The recent outrageous behaviour of ABVP-affiliated students at Garhwal and Kumaon Universities who ransacked their respective administrative offices has brought to the fore the growing lawlessness and impunity which the ruling party’s outfits are imposing on the state. The ABVP in this case are acting as stormtroopers for the government as it runs into tough opposition to its higher education policy that attempts to politicize the university administration with a direct attack on academic freedom. The Garhwal Post writes about this troubling trend in the following hard hitting editorial.

Lead Editorial
Garhwal Post, August 6, 2008

Anybody who has been confronted in the middle of the night by drunken cops, with their identification tags off, knows how difficult it is to deal with the situation. One can counter miscreants with maximum force and ‘extreme prejudice’ in such a situation, but one’s hands are bound when it comes to dealing with men in uniform.

Such is the authority and majesty of the uniform. However, in India, there is so much of corruption and such political misuse of the police force that the average citizen holds the cop in complete contempt. The cop is considered just someone who has to be got past; the most convenient way being exercise of influence or by greasing the palm. Politicians rise to power not through convincing argument but by a constant process of challenging the police force on various morchas. When the politician does come to power, the natural instinct remains that of hostility. Having braved the cop’s arrogance and lathi blows, the politician wants payback and on the street. [read more]

Movement continues in Reni village

By Our Staff Reporter
Garhwal Post, August 6, 2008

Joshimath, 5 Aug: Scene one: On 26 March 1974, Gaura Devi with other women of Reni village in Chamoli Garhwal hogged worldwide attention by adopting a noble non-violent method of saving trees by hugging them and saying, “First cut us, before cutting down our trees.”

Scene two: The forest that made Reni famous worldwide now faces the hard test of time. This time, a hydropower project has emerged as a threat to Reni village and its forests.

Reni villagers have launched a movement against the Rishi Ganga Hydel Power Project. They have been staging demonstrations against the project since 2006. They allege that the blasting done for the project has ruined their peace. The blasting has resulted in erosion and the historic place from where the Chipko Movement gained fame is now in total neglect.
Continue reading ‘From Gaura Devi to Rishi Ganga Hydel Project’

By Our Staff Reporter
Garhwal Post, August 4, 2008

Ramnagar, 3 Aug: The Uttarakhand Parivartan Abhiyan has held a two day political meeting in Ramnagar. The main aim of the meeting was to build a political alternative in the state.
The Central Convener of the Abhiyan, PC Tiwari, addressed the meeting and said that the Congress, BJP and UKD were responsible for the poor condition of the state. There existed, at the present, a political vacuum in the state. So, the Abhiyan would participate in the coming Panchayat elections and try to establish a government of the people.

Prabhat Dhyani said that the Abhiyan would struggle with the help of democratic powers to change the faulty system in the state. Convener Pratap Singh said that the Abhiyan would participate not just in the Panchayat but also the Parliamentary elections, thereby building a new political alternative in the state.

The Uttarakhand Parivartan Abhiyan has adopted proposals at the meeting such as participation in the elections with the slogan of ‘Panchayat Nahi Gram Sarkar Chahiye’, to stop the exploitation of social and political activists, stop the big hydel projects, decentralisation of government for the establishment of three tier democracy. It would also ask the BJP government to issue a white paper on crime and accidents in the state.

Govind Lal Verma, Raghu Tiwari, Sudama Sarkar, Hem Chandra Joshi, Prem Shankar, Devendra Kumar, Koshal Pant, Piyushkant Viswas, Diwan Singh Bisht, Bachi Singh Bisht, Mukesh Bahuguna, etc., were present at the meeting.

The following informed commentary by Devesh Pant on the government’s decision to privatise hydro plants throughout Uttarakhand should arouse concern and action to thwart the “colossal” sell out of Uttarakhand’s patrimony at fire-sale prices.

To the Editor, The Garhwal Post,

Sir,

Today’s front page news should arouse every Uttarakhandi. Selling off Uttarakhand’s Hydro-Power houses is putting a knife into our very hearts so to say. Cheap power was the gift which these Power Stations have presented to Uttarakhandis. These were the perpetual gold-mines, which have benefited Uttarakhandis because of their very low generation cost @ 29 Paise or so.

It is incredible that a sane Government can think of privatising them. Cheap power will dissappear the moment private parties grab these stations.

This smacks of Grand Larceny - a colossal conspiracy to steal our precious resources. A public-spirited drive to prevent this happening spearheaded by The Garhwal Post is URGENTLY called for. I am sure a PIL could be filed to prevent this and simultaneously the present Government must be brought to account.
Continue reading ‘Say No to the Fire-Sale of Uttarakhand’s Hydro Assets’

State Pulse, Central Chronicle, July 11, 2008

Tapping energy or sapping the Himalayas - report by Chandi Prasad Bhatt, eminent activist and environmentalist

A series of dams are being planned on the Ganga between the Gangotri glacier and Uttarkashi to generate hydropower. The government has an economic agenda that requires huge amount energy. Well, it can go ahead, but only after it has satisfied me on seven counts.

