ASSAM

The National Development Board (NDDB) and Assam government will form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to promote dairying in Assam. Officiating chairman of NDDB Meenesh Shah presented Assams dairy development roadmap before Assam chief minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday in Guwahati.

The CM emphasized that initiatives should be commercially viable and sufficiently remunerative for the dairy farmers of Assam. Shah said that the plan will include creating processing infrastructures, village level institutions and Marketing of milk and milk products.

Assam government had earlier requested NDDB to manage the West Assam Cooperative Milk Union (WAMUL) which was on verge of closure. NDDB had taken over its management in 2008.

The AllAssamStudents Union (Aasu) has welcomed constituency delimitation draft byECIfor Assam, when scores of organisations and are up in arms against it.
After being silent since publication of the delimitation draft last month, the Aasu Leadership, in a news conference here on Wednesday, called the draft publication a positive beginning.

Contrary to the objections put forward by the opposition parties on the decision to carry out the ongoing delimitation exercise based on the 2001 census, Aasu said 2001 as thebase yearis welcome for the ongoing delimitation. But in future delimitation exercises, Aasu said it should be based on the 1991 census.

The demographic pattern of the constituencies has changed in Assam over the years due to illegal infiltration. Had the delimitation exercise been carried out based on the 1991 census figures, we could have expected better representation of the indigenous people from the constituencies. Delimitation based on 2011 is totally undesirable as in many constituencies the demographic pattern has changed due to illegal infiltration, Aasu president (in-charge) Utpal Sarma said.

Calling the state’s indigenousMuslimsas ‘Assamese Muslims’, chief minister Himanta BiswaSarma asked members of the minority community to devise ways to rein inpopulationgrowth and prepare a roadmap to expedite welfare measures, including financial well-being and overall development of the community.

In order to achieve that goal, Sarma said it has been insisted upon that eight sub-groups be constituted to work on a range of issues – Health, Education, Population control, cultural identity, , Women Empowerment and Skill development.

The dilemma on college admissions inAssamended on Wednesday, as the Assam Education department launched acommonadmission portal inSamarthe-gov suite as perthe NationalEducation Policy-2020 for admission to all colleges offering undergraduate (UG) courses.

Pegu said from this academic session itself, colleges will have to join Samarth. He said even as competitiveness is growing due to an increasing number of aspirants knocking on the doors of higher educational institutions.

Assamchief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarma announced the gradual implementation of the two-child policy for availing government benefits in Assam.
However, tea garden workers and members ofScheduled Casteand Scheduled Tribe communities have been exempted from its purview.

Mentioning that the new Population norms would affect the eligibility for government benefits, including waiver of loans, Sarma said, “Be it loan waiver or other government schemes, population norms will be taken into account. It won’t be applicable to tea garden workers and SC-ST community. In the future, population norms will be taken into account as eligibility for government benefits. Population policy has begun.”
The Assam government had approved a proposal to render people having more than two children as ineligible for government jobs from January 1, 2021.

Earlier, appearing in the Assamese subject was not mandatory to pass the Class 10 board exam in Assam under the state board. There is no change in the policy, but Sebas recent notification made it compulsory to read Assamese as a subject in Class 9 and 10 in the schools affiliated to it.

Assam intends to shut itsremaining madrassasafter having already converted those that used to be funded by the state into general schools because there is no need for any such religious Education in new India, chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarmasaid on Thursday in poll-bound Karnataka.

What Assam needs are schools, colleges and universities to produce doctors, engineers and other professionals to serve the state and the country, Sarma told a gathering at the inauguration of a Light-and-Sound show on Chhatrapati Shivaji in Belagavi.

EASTERN STATES

Mizoram Assembly adopts resolution against UCC

The Mizoram Assembly unanimously adopted an official resolution opposing any move to implement the (UCC) in the country.

Home Minister Lalchamliana moved the resolution which said “That this House unanimously resolved to oppose any steps taken or proposed to be taken for enactment of UCC in India.”

While moving the resolution Lalchamliana that the UCC, if enacted, “would disintegrate the country as it was an attempt to terminate the religious or social practices, customary laws, cultures and traditions of the religious minorities, including the Mizos.”

He alleged that several attempts had been made in the past to implement the UCC but is pending till now due to its “controversial nature.”

Union minister for AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal, on Saturday laid the foundation stones for thePanchakarmaBlock at theCentral Ayurveda Research Institute(CARI) in Borsajai and the Panchakarma centre of Excellence at the StateAyurvedaCollege in Jalukbari here, which will be built at a cost of Rs 20 crore.

It added that the Panchakarma block will be a G plus two building and the pharmacology and chemistry laboratories will be G plus three buildings. The built up cost for these two buildings will be Rs 10 crore.

The new buildings will help in providing world class training courses for Skill development, whereas the pharmacology and chemistry building at CARI will help in pre-clinical experimental procedures, drugs standardisation, chemical testing for any herb and animal-related toxicology reports.

The Assam Government has restricted the entry of non-vaccinated people from entering government premises, public places and private establishments.

Earlier, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urged the people to get vaccinated with both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine by January 15. It was also announced that those who are not vaccinated with both doses shall not be allowed to enter offices and a pay cut will also be imposed on them.

Accordingly, a notification has been issued by the District Administration, wherein it has been mentioned that no unvaccinated person shall be allowed entry into government premises and any other public place other than hospitals without valid vaccination certificates, with effect from January 15.

Similarly, the entry of non-vaccinated people has been prohibited on hotels, malls and other private establishments violation of which will attract a hefty penalty. The business establishments are further directed to adhere to the rules imposed by the administration.