workers' strike in early 2000 focused attention on the colossalamount of electricity theft from the power grid that continues unchallenged. Whatguarantees are there that the electricity generated at Tehri won't be similarly dissipated?

Once an argument for the Dam, the amount of money and effort expended on the mega-project has proved to be a never ending boondoggle (although a bonanza for contractorsmostly drawn from outside the region). Recent independent studies have claimed that theDam will only operate for 40 years as opposed to the 100 promised by planners.

And after more than 30 years of blundering progress, the dam is still under construction.

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1999: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

January 14, 2000

The last year of the 20th century proved to be devastating for the Uttarakhand Himalayas.Forest fires, the Chamoli earthquake, the Kargil Conflict, leopard attacks, politicaldisillusionment and instability, complications in the formation of a separate state, and thetragic death of the leader of the Uttarakhand movement all cast their long shadow over theHimalayas that had just witnessed catastrophic landslides the previous year.

Looking Back

Indeed, the close of the 20th century parallels that of the 18th century, when perhaps evenworse disasters befell Garhwal and Kumaon. Two hundred years ago, Kumaon was occupied bythe Gurkhas and the Garhwal court was embroiled in intrigue that would so weaken the raja,that three years later in 1803 after a devastating earthquake, Garhwal would fall to theforces of Amar Singh Thapa. In 1791, Garhwal barely escaped conquest by the Nepali Empire,only to face famine throughout the 1790s. The Gurkhas continued to harry the Garhwalis onthe frontiers, even while their military administered Kumaon with severity and brutality.Legends tell of a third of the population being carried off into slavery, although true numberswill never be known.

The Fire this Time

Two hundred years later, an all too familiar apocalypse again visited the hills of Uttarakhand.At half past midnight on March 29th, 1999, the strongest tremors since the 1991 Uttar Kashiearthquake rocked the hills. This time, it was Chamoli district’s turn and thousands of housescollapsed in the pre-dawn hours, trapping sleeping villagers in the debris. The death tolleventually surpassed 100, and the reconstruction effort started slowly. Eventually, charges ofbureaucratic neglect and disorganization began to stick, and the issue of disasterpreparedness would come back to haunt the central government during the Orissa Cyclone.

Earlier in 1999, life came to a standstill in villages throughout upper Garhwal, as leopardsclaimed the lives of a dozen women and children. By April, forest fires had ignited, eventuallyclaiming over 40,000 hectares in forest cover. Although part of a 4 to 5 year cycle, theespecially dry winter this past year, coming after devastating monsoon-related landslides inUpper Kumaon and Garhwal and floods in the plains in 1998, helped make a tinderbox of thehighly flammable pine needles littering the forest grounds. Several forest workers andvillagers died battling the blaze that choked the air with soot particles and smoke for twomonths. The forest fires also contributed to the wild predator menace, as starvation andhabitat destruction pushed leopards to seek food in human areas.

The Wages of War

Eventually, these events came to be overshadowed by the war in Kargil that gripped theIndian public’s attention. Over 75 men from Uttarakhand perished in the hostilities andfuneral processions were held throughout the hills. Half of these men were lost from theGarhwal Rifles alone, and a battalion of the regiment was awarded a unit citation. Theirsacrifice led to a surge of patriotic pride, as the nation pulled together to counter theinvasion in the extreme north of the country. Questions that arose early in the undeclared

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war quickly dissipated, as the nation faced the grim news with renewed dedication to throwout the invaders.

A Hero’s Fall

As the Kargil conflict wound down, Uttarakhand was shocked to lose one of its brightest lightsand most respected political figures. Indermani Badoni, a stalwart in the cause ofUttarakhand statehood, passed away in August after a long battle with kidney disease. Fiveyears previously, Badoni fasted onto death while all hell broke loose in the hills during theanti-reservation stir that led directly to the statehood movement. For his efforts, the policeattacked the non-violent fasters, beat their supporters, and hauled them to the hospital onthe orders of the DM. Since those fateful days, Badoni worked tireless, despite failing health,for the cause of Uttarakhand, and retained his stature as the Gandhi of the movement,despite disillusionment with the proclaimed saviours of the Himalayas. Reportedly, Badonibreathed his last by uttering the word "Uttarakhand".

Politics as Usual?

With his death, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, the local party that initiated the movement butlost control and popular support, went through a power struggle. An effort was made torevitalize the moribund condition of the party that had its vision and slogans hijacked by thenational political parties for their own partisan ends. Yet the need for a genuine progressiveforce, representative of local interests alone, and able to unite the entire spectrum of Paharisociety, remained. Whether the UKD could claim this mantle was felt will determine its futureas a viable political entity.

Meanwhile, as the UKD reorganized itself, political intrigue flared as the BJP struggled toretain its seats in Uttarakhand. In the October 1999 elections, Congress mounted anunexpectedly strong challenge even while its Uttar Pradesh party organization lay inshambles. The BJP still managed to retain 3 of its 4 seats, helped in no small measure by thevictory in Kargil, Vajpayee’s personal popularity, and lingering divisions and disorganization inCongress. The margins of victory for the three seats were however extremely reduced, andCongress still managed to win the largest overall percentage of votes in the region and wrestback the Nainital seat for veteran party man N.D. Tiwari.

To shore up their falling fortunes, the BJP managed to induct a minister from the region,Bacchi Singh Rawat, into the outer cabinet of the new NDA government. As the first ministerfrom the region since Satpal Maharaj’s stint in the United Front government, the Almora MPwas given the minor portfolio of minister of state for defence.

The Movement Refocuses

By December, continued wrangling over the BJP-sponsored Uttaranchal statehood bill had ledto the reconstitution of the Uttarakhand Sanyukta Sangarsh Samiti to renew the struggle forstatehood. Although the original USSS fragmented in the post-1994 agitation period, the newformation drew in political heavyweights from the region as well as new blood.

Despite these developments, the end of the year saw the sentiments of many Uttarakhandisin the hills and cities swing away from immediate statehood to Union Territory status. Thisoption gained support at the expense of the professional leadership and politicians of the hills

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who had lost all credibility in the eyes of the people. The apprehension of handing power tothe politician-bureaucrat combine led many of the genuine social activists in the region toprefer central administration for the fledgling autonomous entity.

Looking Forward

In this manner, the seeds of renewal and growth were planted in little turning points andrealizations in a year so marked with death and despair. The scorched earth left by the forestfires may blossom again in the coming years. The earthquake again pointed to the need forpreserving traditional building practices, which time and time again have withstoodHimalayan tremors. Indermani Badoni’s passing jolted the slumbering movement back to lifeand reminded politicians of what it meant to work in the service of the people. Likewise, thesacrifices of soldiers in Kargil were finally given their due by a nation that had all too oftenforgotten its obligations to the fallen. Even in the shift away from the statehood demand,people demonstrated newfound understanding of the political process.

Two centuries ago, British intervention followed Gurkha conquest, bringing the hills into anIndian empire of sorts for the first time and a new social, political, and economic age. In suchways has change always followed sorrow like a shadow in Uttarakhand. However, hope for abetter tomorrow will depend on the strength and character of the people to endure bothadversity and build anew. In the coming years of the 21st century, it remains to be seenwhether that hope becomes reality and sorrow turns to joy, or retreats further in the noondaysun of despair and forgetfulness.

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THE STRUGGLE FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL:REVIVING AND RENEWING OUR UTTARAKHANDI IDENTITY

January 14, 2000

We are the people of the Uttar Pradesh hills -- Paharis, Uttarakhandis, Garhwalis, Kumaonis,Bhotiyas, Jaunsaris. Some of our ancestors have lived in the hills since time immemorial.Others came in the great flights from Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, yet through allthese centuries, we have not faced a crisis as far reaching as the one in these modern times.

How do we as a people face extinction? Our land, unlike Kashmir, Punjab, or Assam, has notbeen wracked with violence. We have not suffered terrible cyclones like Orissa, nor bloodyriots like the rest of Uttar Pradesh. Bombs have not exploded in crowded marketplaces as inDelhi or Mumbai, Indeed, Uttarakhand has always been one of the most peaceful places inIndia.

However, the cultural extirpation of our people has continued as inexorably as theencroachment of the desert into the hills. The language, agricultural heritage, and socialtraditions have been steadily eroded, just as the life-sustaining capacities of the land havebeen degraded. The money order economy that has accelerated throughout the century hascontributed to this decay, but so have the effects of modern development, ostensiblywelcomed by the people, but now wreaking havoc on the social mores of village life.

Education For Joblessness

For younger generations, the Indian education system has also been central to the unfoldingcatastrophe. Indeed, the system has changed little since the British left, and has continuedto operate under the same compulsions. Even today, English has remained enshrined as thelanguage of the elite, followed by Hindi as the vernacular and, in some cases, followed by apowerful regional language that thrust its way into the curriculum.

However, very few schools, if any, teach the Pahari languages of Garhwali and Kumaoni, asthey have traditionally been devalued as mere rustic dialects and excluded from a child’seducation. Intense competition has further eroded the desire to retain such "luxuries", aslocal self-awareness has usually been the first to lose out. Language, culture, and traditionsof workmanship are being replaced with an education that throws youth into directcompetition with hundreds of thousands of other students. Furthermore, no longer can therecent generations live off the land. They cannot return to the village nor can they find ajob.

As such, the alienated urban youth that is often talked about in lurid news stories, did notappear out of thin air. They are the sad products of this uprooting and confusion, caughtbetween cultures and demands on them they cannot even comprehend, let alone fulfill.Desperate and jobless, the lucky can enlist in the military, the best ironically work at any jobno matter how degrading to preserve their dignity, while the worst turn to alcoholism andeven crime, filling the ranks of the mafia, spreading their tentacles over the hills. It is a sad

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story repeated in every urban center in Uttarakhand, from Dehra Dun, to Kotdwar, toNainital.

Planned Termination?

As either a by-product of negative social change or part of a planned effort to eradicatecultural distinctions for the sake of national integration, the heritage of Uttarakhand andlocal cultures throughout India have been quietly undermined in this fashion, and completelypurged from the spirit of city migrants and expatriates. It is only with great difficulty thatany cultural vestige has been retained, and often in only the superficial sense, as in taperecordings of Garhwali Gheet or jewelry that once adorned all women of the hills. For others,shame has prevented even this minimal identification, and anything to do with the hills hasbeen forsaken as rustic and backwards. For all though, the sense of loss has remainedpalpable.

Indeed, rulers long ago realized that the easiest way to control and subjugate a people is byforcing them on their knees. To do this, they first have to knock their victim’s legs out fromunderneath them, a feat accomplished by tearing out their roots, crushing their identity, andcorrupting their value system. Once done, the conquered individual is rendered a saleablecommodity in the political marketplace, mentally and financially enslaved to the system.

The experience of Native Americans has been the most tragic example of this murderousstrategy. Long after disease and warfare had ravaged the peoples of the Americas, the finalmasterstroke of their conquest was the liquidation of their cultural identity. This finalsolution to the Indian problem was carried forward forcefully, by uprooting tribes from theirancestral lands, by destroying their way of life, by rendering them dependent and subject tothe federal government, and by packing off their children to far away religious residentialschools for final assimilation. Speaking their language and practicing their religion becameboth crimes and sins, and a whole generation, if not more, were ethnically cleansed in thisway.

For Native Americans, the loss was traumatizing and lethal. Countless languages andtraditions were simply annihilated, leaving the survivors with only fragmentary images oftheir own culture. In many cases, these images were ironically derived from stereotypes ofthem held by European Americans.

Tribes in India and marginal peoples like Uttarakhandis have likewise resorted to romanticvisions of hill life to buttress their fragile identity. Furthermore, for many of those havingfound prosperity elsewhere in Dehra Dun or Delhi, the forces of false pride and vanity haverushed into the vacuum, a development as dangerous as the emptiness of rootlessness. In thespecial case of upper caste Garhwalis and Kumaonis, an overwhelming majority of the hillpopulation, their caste status, a known quantity in general Indian society, has gained themadded currency, and in the place of nothing else, has propped up a tottering self-image(ironically, higher caste status has become more of a liability in the post-Mandal period).Eventually though, such artificial and reactive attempts to reconstitute shattered self-esteemhave ultimately floundered when passed down from one generation to the next, as youngpeople have seen no reason to retain the prejudices, conservative outlook, and muddledidentity of their elders. In this manner, the inferiority complex has persisted, and countlessyouth cut off from their last remaining ties to the hills. Moreover, the urban culture, with all

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its venality, duplicity, and inhumanity, has had its impact, subverting the spirit in morealarming ways than even loss of culture has rendered.

In the village, excessive drinking has taken an even heavier toll, further sapping the energy,draining the potential, and wasting the precious monetary resources of the hills. In the caseof Native Americans, the story of alcohol abuse has been tragic and largely fueled by thosewishing their destruction as a people. It is thus no coincidence that home breweries are fewin the Uttarakhand Himalayas, and villagers depend on outsiders such as mafia fromGhaziabad, Etah, or Moradabad for a steady supply of "daru". Furthermore, the liquor plaguehas led to resignation in face of hardship and the destruction of family life. Women, who havealways borne the lion share of work in Uttarakhand, have suffered even more sorrows fromhusbands who have wasted their hard earned wages on alcohol either in the village, or away,lost in the cities of the plains.

A Wake-Up Call

What can we do then? How can we fight these seemingly invincible tides of urbanization,cultural disintegration, and assimilation? How can we reestablish a cultural identity that is nolonger defensive and conservative, but progressive and thriving, and that has resonance withtoday’s youth?

