Assam Cabinet approves bill to ban polygamy Guwahati (Assam) [India], November 9 (ANI): The Assam Cabinet on Sunday approved the "The Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025", which aims to prohibit and eliminate the practices of polygamy and polygamous marriage in the state, except in Sixth Scheduled areas. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Sunday that the bill will be introduced in the Assam Assembly session on November 25 for passage. "Polygamy is prohibited in respect of the person who shall not marry if he has a living spouse or is not legally separated from the other spouse by following due procedure of law or is a party to a marriage which is not yet dissolved or annulled by a decree of divorce. The Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025, further seeks to provide compensation to the victim women as they have to suffer immense pain and hardship due to polygamous marriage. To save the society from the scourge of such practices, this Bill has been framed with the avowed objective to streamline the society," the Assam Chief Minister said in a press conference held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati. He further said that, under the bill 7 years of rigorous imprisonment provision will be there against those persons who will engage in marriage for second and more times. The Assam cabinet accorded the administrative approval for the first phase of the work "Construction of State-of-the-Art Judicial Township at Rangmahal, North Guwahati" amounting to Rs 478.78 crore. "The High Court Complex Development (Phase-I) is primarily focused on the establishment of a comprehensive High Court Complex in which all the buildings are connected with bridges, which will serve as the apex judicial hub of the region. Key components include - High Court Building (G 4), High Court Bar Building (G 6), High Court Office Building (G 6)," the Chief Minister said. The State Cabinet has approved the "Assam Startup and Innovation Policy 2025-30", marking a significant step toward positioning Assam as one of India's leading hubs for entrepreneurship and innovation in the next 5 years. The total financial implication for a period of 5 years is Rs. 397 crore. Ideation Grant - Up to Rs 10 lakh to validate concepts or build proof-of-concept prototypes, Prototype Development Grant - Up to Rs 20 lakh for general and tech startups up to Rs 40 lakh for deep-tech startups for building MVPs and testing products; Seed Fund (Assam Startup Seed Fund, equity-based) - Up to Rs 50 lakh per startup as government corpus for equity or co-investment (with max 4% equity stake). Startup Venture Capital Fund - Up to Rs 10 crore per startup as growth capital for scale-up. The State Cabinet has approved the determination of the date of effect of promotion under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) in respect of the Assistant Professors and Librarians of Autonomous/PDUAM/ Model Degree/Provincialised/Government Colleges of Assam. The State Cabinet has approved the establishment of "SU-KA-PHA University, Assam" to establish and constitute a teaching, residential and affiliating University at undivided Sivasagar, preferably Charaideo district, Assam, for imparting higher education. (ANI)