Uttarakhand emerged as the 27th State of India on November 9, 2000, after a prolonged struggle by the people of this mountainous region.
The people participated in the Statehood movement because they believed that their concerns for development, employment generation, resources availability, equitable distribution of services and facilities would be resolved in an efficient manner in a separate state. Women played a leading role in the movement which led to the creation of Uttarakhand.
Women from the remote areas of Uttarakhand became active participants in this movement as they believed that Statehood was necessary for the welfare of their children, community as well as to provide relief from underdevelopment and negligence suffered when it was still a part of Uttar Pradesh.
They were confident that creation of a separate State would reduce their problems. However, now women of Uttarakhand are not happy with the state of affairs as they feel ignored by the State Government.
The Uttarakhand movement was motivated by regional and economic factors. The movement was fuelled by factors like the migration of people from the mountains for employment and education. The residents of the mountainous districts felt themselves lost in the large State of Uttar Pradesh and their needs were ignored by the politicians.
Men were compelled to leave their families and seek employment in the plains where most of them found menial jobs. The protest started in 1994 by the students of Uttarakhand against the UP Government for increasing the number of reserved Government positions and university seats for lower caste people expanded into a struggle for Statehood and later on the women of Uttarakhand participated in the protest and played an important role in the protest.
BJP leader and statehood activist Ravindra Jugran said that in the formation of Uttarakhand the women played an important role. The state was created mainly due to woman power and without their help the protest would have been ineffective. He also said that government has not done anything in favour of Uttarakhand’s women as they suffered a lot during the agitation especially in 1994 during the Rampur Tiraha incident. leader of Uttrakhand Mahila Manch, Nirmala Bisht said that the State was created mainly because of the efforts of women.
“About 70 per cent of the movement comprised of women. On August 31, 1994 around 100,000 women participated in the statehood protest. We faced many problems during the protest; many of our supporters went on hunger strike just for the demand of separate state but their role has been ignored by the State. The condition of women and quality of their life in remote areas has not improved at all,” she added. Member of Uttarakhand Mahila Manch Kamal Negi said that women of Uttarakhand played the main role in the Statehood movement.
“We wanted Gairsain to be the state capital so that development could be ensured in the mountainous region but the State government is not ready to do so. We have gone through various problems during the protest but the State has done nothing good for the women of Uttarakhand. After state formation the level of education and medical facilities in mountainous areas has deteriorated and state government is not taking any steps for the betterment of remote areas,” she added.
Another member of Uttarakhand Mahila Manch Uma Bhatt said that State Government has not done anything good for the women of the State and has consistenly ignored them. The situation of the remote areas is still bad with people migrating from villages for employment, education and medical facilities. No major improvement has been achieved in the mountains after creation of Uttarakhand, she added.
Another member of Uttarakhand Mahila Manch, Bhuvneshwari Kathait said that at the time of the protest she faced many problems and also went to the jail for 14 days. But now it all seems useless as state government is ignoring the people of the remote areas. “After State formation we lost everything- our land, forests and self respect while the State government is not doing anything for the mountainous regions,” she said.