Two-Child Norm Mandatory For Availing Govt Schemes' Benefits, Says Assam CM Sarma; SC, ST And Tea-Tribes To Be Exempted

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has reportedly said that the state would strictly follow the population policy while implementing the government schemes.

Sarma further said that two-child norms will be made mandatory for availing benefits of the government schemes. However, the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Tea Tribe community will be exempt from the two-child norms for availing state government's schemes.

"The Assam Population Policy would be implemented strictly. Only the families who have not more than two children will be eligible for availing benefits under welfare schemes like the Aroonady Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, etc," CM Sarma said on Thursday (19 June), reports Sentinel Times.

The development comes over a week after CM Sarma had urged the minority community to adopt decent population control measures to reduce poverty and control social problems.

“We want to work with the minority Muslim community to control population. The root cause of issues like poverty, land encroachment etc. lies in uncontrolled population growth. I think we can put an end to lot of social problems in Assam if the Muslim community adopts decent family planning norms,” Sarma had told reporters on 10 June, reports Hindustan Times.

Sarma also appealed to organisations like the All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) and opposition party, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), to motivate Muslims to have smaller families.