Assam govt scraps two-child policy for tribals, tea tribes, Morans and Motoks

Guwahati, Oct 23 (PTI) The Assam government on Thursday decided to scrap the two-child norm for tribals, tea tribes, Morans and Motoks in respect of getting government jobs.

Addressing a press conference after chairing a meeting of the state cabinet, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government took the decision to keep these communities outside the purview of population control measures to protect them from extinction.

"The cabinet decided to exempt members of the tea tribes, Morans, Motok and Scheduled Tribes from the provision of restricting the number of children to two under the population policy. If we stick to the policy, these populations will lose their distinct identities and gradually become extinct in the next 50 years," he said.

After coming to power, the CM in September 2021 had announced that the state government would waive the two-child norm for SC, ST, and other traditional forest-dwelling communities with respect to getting government jobs.

Sarma said the population of the Moran community has been estimated to be around only 1 lakh at present.

"We have taken opinions of various social scientists and decided to relax the two-child norm. Otherwise, these micro communities will not survive," he said.

As per the Assam Public Services (Application of Small Family Norms in Direct Recruitment) Rules, 2019, the two-child policy came into effect in January 2021.

The state also 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 made in 2018 to the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994.

Sarma had earlier said his government would gradually implement the two-child policy for availing benefits under specific state welfare schemes.

On other cabinet decisions, Sarma said the government will table the Tiwari Commission Report on the Nellie massacre of 1983 in the next session of the assembly in November.

"This report has not been tabled so far because the copy with the Assam government did not have the signature of the chairman of the commission. We did not know whether the copy we have is actual. So, we interviewed the officials of that period who were involved in the report. The document was also sent to forensics for verification," he said.

During the Assam Agitation, which took place from 1979 to 1985 against illegal infiltration into the state, over 2,100 people were butchered, mostly Muslims, in a single night in the infamous Nellie massacre of 1983. The place is in the present-day Morigaon district.

The CM said it would introduce a new bill in the upcoming assembly session to give land rights to tea tribes communities.

"If we amend the land ceiling law, 2.9 lakh bighas (nearly 96,000 acres) of land can be distributed among 4 lakh tea tribes families. After 75 years, this will remain as a big social development," he said.

The cabinet also approved the increase in project cost of Assam Petro-Chemicals Ltd's 500 TPD Methanol plant and 200 TPD Formalin unit from Rs 1,709.18 crore to Rs 2,267.22 crore, along with the additional equity contribution to be made by the state government. PTI TR TR SOM