New Delhi: At a time when population control measures being initiated by a few BJP ruled States raised a hue and cry across India, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that the policy being initiated by his government can be followed by others too. “If somebody goes through Assam population policy, some of the provisions can be followed nationally,” replied Sarma on a question from ETV Bharat correspondent.
Further elaborating on the issue, Sarma said that the existing norms are enough to tackle the issue “if it is implemented properly.” “If we all follow the age criteria for marriage, then we can control the population measure. But normally what we see is that by the time someone attains the age for marriage, she already gives birth to three-four children,” said Sarma.
“If we strictly follow the age of marriage some of the problems can be resolved. Early marriage is a major problem. Even the existing law is enough to handle the issue,” the CM said. He said that population policy in Assam is based on “incentives and disincentives”.
“If someone is following two child policy norms, he or she gets incentives. Whereas people with more than two children are deprived of government incentives,” added Sarma. Talking on the recent border skirmish with Mizoram and Meghalaya, Sarma said that there should be mutual understanding between the States to resolve the issue.
He said that confidence building measures are on with Mizoram to resolve the border dispute and bring peace in the border area. “Both the State governments are in talks and both sides are working for peace and tranquility,” he Sarma.
Read: Amid border dispute, Assam CM meets PM Modi, Amit Shah in New Delhi
Sarma said that normalcy is returning along the Assam-Mizoram border with vehicles carrying essential commodities entering Mizoram without any trouble. Referring to the border conflict with Meghalaya, Sarma suggested that the conflict could be resolved on the basis of will of the people, history, administrative convenience and contiguity to the constitutional boundary.
“We have to see what the people living along the border area want. We should also need to look after administrative convenience for the people living in the border areas. We should see the history as well as contiguity to the constitutional boundary of the border areas,” he said. He said that the situations along the border in Meghalaya need to be discussed at an appropriate level. “There should not be a fight over one or two inch of land. We will maintain statuesque,” said Sarma.
The Chief Minister who landed in New Delhi on Saturday already discussed the border situation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. “I have discussed the border issue with the Home Minister. I have briefed him about the steps taken by his government to bring normalcy in the border areas,” said Sarma.
When asked about his meeting with Prime Minister Modi, Sarma said that ever since the conflict took place with Mizoram, the Prime Minister kept asking me about the situation. “In fact, the Prime Minister has also expressed his displeasure over the border conflict. He conveyed his message to both the State governments,” Sarma informed.
Referring to the drug menace in Assam, Sarma admitted that Assam is still playing as a transit route for drugs. “Delhi police has recently seized a huge consignment of drugs worth Rs 20 crore. The incident has once again exposed that Assam is still a transit route for drugs,” Sarma said. The Chief Minister said that ever since he assumed charge as Chief Minister, drugs worth Rs 183 crore have been seized in the State.
“Our operations against drugs are still continuing. We are also looking into the forward linkage of the drug peddlers,” said Sarma. He confirmed that drugs are mainly coming from Manipur to Dimapur and subsequently from Barak Valley to Manipur and from Manipur to Moreh and Samophjai. “These are the origin of the drugs which are being routed through Assam. We have intensified our vigil along the territories surrounding these areas. In most of the cases Manipur-Nagaland-Assam police carry coordinated operations to trace down the drugs,” added Sarma.
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