In the experiences of other peoples, we can find ways out of the current predicament. Just asMartin Luther King, as a follower of Gandhiji, led the civil rights movement in this countrywith all the methods of a true satyagrahi, so can we learn from another great black leader,Malcolm X, who awakened the black consciousness and fired the imagination ofrevolutionaries worldwide. Through his own experience as a small time hustler, drug user,and prison inmate to his remarkable rise in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X made the mostpersonal journey from self-hatred to self-love, from utter humiliation to racial pride. Heovercame the worst form of degradation to inspire others with his intense and unrelentingintellect and moral uprightness. He came to embody the "shining black prince", a legendaryfigure who opened the door to the rising of the entire race. His doctrine of dignity and self-worth was to prove central to the struggles of other minorities in the United States, includingNative Americans whose resurrection as a people was helped in no small measure by the risingof black America.

In this way, we do not have to wait for saviours to come and rescue our race. We cannotdepend on politicians or bureaucrats to show us the way -- indeed, we need to get rid of themfor our people to progress! We each can contribute to the reawakening of our people,individually and together, by preserving the best of our traditions -- social, agricultural,environmental, and cultural -- and learning about our homeland -- its language, history,geography, and economy. Succeeding generations need us desperately to articulate aninspiring vision for our people, one that brings us forward into the next century with raisedheads, renewed hope, and a revived sense of who we are and what we stand for. Most of all,this revolution of values and spirit will need us to remain large hearted as only then can ourpride in ourselves grow as a healthy pride, one born of the holy Himalayas and steeped in thepatriotism of a gentle and courageous, honest and loving race.

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HEROES AND HEROINES OF UTTARAKHAND

January 12, 2000

As the 21st century dawns, Uttarakhand, like so many other parts of the Himalayas, facesecological catastrophe and cultural extinction. However, there is another story toUttarakhand that parallels her sorrows. A region that has disproportionally given its sons inlarge numbers to the defense of the country, has for over a century been noted for its activesocial movements. The Chipko movement was spearheaded by Himalayan women, as were theprohibition and reforestation causes. The hill people have consistent proven their dedicationto non-violent activism and courage under fire. The adversity faced by Uttarakhandis everyday has perhaps contributed to this willingness to struggle and the people continue to standand fight for their rights. There are the stories of just a few. There are so many more.

More heroes' tales can be found in “The Emancipated Women-Folk of Uttarakhand”, a jointpresentation of the Himalayan Action Research Centre and Society for Participatory Researchin Asia, edited by Chhaya Kunwar. To obtain a copy, please write to:

Himalayan Action Research Centre (HARC)744 Indira Nagar, Phase II, P.O. New ForestDehra Dun 248 006

INDERMANI BADONI

Indermani Badoni, the grand old man of the Uttarakhand movement, passed away in 1999,almost exactly five years after his fast unto death in 1994 catapulted the Uttarakhandagitation to a new phase.

Fifteen years earlier, Badoni, along with several other activists with long careers ingovernment service, established the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, then the principal politicalvehicle for statehood. He campaigned tireless during the ups and downs of the movement,seeing some of his colleagues elected to the state assembly. Eventually, the fateful events of1994 would see the kettle of Uttarakhand politics boil over. Badoni played an instrumentalpart and paid the price by being brutalized by the police who attacked the peaceful fastersand dragged them to the hospital.

In the following years, as the Uttarakhand movement lost steam and many activists lost theirway, Badoni's reputation remained intact. Venerated as the Gandhi of the movement, his longrunning battle with kidney disease would however severely limit his activities and eventuallyclaim his life. On his death bed, he uttered one last word, "Uttarakhand". Time will tellwhether his dying wish comes true.

BACHNI DEVI

In 1977, Bachni Devi, ironically herself the wife of a contractor, led village women to saveAdwani forest. By directly disobeying her husband's wishes, Bachni Devi struck a blow for theliberation of hill women through active participation in matters affecting their own lives. Thehardship endured by Uttarakhandi women, made worse by social disintegration and ecological

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degradation in the hills, galvanized women like Bachni Devi to organize and fight the systemthat was ravaging their land and their families.

In her own words as recorded by the PANOS Institute Oral Testimony Programme:

"My husband was a forest contractor. He cut a huge amount of timber... forest afterforest. .... He was the major contractor and I was his enemy in this struggle.... Thewhole village backed me.... He never said anything to the [other] agitators. But hewas very angry with me.... We even stopped speaking to each other.... It was amatter of sadness."

Now a widow of 72, Bachni Devi's struggle continues:

"Now that the road has come.... the availability of grass and firewood has dwindled.Now people come from far distant places. They cut grass and firewood and put in onthe buses and take it away.... there is a crisis for us."

TINCHARI MAI

Tinchari Mai started her life as Deepa Nautiyal in the village of Majyur in Thailsain. Her earlyyears were marked by greater sorrow than even most hill women. Orphaned at an early ageby both parents, an uncle raised her until she was married off at the age of 7 to an army man.Although a child bride, her married years were happy ones, as she grew up in the home of hernew family. However, at 19, her husband fell in battle. Widowed at such a young age, shewas ill-treated as widows often are in backward and superstitious villages. She eventually leftto become a sannyasin, travelling to Lahore and then Haridwar, where she began speaking outagainst the corruption of monks and ascetics.

Icchagiri Mai as she came to be known, returned to the hills to work for their social andeconomic uplift. She even sat in dharna outside the Prime Minister's house, and succeeded ingetting Nehru's ear and having water supplied to her adopted village near Kotdwar. She wouldalso champion education and fight the evils of alcoholism, earning her the title Tinchari Mai inthe process. Until she passed away in 1992, she campaigned tirelessly for the welfare ofUttarakhandis.

GAURA DEVI

In 1974, during the activist phase of the Chipko movement, the courage and vigilance ofUttarakhandi women saved many forests. As the state government and contractors distractedthe menfolk, the women perceived the danger. Under the leadership of Gaura Devi, anilliterate, spirited fifty-year old woman, the women and children embraced the trees of Reniforest just as the axemen disembarked from their trucks. By warding off the hatchets withtheir own bodies, Gaura Devi led the village women to effect non-violent grassrootsresistance to the unbridled exploitation of Uttarakhand's natural resources. A four-daystandoff eventually ended in victory for the women villagers and the movement spread likewildfire across the Himalayas.

Sadly, Gaura Devi faded into obscurity, forgotten by the media more interested in followingthe personalities of the movement. She died in 1991 after long years spent in service to her

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community. In recent years however, her legacy has been recognized and celebrated widely,leading to renewed interest in this leader of the Chipko movement.

JASWANT SINGH RAWAT

In 1962, when the Chinese Army invaded India from N.E.F.A., a company of Garhwal Rifleswas posted somewhere on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. They were ordered to vacatetheir post as soon as possible, but Jaswant Singh Rawat decided to stay back and for THREEDAYS, he kept the rampaging Chinese at bay almost single-handedly. He was helped by twolocal girls, Nuang and Sella. When the situation became hopeless and to avoid the humiliationat the hands of the enemy, he shot himself. When the Chinese came to know that the postwas defended by a lone soldier, they were so enraged that they cut-off his head and took itaway with them. Later, after the war subsided, a Chinese officer heard his story andimpressed by his valour, returned his head to the Indian Government and also gave a brassbust in his honor. The brass bust is placed on the spot where he fought so valiantly and theplace has been named JaswantGarh. The two girls who helped him were also given due creditand the pass was named after Sella and the highway named after Nuang. (courtesy AnuragBist)

SRIDEV SUMAN

Sridev Suman was the best known of a group of freedom fighters to operate in Tehri State.Born in 1916, Suman was largely self-taught. He became a key organizer and agitator for civilrights in Tehri while serving as an editor and writer for several underground presses. He wasinstrumental in the formation of several organizations, from the Himalaya Seva Sangh, to theHimalayan States People's Federation and Garhdesh Seva Sangh.

In 1942 at the height of tax protests, Suman and many other activists were jailed. Late in1943, he was tried for treason and jailed again. The ghastly conditions of Tehri's infamousprisons led him to lead a fast unto death in protest. After 84 days, he died a martyr's death,inspiring a generation of activists to take up the banner of liberation that eventually toppledthe princely state.

CHANDER SINGH "GARHWALI" BHANDARI

As a non-commissioned officer of the Garhwal Rifles, Havildar (sergeant) Chander Singhrefused to fire on unarmed pro-independence demonstrators at Peshawar on April 23, 1930.He succeeded in persuading much of the rest of his battalion to stand down. As such, theHavildar and his fellow soldiers were exiled, disgraced, and Chander Singh himself internedfor life by the military authorities. His noble and thoughtful stance, rather than thepredictable excuse of "just following orders", proved to be a major psychological blow to theBritish Raj whose imperial power rested on the absolute obedience of its armed forces.

When Chander Singh returned to Garhwal, he immediately joined the movement forindependence and continued his service to her people.

GOBBAR SINGH NEGI

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As part of the Allied Spring Offensive of 1915, the Garhwal Rifles sacrificed their utmost toadvance the front against the Germans. Rifleman Negi of the 2nd battalion answered the callat Neuve Chapelle. With no concern for his own safety, the short Himalayan warrior had thebetter of the tall and hefty Germans, leading his fellow hill men when their officer fell, andshowing no regard for his own personal safety. He was later killed in the field of battle, butnot before earning the highest honor of the British Empire, the Indian Army's third VictoriaCross.

DARWAN SINGH NEGI

As the second Indian soldier to receive the Victoria Cross, Naik (corporal) Negi distinguishedhimself in the blood and horror of Flanders during the Great War. In the wet autumn monthsof 1914, the British lines were crumbling. The desperate situation called for the mobilizationof the Indian brigades from India. The Garhwal Rifles were hastily rushed to the front. Nearthe town of Festubert, the regiment was ordered to recover a part of the line. In this battle,Naik Negi was the first to proceed around each traverse, discharging the enemy with dash anddaring. With blood streaming from his head and arms, he carried on the fight, despite fiercemachine gun resistance that strafed the attacking Allied troops. King-Emperor George Vhimself honored Negi's heroism on the field of battle.

"PANDIT" NAIN SINGH RAWAT

Nain Singh was one the greatest explorers of the 19th century, travelling over 21,000 miles inhis lifetime, across the inhospitable and often hostile terrain of Tibet and Central Asia.Hailing from Milam, present day Pithoragarh district, Nain Singh left home at a young age in1851, venturing throughout Uttarakhand and Himachal, before accompanying Westernexplorers to Ladakh and Turkestan as a porter. He eventually returned home for a briefsojourn as a teacher before heading to Dehra Dun to learn surveying skills. In 1864 he wasordered to make maps of Tibet. His adventures took him to Kashmir and Nepal and hisknowledge of Tibetan allowed him to pass as one. His accomplishments were extraordinary,and the scale of his discoveries were never truly repeated by his admiring successors.

RAJ MATA KARNAVATI

In 1640, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan invaded Garhwal. Led by the courageous QueenMother, Karnavati, the Garhwali defenders crushed the numerically superior forces from theplains. Rather than executing prisoners, she cut off the noses of all captured troops as asymbol of defiance. This act earned the Queen Mother the title "Nak-katti-Rani", the queenwho cuts off noses. She later successfully saw her son, the much-loved King Prithvi Pat Shah,ascend to the throne.

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OUR CHIPKO HERITAGE:OUR TRADITIONS AND HISTORY REMEMBERED

August 2, 1999

The Uttarakhand Himalayas are well known for the active social and environment movementsthat had their genesis in the forests. Chipko originated and endures there -- the movementwhere village women, Gandhian activists, and local cooperatives came together to challengethe usurpation of indigenous forest rights by successive state and central governments.

Although a recent (1970s) phenomenon, the historical antecedents to the ongoing struggle goback two centuries. When the British pushed into this area in 1814, Garhwal and Kumaon, thetwo principalities comprising Uttarakhand, had just been conquered by the Gurkha (Nepal)Empire. According to British reports, the short Anglo-Gurkha war "liberated" the region from atyranny that had carried a third of the population into bondage and brought ruin to theterraced fields. Most of the land was ceded to the Britain, with the remainder left to thesurviving heir of the Garhwali throne.

However, the British would soon recognize the great natural wealth of the Himalayas andbegin timber extraction to feed both the Empire's industrial needs and the building of theIndian railroad system. The felling of trees was undertaken in both the British part and Tehristate, as the principality came to be known. Tree replanting also altered the the ecologicalbalance of the hills -- replacing slow growing oaks and deodar (himalayan cedar) with chirpine, both for timber and resin use -- and the forest department became the main enforcer ofboth appropriated "reserve" forest boundaries and the new plantations.

The exploitation further marginalized the subsistence agriculture of the region, which was thebackbone of the economy. The forest policy, along with the colonial and feudaladministrations, came to represent the main oppressive force in the lives of villagers, whoseleaders began challenging authority by reasserting traditional forest rights, staging protestfires as sabotage, and other demonstrations of discontent. Combined with the nationalistupsurge in the 20s and 40s, the area was eventually merged into Uttar Pradesh shortly afterformal Indian independence.

The Indian state however continued in the footsteps of its British patron, although now, withindustrialization turned inward, demands on resources grew fast. Coupled with the 1962border war with China that saw the frontier closed to ancient trade routes with Tibet, theeconomic conditions in the hills declined precipitously. New scourges emerged such as liquorto deteriorate the livelihood of the inhabitants. Women were particularly impacted, as themass migration of men to the plains for work picked up steam, leaving them to tend to theever more onerous task of working the family farm.

Heavy deforestation came to be seen as the source of many of these problems, as landslipsand floods became more devastating, springs dried up, and foraging for fuel wood consumedmore and more of a villager's working day. By 1973, the stage was set for an uprising againstthe regional forest policy that had changed little since the British left.

Led by Gandhian activists in concert with village women, the Chipko movement achieved aremarkable mobilization of the peasantry. With this awakening, the hills burst into activity,

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as contractors were shut down or chased away by the strength of Garhwali women who daredthe axes to fall on their backs. By 1980, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi finally accepted a 10-year ban on tree felling above 1000 metres.

