Over the hills and far, far away (Himalayan states and Green Bonus)

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 Over the hills and far, far away (Himalayan states and Green Bonus)

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• Eleven Himalayan states : The July 2019 meeting of 11 Himalayan states asking for a "Green Bonus" is a new development. They want to be compensated for environmental services given to India.
• Logic : These states say that they have maintained their forests, rivers and other assets, and not cleared them for development, thereby helping the country. Hence, compensation is deserved.
• India and the Himalayan region : Traditionally, India has found it difficult to come to terms with the needs of this region - political, social, ecological-economic.
• Problem with other nations too : Nations anchored in the plains have always struggled to integrate the hilly regions. It holds true for Pakistan and China as well. (and for Myanmar and Thailand)
• Exceptionalism of "Inner Asian Frontiers" : Owen Lattimore spoke of how the inner Asian frontiers of China were different from the plains. Even for India, many have written about the totally different social and economic structure of Himalayan states, but central politics pays no attention to it.
• Colonial geography : When Britain tried drawing the boundary of the "British Indian nation state" (while building Pax Britannica), it went deep into the northern mountainous regions. For those regions, it was a first. For the British, the Himalayas stopped the Russian colonial expansion, but could not become a trade route to China.
• Post-colonial : After 1947, India, China, Myanmar or Pakistan have struggled with the "mountain relationship". They are expecting to continue without a break the colonial legacies.
• National Imagery : What it means to be an Indian is visualised in terms of the plains, and life there. Hills are a remote region, not clearly understood or known.
• Autonomy and Green Bonus : The BJP supports the "Green Bonus" that these states want, but opposes (generally) the autonomy that the constitution gives most of them. Mountain resources are commodities to be exploited – forests, water, labour, tourism, horticulture, agriculture. That has gained huge pace in recent years, and a whole new middle class has emerged that wants to exploit those resources while interacting with the nation state.
• Accommodating them : Will the aggressive approach of the present government truly respect these differences? The Green Bonus needs to wait.
• Summary : The integration of Himalayan states into the national imagination and mainstream always was a challenge, and resource-exploitation is making it all the more so.

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