Uttarakhand: Is it ready for another mass movement?

(This write up was published in response to an ongoing thread on a web bulletin board).

[Image Source: Prayaga Org.]

The photograph has in some way, we may not like to hear it, come to symbolize "Pahaad". All one needs is a photograph of a woman in drab outfit with a bundle of wood on her head or a tied up basket on her back stuffed with grass. Nothing else defines a "Pahaad" than a woman or a group of women carrying back breaking load on their heads and their backs and smiling for the photographer. It is my understanding that the progress that a society makes and development that it experiences, is somehow reflected through the life of the womenfolks of that society. We have seen this scene in thousands of myriad photographs taken by hundreds of known and unknown photographers, since the invention of camera and film. While the camera technology has significantly improved since the inception of the photographic technology, the subjects, on the other hand, have remained the same in all the relevant terms of human development.

We must not forget that unlike Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh, Uttarakhand was the result of the decades long struggle waged by the masses without any political party in toe and without any political ideology. What started out as a lone voice emerged as the biggest peaceful mass movement the world had ever seen. The people of the state have been innovative and often relied on community based cooperative actions to build roads, micro-hydroelectrical power plant, planted trees and have done various things together towards greater communal benefit. It is my opinion that a mass movement sterile of any political ideology will falter once the main objective has been achieved. What could be that political ideology would be, I am leaving that to the readers' discretion. I might point it out here as well, that a well intentioned political ideology would have taken care of Uttarakhand and it's needs without surrendering the interests of the people, their language and their culture.

Just read the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report on Uttarakhand. Out of forty-eight hydro-electrical projects sanctioned in the last 16 years, only 10% of the projects have been completed and that rest are in various stages of construction. Uttarakhand has managed to barely produce some 418.05 MW of electrical generation, out of the projected electricity generation of 2423.10 MW. The CAG report says that 52% of Uttarakhand's own needs are met by its own power resources while it has to import or buy electricity from outside to meet the remaining part of electricity needs. So there goes our "Urja Pradesh" (or Energy State) slogan. It is not "Urja Pradesh" but rather an "Ujda Pradesh" (ruined state). So, sensing that I am going a bit off track, nevertheless I thought to share it with the readers here.

If the delimitation inspire another popular uprising, then it is only inevitable that such a thing would occur. The fighting spirit of the people of Uttarakhand will be tested once again, as they are being cunningly manipulated into the role of lesser important entity. The only saving grace for the Indian nation is, that chances of Uttarakhandis joining hands with anti-India forces is remote, yet they can send enough shivers down the spine of the Indian policymakers sitting in New Delhi. Proximity to China and Maoist Nepal (Darchula in western Nepal is a Maoist stronghold) can run enough scares in New Delhi. It is to be seen, whichever way the Uttarakhandis choose, but whatever be it, it would be borne out of frustration, feeling of being neglected, manipulated and tossed around by all and sundry of national politics.

India: World's 3rd Most Powerful Nation

My Underwood is still having some problems. Of late, it has not been typing properly. The ribbon holder does not exactly pushes itself up when the typebar strikes the platen and hence the letters are not getting properly imprinted on the paper.

India third most powerful nation, says US report

Anyway, let me state what I see through this. I do not know what the American think-tank was thinking, when they declared that India is the world's third power after themselves (of course!) and China. Well, they claim to have taken several "insights" from experts from various countries and have conjured up fictional future scenarios to put up the theory. Fictional future scenarios would be as scientific as children's fairy tales. India's ranking in Human Development Index stands at 134. On the Global Hunger Index, India ranks at 66, whereas on that scale Sri Lanka and Pakistan are well ahead of India in rankings at 39 and 61 respectively. The GDP (PPP) per capita ranking of India is at 121 (World Bank) and 128 (IMF). Of course, one could say that India's clout has arisen in the international arena and that India can now boast of 57 billionaires, which in affect shows the that India is progressing and catching up real fast. While, it is true that India has billionaires, the poverty has also increased at alarming levels, especially post-1991 economic liberalization. What good is it to have billionaires affording world class luxuries, while grain is rotting in the godowns and warehouses across the country and people are dying of hunger, malnutrition and have no access to health care, education and accommodation. We have spent some Rs. 3500 crore to organize the Common Wealth Games, most of which has ended up in the pockets of the corrupt ministers, bureaucrats and businessmen. While the budget has shot up by 250% since it's initial estimate, yet nothing seems that will get completed on time. The CWG has come to symbolize how corruption has sunk into the national consciousness and that people hardly care if the likes of Suresh Kalmadi and Co. are making good of their greed. Suresh Kalmadi attacked Mani Shankar Aiyyar when he said he wanted the CWG to fail and called Aiyyar an anti-national. Well, who is the real anti-national here? The whistle-blower or the minister who was writing checks to pay firms that never existed?

A real super power is a country where every section of the society, every individual citizen is taken care of, where every penny every action can be accounted for and justice is dispensed as honestly and as early as possible. We do not find those things in the contemporary Indian context and hence we know that India is NOT global power but a third rate "wanna be".

The Typewriter