. Uitarakhand 223
; Spotlight on basic problems
Himalayas have occupied a place of admiration for hundreds
and thousands of people and to the sages it hag been a place of
meditation, for teeming millions a place of worship where Gods
dwell, to the mountaineers a challenge but to the social workers
it is all things combined because while the mountains have been
worshipped, the people living there have been subjected to
colossal neglect for centuries. This isolation, while protecting
these areas from foreign inroads and influences, tended to circums-
, cribe the social, economic, political and cultural outlook of the in-
habitants of these long neglected regions and foster in them a sense
. of separateness and alienation from the rest of the country except
in the areas close to the railhead, hill stations, centres of pilgri-
mage or conventional trading centres. Therefore, the service of
the people living in the interiors of Himalayas is a great challenge
. and needs people with intense devotion, dedication and efficiency
who are prepared to brave the hazards of nature and discomforts
. of detached living.
In fact, social welfare projects in the Himalayas embrace a
wide range of activities, comprising community development
, and mobilisation of village volunteer force which can boost the
morale of the people and motivate them for adult literacy, social
, and health education, provision of pure drinking water, inviron-
mental hygiene, cleanliness and productive employment oppor-
tunities with a network of industries, mixed farming, horticulture,
road construction, development of useful as well as aesthetically
exquisite handicraft and above all reorientation in their standard
of living. As such, the work for the welfare of the Himalayan
community development is many sideci and of complex nature.
It is going to be long and laborious but determined efforts on
this score will certainly bear desired fruits. For this, one has to
.cultivate not only a clear mind but also certain amount of tough-
ness, dedicatedness and courage of conviction. The soul and the
nerve should work abreast.
Because of spiritual and religious association, the high
Himalayas have always been a distant, tough and majestic moun-
tains full of mystry and breathtaking beauty, abode of Gods and
source of life giving rivers. The fact that the people of Himalayas
-were also part of Indian mainstream was dimly known and beyond