Today is the 25 th Foundation day anniversary. Where are we after twenty five protracted years ?

Today is  9 th November , 2000, the 25 th Foundation day anniversary. It was today, twenty five years ago that Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh with an earnest optimism that this Himalayan state being given step motherly treatment for decades would be accorded decentralised development where thousands of youths will be accorded employment, women will be  empowered, people will acknowledge health facilities  and the state become economically prospered. Separate  Uttarakhand  state was formed  after the incessant relentless struggle of fifty protracted  years , started by the then Communist leader Comrade PC Joshi in 1952.  Though Uttarakhand thereafter witnessed several movements in Hilly region of Uttar Pradesh with Delhi and Uttarakhandies living in the national capital playing a major role led by trade union leader Rishi Ballab Sundriyal, then MP Trepan Singh Negi  and Pratap Singh Pushpan, , then MLA,  in Uttarakhand several leaders with left oriented ideology also played their pivotal role with H.N.Bahuguna, the then Congress CM , UP in 1974 for the very first time establishing the Hill Development Board / Council , thus for the very first time setting the tone for the development of the Hills of Kumaon and Garhwal. Then came into existence a regional political oufit in Uttarakhand during seventies led by an intellectual to the core Dr. D.D. Pant namely Uttarakhand  Kranti Dal ,who alongwith the Gandhi of Uttarakhand Indramani Badooni entered the Separate Uttarakhand issue in its menifesto alongwith other demands like decentralised development of Uttarakhand socially, culturally and economically. In 1994 onwards the separate state Uttarakhand movement gained momentum from Pauri, Garhwal when the Gandhi of Uttarakhand Indramani Badooni underwent fast unto death and was arrested. The movement from here spread like a wildfire compounded by the OBC reservation movement which further added fuel to fire. Entire Uttarakhand was fully channelised and mobilised including the national capital Delhi playing a major role with a protracted Dharna at Jantar Matar that continued for seven long years.   Number of rallies demanding Uttarakhand state were held by UKD in Delhi boat club grounds with daily arrests and conglomeration of protests at Jantar Mantar and in various parts of Uttarakhand. It was in 1994 on October 2 nd when hundreds of Uttarakhandies coming towards Delhi to participate in the Red Fort rally called by Indramani Badooni were attacked brutally at Mujaffarnager, Rampur Trijunction and six killed including several women sexually assaulted that give the movement tremendous momentum followed by protest rallies in several parts of Uttarakhand like Khatima, Mussourie, Dehradun, Rishikesh and Pauri etc where several protestors demanding justice and separate Uttarakhand state were killed by bullets leading to 43 martyrs in all. Finally, after hundreds of activists going to jail, several protest demonstrations, rallies, public meetings and skirmishes with the police taking place  at hundreds of places,  on 9 th November, Uttarakhand state was declared by the then government led by then prime  minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee  and backed by the largest opposition party , the Congress led by Sonia Gandhi, though the PM before Vajpayee , H.D.Devegowda had already declared it from the ramparts of the Red Fort  on the independence day. The first chief minister sworn in by the then BJP government at the centre was Nityanand Swamy followed by Narayan Dutt Tiwari and then till date ten chief ministers coming up,  with the present chief minister  being Pushkar Singh Dhami. Though Uttarakhand as a separate entity has obviously developed tremendously in terms of infrastructure  and in other forms but the journey of the last twenty five years is not really heartwarming and satisfactory. The state which started with the fiscal deficit of merely Rs. 2000 crores is today running into deficit of more than 75 thousand crores and the state drawing its maximum revenue by liquor distillaries established in various parts of the state including liquor shops everywhere thus allegedly spoiling the health and future of the people of Uttarakhand which ofcourse was not the dream of those who gave 43 sacrifices to achieve this pious goal. The Uttarakhand government earns Rs. 4,500 crores annually from the liquor sales not to speak of the illicit liquor that is sold in the villages and on roadsides on the massive scale illegally. During the last twenty five years the state has witnessed maximum scams of illegal land sales, selling of lands to the outsiders on massive scale and liquor, building and mining mafia expanding enormously with women security at stake wuth youths relentlessly struggling for employment. There have been the biggest and widespread UKSSSC scam in Uttarakhand called the cheating scam which caught the headlines of newspapers   bringing bad name to the state with brutal murders of