india

Updated: Jan 03, 2020 06:41 IST

The Assam government will provide ownership deeds to more than 40,000 landless indigenous people of the state this month, said the government.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also directed the revenue department officials on Thursday to meet the target of giving 1 lakh land deeds in 2020.

The CM had set the target on Wednesday while claiming that his government had provided ownership deeds to more than 50,000 ‘khilonjiya bhumiputras’ or indigenous sons of the soil in the last three and a half years.

The state government had earlier promised to enact a land policy to protect the rights of Assamese people amid fears that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would lead to an influx of foreigners and threaten the land, language and the culture of the indigenous people.

Meanwhile, anti-CAA protests continued in the state with the All Assam Students Union’s (AASU) mass demonstration at Chabua, the native place of Sarbananda Sonowal, in Dibrugarh district.

“People had expected Sonowal to act like a lion, but it has turned out that he is actually a cat who cowers down to the powers in New Delhi,” said AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi.

The CM on Wednesday had promised to protect the interests of Assamese people and said his government had sent recommendations to Centre on CAA’s implementation in the state.

In other announcements, CM’s office pledged annual assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the Vaishnavite monasteries and devalayas (temples) in addition to the regular annuity and set a March launch date for the Arundhati Gold Scheme, which aims to give money to poor brides for purchasing 10 grams of gold.