Assam Forum of Great Britain (AFGB) organized its 4th Annual conference at the London School of Economics on September 5, 2015. MP Sarbananda Sonowal sent a good will message appreciating the efforts of the Assamese diaspora to contribute towards solving the problems of Assam. Dr. Jitendralal Borkakoti, AFGB Chairman, has stated that the objective of AFGB is “to galvanize Assamese people both in England and Assam to think and find solutions for the serious problems of Assam”. He also stated that a Memorandum to Prime Minister Modi was accepted by Ajit Doval last January, and it raised eight important problems of Assam.
This year three burning issues of Assam were discussed in the conference. Smitana Saikia in her paper on “Crisis of ethnic identity: who is an Assamese?” comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to define an Assamese identity as the Assamese society is a composite society; and this has been increasingly realised both in the political and social circles in Assam. In the absence of an inclusive definition of an Assamese identity, it will not be possible to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, as it is divisive. The emphasis should be on Clause 7 so that the people of Assam become united in their struggle to achieve rapid economic development. Dr. Rituparna Sarma and Ms. Rimli Das, in their paper on “Gender Issues in Assam”, reports a worsening situation in Assam with spiralling violence against women including abduction, molestation, rape, dowry killings, and witch hunting. They have pointed out the disturbing development of girls and young women being kidnapped or lured by traffickers. Ignorant and economically disadvantaged people in the remote areas of Assam should be made aware by police and relevant NGOs.
There was also a Panel discussion on poor governance in Assam and how corruption has become institutionalised in Assam. The Panel (Dr. Aburba Baruah, Dr. Jitendralal Borkakoti, Zaved Ckoudhury and Dr. Dinesh Kakati) has stated that good governance requires capacity building, accountability and transparency. It has been pointed out how, because of poor governance, (a) allocation under Five Year Plane remain unutilised (Rs. 13,093 during 2001-02 and 2012-13), (b) how the Water Resources Department failed to use allocated funds (to the tune of 38% to 60% during the period 2002-03 to 2011-12), and (c) how the Government of Assam routinely fail to submit utilisation certificates (20,000 certificates are pending from 58 Departments amounting to Rs.12.000 crore from 2001-02 to 2013-14). Only a movement from civic societies can lead to an end of blatant corruption.
16 Sep 2015 - 8:41pm | AT News
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Dr. Aniket Aga is an associate professor of environmental studies at Ashoka University. His research interests are in science and technology studies, democratic politics, and agrarian studies. He works on questions of environmental justice, food democracy, and sustainable agriculture. The...
At the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards ceremony in Mumbai last night, environmentalist Rituraj Phukan was honoured with a Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award. The Nagaon based Climate Reality Leader is a renowned environmental writer, adventurer and conservationist who has represented the region and country in numerous global climate change events.
The loudest applause of the night was for 23 year old Munmuni Payeng, who won the Young Naturalist Award for her work with grassroots communities. It must be mentioned that she is the daughter of Padma Shree Jadav Payeng, famous as the Forest Man of India.
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Arvind Ojha was an experimentalist choosing to dedicate his life to social changemaking through education, working with children, making institutions and keeping people and organisations together. Someone very forthcoming to dialogue and collaborate with youth. Perhaps something that kept him innovating with community for over 40 years in social sector.
He was an artist, storyteller and a social changemaker. In his early years he wrote extensively. Prose and poetry were his forms of storytelling. He used camera to capture his times and stories, principally focusing on desert.
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Assam Public Works (APW), which continues raising voices against the ethnic militant outfits along with religious terrorists and Illegal migrants in the region, filed a first information report at Paltanbazar PS, Guwahati- 781024 on Friday, where the influential civil rights group has made the NRC Directorate also a party.
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Dr Ratul Chandra Bora said that both Srimanta...
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