A Journey, shortcut to Uttarakhand
It is not my journey; it is the journey of each person who ever travelled to Uttarakhand or who belongs to hill areas.
From my childhood days to till date nothing has changed we are still travelling on buses, bikes, tata sumo, and now people are also using their vehicles like car, etc. But this is not what I want to say.
I am trying to drag your attention towards the hill area’s road map. If we calculate the distance is nearly about 280 km to reach Karn Prayag (located at high altitude) from Haridwar, but it takes around 6-8 hours tiring journey to reach to the destination, but while going to Delhi it only takes 3-4 hours.
I know there is no comparison of plain root vs hill root a small kid can also answer this, in the plane area you don’t need to cover the whole area like we have to take a circle of a hill to reach the next point which we can see next to our eyes within 500 meters, and for that, we have to take an extended cut by covering 2-3 km because of the ditch.
My question starts here! why we have to take a circle of the whole hill? It is like when you are asked to hold your ear, you are holding it from the backside instead of doing it straight; you are making a circle with your hand. I know you think what we can do about this, I am not telling you to do anything even I can’t do anything, but we can do something, which will be more than anything.
I just want you to look at this topic in-depth that plays a vital role in hill migration. Anyways, I will talk about that point also but now I want you to open your eyes and look at the stats of history; It has been 74 years of Independence and 20 years of Uttarakhand state, but still, we don’t have transport facilities which we should have.
Why We Need Railway Tracks
Now the government has taken the initiative to form railway tracks to reduce the distance and hence can stop migration problem which is appreciative. Still, they need to shift the gears from bottom to top because they already have taken too much time.
Bridges Connecting Two Hills
Instead of just going through railway tracks, I suggest two more options that can create shortcuts which I use to wonder about while travelling to the village, in my childhood days, and now I think these are not just my thoughts once you must have felt the same while ever travelling to hill areas. You must have heard about ropeways, but I am talking a similar way can we have bridges connecting the two sides of hills that can reduce almost 2-3km in various elevations. One can think it is next to impossible, but we already have a few examples which I am sharing with you:
I am not an engineer. I am just a creative person who is sharing his imagination. You may differ, or you may accept this; that will be your decision. You have seen large mobile towers if you will watch the dimensions of the tower closely, you will find the base is too broad and it forms a shape of X we need 2-3 X to develop a root between two hills, instead of making it from cement other materials can be used & should be carried in raw form. It is a time-saving process that also does not harm our hills and environment.
Bridges Over The Sea
We all are aware of bridges over the sea. You don’t need to go outside; there is an excellent example of Bandra Worli sea-link, also known as Rajiv Gandhi sea link it is a bridge that links Bandra in the western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli in south Mumbai. This bridge was commissioned by the MSRDC and built by the Hindustan Constructions Company. We can pick other examples like an overseas highway (America), Jintang bridge, etc. I can give many more examples, but the motive is to tell you that if bridges can be made over the seas, why not in between two hills.
While talking about bridges between hills, we have various examples; Jaflong bridge, Singshore bridge Asia’s second-highest hanging bridge, length approx 200 meters, hang with strong rope and metal base, and a car can run smoothly.
Hammering is necessary?
Instead of hammering and making a way through between hills for railway tracks, we could choose the easy and fast method of joining two peaks with bridges. Here I am not saying one should not form railway tracks, but just speaking to choose bridges over the railway track
s in priority and the work should continue for railway tracks in parallel as we all know it will take much time to form railway tracks on the whole area.
Passengers can at least use a couple of bridges in a ready position
to shorten their ways. In contrast, making other bridges can still progress because every bridge will have a different formation, but in the case of railway tracks, one has to wait until it finishes.
Use River As A Path
Who doesn’t want to be part of the journey that can travel through the river! As we all know rivers are gifts of nature to us but still we can see the condition of Ganga and other rivers when they pass the rural areas where the point is not to make your attention towards the cleanliness but what I am trying to say is we can use our (gifts) rivers as a path.
After crossing Rishikesh (best places in Uttarakhand) I was thinking about Kausani (mini Switzerland of Uttarkhand) which is the most beautiful place in Uttarakhand, I have ever seen, anyways; while travelling towards my village, which is on top of the hills, I always think. In contrast, streaming rivers, why we can not use these rivers as our path well now when I am grown up, I can understand some decisions we can’t take as citizens. It’s our Government’s responsibility; it does not mean that the Government is doing nothing. However, still, I believe something is missed, and to fulfil the gap of 20 long years, one should think out of the box.
Now you can easily communicate how the massive migration is related to a lack of transportation facilities.
You need to pay attention towards two more important things that are treated as unimportant.
- Kafal Fruit – State fruit of Uttarakhand is treated as neighbour fruit of Uttarakhand.
- Kandali Plant – This important weed is wasted for years.
