A state chief minister walked into a university hall and let students fire the hard questions — migration, jobs, artificial intelligence, and gridlocked streets. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held an open dialogue with students at Doon University, Dehradun, on Thursday, 13 August 2026, fielding pointed queries on Uttarakhand's most persistent challenges. The session covered four broad fronts: reversing out-migration, expanding employment, positioning the state as a higher-education hub, and unclogging Dehradun's choked roads. The Chief Minister's Office shared the exchange on X, quoting Dhami's responses at length.

Reverse Migration Is Already Moving, Dhami Tells Students

On the question that has shadowed Uttarakhand since its creation as a separate state in 2000 — the steady drain of young people from hill districts to the plains — Dhami pushed back with confidence. 'The process of reverse migration is now moving forward rapidly in the state,' he said, citing a cluster of state schemes as the engine. The Mukhyamantri Udyamshala Yojana, Mukhyamantri Swarozgar Yojana, and Saur Swarozgar Yojana — alongside tourism, industrial, and film policies — are being positioned as the scaffolding for local job creation. Self-help groups, Dhami added, are also being strengthened to generate livelihood opportunities at the village level. Uttarakhand governments have pursued variants of this playbook since the mid-2010s; the current administration's pitch is that the schemes have reached a critical mass.

Dehradun's Fifth Science City and the 'Future Ready' Mandate

On higher education, Dhami announced that Dehradun will host the country's fifth Science City — a facility designed to open up research infrastructure and modern scientific resources to Uttarakhand's youth. The state government, he said, is simultaneously modernising higher-education institutions and expanding their physical infrastructure. The AI and technology question drew a direct challenge back to the students themselves. Dhami said the nature of employment is changing with technological shifts, and new opportunities are emerging fast. His message: 'future ready' — students must continuously upgrade their skills to match evolving technology. The government, he added, is working to connect youth with modern skills and emerging technologies.

Elevated Roads Over Bindal and Rispana to Break the Gridlock

Dehradun's traffic congestion — a product of rapid urban expansion in a city hemmed in by geography — got a concrete infrastructure answer. Dhami said work is under way on elevated roads over the Bindal and Rispana rivers. Once complete, these projects are expected to meaningfully ease movement through the city. No completion dates were specified. The projects represent the state government's stated commitment to a permanent fix rather than traffic management workarounds — a distinction Dhami was careful to draw. A chief minister fielding unscripted student questions is a political choice as much as an administrative one. The answers Dhami gave in that Dehradun hall will now be measured against the timelines his government sets for the Science City, the elevated roads, and the employment numbers that either confirm or complicate the reverse-migration story.