Uttarakhand

Tourism plays an important role in employment generation and economic growth of the country. It is accepted as the potent engine for inclusive social economic progressive at universal level through its forward and backward linkage and ability to create employment in the economy.
        The modes of tourism are discussed broadly and suggestions are given appropriately for sustainable development of tourism. It reveals that the pilgrimage tourism has been practicing here for centuries. Presently, mass tourism as mountaineering, trekking, skiing and river rafting is being common. The practices of tourism have a significant impact on the economy as many of the small towns emerged as the major service provider centers and the economy of the region grew tremendously. But, at the same time, its impact fell badly on the environment and the tourist places and pilgrimages have received severe environmental implications.

Society consists of more than just people; many studies of society, indeed, focus on people’s interaction with material things. Fewer delve into the relationships between people and animals.

The most obvious connection probably lies in how human beings live with the pets: dogs are seen as loving, cats are cold. Musings on the human-animal relations in India, on the other hand, typically concentrate on how Indians worship animals, especially, the cow. Radhika Govindrajan’s anthropological study Animal Intimacies: Beastly Love in the Himalayas explores  possibilities that lie between these two extreme positions. Through the lens of multispecies ethnography, the author explores the ways in which the lives of humans and animals are tied  in knots in their struggle for “collaborative survival”.

Growing demand for organic food and its largely developing market has shown a ray of hope to check out migration in Himalayan state of uttarakhand as mostly the farmers in Uttarakhand in rain fed conditions are by default practicing organic farming. This challenge of the farmers in uttarakhand can be converted into opportunity as it would provide them a better livelihood. There is enormous possibility of cultivation of medicinal plants and herbs including the food grain due to the varied landscape of the state. In the absence of any opportunities for livelihood, basic amenities for living, proper education facilities, health and other facilities, and many other troubles are becoming push factors for migration of population from hills to the plains. The rising problem of migration from the villages has caused a serious distress for the economy of the state. Uttarakhand government has established Uttarakhand organic commodity Board (UOCB) in this direction to explore the possibilities of organic farming in Uttarakhand and encourage farmers towards adopting organic agriculture practices so that the economy of the state is improved and problem of migration can also be combated.

Growing demand for organic food and its largely developing market has shown a ray of hope to check out migration in Himalayan state of uttarakhand as mostly the farmers in Uttarakhand in rain fed conditions are by default practicing organic farming. This challenge of the farmers in uttarakhand can be converted into opportunity as it would provide them a better livelihood. There is enormous possibility of cultivation of medicinal plants and herbs including the food grain due to the varied landscape of the state. In the absence of any opportunities for livelihood, basic amenities for living, proper education facilities, health and other facilities, and many other troubles are becoming push factors for migration of population from hills to the plains. The rising problem of migration from the villages has caused a serious distress for the economy of the state. Uttarakhand government has established Uttarakhand organic commodity Board (UOCB) in this direction to explore the possibilities of organic farming in Uttarakhand and encourage farmers towards adopting organic agriculture practices so that the economy of the state is improved and problem of migration can also be combated.

The description of Higher Education can be found in the primitive literature of Vedic India. In India, the Higher Education flourished and developed along with the time. The temples of Higher Education in India play an important role in shaping the development of the society as well as the economic development of the nation. Ancient India had realised the importance of Higher Education right from the Vedic age, but with the invasion and foreign attack and skirmish the traditional foundation of Higher Education got disturbed and destroyed. By the end of 17th century, the indigenous system of Higher Education was on the verge of extension. British took initiatives to revive the system of Higher Education in India, but this had both positive as well as negative impact on the traditional Higher Education. The traditional indigenous system suffered heavy loss as the new system which was being introduced benefited only that section of the society which served the English government.

The paper 'The Borderlands: Impact of Geo-Political Location on the Livelihoods of the Rungs' explores the impact of geo-political location on the formation of a newer livelihood pattern amongst the Rung community living in rural parts of Uttarakhand. Livelihood practices don’t occur in isolation and are largely decided or influenced by the material condition. Its traces are, however, visible in the socio-cultural and economic traditions of that society. It is important to understand how such transitions occur by historicizing the entire process. The latter, not only, affects the value systems of the community but can question the existence of traditional institutions which mark its own space. Since the context where the community is located has an important role to play, the dynamicity of trade, capital and, resulting, conflicts are a part and parcel of the livelihood. One, therefore, requires to take into consideration and understand other larger structures working in place. This will not only help in understanding a simple equation of demand and supply but how they create newer possibilities and limitations for the local people living in the high mountain areas of the Himalayan region.

To read the full paper, go to Chapter 9; Page 127- ' The Borderlands: Impact of Geo-Political Location on the Livelihoods of the Rungs '.

