Last week we travelled through seven districts spread across all three divisions of Himachal Pradesh. In five days we drove through Sirmaur, Solan Shimla Districts (Shimla Division); Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Mandi Districts (Mandi Division) and Una district (Kangra Division). The journey was mostly through lower Himachal, except few areas of Shimla district that lie in upper Himachal. The objective was to assess the current socio-economic and political conditions of the state and sentiments of the people ahead of elections scheduled in November 2022.
The following are some of the key observations made during the trip.
- There are no signs of Covid-19 pandemic in the state. Masks are mostly absent from the faces of the people as well as shops. Only room service staff at expensive hotels are seen wearing masks while attending guest calls. The customary hand sanitizer bottles put up in hotel lobbies, shops and offices are mostly empty. Most of the people we spoke to remember Corona as a bad dream, but none appeared concerned about it any longer.
- The pandemic affected the services (mostly tourism and hospitality) sector of the state significantly. But most of it is recovering well now. The tourist arrival as well as spending has been strong since last holiday season (October-November 2021). Hotel occupancy presently is above the average.
- The horticulture (fruits and vegetable) sector of the state suffered in 2020 due to logistic issues. The sector has recovered well in 2021. Both the crop and realizations have been better than 2019.
- The roads in the state are mostly in good shape. The construction of highways and village (PMGSY) roads that suffered during the pandemic is back on track. Chandigarh-Solan route is now completely four lane. Solan-Shimla four laning is progressing well. The local people are generally happy with the widening of roads. The voices of dissent (on environmental issues) are few and feeble.
- The sentiment of people is generally positive, but not particularly ebullient. The efforts of the government to create local employment opportunities have not yielded the desired results so far. Even though the implementation of numerous government schemes is progressing well and corruption is not seen as a major issue in the state. Inflation is a key concern in towns, not so much in villages.
- Politically, there is no significant anti-incumbency in the state. No one seems to be vocal with complaints. Though people are not excited about the present state leadership. Most of the people we spoke to are expecting a change in the state leadership post election.
- The ruling BJP has already started the election campaign, while no other party seems bothered about it as yet.
- The traditional monsoon forecasting mechanism of the tribal farmers has been significantly more accurate than the professional forecasters. I have been personally observing this for the past 25years. This time they are anticipating a good monsoon. This is good news for the farmers of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab and Western UP at least.
