[Assam] assam Digest, Vol 31, Issue 23
ranenkumar goswami
goswamiranenkr at yahoo.co.in
Thu Feb 21 07:32:10 CST 2008
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> than "Re: Contents of assam digest..."
> > Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Family Reunion (Rajen & Ajanta Barua)
> 2. Re: mental vs physical ; Indian Military
> Academy -Making of
> a soldier (umesh sharma)
> 3. NRA has proposed 7 new Engineering Colleges in
> Assam
> (Buljit Buragohain)
> 4. Assam needs 10 more Medical Colleges-Health
> Minister
> (Buljit Buragohain)
> 5. Schoolgirls set example of honesty (Pradip
> Kumar Datta)
> 6. Identity issue (ranenkumar goswami)
> 7. Assam Bandh (ranenkumar goswami)
> 8. Guwahati journalist awarded first UNHCR-C-NES
> Media
> fellowship (Nava Thakuria)
> 9. Media Fellowship to Nava Thakuria, (jogen
> kalita)
> 10. Re: Schoolgirls set example of honesty (DR
> BIKASH KUMAR DAS)
> 11. Re: FW: assam tour operators (DR BIKASH KUMAR
> DAS)
> 12. Re: mental vs physical ; Indian Military
> Academy -Making of
> a soldier (DR BIKASH KUMAR DAS)
> 13. Re: Identity issue (uttam borthakur)
> > From: "Rajen & Ajanta Barua" <barua25 at hotmail.com>
> To: <umesh.sh05 at post.harvard.edu>,
> "A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from
> around the world"
> <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:02:14 -0600
> Subject: Re: [Assam] Family Reunion
>
> Umesh;
> Too bad you did not get it!!!. Looks like your
> apprenticeship in the West is
> not complete..
> Rajenda
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "umesh sharma" <jaipurschool at yahoo.com>
> To: "A Mailing list for people interested in Assam
> from around the world"
> <assam at assamnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:20 AM
> Subject: Re: [Assam] Family Reunion
>
>
> >I didn't see the joke. I thought everything was
> acceptable in the West :-)
> >
> > Umesh
> >
> > Dilip/Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com> wrote: Nice
> clean joke - sent to me.
> > Hope you guys like it.
> > Dilip
> >
> ===================================================
> >
> > The other day I was at a family reunion and I met
> this really awesome
> > girl who was not related to me. We got to know
> each other and became
> > pretty good friends. Later on that day though I
> was thinking about her
> > and something popped into my head. What if her
> and I were to get
> > married one of these days?
> >
> > But then something else popped into my head. If
> we did get married, you
> > know there is always going to be someone who is
> going to ask you where
> > you met.
> >
> > We would just say, "Oh, we met at a family
> reunion!" And then you see
> > the eyes of the person who asked the question pop
> out of his head!
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > assam mailing list
> > assam at assamnet.org
> >
>
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> >
> >
> >
> > Umesh Sharma
> >
> > Washington D.C.
> >
> > 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
> >
> > Ed.M. - International Education Policy
> > Harvard Graduate School of Education,
> > Harvard University,
> > Class of 2005
> >
> > http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu
> info)
> >
> > http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are
> used )
> > http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
> >
> >
> >
> > http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox.
> > _______________________________________________
> > assam mailing list
> > assam at assamnet.org
> >
>
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> >
>
>
>
> > From: umesh sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com>
> To: umesh.sh05 at post.harvard.edu,
> A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from
> around the world
> <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:26:33 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: Re: [Assam] mental vs physical ;
> Indian Military Academy -Making of a soldier
>
> boy to man
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKoAJuusci0
>
> mental discipline cannot come unless physical
> discipline also takes place. Perhaps thats why Yogis
> whose main goal is unity of soul with Super Soul
> seek tp achieve physical perfection as well - using
> Hath Yoga ( the physical/baser Yoga more popular in
> the West)
>
> Umesh
>
> umesh sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com> wrote: This is
> from Laskya (Goal) a movie released in summer of
> 2004 when I was trying a near impossible goal of
> securing financial asssistance from India to go
> Harvard. Motivating.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p13yylvIgHo
>
> About a lackadaisical, aimless guy who somehow
> decides to join the army despite taunts from family.
