Time to wake up to Uttarakhand's real problems

Uttarakhand is again in the news and for the same old reasons: its political instability and power struggles. The young state will complete 16 years this November but it has already seen eight chief ministers, and not more than one staying in power for a full five-year term. Political over-ambitions, intra party rivalry, shameless apparent corruption, inefficiency of the leaders, lack of effective resistance from the civil society and critical media reporting could be some of the possible reasons.

Uttarakhand came into existence on November 9, 2000, after a long struggle of the hilly region to claim its sovereignty and exert emphasis on its unique geo-political needs. The state is certainly different from the tarai states and the demand was justified. People were enthusiastic after the division of the state from UP, expecting immense opportunities for livelihood and development in public and private sectors.  But nothing is achieved. Political instability and lack of political will for development caused more harm to the small state than its being part of UP would have been done.

Irony is rather than becoming a hub for sustainable development and economic prosperity, the state is today a ring for political fights and home to corrupt and greedy politicians.

The initial focus on economic development of the state led to establishment of economic zones in Pantnagar and Haridwar. But the endeavour was nipped in the bud as political nepotism prevailed and government land got distributed in the name of industrial development. This can be said to be the biggest illegal marketing of government land till date. Unemployment is at its peak today, yet the factories that were supposed to come up are nowhere to be seen.

Mining is another sector where political parties are extracting undue benefits. The state is rich in metallic and non-metallic minerals such as limestone and copper. But the geographical and seismic sensitivity does not make it very favourable to mining. However, this sensitive ecological warning was not heeded by the state government. The result is Uttarakhand today is seeing a scramble by mining companies and real estate sharks, who are using the material to build multistoried commercial buildings in the delicate ecosystem leading to deadly landslides and floods.

Revenue from alcoholic beverages is always attractive to every state government and Uttarakhand is nowhere behind in it. However, high alcohol consumption has made the valuable human resource of the state almost next to useless. Women in hills have always had a struggling life. Men here do not do much farming or livestock management and it becomes the sole responsibility of the women. Alcoholic husbands and sons (not many women drink) have added an extra tier to the multi-tiered struggle that women go through on a daily basis. Domestic violence and health issues causing added medical burden is another story, which needs a deeper exploration in itself.

Agreed that the hilly land is not very conducive to farming, but that does not give licence to state governments to sell public land for reckless, ecologically unsound industrial projects, which are actually political give and take. This leads to non-distribution of the land to those who need it and can cultivate it.

Traditional farming methods and seeds are replaced by subsidised, occasionally GM seeds, with climate change disrupting the hilly ecology and farming patterns. The farmers can hardly do any agriculture and unlike plainer states, they do not have the alternative of becoming a daily wage earner due to lack of opportunities. Migration is the last resort and as a result of the constant outflow, the hilly villages are almost emptied.

Coming to youth issues, lack of employment opportunities has been a longstanding problem. Lack of teachers in schools, inefficient education, early and abundant exposure of marijuana and alcohol, rotten public health services and no career guidance in crucial years of life has made the young boys and girls defunct. The creamy layer among the youth migrates and hardly comes back to the home state, in fact choosing to settle in more prosperous southern or northern states. Voluntary and compulsory migration from state is a grave concern.

But respective governments are still busy playing constitutional/unconstitutional games. Deciding legally and debating on how many members of legislative assembly they need to form a government or whether to continue with the presidential rule is really a lesser problem. It seems even the general public is also enjoying this charade as media is exceptionally active nowadays. No one is looking at the plethora of problems and issues that are bogging the state down just everyone is busy playing or consuming the unseemly political games.

There's migration, unemployment, women and child health, ecological disasters, depreciating tourism and dying traditional farming. These are the real "constitutional" problems of the state today and which need quick remedies, not electoral and legislature gimmicks.