Even after 72 years of independence, we have failed to formulate a concrete policy for the 12 states of India under the umbrella of the Himalayas.
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In the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi meditated in an ice-covered cave in Kedarnath. Many criticized it. There was nothing wrong with preaching politics. Perhaps there is reason to believe that Modi was recalling the promises he made to the Himalayan states in his manifesto at that time. This is because the Bharatiya Janata Party, which came to power at the Center for the second time in a row with a big mandate, has given many promises to the people of the Himalayan states during the campaign. Now is the right time to take actions and materialise those promises about environmental protection.
72 years have passed since independence. It is unfortunate that during this period, no central government has tried to formulate policies with 12 states under the umbrella of the Himalayas at the center. In these 12 states stretching from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, many of the problems are the same as they were before independence. However, their size has changed. Population decline in Nagaland and Himachal Pradesh has become a major obstacle to development there. At the same time, increasing population, rapid urbanization, constant changes in the area under crops, unauthorized mining have led to drastic depletion of ecosystems and natural resources in some regions of Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Assam.
This type of environmental degradation has led to a spate of natural disasters in the Himalayan states, such as flash floods, forest fires, earthquakes and landslides. This is due to the growing human intervention in these natural regions along with unplanned development! The mountains here are delicate, secluded, sparse and multifaceted. It is time to close the gap between the promises of development and the actions taken in that direction.
Before the trumpet of the Lok Sabha elections, that is, earlier this year, the Bharatiya Janata Party was the only party in its manifesto to give a separate place to the Himalayan states. The BJP had announced a green bonus in its manifesto to protect forests in the Himalayan states as well as promote afforestation. But in the announcement of this green bonus, many questions remained unanswered, such as: On what points will the bonus be given? What is conservation of forests and promotion of afforestation? Whose responsibility is it? While conserving a certain percentage of forest is the norm, it is certainly not good news for Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland. Because more than 70 percent of all these states are covered by forests. However, the rate of deforestation is also higher in these states.
Even if the percentage of forest cover is fixed for each state, it will definitely be less than the percentage of land under the existing forest cover. Therefore, opening up some of these forests to human intervention would be an invitation to crisis. In addition, the local tribes are very much involved in the conservation and conservation of the existing forests. Therefore, it is unclear how much of the green bonus incentives for forestry will go from the state bureaucracy to the local tribal leaders. In addition to this murky environment, the participation of local tribes in the forest management process has been given a secondary place in the draft of the new forest policy.
In the Himalayan states, the northeastern states were given a more lenient measure in the BJP's manifesto through the Purvodaya Yojana. Although it discusses sustainable social development in mountainous states and the resolution of conflicts, it appears that the exploitation of resources, especially through hydropower projects, has been the focus of development. The rivers that originate in the Himalayas are perennial, so there is scope for large scale hydropower projects in the Himalayan states. However, the lack of scientific study of the impact of such projects on the environment and its effects, and the divine history of rehabilitation and displacement of dam victims, and therefore the opposition of the locals to such projects, have become a matter of concern.
While showing sensitivity towards natural ecosystems, the BJP's manifesto gave more priority to the development of Northeast India. But there is not a single line in the manifesto regarding the human rights violations and atrocities against the people displaced by the hydropower projects in the Northeast. Therefore, the proposal to complete the necessary procedures for the environmental clearance of hydropower projects would be tantamount to stigmatizing the plight of these displaced persons.
It is unfortunate that even after 72 years of independence, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the environment in the hilly region. There is uniformity in the Centre's policy towards these states. So far, only economic backwardness or insurgency control in these states has been given priority. So the fact that perhaps the failure in the management of mountain ecosystems is the root cause of such a situation, ignoring this fact, is a fact. You can go ahead and further read the Environmental Disaster and Fashion Industry
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