hp-has-lot-to-boast-and-introspect-too

The hill state celebrated 78th Himachal Day earlier this week with a lot to boast of and a lot to introspect on what has gone wrong over the decades.

 

Established on 15 April, 1948, Himachal Pradesh was officially recognised as a Chief Commissioner’s province of India. The date marks the beginning of its journey as a part of the Indian Union with the merger of several princely states. After this initial formation, Himachal Pradesh became the 18th state of India on January 25, 1971.

 

From a remote mountain state in the decade of 40s, Himachal Pradesh has undoubtedly become a model state in terms of road connectivity, equitable accessible access to education and health. Almost 70 percent of the people in the state are dependent on the government sector for education and health, and the state has progressed well on account of the welfare sector. The state is rich in natural beauty and is green and serene with peaceful environs, which gives it a perfect push for tourism development.

 

The state with 12 districts, including two tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti and a tribal belt in Chamba district, has 68 Assembly constituencies. Traditionally a Congress stronghold, the state saw its first non-Congress Chief Minister in Janata Party’s Shanta Kumar in 1977 and from 1985 onwards, it has been alternating power between Congress and BJP.

 

While the remote state of Himachal Pradesh undoubtedly kept pace with changing times when it comes to development and comfort living, it is somewhere losing out on the core values, which were deep-rooted in the Pahari culture, outlook, beauty and environment of a Pahari state, and the cultural essence related to goodness and integrity of hill folks at any level. The services are deteriorating in the public sector in Himachal Pradesh and the vested interests are at play in just every sphere. The state is increasingly slipping down in its performance indicators in health and education as well, with most of the institutions ailing for human resource and facilities.

 

The reasons are many, the foremost being the failure to maintain decorum in politics, bureaucracy and too much political interference in government services. The urge to turn the rural state into an urban hub with too much concretization and the consequences therein. Above all, the state, which was somewhat known for the sifarish culture is unfortunately falling in the trap of corruption as a replacement of sifarish in the system.

 

With the state having over 3 lakh government employees, the transfers have become a constant irritation in Himachal Pradesh, because the successive governments have failed to frame a rational transfer policy. Most of the time the government employees are just approaching the politicians for their adjustments and placements, because there is no system so far, and no government has shown any will so far to have a transfer policy in place for equal treatment to all.

 

“In our times, there was no political interference in the government services. I served in one school as a teacher for more than 20 years. Nobody transferred me out. Same with others. But now it’s very tough to be in a government job, especially for those who don’t have connections with influential people,” said an 80-year-old retired government teacher from Dharamshala.

 

The industrial growth in the state too has been haphazard and the successive government’s did not do any research to streamline what kind of industry the environment-rich state Himachal should have. Baddi in Solan district is a grave example, where the state has not been able to protect the environment in the quest to invite industry. The industry did give employment to many, but mostly the outsiders who grabbed the opportunity to work at lower levels. The roads are not good, there is very bad air and water pollution and the conditions are not much liveable even for the local residents.

 

The signs of development in the state could be seen in terms of the national highways and four lanes, which are coming up very fast across the length and breadth of Himachal. But how relevant it is; only time will tell, as the state has seen big disasters around the highways during the unprecedented rains in 2023 monsoons. The government found fault with the structural engineering, but the environmentalists called it a suicidal development strategy for the ecologically fragile state.

 

“We have seen how our rivers and rivulets have been tamed due to hydro projects. The biodiversity around the rivers has got damaged with rivers getting diverted into tunnels. The development model of the state is not sustainable, we can all feel. The governments should have worked on a sustainable tourism model in the nature rich state by engaging local people, instead of going in for any industry that destroys local ecology,” said Guman Singh, a local environmentalist.

 

“The slogan of Vyavastha Parivartan by the present government, would actually be successful if the government goes for some long-term measures to sustain the economy in Himachal and build systems, which help the state prosper and regain its lost position in education, health and welfare sectors in the entire country,” said a former bureaucrat.