CM Sarbananda Sonowal is one of eight siblings himself
Image Courtesy: India Today
A communique was carried by CM Sonowal’s Public Relations Cell on Monday stated that as per the small family norm, the Assam Cabinet had decided to not offer government jobs to persons having more than two children with effect from January 1, 2021.
This comes as a very ironical decision as CM Sonowal is one of eight siblings himself.
This decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting held late Monday evening, where the Cabinet also adopted a New Land Policy, which promised to give three bighas (43,200 sqft) of agricultural land to landless indigenous people and half a bigha for constructing a house. However, the beneficiary can sell the land only after 15 years of use. The Cabinet also passed orders to increase bus fares in the state by 25 percent.
In September 2017, the Assam Assembly had passed the ‘Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam’ which specified that job candidates with two children only would be eligible for government employment and the existing government staff were to strictly follow the two children family norm as ‘role models’ for the society.
Two Children Policy Yardstick for Contesting Polls?
It has been reported that the government may legislate legal provision to bar people with more than two children to participate in Panchayat and Municipal Body elections. The government may consider legislating similar legal provision for election/nomination to other statutory bodies and committees, said the policy.
The policy read, “The Govt of Assam will take up with the Govt of India that MLAs (elected representatives of the State legislature) adhere to the family planning norms. The two-child norm will be proposed as the yardstick for any contestant to the State Legislature. In case any MLA from the state flouts the family planning norms i.e MLAs having more than two children may be disqualified from his/her membership and be debarred from contesting polls in future.”
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