Only traditional food items will be served at government programmes in Assam, the State Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma decided on Wednesday.
The decision has been taken in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s credo of ‘vocal for local’ for promoting indigenous food products, a government spokesperson said.
Assam has a variety of snacks, mostly on the sweeter side and made of powdered rice, coconut and other locally available ingredients.
“Traditional snacks such as pitha and laaru will be served with tea at official functions from now on,” the spokesperson said.
The Cabinet also decided to make it mandatory for handwoven gamosa — the traditional multipurpose scarf-towel — to be used at government programmes.
Gifting an Assamese gamosa to visitors or dignitaries is a tradition in Assam. The tradition is similar for other indigenous communities with the Bodos, for one, using the arnai or a decorative scarf.
But over the years, cheaper machine-made gamosas from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have threatened to push Assam’s weavers out of business. According to a 2018 estimate by the State government, Assam has more than 13 lakh looms out of a total of 28 lakh looms in the country.
Seizures of machine-made gamosas under the Handloom (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985, have had little impact.
The Act reserves certain articles for exclusive production by handloom. These include the gamosa, angavastram and the Manipuri phanek.
Playing the State anthem ‘O mur apunar dekh’ at the beginning of all government programmes and meetings and the national anthem ‘Jana gana mana’ at the end was another decision taken by the Cabinet.
Awards for govt. staff
Among other decisions was an annual performance-based award for five non-gazetted employees at the district and 10 at the State level. Apart from citations on Karmachari Divas (August 5) to mark the death anniversary of the State’s first Chief Minister Gopinath Bardoloi, the award-winning employees will get a year’s extension of service, the spokesperson said.
