Dehradun: Uttarakhand continued to hit the national headlines throughout the year 2024 for different political reasons. Uttarakhand usually grabs national attention after facing natural calamities like landslides, floods, heavy rainfalls, and forest fires.
This trend also continued in the year 2024 like the past. The country’s highest number of forest fires was recorded by the hill state. The bad news for the state in the year 2024 is the report about decrease in its forest cover. This year, the state has also drawn attention for formulating the rules for implementation of Uniform Civil Code.
Final draft of the UCC and BJP’s memorable victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
While the ruling BJP created a history by winning all the five Lok Sabha seats of the state for the third consecutive time in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the final draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), submitted to the state government by the expert panel, brought the hill state into political focus at the national level. Uttarakhand is set to become the country’s first state to implement the UCC after independence.
Fresh debate over the requirement of a stringent local land laws
The fresh debate over the requirement of stringent local land laws in view of the reports of misuse of the different provisions of existing land laws in the land purchase by outsiders also began this year. While the state government continues to seek feedback from the local people before introducing the new local land laws, it faces a challenge to maintain a balance between the requirement of new local land laws and different aspects of development. The political debate over the requirement of new local land laws has come at a time when the state government is making efforts to attract investors.
Crackdown on “Mazars”
The BJP government also carried out a crackdown on Mazars constructed on the government lands throughout the year. The government claimed that it had freed the government land from the encroachment in the state.
Environmental challenges for the state
Like the past, Uttarakhand continued to face environmental challenges, including rain fury in the Kedarnath valley and deadliest wildfire season claiming 12 lives, in the year 2024. Heavy rain damaged the Kedarnath trek route, and it led to the death of 7 persons.
High footfalls in Char Dham Yatra season
However, the good news for the state in the year 2024 is that it continued to receive pilgrims in high numbers during the Char Dham Yatra. This 2024 Yatra season witnessed the arrival of 58 lakhs pilgrims. The government also took a major decision to constitute a Yatra authority for the proper management of the Char Dham Yatra this year. The authority will come into existence in the year 2025. The growing graph of the pilgrims’ arrival for Char Dham Yatra has also prompted the state government to intensify its efforts to increase the carrying capacity of the four shrines- Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri in view of the infrastructural developments there.
In another development, the Wildlife Institute of India has already started making assessments of the carrying capacity of four shrines- Hemkund Sahib, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
Government started promoting winter Char Dham Yatra
Since Char Dham Yatra remains the backbone of the state’s economy, the state government finally swung into action to attract pilgrims from across the country for the winter Char Dham Yatra to the winter abodes of the four shrines- Narsimha temple (Jyotirmath), Omkareshwar temple (Ukhimath), Gangotri temple (Mukhaba), and Yamunotri temple (Kharsali) this year. The government’s attempts to promote winter Char Dham Yatra has brought a fresh ray of hope for the people of the hill areas to see a growth in their economy.
Human-animal conflict
The human-animal conflicts continued to trouble the hill state in the year 2024 also. It witnessed 64 fatalities mainly due to leopard, tiger, snake, and elephant attacks.