Since then, much has changed in the hills, yet conditions have been exacerbated by illegalfelling that continues unabated. Furthermore, many of the activists of the movement havesince become bogged down in the bureaucracy of administering NGOs. Others still have beencriticized for standing aloof from the main political, cultural, and economic events of theday, including the movement for statehood that arose in the mid 1990s. Indeed, theirleadership was sorely needed during the time of the disillusionment and dissolution of theautonomy movement.

The future ecological and social well being of Uttarakhand lies with a new generation ofactivists that spring afresh from the Himalayas decade after decade. Many hard lessons werelearned from Chipko and the more recent social movements, and the task for activistsperhaps now lies with marrying these social and environmental concerns and bringing themfinally into the political arena, where hitherto only vested interests have exercised power.

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SOME THOUGHTS ON KARGIL

August 2, 1999

With so many families in the hills of Garhwal and Kumaon who have sons (and daughters) inthe military, the conflict in Kashmir has taken a terrible toll. The Garhwal Rifles, as well asother Himalayan regiments (the Gurkha Rifles, Ladakh Scouts, Naga Regiments, and Jammuand Kashmir Infantry) were all entrusted with operations in Kargil. Over 35 men alone fromthe Rifles were lost, while the total for Uttarakhand has already surpassed 60. They joinedtheir Sikh, Rajasthani, Mahar, and Bihari brothers as a multicultural and multifaith force onthe frontlines, suffering the brunt of casualities in defense of the state. Although honoured bya nation in patriotic ferment, the sacrifice of these young men and their families weighsheavily in grieving villages throughout India.

When all is said and done, we must also know why they fought and why they died. Not toknow, or to choose to ignore reality does a great disservice to the memories of our youth,sacrificed in the name of defending the country. Our Kashmiri brothers and sisters have anunderstandably different view, born of years of mismanaged state affairs, police heavy-handedness, and human rights atrocities that have been acute in their state and that hasdriven some into the arms of the mujahideen militants and others, like the Kashmiri Pandits,out of the state altogether. With the war being fought on their partitioned soil, it is they whohave emerged as the true victims of over 50 years of hostilities. Although this time around inKargil, the situation was clearly a matter of Pakistani-backed infiltration, Kashmir has beenburning for the last decade, with no end in sight under the current stalemate over the line-of-control, with the forces of fear and hatred spiraling out of control. Furthermore, the deadlydance of the Indian and Pakistani governments, a bitter legacy of partition, seems set tocontinue, sapping the energy and resources of the subcontinent while holding hostage thepeople of the entire region to a neverending and ruinous war of attrition.

As such, the only real solution to Kashmir's problems is not more repression that continues inthe name of national unity, but demilitarization of the Himalayan highlands and justice forher people. Rapes, disappearances, and torture should never be excused by the need tomaintain "law and order". What the Kashmiris have suffered and what they continue to sufferis little different from atrocities carried out elsewhere, whether in Punjab, Assam, Nagaland,or even our dear Uttarakhand -- ironically lands from where the bravest and most dutifulJawans of India have come. Militancy arises under such conditions, a simple lesson that goesunheeded in state capitals year after year until bombs explode. As such, the callousness ofgovernments throughout South Asia must end if we are to have a common future. We muststand with all our brothers and sisters who suffer. We cannot wait until "it" happens to one ofus.

Therefore, we salute our fallen soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in the performance oftheir duty. In death, they join the long and distinguished line of brave warriors from theHimalayas. Yet we must continue their work by building a new India for which we can all beproud, free of human rights violations and the arrogance of power that sadly blackens hername in the world. Let us renew our dedication to uplifting our motherland and lead byexample, so that the shortcomings of politics never again tarnishes the supreme sacrifice ofour boys with more of the same. This is the task of the true patriot, to rejoice in the good, tohonour the brave, and to fight evil wherever it may be, especially when done in our country'sname, however hard the truth might be.

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THE TRUCE

May 28, 1999

O my brave brown companions, when your soulsFlock silently away, and the eyeless dead

Shame the wild beast of battle on the ridge,Death will stand grieving in that field of warSince your unvanquished hardihood is spent.

And through some mooned Valhalla there will passBattalions and battalions, scarred from hell;

The unreturning army that was youth;The legions who have suffered and are dust.

- Siegfried Sassoon, Prelude: The Troops

It is very hard to endure the bombs, father. It will bedifficult for anyone to survive and come back safeand sound from the war. The son who is very luckywill see his father and mother, otherwise who can dothis? There is no confidence of survival. The bulletsand cannon balls come down like snow. The mud isup to a man's middle... The numbers that have fallencannot be counted.

- A Garhwali soldier to his father,- 14th January, 1915

For as long as I can remember growing up as a child in Canada, remembrance of the GreatWar, 1914-1918, was marked with poppies on November 11th and a moment of silence for ourfallen fathers. Every memorial was draped with flowers and wreaths commemorating the "warto end all wars". The marching bands of the Canadian regiments would come out with theirpipes, drums, bugles, and fifes, just as old Royal Canadian Legionnaires would parade throughthe streets, reliving past glory, their ranks shrinking every year in the final battle against oldage or disease.

However, we also read in school mournful ballads like No Man's Land and bitter poems ofWilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, bringing home the terror, wretchedness, and utterfutility for which so many had been sacrificed. Indeed, the colonial troops of Great Britainbore the brunt of the casualties for the cause of God, King, and Country. The bittersweetsentiments of "Lest We Forget" and "Never Again", although violated time and time again sinceArmistice, has lingered to this day in the minds of even those too young to remember the fireof war.

For Indian soldiers mobilized for the front, this was even more true. As part of the globalarmy of the British Empire, Indian regiments had fought in almost every colonial war of theVictorian age, and its veterans came to constitute the first wave of South Asian immigrants toCanada and the United States. Although colonial troops were barred from the Europeantheatre due to the tacit understanding that the use of coloured troops would prove"demoralizing" for all sides, the Indians nevertheless sailed for Europe in October of 1914,reaching France and Flanders in time to bolster the crumbling British lines.

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From the beginning, these soldiers had to withstand the constant drizzle and heavy shellingthat had transformed the rich Belgian farmland into a wretched, blasted moonscape.However, the bitter cold of winter, incessant rains, and the new brutal style of fighting in thetrenches did not deter the men in the performance of their duty. Thousands perished beforebeing withdrawn the following year, but not before further honoring themselves for theirextraordinary fighting abilities and discipline, and earning the kindness of English widows whoknit sweaters for their poorly equipped ranks. The 39th Garhwal Rifles, my grandfather'sregiment, especially distinguished itself, taking two Victoria Crosses, the highest honors forenlisted men in the British Empire. Yet their triumph over adversity was marked by hugesacrifices, as the young regiment lost more than half its numbers and an entire battalionbefore it was transferred to Mesopotamia to participate in the conquest of Iraq, returninghome long years after the conclusion of the First World War.

When I visited my native village in the Garhwal Himalayas three years ago, I found that thoseexperiences lingered in the memories of aging elders, only infrequently conjured back to lifeby epic storytelling of feats of desperate heroism, the horror of the trenches, and beauty ofthe French countryside. They also remembered the shattering of families and lives, offathers, sons, and husbands lost, and the lonely struggle of widows and orphans for survival.Surprisingly, only with much reluctance would the keepers of village history bring out the oldmedals, their solemn hesitation distinguishing them as markers of tragedy as opposed to asource of pride for the community.

One tale stood out as most memorable and astonishing. Garhwalis had participated in a farless recognized event of their proud regimental history -- the Christmas Day truce of 1914. Ihad heard rumours about this incident and took much solace from it when I was young, thatdespite the brutalizing effect of war, men themselves could hang on to their humanity. Talesof the fateful day have figured prominently in all legends of the Great War, as it was the oneday that the fog of war lifted and British and German soldiers crossed over from theirtrenches to greet each other as brothers. To realize that some of them were in fact ancestorsand kinsmen from surrounding villages, hilltops, and valleys, gave profound meaning to myearlier observance of Remembrance Day and the words, “Lest We Forget”.

For on that cold Christmas morning early in the 20th century, the Garhwali enlisted men,along with their British officers, ventured out of their dismal water-logged trenches to meettheir German counterparts. The two sides exchanged gifts of chocolate, tobacco, and brandy,shaking hands and passing ironic Christmas greetings in a season of mayhem and murder. Inanother other part of the line that separated the sides, Scots and Germans played football,while elsewhere, young English and German lads sang Christmas carols. Moreover, onChristmas eve, the Germans put candles up in their trees in keeping with their yuletidetraditions. This sight astonished the Garhwalis as they so resembled Diwali lights, and invokeddesperate memories of home. The next morning, the Germans "went over the top", as did theBritish and Indians, and both set about the grim task of collecting their dead that had beenpiling up and decomposing in the field between the opposing sides.

Such fraternizing with the enemy was subject to severe punishment, although the officers ofboth battalions of the Garhwal Rifles participated wholeheartedly. Indeed, the highcommands of each side were greatly angered by the shocking display of humanity andcamaraderie that would soon, through the next three years of the most ghastly bloodshed,become the rarest of scenes. Yet that Christmas day, men from nearby forests and distantmountains disobeyed orders and shook hands, meeting not as enemies nor soldiers -- but just

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men -- in no man's land. As such, they achieved something no medal could honor -- perhaps alesson we have not yet learned.

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A ROAD TO NOWHERE:A NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN THE HIMALAYAS THREATENS A

NATURAL WONDER

May 28, 1999

The Valley of Flowers is a high altitude oasis of flora, about 10 km by 2 km in size and restingat a height of 12,000 to 13,000 feet. As one of India's greatest natural wonders, the valley hasretained within its lap an immense diversity of plants and animals. Although already underpressure by tourists and pilgrims who wander off the trekkable route about 5 km away, a newroad that is under construction in the area threatens its very existence.

The new 15 km stretch of road between Gobind Ghat and Ganghria, which are on the way tothe holiest Sikh shrine in the Himalayas, Hemkund Sahib, is being supported by the Punjabstate government. Presently a trek route that branches to the Valley of Flowers, theconstruction project along the same route was cleared by the Environment ministry veryquickly, raising suspicions that the decision was politically motivated. Also in the works areparking facilities and 500-room accommodations at Ganghria, as backers hope to capitalize onthe brisk pilgrim trade.

Roads in the Himalayas are notorious for the geological destabilization that follow in theirwake. The use of dynamite for such infrastructure, although ill advised in an environmentallysensitive region, has continued unabated, while quarrying of mountainsides has highlydisfigured the landscape. The recent earthquake should have driven home this message, asmany roads were buried by the fall of rubble, loosened when the roads were originally blastedout of the hills. Furthermore, the vehicular pollution and congestion promised by the newroad, will severely affect the surrounding wildlife, and in all likelihood, lead to the regionloosing its charm.

Local groups and a regional political party (UKD) have already began protesting theconstruction project, opposing both its harmful environmental effect and the probabledisturbance to the surrounding ecosystem. However, what has probably motivated thestaunchest opposition is the dawning realization that such roads are destructive and haveaccrued little economic benefit for locals in exchange for a heavy ecological price. This newone promises more of the same in terms of sheer traffic, resource consumption, and litter,while being run by non-hill inhabitants. Probable also, is that labour for the project will bedrawn from outside the area like Bihar, Nepal, or Uttar Pradesh, a common practice on allHimalayan construction projects to get around local organized labour.

The state government is also involved in setting up a helipad at Badrinath, Hinduism's holiestshrine in the hills. All this infrastructure devoted to the tourist trade comes as schools andhospitals in the area remain few and far between, and that revenue generated still neverreaches people in the region. Moreover, it seems odd that those who believe that theHimalayas are the abode of the gods, do not deign to treat them or their inhabitants as such.Although commodification of pilgrimages has been a feature of holy journeys since timeimmemorial, devoting more time to the modern luxuries and comfort of pilgrims as opposedto the well being of mountain ecosystems and societies, seems short-sighted if notsacrilegious. Such crass exploitation of religious sentiments, mixed with a disregard for the

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environment and people's rights seems destined to guarantee no blessing but only the wrathof the gods.

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APOCALYPSE IN UTTARAKHAND I: THE FIRE THIS TIME

May 28, 1999

Forest fires and record-breaking temperatures are roasting the mountains and their forests,destroying wildlife and watersheds in their wake. Hard on the heels of the March 29earthquake, the fires have met with little concern in Delhi and Lucknow, even though theecological catastrophe has been reported extensively and alarmingly in the press. Indeed,while forest officials and villagers have died heroically battling the blaze, no emergency hasbeen declared, nor equipment supplied to help them beyond the stone-age means by whichthey are fighting the conflagration. The negligence and silence on the part of the centralgovernment has been glaring. It can be said that Delhi fiddled while the Himalayas burned.

Press reports in the leading English-language dailies have pummeled this lack of disastermanagement planning, even in the aftermath of other disasters that should have put thegovernment on notice. Along with the millions of rupees embezzled along the way, very littleassistance has reached departments and agencies that would help prepare these regions forsuch catastrophes. In one particular brazen case, two firefighting aircraft were donated tothe Uttar Pradesh government by the FAO some five years ago. Although originally based inthe hills, both were taken to Delhi, where one crashed and the other employed by the thenEnvironment and Forest Minister for his personal use. Since then, little has been done for thefirefighting in the hills, who witness serious periodic forest fires every four years.

Some NGOs in the area are joining hands to create a Disaster Intervention Secretariat forfuture calamities. The resources are scarce, although a few philanthropists have steppedforward with financial support for such endeavours. Without greater governmentaccountability however, these efforts will remain minor and it is up to us to pressure electedofficials to take natural disasters seriously.

