Assam to roll out ‘special policy’ to protect ‘genuine youths’ from fake tea garden claims

Assam is set to introduce a new “special policy” to curb the misuse of benefits meant for tea garden communities after officials detected repeated attempts to claim quotas with fake certificates.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said earlier scrutiny during medical admissions had exposed the scale of the problem, leading the government to separate community lists for the Barak and Brahmaputra regions to better identify inconsistencies. He indicated that the same level of verification would now extend to government recruitment.

“We have seen people try to take benefits meant for tea garden communities with fake certificates. This is something we can never accept,” Sarma said, stressing that stricter rules were necessary to ensure opportunities reach “genuine youths of the tea garden communities.”

In a post on Twitter, he added that the forthcoming policy was designed to guarantee that only rightful beneficiaries receive access to the 3 per cent reservation and other support measures.