Career
Travels
Pathak has undertaken a padayatra, a trek entirely on foot, from Askot in eastern Uttarakhand (near the Nepal border) to Arakot in western Uttarakhand (near the Himachal border), once every decade since 1974. The next yatras were conducted in 1984, 1994, 2004, and 2014. Each of these yatras has lasted around 45 days. [6] In these yatras, Pathak has walked from village to village with several other interested people, studying emerging trends in society, culture, economy, and environment across the length of Uttarakhand. [7] [8] [9]
In 2007, Pathak took upon a three-year project to study the Himalayan people along with Magsaysay Award winner, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, traversing the Himalayas, from Leh to Arunachal Pradesh. [10] [11] Pathak has also undertaken several explorative journeys in Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Tibet. He has been on three Kailash-Manasarovar yatras. [2]
NGO work
Pathak founded the non-profit NGO PAHAR at Nainital in 1983. PAHAR stands for 'People's Association for Himalaya Area Research'. He has also been the founder-editor of the Annual magazine 'PAHAR', published by this NGO. [12] The PAHAR magazine covers various topics related to culture, society, contemporary changes, history, exploration, etc. in relation to the Himalayas. [13] It has also acted as a chronicle of the decadal Askot-Arakot yatras. [14] This organisation also has a large online repository of colonial-era and contemporary literature of various kinds on the Himalayas, Tibet, and the highlands of Inner Asia.
- World Mountain People Association
Pathak was chosen as the National Coordinator of the Indian chapter of World Mountain Peoples Association, (WMPA) at the first Asia-level meeting of the WMPA, held at Yuksom, Sikkim from 9–11 April 2002. [15] In 2011, Pathak was the Vice-President of WMPA for Asia. [16]
Activism
Pathak was a student-activist in the Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahini during his days as a university student. He was an activist in the Chipko movement since its inception in 1973. [1] In November 2015, he returned his Padma Shri award, awarded to him in 2007, to the Government of India, in protest against 'the rising intolerance in the country and the neglect of the Himalayan region'. [4]
Other engagements
Pathak has frequently written opinion pieces in various regional and national newspapers in India. He has also delivered numerous invited lectures and been a part of many discussion panels in universities, literary festivals, and elsewhere.
Nainital is a town and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters of an eponymous district. It also houses the Governor of Uttarakhand, who resides in the Raj Bhavan. Nainital was the summer capital of the United Provinces.
Sunderlal Bahuguna was an Indian environmentalist and Chipko movement leader. The idea of the Chipko movement was suggested by his wife and him. He fought for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas, first as a member of the Chipko movement in the 1970s, and later spearheaded the anti-Tehri Dam movement from the 1980s to early 2004. He was one of the early environmentalists of India, and later he and others associated with the Chipko movement and started taking up wider environmental issues, such as being opposed to large dams.
Uttarakhand, formerly known as Uttaranchal, is a state in northern India. The state is divided into two divisions, Garhwal and Kumaon, with a total of 13 districts. The winter capital and largest city of the state is Dehradun, which is also a railhead. On 5 March 2020, Bhararisain, a town in the Gairsain Tehsil of the Chamoli district, was declared as the summer capital of Uttarakhand. The High Court of the state is located in Nainital, but is to be moved to Haldwani in future.
Haldwani is the largest city of Kumaon. It is also the third most populous city and largest commercial market in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Haldwani is said to be the financial capital of Uttarakhand, having the most commercial, economic and industrial activities of the state. Haldwani is located in the Nainital District, and is one of its eight Subdivisions. The Haldwani Urban agglomeration has 232,060 people as of 2011, and is the third most populous UA in Uttarakhand, after Dehradun and Haridwar. Being situated in the immediate foothills of Kumaon Himalayas, the Kathgodam neighbourhood of Haldwani is known as the "Gateway to Kumaon".
Kumaoni is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by over two million people of the Kumaon region of the state of Uttarakhand in northern India and parts of Doti region in Western Nepal. As per 1961 survey there were 1,030,254 Kumaoni speakers in India. The number of speakers increased to 2.2 million in 2011.
Pithoragarh district is the easternmost district in the state of Uttarakhand. It is located in the Himalayas and has an area of 7,110 km2 (2,750 sq mi) and a population of 483,439. The city of Pithoragarh, located in Saur Valley, is its headquarters. The district is within the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand state. The Tibet plateau is situated to the north and Nepal is to the east. The Kali River which originates from the Kalagiri Mountain flows south, forming the eastern border with Nepal. The Hindu pilgrimage route for Mount Kailash-Lake Manasarovar passes through this district via Lipulekh Pass in the greater Himalayas. The district is administratively divided into six Tehsils: Munsyari; Dharchula; Didihat; Berinag; Gangolihat; and Pithoragarh. Naini Saini Airport is the nearest civil airport, but it does not have a regular scheduled commercial passenger service. The mineral deposits present in the district are magnesium ore, copper ore, limestone, and slate. There are 11 tehsils.
Nainital district is a district in Kumaon division which is a part of Uttarakhand state in India. The headquarters is at Nainital.
Karki (Devanagari:कार्की) is a Nepali/Kumaoni surname found among the Chhetri community of Nepal and the Kumaoni Rajput community of Uttarakhand.
Chandi Prasad Bhatt is an Indian environmentalist and social activist, who founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeshwar in 1964, which later became a mother-organization to the Chipko Movement, in which he was one of the pioneers. For his work Bhatt was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1982, followed by the Padma Bhushan in 2005.
Barechhina is an Indian village in Almora district, Uttarakhand, 18 km from the district headquarters, the city of Almora. . It lies on highway from Almora-Barechhina-Dhaulchina-Sheraghat-RaiAgar-Berinag-Chaukori-Thal-Tejam to Munsiyari.
The Garhwali people are an Indian ethnolinguistic group native to the Garhwal, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, who speak Garhwali, an Indo-Aryan language.
Khadg Singh Valdiya was an Indian geologist and a former vice chancellor of Kumaon University, internationally recognized for his path-breaking work in the fields of geodynamics and Environmental Science. A 2007 recipient of Padma Shri, he was honoured again by the Government of India in 2015 with Padma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian award.
Kathgodam railway station is railway station located in Kathgodam town near Haldwani, just 35 km from Nainital Town in Nainital district of Uttarakhand State of India.
Uma Bhatt is an Indian scholar, writer, and founder-editor of a magazine for women. She is involved in political issues in her home state of Uttarakhand.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Uttarakhand:
The Sarju, also known as Sarayu, is a major river draining Central Kumaon region in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Originating from Sarmul, Sarju flows through the cities of Kapkot, Bageshwar and Seraghat before joining Mahakali at Pancheshwar. The Sarju is the largest tributary of the Sharda River. The river forms the South-eastern border between the districts of Pithoragarh and Almora. Temperate and sub-Tropical forests cover the entire Catchment area of the River.
The Coolie-Begar or Coolie- Utar movement was a non-violent movement by the general public of Kumaun in the Bageshwar town of United Provinces in 1921. This movement was led by Hargovind Pant and Badri Datt Pandey, who were awarded the titles of 'Jannayak' and 'Kumaon Kesari' respectively after the success of this movement. The aim of this movement was to put pressure on the British to end the practice of Coolie-Begar. Mahatma Gandhi, while praising the movement, named it 'Bloodless Revolution'.