> His dynamic girlfriend dumps him when he comes back
> unable to bear the tough life (he cannot wake up in
> time for dawn exercises)
> he runs back home. His family accepts him but taunts
> him behind his back.Then he gets determined to try
> it once more - girlfriend or no girlfriend.
>
> Umesh
>
> Ram Dhar <ramdhar at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Indian Military Academy -Making of a soldier....
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDQIxnckaoY&feature=related
> Rajasthan desert commando force and Marine
> commando unit -
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqWI0Rns-IE&feature=related
>
>
>
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
> Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need
> your Hotmail®-get your "fix".
> http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
>
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
>
>
> Umesh Sharma
>
> Washington D.C.
>
> 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
>
> Ed.M. - International Education Policy
> Harvard Graduate School of Education,
> Harvard University,
> Class of 2005
>
> http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu
> info)
>
> http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
>
>
>
>
> www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used
> )
> http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
>
>
>
> http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
>
> ---------------------------------
> Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox.
>
>
> Umesh Sharma
>
> Washington D.C.
>
> 1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
>
> Ed.M. - International Education Policy
> Harvard Graduate School of Education,
> Harvard University,
> Class of 2005
>
> http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu
> info)
>
> http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
>
>
>
>
> www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used
> )
> http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
>
>
>
> http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
>
> ---------------------------------
> Support the World Aids Awareness campaign this
> month with Yahoo! for Good
> > From: Buljit Buragohain <buluassam at yahoo.co.in>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:24:54 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: [Assam] NRA has proposed 7 new Engineering
> Colleges in Assam
>
> Dear all,
>
> You can read the news "NRA has proposed 7 new
> Engineering Colleges in Assam" from the below link.
>
> http://buljit.bihu.in/2018/
>
> You can read the details report from the below
> link.
>
>
>
http://www.posoowa.org/2007/06/30/a-need-for-expanding-engineering-education-facilities-in-assam-for-economic-growth-and-human-development/
>
>
> Thank you.
>
> Buljit Buragohain
> http://buljit.bihu.in
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Why delete messages? Unlimited storage is just a
> click away.
> > From: Buljit Buragohain <buluassam at yahoo.co.in>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:05:40 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: [Assam] Assam needs 10 more Medical
> Colleges-Health Minister
>
> Dear All,
>
> According to the Health Minister, Assam needs 10
> more Medical Colleges.You can read the news from the
> below link.
>
> http://goodnews.bihu.in/2019/
>
> Thank you.
>
> Buljit
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Bring your gang together - do your thing. Start
> your group.
> > From: Pradip Kumar Datta <pradip200 at yahoo.com>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:18:51 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: [Assam] Schoolgirls set example of honesty
>
> Schoolgirls set example of honesty
> >From Our Correspondent Sentinel Assam
> KALAIGAON, Feb 19 – A rare example of honesty set
> by some schoolgirls here have come to light to
> inspire thousands of others.
>
> On February 12, a day after the Saraswati Puja, a
> few students of Kalaigaon Girls’ High School, who
> had been cleaning the school campus, found a bag on
> KR Road, in front of the school, containing eight
> thousand rupees and some important documents.
> Instead of sharing the money among themselves, the
> honest girls handed over the bag to Achyut Roy
> Choudhury, Headmaster of the school, who in turn
> arranged to return it to its owner one Ram Chouhan.
>
> The happy owner offered some cash reward to the
> girls, but they politely refused, saying it was
> their duty. The girls were Sangita Deka, Priyanka
> Saharia, Sumi Nath, Kanak Lata Nath, Runu Deka,
> Mousumi Kataki, Parismita Deka, Santana Sarma and
> Rumi Deka.
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them
> fast with Yahoo! Search.
