GUWAHATI, July 7: The Assam Cabinet on Wednesday decided to award government employees based on their performance in a bid to create a competitive atmosphere and encourage them to perform better.
Five non-gazetted employees of the state government at the district level and 10 employees at the state level will be awarded for their performance every year on August 5, which is the birthday of the state’s first chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi and will hence be known as ‘Karmachari Divas’ (Employees’ Day).
“This award would be given to create a competitive atmosphere among the state government employees. However, gazetted officers and teachers will not be considered for the award,” Cabinet minister Pijush Hazarika informed reporters after the meeting.
On the other hand, the Cabinet welcomed the notice of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) asking all the states/Union Territories to extend the validity of the TET (Teacher Eligibility Test) certificate for life from the existing seven-year period.
Accordingly, the Cabinet decided to extend the validity of the Assam TET certificate for life.
“However, a decision has been taken to cap the age limit for teaching jobs while candidates can sit for betterment exams,” education minister Ranoj Pegu said.
The Cabinet, chaired by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, decided that the state anthem will be played at the beginning of all government programmes, meetings, etc while the national anthem will be played at the end.
It decided to mandatorily present hand-woven gamosas and traditional snacks in all government functions to encourage local weavers.
The birth anniversary of Deshbhakta Tarun Ram Phukan on July 28 would be observed as Deshbhakti Divas (Patriot’s Day), it decided.
Meanwhile, guardian Ministers and guardian secretaries, in charge of districts declared as containment zones, will travel to their respective districts and stay there for three days to monitor and oversee the situation.
The Cabinet also decided that state government employees will have to clear all unpaid power bills till July 2021 and submit no-objection certificates (NOCs) to their concerned departments for drawing salary for the month of July.