Formed in the year 2000 the state of Uttrakhand stretches over an area of 53,483 sq. km and comprising 13 districts and 110 Tehsils, Uttrakhand is a distinct geographical entity in the Western Himalayas because of so many socioeconomic and geographical considerations. The Great Himalayas which are considered as the youngest mountains of the globe are very much prone to disaster such as land slides, flash floods, earthquakes due to continuous movement of tectonic plates. Because of its geographical location, disasters are not new for the people of Uttrakhand. As far as natural disasters are concerned, they are impossible to avoid, however their impact on human can be reduced by taking precautionary measures. A disaster causes damage to life, property as well as to the psychology of the people. So it becomes mandatory to follow those strategies in advance which can minimise the losses in case of any disaster. Till date Uttrakhand have witnessed a large number of natural disasters, amongst which major disaster includes earthquakes of Uttarkashi (1991) and Chamoli (1999) of magnitude exceeding 6, Himalayan Tsunami of Badrinath and Kedarnath (2013) and many more which have resulted in loss of several lives and caused damages to property worth thousands of crores, this raises the concerns for an apt disaster management policy for the region. This paper deals with the topography of the Uttrakhand and the kinds of disasters that the state is prone to. Further this paper critically examines the strategies the Disaster Management Department of Uttrakhand used in past and present and what are its future plans and the socioeconomic implications of these strategies. Finally then concluding the paper with the policy recommendation for the disaster management in Uttrakhand.

The argument of hand to hand Rural-Urban development is always the key focus of development policy of any government who desire to place her nation in the club of developed countries. In India though many developmental programs started right after the independence but still there are sound disparities amongst Rural and Urban areas which severely affect her image in the HDI and other growth indices. Any type of disparity is very harmful for any nation, as in long run these disparities cause various socioeconomic problems and also results in formation of anti national sentiments. The state of Uttrakhand is a distinct geographical entity in the Western Himalayas because of so many socioeconomic and geographical considerations. At the time of independence, considerable difference in economic and social development of different regions of the country existed. One of the main objectives of the planning process initiated in the early 1950s was to reduce these regional differences and to achieve, regionally balanced development. Various policy instruments including direct public investment by the Union Government in infrastructure, guided private investment and building up of capacity enhancing institutions have been tried to achieve this objective. These policies were continued during the first three decades of planning. Though these measures were not highly successful, they ensured that disparities were not getting aggravated during this period. With the initiation of economic reforms in the early 1980s which culminated in full-fledged deregulation, liberalization and globalization in the early 1990s, the role of the government in investment decisions has diminished. Present paper discusses the types of Disparities prevailing in India, discussing social, political and economic factors causing disparities, effects of disparities reflected in factors like literacy, income, employment and labour rate participation, further it discusses about its impact on investment and growth rate on short and long term and finally critically examining the factors responsible for migration of labour force from rural areas to urban areas and the solution to prevent this migration with reference to Uttarakhand.

This study investigates the factors that draw working professionals towards distance education programs, and the factors that sustain their distance education experience. The study is conducted in difficult terrains of Uttarakhand, a hilly state in India which helps us investigate the phenomenon in difficult geographies. Through interviews of ten working professionals in this difficult geography these factors are deduced and a conceptual model is then developed. We also tried to find theoretical linkages to the factors identified. The findings are of value to distance educators and students alike.

Lack of adequate marketing facilities in the agricultural sector has remained one of the most talked about bottlenecks in the efforts for wellbeing of the agriculture dependent population in the newly formed state of Uttarakhand. Following the guidelines of the model national Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act of 2003, Uttarakhand also adopted the Act in the year 2011 with a hope that the Act would streamline the marketing possibilities for farmers and the sector would flourish with new investments pouring in through increased private participation. The present article, with an attempt to review the performance of the Act in the state of Uttarakhand, highlights that not only the Act has failed in improving the marketing opportunities for the agricultural sector, it has in reality squeezed the market for the common producers due to inordinate delays in institutionalizing the Act and other factors related to governance of the Act

We propose that the education department in collaboration with the educational institutions
should undertake a major exercise to ‘rethink’ the
higher education programmes across the levels
(undergraduate, postgraduate, research) to identify
the changes happening the workplaces and relate
them to mainstream programmes offered in our
colleges and universities. Through an extensive
participatory consultative process with an
interdisciplinary approach, it is necessary to
examine what can a student look for in our colleges
and universities to acquire those ‘value-added
skills’ and how our traditional subject areas and
institutions can help them in this journey.

The article is available in print  in Archiv Orientalni, 2015, 83 (2), 255–280.
This article’s two aims are to briefly describe the activities of a Hindu nationalist organisation commonly referred to as Vidya Bharati, particularly in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and more specifically to analyse and describe the contents and political aims of its ideologically charged social science textbook called Gauravśālī Bhārat (“Glorious India”). Vidya Bharati, that is Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan, is a part of a well-known and influential Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The author describes how its textbook distorts the vision of history in order to mould the worldview of the students and their vision of contemporary Indian politics and society. The article also states that Gauravśālī Bhārat is probably an edited continuation of the earlier, controversial textbook called Gaurav Gāthā and that Vidya Bharati schools emulate the solutions of Christian missionary schools in some respects.

