Society / Assam

SONARI, March 18: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has started scientific exacavation at Charaideo Maidam No 2 of Maidam area in Charaideo. This Maidam was taken up for preservation by ASI about 10 years ago. The excavation was started from February 23 last and so far the remains of the outer wall of the Maidam have been excavated. It may be mentioned here that Union Minister for Tourism Ananth Kumar recently disclosed that ASI had identified three new sites including Surya Pahar, Ahom Palace Talatalghar and Charaideo Maidam No. 2 in Assam for scientific excavation during the current...

GUWAHATI, March 18: "...It seemed that I had arrived at an abandoned corner of India. The humidity of the climate added to my depression, and the occupants of the dak bungalow were tea planters, who welcomed me with their proverbial kindness but were sceptical of my wisdom incoming to Gauhati and of any possible success in the venture, and assured me of the impossibility of securing any place of residence. ... "...and then to complete my discomfiture they took me to the rear of the dak bungalow and showed me a long range of mud huts declaring these to be the hostels of the College. ... "I had...

GUWAHATI, March 17: Noted poet Hiren Bhattacharjya was crowned with the prestigious Assam Valley Literary Award instituted by the Williamson Magor in glittering ceremony at Rabindra Bhawan here today. The award - comprising Rs 2 lakh in cash, a citation and a specially-designed trophy - was presented to him by noted Gujarati novelist Raghuveer Chaudhari. The cash component, which was originally Rs 1 lakh, has been increased to Rs 2 lakh from this year. The demure poet, whose hallmark is simplicity in literary works as well as lifestyle, said terrorist violence and intolerance in the Assamese...

GUWAHATI, March 15: It was set up as a second grade institute with five professors, one of them being the principal, 39 students on its roll, and nine subjects viz, English, Mathematics, Logic, Physics, Chemistry, Sanskrit, History, Arabic and Persian on its curriculum. On May 27, 1901 it was declared open. Bihagikabi Raghunath Choudhury sang a song, specially composed by him for its inaugural ceremony, and, on the harmonium, it was none other than Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi, who accompanied the Bihagikabi. Today, the alma mater of almost all the worthy sons and daughters of Assam and her...

NEW DELHI, March 14: The proposal to include the Majuli island in the World Heritage Site Map by the UNESCO would be taken up afresh by the Government of India in the next timetable of the UN body that starts from 2002-2003. The proposal would now be taken up jointly by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and Union Tourism and Culture Ministry. The Tourism and Culture Minister. Ananth Kumar faced with criticism from members in the Rajya Sabha members here this morning, for the delay in pursuing the case, agreed to jointly take up the proposal with the Environment and Forests ministry...

DHUBRI, March 12: Gayatri Barua, Deputy Commissioner of Dhubri district has been awarded the "Outstanding Woman of 21st Century" award by the American Biographical Institute of the United States of America for her leadership, dedication, service, etc and her profound contribution to the society, according to SC Baishya, DIPRO, Dhubri. Barua hails from Dibrugarh and was married to Haresh Ch Barua who retired as Dy Director, Deptt of Geology and Mining, Govt of India. Academically an MA in Education, Barua distinguished herself by securing the highest mark in English in her graduation and...

BISWANATH CHARIALI, March 8: An Assamese inscription engraved on a stone pillar was found inside the precincts of the present Biswanath Temple of Sonitpur district by MC Das, GC Ramachandran, T Das and Goswami on February 25 last. Receiving the information Nityananda Gogoi and Khiradhar Borua of Biswanath College visited the site next day and found the pillar under a 'bhaluka' bamboo grove about 20 m away from the Biswanath Temple (repaired) towards north-eastern direction. Gogoi says that although the full text of the inscription is yet to be deciphered due to its badly mutilated condition...

GUWAHATI, March 4: The Gujarat earthquake has turned into a wake-up call for the citizens of Guwahati, resulting in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) being flooded with complaints of unauthorised constructions. The GMC Commissioner, A K Bhutani, has asserted that the Commission would not tolerate any unauthorised construction in the city. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Bhutani said about a hundred buildings are under scrutiny by the GMC in Guwahati. He said that in recent weeks, the GMC had received about 250 complaints, including about a hundred through e-mail, about...

DIBRUGARH, March 4: In an unprecedented move, the reception committee of the 66th session of the Asam Sahitya Sabha today was forced by shopkeepers to refund them their application money. The decision to refund the money was taken today after a prolonged and heated debate on the matter. Accordingly, those who applied for restaurants would now get back Rs 2225 each, those who put up tea stalls would be given back Rs 1550 each and those who had put up betelnut stalls at the session venue at Sahityarathi Kshetra would be given back Rs 940 each. It may be recalled that there was chaos in the...

NEW DELHI, March 2: The prestigious Srimanta Sankaradeva Awards were given away by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to five eminent personalities from the fields of art, culture and literature at a glittering function here today. Barring a last-minute disappointment in the form of the President K R Narayanan's inability to attend the function on health ground, the function earned laurels for the Assam Government, with speakers including the Prime Minister lauding the efforts to bring the awards to the national mainstream from Assam. A messages by the President was read out by the Chief...