Social equity has been budgeted for government jobs in Assam.
From the 2024-25 fiscal, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government will provide 5% weightage in total marks to job applicants from families without any member in government service, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog said while presenting the State Budget in the 126-member Assembly on Monday.
She tabled a ₹2.9 lakh crore budget for 2024-2025 with a deficit of ₹774.47 crore and proposed no new tax.
Ms. Neog said the ‘Social Equity in Government Recruitment’ would be applicable in recruitment for all grade III and grade IV posts without compromising the quality of selection. A law would be framed for this purpose during the current year, she said.
“There are cases where one family has many government job holders while others do not have a single government employee. Ensuring government employees in as many families as possible would augur well in terms of social equity in government recruitment,” she said.
She said the present government has published advertisements for the recruitment to 35,910 posts after appointing 94,506 youths till January. The 5% weightage may apply to eligible candidates for the new posts to be filled up, she indicated.
Study incentives for girls
Ms. Neog said the government would provide a financial grant as an admission incentive under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Nijut Moina’ to help 10 lakh girls continue their education to higher secondary, graduation, and post-graduation levels.
Aimed at eliminating child marriages, the incentive is only for unmarried girls who study in any government-run educational institution.
“Apart from punitive and regulatory measures, we need to make the girls empowered enough to decide when to marry. Encouraging 10 lakh girls to study till graduation and post-graduation will increase the percentage of girls educated beyond Class 10,” she said.
According to the programme, each girl will be given an incentive of ₹10,000 when she takes admission to Class XI, ₹12,500 in the first year of graduation, and ₹15,000 in the first year of post-graduation. This would be in addition to existing benefits such as free admission and gear-less two-wheelers after clearing Class 10, the Minister said.
Safeguard for iconic sites
Assam’s Budget proposals included bringing in legislation to ensure that the land surrounding “iconic and heritage locations” in Barpeta, Batadrava, Majuli, and Narayanpur is transferred only to indigenous persons or institutions. The move is to “safeguard the cultural significance” of these places.
Most of these iconic and heritage locations are satras (Vaishnav monasteries), temples, and historical structures whose lands have been allegedly encroached upon by migrant Muslims. In the case of Majuli, the perceived threat is from Christian missionaries.
The government has also decided to set up ‘Mukhya Mantri Sangrahalaya’ in Guwahati to document the legacies of all former Chief Ministers of the State. The state-of-the-art museum would preserve the past and inspire the future, the Chief Minister said.
