Guwahati, Feb 14 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said his government is democratising the recruitment process by planning to give a five per cent weightage in total marks of a candidate if his or her family does not have anyone working in government or any PSU firm.
During a discussion on the state budget for 2024-25 in the Assam assembly, Sarma also claimed that not a single irregularity has taken place in filling up more than 94,000 government posts since he took charge in 2021.
“We are democratising the government job sector. We have seen that one house may have 3-4 government employees, while the next house may not have even a single one working in the sector. Having a government staffer in a family gives a sense of stability,” he said.
Sarma pointed out that this year’s budget has proposed to give a five per cent weightage in total marks of a candidate applying for Grade-3 and Grade-4 posts if his or her family does not have anyone working in the government or any PSU firm.
While presenting the annual budget on Monday, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog said that the presence of government employees in as many families as possible will augur well in terms of social equity in recruitment.
She also said that the government would soon bring in a new law to implement the proposal of providing five per cent weightage in total marks to the candidates from families which do not have even one government or public sector employee.
Sarma said that the government has so far given jobs to more than 94,000 youths and not a single court case alleging any irregularity was filed.
“We had promised to recruit one lakh people in the government sector. At that time, many opposition leaders had questioned us and predicted that it would not be possible. But we will achieve the target within the next few months,” he added.
The BJP had promised to provide one lakh government jobs every year in Assam during the campaign in the 2021 assembly polls, but later modified that the figure was for the entire five-year tenure.
“Over 80 lakh people have come out of poverty and joined the middle-class income group. When peace is established, then the first beneficiary is the economy,” Sarma said.
He also said that once Assam was a dependent state, it used to beg Delhi for financial support.
“But today, Assam contributes two per cent to India’s GDP. Assam has transformed itself to a contributory state from a dependent one,” the chief minister said.
Replying to queries during the budget discussion, Neog said that the GDP of the state will touch Rs 10 lakh crore in 2027.
“We are on the right track and right direction. It is a budget of hope and aspiration,” she added.
Talking about the size of the state economy in her budget speech, Neog had said the GSDP (gross state domestic product) is estimated to touch Rs 6.43 lakh crore during the 2024-25 financial year as against Rs 5.7 lakh crore (advanced estimate) in 2023-24.
A host of women-centric schemes were proposed by the Assam government on Monday in its Rs 2.9 lakh crore budget for 2024-25 that included financial aid to educate 10 lakh girls up to post-graduation level to eliminate child marriage.
In a year when the country will vote to elect the next central government, the Assam finance minister did not impose any new tax on the common people or commercial establishments as well. PTI TR BDC
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