Uttarakhand: Development and ecological sustainability

Overview

Massive floods and landslides in June 2013 led to what most believe to have been Uttrakhand’s worst disaster in living memory. The disaster led to a nationwide debate on whether anthropogenic activities in the name of economic development aggravated the impact of the disaster in North India.

With charts and graphs, this paper makes a comprehensive contribution to the debate, and analyses Uttarakhand’s current development pattern in terms of ecological sustainability and equity. This paper explains why funds and activities under schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, The Agricultural Technology Management Agency, and The National Food Security Mission should focus more on promoting integrated farming systems to yield significant results, and why marginal land holders or landless people should be re-skilled for off-farm income generation activities.