Sansar Chand Katoch portrait The Gorkha invasion of Kangra in 1805–06 is a fairly well-known episode in the history of the western Himalayan states. The campaign, that eventually brought Raja Sansar Chand's ambitions to a halt and led to his decline, has been discussed in multiple historical accounts. Yet, while going through some older writings on the history of Nepal, I came across an account that seems to suggest that the confrontation between the Katochs and the Gorkhas was not a one-off; it was one of the multiple confrontations that had occurred, arising from a variety of reasons. The account appears in Ludwig F. Stiller's The Rise of the House of Gorkha: A Study in the Unification of Nepal, 1768–1816 (1973) , which draws upon Francis Buchanan-Hamilton's earlier An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal (1819) . The story begins not with the Gorkhas, but with Sansar Chand's growing influence in the region. Hamilton wrote that after the demise of Dharma Prakash, who had d...
Himachal Pradesh since its present formation in 1967 has distinguished itself with significant progress on the human development indices unlike several hill states, even Himalayan countries, on many fronts. The state scores well on several indices. It is just behind Kerala on the Sustainable Development Goals Index of NITI Aayog for the year 2020. It has an 82.80% Literacy rate, which is well ahead of the national average at 74%. The district hospitals in the state successfully meet the requirement of the necessary ratio on a per lakh basis. While there are genuine concerns around the public debt and the high unemployment rate, by and large the state performs rather well on most socio-economic indicators. However, that was not the case at the time of the birth of the present Himachal Pradesh state. Remotely situated populations, lack of income for people and widespread poverty and abysmal education and healthcare facilities had created a situation that if not addressed suitably would h...