Mamta Kalia

oth the above-mentioned tendencies
and, basing itself on the knowledge,
science and ideals of justice and equality
acquired from the West was trying to
strike a new balance. This quest for a
new balance between the best in the
West and the East was as active at
Uttarakhand’s level as it was at the
national level. It will also have to be
accepted that this healthy trend could
not become the mainstream of either
the nation or Uttarakhand. Forces heading
the process of Uttarakhand’s renewal
today can tap this very great asset
bequeathed to them by yesterday’s radical
social activists and political workers.
In this context I want to draw your
attention to a paradox. In the colonial
period, the national awakening against
the colonial rule and exploitation had
gripped the entire country. Uttarakhand
of those days was backward in terms
of transport and communication facilities
and only a few people could travel to
places outside the region. The position
then was very different from what it
is today. Today, a miniature Uttarakhand
can be found in all the major towns
of India and also those in other countries.
The Uttarakhand society of that period
was to a great extent a locality-centred
society. So also was its economy. The
food we ate, the clothes we wore, the
other things we needed, only a small
part of them came from outside. Most
of them we produced ourselves. What
is called “self-sufficient” was to a great
extent our system. It was not a system
based on market expansion. How was
it that, in spite of our economy being
local, our consciousness was national?
Be it the villages or towns, the
nationalistic wave had encompassed the
entire Uttarakhand especially after the
arrival of Gandhiji on the scene. “Akal
ko keedo O boodo Gandhi”
(Embodiment of big wisdom, O old
Gandhi)! The line of this song was on
every child’s lips, young and old person
and the spinning wheel had reached every
village. At that time, there was neither
radio nor television, nor was a newspaper
available to everybody. One wonders
what was the communication medium
which took Gandhiji’s message and that
of numerous local Gandhis to the masses.
But today the situation is different.
Today, we are an inseparable part of
the national economy, market,
communication system. Now, the
frontiers of localism at the economic,
social and cultural levels have been
breached. Now our daily necessities are
being met from outside through the
market mechanism. A large part of our
labour force is outside the region and
it is being regulated by a market for
labour. That is why a substantial part
of our income comes to us through money
order giving our economy the nickname
of a “money order economy”. In the
fields of culture and information, radio
and television, have opened us to national
and international influences. But how
is it that while on the one hand
Uttarakhand’s economy, society, culture,
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