> > From: ranenkumar goswami
> <goswamiranenkr at yahoo.co.in>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:35:33 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: [Assam] Identity issue
>
> Pitfalls of identity politics
> — Hiren Gohain
> Nobody can question the depth of Tagore’s
> patriotism,
> but it is not widely known that he also condemned
> nationalism in the most vehement terms. The setting
> up
> of one’s own nation or group as the ultimate
> criterion
> for judgment on all things human was a serious
> aberration in his eyes. After decades of experience
> of
> Bengali and Assamese chauvinism we can now realise
> the
> truth of his view. lt seems various other groups in
> the North-East are going to learn the same lesson
> the
> hard way unless good sense prevails.
>
> A columnist in another Daily has recently made a
> passionate plea in support of the current militant
> movement of the Adivasis in Assam. That is a
> commendable public gesture. What, however, is not so
> gratifying is her unqualified condemnation of the
> Assamese as the “dominant group’ that is repressing
> the hopes and aspirations of the Adivasis, seen as
> their victims. She has mentioned the shameful
> incident
> at Beltola as a piece of clinching evidence for her
> argument.
>
> The columnist has not cared to notice that the
> conscious elite of the allegedly ‘dominant group’
> burst into full-throated denunciation of the outrage
> perpetrated by miscreants on the Adivasis at
> Beltola,
> and that the permanent residents of the area held a
> meeting to express their anguish over an incident
> which had taken them unawares soon after. Nor does
> she
> seem to be aware that the atrocities had at least in
> part been a wild response to gross provocation and
> destructive behaviour from a section of the
> agitators.
> The strange failure of the police to respond
> immediately to the situation developing within a
> short
> distance from the police station, which led to
> scenes
> such as humiliating a girl by publicly disrobing her
> is also regarded by her as typical behaviour of the
> ‘dominant group’. By interesting coincidence the
> same
> view was broadcast far and wide by several
> metropolitan ‘national’ channels on TV with the
> haziest notion of the facts on the ground.
>
> There can be little doubt that such omissions
> distort
> the general picture drawn by the columnist. Such is
> the way in which liberal humane sentiments of many
> ardent supporters of various ‘identity movements’
> without a clear idea of the actual complexity of the
> issue betray them into a dangerous distortion of the
> public issues. They do not seem to realise that in a
> mixed and composite population, meeting the extreme
> demands of an ethnic movement may not always be a
> sound solution of its problem, but may in fact
> destroy
> for ever a fragile peace to the utter misery of all.
>
> The identity politics so fervently pursued these
> days
> by different ethnic groups is marked by a one-sided
> perception of their grievances. There is no denying
> the fact that the present political structures in
> the
> State and the country as a whole have left such
> ethnic
> groups in a wretched plight, robbing them both of
> the
> scope for equitable development and their dignity as
> equal citizens of the State. But it is not always
> correct, and adequate, to say that a particular
> ‘dominant group’ must be held accountable for all
> their trouble. For example in Assam today the
> Assamese
> are only minimally responsible for the terrible
> hardships suffered by the Adivasis, as we shall see
> later on. lf at all they are responsible, only the
> political elite and not the entire community has
> anything to do with it.
>
> For a full century before 1947 Assam affairs were
> controlled absolutely by British rulers who were
> guided in their administration primarily by their
> colonial interests and not by any concern for the
> indigenous communities. Further, in their
> short-sighted greed for gain they buried landmines
> under the soil of this region by permitting and
> promoting unchecked immigration of alien elements in
> immense numbers solely in the interest of their
> colonial economy. Such communities, to put it
> bluntly,
> cannot claim historically the same status as
> indigenous groups in the determination of the fate
> of
> the State. The indigenous people, being in the grip
> of
> panic over their own existence as independent
> communities are unlikely to concede the right of
> self-determination to the immigrants. This however,
> is
> not to say that the immigrants have not suffered
> deep
> injuries and indignities from the social and
> political
> set-up of the State.
>
> For more than a century now the Adivasis have been
> immured inside tea-plantations by a ‘planter Raj’
> that
> could not care less about the woeful plight of lakhs
> of Adivasis and other communities recruited enmasse
> from famine-stricken and rebellious population of
> Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Chotanagpur and Andhra
> Pradesh.
