Assam Govt To Form 'Population Army', Will Be Deployed At Muslim-Dominated, High Growth Rate Areas

The Assam government has announced the formation of a 'population army'. It will control the birth growth rate in Muslim-majority areas.

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New Delhi: At present, the discussion regarding population control is taking a political turn. Meanwhile, Assam has taken a step further and announced the formation of a 'population army', which will control the birth growth rate in Muslim-majority areas. Ever since Himanta Biswa Sarma became the Chief Minister of Assam, he is constantly seen making both statements and form policies relating to population control. The latest announcement by Assam Chief Minister is about the population army. 

Hemant Biswa Sarma said that the state government will prepare a 'population army'. The army will be deployed in Muslim-majority areas and areas with high population growth. 'Population Army' will spread awareness and distribute contraceptives among the people. For this, the government wants to involve 1000 youths from Char Chapori (riverine sand bars) areas.

10 thousand ASHA workers will be prepared 
Apart from this, a separate force of 10 thousand ASHA workers will also be prepared who will visit different areas and spread awareness on birth control. In fact, Hemant Biswa Sarma gave this information in response to a question raised by Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed.

Call for realistic solutions
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called for separating the issue of population control from politics and adopting a realistic solution emphasizing education, health, ending child marriage and financial inclusion to solve the problem among the state's Muslims. Sarma said the problem is more in Muslim-majority districts.

Sarma said, "I am happy that this proposal has come from the Congress MLA. If it had come from me, people would have said that I am doing politics. I thank the opposition member for starting the discussion because our population policy is not anti-Muslim but anti-poverty." According to the 2011 census data, the population growth of Muslims in the state has come down to 29 per cent from 34 per cent earlier, while that of Hindus has come down to 10 per cent from 19 per cent.