Uttaranchal

Uttarakhand (Hindi: उत्तराखण्ड or उत्तराखंड Uttar + Akhand i.e. North + Section or Segment),is a state located in the northern part of India. The state is the origin of national river of the India i.e. Ganga. Vyas Maharishi author of Mahabharat is believed to have lived in the caves of Uttarakhand. It was known as Uttaranchal. Uttarakhand became the 27th state of the Republic of India on November 9, 2000 ¹.

Uttarakhand borders Tibet to the north, Nepal to the east, and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (of which it formed a part before 2000) in the west and south respectively. The region is traditionally referred to as Uttarakhand in Hindu scriptures and old literature, a term which derives from the Sanskrit for Northern Country or Section. With an area of 20,682 sq mi (53,566 km²).

In January 2007, the name of the state was officially changed from Uttaranchal, its interim name, to Uttarakhand, according to the wishes of a large section of its people. The provisional capital of Uttarakhand is Dehradun which is also a rail-head and the largest city in the region. The small hamlet of Gairsen has been mooted as the future capital owing to its geographic centrality but controversies and lack of resources have led Dehradun to remain provisional capital. The High Court of the state is in Nainital.

Recent developments in the region include initiatives by the state government to capitalise on handloom and handicrafts, the burgeoning tourist trade as well as tax incentives to lure high-tech industry to the state. The state also has big-dam projects, controversial and often criticised in India, such as the very large Tehri dam on the Bhagirathi-Bhilangana rivers, conceived in 1953 and about to reach completion.² Uttarakhand is also well known as the birthplace of the Chipko environmental movement,³ and a myriad other social movements including the mass agitation in the 1990s that led to its formation.

History

Uttarakhand is both the new and traditional name of the state that was formed from the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. Literally North Country or Section in Sanskrit, the name of Uttarakhand finds mention in the early Hindu scriptures as the combined region of Kedarkhand and Manaskhand. Uttarakhand was also the ancient Puranic term for the central stretch of the Indian Himalayas. Its peaks and valleys were well known in ancient times as the abode of gods and goddesses and source of the Ganga River. Today, it is often called "the Land of the Gods" (Dev Bhoomi) because of the presence of a multitude of Hindu pilgrimage spots. The Pauravas, Kushanas, Kunindas, Guptas, Katyuris, Palas, the Chands, and Parmaras or Panwars and the British have ruled Uttarakhand in turns.⁴

The region was originally settled by Kols, an aboriginal people of the Dravidian physical type who were later joined by Indo-Aryan Khas tribes that arrived from the northwest by the Vedic period. At that time, present-day Uttarakhand also served as a haunt for Rishis and Sadhus. It is believed that Sage Vyasa scripted the Mahabharata here as the Pandavas are believed to have traveled and camped in the region. Among the first major dynasties of Garhwal and Kumaon were the Kunindas in the 2nd century B.C. who practiced an early form of Shaivism. They traded salt with Western Tibet. It is evident from the Ashokan edict at Kalsi in Western Garhwal that Buddhism made inroads in this region. Folk shamanic practices deviating from Hindu orthodoxy also persisted here. However, Garhwal and Kumaon were restored to nominal Brahmanical rule due to the travails of Shankaracharya and the arrival of migrants from the plains. In the fourth century, the Kunindas gave way to the Naga Dynasties. Between the 7th and 14th centuries, the Katyuri dynasty of Khas origin dominated lands of varying extent from the Katyur (modern day Baijnath) valley in Kumaon. Other peoples of the Tibeto-Burman group known as Kiratas are thought to have settled in the northern highlands as well as in pockets throughout the region, and believed to be the ancestors to the modern day Bhotiya, Raji, Buksha, and Tharu peoples.⁵

Kumaon with headquarters at Nainital. Area 35,136 km²; pop. (1901), 1,207,030, showing an increase of less than 2% in the decade. Kumaon proper constituted an old Rajput principality, which became extinct at the beginning of the 19th century. For some time region was ruled by Gorkhas. But People of Kumaon fought them valiantly. At that time, India was divided and nobody came to help them. With their courage, wisdom and their ever indomitable spirit, and help from British, they finally defeated the Gorkhas,who earlier seemed invincible ,and opened the way for the liberation of Garhwal from the oppressive Gorkha rule.Inspired by their bravery the British granted on the people of Kumaon the title of [martial race]. Later, the region was annexed by the British in 1815, and was governed for seventy years on the non-regulation system by three administrators, Mr. Traill, Mr J. H. Batten and Sir Henry Ramsay. In 1891 the division was composed of the three districts of Kumaon, Garhwal and the Tarai; but the two districts of Kumaon and the Tarai were subsequently redistributed and renamed after their headquarters, Nainital and Almora.

Kumaonis have been famous for their valour, their courage was legendary, their honour indomitable. Kumaonis had helped the British in their efforts against the Gurkhas in the Nepal War. Kumaonis were observed by the British to be fighting from both sides the British as well as the Gorkha side, their valour was thus given recognition by the British and were included in the British Army. It is interesating to know that the famous 3rd Gorkha regiment was known as the Keemaon battalion when it was formed and it included Kumaonis along with the Gorkhas. They showed their exceptional courage in the Indo-Chinese War, the Battle of Rezang La has been proverbial for valour.

