In order to protect Assam’s indigenous faith and culture, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday informed that his cabinet has decided to create a new department to protect the culture and practices of people belonging to tribal and other indigenous communities.
The Assam CM asserted that the new department would ensure that the state’s indigenous population gets to preserve their faith and traditions as the new department would provide requisite support to them.
Special standing finance headed by the finance minister will be approving projects that are worth anything between Rs 5 crore and Rs 100 crore, and only the cabinet gets to give a go-ahead to schemes that involve funds over Rs 100 crore, he added.
Sarma also announced a number of financial reforms. He said that while department heads can green signal projects and schemes worth Rs 2 crore and below, a standing finance committee headed by chief secretary, will take the call on projects worth Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.
“Apart from that, those between Rs 5 crore and Rs 100 crore will be looked at by a special standing finance committee headed by the finance minister and for projects over Rs 100 crore, only the cabinet can give the go-ahead,” he added.
Sarma further stated that in the coming months, legislations related to population control, cow protection, and marriage will be brought in by the government. “You can expect some big announcements in our budget towards population control with regard to things like voluntary sterilisation. All this will be notified in a month,” he said.
He also said that a marriage law will be introduced. “This won’t be like a love jihad law…I don’t believe in the word. It will apply to all faiths. Even Hindus can cheat Hindus…this [law] is not just against Muslims,” he said.
Assembly has already passed a resolution on the population policy, he added. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma went on to say, “We are distributing schemes in three ways one is the basic scheme which will be availed by everybody, irrespective of the number of children like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, it will be for all. However, if we start a housing scheme, we may say it will be for up to two children. There will be some basic schemes which will be open for all and there will be some other schemes which will be open for only those with two-children.”
“Some big announcements will be made in the next state budget towards population control,” said the Assam Chief Minister.
He told reporters, “Uttar Pradesh is trying to do it [policy on population] through an Act, and we have done that through a resolution in the assembly.”