> Profit of tea industry was the only thing that
> mattered... They were uprooted from their familiar
> habitat and dragooned into barrack-like ‘labour
> lines’, where an unvarying pattern of livelihood was
> imposed on them, where their freedom of movement was
> extremely restricted, where they were denied most
> basic facilities for education and medical care,
> where
> for low wages and subsidised but nutritionally
> deficient rations they were made to drudge all day
> long sapping their health and strength, and where
> they
> were at the mercy of management for social
> discipline
> formerly in their own hands. Until after
> independence
> they could claim no pension and provident fund
> benefits . Epidemics decimated them which after
> decades forced the planters to sponsor a medical
> school at Dibrugarh simply to train physicians.
>
> Following independence, thanks to the sincere and
> dedicated work, by such Assamese Gandhian leaders as
> Omeo Kumar Das and Bijoy Chandra Bhagavati, PF and
> pension benefits were introduced for the first time.
> The Plantation Labour Act also promised to deliver
> various kinds of welfare to them, but the
> responsibility was shifted from the shoulders of the
> Government to planters who were not too concerned
> about the quality of services provided. Schools were
> for the most party empty, and labourers were blamed
> for it. Deaths from gastro-enteritis were a common
> annual occurrence and sometimes the numbers were
> frightening. No wonder the tea tribes, as they came
> to
> be called, languished in poverty, torpor and
> fatalism,
> which rather than oppression by the Assamese explain
> their present desperate plight.
>
> The plantation-system with its rank inbuilt
> injustice
> was a colonial innovation. Following independence,
> the
> system survived more or less intact as it was at the
> very basis of the high profits of the industry.
> British concern for constant improvement of
> productivity suffered a slow decline as the new
> owners
> had not been accustomed to an industrial ethos. Most
> of the new owners were non-Assamese as few had the
> financial resources to buy up plantations as the
> British, with some exceptions, started leaving the
> scene. As for improvement in wages the new breed of
> trade union leaders gradually developed vested
> interest in striking deals with planters behind the
> backs of labourers, unlike their Gandhian
> predecessors. They became official intermediaries
> between management and labour in wage-bargains and
> pulled their weight in favour of the former. Hence
> the
> general condition of tea-garden labour remained
> rather
> stagnant. Only a small proportion of such workers
> who
> had been laid off and their descendants took to
> farming. From among them mostly came the handful of
> educated members of the community, who fought
> against
> heavy odds and virtually pulled themselves up by
> their
> bootstraps. They not only did well for themselves
> but
> dedicated themselves to preserving their cultural
>
=== message truncated ===> From: ranenkumar goswami
> <goswamiranenkr at yahoo.co.in>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:41:06 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: [Assam] Assam Bandh
>
> Bandh defied in city
> By A City Correspondent
> GUWAHATI, Feb 19 – Today’s 12-hour Assam bandh
> called
> by the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom
> (ULFA) demanding unconditional release of PCG member
> Lachit Bordoloi paralysed normal life but evoked
> strong reaction from a section of citizens who came
> out in protest against the banned outfit. Already
> vexed by the bandh culture, which has become a bane
> in
> the social life of the State, citizens in the
> capital
> city took part in a rally to register their
> disapproval of the bandh given by an organisation,
> which claims to have no faith in the Indian
> constitution and democracy.
>
> Citizens who were a part of the rally voiced their
> displeasure at the banned outfit calling the bandh
> at
> a time when different exams were going on. “At a
> time
> when the young generation is dreaming of their
> career
> and busy with exams, the bandh called by the ULFA
> merely shows its selfishness,” said a participant.
>
> Another participant said that under the prevailing
> condition of bloodbath and mayhem in the State, it
> was
> the common people who were the worst sufferers and
> their miseries were compounded by the bandhs called
> by
> various organisations including insurgent outfits
> for
> fulfilling their own self-interest. “Those who call
> the bandhs should remember that many have to go with
> a
> hungry stomach on such a day,” he said.