There should be a detailed, in-depth study of the geology and the structures, by a team of scientists whose credential is proven and who should be inducted from reputed research organizations. There should be an inventory of both active and old landslide deposits at the project sites. Sediments going to be flushed into rivers that are already sediment- laden must be estimated. This inventory will help assess the threat of inundation downstream.

For a long time now, I have been requesting a specific kind of study. The area the projects are coming up in has experienced two major earthquakes in the last decade. But, till today, except for some work related to an increase in landslides, it is still not known how these quakes changed the terrain. Thus, there should be a study that give us an insight into the nature and distribution of fractures and fissures prior to the earthquakes, and after. This is essential: we must avoid incidents like Bhenti and Varnawart, deadly landslides where entire villages were swept away.

Continue reading ‘Uttarakhand: The last 125 km’

Dehradun, June 21 (IANS) Noted environmentalist G.D. Agarwal and fellow activists, on a hunger strike since June 13 to protest construction of dams on the river Ganga, had to wind up their agitation Saturday evening after a crowd of 400 people shouted slogans against them. “The demonstrators were virtually gheraoed (cricled) by the crowd who claimed themselves to be locals and said stoppage of the dams would harm their interests and of the people of the hill state,” Vyomesh Chitranvansh, a spokesperson for the fasting activists, told IANS on phone.

The crowd reportedly consisted of former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s supporters.

The demonstrators would leave for Delhi Sunday morning. “But the agitation would continue and Agarwal says he will continue his fast in the national capital though his health had deteriorated,” he said. [more]

Business Standard, Shishir Prashant / New Delhi/Dehra Dun June 20, 2008, 0:55 IST

The Uttarakhand government today decided to stave off the construction of its two major hydel projects — 480 Mw Pala Maneri and 400 Mw Bhairon Ghati — on the Bhagirathi river.
The decision came following a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister B C Khanduri, a top state government official said.

The move follows lingering controversy over the indefinite fast of Dr G D Agrawal, a top environmentalist since June 13, which had put considerable pressure on the BJP government with the Sangh Parivar outfits also lending their full support. [more]

Steel Guru, June 16, 2008

As the save Bhagirathi campaign gathers momentum with Mr GD Agrawal, a top environmentalist, beginning his fast unto death, the Uttarakhand government said that it is not in favor of constructing big hydel projects. A state government spokesman said that the government would permit the construction of only run of the river projects and that it was against the Tehri type dams.

Mr Agrawal’s move came in the wake of a series of protests by local people, who are on the verge of being uprooted at several places following the construction of these dams. The dams include 480 MW Pala Maneri, 304 MW Maneri Bhali Phase 11, 600 MW Lohari Nagpala, 400 MW Koteshwar, 381 MW Bhairon Ghati and 200 MW Jad Ganga. [more]

Press Trust Of India
Dehra Dun, June 11, 2008

Amid mounting protests against hydel projects on Bhagirathi river in Uttarakhand, twenty women social activists were held on Wednesday for allegedly trying to disrupt a rally of Chief Minister BC Khanduri in the hill town of Uttarkashi.

Police said the women activists, holding banners and black flags, barged into a public meeting, which was being addressed by Khanduri at Ramlila ground in Uttarkashi town.

They said they rounded up all the activists, who were shouting slogans against Khanduri and calling for ban on all the major hydel projects on the Bhagirathi, a move, which they claimed, would wipe out the identity of the holy river. [more]

In another ludicrous blow to free speech and civil liberties, a group of European and American tourists have been told to leave the country because of their participation in Tibet protests in Uttarakhand. From the persecution of journalist Prashant Rahi to the inhuman imprisonment of Daniel Robinson last year, local officials of the Indian and state government are demonstrating an increasingly poor understanding of democracy. Below, is a Times of India editorial on the whole ordeal.

Hypocrites at Work
Times of India, May 29, 2008

The quit notice served on five foreigners who joined a Tibetan protest march shows Indian democracy in poor light.

The tourists, who are from the US and Europe, were served notices in Uttarakhand after they had taken part in a peaceful march organised by Tibetans. According to the government, the tourists had violated visa rules which forbid them from taking part in any “religious activity”. The government action smacks of hypocrisy.

The prohibition on religious activity by foreign tourists is to prevent them from propagating their religion and possibly converting people to their faith. Those who took part in the Tibetan march can hardly be accused of being involved in proselytising. The government used the flimsy excuse of “religious activity” to serve expulsion orders. [more]