Religious minority community agreed to curb population growth in state : Assam CM

While speaking in the meeting held at Assam Administrative Staff College in Guwahati, Chief Minister Sarma said that the Assam government organized the interactive programme with a view to give a major push to inclusive development in the state. He said that the indigenous Muslim population being an integral part of the Assamese society needs accelerated development so that the community becomes a significant contributor in the growth narrative of the state keeping its cultural identity intact.

Taking part in the discussion, several eminent personalities of the community including, Padmashree Dr. Illias Ali, Padmashree Eli Ahmed, Syed SK Alam, Wasbir Hussain, Dr. SI Ahmed, Nekibur Zaman, among others, highlighted socio-economic issues affecting the indigenous Muslim population of Assam and made several valuable suggestions.

After the discussion, the Assam Chief Minister informed that the Assam Government will form eight sub-groups with representatives of indigenous Muslim community to deliberate on issues such as health, education, skill development, preservation of cultural identity, financial inclusion, women empowerment etc. of the community.

The Chief Minister said that there will be a Chairman from the community and a Member Secretary from the government in each sub-group, which will come up with recommendations on their assigned matters after detailed discussion within 3 months.

Further, based on the recommendations, the state government will prepare a roadmap for empowerment of the indigenous Muslim population of the state which will be implemented over a period of 5 years, the Chief Minister informed.

“We have discussed various issues confronting the religious minorities of Assam more particularly indigenous Assamese minority community. They have a distinct identity, rich cultural traditional heritage. All the leading personalities from various fields of the religious minority community of the state have agreed that population exploration in some parts of Assam has posed a real threat for the development of Assam. More particularly in the economic sense and if at all we have to become among the five states of the country, then we have to manage our population exploration,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Minister of Welfare of Minorities & Development Department Chandra Mohan Patowary, Education Minister Dr. Ranoj Pegu and MLA & Political Secretary the CM Jayanta Malla Baruah were also present in the programme.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)