>
> The bandh protesters took to the street after the
> opening speech of veteran journalist Dhirendranath
> Chakravorty. Chakravorty while condemning the bandh,
> appealed to the people of the State to defy all such
> bandhs, which were crippling the State economy and
> stood as an obstacle to development.
>
> It may be mentioned here that members of Assam
> Public
> Works (APW), the non-governmental organization
> opposed
> to the ULFA, also took part in the rally.
>
> The APW while lambasting the ULFA said that the
> outfit
> has so far never gave a thought to the welfare of
> the
> common people and its selfishness was once more
> proved
> by the bandh. “So many people of the State have been
> victims of State terror, but the ULFA never raised a
> voice against it. But now Bordoloi has been arrested
> and the outfit has called a bandh,” said
> functionaries
> of the APW adding that the people of the State have
> come to know the real face of the ULFA through the
> bandh.
>
> The APW has called upon the people of the State to
> oppose bandhs called by any organisation.
>
> The Assam Tribune, February 20.02.08
>
>
>
> Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to
> http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups
>
>
> > From: "Nava Thakuria"
<navathakuria at rediffmail.com>
> CC: NorthEastIndia <NorthEastIndia at yahoogroups.com>,
> Pradip Kumar Datta <pradip200 at yahoo.com>
> To: "A Mailing list for people interested in Assam
> from around the world"
> <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: 15 Feb 2008 13:05:21 -0000
> Subject: [Assam] Guwahati journalist awarded first
> UNHCR-C-NES Media fellowship
>
> Press Release
>
> Guwahati journalist awarded first UNHCR-C-NES Media
> fellowship
>
> New Delhi, February 15 – The First Media Fellowship
> on Refugee Issues sponsored by the United Nations
> High Commission for Refugees and Centre for North
> East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES) has been
> awarded to Nava Thakuria, a Guwahati-based
> journalist who has written extensively on issues
> related to Myanmar, it was announced here today.
> The Fellowship theme is "The Chins of Myanmar:
> Refugee Life in a Distant Neighbour", with a focus
> on Protection and Durable Solutions for the Chin
> ethnic group from Western Myanmar, which lives in
> challenging conditions in the North-east as well as
> in New Delhi. The Award runs from 1 March to 31 May
> 2008 and the awardee is expected to travel for the
> project as well as write a minimum of three
> in-depth articles on the topic.
> The announcement was made by a Committee comprising
> Mr. Sanjoy Hazarika, C-NES Managing Trustee,
> journalist and editor, Ms. Pamela Philipose,
> Independent Journalist, and Ms. Nayana Bose of the
> UNHCR.
> There are two other fellowships, applications for
> which are welcome, one on "The need for a refugee
> specific legislation in India" (to be announced in
> May 2008) and another on Sri Lankan refugees (to be
> announced in August 2008).
>
>
> Sanjoy Hazarika, Pamela Philipose, Nayana Bose
>
>
>
> > From: jogen kalita <jogenck at yahoo.co.in>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:23:06 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: [Assam] Media Fellowship to Nava Thakuria,
>
> Hi all,
>
> Hearty Congratulations to Nava Thakuria for his
> excellent work and achievement!
>
> Dr Jogen Ch Kalita,
> Gau University
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Chat on a cool, new interface. No download
> required. Click here.
> > From: DR BIKASH KUMAR DAS <biku006 at yahoo.co.in>
> To: assam at assamnet.org
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:53:54 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: Re: [Assam] Schoolgirls set example of
> honesty
>
> I am prous of my small historic village-Kalaigaon,
> the home of Kamakhya's pujari Kendu kalai.Ironically
> my eldest brother Jayanta Kumar Das is high school
> teacher at the same school and the school is in our
> land.
> Today due to negligencies-kalaigaon is in famouse,
> but the students try hard to acheive their goals.
> Same way my elder daughter,Dorothy, born there now
> plays national level girls hockey for KV Schools.She
> have been playing for past 2 years. Of course we are
> at Bangalore now.But pride of my home town give more
> pleasure.
