Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami joined Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar, on Friday, 26 June 2026, for the Khet Bachao Abhiyan (Save the Farmland Campaign), at which development projects worth Rs 369.66 crore were inaugurated and foundation stones laid.

Context

Chief Minister Dhami announced his participation in the event on X, writing that he took part in the 'Khet Bachao Abhiyan' programme organised in Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar alongside Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He noted that development projects worth Rs 369.66 crore were both inaugurated and had their foundation stones laid on the occasion.

Rudrapur is the commercial and administrative centre of Udham Singh Nagar district, situated in the fertile Terai belt of Uttarakhand. The district is among the state's most agriculturally productive zones and has also witnessed significant industrial growth, making land-use pressures and farmland protection a recurring concern for both farmers and policymakers.

Policy Backdrop

The Khet Bachao Abhiyan is a campaign directed at farmland protection, sustainable agriculture, and rural development. It reflects a broader pattern of the BJP-led central and state governments combining awareness drives with concrete infrastructure announcements in key agrarian constituencies.

Central schemes such as PM-KISAN, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), and various irrigation projects have been extended to Udham Singh Nagar in multiple phases since 2015, building a layered policy framework around rural infrastructure and farmer income support. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who previously served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for multiple terms, brings extensive state-level experience in agricultural administration to his current central portfolio.

Uttarakhand state governments have periodically announced rural infrastructure packages under the Ministry of Rural Development since 2014, and Friday's event continues that tradition of joint central-state coordination on farmer welfare and rural assets.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the campaign and the associated project announcements are farmers and rural households across Udham Singh Nagar district. The Terai region's high agricultural productivity makes it a strategically important area for any farmland-protection initiative, and residents have long raised concerns about agricultural land being diverted to industrial or commercial use.

The Rs 369.66 crore package covers both the inauguration of completed works and the laying of foundation stones for new projects, signalling a multi-stage investment in local infrastructure. The dual nature of the announcements — opening finished assets while committing to future ones — is a common feature of such high-profile government events aimed at demonstrating both delivery and forward momentum.

What's Next

Observers will track the physical and financial progress of the projects sanctioned at the Rudrapur event, including timelines for the newly foundation-stoned works. Attention will also turn to whether the Khet Bachao Abhiyan expands to other districts of Uttarakhand, particularly the hill districts where land-use challenges differ markedly from the Terai.

The convergence of a senior central minister and the state chief minister at a single agrarian event in an election-sensitive district underscores the political as well as policy significance that both the BJP government in Dehradun and the Union government in New Delhi attach to farmer outreach in Uttarakhand.