By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Apr: Rich tributes were paid to Late Dr Shivanand Nautiyal, on the occasion of his 19th death anniversary in various programmes organised on in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Dr Shivanand Nautiyal was a senior former minister in undivided Uttar Pradesh and a renowned author. Nautiyal belonged to village Kothala Sainji in district Pauri. In Uttarakhand, several tribute meetings were held in Karnaprayag and in Pauri Garhwal districts in his memory where his contribution to the society and to literature was remembered.

Dr Shivanand Nautiyal Foundation located in Lucknow also organised a meeting on the death anniversary of Shivanand Nautiyal, in which many senior politicians, writers were present along with Divya Nautiyal. The family members of Nautiyal participated and expressed their views. Nautiyal‘s son and president of the Uttarakhand Nationalist Congress Party, Divya Nautiyal as well as Vivek Nautiyal, son of Dr Nautiyal threw light on his personality and work. Kamal Nautiyal, the eldest son of Nautiyal expressed his gratitude to all the people who attended the meeting.
Dr Shivanand Nautiyal, had been the MLA of Pauri twice and Karnprayag six times. Nautiyal, well-known in the field of education, literature and politics, was born on 26 June 1926 in Kotla village of Pauri district. In 1967, he made his debut in active politics. He won as MLA in 1979. Dr. Nautiyal got the opportunity to become an MLA twice from Pauri seat and six times from Karnprayag.
In 1979, Dr Nautiyal was entrusted with the responsibility of the Ministry of Higher Education and Hill Development in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. During his ministry, he played an important role in promoting schools in the entire Uttarakhand region as well as in establishing schools.
Nautiyal was a skilled politician, a brilliant orator as well as a successful writer. His thesis on Folk dance and songs of Garhwal will remain his valuable contribution. In this, all the forms of Garhwali folklore have been described in detail. Garhwali Lokmanas, Dances of Garhwal, Folk songs of Garhwal, Khuded songs of Garhwal, Dance songs of Garhwal, Chham Ghungroo Bajla, Folk stories of Nefa, Kumaon Darshan, Badri Kedar and his best research works are his mammoth works. Nautiyal was also honoured with an award named Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi from Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan.
He continued to be active in political and social life. In the year 2004, he was admitted to a hospital in Lucknow due to pneumonia where he succumbed to the illness on 2 April, 2004.