The paper deals with the diversity of gymnosperms in Uttarakhand; both wild and exotic species. A total 63 species belonging to 10 families were reported, of these 47 species are exotic to the state. Origin-wise status of both exotic and wild gymnosperms demonstrated that 26.98% species are of American origin followed by the Indian Subcontinent (19.04%), China (11.11%), Japan (9.52%), Asia-temperate and Europe (7.93%), Africa (6.34%), Australia (4.76%), Indo-China and the Mediterranean region (3.17%). The genera and species are alphabetically arranged and taxonomically updated. Other information such as vernacular name, english name, habit, origin, altitudinal region and district wise distribution are also given.

In the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, the god Nagaraja, associated with the pan-Indian god Krishna, is an extremely popular deity. However, there exist key disjunctures in how Nagaraja is known, experienced and worshiped in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand by jāgar performers—low-caste ritual specialists, storytellers, and musicians—on the one hand, and high-caste temple priests, on the other. Temple priests were generally dismissive of the practices of the jāgar performers, often re-directing my interest in regional narratives of Nagaraja to the Sanskrit-language Bhagavadgita and Bhagavata Purana (the Gita-Bhagavat), which they saw as authoritative and ‘original' sources of oral and vernacular traditions. This interpretation, however, was highly contested by jāgar performers who articulated a non-essentialist, ritually efficacious, rhetorical, oral and vernacular ‘textual ontology.' Jāgar performers not only critiqued Brahminical notions of textual purity and essentialism but also assumptions within the academic study of Hinduism about the relationship between vernacular religious practices and textual Hinduism, or the so-called Great and Little traditions of Hinduism. By ‘textual ontology,' I describe how different relations to textual authority and knowledge in turn reveal distinctive ways of creating, knowing, and interacting with deities and the world. In challenging priestly and western scholarly notions of text, this article offers a radically different view of textual production, transmission, and authority.

Due to the change in the work environment, an employee is playing multiple roles in a competitive job environment in the organization. To enhance employee job satisfaction, an organization must provide good infrastructure, flexible working hours, job security, etc., so that the employees can make a balance between work and life. The main objective of this paper is to determine the relationship between change in the nature of work and employee’s job satisfaction in the education sector. Data was collected through a questionnaire. Exploratory Factor analysis was used to determine the variables of changing nature of work (relationship with peers, Challenging job, and Technology-Based Profession). Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to determine the relationship between variables of changing nature of work and employee job satisfaction. The result shows that there is a positive relationship between variables of changing nature of work and employee job satisfaction.