> Bravo girls.
> Bikash Kumar Das
>
> Pradip Kumar Datta <pradip200 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Schoolgirls set example of honesty
> >From Our Correspondent Sentinel Assam
> KALAIGAON, Feb 19 – A rare example of honesty set by
> some schoolgirls here have come to light to inspire
> thousands of others.
>
> On February 12, a day after the Saraswati Puja, a
> few students of Kalaigaon Girls’ High School, who
> had been cleaning the school campus, found a bag on
> KR Road, in front of the school, containing eight
> thousand rupees and some important documents.
> Instead of sharing the money among themselves, the
> honest girls handed over the bag to Achyut Roy
> Choudhury, Headmaster of the school, who in turn
> arranged to return it to its owner one Ram Chouhan.
>
> The happy owner offered some cash reward to the
> girls, but they politely refused, saying it was
> their duty. The girls were Sangita Deka, Priyanka
> Saharia, Sumi Nath, Kanak Lata Nath, Runu Deka,
> Mousumi Kataki, Parismita Deka, Santana Sarma and
> Rumi Deka.
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them
> fast with Yahoo! Search.
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
>
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Did you know? You can CHAT without downloading
> messenger. Click here
> > From: DR BIKASH KUMAR DAS <biku006 at yahoo.co.in>
> CC: info at kickstartadventures.com
> To: info at indiawijzer.nl,
> 'A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from
> around the world'
> <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:01:30 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: Re: [Assam] FW: assam tour operators
>
> Dada,
> Xahasra dhanyabad.
> Aponar bahut katha monot ache dekhon??Wonder!!! Wish
> I could live with you at Netherlands...!!! In 1982 I
> left home for Shillong without informing mother.The
> bike was 1974 make Vespa 150!!! It took 6 hours non
> stop. 220 km road....one way in December!!! I was so
> thrilled that I was full of sweat amidst such
> Chilled winter..... people were looking at me all
> the way!!
> Thanks dada.Next time Umesh comes to India, I will
> take him.
> Bikash
>
> Info Indiawijzer <info at indiawijzer.nl> wrote:
> Dear Bikash and Umesh,
>
> I understand that you are both motorcycle fans. May
> be in your next trip to
> Assam Kickstart Adventures would be in a position to
> offer you a tour on
> motorbike.
>
> Greetings,
> Wahid da
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Kickstart Adventures
> [mailto:info at kickstartadventures.com]
> Verzonden: woensdag 13 februari 2008 18:15
> Aan: info at indiawijzer.nl
> Onderwerp: assam tour operators
>
> Sir:
>
> We are pleased to find your website very useful for
> Dutch travellers
> visiting our region - Assam.
>
> For your perusal, we are a new adventure tourism
> firm based in Assam,
> conducting Motorcycle Tours in the states of Assam,
> Meghalaya, Arunachal,
> and Nagaland.
>
> We wish that you may kindly add our firm name for
> tourist who wish to see
> our region by motorbiking.
>
> The details for publishing our information is below:
>
> KSA Tours
> Abid Boiragi
> 60, Jayanta Nagar,
> Noonmati,
> Guwahati - 781020
> Tel- (+91) 9435.736.499
> Email: info at kickstartadventures.com
> Web: www.kickstartadventures.com
>
> For any further clarifications please revert back to
> us.
>
> Thanking you.
>
> Abid Boiragi
>
>
>
>
>
> Dr.Bikash Kumar Das
> Bangalore
>
> ---------------------------------
> 5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your
> inbox. Click here.
> > From: DR BIKASH KUMAR DAS <biku006 at yahoo.co.in>
> To: umesh.sh05 at post.harvard.edu,
> A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from
> around the world
> <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:07:22 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: Re: [Assam] mental vs physical ;
> Indian Military Academy -Making of a soldier
>
> Indian Army/Military officers who come from
> NDA/IMA/RIMA are best in the world.Sorrowfully other
> categories passed out or taken at the mercy of Delhi
> politician are destructive enough to spoil
> everyone.At the time of passing out parade, those
> Mantri jee, and all jee's will pressurise the
> commandants by threatening etc to pass their
> candidate.And later the final blow comes when one
> costly fighter aircraft go down.EArlier the ejection
> was not officially permitted.But since there was
> loss of politician/Babus sons life, the rule made
> 1996, to eject, so that Cowards live happily
> spoiling remaining.
