Securing Uttarakhand’s Hills: Special Laws, Land Battles and a Growing Crisis

There is a need to protect the land, identity, and interests of the people living in the hills of Uttarakhand. There is a demand by various groups to have a special land law that does not allow outsiders to buy or purchase land under any pretext. They want the government to bring a special domicile act with a baseline of 1950 so that the land is not transferred to outsiders as is being done these days.

Need for Special Land Laws: Protecting the Hills from Overexploitation, Not Targeting Communities

While these demands are genuine, there is also a campaign going on from various handles that are just pushing how the Muslim population is growing multifold in Uttarakhand. These handles always look for any issue concerning Muslims and make it a huge challenge. Unfortunately, many activists and intellectuals are also using this to push their argument to bring special land laws. Does Uttarakhand need a special land law to protect it from Muslims, or is the issue different and requires serious introspection?

Many of the leaders want ST status for the hill people, and numerous others are asking for the state to be put under Schedule V. Unfortunately, these are just wish lists without understanding or even seriously introspecting the things. The thing is that Uttarakhand hills are at unease because, in the coming years, they are going to reduce seats due to delimitation exercises. Hills will become a minority in the future, and the whole theory of a hills state will just end unless the government continues to consider the issue based on geographical location and not based on population.

Reimagining Representation: Ensuring Political Voice for the Hill Communities

First, the Uttarakhand activist should know that it has never been an issue of Pahadi versus Muslims but the original thing was Pahadi versus Desi. The whole narrative of the Muslim population increasing is based on demographic profiles selectively being used from Manglaur and other bordering towns with Saharanpur districts, where Muslims have a sizable presence. It is a historical fact, and those who annexed these regions to Uttarakhand from Uttar Pradesh should have known these facts. A similar thing happened with Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar when Sikh groups protested against merging with the state. One must understand that when Uttarakhand state was being carved out, people opposed the merging of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar in Uttarakhand. The political leaders of that time wanted many more places. Thank God, Saharanpur, Najibabad, or Muzaffarnagar were not included; otherwise, the whole meaning of a hill state meant to protect and preserve Uttarakhand and its hill identity would have been lost.

Simply, plains have bigger populations, and hills can accommodate so many people. Now, hills have lots of pressure, and there is almost a negative growth of population, while the population in plains is growing multifold. So not merely Muslims are growing, but the Hindus too are growing. A state can’t have two laws: one for the Pahadi people and the other for the Desi people. Uttarakhand’s laws for SC-ST are rarely implemented. The OBCs have not got their due, and the government has declared many areas as OBCs. Jaunsar is declared as an ST area, which is unconstitutional. Jaunsaris are not tribals. It is not a tribal identity but a regional identity where all Jaati people live, but Jaunsar’s ST status benefitted the Brahmins and Thakurs living in the area. Shockingly, the SC-ST act is not implementable as the entire region is declared ST. There is more violence against Dalits in Jaunsar than in any other region. Will the netas of the movement speak about this?

Beyond Pahadi versus Desi: Addressing Internal Inequalities and Misguided Campaigns

How can the entire state be declared as ST when they are not? Yes, the Chipko movement was that of the Scheduled Tribes, but how was this movement co-opted by the Brahmanical elite of the state, which carefully sidelined the tribal leadership and diverted the attention? New netas became bigger than the movement, and it lost its earlier shine. It was converted into a mere hugging tree movement, a romanticisation of the entire thing while ignoring the whole issue was access to forest produce when big companies were allowed to cut the trees and plunder the forests.

The only way for Uttarakhand hills to protect itself is by asking the government to declare districts of Pauri, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Tihari, Uttarkashi, Nainital, Champawat, Bageshwar, and Pithaurgarh as special hill districts and ask the central government to put them under Schedule VI, as happens in the North East. Schedule VI is meant for the North East only, but the government can make laws for other states. None can stop them. Recently, even the tribal commission wanted Ladakh to be put under Schedule VI, which creates autonomous hill councils which have district councils with enough rights.

Uttarakhand state will have to follow what others do, hence at a certain point in time, the political representation for the plain people will increase and then there will be a crisis because the motive and philosophy of the hill state will be defeated. The only way is to make the hill districts protected areas under Schedule VI and create a hill council which is based on the political representation of the elected representative.

Uttarakhand government should also follow and implement Land Ceiling Laws in the Tarai and Haridwar-Dehradun districts. Get after the ceiling land and use it for public purposes. Land sales in the name of hotels, resorts, and any other commercial activities should completely be stopped in the hill regions. Anyway, who is trying to create a Muslim crisis in Uttarakhand is diverting the attention from the bigger issue, which is Pahad versus Maidan. Uttarakhand will have to handle it. Protect the hill regions and make specific laws so that the serenity and purity of our rivers and mountains remain intact. Uttarakhand needs stricter environmental laws so that our natural heritage is protected.

The issue of protection of hills is important as it is the lifeline of India’s biggest river system hence important that we ensure stricter laws but at the same point in time, we must not allow the crisis to be diverted to deliberately creating religious polarization. Uttarakhand government and political leaders must agree to a caste census and a broader socio-economic survey of the state which can reflect on ownership of land, jobs etc in government,  farming communities and a categorical figure of SC, ST, OBC and different minorities in the state. Nobody should be allowed to spread hatred through rumour-mongering and creating fear psychosis. To stop all such dangerous campaigns, a socioeconomic survey and caste census are the only answers. I hope people and the political leadership of Uttarakhand listen to this and act.