Society / Assam

SIVASAGAR, Feb 22 – Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) engaged in excavating the maidams of the Ahom kings at Charaideo, finally broke open the main entrance to the brick built dome underneath the 6.2-metre deep earth cover of the biggest of the 20 maidams, believed to be that of Ahom King Shiva Singha (AD 1714-1744). On clearing the stones of the 1.9 metre-wide passage below the 50-cm thick brick arch, ASI workers led by superintending archaeologist ASI, Syed Jamal Hussain and assistant archaeologist BK Sinha, have so far unearthed two pieces of human bones, some fine-clay potteries and one...

Guwahati, Feb. 19: Manipuri residents of the city, concentrated in the Manipuri Rajbari area, have remained a backward community as a result of government apathy and neglect. The locality is popularly known as Manipuri Basti.

The residents trace the roots of their problem to the lack of proper pattas for the land they own in the heart of Guwahati.

Manipuris from Manipur and other parts of Assam, like Cachar and Hojai, had settled in Manipuri Rajbari, a plot of land covering 13 bighas, that was purchased by the erstwhile king of Manipur, Maharajah Churachand Singh, over 100 years ago during...

Kokrajhar, Feb. 19: The fashion scene in Assam’s Bodo heartland is making way for trendy outfits with contemporary lines created from muga and eri. The fashion show organised by a local co-operative society, Roje Eshanshali, in association with the Central Silk Board and directorate of silk here yesterday points to how ingenuously muga is being used to create outfits in tune with the times.

The show was organised as part of a two-day workshop on “Development of muga and eri silk industry” and an exhibition-cum-sale under the aegis of the United Nations Development Programme.

Titled “Fashion...

GUWAHATI, Feb 14 ? Joining the anti-Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) bandwagon, the Assam Tea and Ex-tea Tribes, Youth Association today said far from solving the existing problems, the BTC will complicate the matters and lead to more disturbances. The general secretary of the association, Bhuban Rao, told newsmen that the tea tribes, who are already the most suppressed lot in the State, would suffer even more under the circumstances as only five seats have been left for non-Bodos whereas the tea-tribes alone constituted around 65 per cent of the total population there.

The State...

GUWAHATI, Feb 13 ? Eminent litterateur Medini Choudhury breathed his last while on way to a city hospital around 10 am today. Choudhury was terminally ill for the past couple of years. He was 76. Born to Late Hitram Choudhury and Late Sarala Bala Choudhury at Ramcha village near Goreswar in Kamrup District, Choudhury had his school education at Gadlapara and Nalbari Gurdon High School. He did his BA from Cotton College in 1948.

After working as a journalist for the Asomiya and the Dainik Santidoot for some years, Choudhury joined the Assam Civil Service in 1956. He retired from Government...

PADMANATH KSHETRA (N Lakhimpur), Feb 9 ? Asam Sahitya Sabha president Homen Borgohain today gave a clarion call to continue with the process of building a greater Assamese nationality basing on the principle of a liberal humanism. Borgohain, while hoisting the Sabha flag to mark the beginning of the 67th session of the apex body of the State?s litterateurs here this morning, said that the Assamese litterateurs should take the pledge to expand their society by embracing others, paying respect to the languages and literatures of all ethnic groups of the State and attracting all the people...

GUWAHATI, Feb 6 ? The Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has sought detailed reports from the Commissioner of Excise, Assam and the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup on the sale of gutkha in the city.

A Division Bench of the Commission today passed the order after perusing the petition of Boloram Sarkar, Secretary of the Greater Guwahati Pan Shop Business Association. Sarkar had pleaded that due to the sale of gutkha in the market, the health of the people, especially the children, is at risk. It may be mentioned here that the Pan Shop business Association has, sometime ago, appealed to its...

Guwahati, Feb. 3: It was, in a manner of speaking, a red-letter day for the Asam Sahitya Sabha as two volumes of its encyclopaedia Biswakosh, bound in red, were unveiled before the public here today.

One of Assam?s literary giants, Sahityacharya Golok Chandra Goswami, released the fourth and fifth volumes of the encyclopaedia ? on Indian, folk and world literature ? at the Rabindra Bhawan. The first three volumes, all dedicated to science, had been released in Dibrugarh. Just a few days remain for the Asam Sahitya Sabha?s 67th annual session to begin in Lakhimpur.

The president of the literary...

GUWAHATI, Feb 3 ? Ford Foundation of USA has sanctioned a grant of $450,000 to the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Research to carry out an extensive study on the socio-cultural and trade relations, between the North East India and South and South East Asian countries in the context of economic liberation.

The study which began on January 1 2003, is expected to be completed within three years. Informing this, director of the institute Abu Nasar Saied Ahmed today told newsmen that a Centre for North East India, South and South East Asia Studies (CENISE would be created with the...

GUWAHATI, Feb 3 ? The Nagaon Kolong Kala Kendra retrieved three old manuscripts from the Puranigudam Alishinga village recently. The manuscripts, now preserved at the Kolong Art Gallery, Puranigudam, are presumed to be over two-and-a-half centuries old. According to information, one of the manuscripts was a play written on traditional Assamese hand made paper (tulapat) and the play is based on the Purana stories. The other two manuscripts are written on saanchipat and their contents are yet to be deciphered. The Kala Kendra, which completed three years of its existence on January 1 last, has...