On April 5th and 6th the People's Association for Himalaya Area Research (PAHAR) has celebrated its Silver Jubilee year with a ground breaking conference in Dehradun: War and Peace in Himalay and the release of 14-15 volume of journal pahar .

In recognition of this milestone, Editor of PAHAR Prof Shekhar Pathak opened the conference and reminded the 25 years journey of PAHAR from “ASKOT AARAKOT ABHIYAN” to participation in various movements and activities in Himalayan region, He explained the basic objective of their travelling misson and said the whole aim is to understand the social cultural , economical and environmental intricacies of himalayan region, he emphasized that without knowing these complexities of himalyan region we could not implement a sustainable model of development in the himalayan region .

The renowened enviromentalist and Magsesey awardee Chandi Prasad Bhatt explained his early days travels, padyatrayein and various enviromental movements which helped as a eye opening to local people and awaken them to fight for there rights of JAL JUNGLE, JAMEEN and he also explained his association with PAHAR and ASKOT AARAKOT ABHIYAN and explained how insightful were these travels.

Noted historian, writer and columnist Ramachandra Guha delivered his lecture on the subject ‘War and Peace in the Indian Himalayas’ and observed that an opportunity had come after a long time to make fresh efforts for a permanent solution to the Kashmir and Nagaland problems. He observed that several opportunities had been lost on bringing permanent peace and a permanent solution to the problems in Kashmir as well as Nagaland. It was time, now, to use the opportunities to resolve these problems once and for all. No one knew when such opportunities would come if they were lost, yet again…….

The Second day of the conference was started with the feliciation of eight creative personalities of the region , The following personalities have conferred with PAHAR RAJAT SAMMAN 2008. Yoganand, Ruskin Bond, Vidya Sagar Nautiyal, HD Bhatt 'Shailesh', Lalita Chandola Vaishnava, Jeet Singh Negi, Radha Krishna Kukreti, Paripurnanand Painyuli.

After that the scholarships were awarded to brilliant and topper student of all 13 districts of uttarakhand sponsered by UANA (Uttarakhand Association of North America). People like Mr. Deepak Nautiyal, Mrs. Pushp Kumar, Mr.Vijay Sharma, Dr. R. C. Pandey and all UANA donors/volunteers are source of inspiration for all NRIs/NRUs to initiate and propagate the chain of love and care for our own people.

Thereafter Shri Ramsharan Juyal performed with VINAI (a pahadi one string folk instrument which is kept in mouth and played with hand), Basanti Devi a renowned woman artist (listen her Basanti Devi.) played a heart touching jagar on nanda devi, The famous folk singer narendra singh negi sung few folk song written by famous folk artist (jeet singh negi was the first person who sung garhwali song internationally during second world war, and also conferred by PAHAR on same ocassion) .

At the end of program the photographer and traveller ShreeThreesh Kapoor presented a slide show of breathtaking and scenic beauty of himalaya. Slides prepared from the scenic glory of the entire Himalayan Range of uttarakhand . The collection begins with the picture Panchachuli Himalaya . The photo artist captures the silvery mountains towards the sunset and also the Nanda Kote from the Pindari valley. Then there are prints which recreate the magical mysticism of the Himalayas almost perfectly. In this lot are the snow-capped face of the Kailash Parbat (taken from the south), the Om Parbat, a 21,000 feet high glacier which sports snow in the formation of Om, and the Mansarovar lake in all its majesty. There also are pictures of the Trisuli Himalaya at Chamauli, The Roop Kund. The slides are powerful enough to tickle the sensibilities.

The first day of session was chaired by joint secetrary Keshav Desiraju and second day session was chaired by Chief Information Commissioner RS Tolia. Among other personalites, Chief Secretary SK Das, Principal Secretary NS Napalchyal, Principal Secretary Vibha Puri Das, Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, well known folk singer Narendra Singh Negi and senior members of the PAHAR team were present in the programme