Uttarakhand border villages reach out to China, agencies on tenterhooks

QUICK PILL

The dissastisfaction

• Indian government has not delivered on its development promises to these villages
• The villages on the border do not even have the most basic amenities

The results

• The villagers are reaching out to China, Nepal and Tibet out of sheer frustration
• Entire villages have been abandoned as people have moved out

More in the story

• How can this be fixed?
• How bad is the situation on the border actually?

The issue of Chinese intrusions has rocked the Indian parliament time and again and the Indian agencies have been wary of villagers on the border showing any sort of empathy or affinity with the neighbouring country. They have consistently been trying to woo the villagers to prevent them from airing any camaraderie for the neighbours.

But the core issue here remains that since the Himalayan villages on the border are devoid of development and even basic amenities, voices of dissent are bound to be raised time and again.

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The latest example comes in the form of reports from the Indian Army announcing its decision to reach out to the tribals of Pin valley in Spiti area of Himachal Pradesh.

The move comes two years after some of the tribals, in their frustration about the government having failed to deliver on development, had threatened to seek Chinese help for the maintenance of dilapidated roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Ever since, authorities have escalated their efforts to reach out to the people.

While the army personnel have been delivering motivational lectures and are reportedly planning to organise medical camps in the area, the state administration has been making efforts to provide the required infrastructural facilities in the area.

Anger and frustration

Two years ago, two former pradhans of Kungri and Sagnam panchayats were arrested and slapped with sedition charges for reportedly raising 'Chalo China' slogans.

"Although aired in sheer frustration, the media reportage on the issue had come as a big jolt to the security agencies whose alarmed personnel had swarmed the area. A flood in Kiri rivulet in June 2012 had damaged a bridge that connects 13 villages of Pin valley with the rest of the state. With the government making no effort to rebuild the bridge that helped sustain local economy and the villagers risking their lives while crossing the rivulet, the anger had burst out in the form of this threat. The villagers were particularly agitated over their inability to transport their cash crop of peas. Since then the government has worked overtime to provide the area with roads, undertaking construction of a new bridge, installing mobile towers etc.," said a Spiti-based observer.

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Pin valley is a part of the Spiti river catchment, close to the Tibetan order and shares cultural affinity with villages on the other side.

The local MLA Ravi Thakur claims that it has been the initiative of the state government and not the army to usher in development there.

"The army would intervene only if the state government requests it to do so. The matter stands resolved although certain elements of the opposition BJP try to rake it up at reported intervals. We are constructing an 80 km state highway between Mudh and Bhabha villages, 2,500 bighas of land has been sanctioned for a 1,000 MW solar power plant that will come up at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore in Spiti. Another 2.5 MW plant is underway," Thakur said.

While this is an odd instance reported from Himachal Pradesh that has been successful to a large extent in addressing the concerns of border villages, the situation in Uttarakhand continues to be pretty grim.

Uttarakhand's issues

Uttarakhand is witnessing continuous exodus of people from the villages, particularly those close to Tibet and Nepal borders, much to the concern of security agencies Both the central and the state governments have failed to intervene effectively.

"Such voices airing affinity with the neighbouring countries will continue to be raised till the governments come up with a concrete plan for the villagers along the border. The governments remain quiet if affinity is shown towards countries like Myanmar or Nepal that are small and not threatening, but there is alarm in case of China and Pakistan. There are hundreds of deserted villages in the state today whose five districts share international borders. A village abandoned by just a couple of families who lived there can be called a deserted village. The average migration rate in these villages is easily around 40 per cent. The governments have failed to utilise Border Area Development Programme funds to sustain local economies," says social activist Anil Joshi who plans to undertake a second 'Gaon Bachao Yatra' across the state in September.

A glaring example is the recent attempt by the state authorities to persuade the residents of Namik village in Pithoragarh to give up their proposed 165-km march to the district headquarters against official apathy to their demands for basic amenities.

Besides roads, the authorities have promised to set auxiliary nurses midwifery (ANM) centre in the village, a facility which is presently available at Nachni located 27 km away.

The other promises include providing scholarship and welfare pension through the post office and posting teachers at the village high school.

A political and social observer in the area pointed out that Namik symbolises the plight of border villages in both Garhwal and Kumaon region.

"Can you imagine people walking 27 km in the mountains to have access to transport facilities. For essential items other than those available through the public distribution system outlet in the village they have to walk 54 km to and fro. They have to shell out eight to ten times of the retail price if they want to purchase things like common salt, clothes, soap or other goods sitting in their village because those transporting the articles on mules charge a high premium," Joshi said.

The villagers are angry as several pregnant women have lost their lives while coming to Nachni and elderly persons have to travel 37 km to a bank at Quiti near Nachni to collect their pension.

The recently elected Rajya Sabha MP from the state Pradeep Tamta is among those who have been raising such issues vociferously as a social activist as well as a politician.

He has been constantly demanding a rail link between Tanakpur to Bageshwar, the demand for which has been pending since pre- independence days.

The link is very critical not only from the angle of economical development but also from the strategic viewpoint since the area borders Nepal and China. Tamta wants the project sanctioned under Socially Desirable Rail Connectivity Proposals.

As a Lok Sabha member till 2014, he also made efforts for a trans-Himalayan highway connecting Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand saying it is very critical for the economic development, tourism promotion and also vital strategically.

"I will now be raising these issues again, particularly the dumping of the BK Chaturvedi committee report by the present Narendra Modi-led government that had called for providing two per cent of planned budget to the Himalayan states that serve as environment service providers to the country. This money would essentially go towards airing the concerns of people living in these villages. The UPA government had approved its implementation," he told Catch.

Till the time the basics reach the people on the border village, their would be noises of affinity with the neighbours coming from the hills much to the discomfort of the security agencies and political establishments.

Edited by Jhinuk Sen

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