The Chief Minister's Office of Uttarakhand announced on Saturday, June 6, 2026, that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami personally engaged with farmers at the 'Khet Bachao Abhiyan' (Save the Fields Campaign) programme held in Hawalbagh development block of Almora district. The CM conducted direct, face-to-face conversations with farming communities at the event, underlining the state government's emphasis on grassroots agricultural outreach in the hill districts of Uttarakhand.

Context

The 'Khet Bachao Abhiyan' — translated as the 'Save the Fields Campaign' — is a state-level initiative aimed at arresting the growing trend of agricultural land abandonment in Uttarakhand's Himalayan districts. Almora, located in the Kumaon region, has long faced the dual pressure of rural out-migration and shrinking cultivable land, making it a focal point for such targeted interventions. Chief Minister Dhami's direct presence at the block level signals a deliberate effort to bring executive attention to ground-level agrarian concerns.

The event at Hawalbagh involved CM Dhami speaking directly with farmers rather than addressing them through intermediaries or bureaucratic channels. This format of direct dialogue — 'seedha samvaad' (direct conversation) — has been a recurring feature of the Dhami administration's outreach model since it took office in 2021.

Policy Backdrop

Since 2021, the Uttarakhand government has organised multiple farmer-interaction events across hill districts as part of a broader strategy to combat land abandonment and sustain agricultural productivity in ecologically sensitive zones. These programmes typically combine CM-level visibility with state schemes covering organic farming support and irrigation infrastructure. The Khet Bachao Abhiyan sits within this established policy lineage, targeting specific development blocks rather than pursuing statewide legislative reform.

Uttarakhand's hill districts have historically seen farmland fall fallow as younger generations migrate to urban centres for employment. Tourism expansion and infrastructure development have further altered land-use patterns in districts like Almora. State administrations across party lines have periodically launched localised campaigns to reverse this trend, though sustained outcomes have remained a challenge.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the Khet Bachao Abhiyan are hill farmers and rural households in the Kumaon region, many of whom depend on subsistence or semi-commercial agriculture. Direct dialogue with the Chief Minister provides these communities an opportunity to surface specific grievances around land rights, water access, and crop support that may not reach state capital Dehradun through routine administrative processes.

For the Dhami government, block-level engagements of this nature serve both a policy function — gathering real-time feedback on scheme implementation — and a political one, reinforcing the administration's image as accessible and farmer-focused ahead of future electoral cycles.

What's Next

Observers will watch whether the Khet Bachao Abhiyan expands to additional development blocks across Uttarakhand's hill districts following the Hawalbagh event. Any accompanying directives on land-use conversion rules or new agricultural support measures could emerge in the next state assembly session. The pattern of block-level outreach suggests the government is building a case for more targeted rural policy rather than broad legislative changes in the near term.