Ankita Bhandari and several other women including increase in the crime graph and uncontrollable road accidents. The maneater attacks and fatalities thereafter including sequential road accidents have become the order of the day with the government a mere SPECTATOR. The condition of the Ghasiyaris is also highly worrisome with the hapless village women becoming the rampant victims of the wild animals kills while going to farmlands to work or cutting grass for the domestic pets. During the last twenty five years Uttarakhand has seen a huge exodus of village population towards towns, cities and metropolises on a wide scale to the tune of thirty lakhs and over three thousand villages becoming ghost villages and about 3500 primary and middle schools closing down permanently in view of non availability of students. The health sector of Uttarakhand too seems to be in doldrums with high tech super speciality  hospitals grooming up though the government health centres and hospitals of no use in view of the shortage of doctors, surgeons, paramedics, medicines and medical equipments. The situation in vacant villages have brought the wild monkeys, maneater leopards and wild bears closer to villages spoiling the agricultural friends , entering houses and attacking the human beings with children , women and old aged becoming their first victims. The ongoing environmentally  unfriendly development in the hills like the widening of roads and all weather roads, the Rishikesh to Karnaprayag rail tracks that cut thirty five thousand trees , exploded rocky mountains by dynamite and digged tunnels have infact played with the already fragile environment and ecology as during the recently passed monsoon, apart from the massive destruction in Dharali and Tharali , there had been 1500 landslides in the national Badrinath , Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri  highways including roads caving in and house falling down on massive scale with human losses. The tragic deaths through boulder fallings have also be tremendous. The government of the day must be doing much but the fact of the matter is that the unholy alliance between the bureaucrats, engineers, contractors, builders and the mafias have resulted in the profit making projects that are hundred percent damaging to the environment and the people resulting in man made disasters and subsequently tremendous fatalities. The existing massive corruption in every field of life in Uttarakhand and the lust for profits at the cost of government policies have resulted in making Uttarakhand a state of fatalities not safety. The  uncontrolled coming up of skyscrapers in Dehradun and thousands of resorts, lavish residences and bungalows with multi storey structures on river sides openly violating the rules and regulations have not only invited disasters at our doorsteps but the examples of the 2013, June massive Kedarnath disaster, Rishi Ganga disaster, Rainy disaster, Dharali and Tharali disaster have still not taught us any lessons.  The massive footfalls at the four spiritual destinations of Uttarakhand in Garhwal compounded with thousands of vehicles coming here emitting large scale green house gases have also resulted in adding to the future disasters in the offing. Don’t forget that Uttarakhand is on Zone 5 prone to increasing seismic activities and future earthquakes. It we don’t learn lessons still , we doubt if our  civilisation will really exist in future ? Decision is yours.   This is what we have achieved after 25 years of Uttarakhand coming into existence . Happy Uttarakhand Foundation day, the 9 th November, 2025. Meanwhile while paying tributes in the ocassion of the Silver Jubilee of the Uttarakhand Foundation day chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami made several anouncements regardinginv increase in pensions if thoses martyred and movement activists jailed during the andolan. These declarations are : Key infrastructure facilities in their areas will be named after martyred statehood movement leaders. *The pension of the agitators who were jailed for 7 days during the Uttarakhand statehood movement or were injured during the statehood movement will be increased from Rs 6,000 per month to Rs 7,000 per month. The pension of other state agitators, other than those who went to jail or were injured during the Uttarakhand state movement, will be increased from Rs 4500 per month to Rs 5500 per month.**The pension of the state agitators who became disabled and completely bedridden during the Uttarakhand state movement will be increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per month and arrangements for medical attendants will also be made for their care.* *The pension of the dependents of the state agitators martyred during the Uttarakhand state movement will be increased from Rs 3000 to Rs 5500 per month.** *For identification of Uttarakhand State agitators, six months’ time extension will be provided for disposal of pending applications received in the District Magistrate’s office till the year 2021.**All martyr memorials will be beautified.