Right from the Vedic Ages to modern times there have been the references to Panchayats and they have played a vital role in the local Self-Governing institutions. Mahatma Gandhi's dream that every village should be a republic having powers of self-governance has been adopted in Article 40 of the Constitution of India as a Directive Principle of State Policy. It provides that "State shall take steps to organize Village Panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government."
For this purpose, the programme of Community Development through people's participation and state aid was introduced on 2nd October 1952. Further on the basis of Shri Balwant Rai Mehta committee in 1959, the concept of democratic decentralization was adopted and a three-tier system of Panchayats was introduced. In course of time, the Panchayati Raj Institution and also the urban local bodies started failing in the responsibilities devolved on them, owing to the paucity of funds and delay in the conduct of timely election to such bodies. Different Committees recommended that constitutional status should be accorded to Panchayati Raj and Local Bodies institutions and the election to these institutions be conducted by separate Election Commission. Consequently, 73rd and 74th amendments come in effect in the year 1993.
By these two amendments, the Constitution of India conferred constitutional status to these institutions of local self-government both in the rural and urban areas. Now, regular elections to these Institutions after five years were ensured under State Election Commission through the provisions of Articles 243E and 243U of the Constitution.
On 9 November 2000, the 27th state of the Republic of India was carved out of the Himalayan and adjoining northwestern districts of Uttar Pradesh. Since the Government of Uttarakhand had not made its own acts and rules for the functioning of Rural and Urban local bodies yet, it had adopted all the acts and rules prevalent in the State of U.P.
On 16th June 2002, the Uttaranchal Legislative Assembly passed the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act 1947 as Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act 1947 (Uttaranchal Amendment) Act 2002 (Act No. 07 of 2002)  and deemed to be enacted from April 29, 2002.
After the formation of State of Uttarakhand on 9th November 2000, the State Election Commission, Uttarakhand was constituted on 30th July 2001 under the provision of Article 243 K of the Constitution of India.
Under the provision of Article 243-K and 243 ZA of the constitution of India and other relevant acts and rules, the election of Panchayats and local bodies in Uttarakhand were conducted in the superintendence, direction and control of State Election Commission, Uttarakhand.
The functioning of the Panchayat Raj Bodies was governed by the two separate Acts, one for Gram Panchayat and the other for the Kshetra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats. According to section 12BB of the U.P. Panchayat Raj Act 1947 (As adopted & Amended in Uttarakhand), the superintendence, direction and control of the conduct of the election to the office of Pradhan, Up-Pradhan and a Member of a Gram Panchayat were vested in the State Election Commission. Under Section 12 BC, subject to the supervision and control of the State Election Commission, the District Magistrate supervises the conduct of all elections of the Pradhan, Up-Pradhan and a Member of a Gram Panchayats in the district. Similarly, according to section 246-B(2) of the U.P. Kshetra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats Adhiniyam, 1961(As adopted & Amended in Uttarakhand), the superintendence, direction and control to conduct the election to the office of a Adhyaksh, Upadhyaksh and a Member of Zila Panchayat and of a Pramukh, Up-Pramukh and a Member of Kshetra Panchayats vests in the State Election Commission.
The electoral rolls were prepared according to the rules prepared under the provisions of related Acts and the guidelines & instructions given by the State Election Commission. There were specific provisions to this effect under section 9 of the Panchayat Raj Act, 1947 whereas section 11-B and 12-C of the Panchayat Raj Act, deal with the provision for the election of Pradhan and Up-Pradhan and Members of the Gram Panchayat.
The section 6B and 6C of the U.P. Kshetra Panchayats and Zila Panchayats Adhiniyam, 1961(As adopted & Amended in Uttarakhand) deal with preparations of the electoral roll for kshetra Panchayat and section 18B & 18C of the aforesaid Act pertain to the preparation of electoral rolls for Zila Panchayats.
Likewise section 12 & 13 of the Municipalities Act, 1916 (As adopted & Amended in Uttarakhand) deal with the preparation of Election rolls & elections of the members of Municipalities respectively. The section 43 of the Act deal with the election of Chairperson of the Municipalities respectively while section 35 & 40 of the U.P. Municipal Corporation Adhiniyam 1959(As adopted & Amended in Uttarakhand) deals with the preparation of electoral rolls of the Municipal Corporation and section 11A, 12 & 27 of the aforesaid Act provide for the elections of Nagar Pramukh, Up-Nagar Pramukh and Sabhasad of the Municipal Corporation.
In the new state of Uttarakhand the first General Elections of Local Bodies were successfully conducted by State Election Commission, Uttarakhand in the month of January to February 2003 in all 13 Districts of the state. While the General Elections of Three Tier Panchayat were held in the month of February to April 2003 in 12 Districts in the state (Excluding District-Haridwar). General Election to the Three-Tier Panchayat in the District of Haridwar was conducted by State Election Commission in the month of September to October 2005. In the year 2008, in all 13 districts of the state, the elections of Local bodies i.e. Mayor and 60 ward members of 1 (one) Municipal Corporation and 32 chairpersons and 402 members of 32 Nagar Palika Parishads, 27 Chairpersons and 172 members, 27 Nagar Panchayats in which 1417341 voters used their franchise were successfully conducted by State Election Commission, Uttarakhand.
In the year 2008, in three-tier panchayat elections of the 12 district of the state, 46559 members of Gram Panchayat, 3075 members of Kshetra Panchayat, 371 members of Zila Panchayat and 7239 Pradhan Gram Panchayats in which 4344573 voters exercised their franchise were successfully conducted by State Election Commission, Uttarakhand. Apart from this, the election of 89 Pramukh, 89 Jestha Up Pramukh, 89 Kanistha Up Pramukh, 12 Adhyakshs and 12 Upadhayaks of 12 Zila Panchayats and 7211 Up Pradhan were also successfully conducted by State Election Commission, Uttarakhand. In the year 2008 for the first time the State Election Commission, Uttarakhand introduced EVMs in Dehradun Nagar Nigam (Municipal Corporation) Elections and succeeded in conducting a free, fair and peaceful poll. For the first time in the elections of local bodies and three-tier panchayats in the state, the election result was successfully displayed on the internet directly from vote-counting centres.
Efforts are still being made to make provisions in the Panchayati Raj Acts and Rules for the use of EVMs in three-tier panchayat elections and the proposals are under consideration of State Government.

India is predominantly an Agrarian state with more than 50 percent of the population directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture and allied activities. This easily shows that agriculture is backbone of Indian economy and social fabric. Infrastructure plays an important role in the growth of any sector. The paper tries to list down all the basic infrastructural facilities that are required for proper carrying out of agriculture as a business. It also checks whether these facilities are available to the farmers of the region and how they affect the growth of agriculture sector in hilly state of India. The area chosen for the study is Nainital district of Uttarakhand.. Questionnaire method was used for collecting the data for the research. The major finding of the research is that agriculture has lot of potential in hilly areas but the farmers of region are devoid of the basic infrastructural facilities required for the of agricultural business smoothly.

