The demand for a separate state of Uttarakhand in the hills of Uttar Pradesh has been voiced off and on since 1952. The proponents of Uttarakhand believe that all the developmental problems of the eight U.P. hill districts (Pithoragarh, Almora, Nainital, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Pauri and Dehradun) would be solved if they were welded together into a separate state.
The demand for a separate state of Uttarakhand in the hills of Uttar Pradesh has been voiced off and on since 1952. The proponents of Uttarakhand believe that all the developmental problems of the eight U.P. hill districts (Pithoragarh, Almora, Nainital, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Pauri and Dehradun) would be solved if they were welded together into a separate state.
The people of the hills of Garhwal and Kumaon scarcely need to look beyond their own villages to see how little they have gained from the process of development. About 70 percent of the population lives below the official poverty line.
In their own lifetimes, people have seen the hills being denuded of tree cover and the forests of Kumaon and Garhwal converted into a hinterland for the plains' timber industry. The degradation of forests has also meant the destruction of the peasant economy, crucially dependent upon woodlands.