Society / Assam

DIBRUGARH, June 13 ? With the flagging off a bicycle rally this morning, the birth centenary celebrations of Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad Agarwalla began today. One hundred youngsters, drawn from all over upper Assam, Tezpur and Guwahati are participating in the event, and are expected to reach Guwahati in the afternoon hours of June 17, where they would be received by Pushpalata Das. Giving company to the young bicyclists is a band of singers of the Suagmoni Silpi Gosthi and Shruti Sangeet Vidyalaya, both of the Naharkatia. The singers would be singing songs written by Jyotiprasad Agarwalla right...

GUWAHATI, June 4 ? The mortal remains of Sir Henry John Stedman Cotton, one of the founders of the 100-year-old Cotton College, after whom the college was named, were not buried. Contrary to popular belief here, the mortal remains of Sir Cotton were cremated, alongside his wife?s, at the Golders Green Crematorium in London. This was discovered by Mr Harry Ridge during his search for the grave as well as the descendants of Sir Henry Cotton in England, in connection with the centenary celebration of Cotton College. Mr Ridge was asked by Dr Satyendra Kumar Choudhury, general secretary of Cotton...

GUWAHATI, May 28 ? The Government of India today formally announced its decision to recognise Satriya dance as a major Indian dance form in matters of granting scholarships to young artistes of the country. The State Cultural Affairs Commissioner, Sri J P Saikia told this correspondent that he received a letter in this regard from Sri V B Pyarelal, Director, Department of Culture, Government of India, today. The eligible young artistes of Satriya dance will now be able to apply for the scholarship in the prescribed form on or before July 14.

Sri Saikia said that the Government of India, early...

GUWAHATI, May 27 ? The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission, accredited three universities of the north-eastern region on May 15. These are Dibrugarh University, Tripura University and Arunachal University, a PIB release today said. Dibrugarh and Arunachal universities have been graded ?B? under the new grading pattern and Tripura University has been conferred with a C+ grading. With this, NAAC has so far completed the assessment and accreditation of 261 institutions.

GUWAHATI, May 26 ? The Gauhati High Court in an interim order, issued in response to a PIL, has directed the Assam Government counsel to find out whether provisions for barrier-free access for the disabled have been made or not in the State capital complex under construction. The PIL which was filed by Prasanna Kumar Pincha, the Regional Manager of Actionaid here, sought an interim order from the court to ensure ?barrier-free access? for persons with disabilities to the permanent State capital complex under construction as per the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of...

GUWAHATI, May 26? The Deuri Sahitya Sabha (DSS) today demanded of the Government to immediately rescind its move to introduce the ?Deuri-Chutia? language at select primary schools in the State. ?The Deuri is a separate language and the Government must recognise it as such,? it said. Vehemently criticising the Government move, DSS general secretary Hem Ranjan Deuri told newsmen that the Deuris have a rich and distinct language of their own and in no way was it connected with the Chutia language. And as such, it is illogical and absurd to have a language like ?Deuri-Chutia? which has been given...

GUWAHATI, May 18 ? Early rainfall this year resulted in early outbreak of malaria in Assam and according to official records alone, altogether 44 persons have died of malaria in different parts of the State, of which 19 were confirmed malaria cases and 25 were suspected cases. As per official records, upto May 17, one person died in Barpeta, one in Darrang, nine in Golaghat, one each in Jorhat and Karbi Anglong, four in Kamrup, three in Kokrajhar, five in Nagaon, three in Nalbari, six in Sonitpur and 10 in Tinsukia.

Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, the Joint Director (Malaria) of the...

BISWANATH CHARIALI, May 18 ? The historic Gangmouthan in Behali LAC of Sonitpur district, an important Vaishnabite centre set up by Srimanta Sankardev around 1516-1519 AD, is facing the threat of extinction due to large-scale erosion by the Borgang river. Despite erosion continuing for decades, none of the State and the Central governments has taken any concrete step to protect the holy site and the fringe villages from the wrath of the river, alleged the local people. Of late, the river has become furious since 1998 and already rendered about 50 families homeless, besides submerging hundreds...

GUWAHATI, May 14 ? The State Government has decided to ?rename? the District Library, Guwahati as the State Central Library. However, the Government notification issued in this connection made it clear that this renaming would be ?without modification of the pay scale of any of the posts therein?. The notification (No AR 35/2000/1, dated Dispur, the 14th August/2001) said that this step was taken in the ?interest of public service?. It also did not mention anything about a separate District Library that the city has a legitimate claim to for its being a district headquarters. The Government...

SIVASAGAR, May 13 ? Nearly 7,000 tourists visited the Tai Museum in Sivasagar since December last when the museum received a major face-lift with a Rs 1.5-lakh grant from the Oil India Ltd, Duliajan. Sivasagar district administration also spent a large amount in renovation work. With visitors in flow increasing, the museum has been able to earn more than Rs 14,000 as entry fee. Recently, the Director of the Indian Museum at Kolkata visited the museum and assured the Tai museum authority of all support and cooperation in increasing ancient articles. The Tai museum, built at a cost of Rs 41 lakh...