> One still can recognize the NDA/IMA/RIMA officers
> with bravery and honesty.Bcause of them Indian
> military managing well.
>
> Bikash
>
>
> urschool at yahoo.com> wrote:
> boy to man
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKoAJuusci0
>
> mental discipline cannot come unless physical
> discipline also takes place. Perhaps thats why Yogis
> whose main goal is unity of soul with Super Soul
> seek tp achieve physical perfection as well - using
> Hath Yoga ( the physical/baser Yoga more popular in
> the West)
>
> Umesh
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Save all your chat conversations. Find them online.
> > From: uttam borthakur <uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in>
> To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam
> from around the world
> <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:45:40 +0000 (GMT)
> Subject: Re: [Assam] Identity issue
>
> I found the approach in the write-up very
> commendable. But it should have been
> written/published earlier when the blame game was at
> its height. Still, better late than never.
>
> ranenkumar goswami <goswamiranenkr at yahoo.co.in>
> wrote: Pitfalls of identity politics
> — Hiren Gohain
> Nobody can question the depth of Tagore’s
> patriotism,
> but it is not widely known that he also condemned
> nationalism in the most vehement terms. The setting
> up
> of one’s own nation or group as the ultimate
> criterion
> for judgment on all things human was a serious
> aberration in his eyes. After decades of experience
> of
> Bengali and Assamese chauvinism we can now realise
> the
> truth of his view. lt seems various other groups in
> the North-East are going to learn the same lesson
> the
> hard way unless good sense prevails.
>
> A columnist in another Daily has recently made a
> passionate plea in support of the current militant
> movement of the Adivasis in Assam. That is a
> commendable public gesture. What, however, is not so
> gratifying is her unqualified condemnation of the
> Assamese as the “dominant group’ that is repressing
> the hopes and aspirations of the Adivasis, seen as
> their victims. She has mentioned the shameful
> incident
> at Beltola as a piece of clinching evidence for her
> argument.
>
> The columnist has not cared to notice that the
> conscious elite of the allegedly ‘dominant group’
> burst into full-throated denunciation of the outrage
> perpetrated by miscreants on the Adivasis at
> Beltola,
> and that the permanent residents of the area held a
> meeting to express their anguish over an incident
> which had taken them unawares soon after. Nor does
> she
> seem to be aware that the atrocities had at least in
> part been a wild response to gross provocation and
> destructive behaviour from a section of the
> agitators.
> The strange failure of the police to respond
> immediately to the situation developing within a
> short
> distance from the police station, which led to
> scenes
> such as humiliating a girl by publicly disrobing her
> is also regarded by her as typical behaviour of the
> ‘dominant group’. By interesting coincidence the
> same
> view was broadcast far and wide by several
> metropolitan ‘national’ channels on TV with the
> haziest notion of the facts on the ground.
>
> There can be little doubt that such omissions
> distort
> the general picture drawn by the columnist. Such is
> the way in which liberal humane sentiments of many
> ardent supporters of various ‘identity movements’
> without a clear idea of the actual complexity of the
> issue betray them into a dangerous distortion of the
> public issues. They do not seem to realise that in a
> mixed and composite population, meeting the extreme
> demands of an ethnic movement may not always be a
> sound solution of its problem, but may in fact
> destroy
> for ever a fragile peace to the utter misery of all.
>
> The identity politics so fervently pursued these
> days
> by different ethnic groups is marked by a one-sided
> perception of their grievances. There is no denying
> the fact that the present political structures in
> the
> State and the country as a whole have left such
> ethnic
> groups in a wretched plight, robbing them both of
> the
> scope for equitable development and their dignity as
> equal citizens of the State. But it is not always
> correct, and adequate, to say that a particular
> ‘dominant group’ must be held accountable for all
> their trouble. For example in Assam today the
> Assamese
> are only minimally responsible for the terrible
> hardships suffered by the Adivasis, as we shall see
> later on. lf at all they are responsible, only the
> political elite and not the entire community has
> anything to do with it.
