Special grants sought for 10 Himalayan states from Centre :

1. The Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI), a civil society group, has sought “special grants” for 10 Himalayan states from the Centre during the conclave of Himalayan Chief Ministers at Mussoorie.

2. At the last year’s conclave in Shimla, the states had batted for a separate ministry for Himalayan states. NITI Aayog constituted Himalayan State Regional Council (HSRC) in November 2018, but not a single meeting has been held so far.

3. On the recommendation of state CM Jai Ram Thakur, the Centre declared hydropower as the renewable source of energy (Himalayan states power potential is 1,15,000 MW ) and a common hydropower policy. 

4. The 15th Finance Commission must continue to give status of “special category states” to Himalayan states. They have weak resource base and low fiscal capacity and expenditure mounts on all services.  IMI demands that the Centre should set up three separate funds-disaster rehabilitation fund for the rehabilitation of disaster affected villagers, a new recovery and reconstruction fund, and earthquake risk reduction fund as these states are in seismic zone IV and V. 

5. Mussoorie was host to the ‘Himalayan Conclave’, a historic convention which saw senior leaders from 11 Himalayan States assemble on the same stage to discuss issues related to the Himalayan ecology and biodiversity. The conclave was held deliberate on the development challenges and potential of IHR. It concluded with the adoption of the Mussoorie Resolution, 2019.

6. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Chief Ministers of five states with four representative of other four states in the Himalayan region and a host of other dignitaries were present.

7. The Himalayan states demanded a separate ministry to deal with problems endemic to them and a green bonus in recognition of their contribution to environment conservation.

8. Moreover, a case is being made to the 15th Finance Commission for focussing the funding to the states so that: Forest cover component of 7.5% as untied devolution maintained to compensate the states for fiscal disability caused by the need to maintain forest cover; Income Distance component in horizontal devolution should take into consideration Infrastructural Distance to reflect the higher difficulty and higher cost of providing and accessing basic services etc.

9. Grant in aid as performance grant to maintain carbonstocks in the IHR Making India proud of our Mountains region to meet India’s INDC commitment of increasing carbonstocks by 2.5-3 billion tons by the year 2030, Grant in aid as performance grant to reduce erosion; Grant in aid to encourage IHR states to Go Green by reducing chemical fertilizer and pesticide consumption; Disaster Management Grant to IHR states; Connectivity Grant to improve connectivity; and Infrastructural Planning and development.

10. The Mussoorie Resolution 2019 was adopted by the IHR states to workout strategies for Sustainable Development of Mountain areas in a collaborative manner.