Industrial development in India has been dependent on political influence and leadership, ever since Independence. As a matter of fact no fair policy could be framed for equal development of all the regions of the country simultaneously. That is why some of the regions remained completely neglected, while others developed beyond limitations, resulting in heavy congestions. Besides, the metropolis and a few big industrial centers of the country, where opportunities are ample for growth, there is vast disparity in establishment of industries in various regions. The industrialization of a particular area depends on the degree of political influence in its favor. Unfortunately, the Northeastern states, including Assam, lack such leadership, which can look after the interest of the general people. Now-a-days leadership is centered along the family interests and there is heavy competition in making wealth by leaders for their future generations. Nobody can expect social service and developmental activities from such self centered leaders.
It is pertinent to mention that most of the industries in the country are set up on the basis of availability of raw materials which is the prime factor for consideration before taking up such projects. In the past after the construction of giant steel plants of Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur, demand for such projects in public sector was raised in Bihar (now Jharkhand sector), which gave birth to Bokaro steel city. On demand from Southern states of the country the Salem steel plant came into existence. The Barauni and Mathura oil refineries were set up at long distances from the raw material belts. All these happened due to political influences and pressures from the leaders representing the people of respective areas. Had there been no pressure from the public, the chances of setting up Guwahati and Bongaigaon refineries in Assam were bleak. The commitments in Assam Accord for Numaligarh Refinery and other schemes for development came after the people came out on roads agitating for them. But the leaders in power did not take interest in speedy developments. Most of the industries set up earlier in Assam have now disappeared from the industrial map of the state.
Assam Accord of 1985 could not be fully implemented even after a lapse of twenty six years, because of lack of interest in present leadership. The Northeastern states have huge raw materials like coal, oil, uranium etc; and a number of industries could be established where lakhs of people could be given employment. By this method insurgency spread throughout the region could also be eliminated. There is no need of deploying lakhs of security personnel to combat insurgency. If there are employment opportunities, people would be busy in the work and none would go for illegal acts. Most of the militant groups have taken arms because they did not get suitable employment. Even in case of surrendered militants, who came forward to negotiation table are not satisfied with the treatment meted to them and due to uncertainty prevailing on their rehabilitation. Some of them have gone back to jungles being unsatisfied on the assurances given to them. How can they trust on the leadership which has failed to keep its words?
Lack of education, awareness and extreme poverty added with immaturity of people in maintaining high standards of democracy by keeping the faith above principle leads to their maximum exploitation by the political leaders. Innocent voters are lured by attractive slogans of the leaders before the polls and join this or that group with hopes to get their problems solved, but after the polls those leaders forget their commitments. This situation leads them to an embarrassing situation.
26 Feb 2009 - 6:02pm | editor
Two hardcore ULFA militants died during a heavy gunfight between ULDA and police and security forces in Majuli on Thursday morning.According to information, acting on a tip off that a team of ULFA...
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Gamusas and Japis are two important items in Assam, which are in much demand throughout the year in the state especially during festival seasons and social functions. These items are demanded by the people to honor the guests and honorable persons during each and every event. However, it has been found that throughout the festival seasons the supply of locally woven gamusas are not according to demand by the customers. The reason behind it is said to be heavy cost of the locally produced items. On the other hand the weavers and traders from other parts of the country take advantage of supplying gamusas at cheaper rates and make more profit despite spending heavy cost on...
Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati circle, has been trying to take-up the work of repairing of a broken pillar in the Mandap of Hayagriva Madhav Temple at Hajo for a long time. ASI, Guwahati has informed the media through a press note that one of the pillars of ancient temple was broken in three parts due to rusting of the iron dowels holding each other and the other developed cracks due to the same reason and widened more after the earthquake of May 2015. Hayagriva Madhav Temple is a reconstructed temple during the Koch period. The architectural parts of the earlier temple have been used for reconstruction. Different parts of the temple have been used randomly for making the pillars...
There is a generation gap between the signing of Assam Accord on the Independence Day 1985 and the present generation has to face new challenges to compete with the world class people in all spheres of development. The young people are confused over the airing of old issues which have lasted for long 31 years in absence of any solution. The issues pertaining to the Accord have become irrelevant under the present circumstances. The Assam Accord issue is still haunting and confusing the present generation due to absence of a clear picture. The fate of the Accord is not known to the people in general. A few politicians and intellectuals are trying to raise the issues of the accord from time to...
It is an established fact that a person involved in political activities cannot remain in peace till his cherished dreams are fulfilled. This can be noticed through the recent statements of former Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, who has been expressing his views frequently in media against the four months old BJP-led alliance government in the state under the chief minister ship of Sarwanand Sonowal. He (Gogoi) dares to demand a ‘white paper’ from state government about the steps taken by it to clear the encroachments of forest and other government lands in the state and also to let the people of the state know, what action it has taken to identify and deport the foreign...
Addressing a huge gathering of residents of Udaypur, Jonakpur and Birubari at Udaypur Kali Mandir complex on Sunday, July 3, 2016, East Guwahati Assembly Member, Siddharth Bhattacharjee, emphasized the need of implementing the vision document of development as envisaged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the function organized by Udaypur Yuva Sangha to felicitate him on his success in the recently concluded polls to the state Assembly, he conveyed his thanks to the people of the area for showing their confidence in him. He assured the people that he would not let their confidence go in vain. The meeting was presided over by Dr Phani Borah. Senior citizen of the locality Kartik...
Hardly a few days ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Alliance has taken the reign of Assam administration the results of efforts made by Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi to bring back black money to the state coffer, has started recently with the arrest of Dhemaji Divisional Forest Officer, Mahat Chandra Talukdar by anti-corruption department. For a long time the reports of wildlife crimes were in the air, but the previous state administration ruled by Congress Party under the three-terms leadership of Tarun Gogoi did not try to take any action. The former Chief Minister Gogoi was under a wrong impression that the people who gave him a...
A study conducted by B Boruah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, has revealed that during a decade from 2001-02 to 2011-12, cancer cases in the north-eastern part of the country have gone up from 5,404 to 8,708. A campaign, namely, Cycle 4 ride can help control this dreaded disease. In order to raise awareness to fight cancer a lady, namely, Marcellna Sangma, is going to lead a Biker Mission to 600 kms long stretch from Guwahati to Bum La Pass, near Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. The ride is scheduled to be flagged off by Dr Amar Chandra Kataki, Director, B Boruah Cancer Institute, on April 21, 2016.Expressing her traumatic experience with cancer, Sangma, who was a cancer patient a decade...
Being disturbed since the first phase of polling for Assam Assembly on April 4 last, the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi is finding it difficult to remember the history of Assam agitation propelled by All Assam Students Union (AASU) since the year 1979 to the Independence Day of 1985, resulting in the Assam Accord which was signed between the Assam Government and the movement leaders in presence of erstwhile prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Heavy polling beyond 85 percent of the electorate in the second phase also made Gogoi to think over the majority of young and new voters were not the ‘beneficiaries of getting blankets, yarn and mosquito nets’. They are young, energetic, literate and...
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