This year, the fires look set to administer an apocalyptic blow to the mountain source of theholy Ganges, a fact that should give the rest of India pause. Along with recent reports on therapidly retreating glaciers that feed the entire Gangetic plain, the biological death of theHimalayas is fast becoming a horrifying possibility.

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APOCALYPSE IN UTTARAKHAND II:THE EARTHQUAKE AFTERMATH

May 28, 1999

Earthquakes, landslides, forest fires, man-eating predators, the liquor plague -- all these haveconspired to bring about an apocalyptic situation in the hills over the past decade. In this ageof ever darkening Kaliyuga, the Uttarakhand Himalayas are shuddering under great calamities,man-made and natural. Even the climactic changes noticed throughout the world are havingtheir impact, pounding the area with incessant rains in the monsoon season, and bringingabout drought conditions in the spring, making the forests ripe for fires.

The toll on the Himalayan inhabitants has been catastrophic and heart rending. Alreadyground down by their punishing poverty, the latest Earthquake in Chamoli district hasdestroyed almost everything left of value to the people, including loved ones -- mothers,fathers, children. It is no stretch of the imagination that in their minds, the end of worldsurely must be at hand. At least this central part of the Himalayas will become barren ifseismic activity resumes, life remains unbearable, and deforestation proceeds at the currentpace.

Adding to the pathos of the situation is the failure of the administration to elaborate any sortof action plan to save the Himalayas and her peoples. Satish Sati of the Bhartiya Gram UthanSanasthan remarked accurately, that "It can be an earthquake, a landslide or a forest fire butstill no one has come up with a disaster management plan for the hills." (TOI) For the people,the parade of VIPs to the region has only been greeted with disdain. A 60-year-old farmernamed Sartulal complained that politicians "come to ask for votes when there is an election,but when the earthquake took place no one cared if we were dead or alive." (TOI)Furthermore, while relief workers and army personnel struggled valiantly to effect repairsand distribute basic necessities, the effort came too little and too late for most of thetraumatized victims. Adding to their torment was the absence of a strong response fromofficialdom, who have been too ill-equipped and undermanned to go to distant villages todistribute aid or to give succor to the grief-stricken. While village elders and desperatepeople walked dozens of kilometers across mountains to reach relief sites, "the officials asked[them] to go back and wait for the help to arrive," as claimed by one impoverished 63-year-old stone cutter, Ranvir Lal (AP). Even five days after the earthquake, villages as close as 5km to Chamoli had not yet received aid, prompting a deep rage among the people who hadalready begun protesting the bureaucracy of relief. Moreover, BJP and Congress party workershave traded accusations, further incensing villagers with their callous adherence to partypolitics even during this terrible calamity. The fortunate among the new homeless, over250,000 in all, have been lodged in tent cities, prompting 30-year-old Bimla Devi to cry, "Thisis our exile. We will live here till we die."

The Indian press has also shown its conflicted nature in covering the disaster. The BBCcorrespondent for South Asia, Daniel Lak, mentioned in his report that it took the majorpapers one day to reach the scene, although less than 250 kilometers from Delhi. When therehowever, the correspondents native to the region did an excellent job in covering theaftermath of the catastrophe, drawing out wretched tales of loss, grief, and terror, while notdisguising their compassion in the bland objectivity of news reporting. However, the editorialboard of the papers, reflecting largely the prejudices and (in)sensibilities of the urban elite,

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told a different story. The press gleefully dubbed the Jayalalitha-Sonia Gandhi tea party thatsame week a political earthquake for the administration, never mind that a great tragedy hadoccurred in a real earthquake. One column used the occasion to score points against anti-Tehri dam activists, when no cracks reportedly appeared in the Dam structure. Interviewswith some experts also proved unhelpful, as when it was recommended that building codes beenforced and further investments made in the structural integrity of homes by homeowners.With the high level of destitution prevalent in Chamoli even before the earthquake, suchadvice seemed appallingly far outside people's means. With womenfolk in the region working18 hours a day and most dwellings consisting of loose rock hovels, Uttarakhandis of the HighHimalayas cannot even feed themselves, let alone procure steel girders or cement mix fortheir homes.

For those that lost everything in the quake, their tragedy has been compounded once again bya system that cannot cope with protecting and serving its most impoverished citizens. As longas things remain the same, many more will have to go into exile like Bimla Devi, or die inhelpless penury. In the end, their betrayal is our failure.

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FIGHTING THE LIQUOR HYDRA

March 29, 1999

The women of Uttarakhand have once again raised their voices against the liquor menace inthe hills. Students of Garhwal University in Srinagar, supported by the Uttarakhand MahilaManch, have taken out processions protesting the granting of liquor vends by the UPgovernment. As noted by the leader of the Manch, the current government has proven nobetter than its predecessor in granting these licenses and ignoring the pleas of the womenwho have been adversely affected by the liquor scourge. Furthermore, most of these vendshave come to be owned by outside businessmen from cities like Moradabad, Etah, andGhaziabad, a trend also apparent in the lottery and limestone quarrying interests.

Alcoholism has become an epidemic problem in the hills, and some of the earliest post-independence movements in Uttarakhand were taken up for the cause of prohibition. Until1995, several districts were "dry" as women's organizations lobbied successfully for a total banon liquor. Unfortunately, the cash starved state government repealed prohibition in order toprofit on the lucrative sale of alcohol, by then, carried on illegally by various mafia groups. Inthis vein, the state government moved to regulate the market, taking responsibility forlicensing liquor sales, yet doing little in dealing with the adverse consequences of this policy.

As demonstrated by its history, prohibition cannot work in the absence of social change thatboth betters the economic conditions of the people affected and empowers women. In asense, alcoholism and other drug problems are symptoms of a far greater malady that afflictsimpoverished communities worldwide. In Uttarakhand, the outmigration of men, large-scaleunemployment, ecological collapse, and their traditional backbreaking life, have all conspiredto worsen the lot of women to degrees unimaginable. In addition to all this, Alcoholism amongthe few men left and among those returning to their villages from the plains have been amajor source of hardship, destroying families and consuming scarce wealth.

Despite the hardships of daily life and the ominous threat of the mafia, anti-liquor activistshave struggled valiantly against the scourge. Their efforts on behalf of the well being ofUttarakhand deserve our highest praise.

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BOGGED DOWN AGAIN

March 29, 1999

Politicization of a non-controversial issue has endangered thechances that Uttarakhand will ever receive statehood and mayhave damaged irrevocably the movement that gave so muchhope.

Since the early days of the movement, various parties and interests have vied literally forcenter stage in the unfolding drama of the Uttarakhand movement. The most disillusioning ofthese came on October 2, 1994. Even as Uttarakhandi women were being raped by police andcrowds fired on in Muzzafarnagar, activists from the Congress and BJP struggled for themicrophone at the podium in Delhi. To the horror of the 10,000 strong crowd, the agitatorseventually broke the microphone altogether, leaving the people without a voice on aconfusing and dangerous day in the capital. Eventually, different sections called for a marchon Parliament, while others began brickbatting with police. The events were so marred bythis factional squabbling and opportunism, that many in the movement were disgusted. Thatday, the USSS (Uttarakhand Joint-Action Committee) organizers lost control as politicalparties moved to implement their own dark motives and cynical designs.

Today, as the struggle for statehood drags into its sixth year, the BJP-led government's bill foran "Uttaranchal" is dead in the water, much like the plans postponed indefinitely by theirUnited Front predecessors. Indeed, the BJP has only itself to blame for the quagmire. Byrenaming the state, it sought to put its own stamp on the movement, ostensibly as aprerogative of the government to do the ''Nam Karan''. However, this trick has only burnedbridges, not built them, and with a minority government at center, they must have known fullwell that any controversy would have stalled the state reorganization bill indefinitely in thedeeply divided parliament. Worse still, elements of communalism have crept into the regionto further erode the morale of the people, as seen by the Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwarcontroversy. Furthermore, shady elements have infiltrated the movement, claiming itsmantle, yet behaving deplorably. In this regard, the BJP followed in the footsteps ofCongress, as both parties have sought to maintain their power in Uttar Pradesh by fanning theflames of caste conflict. Indeed the BJP has sought to rebuild the old Congress coalition ofBrahmins, Landowners, and Dalits in the Hindi heartland, and along with the SP and BSP, aredeeply engaged in a dangerous game that can only enhance the centrifugal forces tearingapart the country. Moreover, the mostly BJP MLAs of Uttarakhand have had to take a backseatto the ongoing power struggles in Lucknow and, ironically, stand as victims of their verymembership in a ruling party beholden to smaller factions in the state assembly. Their loyaltytaken for granted, these hapless MLAs have little leverage power in a political system basedon self-serving interests and squeaky wheels getting the grease.

In this situation, it is difficult to blame all the politicians for all these ills, with the politicalsystem stacked so strongly against anyone attempting to serve honorably or to break out ofdivide-and-rule tactics. Indian politics are said to require a particular kind of cunning tonavigate the vagaries of electoral democracy, especially in this era of constantly shiftingalliances and coalitions. With so many interests and factions at play, governments are oftenparalyzed when it comes to implementing tough solutions to the nation's problems. Formingnew states as such is perhaps the most difficult of all goals, requiring the marshalling of

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enough support from all sections of society. Taking such steps require sincere efforts withoutany hidden agendas.

However, as each party seeks a stick to beat their opponents with, the people emerge as thereal losers without any real solution in sight. Indeed, emotional issues like Uttarakhandstatehood are often purposely kept at a low boil -- long enough to ensure electoral gains, butnowhere near to delivering on promises or ameliorating the conditions of the average person.This has led many of long-term activists of the region to shun the movement for statehood, asthey perhaps justifiably fear that the same group of politicians and interests that have raidedthe hills for the last fifty years will return to finish the job. As such, Uttarakhand cannot waitquietly by the throne, pinning one's aspirations on one party or another, hoping for somedispensation of mercy from the political elite. Governments cannot grant autonomy as aprivilege extended -- the people must demand it as a right of their existence. Unless theUttarakhand movement comes from the people themselves, it cannot be rightfully called amovement, and Uttarakhand or Uttaranchal will emerge still born from an ever more wearyMother India.

Some things we can do to save the movement:

Call for the depoliticization of the Uttarakhand movement. Engender unity across party,class, and caste lines, and combat the forces that seek to divide us.

Work for the true welfare of the Uttarakhand region, whether or not a separate stateemerges. The politicians can go on playing their games, but there is a lot of work to bedone -- from ecological rehabilitation and fighting social ills, to building Uttarakhand'seducational and medical infrastructure.

Learn from the experience of the movement -- work for communal harmony, positiveawareness of the Pahari identity, and solidarity with other movements. Recognize thepolitical system for what it is, and immunize oneself against the propaganda of politicians.Build an alternative democracy where the people have a real voice.

The hills of Uttarakhand live on in the hearts of her sons and daughters, yet the realHimalayas are dying the death of a thousand clear cuts. Saving them goes beyond anypolitical compulsion.

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A TIME FOR CHOICES

December 23, 1998

As 1998 draws to a close, and our Christian, Muslim, and Jewish brothers and sisters celebratetheir respective holidays, the need for reflection and generosity of spirit seems ever morepressing. The events of the past few weeks should give us pause, so that we can considerwhat kind of Uttarakhand we would like to see.

The Uttarakhand struggle had brought together disparate forces, all with different, andsometimes contradictory visions of the future. From the Jan Sanghis to old CPI-ML members,the various groups have placed their hopes in an autonomous state, preferring to bury theirhatchets for this cause of national affirmation.  As the actualization of this hope drawstangibly close, these contradictions threaten to reemerge and ignite the tinderbox of politicalintrigue and infighting. This was even the case at the earliest stages of the movement,although many had the good sense of giving up party politics for the sake of the struggle forpeople’s rights. Indeed, a vast spectrum of popular opinion was brought together, anastonishing development for an India that had long grown accustom to the divide-and-rulegames of politicians. With parties such as the BJP and Congress struggling for the hearts andminds of Uttarakhandis, but doing precious little for the Hills themselves, our only hope lies inthis alternative to politics-as-usual - where Uttarakhandis themselves take their destiny intheir own hands. If we lose this, we also lose the one chance that Uttarakhand has ofescaping the spiral of violence that is engulfing much of the rest of the country.

Furthermore, the complexities of nationhood are always difficult to resolve, and never comeeasy nor without heartache and anguish. Since such issues confront our most profound senseof identity, calling into question our various loyalties and allegiances, they can be bothliberating and destructive. Assertion of identity seems necessarily to require the defining ofoneself against the “other”, and as such, these movements are pilloried by both the Right forthreatening to divide the nation, and by the Left, as some sort of narrow xenophobicexpression of mass neurosis. These views resonate whenever there is an example of this thatexplodes onto the national media. However, either way, the entire political classdemonstrates a fundamental contempt for the people, by advocating that the massesthemselves cannot be entrusted to actualize their own sentiments and most basic of humanneeds.

As such, it is the responsibility of true leaders to summon the “lighter angels of our nature”,while keeping their darker brethren in check. Often enough, opportunists, carpetbaggers, andso-called anti-social elements follow closely in the footsteps of movements. This has beentrue since the beginning of time, as politicians have always been quick to capitalize on thesuccess of others. The damage comes when their antics and crude expropriations of the nobleslogans of popular struggles lead to the real victimization of innocent bystanders, and howthis plays out in the press. Complicating matters further, the State and other opposing forcesto social change, often employ agents to derail movements by stirring-up strife, provokingrash actions, or other such events to give the State cause to repress the people. Human andespecially Indian history is replete with examples of this, where communal tensions weremanufactured where none or little existed before, and a mob’s ire was diverted to neighboursrather than the truly guilty parties.

