With just about a day left for Destination Uttarakhand-Investors Summit 2018, this major event to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday could well be considered the biggest such event to be held in Uttarakhand since its creation as a separate State. Union Ministers and a number of investors from the top names in the industry to the other established and upcoming players will be attending the summit. Already more than Rs 70,000 crore worth of memorandums of understanding have been signed between various enterprises and the State Government.
It is not surprising that for quite some time now, most official deliberations and cabinet meetings have been focused mainly on various aspects of this event and its aim-attracting investment. The Government is looking forward to the event, claiming to have achieved initial success considering the fact that the worth of MoUs signed have already surpassed the initially expected investment of Rs 40,000 crore. Though, as with most initiatives, skeptics have different views. However, it may be practically too early to opine on the event and its actual effects even before it is held. The actual benefits and other effects of the summit and the investment it brings may become apparent in the coming months.
Even then, some developments are already visible and being welcomed by the citizens. The pot-holed roads in various parts of the town have been repaired and other works have been done to spruce up the appearance of the host city Dehradun. The Government is focused on opening infrastructural developments like the Mohkampur flyover and Datkali tunnel to the public ahead of the summit. The investors summit might seem to be the most important thing for many especially the investors, those expecting to gain from investments and those in the establishment, but there is a lot going on in the state apart from the summit. With the Central and State Governments each reducing fuel prices by Rs 2.50 per litre, the people in Uttarakhand may experience some relief on this front.
As the people face whatever the future brings, after a few more months, the 2019 parliamentary polls are also slated to be held. This will mark another phase in the State and nation with a flurry of activity as usual by the party in office and opposition parties expected to elicit considerable attention of the media and public in the coming months. There may be much more happening later on when the new Government is elected at the Centre. One might think that these things are the most important issues in the immediate and near future.
However, even in a geographically small State like Uttarakhand, there must be a considerable number of people in the urban, rural and mountainous regions who are either unaware or unconcerned about events like the summit to be held in Dehradun. With publicity of the summit peaking and political issues now gradually eliciting more efforts and focus, one thought of checking out how popular these issues actually are.
Talking to many scores of people in Dehradun and various rural and mountainous parts of the State in recent days, one realised that there are still many people in the State who are concerned more about issues like the weather, its impact on agriculture and life, their own health, jobs and other local and routine issues rather than big events like the investors summit or politics. Considering such people ignorant or small minded would be a folly because the fact is that what might be the most important thing for some person might not be even worth considering for another person. But there are certain facts which remain vital irrespective of the attention given to them. For example, issues like the environment and climate change which appear stereotypical and boring to many will remain more important and more happening unaffected by how much importance we accord to them.
The Government claims to be very concerned about this but at the same time also solicits actions which many believe are damaging the environment severely.
In the coming months, the results of the investors summit and then the activities related to the Lok Sabha elections will probably dominate the attention of the powers that be. One only hopes that amidst all this, the other real issues like the environment, climate and its impact on life do not remain consigned to the cold storage to be taken out and cooked up at a more ‘convenient’ time. Because, amidst all this official bling, there are things going on which we ignore at our own peril.