The Assam government relaxed its two-child policy for certain communities, allowing members of Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC), tea garden workers, and the Moran and Matak communities to have up to three children without losing eligibility for government jobs, local body elections, or Self Help Group (SHG) benefits.
In a notification issued by Health and Family Welfare Department Commissioner and Secretary Patibandla Ashok Babu, the state on Friday announced that the amended Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam, 2025 has come into immediate effect. The changes modify the Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam, 2017, in line with a Cabinet decision taken on October 23 to exempt these communities from population control norms.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier emphasised the need for the relaxation to prevent demographic decline among vulnerable groups. “If we stick to the policy, these populations will lose their distinct identities and gradually become extinct in the next 50 years,” he had warned.
Assam had implemented a strict two-child norm under the Assam Public Services (Application of Small Family Norms in Direct Recruitment) Rules, 2019, effective from January 2021. The two-child requirement also applies to candidates contesting gaon panchayat elections, along with minimum education and sanitation criteria, under a 2018 amendment to the Assam Panchayat Act, 1994.
While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has long supported strict enforcement of the two-child policy, the Chief Minister clarified that the state will continue expanding its implementation across targeted schemes, even as specific communities are granted exemptions.
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