How the name 'Uttaratani' was chose for Uttarayani, the organization

It was early 1993. JP Mamgain helped in arranging a small meeting at Taj Mansingh hotel in Delhi. In the small meeting room in the hotel basement, some 10 Uttarakhandi officers from the central government met to discuss how to take the group forward. Till now, and for many years after this, the meetings of this group were held in a semi-formal format: a small agenda would be placed before the group, a discussion would take place, followed by a contributory lunch. Manoj Pandey had taken upon himself to fix dates for next meetings, draw an agenda in consultation with a few other Uttarakhandis in Shastri Bhawan and North Block, often anchor the meeting, and publish informal minutes in the form of a newsletter. A group was active in organizing the meetings and doing preliminary discussions on pressing topics. This included HC Jayal, HG Upreti, MR Thapliyal, Shashi Bhushan Uniyal and Manoj Pandey. Others who took equal interest in the initial years include TC Pant, JP Mamgain, US...