Uttaranchal – Hill State, Hill Representation?
By: Bhupendra Kunwar
Uttaranchal was carved out as a hill state to safeguard the interested of the Hill people. Uttaranchal got statehood on 9th Nov 2000 marking the 11th hill state of Indian Republic.
In more than 5 years of journey, the interests of the Hill people couldn’t be established. If the 84th constitutional amendment that deals with the restructuring of the legislative assembly seats on the basis of population goes live, the plains will dominate the representation of the Hill state “Uttaranchal”.
Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar constitute a larger part of the Uttaranchal population. Currently the Hill districts of Uttaranchal represent 40 seats while the plains 30. However, with the new amendment in place, the distribution of seats will be exactly reversed. Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Nainital will represent 40 seats while the remaining 9 hill districts represent only 30 seats.
Current Legislative Assembly seats in Uttaranchal
Uttarakashi- 3
Chamoli – 4
Pithoragarh – 5
Bageshwar- 3
Tehri- 6
Almora- 7
Pauri- 8
Champawat- 2
Rudraprayag- 2
Dehdradun- 9
Nainital- 5
Udham Singh Nagar- 7
Haridwar- 9
———————
Total- 70
New Legislative Assembly seats distribution in Uttaranchal would be
Uttarakashi- 2
Chamoli – 3
Pithoragarh – 4
Bageshwar- 2
Tehri- 5
Almora- 2
Pauri- 2
Champawat- 2
Rudraprayag- 2
Dehdradun- 11
Nainital- 6
Udham Singh Nagar- 10
Haridwar- 12
————–
Total- 70
How fair it would be with a Hill state? The demand for having a Hill state would then make no sense. In the Uttaranchal movement, people had demanded a hill where peoples’ rights over rivers, land and forests would be safeguarded, and development would actually mean livelihood and stateliness for the common man and woman living in the remotest village of Uttaranchal.
Bhupendra is the founder member of eUttaranchal- The largest online community of Uttaranchal