The Assam cabinet on Wednesday approved the implementation of uniform civil code (UCC) in the state, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said while stating that a legislation will be tabled in the assembly on May 26, the last day of the assembly session.
“All tribal people in Assam, both residing in hills and plains, will be kept outside the purview of UCC. All religious rituals, customs and traditions would also be out of its ambit,” said Sarma.
He said that the code will regulate things like minimum age of marriage, abolish polygamy, rights of girls in family property, live-in relationships and compulsory registration of marriages and divorces.
Sarma informed that Uttarakhand, Goa and Gujarat have already adopted UCC in their states, but the one in Assam has customised it for tribal population and exempted religious customs and traditions.
“The cabinet decided that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) manifesto for the election for Assam will be the guiding principle for the next five years. From now it won’t remain a party’s manifesto but will be the foundation on which the government’s policies will be framed,” the CM informed.
Also Read: Chhattisgarh to appoint ex-SC judge Ranjana Prakash Desai to head UCC panel
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{{/usCountry}}The cabinet also approved the formation of a task force headed by the chief secretary to submit a report within three months on how the government can provide 2,00,000 jobs in the next five years as promised in the BJP manifesto.
Austerity measures
Based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice on cost cutting measures in view of the US-Israel vs Iran war, the Assam cabinet decided not to procure any new government vehicles for the next six months.
“We also decided that government officials won’t be given permission to take foreign tours for the next six months for both official and personal trips. There would be an exception for medical cases,” he said.
The convoys of Governor, CM, ministers, elected representatives and officials would be reduced based on their security and threat perceptions and cost of fuel on government vehicles would be brought down by 20% in the next 12 months, Sarma informed.
“The cabinet also decided that the government won’t purchase any foreign-made products for six months and no offline seminars and workshops will be held for that period. Only electronic vehicles to be hired for government use as far as possible and all old vehicles will be scrapped,” he said.
The cabinet decided that the concluding ceremony of the birth centenary celebrations of Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika will be held at New Delhi and a museum on the cultural icon will be constructed at a cost of ₹32 crore in Guwahati. It was also decided to appoint advocate general Devajit Saikia for another five years.
Sarma indicated that expansion of the cabinet will happen around the first week of June after the conclusion of the first session of the new assembly, which will begin on May 21.