On December 22, 2020, Assam Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal approved the ‘Assam Official Language Amendment Bill’ for making Bodo (Devanagari script) also known as Boro as an associate official language of the state. The Bill will now be tabled in the Assam Legislative Assembly .
i.According to the Census 2011, There are ~ 14.16 Lakh Bodo speakers in Assam, which is around 4.53 % of the total population of the state.
ii.Declaration of ‘Bodo’ as associate official language was one of the demands made by 4 Bodo rebel groups & 2 Bodo organizations during the signing of 3rd Bodo peace accord in January, 2020.
‘Bodo’:
i.It is one of the 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
ii.It is spoken in the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya & West bengal.
iii.It is part of Sino-Tibetan language family.
Major Approvals:
i.The Assam cabinet also approved the establishment of Bodo Kachari Autonomous welfare council.
ii.Approval for proposal for amendment of Autonomous Council Acts of Kamtapur, Motak & Moran.
iii.Assam government has decided to bifurcate the Directorate of Social Welfare by creating two new ones — Directorate of Women and Child Development and Directorate of Social Justice and Empowerment.
iv.It also approved taking over of Kokrajhar Music and Fine Arts College, Kokrajhar; Asom Sattriya Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in Jorhat.
Other Approvals:
i.The Assam cabinet increased the service age of all National Health Mission employees to 60 years& offered them benefits matching the staff of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
ii.Approval of Career Progression Scheme for doctors serving as faculty members of medical colleges in Assam.
iii.The State cabinet approved a loan of INR 91 crore from NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).
Recent Related News:
i.On August 24, 2020 The Guwahati Passenger Ropeway Project connecting the Northern and Southern banks of the Brahmaputra River was inaugurated by the Assam State Minister of Finance, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Guwahati Development Department(GDD) Minister, Siddhartha Bhattacharya.
About Assam:
Governor – Jagdish Mukhi
Capital – Dispur