>
> For a full century before 1947 Assam affairs were
> controlled absolutely by British rulers who were
> guided in their administration primarily by their
> colonial interests and not by any concern for the
> indigenous communities. Further, in their
> short-sighted greed for gain they buried landmines
> under the soil of this region by permitting and
> promoting unchecked immigration of alien elements in
> immense numbers solely in the interest of their
> colonial economy. Such communities, to put it
> bluntly,
> cannot claim historically the same status as
> indigenous groups in the determination of the fate
> of
> the State. The indigenous people, being in the grip
> of
> panic over their own existence as independent
> communities are unlikely to concede the right of
> self-determination to the immigrants. This however,
> is
> not to say that the immigrants have not suffered
> deep
> injuries and indignities from the social and
> political
> set-up of the State.
>
> For more than a century now the Adivasis have been
> immured inside tea-plantations by a ‘planter Raj’
> that
> could not care less about the woeful plight of lakhs
> of Adivasis and other communities recruited enmasse
> from famine-stricken and rebellious population of
> Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Chotanagpur and Andhra
> Pradesh.
> Profit of tea industry was the only thing that
> mattered... They were uprooted from their familiar
> habitat and dragooned into barrack-like ‘labour
> lines’, where an unvarying pattern of livelihood was
> imposed on them, where their freedom of movement was
> extremely restricted, where they were denied most
> basic facilities for education and medical care,
> where
> for low wages and subsidised but nutritionally
> deficient rations they were made to drudge all day
> long sapping their health and strength, and where
> they
> were at the mercy of management for social
> discipline
> formerly in their own hands. Until after
> independence
> they could claim no pension and provident fund
> benefits . Epidemics decimated them which after
> decades forced the planters to sponsor a medical
> school at Dibrugarh simply to train physicians.
>
> Following independence, thanks to the sincere and
> dedicated work, by such Assamese Gandhian leaders as
> Omeo Kumar Das and Bijoy Chandra Bhagavati, PF and
> pension benefits were introduced for the first time.
> The Plantation Labour Act also promised to deliver
> various kinds of welfare to them, but the
> responsibility was shifted from the shoulders of the
> Government to planters who were not too concerned
> about the quality of services provided. Schools were
> for the most party empty, and labourers were blamed
> for it. Deaths from gastro-enteritis were a common
> annual occurrence and sometimes the numbers were
> frightening. No wonder the tea tribes, as they came
> to
> be called, languished in poverty, torpor and
> fatalism,
> which rather than oppression by the Assamese explain
> their present desperate plight.
>
> The plantation-system with its rank inbuilt
> injustice
> was a colonial innovation. Following independence,
> the
> system survived more or less intact as it was at the
> very basis of the high profits of the industry.
> British concern for constant improvement of
> productivity suffered a slow decline as the new
> owners
> had not been accustomed to an industrial ethos. Most
> of the new owners were non-Assamese as few had the
> financial resources to buy up plantations as the
> British, with some exceptions, started leaving the
> scene. As for improvement in wages the new breed of
> trade union leaders gradually developed vested
> interest in striking deals with planters behind the
> backs of labourers, unlike their Gandhian
> predecessors. They became official intermediaries
> between management and labour in wage-bargains and
> pulled their weight in favour of the former. Hence
> the
> general condition of tea-garden labour remained
> rather
> stagnant. Only a small proportion of such workers
> who
> had been laid off and their descendants took to
> farming. From among them mostly came the handful of
> educated members of the community, who fought
> against
>
=== message truncated ===>
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To Uttam Borthakur,
Thanks for appreciating Dr Hiren Gohain' article. I
could not do anything about the timing as it was
carried in The Assam Tribune only on February 20,
Wednesday.
Ranen Kumar Goswami
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