'Assam To Gradually Implement Two-Child Policy For Availing Govt Benefits': CM Himanta

Assam CM has announced that the govt will implement a two-child policy for availing benefits under specific schemes funded by the state.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma (Image: PTI)

Dispur: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the Assam government will gradually implement a two-child policy for availing benefits under specific schemes funded by the state.

The proposed population control policy will, however, not be applicable in all the schemes in Assam immediately as many of the benefits are offered by the central government, the Chief Minister said during the press conference.

“We will slowly implement population norms for government schemes… There are some schemes for which we cannot impose the two-child norm, like availing free admission in schools and colleges, or for houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana; everyone will get that,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a press conference on Saturday.

“But, in the case of some schemes, say if a scheme like a Chief Minister Awas Yojana is launched in the future for the middle-class, then the two-child norm will be enforced. Similarly, population norms will gradually be put in place in the case of some chosen schemes,” he said.

Assam CM criticised for comment on Muslims

According to a PTI report, Sarma also criticised the Opposition for targeting the size of his parents’ family. Sarma belongs to a family of five brothers. “There is no point in talking about what our parents did or other people did in the 1970s. The Opposition is saying these strange things and pushing us back to the 70s,” he said

Few weeks earlier, Sarma had faced criticism for his comment that “numerous social ills in Assam” could be overcome if the “immigrant Muslim community adopts decent family planning norms”.

“For their poverty to end, Muslim women need to be educated, the population needs to be controlled. I appeal to them to work together with us. We are there for all of you, to support women’s education and reduce poverty. But poverty will never be reduced unless you control your population,” he had said.

Assam's two-child policy

Assam currently has a two-child norm along with requirements of minimum educational qualifications and functional sanitary toilets for contesting in panchayat polls as per an amendment in 2018 to the Assam Panchayat Act,1994.

Sarma also said that the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief and MP Badruddin Ajmal has been appreciative of the government's thrust on women education, which has a correlation with population control.

(With PTI inputs)