While the Congress attacks his administration, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is busy proving that his own backyard is bustling with productivity—literally. In a sweet turn of events, the CM’s official residence recorded a bumper honey harvest of 520 kg in just 45 days.
Inspecting the extraction on Saturday, Dhami identified the massive potential for apiculture in the state’s forest and hilly terrains. Taking the buzz forward, the CM has called for a dedicated policy on installing beehives in forest areas to boost rural employment.
Dhami plans to sweeten the deal further by prioritising beekeeping under the ‘Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana.’
Self-enumeration in tech-driven Census
Dehradun is setting a benchmark for the upcoming Census 2027. Eva Ashish Srivastava, Director of Census Operations, announced that over 62,000 citizens in the state have already completed self-enumeration digitally, with Dehradun leading the state.
To ensure precision, 20,859 enumerators and 3,670 supervisors have been rigorously trained on the HLO mobile app. Leveraging Digital India initiatives, the state has been mapped into 29,567 digital blocks via the HLBC portal. Beginning April 25, the “Har Dwar, Dastak” campaign will launch, where field staff will use mobile-based systems to collect data across 33 parametres per household until May 24.
Contempt plea against home secretary
A fresh legal standoff has erupted between the Uttarakhand government and two senior IPS officers, Arun Mohan Joshi and Neeru Garg. The duo, currently holding IG rank, moved the Central Administrative Tribunal after the state home department allegedly ignored a stay order on their central deputation.
Following the Centre’s March 5 directive to transfer Joshi to the BSF and Garg to the ITBP, the state relieved them. However, challenging the move, the officers approached the CAT, which granted them interim relief on April 7, staying the deputation for four weeks. Joshi has filed a contempt petition against Home Secretary Shailesh Bagouli.
Narendra Sethi
Our correspondent in Uttarakhand
narendrasethi@newindianexpress.com