Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The State Cabinet took a slew of decisions, mainly in education, giving relief to small traders, and including more villages in BTR.
Speaking to the media after the Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “The Cabinet, in principle, agreed to reserve 25 percent of seats in private schools in vernacular media for poor students residing in the surroundings of the schools. The state government will bear the fees of these poor students. The only condition is that the schools should have to maintain academic standards, besides having registration. The Education Department will hold talks with the private schools that are interested in this concept. It will also consult the public about defining the word ‘poor’. This concept will help poor students get a quality education.”
The Chief Minister said that small traders from various districts of the state alleged that GST issued tax value notices rampantly. To ascertain the veracity of their allegation, the state government did form a cabinet committee. The committee interacted with all stakeholders and submitted the report to the government.
The Chief Minister said, “After examining the report, it has come to light that as many as 1.11 lakh small traders received notices from GST between 2017 and 2023. Of them, around 90,000 small traders will get an exemption from paying tax under Section 161 of the GST Act. However, the government has kept aside the cases of traders receiving notices for amounts exceeding Rs 5 lakh. The government will conclude their issues later, logically.”
According to the Bodo Peace Accord, 60 bordering villages in the Sonitpur district need to be included in the BTR. “Already, 41 of these villages were included in the BTR. Today’s cabinet meeting agreed to include 16 more of these villages in the BTR. In the remaining three villages, the tribal population needs to be ascertained. According to the accord, villages with an 80 percent tribal population bordering BTR should be included in it,” the Chief Minister said.
The Chief Minister said that to make mathematics teachers available in schools, today’s Cabinet approved the creation of 1,766 mathematics graduate teachers’ posts.
The Chief Minister made it clear that from now on, the government will do away with the system of outsourcing third and fourth grade staffers to polytechnic and engineering colleges in the state. “Today’s cabinet approved the filling up of these posts by the governing bodies of the respective institutions,” he said.
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