By Dr Surjeet Singh Khaira
The most important physiographical feature of India is the Himalayas that is located in the north like a crown of the country. The word Himalayas is the combination of two Sanskrit words, i.e. Him + Alaya, meaning the abode of snow. It is the mightiest and tallest wall of the planet Earth. It extends for about 2500 km from Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. The Himalayas are a versatile mountain range, and the lifeline for millions of people and thousands of species, including flora and fauna.
Geologically, the Himalayas are young fold mountains which were formed millions of years ago owing to the collision of the Eurasian and Indo-Australian tectonic plates. It has provided shelter to Indians living in the Himalayan states on the one hand and the countries of Nepal and Bhutan on the another hand.
Geographically, the Himalayas acts like a great barrier that has prevented intruders from the north since time immemorial. The country’s thirst is quenched by the South West Monsoon winds that strikes the southern slopes of the Himalayas. The Himalayan mountains are a great source of vital resources like fuel, wood, timber, water, food, raw materials, and medicines. On the other hand, it is also important for hydropower projects, minerals, agriculture, home of wildlife, tourism, fruit orchards, tea estates, etc. Lakhs of pilgrims visit Himalayan shrines to take divine blessings. Eventually, the benefits of the Himalayas are countless.
Today, the Himalayas being fragile and sensitive are facing crisis, and on top of the crisis are environmental and ecological threats. Unfortunately, the existence of the Himalayas is underestimated for the integrated role of overall development of the nation. According to Dr Anil Joshi, Padam Bhushan awardee, “Himalayas have been the soul of the country by virtue of culture, ethnic, ecological and economic values. The status of forest, air, water and soil has become alarmingly grim. These resources of the Himalayas are shrinking fast as population is growing.”
Over the last few decades, we all have witnessed the great agony of the Himalayas by nature as well as by humans. Whether it was the Kedarnath disaster, Guwahati floods, Jammu & Kashmir floods, frequent landslides in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Chamoli earthquake disaster, rapid melting of glaciers, deforestation on a large scale, cracks in Joshimath where people have to leave their ancestral houses, and Silkyara tunnel landslides (labour stuck for 19 days), etc., these are noticeable evidence of the devastation depicting the sufferings of the Himalayas.
Come monsoon, and the news of landslides on slopes and hills start flashing in the newspapers every day. When you switch on to TV News channels you are subjected see troublesome, horrific and terrible pictures. Consider the combined impact of the high intensity of rain, cloudbursts, and landslides during the monsoon season. Landslides cause blocking of national highways resulting immense inconvenience to locals and pilgrims, roads subside, are damaged and wrecked, houses are buried under debris and boulders, vehicles damaged, the high intensity of rain causing floods in the streams and rivers, causeways are flooded, roads get destroyed, people get drowned in rivers, buildings are flooded, bridges fall and roads are disconnected. Landslides bring enormous quantity of debris along with them, rocks and boulders keep on falling which becomes difficult to remove manually. Recently, landslides over Varunavat mountain in Uttarkashi District (100 families affected) and cracks in the villages of Bageshwar district of Kumaon occurred have again disturbed the geologists.
Human intervention into nature all over the Himalayas is believed to be the main cause for the deteriorating situations in the mountains. The Himalayas deserve attention because they are ushering, guarding and providing resource needs of the whole nation. Save the Himalayas, Save Earth.
(Dr Surjeet Singh Khaira has been a passionate Geography teacher for 35 years. He has innovated how to teach Geography by incorporating Environment. He has authored 18 books of ICSE, and three nature books. He is Founder of the Himalayan Geographical Society and has published ten ‘The Himalayan Geographer’ magazines. He is an active member of the ‘Friends Of the Doon Society’, ‘Wildlife Preservation Society’, ‘Sanyukt Nagrik Sangathan’, and ‘Doon Citizens Council’).
