On the way up

In this column, we report on sig-nificant developments and new ideas relating to articles which appeared in past issues of liimal.
THE TUKIS OF DOLAKHA

"Tukis" are agricultural extension workers, model farmers who motivate neighbours to use improved farming techniques. The system was begun by the Integrated Hill Development Project (IHDP) in Dolakha and Sindhupalchok districts east of Kathmandu. Subash C. Joshi. an agronomist trained in the University of Nottingham, has now completed an evaluation of the Tuki system in Sindhupalchok.
Joshi found that more than 60 per¬cent of the Tuki contact farmers were of the same caste/ethnic group as the Tukis themselves. This facilitated the spread of the extension message to the farmers. When the ethnic composition is mixed, and the Tuki´s caste/ethnic group is a minority, however, the sys¬tem is less effective. The Tuki was able to communicate better with those of lower caste than himself, Joshi found that Tukis had no influence on Tuki "non-contact farmers." Because the majority of the Tukis are from dominant ethnic groups, the supply of technical information to the lower caste population remains severely limited. The selection and distribution of the Tukis within the villages was "dis¬proportionate and unscientific," so that more than 50 percent of the Tukis remained inactive. Since IHDP´S final phase terminates in spring 1990, Tukis are demoralised and uncertain of the future. The handing over phase has al¬ready begun but the Tuki system re¬quires greater flexibility and openness than is currently provided by His Majesty´s Government, says Joshi.
AN OBSESSION WITH TOURISM

The impact of mass tourism on the
environment is causing concern in the Himalaya, and the same seems to be true for Europe´s premier mountain range. International environmental groups have warned that the Alps risk
 
being destroyed by rising mass tourism, estimated to bring more than 100 million travelers into the mountains each year. ´The main problem is too much tourism and the departure of agriculture," says Martin Holdgate, head of the World Conservation Union. Pollution, especially by cars, downhill skiing and uttering were the major dangers.
Back in the Himalaya, the rapid en¬vironmental degradation around Gan-gotri has forced the Uttar Pradesh government to restrain tourists from staying overnight in the area. A Gan-gotri Development Authority has been constituted to implement various schemes designed to restore the holy precincts to then- past beauty. After the construction of a bridge at Lanka on the Jad Ganga, the pilgrim and tourist traffic to Gangotri-Gomukh area has increased manifold, resulting in hap¬hazard development, encroachments, unauthorised construction, problems of human waste and pollution.
Sunderlal Bahuguna, the famous environmental activist of the U.P. hills, writes in a recent issue of Frontline magazine that development Gangotriis part of a bigger plan to develop the Himalaya in which the tourism industry has a major share. "Our planners and policy-makers…think that whatever comes from (the West) is the best. So, while thinking about the Himalaya, they have the Alps in their minds." The rush of tourists had started after the construction of highways to the Himalayan shrines. Tourism helped a few rich people who established hotels and travel companies but did not cre¬ate adequate jobs for the poor. There was a craze for constructing natural looking hotel buildings in tourists spots — "log huts" which required a hundred times more wood than ordinary houses. To build one such hut for "WIP" tourists, says Bahuguna, "30 old, majes¬tic deodars with girth over 2.5m were felled from the neighbouring protected forest,"
Kinnaur and Spiti, in the high north-eastern frontier of Himachal Pradesh, have been thrown open tourists – of both the foreign and domestic variety. Till now, entry into
 
the "Inner Line" required hard-to-get permit issued by the border authorities. The first package tour entered the area on 15 September to explore the valleys of four rivers that originate here — Sut-lej, Spiti, Chandra (Chenab) and Beas. Among the places of cultural impor¬tance in this region are Kibber village (said to be the highest village in Asia), the well-preserved eight-storey fort of Ghondla, the temples of Sarahan, Triloknath and Mrikula Devi, and the monasteries of Tabo, Kye and Kar-dang.
PAGODAS IN HIMACHAL

The 400-year-old temple of Tripura Sundari at Nagar village in Kulu Valley was considered one of the best examples of Himachal Pradesh´s unique pagoda-style architecture. Najm-ul-Hasan of the Times of India reports that the temple has been destroyed by an "act of pious vandalism." The historic structure was apparently pulled down hi August when a wealthy family from Nagar decided that the village deserved a brand new temple. A senior official of the Archaeological Survey of India said the country "had lost a jewel from its treasure-house of architectural heritage." Surprisingly, Himachal authorities were unaware of the vandalism, even four weeks after it had occurred.
The Tripura Sundari mandir is thought to have been built hi the late 15th or early 16th century and its founda¬tion stone mentions Raja Siddh Singh of Kulu. The pagoda temple had triple roofs, the top tier being circular and the other two char¬acteristically square. The, temple, over¬looking Beas River, is one of the reasons Himachal tourism authorities had declared Nagar a "tourist village,"