Elegy for the Hills

Global warming is severely affecting farming and leading to disasters, displacement and migration in Uttarakhand

- Ashwani Sharma

IN 1969-70, an obscure village—Garadiya-Kund, some 8 km from Pauri in the Garhwal hills of Uttar Pradesh (UP, and now Uttarakhand)—scored a unique distinction. Giridhari Lal Jhaldiyal of this village won the state government’s prize for producing best-quality cucumbers and demonstrating rare farming skills to grow high-quality fruits like apples, peaches and apricots.

Late Jhaldiyal’s son Ganesh Prasad Jhaldiyal, who is a retired UP-cadre civil services officer and currently in his 90s, has preserved his father’s certificates and trophies for archival value. “It is not a mean achievement of this man, a distinguished farmer of his times. My father had served in the UP electricity department. When he retired, he chose to go back to his village and started growing high-end crops and fruits. The local climatic conditions, highly fertile soil and abundant natural water needed only passion to turn the tables,” recalls Jhaldiyal. Thereafter, Pauri has not only remained a hub for self-sustained farming, but also a water reservoir comprising natural springs.

Three years ago—almost half-a-century after Jhaldiyal’s tryst with farming—41-year-old Deepak Nautiyal of Kyark, a village affected by migration—reached Pauri with a dream to do something similar. He had quit his job with a multinational company to venture into kiwi farming in Pauri, his hometown. His vision was not just to grow fruits in the barren land, but also to inspire youth to reverse the burgeoning migration problem in Uttarakhand’s hills.