Kangana Ranaut seeks memorial for HP’S apple pioneer Stokes
SHIMLA: Actor Kangana Ranaut has urged the Himachal Pradesh government to build a memorial dedicated to Samuel Evan Stokes, later known as Satyanand Stokes, the American missionary who pioneered applegrowing in the state.
Today, HP’S fruit economy is pegged at ₹6,000 crore. But it all started with Stokes introducing viable apple cultivation at Barubagh in Kotgarh in 1916. The Delicious variety of apples are now grown in parts of Kullu, Shimla, Mandi, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti and Chamba districts.
“Stokes was not an Indian, but he fought for the country’s freedom and faced sedition charges from the British government. He was from a wealthy American Quaker family, he learnt Sanskrit, became a Hindu, set up a school and introduced apples to Himachal Pradesh,” Kangana, who is from the state, posted on her Instagram account. “Most Himachali farmers now earn from apple orchards but not many know about Stokes. I request chief minister Jai Ram Thakur to name one major landmark after Shri Samuel Stokes. We do this favour on ourselves as he followed Hinduism all his life and pitra puja (gratitude for ancestors) is of supreme importance in our culture and we must pay our respects to this being whose actions, hard work and foresight are giving employment to lakhs of people till today.”
Stokes wasn’t the first to introduce apple to HP, but it was his contribution that went a long way in transforming the apple economy. Captain RC Scot of the British army was the first to bring the fruit to Kullu in 1870, but his variety was not viable economically. Stokes’ red, delicious variety was from Louisiana in the US. He made his apple orchard in 1919 on his Thanedhar estate and taught the techniques to locals.