This paper is an attempt to document and discuss the cultural-creative industries of Uttarakhand (a Himalayan state of India), with a specific focus on interior architecture and space-making (building) crafts. According to UNESCO, the cultural-creative industries refer to the creation, production, and distribution of goods and services that are cultural in nature. The cultural-creative industries generally include text; music; television; film production and publishing; crafts and design; architecture; the visual and performing arts; sport; advertising; and cultural tourism. Uttarakhand is a cultural hub, and is home to unique and exquisite forms of cultural-creative industries such as aepan (ceremonial floor and wall paintings), tamta (copper craft), ringaal kaam (bamboo craft), likhai kaam (wooden carvings), stone craft, wood craft, natural fibres, textiles, candle making, and indigenous architectural styles. This paper specifically emphasises on the aepan paintings and the wood crafts (especially the likhai kaam) seen in the traditional residences of Uttarakhand (at least 250 years old). It further focuses on establishing the importance of documenting and archiving these craft forms with an emphasis on the quintessential role played by them in space-making – at the surface level; structurally; and, as an object (both utilitarian and decorative), by developing a conceptual framework and methodology for such analysis. This is primarily a deductive research which employs a case study-based approach. It is inter-disciplinary in nature, and focuses on interior architecture; craft; and, culture with an intention to develop repositories and disseminate this knowledge. It may be of interest to several students, researchers and professionals from varied backgrounds.

The most important Indian Himālayan pilgrimage circuit, the 4-Dhām, or ‘Four Abodes’, is located in Uttarākhaṇḍ, a region known as ‘Land of the Gods’ (Devbhūmi). Most tourists to the sites are domestic pilgrims from non-Himālayan regions. One of the most important media that interprets the region to this audience is the mass-produced and inexpensive pilgrims’ literature known as māhātmyas, a modern successor to the genre of Sanskrit encomium that extolls deities and sacred sites. First, I ethnographically describe how these texts are consumed as religious commodities; I then present selections of 4-Dhām māhātmyas that reveal the changing concerns of māhātmya publishing in Uttarākhaṇḍ over the last fifty years (1955–2006). In doing so, I argue that the texts’ imbrication of Hindi commentary with Sanskrit scripture promotes a dynamic reading of the pilgrimage as both mythological and modern, and promotes a unique cachet for the region as a contemporary sacred place that offers real-world access to the legendary past of Hindu antiquity.

From the end of the nineteenth century onwards in North India, modern māhātmya literature has helped to make pilgrimage centers accessible destinations for new publics, particularly those travelling by rail and road. Iterations of modern māhātmyas are now found for sale at Hindu pilgrimage
centers far and wide. In contemporary Uttarakhand, modern
māhātmyas are a nearly ubiquitous commodity in the bazaars of the state’s temple towns, such as Haridwar and Rishikesh, where eponymous site texts appear prominently among the stock items for sale at religious souvenir stalls. In this chapter, I consider change in Himalayan pilgrimage through the lens of
modern māhātmya. I first introduce readers to modern māhātmyas of Uttarakhand by recalling the classical Sanskrit literary genre of māhātmya, or religious encomium, as the basic source of inspiration for the modern genre, and then turn
to the hybrid content of the modern ones, with their distinctive style of imbricating Hindu scripture with travel ephemera. I then consider three accounts of changes in the 4-Dhām pilgrimage, in approximately thirty-year intervals, beginning with the pilgrim’s diaries of Sister Nivedita (1928) in 1896 and Swami
Tapovanam (1925, 1930) (Tapovanam Maharaj 1971), and concluding with Vishalmani Sharma Upadhyaya (c.1965) as an exemplar of modern māhātmya writing on Uttarakhand. In reflecting on modern māhātmyas of Uttarakhand, I show how these texts invite readers to personally “pocket” the Himalayas, through domesticating the mountains and representing the “land of the gods” as an accessible destination for pilgrims travelling by train, motorcar, and other modern means.

The paper discusses the traditions and culture of the region of Uttarakhand concerning the colorful festival of Holi. It defines the significance; this festival holds in a social and cultural sense. Holi is a festival that has an undaunted association with Lord Krishna, he plays around with Radha and gopis with colors. Holi is celebrated differently in each part of India, in the Uttarakhand region, they are engaged in forms such as Baithaki Holi, Khari, or Khadi Holi, and Mahila Holi. Though the festival has taken a modern arrangement in cities but still in villages it has the traditional sense of attachment. In this modern setup, the traditions seek their place through festivals and rituals, these are about coming together of the community and family exchanging festive greetings while humming to the tunes of local's songs and dancing on them. Common places like temple complexes, Squares, and even in the verandah of people's homes; marks as the ground for meet and greet, reciprocation of the wishes, holi gifts and apply color to each other face, they end up exchanging savors related to the festival. Each region implores a distinct tradition, a process of celebration, segregating them from each other. Bringing people together of different communities and religious beliefs, offering common ground to celebrate and gather around.

