Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday, 14 June 2026 held a dialogue with intellectuals and eminent citizens to seek inputs on realising the twin visions of Viksit Bharat and Viksit Uttarakhand, sharing updates on key governance reforms including the state's landmark Uniform Civil Code and its stringent anti-cheating law.

Context

Posting on X, CM Dhami said the dialogue — samvad [consultation] — focused on the role of the prabuddha varg [enlightened/intellectual class] in translating the resolve of a developed India and a developed Uttarakhand into reality. Suggestions were received on a wide spectrum of subjects: education, health, tourism, agriculture, industry, social development, and public welfare. The post was accompanied by three images from the event.

The Chief Minister stated that participants were also briefed on ongoing work in areas of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the state's anti-cheating law, transparent recruitment processes, women's empowerment, and infrastructure development across Uttarakhand.

Policy Backdrop

The Viksit Bharat vision was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a national target to make India a fully developed nation by 2047. The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, launched nationally in 2023, has been used by BJP-governed states to publicise central and state welfare schemes at the grassroots level.

Uttarakhand holds a distinctive place in India's policy landscape: the state's Legislative Assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code Bill in February 2024, making it the first Indian state since independence to enact such a law, applying common personal laws across religious communities. The state also notified a strict anti-cheating law in 2023, targeting organised malpractices and paper leaks in public examinations and recruitment tests — a reform that has since been studied by other states.

Stakeholders and Impact

The dialogue directly concerns Uttarakhand's residents across sectors — students and job aspirants stand to benefit from transparent recruitment frameworks, while women's groups have been a key focus through schemes aligned with the national Beti Bachao Beti Padhao framework active since 2015. Farmers, tourism entrepreneurs, and industrial investors are among those whose sectoral suggestions were reportedly received at the event.

The UCC, once its implementation rules are fully notified, will affect personal law matters — including marriage, divorce, and inheritance — for all residents of the state regardless of religious affiliation, a policy with significant social and legal implications for Uttarakhand's diverse communities.

What's Next

The phased rollout of UCC rules and the first annual review of the anti-cheating law are expected to come up in state assembly sessions later in 2026. The feedback gathered from intellectuals in this dialogue is likely to inform the state government's planning priorities across education, health, and infrastructure in the near term. Uttarakhand's simultaneous pursuit of social uniformity measures and economic development targets continues to position the state as a testing ground for BJP's broader governance agenda ahead of future electoral cycles.