Silchar: Assam state cabinet on Saturday discussed introducing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, however, no final decision was taken in the meeting, according to minister Jayanta Mallabaruah.

Earlier on Saturday, Mallabaruah hinted that the UCC will be one of the important issues of discussion in the state cabinet scheduled for the evening. He said there may be some relaxation for the tribal people in the UCC.

Earlier this month, chief minister Himanat Biswa Sarma stated that his government would implement the UCC but will keep the tribal population away from its purview.

A Uniform Civil Code means that all sections of society, irrespective of their religion, shall be treated equally according to a national civil code, which shall apply to all uniformly.

Sarma had earlier said that his government is closely monitoring the UCC draft bill being prepared by the Uttarakhand government to see if the same can be implemented in the northeastern states.

The chief minister had said that the state government was depending on Uttarakhand’s decision. “We are keen on introducing UCC in Assam; however, we first want to see the Uttarakhand government’s UCC bill.”

Uttrakhand state assembly passed the UCC Bill on February 7 after a day-long discussion to become the first country to do this.

The Assam cabinet meeting around 7pm on Saturday started and it was attended by Sarma and other ministers, including Mallabaruah and Pijush Hazarika. The meeting went on till 9:30pm, following which the chief minister announced the list of decisions taken, however, UCC was not one of them, said Mallabaruah.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Mallabaruah said, “Issues

like polygamy is related to UCC, and a lot of discussions are going on. Maybe by the end of the budget session, it (UCC) will come.”

He said that once Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister for the consecutive third term, some big decisions will be taken for the betterment of the country.

The budget session of the Assam Legislative Assembly started on February 5 and will conclude on February 28. A total of 11 bills are expected to be placed during this session and some of them have been placed already.

According to the minister, the cabinet approved the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill 2024, criminalising treatments of congenital diseases like deafness, dumbness, blindness, physical deformities, and autism by using traditional magical methods.