Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday distributed appointment letters to 483 candidates selected for positions in the state’s irrigation and agriculture departments, as the government reiterated its focus on recruitment and public sector employment.
The appointment letters were handed over at the Chief Sevak Sadan at the chief minister’s camp office. Of the total appointments, 473 were made in the irrigation department and 10 in the agriculture department.
Addressing the selected candidates, Dhami said the state government had prioritised transparency in recruitment through measures including the implementation of an anti-cheating law for competitive examinations. He said the policy changes were aimed at strengthening merit-based hiring in state services.
According to the chief minister, nearly 33,000 youths have secured government jobs in Uttarakhand over the last four-and-a-half years. The state enacted a stringent anti-copying law in 2023 following concerns over irregularities in recruitment examinations. Since then, the government has repeatedly positioned transparent recruitment as a key governance priority.
Dhami also linked the recruitment drive to the state’s broader economic and administrative goals. He said Uttarakhand recorded a Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth rate of 7.23% and noted that the state budget had crossed ₹1 lakh crore. He added that per capita income in the state had increased by around 41% over the last four years.
The chief minister said the irrigation and agriculture sectors remain central to Uttarakhand’s rural economy and that the state government is working to strengthen infrastructure and public service delivery in these areas. He also referred to reverse migration trends in hill regions and declining unemployment levels, though detailed data was not shared during the programme.
Irrigation minister Satpal Maharaj said the appointments would strengthen departmental capacity in areas linked to water management, irrigation projects and agricultural support systems. He said the recruitment process was conducted on the basis of merit and transparency.
Agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi said the appointments reflected the government’s emphasis on providing opportunities to qualified candidates through competitive examinations. He also referred to the increasing role of startups and innovation-led ventures in generating employment for young people.