By the medieval period, the region was consolidated under the Garhwal Kingdom in the west and the Kumaon Kingdom in the east. From the 13th-18th century, Kumaon prospered under the Chand Rajas who had their origins in the plains of India. During this period, learning and new forms of painting (the Pahari school of art) developed.⁶ Modern-day Garhwal was likewise unified under the rule of Parmar/Panwar Rajas, who along with a mass migration of Brahmins and Rajputs, also arrived from the plains.⁷ In 1791, the expanding Gurkha Empire of Nepal, overran Almora, the seat of the Kumaon Kingdom. In 1803, the Garhwal Kingdom also fell to the Gurkhas. With the conclusion of the Anglo-Nepalese War in 1816, a rump portion of the Garhwal Kingdom was reestablished from Tehri, and eastern British Garhwal and Kumaon ceded to the British as part of the Treaty of Sugauli.

In the post-independence period, the Tehri princely state was merged into Uttar Pradesh state, where Uttarakhand composed the Garhwal and Kumaon Divisions.⁸ Until 1998, Uttarakhand was the name most commonly used to refer to the region, as various political groups including most significantly the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Uttarakhand Revolutionary Party est. 1979), began agitating for separate statehood under its banner. Although the erstwhile hill kingdoms of Garhwal and Kumaon were traditional rivals with diverse lingual and cultural influences due to the proximity of different neighbouring ethnic groups, the inseparable and complementary nature of their geography, economy, culture, language, and traditions created strong bonds between the two regions.⁹ These bonds formed the basis of the new political identity of Uttarakhand, which gained significant momentum in 1994, when demand for separate statehood (within the Union of India) achieved almost unanimous acceptance among the local populace as well as political parties at the national level.¹⁰ Most notable incident during this period was the Rampur Tiraha firing case on the night of October 1, 1994, which led to public uproar and eventually to the division of the state of Uttar Pradesh in 1998 ¹¹.

However, the term Uttaranchal came into use when the BJP-led central and Uttar Pradesh state governments initiated a new round of state reorganization in 1998 and introduced its preferred name. Chosen for its allegedly less separatist connotations, the name change generated enormous controversy among the rank and file of the separate state activists who saw it as a political act ¹², however they were not quite as successful as Jharkhand state that successfully thwarted a similar move to impose the name Vananchal. Nevertheless, the name Uttarakhand remained popular in the region, even while Uttaranchal was promulgated through official usage.

In August 2006, India's Union Cabinet assented to the four-year-old demand of the Uttaranchal state assembly and leading members of the Uttarakhand movement to rename Uttaranchal state as Uttarakhand. Legislation to that effect was passed by the State Legislative Assembly in October 2006,¹³ and the Union Cabinet brought in the bill in the winter session of Parliament. The bill was passed by Parliament and signed into law by the President in December 2006. Since then, Uttarakhand denotes a state in the Union of India.

Demographics

According to 2001 India census, Uttarakhand had a population of approximately of 8.48 million. A population exceeding 10 million is expected by the next census of 2011. The native people of Uttarakhand are generally called either Kumaonior Garhwali depending on their place of origin in either the Garhwal or Kumaon region. Colloquially they are also referred to as Pahari meaning "hill person". Another well known category is Gujjar, cattle herders in the southwestern Terai.

Kumaoni and Garhwali dialects of Central Pahari are spoken in Kumaon and Garhwal region respectively. Jaunsari and Bhotiya dialects are also spoken by tribal communities in the west and north respectively. The urban population however converses mostly in Hindi.

Hindus form the majority of the population at 85.0%, Muslims form 12.0%, Sikhs 2.5% and Christians, Buddhists, Jains and others about 0.5%. It has male-female ratio of 964 and has a literacy rate of 72%. The largest cities in the state are :Dehradun (530,263), Haridwar (220,767), Haldwani (158,896), Roorkee (115,278) and Rudrapur (88,720). The state government recognizes 15,620 villages and 81 cities and urban areas.

Geography

Uttarakhand has a total geographic area of 51,125 km², of which 93% is mountainous and 64% is covered by forest. Most of the northern parts of the state are part of Greater Himalaya ranges, covered by the high Himalayan peaks and glaciers, while the lower foothills were densely forested till denuded by the British log merchants and later, after independence, by forest contractors. Recent efforts in reforestation, however, have been successful in restoring the situation to some extent. The unique Himalayan ecosystem plays host to a large number of animals (including bharal, snow leopards, leopards and tigers), plants and rare herbs. Two of India's mightiest rivers, the Ganga and the Yamuna take birth in the glaciers of Uttarakhand, and are fed by myriad lakes, glacial melts and streams in the region.¹⁴

