Assam population policy Draft: MLAs with more than 2 kids may be barred from contesting polls

Sarma has also proposed that NGOs, panchayat bodies, ASHA and anganwadi workers be given additional incentives to encourage family planning, and members of self-help groups having only two children get special incentives.

The state health minister had attracted criticism from various quarters, including opposition parties Congress and AIUDF, when he released the first draft of the population policy on April 9. The first draft sought to debar persons with more than two children from applying for government jobs, and from availing benefits of various employment generation schemes of the government. It also sought to bar such persons from contesting elections to panchayats, municipal bodies, other statutory bodies and committees.

The draft policy maintains that it is aimed at ensuring “every family in Assam has access to quality education, healthcare and employment opportunities.” But organisations like Oxfam India have said it proposes a coercive approach.

Reacting to the new proposed amendments, Congress legislator Abdul Khaleque said, “We are opposed to any state population policy. There should be a uniform national policy which every state should follow. We are also against forcible implementation as proposed in the draft policy.”

He added: “Our stand is that if this government wants to do something worthwhile, it should concentrate on providing better healthcare and free education, particularly for girls.”

Govt renames nine roads

The Sarbananda Sonowal government on Thursday renamed nine major roads of the state capital after four Vaishnavite and one Sufi saint, apart from Bhupen Hazarika, Deendayal Upadhyay and Bihu-king Khagen Mahanta. While the 130-year-old Guwahati-Shillong Road was renamed after 16th-century Vaishnavite saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva, three other saints who followed him in the Vaishnavite movement —Madhavdev, Damodardev and Haridev — also got a road each named after them.

“We have decided to dedicate a few Guwahati roads to some of our icons as our reverence,” Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. (ENS)