Villagers return to border hamlets, revive hopes of ‘reverse migration’ in Uttarakhand

Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand): Some villagers who had left their hamlets along the Indo-China border in the district decades ago in search of livelihood have begun returning to their homes, reviving hopes of a reverse migration.
An estimated 1,000 families from Johar, Vyas, Darma and Chaudas valleys have begun repairing their ancestral homes so that they can resettle there, according to Dharchula and Munsiyari sub divisional magistrates. Some experts see signs in this of “reverse migration”, triggered by the building of roads and other facilities in the area in recent years and a renewed awareness among people of their unique cultural identity.
“Villagers who had abandoned their ancestral homes decades ago in search of livelihood have now started returning to their roots. It is good for national security as it will vitalise border villages,” says Lalit Pant, a retired teacher and an expert on tribal economy.
“It has been possible due to the construction of motor roads to the last posts of the border.
Roads have reached the last villages in Johar, Darma, Vyas and Chaundas valleys situated on the border with China in this sector,” says Ashok Nabiyal, who works to preserve the culture of the Rang tribals in Dharchula.
The state government’s efforts to promote homestays for tourists and the work done by some cultural organisations might also have encouraged people to return home.
“The work of Rang Kalyan Sanstha in Darma valley and Malla Johar Vikas Samiti in Johar valley in spreading cultural awareness amongst the indigenous people is also responsible for such tendency,” says Pant.
Sriram Singh Dharmashaktu, president of Malla Johar Vikas Samiti and permanent resident of Milam village, has identified his land in the village and wants to live there during the summer season.
“I have repaired my ancestral house in Milam and will settle there,” says Dharmasaktu, a retired Border Security Force commandant. Digvijay Singh Rawat, a retired Food Corporation of India official and resident of Milam, has constructed a new house in that village after his retirement.
“Although I have a house in Haldwani, I will live in Milam village which is my ancestral home,” says Rawat. In Darma valley of Dharchula sub-division, several residents who had left their villages decades ago to settle outside are returning to their ancestral villages.
“After road connectivity reached the last village of Darma valley, we started the plantation of apple trees in several villages of the valley,” says Ram Singh Sonal, a retired railway official who now lives in his ancestral village of Son in Darma valley.
He wants to convert the valley into an apple orchard. Mohan Singh Gunjyal, an Everest climber who was awarded a Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of mountaineering, has been spending most of the summers after his retirement from the IPBP at his native village Gunji.
“The Vyas valley villages will be fully revitalized after the under-construction Ghatiabagar to Lipulekh road gets completed in 2020,” says Mohan Singh Gunjyal.
About 40 per cent of 600 families in all 14 Johar valley villages before 1962 had reportedly moved out to settle in Munsiyari, Pithoragarh, Haldwani, Dehradun, Almora and New Delhi. About 140 families maintained the tradition of rearing sheep and coming to their villages in summer months to cultivate their land. People in these border valleys say if the government provides them medical care, communication and transport, all villages will be repopulated.
“At least the retired people and the young unemployed of Rang tribe will settle in these villagers to earn through homestay tourism and by growing medicinal plants,” says Mohan Singh Gunjyal.
Munsiyari SDM Bhagat Singh Fonia says the tendency to return to villages has been seen over the last five years after the roads to the last border posts began to be constructed.
“If facilities of transport communication and electricity increase in the border region, the villagers, at least the retired ones, will start staying in their ancestral villages,” he says.
The SDM, who is a permanent resident of a border village in Chamoli district, has said he will also settle down in his village after retirement. The state migration commission has in its recent report said 41,669 families from villages in Pithoragarh district have migrated to the district headquarters or to other districts over the last 20 years. (PTI)