Situated in the north-Indian Himalayan region and popularly known as the Land of Gods, Uttarakhand has a rich cultural history and heritage. Himalayan communities are known for their rich oral traditions that persist exceptionally lively in rural and urban contexts. The oral narratives of Uttarakhand that include folktales, fairytales, legends, proverbs, and mythologies provide a deep understanding of the history and culture of the state. From time immemorial oral traditions have passed on from generation to generation, and it continues to do so to transmit custom, culture and philosophy of life of Uttarakhand. This not only gives meaning to native people's life and their belief system but also provide a cultural identity to them. The present paper critically analyses oral and folklore tradition of Uttarakhand to understand how these narratives apart from establishing a popular source of history, infuse a sense of belongingness among the natives and contributes to shaping their cultural consciousness.

Purpose of Study: The paper aims to assess the new face of retailing after demonetization with specific focus to the role of financial intermediaries and it also focuses on Long term solutions to drive the digital cash enabled retailing in India. 
Methodology: This study used a questionnaire for data collection among 250 retailers in Uttarakhand, India. The questionnaire was later on analyzed using SPSS. Qualitative data was gathered from the interview with the officials from 100 financial intermediaries from banks. 
Findings: The Indian retail market has been fostered by the cash dealings. The step of demonetization caught the black marketers, retailers and common people by surprise. The move was supported by the majority of people despite facing difficulties.  After the demonetization, people started using the adoption of different forms of digital payment options. The trade in the market was affected and the retail sales witnessed a severe dip. The market is recovering but the actual recovery will depend on devising the substitute for the cash payments at all levels of retailers. 
Social implications: Financial inclusion is important for inclusive growth and bank to have a crucial role to play in financial literacy campaigns and should ensure that those deprived sections that come to exchange their old notes are properly taken care of. Banks could make unbanked people aware about the financial instruments available with banks and the importance of saving and putting their money in these instruments. This step would further help the economy move from unorganized to organized sector. 
The originality of Study: This study is original and first of its kind conducted in Uttarakhand, India.

A comparative study on waterbird diversity and abundance was conducted at natural and man-made wetland of District Hardwar from 2010 to 2013. A total of 37 waterbirds belonging to 11 families were recorded of which 14 species were winter migrant in the wetlands of the study area. Among these waterbird species, two species viz. Black-necked Stork, Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus; River Lapwing, Vanellus duvaucelii were near threatened (IUCN status Ver. 2013.1.) and two species namely Woolly-necked Stork, Ciconia episcopus; and  Marbled Duck, Marmaronetta angustirostris were Vulnerable (IUCN status). The avian species diversity and abundance were recorded significantly high (t = 4.16, p < 0.01) at natural wetland site. It is also observed that vegetation variety and food availability is the responsible causes of waterbird species variation in the natural and manmade wetland. The results of this study suggest that freshwater natural wetland site is more suitable habitat for short and long-distance water migratory birds. This natural wetland should be protected to enhance the abundance and diversity of water migrant community.

Research on the Uttarakhand region, which became a new state in 2000, has focused largely on agrarian livelihoods, religious rituals, development demands, ecological politics and the role of women in regional social movements. This essay discusses another dimension of the regional imaginary—that of a masculine development ethos. Based on ethnographic research and print media sources, this essay focuses on stories, politics, mobilities and imaginations of young men in the years immediately after the achievement of statehood. Despite increased outmigration of youth in search of employment, many young men expressed the dream of maintaining livelihoods in the familiar towns and rural spaces of Uttarakhand, describing their home region as a source of power and agency. In rallies and in print media, young (mostly upper caste) men expressed their disillu-sionment with the government and the promises of statehood, arguing that their aspirations for development and employment were left unfulfilled. Gendered stories of the region, told in Hindi in rallies and print media, contained references to local places, people and historical events and were produced through local connections and know-how, fostering a regional youth politics. The article argues that Uttarakhand as a region is shaped by the politics of local actors as well as embodied forms of aspiration, affiliation and mobility.

If one were to explore the dynamics of changes in the "social" in a young state like Uttarakhand, one cannot do so without looking at the "material" and "spatial" facets. In hill societies where an ecological sense of place shapes and reflects upon a sense of identity, the reconfiguration of place itself due to new mobilities is significant for such an analysis.

