Successive state governments in Uttarakhand have pursued economic growth through industrialization without taking into account the fragility of the state’s mountains. A massive rain storm in June 2013 exposed the
inherently fragile character of the mountain region. As a battered state began to rehabilitate itself the Supreme Court directed the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to set up a body of experts to study whether hydropower projects in Uttarakhand had contributed to environmental degradation and the June 2013 tragedy.