Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/in-uttarakhand-climate-change-mitigation-efforts-should-not-overlook-the-regional-realities-ritodhi-chakraborty.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | In Uttarakhand, climate change mitigation efforts should not overlook the regional realities -Ritodhi Chakraborty | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

In Uttarakhand, climate change mitigation efforts should not overlook the regional realities -Ritodhi Chakraborty

-Scroll.in

There is an entangled web of issues related to caste, class and religion that defines disparate land imaginaries in the state.

In Uttarakhand, land is a political flashpoint. A controversial 2018 law introduced by state legislature now allows outsiders to buy land in the Himalayan state. In 2018, as these laws were coming into force, I asked Bhim, an elderly man from a backward caste, what he thought about it all. We had just sat through a workshop run by the Block Development Officer’s office on akshay urja (solar energy) that was requesting farmers to install state-subsidised photovoltaic panels on their farmland to generate energy.

As we walked down the terraced fields, Bhim said, “Why are they asking me for land? Jal-jangal-jameen all belong to the thakurs [upper caste].”

“He [the Assistant Development Officer] says there is jal-vayu parivartan [climate change] and this will help us deal with that,” Bhim said. “But what change is there in real jal-vayu (water-air)? Is there any? We are still living off the whims of the thakurs. Whatever change is happening has not affected my life. And now they want me to start growing electricity instead of food? No, thank you.”

Bhim’s concerns do not make it to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports which state that the Himalayas are exceptionally susceptible to climate change. Neither are they adequately addressed in the vulnerability assessments produced by public, private and non-profit institutions.

Please click here to read more.