Dear all,
Lets take another view point on the issue of Migration, lets create a fictitious young man in a village called “Pana-Irani” in district Chamoli, whose parents are eager to get him married, they are looking for a prospective wife for their son. They meet other families to search for a suitable bride” The parents of the young girl, ask a very simple question, where is your son working. The boys family say he has a farm in pana-irani and is self employed, the girls family become a little apprehensive and say will have consultations in our family and then will let you know, in another situation the boys father say that my son is employed in Dehradun, the girls father show some interest, in another sitation the boys father say that his son is employed in Delhi, the girls father shows eagerness, in another situation the boys father say that his son is working in Japan, the girls father ask when they can have the marriage at the earliest.
Now it is not very difficult to understand that the girls father is looking for a good life for his daughter after she gets married, which he thinks she might not get in the first case “ The boy is self employed In his village Pana-Irani.
I would at this time try to narrate a person experience, when I was travelling on foot from Birahi in district chamoli to Pana-irani, the journey is an almost vertical uphill trek from Birahi to the village, as we started ascending slowly, we were accompanied by two women’s – a mother and her daughter, both were carrying weights that were well above 50 Kg, yet were walking mush faster then us who would occasionally rest to resume our journey. They had deliberately slowed their journey so that they could give us the moral support to complete the uphill journey, and once when all of us were resting only to resume our journey, the young girl, lifted her head and looked up to the faint light that were coming from their village which was still at a distance and very innocently asked her mother, “Mother how I wished our village could just slide down to a lower place where we would reach easily”. These lines I guess summarizes the hardships that they face daily. And it should not come as a surprise that in a situation when the boys father in our first fictitious incidence says that his son is in Delhi, the girls family is keenly looking forward to get there daughter married, so as to ensure a relatively comfortable life for their daughter.
From the above two examples I am only trying to portray a picture that can be one cause for people to explore better prospects outside, and they have every right to do so. When people from Punjab can explore better life prospects in Canada/USA/etc, why should not the people living in the hills explore a better life. I guess it is not within the means of the people to ensure that they create the best infrastructure, the best schools, the best hospitals in the hills, which can give them at least some points of comparison as to why he should not move out from his village or town.
The solution: Some countries or regions that have a geographical challenge, have found out some thing unique or done something unique that have made their region attractive to the rest of the world to invest, lets take the example of Switzerland, with which Uttarakhand is often compared especially by the political class, being a geographically challenged region, on some bright day someone thought lets do banking with a slightly different banking style, and what we see is people from all over the world want to keep there money in their banks.
To conclude, the solutions have always been around, it is only for the people to understand and realise this.