Uttarakhand lies on the south slope of the mighty Himalaya range, and the climate and vegetation vary greatly with elevation, from glaciers at the highest elevations to tropical forests at the lower elevations. The highest elevations are covered by ice and bare rock. The Western Himalayan Alpine Shrub and Meadows ecoregion lies between 3000-3500 and 5000 meters elevation; tundra and alpine meadows cover the highest elevations, transitioning to Rhododendron-dominated shrublands below. The Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests lie just below the tree line; at 3000-2600 meters elevation they transition to the Western Himalayan broadleaf forests, which lie in a belt from 2,600 to 1,500 meters elevation. Below 1500 meters elevation lies western end of the drier Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands belt, and the Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests. This belt is locally known as Bhabhar. These lowland forests have mostly been cleared for agriculture, but a few pockets remain.¹⁵

Government and Politics

The Chief Minister is B.C. Khanduri. The last state elections in Uttarakhand were held on February 21, 2007. The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the largest party with 34 seats in the 70-seat legislature. One seat short of forming a majority, the BJP have had to rely on support from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and the three independents to form the government. The Indian National Congress is the official opposition, holding 21 seats.

Districts

Important Cities

Economy

Uttarakhand's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $6 billion in current prices. Born out of partition of Uttar Pradesh, the new state of Uttarakhand produces about 8% of the output of the old Uttar Pradesh state. Consolidated Finvest and Holdings, a S&P CNX 500 conglomerate has its corporate office in Uttarakhand. It reported a gross income of Rs.137 million for 2005.^{citation needed}

In 2003, a new industrial policy for the state with generous tax benefits for investors was initiated that has led to a massive upsurge of capital investment. SIDCUL, the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (sic) has established seven industrial estates in the southern periphery of the state, while dozens of hydroelectric dams are being built in the upper reaches. However, hill development remains an uphill challenge as out migration of local peoples continues from the highland hinterlands.

Tourism

To Uttarakhand, long called "abode of the gods" (Devbhumi), belong some of the holiest Hindu shrines, and for more than a thousand years, pilgrims have been visiting the region in the hopes of salvation and purification from sin. Gangotri and Yamunotri, the sources of both the Ganges and Yamuna fall in the upper reaches of the state and together with Badrinath (dedicated to Vishnu) and Kedarnath (dedicated to Shiva) form the Chardham of Uttarakhand, one of Hinduism most spiritually auspicious pilgrimage circuits. Rishikesh near Haridwar is known as the preeminent yoga centre of India while the spectacular view from Hemkund is of special significance to Sikhs. In addition, the state has an abundance of temples and shrines, many dedicated to local deities or manifestations of Shiva and Durga, references to many of which can be found in Hindu scriptures and legends.¹⁶ The architecture of most of these temples is typical of the region and slightly different from other parts of India, the ancient temples at Jageshwar being the most prominent for their distinct architectural features. Tibetan Buddhism has also made itself felt with the recent reconstruction of Mindroling Monastery and its Buddha Stupa, touted as the world's highest¹⁷, southwest of Dehradun.

Education

Uttarakhand has educational institutions of major importance to India and the world. It is home to the oldest engineering college in Asia, the Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee (formerly University of Roorkee). Other universities and institutes of prime importance include Dehradun Institute of Technology, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun,a domain Specific University in the field of Energy, Transportation and infrastructure, H.N.B. Garhwal University in Srinagar, Kumaun University in Nainital and Almora, G. B. Pant University in Pantnagar, Gurukula Kangri University in Haridwar, new Doon University in Dehradun,Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College,Pauri, and Kumaon Engineering College ,Dwarhat. Garhwal and Kumaun Universities were founded in 1973 as part of the upsurge of regional sentiment that led to the Uttarakhand statehood.

The hill stations of Uttarakhand are also home to several reputed boarding schools including the Doon School (Dehradun), Woodstock School (Mussoorie), Birla Vidya Niketan (Nainital), G D Birla Memorial School(Ranikhet), St. Joseph's College(Nainital) and Sherwood College(Nainital). Several Indian luminaries attended these schools including former prime ministers and film stars.

Historically, Uttarakhand is believed to be the land where the Vedas and the Shastras were composed and the great epic, the Mahabharata, was written. Rishikesh is widely considered the Yoga capital of the world.

Long List of Famous Uttarakhandis

?Uttarakhand India

Coordinates: 30°03′N 79°19′E / 30.05, 79.31
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area	53,566 km² (20,682 sq mi)
Capital	Dehradun
Largest city	Dehradun
District(s)	13
Population • Density • Literacy rate	8,479,562 (19th) • 158 /km² (409 /sq mi) • 72%
Language(s)	Hindi, Kumaoni,Garhwali
Governor	Banwari Lal Joshi
Chief Minister	B C Khanduri
Established	9 November of 2000
Legislature (seats)	Unicameral (71^‡)
ISO abbreviation	IN-UL
Website: ua.nic.in
^† Dehradun is the provisional capital of the state. The new capital has not yet been chosen. ^‡ 70 (elected) + 1 (nominated Anglo-Indian)
Seal of Uttarakhand

State animal	Musk Deer
State bird	Monal
State tree	Rhododendron
State flower	Brahma Kamal

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