Himalaya Diwas – 9 September
Himalaya Diwas or Himalaya Day is celebrated on 9th September by Uttarakhand Government since 2014 to focus attention on issues related to the mountain and conservation of its ecology.
The day is dedicated to the conservation and protection of the Himalayas, from glacier, river, mountain, living, spirituality to every aspect of the Himalayas is affected for some reason.
The Himalayas are currently undergoing rapid change, they are losing their fertility power in the face of severe soil erosion. The major challenges faced by the Himalayas are increasing population, rampant urbanization, unchecked deforestation, melting of glaciers, and other such ecological disruptions that are rapidly triggering disasters of the kind that occurred in Kedarnath.
The condition of the Himalayas from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Uttarakhand Himalayas to the Northeast Himalayas of the country is the same. A lot of damage has been done by hydropower projects and dams that are being built or roads that are being dug in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. The same can be seen in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Sikkim, Arunachal, and other states of Northeast India.
The Himalayas are not able to fulfill the growing appetite for water and electricity of the country and the Himalayas is being trampled with impudence and vulgarity. There are no public policies regarding Himalayan mountains, glaciers, rivers, catchment areas, forests, agricultural holdings and consolidation, canals, irrigation, horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry, wildlife, and human relations, rainwater management, etc.
Somewhere, tunnels are being laid within the mountains by laying gunpowder to build a dam, and somewhere roads are being dug in the name of development by cutting the chest of the mountains. When some countries of the world can have natural rights to the protection of mountains, rivers, and forests, then why can’t the Himalayas get these rights.
The Government of India and the governments of the Himalayan states within the country are not sensitive to the concerns of the Himalayas, and especially to the concerns related to the eco-environment. We should equip the Himalayan mountains, glaciers, rivers, watershed areas, and forests with the natural rights of conservation.
The Himalayas are the powerhouse of fresh oxygen, clean water, and medicinal herb. The basic element of the Himalayas are the snow, rivers, and forest, and its protector is the inhabitants there. Having snow and covered with trees, been the two important things for the Himalayas, but due to various development plans in the Himalayas the glaciers are melting, forest are cut down and dams are formed, landslides increases due to the formation of widened roads all these so-called development have caused havoc to the Himalayas.
Himalaya Day is celebrated to spread the message that solutions for sustainable development and ecological stability for the Himalayas must be as unique as the Himalayan ecosystem itself. To celebrate the day, a number of awareness programs are organized, Rallies, and seminars are held in various parts of the State to mark this day.
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