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Therefore in this holiday season, it behooves us all to be wary of these pulls and not be fooledby those demagogues and political agents who would only bring despair, harm, and disreputeto people. On the other hand, it is also time to show brotherly love to all and to assembletogether in solidarity. If Uttarakhand is to be distinct and to retain its Pahari culture, it mustbecome a place of peace for all her people, no matter their politics, religion, caste, or race.Indeed, this is the only dream worth fighting for.

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TOWARDS A NEW UTTARAKHAND: THE PROMISE AND PERIL

NOTES FROM NORTH AMERICA

October 27-28, 1998

For the Workshop on the Governance and Economic Transformation ofUttaranchal/Uttarakhand

INTRODUCTION

Uttarakhand appears verged on a new era of her often sad and troubled history. Althoughpromised an "Uttaranchal" state by the current government, little else has been elucidatedabout the new creation, other than many of its resources will remain under the control ofUttar Pradesh, its parent state. Other than that, the current Indian political system hasfashioned "Uttaranchal" in the mold of other states, with a sitting assembly, converted fromcurrent MLAs and tehsildars, and other such characteristics of representative democracies.

All this comes will little fanfare among many Uttarakhandis in North America, who have littlefaith in the politicians back home, and remain rather pessimistic about prospects for abrighter future under the present setup for the hills. As the logical extension of a moneyorder economy that began at the turn of the century and accelerated in the post-independence era, Uttarakhandis finally reached the shores of North America by the 1960s. Inrecent years, with the resurgence of Uttarakhandi identity in the post-1994 period, thecommunity has also coalesced, forming associations in Canada and the US. TheseUttarakhandis living abroad have so far felt powerless to help raise Uttarakhand from herterrible poverty and reverse the disquieting trends that threaten the Himalayas' life-sustainingcapacities. The recent landslides and 1991 Uttarkashi earthquake only served to remind themof the serious erosion of the ecological and geologic integrity of the Uttarakhand Himalayas,and how time might be running out for the motherland.

Despite their apparent helplessness, the North American Uttarakhandis yearn to do their partto save the Himalayas of their youth. However, having lived under the governing structures ofother lands, these expatriates have not seen much promise in adapting the forms ofdemocracy practiced elsewhere to Uttarakhand's myriad problems. Advanced societies, whileoffering material comforts, have not themselves solved the problems of politicaldisenfranchisement and economic marginalization.

What follows are some discussion points and suggestions put forward by the UttarakhandSupport Committee hoping to contribute to the democratic process in Uttarakhand and Indiathrough insights gained from living abroad and from participating in global movements forsocial change.

THE PROBLEM WITH "DEVELOPMENT"

The experience of the development process in Uttarakhand holds many lessons, most of whichunfortunately remain unheeded today. Indeed, the separate state movement had its genesisin the very failure of the process to bring any substantive improvement in the lives of the

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Uttarakhand rural poor. In truth, development has only impoverished the hills and visited evermore onerous ecological burdens on the people.

For Uttarakhand, forest policy has always been a key issue and indicative of how variousadministrations have approached development in the hills. From time immemorial, the peoplelived relatively harmoniously with the environment, cutting terraces into the hills andmodifying nature without supplanting it. Uttarakhandis, much like their Andean, Swiss, andNepali mountain brethren, "humanized" nature in a careful and sophisticated manner,deriving a level of material comfort from the Khals, Dhars, and Ghatis.

With the coming of the British, the forests were made to serve rapacious masters, whose ownneeds far outstripped the forests of their country (Guha, 1990). For years, "scientific forestry"stood for the maximum extraction of timber and forest products from the Himalayas. The"modern" management, under the guise of progress, led to the merciless plunder of the oncegreen hills, while depriving Uttarakhandis of their forest rights. What little land left to thepeople was stressed to the breaking point, both grazed by herds and depended upon for fuelwood and fodder. By the turn of the century, the ancient ties of the people with the forestwere severed, hastening the exhaustion of the land and heralding the coming of dependencyand the money order economy.

Formal independence from Britain did little to change the situation. Indeed state plannersinherited wholesale the colonial institutions and mindset of the British, treating theUttarakhand Himalayas as an internal colony of an industrializing India. In a very real sense,Uttarakhand, like the Amazonian hinterland of Brazil and the tropical rainforests of Sarawak,Malaysia, has served as a source of raw materials for the rest of India (Karan, 1994). As such,the Uttarakhandi people and Himalayas endured the detrimental effects of industrializationwith few, if any, of the benefits.

It was only with the awakening of the people through the Chipko Andolan did perceptionschange. By the 1980s, the central government began incorporating the rhetoric, if not thegoals, of the Chipko activists in their five-year plans (Bhatt, 1997). The new found ecologicalprinciples brought full circle the vision of the forests, recognizing the inherently exploitativeand flawed theoretical grounding of scientific forestry, and the validity of the ancient,indigenous relationship with the trees.

The experience of the Chipko movement has also served to illustrate the possibilities andlimits of NGO-led movements for social uplift and ecological remediation. As long as Chipkowas involved in inspiring a grassroots-based, mobilization of the people towards an uprisingagainst the prevailing economic order, the movement succeeded beyond all expectations asan expression of the people's struggle. However, as soon as the movement fell prey topersonality politics and academic deconstruction, with important activists bogged down in thebureaucratic maze of administering government-sponsored projects, Chipko lost much of itsmomentum (Aryal, 1994a). As such, the Chipko movement has itself demonstrated the needfor maintaining the activist spirit in the people, so that the people remain ever vigilant oftheir rights. This holds many lessons for scientists and administrators of a new Uttarakhand,whose advice will never be complete without the expertise and active participation of therural folk.

Despite Chipko, the magnitude of the damage done to the hills by years of commercialextraction, misguided forest policies, and lax enforcement of well-intentioned laws has far

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surpassed any one movement's ability to deal with the coming catastrophe. According toestimates by S.L. Shah, the forests' natural regenerative capacity may be exhausted by 2031,if current trends continue. Moreover, overgrazing of the grasslands will deplete them by 2041(Shah, 1986). Recent geologic studies have also reported the rapid retreat of the Himalayanglaciers, leading possibly to the Ganga drying up in the next century. These alarmingpredictions should imbue anyone with renewed urgency in solving the ecological crisis andputting Uttarakhand's and India's pressing environmental problems at the top of the nationalagenda.

REVERSING "DEVELOPMENT"

As a significant demand of the Uttarakhand movement has been for the material well-being ofhill residents, any discussion on the economic revitalisation of Uttarakhand has to addressfundamental issues. Future administrative arrangements must recognize that the forests andnatural resources of the land belong to the people. Moreover, the welfare of the peoplecannot be left to chance or to trickle down as a side-effect of some proposed developmentproject. As seen by the Chipko experience, the people must have a full say in determining thedirection of the economy. Rather than leaving these matters to experts, special interestgroups, NGOs, governmental agencies, or international lenders, Uttarakhandis mustthemselves be empowered and responsible for planning and executing programmes to improvetheir living standards. Institutions that are accountable to the people alone must beestablished to carry out this mandate at the local, block, district, and state levels.

Furthermore, it behooves future planners to study the tremendous shifts in policy andphilosophy that have marked world economies over the last few decades. In fact, the wholeacademic field of development, in response to the emergence of social movements, the onsetof structural adjustment programs, and the process of globalization, has changed greatly fromthe early days of heavy industrialization through monumental infrastructure projects(McMichael, 1996). The development era was itself declared dead almost two decades ago, asglobalized capital became the choice engine of economic growth. More recently, the collapseof the Asian economies has in turn dealt a damaging blow to the globalization paradigm, andtime may soon tell whether its era has too passed.With the turmoil and fluctuations in the world economic order, a new paradigm of indigenoussolutions to indigenous problems has arisen, reinforced by the growth of social movements inthe vacuum left by retreating governmental commitments to fulfilling people's basic rights.With a sustainable, steady-state, and comfortable standard of living for the Himalayas,Uttarakhand can meet her peoples' needs in harmony with nature.

The unfortunate experiences of other Himalayan lands illustrate well this need for a radicaldeparture from conventional developmental modes followed in the rest of India. Ladakh, oncea peaceful and culturally rich region, has seen the replacement of its subsistence economywith dependency, accompanied with the degradation of indigenous culture and erosion ofself-esteem (Norberg-Hodge, 1991). The market pressures of subsidized food from outside theregion have had a debilitating effect on the traditional agricultural systems, pushingsubsistence farmers into insolvency. Communal conflict, never before an issue in a land whereMuslims and Buddhists lived peacefully side by side, has emerged to further aggravate a tensesituation. The forces of assimilation and Westernization at work in India and throughout theglobalized world, have demoralized the Ladakhi people. The youth have been hardest hit,who, like their Uttarakhandi brothers and sisters, have found it difficult to find work in thenew economy at home and elsewhere.

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A new state will need to preserve and apply Uttarakhand's traditions to solving her problems,which are being aggravated by the very same modernization processes afflicting Ladakh. Theteaching of Uttarakhandi culture and language in schools, funding for the arts, and traditionalecological principles should be promoted. Another important thrust would include thebroadening of the save the seeds (Beej Bachao Andolan) movement for self-reliance throughnative seeds (Jardhari & Kothari, 1997). Fortunately, Uttarakhand has no dearth of activists,scientists, and radical thinkers, to help in these endeavours, although most have beenrendered powerless to affect real change in their localities and on their particular issues. Assuch, an important goal of the new state would include empowering these people andtranslating their admirable efforts into mass actions.

All this calls into question the modernization impulse found throughout India, as aping theWest has only benefited a distinct few, while subjecting many others to dislocation andpauperization. The West itself has turned this corner, and many have begun to challenge theconstructed edifices of their own prosperity. For instance, the new trend towards smallerrather than large projects is one borne of the negative experience in the West with thedisplacing and anti-democratic effects of mega-projects. Although favoured by state plannersand international funders, many of these plans have turned into so-called "White Elephants" -bottomless money pits, with no accountability to the public over their economic andenvironmental repercussions (Swami, 1995). In the case of Uttarakhand, the mountainecosystem and geology further has complicated large-scale development efforts as witnessedby the controversy surrounding the Dams at Tehri and Vishnuprayag.

The following table illustrates this "small is beautiful" principle. Mini-hydro plants asalternatives to large dams in the Himalayas have been promoted for two decades now, andthe time has come for their implementation.

EXAMPLE OF CHANGING DEVELOPMENTAL PARADIGMS

Big Projects Small Projects- Centralizes power in hands of outsiders - Decentralized power, greater democracy

- Loss of local control/access - Local control/access

- Employment limited by singular nature ofproject

- Creates more long-term jobs across broadergeographic locale

- Potential for large scale corruption - Corruption checked by local accountability

- Intensive inputs, heavy use of machinery - Lighter impact on environment

- Large-scale displacement w/o adequaterehabilitation

- Less chance of displacing activity

- Potential problems are magnified by size ofproject

- Greater possibility of harmonization w/environment

- Fixed, rigid, once built, incapable of beingadapted

- Step-wise development - adaptable, problemscan be addressed as they occur

- Need loans, large capital to build - Faster implementation, less dependency onloans

With the energy generated by these mini-hydro plants, other, less damaging forms ofeconomic growth could be promoted in lieu of sole dependence on natural resources. Schools

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could be established throughout the hills to train Garhwali and Kumaoni boys and girls inintellectual growth industries such as information technologies and telecommunications. Therelatively clean air, cooler clime, and proximity to Delhi are factors that could favour jobs fora region that has been hemorrhaging the flower of its youth to the plains for decades (Bhatt,1997). In addition, establishing more scientific and technical research institutions would assistpeople in solving their problems in agriculture and promoting indigenous innovations to aid inameliorating the people's well-being. Such opportunities would change the face of the hillsand should be seriously considered by the future state.

Other types of revenue-generating projects could include concluding new arrangements thatbetter utilize the natural bounty of the Himalayas. Uttarakhand has a lot of water that goesto the plains. The new state should charge a royality for the water that goes to other states,or enter into agreements with these states to supply them with necessities in exchange.Uttarakhand should also ask for payment for the water, which the other states have used freeof charge for the last fifty years, while Uttarakhandis have had to endure ever more severeshortages. The same would apply to hydroelectricity, another possible staple export of a newUttarakhand state. Subsequently, this money could be used as seed capital for other projects.

Exploration and development of mineral wealth is another potential avenue of income. Themountains of Uttarakhand are rich in many minerals and metals, but lamentably, the meansby which excavation has been carried out so far has been disruptive of the geology and hasbenefited very few people. Limestone quarries have scarred the lesser Himalayas, andattention should be paid to rehabilitating the ecosystem of surrounding areas. Likewise,resources have to be extracted in harmony with environment, so that they do not endangerthe habitat and ecological balance, which has been the tradition of the people. Theseresources should not be exploited in a mindless manner, leading to short-term benefits for afew and long-term problems for many. Correspondingly, the people most affected by thedisruptions should be compensated with a substantial share of the earnings.

Furthermore, tourism as a traditional wealth generator has not fulfilled the people's needs asit could have over the past few years. Derivative economic benefits have bypassed locals aswell, since many, if not most of the tourist agencies, hotels, buses, and shops have been runby non-Uttarakhandis. A policy of hiring indigenous labour should be promoted to better servethe native hill residents. In addition, the trend towards tourism that is hostile to the peopleand the natural environment must be halted, and ecological and cultural sensitivityinculcated in all pilgrims and travelers. Plastic products should be banned and limits placedon resource consumption.

