• Dr. Pradeep Joshi

The state of Uttarakhand, which came into existence on November 9, 2000, has completed 25 years of its establishment. After years of mass struggle, unprecedented mass movements, and 42 martyrdoms, the state is miles away from the concerns and visions of its statehood agitators. The fundamental reasons behind the establishment of the hill state are now surrounded by an ever-growing question mark. Twenty-five years is no small period to assess the failures of governments and determine what is responsible for this dismal situation. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who has failed on nearly all fronts and plunged the people of Uttarakhand into deep despair, has, in his characteristic style, transformed the state’s silver jubilee celebrations into a mega event, and even secured Prime Minister Modi’s approval for his efforts to set the agenda for the upcoming assembly elections with the 11-day extravaganza. Consequently, at an event in FRI, PM Modi announced 31 big projects worth Rs. 8260 crores.

However, angry masses taking to the streets over various issues are enough to confirm that the state carved out of Uttar Pradesh has ultimately become a worse version of its predecessor. A common refrain in the public consciousness is that Uttarakhand would have been better off in Uttar Pradesh. Let’s take a brief, dispassionate look at the state’s journey and outcome over the past 25 years.

State Progress: Congress Government vs. BJP Government

Looking at the statistical and technical data, the state has made significant progress in these 25 years. From the time of the state’s formation, the size of the economy increased from 15,000 crore rupees to 380 lakh crore rupees, roads expanded from 15,000 km to 70,000 km, Per capita income increased from ₹16,232 to ₹2.74 lakh. In addition, other indicators, including literacy rate, urbanization, drinking water supply in rural areas, primary health centers, university construction, medical colleges, and polytechnic colleges have also registered a significant growth. How then the progress stalled and got derailed? To understand the loci of these shortcomings and determine who is responsible, an analysis of both the governments’ approach, functioning and outcomes must be made.

Congress Governments (ND Tiwari - Harish Rawat)

The tenure of Shri Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Chief Minister of the state’s first elected government, witnessed the laying of a strong foundation and rapid economic development. Drawing on his vast personal network built during the course of his long career and experience, he established robust infrastructure, a strong road network, and SIDCUL in Dehradun, Haridwar, and Rudrapur. The industrial environment created by these institutions led to investments by approximately 2,000 investors in the state. Polytechnics and ITIs were opened in all development blocks, along with IT parks, important institutions in the field of higher education, engineering colleges, and medical colleges, and in the energy sector, numerous hydropower projects led to an exponential growth in energy production. He also brought strict land laws, 70% reservation for local people in jobs, etc. However, due to several reasons, development work became more concentrated in the plain districts than in the hilly areas. This anomaly was remedied by Shri Harish Rawat, Chief Minister of the second elected Congress government. Harish Rawat, who was appointed Chief Minister after the devastating Kedarnath disaster, impeccably handled the disaster, initiated rehabilitation work, adequate compensation to the affected people, and re-started the Kedarnath Yatra with an alacrity that garnered him praise from all over the country. He made changes at the policy and planning level for rapid development in the hilly areas. Congress government organised the first ever Vidhan Sabha Session in Gairsain in tents that paved way for building the capital at Gairsain as per the sentiments of the people of state. Sri Harish Rawat then constructed Vidhan Sabha Bhawan, developed residential facility for 2500 people at a place where there was no arrangement for accommodation of even 25 people and made budgetary arrangements by forming Gairsain Vikas Parishad.

To improve living standards of the people of hill areas, the number of approximately 1 lakh welfare pension holders was increased to 7 lakhs, a bonus policy was formulated to strengthen the rural hill economy. Uttarakhand became the first state in the country to give a milk bonus of Rs. 4 per liter, a production bonus policy was implemented by the Agriculture Department on the production of chilli, mandua, jhangora, cholai, gehat, rajma, bhatt etc., under the tree bonus policy, a bonus of Rs. 300 and Rs. 400 per tree was given for planting certain species of trees, the way for recruitments was paved by forming the Subordinate Services Selection Commission in the state, a requisition for 30 thousand recruitments was made, about 20 thousand recruitments were done, as a result the per capita income which was Rs. 71 thousand in the year 2014 increased to Rs. 1 lakh 73 thousand in the year 2017. Uttarakhand state was now on the path of progress.

The last nine years of the BJP government, a tale of devastation in the state

It can be understood only as a tragedy that a state in dire need of a strong and experienced leadership for meeting its basic social, economic and political needs was chosen by Modi as a laboratory for his divisive agenda. Chief Minister Dhami, a puppet of the Prime Minister’s Office, turned his back on the state’s priorities, instead coining new terms such as “love jihad,” “land jihad,” even “spit jihad,” and “nakal jihad” (faking jihad) and “dharma sansad”, and focusing instead on the “bulldozer campaign” which fuelled divisive anarchy in the state. At the Silver Jubilee celebrations, Prime Minister Modi praised the Chief Minister for implementing the Uniform Civil Code, calling it an example for the country. The result of this neglect of the state’s priorities and divisive agenda for vote bank is that all indicators of progress now point to the state rapidly turning into a failed state. The state’s Leader of Opposition, Mr. Yashpal Arya has said that the revenue growth rate, which was 19.9% in the year 2016-17, has come down to 11%, the per capita income has stagnated in the last 5 years, the recent PLFS report of the Central Government shows that the unemployment rate of the state has reached 8.9% in the second quarter of the current financial year, which is the highest in the country. Due to lack of facilities in the health sector, all the hospitals have become referral centres, death during delivery has become a common occurrence, about 695 women have lost their lives during delivery and yet the Health Minister shamelessly claims to have surplus doctors, asserting that now the doctors in the state are looking for patients.

