Two schemes, one ambition: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday, October 15, 2026, framed the state's flagship welfare programmes — Nijut Moina for girls and Nijut Babu for boys — as a unified toolkit to lift an entire generation out of poverty and towards education.

Nijut Moina's track record on girls' education and child marriage

Nijut Moina, the Assam government's scheme targeting girls from economically weaker sections, was designed with a dual purpose from its inception: drive up school enrolment and drive down child marriage. CM Sarma has cited higher enrolment figures and a decline in child marriage incidents as evidence that the programme has become a 'gamechanger' — his word — for girls across the state. The scheme works by giving families a financial stake in keeping their daughters in school rather than marrying them off early.

Child marriage has historically been one of Assam's most stubborn social challenges, particularly in rural and tea-garden districts. A scheme that ties support to educational continuity directly attacks the economic logic that has long underpinned the practice.

Nijut Babu steps in for boys from poor and middle-class homes

The newer sibling programme, Nijut Babu, turns the same logic towards boys from poor and middle-class families — a constituency that often slips through the cracks of welfare design, which more commonly centres girls or women. CM Sarma described the scheme as helping realise the dreams of boys who would otherwise find higher education or vocational aspirations out of reach.

Together, he argued, the two programmes form a 'potent tool' — his phrasing — for empowering what he called 'Gen Next.' The framing is deliberate: rather than presenting them as separate welfare handouts, the Chief Minister is positioning them as a gender-balanced, generational investment strategy.

Assam's pattern of targeted, gender-aware welfare design

The BJP-led Assam government under CM Sarma has built a visible portfolio of education-linked welfare schemes since taking office. The pairing of Nijut Moina and Nijut Babu reflects a broader pattern: address a social ill — child marriage, school dropout — not through prohibition alone, but through financial incentives that make the better outcome the rational family choice.

The real test will come from independent district-level data on enrolment trends and child marriage registrations. State government reports tracking these numbers will determine whether the 'gamechanger' label holds up under scrutiny — or demands a policy rethink.