Assam makes strides in reducing Maternal Mortality, Infant Mortality and Under 5 Mortality ratios
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Guwahati: Assam has made promising strides towards reducing the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and the Under 5 Mortality Rate.Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this on Thursday while adding that while the recent reports of Sample Registration System (SRS) published by the Office of the Registrar General of India the MMR of Assam has come down to 125.He said that historically, Assam recorded the highest Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country till the last SRS report of 2018-20. In 2001-03, the MMR in Assam was 490 per 1 lakh live births. At that time, the national MMR was 301.'The maternal health conditions were poor and the health infrastructure in the state was unable to provide necessary support to our mothers. In the last two decades, tremendous efforts have been undertaken, especially in the last 10 years, for which, significant improvement has been observed in reduction of maternal mortality,' the Chief Minister said adding that with the wholehearted efforts of Government of Assam in the last 20 years, the MMR has improved to 125 in 2020-22 from 490 in 2001-03.He said that the Special Bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2020-22 was released in the month of June 2025. 'As per SRS 2020-22, MMR of Assam has come down to 125 with a further 42 points (25.1%) drop in MMR compared to 2019-21. This shows 70 points (36%) drop in MMR in just 2 years. No other States in the Country have shown such decline,' he said, adding that Assam's MMR is now better than Madhya Pradesh (159), Chhattisgarh (141), Uttar Pradesh (141) and Odisha (136) as per SRS 2020-22.'It is a great achievement for the State of Assam to bring such a great reduction of MMR even during the period of COVID pandemic,' he said.The Chief Minister further added that it is not just MMR, but Infant Mortality rate also has improved tremendously. 'The IMR in 2005 in Assam was 68, way above the national IMR of 58, being one of the last states in the country. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of Assam improved to 36 as per SRS (2020). It has come down to 34 as per SRS (2021) and further down to 32 as per SRS (2022),' he said adding that in terms of IMR, Assam's performance is at par with Orissa (32) and better than Uttar Pradesh (38), Chattisgarh (38) and Madhya Pradesh (40).'From 68 in 2005, we have improved to 32 by 2020-22, almost reducing IMR to 1/3rd,'he said, adding that the Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) was as high as 88 per 1000 live births in 2008. This has also come down from 40 (SRS 2020) to 37 (SRS 2021) and further down to 35 (SRS 2022), almost reducing to 1/3rd,' Sarma said.'Similarly, our neonatal mortality rate also has improved from 33 per 1000 live births in 2005 to 22 in 2020-22,' he said adding that improvement in health infrastructure, improvement in health Human Resources (HR), Motivated and incentivised ASHA(s) and grassroots workers, improved health service delivery and the social support programmes contributed towards this achievement.Sarma stated that nearly 40,000 youths would be provided government jobs in a single recruitment drive scheduled for 10 October.Notably, appointment letters were distributed to 443 Veterinary Field Assistants in the Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Department, 12 Tourism Development Officers in the Tourism Department, and 23 DIET Lecturers and 3 SCERT Assistant Directors in the rank of Assistant Professors under the Education Department. With the inclusion of these 481 appointments, the total number of government jobs secured under the present administration now stands at 1,20,840.Sarma expressed confidence that the State Government is well on course to reach a total of 1.60 lakh appointments by 10 October. He emphasised that the transparent nature of this recruitment process has not only upheld merit, but also played a vital role in fostering a more robust educational ecosystem across the state.Turning his attention to the animal husbandry sector, the Chief Minister underscored its growing importance in the vision of a self-reliant Assam. He noted that, while this sector has increasingly become a pillar of the rural economy, Assam still lags behind other states in fully realising its potential. To address this, he stated that the government has partnered with the National Dairy Development Board to establish the North East Dairy and Foods Limited – an initiative aimed at producing, processing, and distributing 10 lakh litres of milk daily. He highlighted a series of infrastructural developments already underway to support this goal, including the setup of milk processing centres with one lakh litre capacities in Dhemaji, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, and Cachar, a 25,000 litre unit in Bajali, and a three lakh litre facility in Guwahati. He further mentioned that a new 1 lakh litre milk processing unit would also be established in Rani, near Guwahati by AMUL. These efforts, he affirmed, would serve as an incentive for farmers across Assam to expand production.Sarma stated that the state government would provide a subsidy of Rs. 5 per litre for milk brought in for processing. He added that the College of Veterinary Science, in collaboration with the National Dairy Development Board, is working to develop a new breed by crossbreeding Assam's indigenous Lakhimi cows with Gujarat's high-yielding Gir breed. Additionally, he shared that efforts are also underway to improve yield through artificial insemination. With these measures, he affirmed, the government aims to scale Assam's daily milk production to 15 lakh litres by 2030.Alongside livestock development, the Chief Minister emphasised the state's renewed focus on poultry and duck farming, noting that 90% of Assam's daily egg demand is currently met through imports. He observed that if merely 1,000 entrepreneurs' step forward, the state could achieve a daily production of one crore eggs within three years. Despite the Northeast hosting the country's largest pork market, he lamented the region's insufficient local production and stressed the government's commitment to addressing this gap. He also highlighted a national campaign to promote biogas and bio-CNG production, adding that efforts are underway to enable dairy enterprises to generate these from cattle dung - an initiative poised to offer farmers a valuable supplementary income stream.
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