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST

Much of the rest of the Himalayas are in desperate need of the solutions being sought inUttarakhand. Even a casual observer will note that ecological degradation, poverty, andviolent conflict afflict many highlands of Asia, from the Hindu Kush to the hills of Laos. Thebattered land of Kashmir stands at the flashpoint of conflict between India and Pakistan, andis suffering greatly from the military's presence and raging proxy war. The Tibetan nation is atrisk of disappearing entirely and although her cause has been taken up by activists around theworld, no government has yet recognized her right to self-determination. The Nepalesedemocratic revolution of 1990 has been squandered by political parties patterned after theirIndian counterparts. Unable to provide stable government to alleviate desperate poverty in 8years of multiparty politics, the mountain kingdom has, in response, witnessed the onset of a

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violent Maoist uprising and state repression that has brought the Nepal Himalayas a level ofviolence unheard of in two centuries. In India's northeast, simmering guerilla conflicts, someinto their fourth decade, continue to rage, with rebel groups splintering into warring ethnicfactions, further adding to the woes of the people. In Burma, the military junta continues itsrepressive policy towards ethnic minorities, even as it mops up the guerilla movement itrecently crushed. Even Bhutan, long lauded for its dedication to environmental and culturalprotection, faces a refugee crisis and calls for democracy.

In the case of Uttarakhand, the failure of the old economic and political system has had muchto do with the marginalizing of the people's struggles and the most vulnerable sections ofsociety - women, lower castes, and tribals. Consequently, it has been women who haveformed the backbone of the modern movements, while the lower castes, the Kols and Doms,have become the last strongholds of Uttarakhandi traditions.

Hill women work an average of 16 hours a day, making them some of the hardest workingindividuals in the world (Pande, 1996). The scarcity of water, fuel wood, and fodder thatresults from deforestation have all exacted a heavy toll on women and have made theiralready difficult daily lives increasingly intolerable. Moreover, the introduction of all kinds ofodious customs like dowry marriages from the plains, has further eroded the status of women.With only about a 40% literacy rate, hill women need political and social empowerment.

Likewise, lower caste groups have been severely impacted by declining living standards inhills. The same market forces that have rendered subsistence agriculture futile, havedisplaced native workmanship with finished products from the plains. Furthermore,cosmopolitan music and brass bands are threatening to supplant Garhwali and Kumaoni folkdrumming, long a passion and source of income for low caste musicians (Chandola, 1996). Thetraditional caste hierarchy has also become more rigid with the sanskritization ofUttarakhandi culture, with dire implications for communal harmony. Years of domination bythe upper castes have also, for good reason, made the lower castes apprehensive about thefuture (Aryal, 1994b). As such, the new state will need to commit itself to guaranteeing thehuman and civil rights of all its peoples.

Any solutions sought in the hills will necessarily involve the uplift of all segments of society,as equality is the most important prerequisite to true liberty. Without such efforts, any newUttarakhand will prove meaningless, and the problems of castism and communalism, leadingto social discord, will inevitably arise. Just as ominous will be the ongoing threat posed by thepowerful criminal underground. Many social movements have arisen to combat the influenceof the four L- mafias - land, liquor, lumber, and leesa - yet each has been undermined by thepenetration of state agencies by these criminal elements (Husain, 1995). The new state, ifcontrolled by such people, will only hasten the social and environmental disintegration of theHimalayas. As an indigenous class of contractors emerges to replace or collaborate with theplains-based exploiters of the hills, the protection of rights, empowerment of people, andrule of law will be fundamental to keeping such forces at bay.

THE NEW SOCIETY: A DEPARTURE FROM BUSINESS AS USUAL

Consequently, to avoid the pitfalls that have befallen much of the rest of India in the longquest for social development and political liberation, new modes of governing will need to beimplemented. The problems are indeed daunting and will need radical conceptions of societythat break from past ideologies, yet draws from their real life experiences. What is probably

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most needed throughout all of India and most pressingly in Uttarakhand, is a renewal ofdemocracy and the reinvigoration of the institutions of people's self-governance. Althoughstrengthening the democratic foundations will contribute to this, the experience of the lasthalf-century calls for more fundamental departures from obsolete models.

The experience of the Uttarakhand movement of 1994 illustrates many of the shortcomings ofthe current version of representative democracy. One of the hallmarks of the movement wasthe attempt to exclude party politics from the fold, as politicians could not be counted on toobjectively work for the good of Uttarakhand without renouncing their party affiliations andlinks to vested interests. Much of the movement had already been marred by interpartyrivalry and conflict, as each sought to gain advantage by exploiting the real concerns andsentiments of the people (Aryal, 1994b). This behavior proved abhorrent to manyUttarakhandis, who rejected it by expressing hostility to the whole political establishment.

Furthermore, the Uttarakhand people have learned over the last fifty years to expect littlefrom elected officials, from the local sarpanch and block pramukh, all the way to the districtmagistrate, MLA, and MP. The physical and emotional distance of villagers from theirrepresentatives has negatively impacted officialdom's responsiveness to the electorate(Chandola, 1996). A closer capital in a smaller state will solve part of this problem, but thegulf between the people and the politicians is also a distinctive feature of representativedemocracy and can only be solved by finding new ways to govern.

Therefore, the first government of a new Uttarakhand state should convene a ConstitutionalConvention, where the people can meet and decide for themselves what form theirgovernment should take. This is the basis of most constitutional democracies, and it is clearthat the Indian constitution, one of the most amended and lengthy in the world, needs seriousrevision. A new state can start the process by empowering its people to choose their owngovernance structures. By putting in place a consensus-based system, with representationfrom all sections, a new constitution could be drafted that would adequately reflect thepeople's wishes. Women, who hold Uttarakhand's fate in their hands, should constitute amajority position at such a convention, lest their presence be further marginalized, and theirviews, which have tremendous bearing on the hills, be discounted. Moreover, this exercise incrafting the constitution would lay the groundwork for mass participatory democracy, anessential element in the rebirth of the hills.

Another measure that could help ensure more accountability of officials to their constituentsis the institutionalisation of the Ascot to Arakot yatra that visits every corner of Garhwal andKumaon. The journey, now conducted every ten years to survey the social, ecological,cultural and economic fabric of the Uttarakhand Himalayas (Ramakrishnan, 1994), could beplanned every year and undertaken by members of the legislative assembly. This would serveto better link the central administration with remote localities, and provide villagers accessto their state government and a chance to air grievances. Politicians unwilling to face theelectorate and travel the length and breadth of Uttarakhand would be embarrassed by publicreproach as in the old days of dandak.

In the mean time, saving the Himalayan environment should be given top priority. Thefollowing suggestions warrant the new state's primary focus, as without attending to them,the Himalayas themselves might become uninhabitable:

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• rejuvenation of the oak, deodar, and rhododendron forests, the backbone of theHimalayan woodlands and soil, and habitat to countless species of animals and plants

• introduction of renewable energy sources to every village to reduce dependency ondepleted forests

• pollution reduction in Dehra Dun and Nainital - tough fuel emission standards, reduction ofmotor vehicle presence

• halt to illegal and substandard building in the hills - renewal of traditional earthquake andavalanche-proof construction methods

• halt to blasting for mining and road construction - exploration of other means to developinfrastructure

• complete ban on disposable plastic products - hazardous and unnecessary symbols ofperverse status-conscious consumerism, should be part of India-wide drive to return tojute, hemp, and other natural fabrics

• possibly declaring entire Uttarakhand state a biopreserve to ward of further degradationand begin the arduous process of salvaging the mountains

• stringent requirements on pilgrims - those that consider the Himalayas the abode of godsshould treat them as such

TOWARDS A NEW UTTARAKHAND

Finally, what has been proposed here represents only one more contribution to the growingbody of literature pointing to the same pressing needs, and proposing some of the samesolutions. Uttarakhand must not shy away from what skeptics and experts would consider"impossible", "impractical", or "politically unfeasible". India has endured 50 years of the"possible", with only a ravaged environment, violent polity, and disintegrating society to showfor it. We must not be afraid to rethink old ideas and ideologies, discard those that have metwith abject failure, and pursue those that hold the most promise. By learning from theexperience of various social movements, of which Uttarakhand is especially famous for, wewill not need to seek far for our answers. Furthermore, people-centered development shouldnot remain mere rhetoric, propounded upon, but rarely enacted by state agencies. It has tolead to the very real empowerment of the people to determine their own future. The role ofany new governing structure would be to serve the people in this endeavor, not to rule themor keep them in line, but to marshal the resources of the state, as no single individual can,towards the betterment of society as a whole, and as the people see fit. Only then, can wetruly see a "government of the people, for the people, and by the people".

Uttarakhand must chart a new course, drawing upon her best traditions and the love of hersons and daughters, near and far. With a new state as a first step towards realizing the longcherished goals of self-governance and self-determination, a new Uttarakhand may hold thefate of India in her hands. If Uttarakhand fails, and becomes just another impoverished,corrupted, strife-torn state like Uttar Pradesh, the prospects for India's future could beirreparably diminished. If Uttarakhand emerges as an activist state, where the people areunited and empowered, then the Himalayas will awaken to a new hope, showing the way forthe rest of the country.

LITERATURE CITED

Aryal, M. 1994a. "Axing Chipko" Himal January/February, pp. 8-23.

Aryal, M. 1994b. "Angry Hills: An Uttarakhand State of Mind" Himal November/December, pp. 10-21.

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Bhatt, K.N. 1997. Uttarakhand : Ecology, Economy, and Society. Allahabad: Horizon Publishers.

Chandola, H. 1996. "What kind of Uttarakhand?" In: Uttarakhand in Turmoil (Nautiyal, R.R., Nautiyal,A., eds.) New Delhi: MD Publications, 1996.

Guha, R. 1990. The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya.Berkeley: University of California Press.

Husain, Z. 1995. Uttarakhand movement : the politics of identity and frustration, a psycho-analyticalstudy of the separate state movement, 1815-1995. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1995.

Jardhari, V., Kothari, A. 1997. Conserving Agricultural Biodiversity: The Case of Tehri Garhwal andImplications for National Policy. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre(http://www.idrc.ca/books/focus/833/jardhari.html).

Karan, P.P. 1994. "Environmental Movements in India" Geological Review 84(1), pp. 32-41.

McMichael, P. 1996. Development and Social Change: a global perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: PineForge Press.

Norberg-Hodge, H. 1991. Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. Washington D.C.: Sierra Books.

Pande, P.N. 1996. Drudgery of the Hill Women. New Delhi: Indus Publishers.

Ramakrishnan, V. 1994. "For a brave new world: Why the people want Uttarakhand" Frontline October7, pp. 13-15.

Shah, S.L. 1986. Planning and Management of Natural and Human Resources in the Mountains: A MicroLevel Approach with Special Reference to the Central Himalaya. New Delhi: Yatan Publishing.

Swami, P. 1995. "Blundering Progress: The Tehri project and growing fears" Frontline June 30, pp. 60-64.

About the Author...

The author was born in Dehra Dun, but immigrated with his family to Canada in 1975. As a socialjustice and environmental activist at Cornell University, the author worked on several student causes.Since graduating, he has endeavoured on issues particular to India and Uttarakhand, as well as theglobal AIDS epidemic at his present workplace, the Harvard AIDS Institute. The author currently worksand lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and manages an Uttarakhand website at:http://www.uttarakhand.org/.

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THE TRUE MEANING OF UTTARANCHAL

October 23, 1998

The politics of the Udham Singh Nagar issue have dismayed many hill people, who see it as aharbinger of things to come. Already, the State Reorganization Bill has met with deepdisappointment and disillusionment, as the 26 ammendments proposed by the UP stategovernment have been seen to effectively guarantee Uttar Pradesh's continued strangleholdon the resources, judiciary, and administration of the new state. Even the rechristening ofthe name - from "Uttarakhand", which has historical, cultural, and even religious significance,to "Uttaranchal", which belongs to a single particular party's electoral platform alone and hasonly recently been artificially contrived, has revealed to Uttarakhandis the ominous processespresently at work.

Indeed, it is this renaming that is most telling of the present government's designs onUttarakhand's future. Just as Jharkhand was renamed "Vananchal" by the Agenda for NationalGovernance, so was Uttarakhand designated as Uttaranchal. Ostensibly, this was to signify theparticular ideological bent of the BJP that came around to upholding in the late 1980s thecreation of new states as a quick fix to administrative problems and ethnic grievances. Beforethen, the BJP was quite hostile to the idea of loosening the stifling bonds of Indian union,although the BJP was not alone in this. For years Congress had followed the same policy,alienating region after region, until guerrilla or separatist struggles erupted. Major leftparties like CPM clung to this view as well, as seen by their hostility to any kind of separatestate movement. The suffix "-anchal", it was argued, meant "integral part" while "-khand"meant separate region, and separatism could not be tolerated at all costs. As such, states,new and old, were to be considered integrated parts of the Indian union. However, this alsomeant that states were not distinct entities on their own, but only administrative units. In asense, this usurped the national aspirations of people who wanted to affirm and develop theirancient identities. Everyone was to be homogenized and assimilated into the "Indian"continuum, no matter what their language, religion, or ethnicity. Everyone would wearSalwar Kameezes or Western Business attire and watch Bollywood films. Ironically, this bid toreplace regional cultures with a national one, follows closely on the heals of the blind impulseto Westernize and globalize, both of which threaten to displace all the world's cultures withnihilistic materialism and frantic consumerism.

As can be seen in the various national movements still fighting for their rights throughoutIndia, this ideology has had few takers. The particular problem of this grand plan for nationalunification is that various peoples will always draw different ends of the stick -- those thatare already dispossessed and impoverished are forced hardest to assimilate, to forget theirculture, language, and place of birth, and to head out into the vast desperate masses ofIndians looking for work or other such hustles to get by in the urban shanties. The Paharis whowork as menials and domestics in the upper-middle class homes of Delhi's urban elite are aclear example of this. Ethnic minorities, already at a linguistic disadvantage, are the mostreadily taken advantage of by other Indians who think little of exploiting their simple andgullible countrymates.

