Conclave of Himalayan States: Critical Concerns Addressed

GUWAHATI: The Conclave of Himalayan States was successfully held at Mussoorie on Sunday to discuss the priorities of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) in the 15th Finance Commission. Initiated by the Government of Uttarakhand with the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) as its knowledge partner, it brought together a galaxy of leaders from New Delhi and the States of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) to deliberate on the development, challenges and potential of IHR. It concluded with the adoption of the ‘Mussoorie Resolution 2019’.

While IHR with 16% of the land area of India provides the ecosystem services of clean air, water, bio-diversity, and many other aspects of culture, crafts and natural beauty, yet it suffers from the adverse challenges of climate-change impact, water management, poor and inaccessible infrastructure, among others. The Himalayan ecosystem is also comparatively far more vulnerable to impacts of climate change and natural disasters than the rest of the country, stated a release.

A great beginning has been made in this direction through this Conclave which was attended by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, 15th Finance Commission Chairman NK Singh, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar along with Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio and Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Chowna Mein. Mizoram was represented by Minister of Environment and Forests TJ Lalnuntluanga, Sikkim by the State Chief Economic Advisor Prof MP Lama, Manipur by Principal Secretary Rakesh Ranjan, Tripura by Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs Manoj Kanti Deb and Jammu and Kashmir by Advisor to the Governor KK Sharma. Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation (GoI) Parameswaran Iyer, and NDMA Member Kamal Kishore also attended the Conclave.

Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) has been working on the above issues as a citizen-led initiative which integrates the knowledge and experience of multiple stakeholders working on diverse issues across the Indian Mountain States to inform and provide inputs to policy by integrating learning from practice. It has been involved in the preparatory work by talking to the leaders across the IHR and building a well-argued case to the 15th Finance Commission for focusing the funding to the States so that:

* Forest cover component of 7.5% as untied devolution maintained to compensate the States for fiscal disability caused by the need to maintain forest cover.

*Income Distance component in horizontal devolution should take into consideration Infrastructural Distance to reflect the higher difficulty and higher cost of providing and accessing basic services etc.

*Grant in aid as performance grant to maintain carbon stocks in the IHR region to meet India’s INDC commitment of increasing carbon stocks by 2.5-3 billion tons by the year 2030.

* Grant in aid as performance grant to reduce erosion, improve river flow and quality of water to be invested with specific deliverables by the IHR States.

* Grant in aid to encourage IHR States to Go Green by reducing chemical fertilizer and pesticide consumption and supporting the farmers with infrastructure and service needs.

* Disaster Management Grant to IHR States in addition to the current NDRF/SDRF grants.

* Connectivity Grant to improve connectivity for the local population and enhance ecologically sustainable tourism.

* Infrastructural Planning and development vis-a-vis the carrying capacity of Hill towns and cities to the increasing influx of tourism and increasing disasters.

Speaking at the Conclave, Nirmala Sitharaman raised the issues of improving border infrastructure in IHR to mitigate migration from these areas. She also stressed on the need to institutionalize the platform of The Himalayan Conclave to take the concerns of the IHR forward in the national development agenda. While appreciating the community spirit of these regions, she posed the difficult question of balancing economic aspirations with ecological sustainability. She asked the States to do away with the imitative model of development by promoting youth start-ups to find local solutions to their issues.

The 15th Finance Commission Chairman, NK Singh highlighted the important role of urban local bodies and rural local bodies in effectively ensuring better implementation at the last mile. He assured the States that the 15th Finance Commission has looked into the issues of the IHR region with greatest empathy and sympathy.

Some of the common issues raised by the Chief Ministers of Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Deputy CM of Arunachal Pradesh include the need to factor in higher cost for development and higher maintenance costs, historical infrastructure gap, disaster financing, need for water resource management and sustainable tourism. While all the States have raised the issues IMI has been working on, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma proposed the 15th Finance Commission to provide sufficient weightage of 15% to the ecosystem services provided by the IHR States. Sincerely acknowledging the efforts taken by IMI to bring the issues of the IHR region into the National agenda, the Chief Ministers of Nagaland, Meghalaya and the Deputy CM of Arunachal Pradesh emphasised on the need for such platforms to deliberate common concerns of the IHR.

Interestingly, the Eighth Sustainable Mountain Development Summit will be held between November 4-6 in Shillong.It will be hosted by the Government of Meghalaya.

IMI President Sushil Ramola, who spoke on the ‘Sustainable Himalayan Cities’ said, “The Himalayan region plays a distinctive part which impacts the well-being of the future generations; so all of us have the responsibility to work collaboratively to deal with these challenges and making India proud of our mountains.”

The Mussoorie Resolution 2019 was adopted by the IHR States to work out strategies for Sustainable Development of Mountain areas in a collaborative manner.

Also Read: Environmental Protection to be Focus of Himalayan States