Abstract
In April 1998 the newly elected Government of India announced that it would oversee the creation of four new states within the federal Union of India. One of these regions currently forms the Himalayan part of Uttar Pradesh, and will be known as Uttaranchal. The reason given for this decision is that the formation of a smaller, separate state will encourage greater adminis- trative efficiency and political accountability in this 'backward' mountain region. This proposal was first officially accepted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 1991, and ever since then development planners, academics, economists, and civil servants have discussed the economic and political viability of the proposal. However, much less is heard about what ordinary villagers and townspeople of this hill region think about these issues, despite the fact that their recent mass protest played a vital part in per- suading the Central Government to accept the proposal for a separate hill state. This paper explores some of the perceptions of ordinary hill men and women on the subjects of regionalism, politics, and development.
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