Therefore, the powers that be should take a hard look at their attempts at culturalengineering, and give the diverse people of India their proper due. The Indian union cannotbe held together by force, or by trampling on her various ancient cultures. It can only exist as

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a free association of peoples, who feel safe and secure in their various identities and have anequal say in the affairs of their nation. Uttarakhand is part of this fabric, but is also distinct;Uttarakhand represents the people, and will always be UTTARAKHAND.

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REMEMBRANCE

October 2, 1998

"..the pre-dawn hours of 2 October were a nightmare for theGarhwali activists, most of them still asleep in their seats. 'Hellbroke lose at 5:30 am,' wrote one reporter who was present.The police, members of the infamous Provincial ArmedConstabulary (PAC), chased the Garhwalis towards thesugarcane fields, using tear gas and batons, shooting randomlyand molesting women. A kilometre stretch of the road was saidto be splattered with blood and broken glass..."

- Himal Magazine, Nov/Dec 1994, p. 14

Four years ago today, on Gandhi Jayanti, the Uttarakhand movement reached its most bloodyand desperate phase. As thousands of Garhwali and Kumaoni activists converged on Delhi fora rally, the state government sent the police to block their way. "As our buses reached thearea, we found the road blocked by trucks loaded with coal," said women activists of theincident, "there was no space for us to squeeze past. The PAC broke the headlights of ourbuses so we could not see... by 5 a.m., water tankers had reached the spot to clean the roadof the blood stains." The police not only fired on unarmed travelers, but pulled women out ofbuses and raped them. As news of this reached the hills, Uttarakhand exploded, for this,coming on the 125th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi was the most tragic of ironies, as the Indianstate showed its brutal face to the most peaceful and loyal of its people. "As the news of themassacre spread into the hills, angry groups stormed Police Stations and came out onto thestreets," wrote a Hindustan Times journalist, "with reports of missing women and girlsstreaming in, even the old and the infirm wanted to know: Why?" 

To this day, we still wonder why, and tears and anguished feelings well up inside our heartswhen we remember that terrible day. Even before that, the movement had lost dozens ofmartyrs, as the brutal insensitivity of the state swung into action, killing even children whoraised their voices for a better tomorrow. 

Even as the full details of the horrid atrocity emerged, the state continued to deny and cover-up its actions. "For those who went through the Muzaffarnagar ordeal, the story is one oftrauma," wrote a journalist of India Today. "The state government claims that statementsmade by the alleged rape victims did not prove that rapes had taken place. This has flared uptempers. One of the rape victims, Sneha Kumari, 39, told India Today: 'It takes a lot for awoman to admit that she has been beaten in her private parts with a rifle butt, abused in theworst way and then gangraped by three PAC constables. But I did. I told them the truth.'" 

Today, as we stand verged upon fullfilling, if in part, the dreams of these activists, we mustpause to remember our martyrs who died so that the Himalayas could live again. We owethem a better future for Uttarakhand, that it prove different than business as usual, that itexpress the people's will, and that for all who now suffer, and all her sons and daughters lostin the plains, it provide the hope of a new dawn and a new beginning, and maybe then, wecan all go back home again. 

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LANDSLIDES: AN ENVIRONMENTAL TRAGEDY

August 25, 1998

In the latter half of August, 1998, severe rains lashed the Himalayas, causing devastating intheir wake. On August 14, 69 people died in a landslide in Okhimath block (near Gutpkashi). Aweek later, the entire village of Malpa, lying along the Kali river on the way from Dharchulato Lipu Lekh, was swept away. The death toll, 205, included road workers, porters, membersof the border police, and five dozen pilgrims returning from a yatra (pilgrimage) to MountKailash and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet (August 18). Two dozen more people died when Mansunavillage in Rudraprayag district also disappeared (August 19). In addition, hundreds of homesand infrastructure were demolished by the torrential rains and intense winds, that had alsohampered rescue efforts.

By August 20, the authorities began evacuating 50,000 residents of the Okhimath block, asrubble, debris, and boulders had fallen into the Madmaheshwar river, a tributary of theMandakini, plugging it and causing the formation of an artificial lake. As the lake swelled, sodid the danger, as a flash flood would submerge two dozen villages. The army cautionedagainst blasting the artificial dam with dynamite, as the sudden discharge would overwhelmthe villages below. Instead, the lake was left to erode naturally. Also, local villagers andsocial activists went on search and rescue expeditions, while various NGOs scrambled toattend to the needy. In Dehra Dun and other large cities, generous people rallied to send aidto the victims of the landslides and flooding that had afflicted the plains.

The death toll due to landslides had surpassed the past record and followed a very intensewinter and hot summer in the hills. The extreme weather fluctuations, probably due to ElNino-related disturbances, combined with possible global warming-induced climate extremesto aggravate the situation.

These recent landslides served to remind us that ecologically, the Himalayas are dying thedeath of a thousand clearcuts. Recurring landslides have afflicted the Uttarakhand Himalayasfor decades now, engraved in the memories of the survivors who lost loved ones, homes, andlivelihoods.

Apart from whole villages like Malpa and Mansuna swept away by the flood waters and cloudbursts, life for the rest of the people have become more and more tenuous with theenvironmental deterioration of the Himalayas. Large-scale deforestation, largely attributableto outside commercial contractors, have ravaged the hills. The people's forest rights,increasingly curtailed since British times, have diminished as the forests have declined. Forlocals, the forests had not only borne a steady supply of fuel wood, but also retained moisturein the soil, without which, precious fresh water springs would dry up (as they are throughoutthe hills). What little forest left to the local people, has been stressed beyond the breakingpoint.

Furthermore, the deforestation has led to soil erosion and lowered water retention. Theeffect of this proved catastrophic as so dramatically demonstrated this August. Indeed, theChipko movement was motivated in large part by the tragedies of landslides that had by the70s become an ominous threat to the difficult hill life of Uttarakhandis. In its mostphilosophical phase, the movement linked all these issues together, bringing village common

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sense and ecological awareness in conflict with the supposedly "scientific" and "forward-looking" plans of the government and big business.

Unfortunately, the struggle to change the outlook of the leaders of the nation continues.Today, by almost anyone's estimate, the development paradigm followed by governments inIndia have worsened the situation, being the chief consumer of the forests and despoiler ofthe hillsides. A recent editorial in the Times of India (August 20) lambasted successive stateand central government policies that have undermined the fragile Himalayan ecosystem andgeology. The pillage of the forest, coupled with neglect for the Himalayas, have done theirpart to intensify the destructive forces of nature. Incidently, the editorial also remarkedcynically that the government only responded to this August's landslides with a flurry ofactivity because prominent VIPs were among the pilgrims that were lost near Malpa. IndiaToday has already published a list of pilgrims feared dead. It goes without saying that asimilar list of Uttarakhandi villagers or workers that died will probably not appear in thepress.

The heavy rains this year have caused havoc throughout Asia, as seen in China, where theYangtze floods have been the worst in over 30 years. There too, heavy deforestation all alongthe river banks has allowed water to flow unhindered, sweeping all before it. Three thousandpeople have died there, and millions have been left homeless. The national emergency inChina has been so severe that hundreds of thousands of troops have been mobilized to holdback the raging rivers. The Chinese government has also proclaimed a change in policy, as theprevious habits of corruption and reckless ecological destruction had proved a catastrophicfailure.

Furthermore, the crisis in Bangladesh is at its most severe in living memory, with over 60% ofthe country under water. Much of the flooding has been caused by the overcharged riversflowing from the denuded Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. The floods have swamped 30million people, destroyed millions of dollars in crop land, carried off livestock, and causedenormous damage to the country's infrastructure. The staggering tragedy is matched only bythe human folly, that could not, despite all the warnings, avoid this catastrophe.

It is possibly only a matter of time before the Ganga similarly rages through the plains ofIndia. Indeed, a thousand people have already lost their lives, and hundreds of thousandsmade homeless by floods in UP and West Bengal. The same corruption that afflicted the dykesand dams of China, the cheap material and shoddy workmanship that allowed them crumbleagainst the weight of flood waters, afflicts most of the development projects in India. Indeed,the Tehri Dam, under construction for at least 30 years, has been a bonanza for contractors,while ruinous to the immediate area. As such, the country is possibly verged on a Himalayandisaster, one that will need Himalayan solutions to prevent.

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INDIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY: A NEW BEGINNING

August 15, 1998

"Let us establish that now, Uttarakhandis will not be knownmerely for their honesty, loyalty and servitude, but they willalso be remembered in the struggle for a better India, and abetter Uttarakhand."

- P.C. Tiwari Uttarakhand Sangarsh Vahini, 1987

"The eight hill districts of Uttar Pradesh state that make upKumaon and Garhwal have always made news quitedisproportionate to their size and population. More thanelsewhere in South Asian hill or plain, Garhwalis and Kumaonishave been fighters for social justice - whether combatting turn-of-century feudals to emancipate forced labour, daring theBritish in pre-Independence times, or fighting government andbig business through the Chipko Movement."

- Manisha Aryal Himal Magazine, 1994

Indian Independence Day is being celebrated by ex-patriate Indian communities throughoutthe world including Canada and the US, where sizeable Indian populations now reside. Back in1947, the small and scattered Indian communities in North America celebrated what they sawas the culmination of their homeland's struggle for freedom. Indeed it was only in 1946 in theUS, and later still in Canada, when Indians were reallowed to immigrate to the US, havingbeen barred racially in 1917. In 1965, at the height of the Civil Rights movement, the firstnon-racist immigration act was passed, followed two years later by Canada's famous (orinfamous) immigration point system. 

Ironically, among the first Uttarakhandis to travel across the Kalapani to the Western Worldwere the soldiers of the Garhwal Rifles, reaching France in 1914 just in time to prop up thefaltering British lines. With one of the highest casualty rates of any regiment in the war, thesoldiers sacrificed valiantly for a conflict not of their making, nor one that they could easilyunderstand. 

Later, the same regiment would demonstrate high honor by refusing to fire upon civiliandemonstrators in Peshawar, 1930. For this, they may have been overlooked for militaryhonors accorded other regiments in World War II, but in disobeying orders, they demonstrateda greater patriotism to the land and people of India.

Indeed, Since British times, when the peoples' forest rights were denied, to today, where theliquor menace threatens every village, the people of Uttarakhand have stood up for theirrights. In 1906, at Chandrabadni (near Pauri), the people gheraoed the state forestry official.Later as forced labour became more onerous, activists succeeded in getting the policieschanged in 1921. In 1930, the Dewan (chief minister) marched on villagers who werepeacefully protesting the forest policies of the government, killing dozens of people at aplace on the Yamuna called Tilari. Sridev Suman, one of the most respected of Uttarakhand'sindependence activists of the 1930s and early 40s, fasted unto death against state repression.

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His martyrdom inspired a whole generation of activists that eventually led the independenceand peasant movements that toppled the princely state in 1948. 

Today, the Uttarakhandi people continue their struggle for justice and survival, their spiritreverberating throughout the Himalayas in the many movements for social change. TheChipko Andolan of the 1970s drew worldwide attention to the plight of the Himalayan forestsand her peoples. In the 1990s came the movement for autonomy and statehood, long a dreamof the people, but perhaps soon - despite all the hard work, pressures, strains, and frustration- a reality. 

Along with these recent developments, the Uttarakhandi people scattered across NorthAmerica are beginning the long, hard work of forging a new organization to better bring allUttarakhandis together. As many of us look out from abroad to an India bruised and battered,and an Uttarakhand, impoverished and disintegrating, we must draw on the best traditions ofour land and people to renew India and save the Himalayas. On this 51st Independence Day,we can do no less.

For a New Uttarakhand, and a New India!

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UTTARANCHAL PLANS HELD UP

August 15, 1998

The BJP-led central government has run into serious problems in attempts to implement theirstate reorganization plans. The Akali Dal government of Punjab has raised the stakes bythreatening to pull out of the coalition government over inclusion of Udham Singh Nagardistrict. US Nagar is dominated by big, mostly Punjabi, landowners who settled the area afterIndependence. Once part of the erstwhile Kumaon Commissionery and long held by Kumaonior Garhwali kings, the land was encroached upon and grabbed wholesale in the last 30 yearsunder various UP governments. The landholdings in this region are also among the largest inUP state, as the newcomers have found various means to circumvent land ceiling laws passedto ensure equitable land distribution. 

As UP officialdom has since independence been under the influence of the big landowners, itis these land laws that many of the settlers fear will come into force in a new Uttarakhandstate. As such, they are offering stiff resistance to inclusion into Uttaranchal, even at thislate stage, after three years of preparation and planning by three central governments andthree state administrations.

Linguistic and cultural arguments that have been advanced by Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party,and even some segments of the BJP and Congress, are not without merit. However, the desireto stay in UP as opposed to a new hill state, appears contrived for ulterior motives. Althoughthe farmers of the area are largely Sikh, they have even less in common culturally with theadjoining plains than they do with Uttarakhand. Hemkund Sahib, one of the holiest places inSikhism is near Badrinath. Guru Gobind Singh paid homage to the region in his travels, as didGuru Nanak. Sikhism has always found a safe haven in the hills.

Indeed the issues are rather more starkly economic. Apart from the land ceiling laws, and theillegal occupation of land under various fake names by some of the same politicians' friendsand family, the landowners who are resisting inclusion of the Terai in Uttaranchal fear thattheir interests, long the dominant interest in dirty UP politics, will be subject to taxes thatthey have so far evaded paying. The also possibly fear the coming to power of people theydispossessed, decades ago. 

The issues have become confused enough for other parties, keen on capitalizing on thetensions, to jump into the fray, as the momentum for creation of Uttaranchal has evaporated.Parties that had once supported Uttarakhand, including Akali Dal, have now raised thespectre of "Pahari Chauvinism" to a fever pitch. Hopefully calmer heads will prevail, and anamicable agreement reached, otherwise the parties will have inadvertently created anothercommunal division among the people for years to come. 

