Assam: Protests against crackdown on child marriage, total arrests rise to 2,441
Guwahati (PTI): Amid protests in Barak Valley, Morigaon and Dhubri, the crackdown on child marriage in Assam entered the fourth day on Monday, with the number of arrests rising to 2,441.
A police statement said the arrests have been made based on 4,074 FIRs filed across the state.
"Total arrest so far - 2441. Crackdown against child marriage continues in Assam," Sarma tweeted.
He had earlier asserted that the drive will continue till the 2026 assembly elections.
The crackdown has faced criticism from the opposition, and demonstrations at various places by the affected families.
Protests were staged in different parts of the state including in Barak Valley, Morigaon, Dhubri and Nagaon districts, by the affected families.
"Our menfolk have been taken away by the police, leaving us without anyone to look after us or to provide for us," said Redshma Khatun, one of those protesting at Dhubri.
Till Sunday evening, 139 people were apprehended in Biswanath district, followed by 130 in Barpeta and 126 in Dhubri, the statement said.
Dhubri registered the highest number of FIRs against child marriages at 374 cases, followed by Hojai (255) and Morigaon (224), it added.
Meanwhile, seven people got bail in child-marriage cases in Rangia in Kamrup district.
The court of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Rangia, granted bail to the accused, a lawyer said.
"More are likely to get bail here by the end of the day," he said.
Sarma had earlier said those facing Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) charges are under bailable sections, but the ones held under POCSO will face non-bailable charges.
Questioning the motive behind the crackdown, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that the Assam government should have concentrated on increasing literacy levels if it was actually seized of the problem of child marriage.
"Experts have said that if you want to stop child marriages, you have to open a lot of schools, (but) you have not done that. You have closed down the madrassas too which were imparting some form of education," he alleged.
Owaisi sought to know who will be responsible for the women left in the lurch following the arrest of the men of the house.
Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora said a humane approach was needed in dealing with the issue.
"We are opposed to child marriage. But what will be the benefit of disrupting settled families, with grown up children? It is nothing but a publicity stunt," he said.
Assam Jatiya Parishad chief Lurinjyoti Gogoi alleged that the government went ahead with the crackdown without assessing its impact on the people.
"The government should have thought of the situation the wives, families will face when the arrests happen. It was a haphazardly executed step," he maintained.
The AIUDF had on Saturday claimed that the Assam government crackdown on child marriage was conducted "without framing the requisite rules".
The state cabinet had recently approved a proposal to book men who have married girls below 14 years of age under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Cases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 will be registered against those who have married girls in the 14-18 years' age group, the cabinet decided.
The offenders will be arrested and the marriages declared illegal. If the groom is below 14 years of age, he will be sent to a reform house.
Assam has a high rate of maternal and infant mortality, with child marriage being the primary cause, according to reports by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
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Board exams twice a year from 2025: MoE asks CBSE to work out logistics, no plan for semesters
New Delhi, Apr 26: The Ministry of Education has asked the CBSE to work out logistics for conducting board exams twice a year from the 2025-26 academic session, according to sources.
The plan for introducing a semester system has been ruled out, they said.
The ministry and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will hold consultations with school principals next month for conducting board exams twice a year, the sources said.
The CBSE is currently in the process of working out the modalities of how will the academic calendar be structured to accommodate another set of board exams without impacting the undergraduate admission schedule, they said.
"The ministry has asked the CBSE to work on the logistics of how will board exams be conducted twice a year. The board is working out the modalities and a consultation will be organised next month with school principals," a source said.
"The idea being explored is to conduct two editions of the board exams at the end of the year from the 2025-26 academic session but the modalities still need to be worked out. However, there is no plan to implement the semester system," the source added.
The ministry's initial plan was to introduce biannual board exams from the 2024-25 academic session, however, it has been pushed back by a year.
The new national curriculum framework (NCF), prepared by the Union government-appointed national steering company which was led by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, proposed a semester system for students of classes 11 and 12.
The framework, which was released by the ministry in August last year, also proposed that the students be given the option to write their board exams twice a year.
"The CBSE right now is brainstorming on the schedule so students can get maximum benefit and the goal of making board exams stress-free can be achieved. However, logistics is a challenge which needs to be addressed, conducting exams is tiresome so the plan has to be flawless," the source said.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had last October told PTI in an interview that appearing for board exams twice a year won't be mandatory for students.
"The students will have the option of appearing for the (class 10 and 12 board) exams twice a year just like the engineering entrance exam JEE. They can choose the best score… but it will be completely optional, no compulsion," he had said.
However, this is not the first attempt at reforming board exams. The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) was introduced for Class 10 in 2009 but was revoked in 2017 and the board reverted to the old model of year-end exams.
The board exams for classes 10 and 12 were also split into two terms during the Covid pandemic as a one-time measure, but the old format of year-end exams resumed this year.
