The cabinet has approved it,” the chief minister said.Sarma said that under the UCC, the provision will be applicable to people from all religions. The Assam UCC excludes Scheduled Tribes (STs), who comprise 12.45% of the population (2011 Census).The Assam assembly passed UCC for the state in May this year and President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the legislation in September.Sarma mentioned that the cabinet also approved handing over investigation into this year’s heavy flooding in Sibsagar and Charaideo districts to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The floods in July caused large scale devastation and claimed the lives of over 100 people.

Both natural and human causes were believed to be responsible for the unprecedented deluge in the two most affected districts.“The cabinet has approved the move and we will write to CBI within the next 10 days asking them to probe the disaster,” the CM said.Sarma informed that the state government will set up a defence manufacturing park at Nellie, about 68 km from Guwahati, in an area around 6,000 bighas (nearly 2000 acres).“We have been able to attract investments in many sectors such as semiconductors, fertilizer, etc. But since there was no land for defence park, we didn’t get any such investment.

Now, we plan to change that. Hope some investors will turn up for this initiative,” he said.