The experts in Dehradun have set a broad Five-Point mountain-centric agenda for the Pushkar Singh Dhami 2.0 BJP government in Himalayan state of Uttarakhand for the next five years.

After taking over the reins of power on March 22,  Dhami government, no doubt,  has adopted BJP's  manifesto as an official document to  take it the ground for implementation for the next five years. But he may miss the bus as Dhami faces much more subtle challenges than those BJP has mapped in its manifesto.   

The experts caution that Dhami needs to create 50,000 jobs at the block-level by skilling educated youth to reap the benefits of surge in tourism and other industry, which, in turn, also need ease of doing business, better roads, IT connectivity and other facilities. He needs to upgrade 250 top government schools to bring about a paradigm shift in the entire education sector in the state.

Dhami needs to tackle the rise in non-communicable diseases, which are taking more lives than before. He needs to take youth away from Tobacco, alcohol and drugs.  He needs to tailor health, education, development and employment with a mountain- centric policies to check migration of unemployed youth- more than 7 lakh people have migrated from the hills to plains in last over 10 years.

This development agenda has been churned out by the Uttarakhand top experts from different fields for execution for the fifth Uttarakhand government led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. As many as five speakers share ideas on five development themes in joint program organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce, Uttarakhand and SDC Foundation in Dehradun recently.

It tuned out that new government of Uttarakhand faces five major challenges in the next five years. These challenges are in the fields of education, health, migration and employment, industry and governance.

The quality education for children can affect a key change in the hills of Uttarakhand. Educationist and Chancellor of DIT University, N Ravi Shanker said the 250 top government schools can bring about a paradigm shift in the entire education sector in the state. He said that 189 schools are being developed as Atal Adarsh Vidyalayas in Uttarakhand.  

As many as 13 schools are Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and 13 Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidyalayas are also in the state. With the involvement of several other well- performing government schools, a network of 250 such schools across the state can act as catalyst for enhancing the quality of school education in the state. 

Ravi Shanker added that ITI and Polytechnics should not be made just a means of certificate. Skill development should be given to the students there as per the needs of the industry so that they get employment.

In the health sector , Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Chairperson, Uttarakhand Public Service Commission cited the data of 1947  saying that there have been substantial improvements in health-related conditions across the country. But there are still several existing challenges posed by increasing urbanisation in the state. The government needs to focus on urban health, he said. 

The government has been on an alert mode to deal with infectious diseases, which is a good thing, but non-communicable diseases are taking more lives than before, Kumar said.  “The present comprehensive policies and plans to deal with non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, hypertension, cardiac attacks need to be implemented in a better way”. As a preventive measure efforts should be made to keep youth away from tobacco and alcohol etc, he added. 

As employment and migration remain big challenges in the state, Dr. RP Mamgain, Head of the Department of Economics at Doon University said the hill areas of Uttarakhand can be developed by providing greater facilities across the 95 block headquarters of the state.

With facilities like education, public health, government housing, agri-business and IT service at the block headquarters at least 500 people will get employment and the consumption of local products will also increase and the chain of development will reach the villages. The government can embark on the vision of creating 50,000 jobs at the block headquarter levels during the next five years.

Dr. Mamgain said  the main reason behind Uttarakhand's lopsided development is that the state is not making mountain-centric policies. Policies related to health, education, development and employment need to be made with a hill centric mindset. Over 50 percent of the graduate youth do not have employment in hilly areas, he observed.

Dr Mamgain cited the example of Ayushman Bharat scheme. All revenues in this scheme are coming in the hospitals of the plain districts, he added.

Describing tourism as biggest industry of Uttarakhand, Hemant Kochhar, Chairman of PHD Chamber of Commerce, Uttarakhand said the state would experience a big surge associated with tourist arrivals in the coming years. There is  a need for the uplifting of public transport systems and other facilities, he said.

Hemant stressed on the need for labour reforms sharing the challenges associated with the 70% local staff regulation. He also recommended setting up support centers for the industry and providing packages for film production.

Kochhar said there is a need to make conditions conducive to industrial development in the state. Wherever industrial areas have been developed in the state, there is a great need to improve the existing conditions. These locations need basic facilities like better roads, truck parking, drinking water, food arrangements and basic toilets facilities, he added.

Hemant Kochar also emphasized on the need to develop skilled manpower urging the need for greater coordination between academia and industry.

Sanjeev Chopra, Festival Director at Valley of Words and former director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration said  Uttarakhand has greater development potential than many other states and a substantial amount of work has also been done here.

He said that if the state has to develop all-round, then it is necessary that the development should start from remote areas and move towards the capital. He said that if the government works with rules and adopts transparency, then many governance challenges can be solved. He advised the government to work towards making Uttarakhand the first BPL- free state in the country.

Chopra added that world's best models are available somewhere or the other in India and Uttarakhand should adopt these models. He described housing in urban areas as a major upcoming challenge  pointing out that while making large scale  housing plans, both affordability and quality parameters need to be kept in mind. 

Anoop Nautiyal of SDC Foundation moderated the Uttarakhand@25 dialogue. Rashmi Chopra, Vishal Kala, Vikram Jeet, STS Lepcha, Sanjay Bhargava, Dr. Mayank Badola, Anil Sati, Trilochan Bhatt, Sneha, Aman and others were present during the dialogue. The agenda has been forwarded to the government for action/ suggestion, he added.

(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor, HimbuMail)