State Fruit of Uttarakhand is treated as neighbour fruit of Uttarakhand
First, I would like to talk about kafal fruit being pahadi; it is my favourite fruit that we use to shattered from the jungle. I still remember those days when we use to go to our villages during summer vacations where we the whole town shares this sour and sweet fruit as a family and my father use to make it memorable and delicious by adding mustard oil and a mixture of salt and green chillies. I know those days will never come back.
Kafal fruit is still prevalent; while travelling towards Garhwal or Kumaon, you can experience these tasty fruits. Yet, only in the month of April-May you can also meet the people selling kafal for just Rs 100 to 150 per/kg and believe me this is their one of the primary source of income. for this they eagerly wait, from their cultivation they just able to produce the food for their survival because lots of crops are being damaged by animals and apart from food there are lots of necessary things like clothes, footwears, shoes etc and for all these things one needs money.
However; the Government has registered kafal fruit as a State Fruit, but just registering it as a State fruit is enough? There should be a proper road map for the promotion of this important fruit, and if there is a good and honest road map for the promotion of kafal fruit then why we can’t see the results. Why this important fruit or product made by this fruit and its bark cannot be produced on a large scale.
Transportation is always the problem of hill areas but, rather than giving excuses, one should focus on other aspects like how to introduce the cultivation of kafal fruits, since my childhood I haven’t seen the state fruit’s cultivation in an organized way. There is hardly any organization providing help for this state fruit and if they exist! why they are not coming in front with enthusiasm.
Just declaring it as a State Fruit won’t work Government need to take some decisive steps to grow our State Fruit and our farmers.
Kandali Plant wasted for years still waiting for recognization
I am born in a Garhwali family where the Kandali plant is used to punish naughty kids, and I hardly know anything else apart from this, but we al
l know curiosity is the beginning of all wisdom so, I searched online about this plant and it changed my opinion of what I considered in my childhood days.
Kandali plant in English is known as Stinging nettle, although some people have started farming of kandali, that is not on a large scale, still a big
bunch of people is not aware of the quality of this vital weed and it is just used as an animal forage crop. While living in a village in my childhood days I have seen some old ladies use to scare kids, it as a medicine they also use it in food, I have also tasted the saag which is known as “kandali ka saag” this dish was trendy at a time you can still hear about it.
Kandali plant is one of the most productive plant (fiber) that is still waiting for appreciation from the Government. It is a naturally growing organic plant that takes only 80-90 days to get ready for cultivation, and the atmosphere of hill areas suits this breed very much.
Kandali plant can play a massive role on reverse migration but the Government has to take this golden opportunity. However one can get some help from HRI (health research institute) but this won’t be enough if Uttarakhand wants to become a big exporter of the products made by kandali.
Unless Uttarakhand does not become exporter in 2-3 crops, to global market migration problem will remain the same, and politicians will keep changing in every election. Still, their dialogues will be the same “don’t leave your places” and “don’t go away; we are with you.”
But in my opinion, it’s a hike and time has begun where ordinary people have to take the initiative. These crops do not demand much amount to start cultivation 1. Kandali plant cultivation 2. Hemp cultivation 3. Kafal cultivation. Among these kafal is the only one that takes a long time to grow, Kandali plant (80-90 days) and hemp (100-120days) take lesser time.
One should encourage farmers for kandali plant farming that is also known as stinging nettle farming, kafal fruit farming and also for hemp farming, hemp is also known as cannabis sativa.
However there is PM Kisan yojana, CM swarojgar yojana but lots of our kisan brothers are might not aware of it, or not applying, or may not getting the benefits; one just needs to search the details on the internet via google search, yahoo search, bing or through any other search engine. Here is the briefing of these yojna’s.
- PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana
- CM Swarojgar Yojana
PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana
What is PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna?
- The Pradhan Mantri Samman Nidh Yojna (PM-Kisan Yojana) came into effect on Dec 1, 2018.
- It is a government scheme through which, all small and marginal farmers will get up to Rs 6,000 per year as minimum income support.
How to register for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme?
- Farmer should visit their nearest Common Service Centres (CSCSc) for registration in the Scheme upon payment of fees. Farmers can also approach the local revenue officer (Patwari) or a nodal officer.
How to check PM Kisan payment status?
- Visit official website –> Homepage –> click on farmers corner –> click Status of self registered/ CSC farmers –> check your status
CM Swarojgar Yojana
- Prevention of job search migration from hilly and rural areas.
- Promote the youth of the state, migrants from Uttarakhand who have returned to the state of the Uttarakhand, skilled and unskilled artisans and craftsmen and educated urban and rural unemployment etc.
- Creation of employment opportunities in rural and urban areas.
Financial Assistance Under MSY Scheme
Eligibility of the Project
- Manufacturing Sector –> Project Cost Limit –> Rs 25 Lakh
- Service Area –> Project Cost Limit –> Rs 10 Lakh
- Business Sector –> Project Cost Limit –> Rs 10 Lakh
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