As Uttarakhand gears up to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of its formation, it is time to introspect on the achievements, the failures, and the challenges. There is no doubt that before becoming a separate state, the hills were a neglected part of UP – not deliberately but due to their remoteness and the distance from the centre of political power. One had to travel all the way to Lucknow for even minor administrative issues, and to Allahabad for High Court litigation. Even so, the local people did not feel much alienated, but the Mandal Commission set off the spark that turned the long-held demand for a separate state into a people’s agitation. It needs to be reiterated as often as possible that the statehood movement remarkably adhered to non-violence despite on occasion being subjected to brutalities and police firings by the then regime.
There was, as is the case in every ‘revolutionary’ movement, an element of wishful thinking regarding what shape the new state would take. The demand for making Gairsain the state capital was one such part of the statehood agitationists’ vision, which the practicalities of governance have found unsustainable to this day. The best compromise was to make it the Summer Capital, which technically has been accepted now. Also, the inclusion of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar was not part of the original construct, but the decision to do so has provided, along with Dehradun, an economic and social buttress of great value. No wonder that despite having led the statehood movement, the UKD did not make much of an impact in subsequent elections.
Ever since 9 November 2000, the state’s economy has grown manifold, with much of the revenue going into developing the mountain towns and villages. Tourism and pilgrimage, along with industry in the plains, have received a major boost. A philosophy of development has been created and is being further polished as the days pass. The quality of education has been improved with the setting up of numerous universities, while work is underway to better primary and secondary education. A lot of people from other states are finding employment here in various sectors.
The shortcoming, of course, has been the majorly unplanned and unregulated nature of the development process, the consequences of which are being experienced as in the case of the recent natural disasters. Fine-tuning governance to address these issues remains the primary challenge. The benefits of economic growth have to trickle down to the general populace, while the prevalent corruption in the system must be curbed. Overall, however, the state has become a model of good governance in many ways, as compared to other longer established states.
