Uttarakhand: Projection over governance

If Prime Minister Modi can spend thousands of crores on self-promotional advertising, why should the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states lag behind? Uttarakhand may account for just one per cent of the country’s population but that hasn’t stopped its chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami from spending Rs 55 lakh per day on advertising.

According to a Newslaundry report that reviewed five years of government expenditure, pre-Dhami, the total ad spend was Rs 77.7 crore. Since Dhami first became chief minister in July 2021, this shot up four-fold to Rs 227.4 crore in 2024–25.

When village after village was being ravaged by floods in August, national dailies were deluged with ads of the prime minister and Dhami promoting Uttarakhand as a premier tourist destination. In the past five years, the BJP government has spent over Rs 1001.07 crore on advertising. Of this, Rs 402 crore was spent on TV ads.

The remaining funds were distributed as follows: newspapers received Rs 129.6 crore, news agencies Rs 128.7 crore, digital media Rs 61.9 crore, SMS Rs 40.4 crore and radio Rs 30.9 crore. In total, Rs 923 crore was spent across all media platforms.

The most striking aspect of this massive media outlay is the generous flow of ad money to news channels based in Nagaland, Assam and Odisha, regions with little direct stake in Uttarakhand’s affairs. This, even as the state reels under a Rs 73,000-crore debt and struggles to fund disaster relief and rebuild critical infrastructure damaged in recent months. Why a cash-strapped government is diverting scarce resources to subsidise out-of-state channels is a question that defies logic.

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Politics and paper leaks

he latest scandal rocking the exam scene involves the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission (USSSC) test held on 17 September.

Uttarakhand, India’s landslide capital

Turns out, the paper leaked straight from a Haridwar exam centre — thanks to one clever (or not-so-clever) candidate, Khalid Malik. He used his phone to send the questions to his sister, who happens to be an assistant professor in Tehri. Malik got caught and is now behind bars.

Chief minister Dhami, notorious for throwing around terms like ‘love jihad,’ ‘land jihad,’ and the reprehensible ‘thook jihad,’ quickly coined a fresh label: ‘nakal jihad’. (Ironically, past experience shows that most of these so-called ‘nakal jihadis’ have actually been Hindus.)

Just two days before the USSSC exam, longtime BJP loyalist Hakam Singh — the mastermind behind the 2021 paper leak and a close aide of former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat — went to town with the offer that young aspirants would be assured jobs in return for a ‘fee’ of Rs 10 lakh! Surprise, surprise — he’s now behind bars too.

Massive protests followed the September paper leak, with thousands gathering at Dehradun’s Parade Ground, led by student leader Bobby Panwar of the Berozgar Sangh. Sensing trouble ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, Dhami showed up personally and promised a speedy CBI probe.

Hardly reassuring, as CBI inquiries here are routine, and go nowhere. Case in point: eight years ago, a CBI probe was ordered by former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in the ‘national highway scandal’, where several bureaucrats pocketed the compensatory money meant for farmers. The findings are yet to see the light of day.

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Healthcare in the hands of mafiosi?

The state of healthcare in Uttarakhand is abysmal, despite the government reportedly pouring lakhs of rupees into community health centres (CHCs). On 1 October, hundreds of villagers in Bageshwar (Almora district) began an indefinite hunger strike, protesting the lack of basic facilities at their CHC.

Humanity shamed, crores spent: Uttarakhand’s contradictory realities

Pregnant women are routinely turned away without so much as a check-up, and young children suffering from serious ailments are referred to hospitals located in faraway cities.

Public anger over government apathy boiled over when a pregnant woman was forced to give birth on the roadside after being denied care. Ex-soldier Bhuvan Kathayat and 85-year-old Bache Singh have joined the protest, demanding an assurance from Dhami that the sick will be attended to on a “war-footing”.

Not that facilities in the larger hospitals are up to the mark, either, as the case of senior journalist S.M.A. Kazmi revealed. Admitted to Doon Hospital in June, Kazmi underwent a tracheostomy. No chest specialist was consulted. His condition worsened and he ended up on a ventilator. Only after being shifted to Max Hospital was the fluid in his lungs properly drained.

Kazmi noted that while specialists provided excellent care, the general staff and nurses were largely indifferent. Due to a shortage of rooms, he was advised to opt for private home care services, which are known to charge the earth. Such service providers, though not hospital staff, often influenced medical decisions.

The death of journalist Rajiv Pratap, who ran the YouTube channel Uttarakhand Live, has raised serious questions. Known for his recent exposés on the state of healthcare in Uttarkashi, Pratap went missing for nearly 10 days before his body was found in the Joshiyara barrage on 28 September. The postmortem cited internal injuries to the abdomen and chest which the police linked to an ‘accident’.

His family aren’t convinced. They suspect foul play, claiming he was targeted for exposing the ‘health mafia’ accused of siphoning off lakhs meant for vital equipment and medicines.