Dendrobium is one of the largest genera of the Orchidaceae. Hitherto, 116 species of the genus have been reported from India, of which 17 (including 2 doubtful taxa) have been recorded from Western Himalaya and 7 from the Askot Wildlife Sancturay (AWS). By this publication, we add Dendrobium longicornu to the flora of Western Himalaya.

Why don’t microfinance clients use programs the way development planners and funders expect? Why do clients change
how microfinance projects function in unanticipated ways? Previous scholarship on microfinance has overlooked the relevance of already
existing borrowing practices and norms to how people engage with and use microfinance. Over 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in
the Kumaon region of eastern Uttarakhand state in northern India, I found that Kumaonis altered the microfinance program of a local
NGO to make it fit with their already existing borrowing practices, which were intimately tied to their livelihood strategies. Kumaoni
livelihoods were based on exchange relationships with family, friends, and neighbors through which they could secure the means for
physical and financial survival, as well as social and emotional survival. These relationships were governed by a moral economy that
obligated exchange partners to properly assist one another, and ensured balance between partners and across multiple social ties. Rather
than abandoning their exchange relationships, Kumaonis and local fieldworkers, who also relied on these ties, altered microfinance so
that it fit with this moral economy and became another node in the already existing networks of assistance. If they had not been able to
alter projects, Kumaonis would likely have stopped participating, as other groups in similar circumstances around the globe have done.
Although the microfinance program was a success in the eyes of beneficiaries, senior staff members and donors remained unaware of why
projects changed on the ground. To ensure that development programs can be made relevant to people’s lives and cultural values, development
practitioners must relinquish control over the minutiae of development and allow local-level workers to negotiate the details of
projects with participants.

RESUME
    L’article analyse les processus de patrimonialisation qui, dans l’État nord-indien de l’Uttarakhand, concernent différents types de rituels basés sur la pratique de la possession. Lorsqu’ils font l’objet de discours et de pratiques de conservation, ces rituels sont considérés comme des performances esthétiques. Plutôt que les importantes fonctions de ces pratiques au sein de l’expérience ordinaire des gens ou du paysage thérapeutique, ce sont certains de leurs éléments esthétiques tels que la musique, le chant, la danse, qui sont mis en valeur. La possession, partie intégrante des rituels lorsqu’ils sont pratiqués dans leur contexte d’origine, tend à être effacée, lorsqu’elle n’est pas réduite à une forme de théâtralisation. Cet article montre que ce processus sélectif découlant d’une volonté de patrimonialisation n’est pas dépourvu de conflictualité. Certains habitants des villages de cette région pratiquent la possession au cours de l’exhibition sur scène de rituels qui tendent à l’exclure. D’autres critiquent des performances qui offrent une version dénaturée de la possession même. En définissant la possession comme un des éléments culturels qui méritent de les représenter, ces acteurs sociaux contrecarrent les efforts des élites et démontrent leur détermination à faire entendre leur voix à l’intérieur du discours patrimonial.

SUMMARY
    This article analyses the conflicting aspects of the process of patrimonialization of possession based rituals in the North Indian State of Uttarakhand. The rituals are often altered in the heritage-making process. Rather than the important functions they hold within people’s ordinary experience or within the local therapeutic landscape, only some of the rituals’ esthetic aspects such as music, dancing, and singing are put forward. Although it is an integral component of the rituals when practiced within their original context, possession tends to be removed altogether when not reduced to being dramatized on stage. Despite such attempts to have it muted, local villagers practice possession during staged exhibitions of rituals which are often considered as being denatured. By defining possession as a cultural element worthy of representing them, these social actors thwart elitist efforts and demonstrate their aspiration to participate actively in heritage-defining discourses.

Wheat is a major rabi crop grown in hills of Uttarakhand although still
under subsistence farming at a majority of the places. Consequently,
there is a great scope of increasing the production and productivity
in the region with scientific interventions. Frontline demonstrations
(FLDs) of improved high yielding varieties viz., VL Gehun 907 and
VL Gehun 953 were conducted by ICAR-VPKAS, Almora during rabi
2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 covering a total of 252 farmers.
The yield and economic returns of FLD plots were compared with the
corresponding farmers’ practices. Results revealed that technology
index was much lower for VL Gehun 953 (range 8.2 to 23.6) than VL
Gehun 907 (range 27.9 to 44.4) at farmers’ field which shows that VL
Gehun 953 has more potential to achieve higher yield levels under
hill conditions. Both the varieties recorded higher gross returns, net
returns and B:C ratio in demonstrated plot. The profitability analysis
exhibited that VL Gehun 907 with B:C ratio 2.06 (2014-15), 3.02(2016-17),
VL Gehun 953 with B:C ratio 2.93(2016-17), 2.80(2017-18) and 2.91(2018-
19) were more profitable than local wheat varieties.

