Trivendra Singh Rawat,
The chief minister of Uttarakhand, tells how his government is convincing people that it is not impossible to rebuild life in the hills
kept `15 crore for this scheme, he says. This apart, districts would spend 40 per cent of their budget on helping people start entrepreneurial projects.
Under the Solar Self-Employment Scheme, people have been invited to set up 25-KW solar plants, he says. The government aims to employ 10,000 people under this. “We are also targeting 10,000 people to start bike taxi service at tourist spots. Youth will get loans to buy bikes and the government will pay interest on the loan for two years,” he says.
Though many schemes have been launched, people are not aware about them, says Katyal. The few who do, are frustrated by lengthy paperwork. A cooperative bank employee who did not wish to be named told DTE, “When people come to our bank to enquire about schemes, they are told to first open an account and deposit 20 per cent of the loan they seek. This means, if they want `5 lakh loan, they first have to deposit `1 lakh. So most people return disappointed. This apart, the borrower must have a government employee as guarantor. Who will guarantee anything during the pandemic?” But considering that migration is not new to Uttarakhand, why does the state not have a working employment generation plan ready?
THE CURSE OF MIGRATION: DECADES OLD STORY
Uttarakhand is the second state after Uttar Pradesh to have witnessed large-scale and rapid migration, states the
Interestingly, 35 per cent of the migrations happened after 2000, when the state was formed, says Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), a Delhi-based non-profit in its report “State of the Himalayan Farmers and Farming”. While 246 people migrated daily, as per IMI, 50.16 per cent of the migrations occurred due to no jobs, 15.21 per cent due to lack of education facilities and 8.83 per cent due to absence of medical facilities, says the
There were 5.61 per cent farmers who fled in distress as animals such as monkeys and pigs would regularly invade their farms and destroy standing crops.
“Farming has never been easy in the hills,” says Umacharan Baratwal, former member of