A day after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took oath for his second term, the Assam cabinet approved a draft Uniform Civil Code bill. The bill will be tabled in the state assembly on May 26 and excludes tribal communities.
BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in as Assam’s Chief Minister for the second consecutive term along with four Cabinet ministers on Tuesday. The newly constituted Cabinet held its first meeting on Wednesday and decided to adopt the party manifesto as the guiding principle for the government’s working for the next five years.
The cabinet approved the draft of the Uniform Civil Code Bill, which will be presented in the House on May 26. Sarma said the proposed bill leaves the state’s tribal population outside its ambit and will cover minimum age of marriage, no polygamy, property rights for women, live-in relationships, and compulsory registration of marriages.
The cabinet also constituted a task force to prepare a plan for filling two lakh government jobs within three months. It further decided on austerity measures including a six-month ban on new vehicle purchases and foreign travel by ministers and officials.