As the year 2023 sets to complete its course, let’s look behind on the events that swept Assam under various government policy & initiatives. Beyond any doubt, one can assume that the State witnessed significant developments under the dynamic leadership of chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, where various welfare activities were materialised. The State was in the national and even international media outlets with the relentless crackdown on illegal drugs mafia and child marriage, harsh actions against the criminals, legal initiatives to arrest the corrupt government officers and a strong proposal to end polygamy in the far eastern State.
CM Sarma has taken personal initiatives to resolve the decades long border disputes with Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram. Some unique welfare schemes were launched and implemented for the benefit of down trodden families, a few record breaking approaches to recognise the cultural heritage of Assam and a unique effort to make Assam more and more greener. Considering the hardship of rural women in their entrepreneurship engagements, the State government helped them with waiving their bank loans so that they can recover their financial activities after the set back of Covid-19. It also helped the farmers with an effective paddy procurement policy.
The government agencies in February and October launched the crackdown operations against the menace of child marriages. Over 5,000 people were arrested and most of them are still fighting legal battles in various local courts. Defying the outcry of various opposition leaders, the saffron leader argued that the campaign against the illegal practice will be eliminated by 2026. He has strong arguments against the social menace that the crackdown helped Assam in reducing the maternal mortalities (33%) and children deaths (15%) in the recent days. Now the government plans to eradicate the practice of polygamy by placing a bill in the next legislative assembly session in February 2024.
Assam witnessed some world records in planting of tree saplings to perform Bihu dances and Dhols in the largest number among others. The mega citizen-led plantation drive under the campaign of Amrit Brikshya Andolan witnessed the planting of millions of commercial saplings in one day (read within two hours) and achieving a figure of over one crore saplings in nine days across the State. The 17 September plantation campaign shows the commitment of 30 million residents of Assam to establish a robust tree economy and also address the climate issues affecting the mother Earth in the recent past.
Earlier in April, over 11,000 folk dancers participated in Bihu dances in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sarusajai stadium in Guwahati turned into a world stage where the folk dancers along with the Dhol performers set a unique record of solidarity, symphony and purposeful performance. Thousands of Assamese youths performing Dhols (a leather instrument used in folk dance performances) also scripted another record.
More recently, the historical Moidams (a kind of graves with the earthen mound for the Ahom kings) at Charaideo, the former seat of Ahom kingdom, have been nominated by the Union government in New Delhi for the UNESCO recognition as a World Heritage Site. A chair in the name of Srimanta Sankardev, the 15th century saint, philosopher, socio-cultural reformer, has been instituted at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the national capital. The initiative is expected to showcase the creative genius of the Vaishnavite preacher in this part of the world. Another illustrious son of the land, Sankardev prime disciple, Madhabdev has been honoured with a cultural complex (Kalakshetra) in his name at Narayanpur in eastern Assam.
With an aim to support the famers, the government effectively implemented the paddy procurement policies with the target of procuring up to seven lakh metric tonnes during the 2023–24 kharif marketing season. The initiative has benefited more than 60,000 farmers with the revised minimum support prices across the State. The government also launched the third phase of microfinance loan waiver scheme for the benefit of nearly 2.25 lakh borrowers irrespective of their castes, classes or religions. With this special initiative, the government helped the women borrowers to come out of the debt trap and re-establish them as creditworthy.
Looking back at 2023
