Assam CM to pilot 2-child policy with state schemes; rebuts 'you are 5 siblings' argument

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has decided to implement strategies of population control to regulate the population growth in the state. On Saturday, the Chief Minister said the Assam government will gradually implement a two-child policy for availing benefits under specific schemes funded by the state. He clarified that the two-child policy benefits will not be available in all the schemes in Assam as many schemes are offered by the Centre.

"There are some schemes for which we cannot impose the two-child policy, like availing free admission in schools and colleges, or houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana," CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said while addressing a press conference. 

"But, in case of some schemes, say if a housing scheme is launched by the state government, the two-child norm can be introduced. Slowly in later stages, the population norm will come in every state government scheme," he added.

Sarma also criticised the opposition for targeting the size of his parents' family as the Chief Minister belongs to a family of five brothers.

"There is no point in talking about what our parents did or other people did in the 1970s. The opposition is saying these strange things and pushing us back to the 70s," he said.

Although the AIUDF had earlier criticised Himanta Biswa Sarma for his remarks, he said AIUDF chief and MP Badruddin Ajmal has been appreciative of the government's thrust on women's education, which has a correlation with population control.

"Badruddin Ajmal met me yesterday. He appreciated the importance we are giving on women education," he said.

Himanta Biswa Sarma on immigrant population in Assam

On June 10, Sarma had urged the minority community to adopt a "decent family planning policy" for population control to reduce poverty, which leads to shrinking of living space and consequent land encroachment when he spoke about the recent evictions in three districts. He was also frank in saying that the immigrant Muslim community had large families adding to the woes of the population growth and poverty. Himanta Biswa Sarma's remarks did not go down well with Congress and the AIUDF, leading to sharp criticisms by the opposition over his remarks.

"Immigrant Muslims in Assam are very poor and often their landholdings are also small. But the problem is that in one or two generations the average ratio of children is 6 to 12 in a family. In some families it is up to 20 children," he had said.

"With the division of property in every generation, the landholdings shrink and the community faces poverty which increases pressure on schools and hospitals," Sarma opined while adding that poverty alleviation programs do not succeed because of population explosion.

"What I said was there should be 'decent' family size, I did not say there should be one or two children. I did not mention any numbers. I only said they should have decent family planning and let the community decide what is decent for them,” Sarma had then said while adding that Assamese Muslim families (as against immigrants) have two or three children and they do not have this issue.

Assam currently has a two-child norm along with requirements of minimum educational qualifications and functional sanitary toilets for contesting in panchayat polls as per an amendment in 2018 to the Assam Panchayat Act,1994. The Chief Minister, who assumed office last month, has been advocating a two-child norm for using benefits under the government schemes.

(With PTI inputs)