Why do people continue to participate in development projects in spite of the vast literature cataloguing development’s flaws? At Pahari Sansthan, the NGO in Uttarakhand, India where I conducted eighteen months of ethnographic research between 2012 and 2015, local people participated in projects because they fit them into strategies for living worthwhile lives. Extant understandings of happiness and wellbeing cannot explain the connections people in Uttarakhand made between immediate desires and long-term aspirations. People from Uttarakhand wanted to live lives that met short-term needs while they worked towards larger goals. However, Pahari Sansthan’s donors and senior management thought that their beneficiaries wanted to maximize financially useful benefits for themselves above all else and designed projects accordingly. This disconnect between what beneficiaries wanted and what NGO leaders thought they wanted was negotiated in project implementation. Fieldworkers, who were from the same villages as beneficiaries, maintained relationships with them that allowed everyone to access the resources needed to meet their immediate and distant needs. Because people did not want to violate the moral rules that governed these connections, fieldworkers and beneficiaries altered
Pahari Sansthan’s projects so that they fit with strategies to lead ‘good enough’ lives. Fieldworkers hid many of these changes from scrutiny by strategically using reporting procedures. Contrary to existing literature on standardization, data collectors were not necessarily restricted by auditing practices. Fieldworkers also obscured alterations to projects by
deliberately deploying the silent deference expected by NGO managers—who were higher status in terms of wealth, education, and urban experience (an increasingly prominent status marker in India) than fieldworkers. Although fieldworkers’ actions allowed projects to continue, they also left changes made vulnerable to misinterpretation by superiors whose views of development and human motivation remained unchallenged. This research makes important contributions to scholarship on status in India, moral economies and wellbeing, social networks, quantification, and NGO-led development. If development workers truly want projects to fit local contexts, they should allow field-level workers more familiar with those contexts to adjust projects in practice and thus avoid the need for obfuscation.

Uttarakhand as a State accounts for 53483 square kilometres which is approximately 1.63% of the total geographical area of India(3,287,240 km2). Similarly the population of the State stands at 10,116,752 which is 0.84 % of total population of India (1,210,193,422) as per 2011 census. This gives us the figure that the density of the State stands at as low as 189 per square kilometres. It is the highest among the Himalayan states across the North and North East with the only exception being Tripura (Statistical Patrika, 2013).

Hospitality industry is one of the most dynamic industry. Guests enjoy their stay in hotels just because of high level of energy among its employee. This industry personnel are also known as most disciplined ones with reference to other sectors. The employee in hotels and other accommodation sectors are working in a set hierarchial structure of the organization. In every department, the career opportunity for working employees is their desired goal. They want to see working themselves on higher level on their every present situation. Apart from this, employees keep themselves motivated from other multiple reasons. If they don’t find in the state of lacking in terms of motivation and career opportunity in their job, they start thinking to shift from one job to another. The hospitality industry in Uttarakhand is also facing challenges regarding employee retention. Retaining the competent employee in organization is considered as a significant task for the managers. Employees leave their organization due to multiple reasons, which they generally don’t want to discuss with their managers. Sometime, even they don’t know why they intend to change their organization. Frequency of changing the job and shifting from one organization to other is a known tendency among young employee. In this research paper, the emphasis has been done on the various factors associated with employees’ attrition related to motivation and career opportunities in hospitality industry of Uttarakhand. A comparative study has been done in Garhwal and Kumaon region of the state to know about the HR strategies adopted by hospitality industry in Uttarakhand regarding factors related to motivation and career opportunities. For this study, the hotels in both of regions have been identified for primary data collection and these hotels are ranging from three-star category and above. A set pattern of questionnaire as a research tool has been developed to assemble the data. Then the data-analysis has been done to find the conclusion that how motivation and career opportunities in hospitality industry is playing the significant role.

This is a brief summary of the PhD thesis that I am going to submit at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. It presents my research on the evolution of the Garhwali music industry (North India) in the digital era.

The role of land reforms has been part of a grand narrative in India which talks about the rights of the marginalized. As nation trying to come out of the bondages of colonization one was also working on the internal democracy and fight against marginalisation. The role of the Congress during the independence struggle and rise of different farmer (‘kisan’) organisations is of significance. For us to get a toe hold of the land reforms we need to engage with the historical state of affairs with regards to land in India in general and Himalayas in particular. The Uttarakhand state has Garhwal and Kumaon as the two broad divisions by way of which we can look at the region. The region has been under the Nepali rulers, Britishers for a long time. The Britishers were interested in the vast forest resources of the region primarily wood in order to fuel its expansion across the country. The forest areas of the region were heavily exploited over a period of time. The Britishers gained a good footing in the Kumaon which remained an area of influence. Post independence the Uttar Pradesh  state looked upon the region as a source of Hydropower and Tourist destination with little or no interest in bringing about land reforms in the region.