24 YRS ON, U'KHAND STRUGGLES TO HOLD ITS PEOPLE TOGETHER

Lack of education and healthcare facilities nullifies pace of development in nascent state

- NARENDRA SETHI

UTTARAKHAND by birth was to be synonymous with development that would stem the tide of largescale migration of people to the plains. Facts and fiction about of the state, known as Dev Bhoomi (land of Gods), are so fascinatingly and almost puzzlingly intermingled that its nascence draws debates about development itself. Jobs are few, healthcare facilities almost absent in remote areas and the education sector looks grim as not many people like to take a posting in largely uninhabited areas.

A prolonged agitation led to the formation of Uttarakhand state on November 9, 2000, by the then government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Initially named Uttaranchal, it was later renamed Uttarakhand, no one knows why. The creation of the new state led to unprecedented road coverage, hospitals and large buildings came up and property rates in semi-urban areas shot up.

Key problems persist

Despite successive governments led by the Congress and BJP, none has been able to curb the persistent problem of migration. In 2017, the state government was forced to establish the Rural Development and Migration Prevention Commission (referred to as the Migration Commission) to examine all aspects of the migration challenges plaguing Uttarakhand.

According to the Migration Commission's data, migration from rural areas in Uttarakhand has reached alarming proportions. A comparison of census data between 2001 and 2011 reveals a stark decline in population in most of the state's hilly districts. A significant drop in population in Almora and Pauri-Garhwal districts between 2001 and 2011 points to a massive exodus from the state's hill regions.