As for education, remote areas of the mountainous state relied on the government sector for education. These areas are falling victim to government policies of increasing privatization and eliminating government schools. After closing nearly 3,000 primary schools, the Education Department has already prepared a plan to merge 1,520 of the 2,295 10th and 12thgrade schools into 559 schools under the Cluster Scheme. A similar situation is being faced by polytechnics and ITIs. The state has become synonymous to paper leaks. However, after student agitation, CM was forced to order a CBI inquiry into the said leaks. Mountain residents, scarred by attacks from wild animals are compelled to live in fear and every day reports of killings by leopard or bear have become the new norm. Forest department data confirms that 1241 people have been killed and 2077 seriously injured in wildlife attacks in the past years. Lastly, it is important to take a look at the land grabbing rampant in the state. The mountain community has always been extremely sensitive to protecting its cultural heritage and land. Recognizing their concerns about protecting it from land mafias and outsiders, Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari introduced strict land laws, imposing a 500 square meter limit for outsiders. But BJP Chief Minister T.S. Rawat opened the door to unlimited land purchases in the mountains by repealing Section 143A of the UPZALR and amending Section 154-2. As a result, 70% of the mountain land became owned by non-Uttarakhandi residents. This allocation of land to favorites can be illustrated by the example of the George Everest land scam.

George Everest land scam

On July 19, 2023, 142 acres of George Everest land, adjacent to Mussoorie, were leased to Rajas Aero sports and Adventure Private Limited, owned by Swami Ramdev’s associate Balkrishna, for 1 crore rupees annually for 15 years, in the name of promoting adventure tourism. Surprisingly, the government first secured this land by taking a loan of 23 crore rupees from the Asian Development Bank. The value of this land is 2757 crore rupees at the circle rate and approximately 30 thousand crore rupees at the market rate. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the state of Uttarakhand has derailed from its developmental path. With development work and the goal of improving life in the mountainous regions missing from the government’s agenda, the scourge of migration has become severe. 1,725 villages have turned into ghost villages. According to data from the Palayan Aayog, 50% of people have migrated due to lack of livelihoods, 15% due to lack of education, and 10% due to lack of medical facilities. Given the lack of urban planning, cities like Dehradun and Haldwani are on the verge of population explosion.

Ankita Bhandari murder case and the surge in crimes against women

The brutal Ankita Bhandari murder case in 2022 that shook the entire state, exposed how under the patronage of BJP leaders and to provide “special services” to their high-profile leaders, young girls of Uttarakhand were being coerced into flesh trade.

Right after, BJP MLA Renu Bisht from Yamkeshwar took to social media and revealed that, upon Chief Minister Dhami’s directions, she got the Vantara resort bulldozed, thereby destroying the entire crime scene and primary evidence. Still no action has been taken against her. Recently, Urmila Sanawar, the so-called wife of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore, has released several audio recordings of her conversations with Suresh Rathore on social media, which brought to light that the VIP responsible for Ankita Bhandari’s murder, whose name was being desperately searched since long were actually BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Gautam and Organisation General Secretary Ajay Kumar. Considering the seriousness of the matter, State Congress President Ganesh Godiyal, along with co-in-charge Surendra Sharma and co-in-charge Manoj Yadav, presented the entire sequence of events to the nation through the national media from the AICC headquarters, reiterating the demand to reopen the case based on the newly released facts and conduct a CBI investigation under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge. The issue has resonated in the national media, and the movement has spread throughout the state. Leader of Opposition in Parliament and former President of AICC, Shri Rahul Gandhi who once dedicated an entire day of his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ to seeking justice for Ankita Bhandari, in a post on X questioned the government’s motives and again extended his solidarity with people of Uttarakhand’s struggle when the current government is busy protecting the name of the VIP at any cost, following the latest revelations in the case. State Congress in-charge Kumari Selja, in a press conference in Dehradun, described the Ankita Bhandari case as symbol of the crimes against women happening in the state and said that the Congress would intensify its movement to demand a CBI investigation under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge. According to NCRB data, Uttarakhand has reached first position among all Himalayan states in terms of cases of crimes against women. Three children go missing every day from Uttarakhand; last year, this number was 1209. Ultimately, frightened with the mounting public pressure, CM Dhami has ordered a CBI inquiry into the case. Amidst BJP’s hateful agenda, Anjel Chakma, a student from Northeast’s Tripura was first subjected to racial slurs and subsequently stabbed to death in Dehradun, which has made national headlines and brought shame to Uttarakhand. Overall, the mortifying state of affairs after 25 years is raising questions about the relevance of the state’s formation.

The Author is a Chairman, Vichar-Vibhag Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee