The Assam government will honour 1,000 progressive and educated farmers with a cash award of Rs 1 lakh each this year under the Chief Minister’s Agriculture Excellence Award, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday, August 17.
Speaking during a live interaction, Sarma said the initiative was aimed at attracting more educated youth to agriculture while promoting modern farming, research and greater productivity. He said the government planned to recognise 10,000 farmers over the next five years and introduce awardees to various government schemes related to agriculture.
Sarma also announced plans to establish a dedicated Youth Welfare Department around September 17. The proposed department will bring the National Cadet Corps, National Service Scheme, employment exchanges and youth-related initiatives in the education sector under one administrative framework.
The Chief Minister further announced a proposed measure to provide financial support to women abandoned by government employees without a legal divorce. Under the proposal, 20% of an employee’s salary would be deposited directly into the first wife’s bank account if he abandoned her without legally divorcing her and entered another marriage. Departmental proceedings and stringent action would also be taken against employees involved in polygamy, he said.
Sarma also recalled an earlier initiative under which 10% of the salary of government employees who abandoned their parents was transferred to their parents, describing the measure as successful.
Meanwhile, the government will launch Project Sadbhavana 2 from October 2 to January 31 to identify and dispose of pending government files. Sarma said more than three lakh files were pending across departments, directorates and Deputy Commissioner offices.
Under the initiative, citizens will be able to report pending files through a portal, after which the cases will be referred to the concerned district administration or directorate. Sarma said the government had undertaken a similar exercise in 2021, but the current e-file system would enable more accurate tracking and analysis of pending cases.
Officials have been assigned responsibilities for the exercise, and the government will assess the number of files disposed of after the programme concludes.
