5 POCSO Courts Will Be Established in Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced that five dedicated POSCO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) courts will be established in the state soon.

This announcement was made during a press conference by the Assam Chief Minister in Guwahati’s Koinadhora commemorating the second term of Himanta Biswa Sarma-led alliance government.

This move comes amid rising cases of abuse against children throughout the state. Further, Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the crackdown against child marriage will again start in the state.

During the press conference, Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Various marriage processes will be stopped in Assam and crackdown will start soon. A committee will be constituted soon for this.”

The chief minister stated that his government would study if it was possible for the state to impose a ban on polygamy, a move seen as the BJP-governed state inching towards the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The government has also decided to constitute an expert committee to explore the legal aspects. The expert committee will investigate whether the state government has the authority to invoke its decision to prohibit polygamy in the state.

He said, “I plan to ban polygamy in Assam. We will create an expert committee to scrutinize the provision of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937, along with Article 25 in relation to the Directive Principle of State Policy for a Uniform Civil Code.”

Pointing out that Assam has witnessed peace in the past two years, CM Sarma said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efficiency has brought peace and development in our state. Many peace treaties have been signed in the past year. This has given a message of peace all over. Moreover, the Central Government’s decision to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, AFSPA has given a positive message to the state. My aim is to withdraw the AFSPA from entire Assam by 2023. This is a major challenge for us in the coming year.”

Himanta Biswa Sarma also pointed out that the agriculture sector has been revolutionized by the construction of warehouses and rice mills. He said that this year, 5,25,000 paddy has been procured.

CM Sarma said, "After a long time, the construction of warehouses and rice mill which has not been built in previous years is now been completed. This year we were able to procure 5,25,000 quintal paddy. And I believe that we can procure about 10 lakh paddy in the second term. Our goal is to procure around 20 lakh quintal paddy within 5 years so that we can stop importing paddy. Within very few days, through decentralized procurement basis, Assam government will take complete responsibility for procuring paddy from FCI, that means, the paddy cultivated in Assam will be given to citizens in fair price and for remaining people, it shall be imported from other states. With this, the whole responsibility of paddy procurement and transferring them into fair price shops shall be shifted from FCI to Assam Government. Only the remaining paddy will be provided by FCI. We have started big arrangements for this decentralization process."

The government has decided to give a subsidy of Rs 5 each on milk collected through cooperative societies. The subsidy will be given per litre of milk from June 1.

"On the lines of Amul and Nandini, a mega diary brand will soon come up in Assam. From June 1 onwards, we will take some bold steps to improve renumeration of milk farmers by giving them an additional Rs 5 per litre," CM Sarma stated.

In the health sector, the state government has decided to begin the Tinsukia Medical College next year. This year, the construction work of the Karimganj and Sivasagar Medical Colleges will start. Moreover, in each medical college of Assam, B.Sc and M.Sc colleges will be opened. In the education sector, the Chief Minister announced plans to build at least 40 new colleges and to construct five new Sainik Schools.

Himanta Biswa Sarma also highlighted plans for infrastructure development, including the construction of connecting roads in Guwahati and a bridge connecting Gohpur and Golaghat. The government also has plans to build the Kamakhya corridor and renovate the Rang Ghar and Batadrava Than.

The Chief Minister emphasized the government's commitment to eliminating corruption through digitalization, stating that FIRs could now be submitted through an app. The target is to digitize all government work by 2026, and the campaign against corruption will continue.

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