In last full Budget before polls, BJP Assam govt focuses on land, ‘indigenous groups’

ASSEMBLY elections a year away, land took central place in Assam’s 2025-26 Budget tabled in the Assembly on Monday, with Finance Minister Ajanta Neog speaking at length on measures to “safeguard” it for “indigenous people”.

Neog announced that all cases of inter-religion land transfers between individuals “will be given effect only after due approval of the state government”. This had first been announced as a Cabinet decision by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in August last year.

Addressing the media after the Budget presentation, Sarma said, “Assam is a very sensitive state. We want to avoid all kinds of communal disturbances. So we had banned inter-religion transfer of land last year… But such bans cannot continue under the Constitution. We have now allowed inter-religious sale and purchase of land, but only with the approval of the state government so we can scrutinise each and every proposal.”

The Assam government restriction on the grant of No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for sale of land between people of different religions for a period of three months had come ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year.

Another announcement in the Budget was the relocation of the 10th Assam Police Battalion, currently located in Guwahati, to a site where a violent eviction had been carried out last year. Two people had died and over 500 homes of Bengali-origin Muslims demolished in an eviction drive in Kachutali village in Sonapur – under the notified tribal belt of South Kamrup – in September last year.

“This will provide a safety net against encroachment of land in that tribal belt. Additionally, this will give an opportunity to the government to develop a world-class central business district with modern infrastructure,” Neog said in her speech.

She announced that the government would start a survey of char areas – low lying flood-prone riverbanks, where Bengali-origin Muslims are the primary residents, with other communities like Misings, Deoris, Nepalis and Kocharis also residing. Neog stated that settlement of any char land “will be taken up only after discussion with the stakeholders and in due course of time”.

“With this, the government’s land bank will increase. A lot of land, without being accounted for, is in the hands of some people,” said Sarma, after the session.

Apart from this, Neog dedicated a section of her speech to budgetary allocations for a section of recommendations of the Biplap Sarma committee, set up for the implementation of Clause 6 of the 1985 Assam Accord, which deals with “Constitutional, legal and administrative safeguards” of “the Assamese people”.

In addition to existing tribal belts and blocks, Neog said, “The Government shall identify the revenue circles of the state where only ‘indigenous people’ can own and possess land and transfer of such land in these areas is limited to them alone.” She added that legislation to this effect will be tabled in the Assembly in September.

A relevant Bill for the creation of a five-member ‘Sattra Preservation and Development Board’ with autonomous funding is also on the cards, said Neog. In Assam, neo-Vaishnavite monasteries are referred to as sattra institutions. “Sattra Preservation and Development Board shall be vested with adequate powers of the Assam Board of Revenue to effectively protect sattra land from encroachment and land grabbing… We shall give both statutory powers and financial resources to the board to look after the protection and development of sattra institutions,” she said. Later, Sarma said this board would have overriding powers over district Deputy Commissioners on the question of sattra lands.

The BJP has been raising alleged encroachment of sattra lands by “illegal settlers”, and the government under Sarma has carried out massive evictions in lands around the two most significant sattras – Batadrava and Barpeta.

Besides the series of land-related provisions, the BJP government’s last full Budget before the 2026 Assembly polls had announcements for the middle class and youth.

The overall outlay of Assam’s 2025-26 Budget of Rs 2.63 lakh crore included a professional tax exemption for individuals earning up to Rs 15,000 a month, a Rs 2,500 per month grant to graduates of state universities, a Re 1 reduction in electricity rates for consumers using less than 120 units a month, a one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 each to 6.8 lakh casual and permanent tea garden workers in the state, and a scheme to provide seed capital for entrepreneurs in women’s self-help groups.

Neog said the government “will consider” restoring the old pension scheme for regular government employees whose recruitment process began before February 1, 2005.

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