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UTTARAKHAND SUPPORT COMMITTEE

ISSUES CHALLENGE TO POLITICIANS

August 11, 1998

BOSTON: The Uttarakhand Support Committee strongly deplores the recent steps taken byvarious Indian political parties to derail the process of creating Uttaranchal. The wholecontroversy surrounding the inclusion of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttaranchal hascome at such a late stage in the state reorganization process, that the political machinationsof various vested interests are self-evident. More distressing, but predictable in politics, isthe policy reversals of many of the major parties, as each has attempted to exacerbatecommunal tensions, baseless allegations, and artificial fears for their own political gain,without regard to the long-term consequences on communal harmony. As such, theCommittee calls on all parties to come clean and work for the uplift of all segments ofsociety, without regard to ethnicity, caste, creed, or gender. The Committee also calls on thevarious interests that are interfering with the work of building Uttarakhand, to stop playinggames with people's lives and to unite in common purpose for the welfare of the people andhealth of the land.

The Committee also wishes to express its despair over the lack of understanding of many ofthe politicians involved in this sordid drama. The true historical context to the battle over theTerai has been relegated to the rear, as issues such as culture and linguistic rights have beendeceptively and cynically projected on the current impasse. By creating divisions, where noneexisted before, the process of carving up vote banks is destroying the fabric of the Indiannation and must stop. Justice can only come by uniting the people, with fairness and honestyas the guiding principles.

Indeed, the real issue of the Terai is the issue of land. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, atthe invitation of various state governments, migrants from other parts of India settled theregion of Nainital district now included in the purview of Udham Singh Nagar. The land rushwas accompanied by mass expropriations and the wholesale clearing of lush forest. Hugeproductive farms came into being, incidentally illegal in nature, as land ceiling laws in placeto ensure a modicum of social justice in landownership were circumvented. The originalinhabitants, the impoverished Buksha and Tharu peoples were pushed off the land, and in theend, have ended up landless or indentured to the new inhabitants.

This state of affairs is known to the big landowners of the Terai, as they realize that onceUttarakhand comes into being, the long suppressed aspirations of the people for social justicewill finally be heard. As such, they fear profit losses, although no change in landownershiphas even been proposed at the current juncture. Indeed, recent proposals by the centralgovernment have introduced Article 84 into the Uttaranchal creation bill, effectively freezingland holdings and ensuring the continuance of the landed elite's dominance of Udham SinghNagar. This is a huge concession, one granted by the central government and not the people.Being essentially an honest and forgiving people, Uttarakhandis will abide this injustice, solong as they are allowed to determine their own future in peace and harmony. However, iftheir dreams are frustrated by opportunistic elements fighting for short-term political gainsand in support of wealthy interests, the Indian political system will stand exposed for what itis for so many: a tool of powerful interests to corrupt, co-opt, or crush the aspirations ofmarginal people, be they dalits, women, landless peasants, indigenous peoples, or ethnicminorities. As heirs to the British legacy of divide and conquer governance, Indian politicians

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can break from this historical precedence and affirm the rights of India's peoples, in this case,by creating Uttarakhand quickly, otherwise they will have affirmed the worst of what manyhave suspected all along.

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THE FAILURE OF THE OLD, THE PROMISE OF THE NEW

November 15, 1997

The people of Uttarakhand are known rather patronizingly to many upper class Indians astheir loyal Pahari servants, who's honesty, gentleness, and hard work are renowned. Indeedmany of the thousands of hill men who have migrated to the plains over the last few decadeshave ended up as menial servants in wealthy households. Luckier ones have enlisted with themilitary, the most ready escape from poverty for male youths of the Himalayas. Meanwhile,hill women have had to survive on remittance from their husbands or sons in the plains, whiletheir own backbreaking work has grown heavier with each passing year. Very few havesuccessfully climbed out of poverty without also assimilating into middle class Indian culture.

This mass exodus from the Himalayas, where even basic necessities like water and electricityare not met, has taken a heavy toll on Uttarakhandi culture, social structures, and family life.Uttarakhand includes nearly 17.3% of Uttar Pradesh's total land area, but only 4.3% of itspopulation. However, much of Uttarakhand's area is uninhabitable, and most of the residentslive in the river valleys, at population densities more intense than that of the plains. As such,it is not hard to imagine that in a political system based on proportional representation,tyranny of the majority would arise. In the case of Uttarakhand, as in Tibet and for AmericanIndians, the struggle over land and resources is a lopsided one, with the native minoritycommunity loosing out. The best agricultural land, the Terai tracts of the foothills had beenseized by corrupt state officials and migrants from elsewhere. The people and the land, rentby devastating environmental exploitation and economic marginalization, have sufferedgreatly. Social problems such as alcoholism and suicide have become widespread just as theretreat of the glaciers and forests threaten the Himalayan ecosystem.

As the 20th century draws to a close, Uttarakhand, like so many other parts of the Himalayas,faces ecological catastrophe and cultural extinction. However, there is another story toUttarakhand that parallels her sorrows. A region that has disproportionally given its sons inlarge numbers to the defense of the country, has for over a century been noted for its activesocial movements. The Chipko movement was spearheaded by Himalayan women, as were theprohibition and reforestation causes. The hill people have consistent proven their dedicationto non-violent activism and courage under fire. The adversity faced by Uttarakhandis everyday has perhaps contributed to this willingness to struggle. Having so little to lose, the peoplecontinue to stand and fight for their rights.

In the last decade, the Pahari people have increasingly agitated for autonomy and self-government. Long disenchanted with the centralization of state power in Delhi and Lucknow,the cry for statehood has echoed through the Himalayas, and the voices have grown louderevery year. In 1994, the movement peaked and prompted a violent reaction from the UttarPradesh government. Repeated police firings, human rights violations, and state repression aswell as internal divisions, politicking, and severe economic repercussions deflected anddeflated the movement for a short while, but activists persevered in the hills and cities. Twoyears later in 1996, then Prime Minister Deve Gowda announced the formation of the 26thstate in his Red Fort address. With the BJP-led coalition coming to power in March 1998, theplans for the future state that had stalled under the United Front-led government, haveregained momentum, although yet again the effort stalled. The long wait continues.

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Today, even as the state of India's politics have degenerated, the proponents of Uttarakhandistatehood have striven to build an alternative model. In the joint councils and actioncommittees, Pahari activists have drawn from the best traditions of Uttarakhand's numeroussocial movements. Their desire for full participatory democracy, in contrast to the violentand divisive party politics of the Indian plains, may represent a clear break from business asusual. If successful, the hill state could very well lead India and her disparate peoples out ofits current predicament of a fractured and corrupted polity. At the very least, Uttarakhand'spolitical, environmental, and social awareness has resonated throughout the beleagueredHimalayas since Chipko activists went on their Kashmir to Kohima walks in the early 80s.

The foes of the Himalayas are however formidable. Not only are the parties from the plainswhipping up communalist tensions and jockeying for support in Uttarakhand, but so are thetimber, resin, and liquor mafias whose ominous presence continues to plague the hill people.Contractors are already lining up to carve out their share of the future Uttarakhand economy.Fortunately, many activists have foreseen these threats. The convenors of the UttarakhandJoint Action Committee (Uttarakhand Sanyukta Sangarsh Samiti - USSS) have sought tocounteract the influence of national and regional parties by obliging all members to leavetheir party affiliations behind. For the sake of the Himalayas, many have done so, unitingunder one banner that is reflective of the region's traditions of political action. However,endemic political corruption and opportunism, the worsening law and order situation in UP,and the heavy lobbying by the big landowners of the Terai will be daunting obstacles toovercome for architects of any new state. Moreover, Uttarakhand's future direction will verymuch depend on the hill people building their own alternative models, drawing on her besttraditions, and discarding those that have been foist upon the Himalayas from the outside.

Most importantly, the construction of a viable alternative to the communalized and corruptedstate of affairs prevailing elsewhere in the subcontinent demands that women lead thestruggle. Just as women formed the backbone of Chipko, so must they remain at the forefrontof the final push for Uttarakhand statehood. The status of women would improve dramaticallyif women held the balance of power in the new state. Environmental issues would also bebrought to the fore, as the hill women have suffered the most over the past four decadesfrom deforestation, soil erosion, and water depletion. If women were relegated to the rear,chances for revolutionary change would also fade, as a new patriarchy, closer to home, wouldcontinue the exploitation of the land and forests of Uttarakhand.

Since the massacres of 1994, the movement has moved from anger to determined oppositionto exploitation. It has put down deep roots that have nurtured the activist spirit in theHimalayan youth. Women have remained at the front, leading commemorative strikes anddemonstrations. The disruptive, spontaneous bandhs of the past have given way to plannedevents that attempt to minimize the impact on the students' studies and the farmers'harvests. The games of the politicians have not fooled the hill people, but only furtherconvinced them to seek a new model. Even now, four years later, the struggle continues.

As such, the dream of Uttarakhand, the abode of gods, endures in all the work of countlessactivists that strive for justice and peace in the Himalayas. From schoolteachers to tradeunionists, students to ex-servicemen, village women to university professors, the call isheaded in every valley, mountain top, and village. No one person has the same solution to theproblems besetting the hills, yet people are working together, disagreeing if need be, butgetting the job done. It has often been noted that the hills nurtures in its people a deepspirituality and sense of pride. The Himalayas have also nurtured a stubborn resolve that mayone day lead her children to a new promised land.

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THE GUNS OF AUTUMN

October 2, 1997

October 2, 1994, near a town called Muzaffarnagar, in the dry and dusty plains of northernIndia, Mahatma Gandhi's dream of a free and just nation turned into a terrible nightmare. Onthe exact day of the 125th anniversary of his birth, the non-violent freedom fighter's countryfired on demonstrators, killing an unknown number of unarmed civilians. The police went on arampage, molesting and raping women activists as they fled the scene of the atrocities. Yetthe heirs to independence struggle, wily politicians who had ruled the nation since Gandhi'sdays, washed their hands clean of the massacre and gave little succor to their fellow Indians.In a cruel irony, a government of free and independent India, supposedly responsive to thepeople, repeated some of the worst excesses of British imperialism.

The victims of this tragedy were a simple folk who lived in the vicinity of Hinduism's holiestpeaks and shrines. Uttarakhand, the Himalayan region of India's most populous state, had longbeen neglected by central and state governments. Indeed, the hills had been severelyexploited for its wealth of timber, limestone, and other natural resources, without muchregard for the rights of local residents. Just as Gandhi and the founders of modern India haddone before, the hill people had come together to demonstrate their right to exist as apeople, to breathe the air of freedom, to lift themselves from poverty and desperation, tostop economic and environmental degradation, and to demand self-government. They wantedan end to the region's neo-colonial arrangement with the rest of India, a form of exploitationthat has devastated the lives and land of the Indian Himalayas, akin to the colonialism of old.They did not ask for much. They had so little, not even a state to call their own. Despiteliving in one of the most beautiful and sanctified parts of the country, at the very source ofthe holy river Ganges, Uttarakhandis remained among the poorest people in the country. Assuch, both women and men, young and old, converged on the capital, to give voice to theirgrievances and to plead their case at the feet of Mother India. That so many were stopped sobrutally, and women dishonored so violently, speaks to how something had gone terriblywrong with Gandhi's India.

It was during the height of the liberation movement that an Uttarakhandi battalion shook thevery foundations of the British Raj by refusing to fire on unarmed demonstrators. That a stategovernment of modern India could not spare their descendants from the bloodshed of staterepression, stands out as an appalling affront to the memory of such a patriotic people.Uttarakhand's sons and daughters have consistently proven themselves to be among the mostloyal and selfless citizens of their nation. Contributing perhaps the most men of any region toIndia's armed forces, Uttarakhand's sons have shared in many of modern India's greatestvictories and suffered through her most ignominious defeats. Just as they had sacrificed theirlives for the British in the terrible years of the Great War, Uttarakhandis fought bravely in allof India's wars subsequent to independence. Garhwali and Kumaoni troops have held ontotheir reputations as gentle soldiers aroused steadfastly to acts of extraordinary heroism. Thewomen of Uttarakhand have through the decades suffered even more, but in their sorrow,had found new means to fight the system. It is they who fought the battles in behalf of theHimalayas' fragile ecosystem. By risking their lives for the trees, they bolstered a worldwideenvironmental movement, still in its infancy, by the example of their sheer determinationand fearlessness. The wretched of the earth had proven themselves equal to the masters andtheir machines.

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The betrayal of these loyal hill people runs as deep as the giant clear-cuts and strip minesthat have rent the Himalayas. Left to die by the thousands in the India-China war, ordered toclear militants from the Golden Temple in an inglorious operation, discriminated against byplains people, their forests pillaged by commercial contractors, and plight ignored by venaland corrupt politicians has worn the legendary patience of these highlanders. Year after year,they have pressed their case for economic and social justice through non-violent means. Yearafter year, they have been ignored and defrauded of their birthright. While conditionsworsened, thousands more have migrated to the plains in search of menial jobs as servants.The hardship and tears of mothers, sisters and daughters, left behind in the villages by theirdispirited husbands, brothers, and sons, have grown heavier with every passing monsoon. Justas gentle Parvati's despair climaxed in the birth of the fierce warrior goddess Durga, so maythe suffering of Uttarakhand burst like a torrent across the plains of India. The Tehri Dam,now being built over the protest of Uttarakhandis, would unleash a tidal wave that wouldflood the plains, if ever shaken to its foundations by an earthquake. The politicians havemade their decision to side with political expedience and power. It is up to us to side with theHimalayas and their people.

And the struggle continues as it always has...