Uttarakhand Cong presses for tribal status

NEW DELHI: Congress has begun to mobilize opinion that people of Uttarakhand be given reservation in government jobs and education as tribals like those from the northeastern states.
All the MLAs of the ruling Congress from the hill state, district presidents and civil society groups held a day-long dharna at Jantar Mantar on Thursday with a charter of demands served to the Central government.The ministers in Harish Rawat government kept away from the dharna to avoid projecting it as a confrontation with the Centre.
State Congress chief Kishore Upadhyaya said the party will launch an agitation if the demands were not given due weightage.
Besides an automatic “reserved” category for Uttarakhand residents, Congress also demanded “green bonus” for preserving the forests that are the “lungs of India”.
During the dharna, Upadhayaya put the polarizing issue of job quota on the table like the statehood demand of the 1990s.
He argued that Uttarakhand has specific cultural features and social practices, alluding to north-eastern states whose entire population is considered tribal. “The people of Uttarakhand should have been considered for the same affirmative action long back. It was also one of the demands of the statehood movement,” he argued.
Cognizant of Congress’s status as a political rival to BJP, the party is using Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on cleaning Ganga and ‘Swachch Bharat’ to seek clearance for pending projects recommended by Uttarakhand. The state has argued that its financial status has dwindled after the Kedarnath floods and the Centre should help it tide over the trouble by financing key projects.
The state wants that its green efforts as the “lungs of the country” be rewarded with a ‘green bonus”, a cash reward that should be linked to development projects. The demand is seen as important in view of rising debate on climate change and mitigation efforts.
Sources said the state will also press the Centre for a metro project from Dehradun to Haridwar, railway projects in the hill regions and renewal of the ‘industrial package’.
Upadhyaya said while the PM has expressed his sentiments for Holy Ganga, he should also give special consideration to the land of the river’s origin. “We appeal that the proposal sent by the state government for conservation and cleaning of Ganga be cleared,” he added, also seeking Rs 10 crore to make “clean India” a success.
The civil society groups at the dharna argued that the timing of raising these demands was based on the coming assembly elections in Delhi. Given the strong presence of Uttarakhand residents in the capital as voters, a success in mobilizing opinion could put pressure on the ruling party to show due consideration to the wishlist.