PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM GUWAHATI & DIBRUGARH

RN-1127/57 TECH/GH – 103/2018-2020, VOL. 82, NO. 1 GUWAHATI, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

82 years of service to the nation

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APPOINTMENTApplications is prescribed

format (available in College

Website) with photocopies of

Marksheets, Testimonials and

other relevant documents are

invited from eligible candidates

for the following Sanctioned

Posts of Assistant

Professors in Pandit

Deendayal Upadhyaya

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3. Physics : ST (P)-1

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candidates must apply

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Applications enclosing a Bank

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within 15 days from the date

of publication of this

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procedure will be as per the

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AHE.407/2017/44, Dated

08.11.2018. Please visit the

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www.pduamamjonga.ac.in

for further notification and

updates.

Sd/- Dr. Navajyoti Sarmah

Principal

Pandit Deendayal

Upadhyaya Adarsha

Mahavidyalaya, Amjonga

P.O. Amjonga, Goalpara,

PIN-783124, Assam

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On 1st January, 2009 my

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for his heavenly abode.

Today the 1st January, 2020

on your 11th Death

Anniversary, we pray to the

Almighty with heavy hearts

and tearful eyes for eternal

peace of your divine soul.

Yours

Namita Ghosh

and family members

CD/In Memo/P/SP003853/1

Bhubaneswar KalitaDOB: 06.10.1945

Died: 26.12.2019

On last 26th of December

2019, we have lost my/all of

our dear and respected

husband/father/father-in-

law/grand father. We all are

praying for his departed soul

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Deepalee Kalita (Wife)

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6609258 Ex-Hav. Tarun Ch.

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12.02.2013.

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SHORT NOTICE

INVITING TENDERChief Engineer, Assam Police

Housing Corporation Ltd.,

Rehabari, Guwahati-8, Assam

Re-invites Bids in two bid

system through e-tender for

the works - Construction of the

various works at the district jail

in Hailakandi District, Assam

as per Annexure-I with a

validity of 120 days from the

date of opening of the tender.

The invitation of bids is open

to all Prospective Bidders

including Registered/Un-

registered Contractors of

Assam Police Housing

Corporation Ltd. Detail

particulars may be seen at

website https://

assamtenders.gov.in and

also at the office of the

undersigned during office

hours.

Sd/- Chief Engineer

Assam Police Housing

Corporation Ltd.

Rehabari, Guwahati-8

CD/TN/..../1

ASSAM POLICE HOUSING

CORPORATION LTD

REHABARI: GUWAHATI-8

CANCELLATION NOTICE

This is for general information

to all concern that the Short

Notice Invit ing Tender

(S.N.I.T) called for vide No.

APHC/T/09/PART–IV/2018-

19/31, date: 20/12/2019 for

the various works at the

district jail in Assam (Group – I)

except Group – II, is hereby

cancelled.

The fresh S.N.I.T will be issued

conveniently.

Sd/- Chief Engineer,

Assam Police Housing

Corporation Ltd.

Rehabari, Guwahati-8

CD/TN/........../1

CD/TN/P/SC000308/1

I have lost my Migration

Certificate. Certificate Roll 0399

No. 20048, Registration No.

127741, Year- 2016-17, Board-

Assam Higher Secondary

Education Council (Guwahati).

Name Aveek Das (Guwahati).

Lost/P/SP003848/1

I have lost my HSLC-1998

documents, Roll N8-171, No.

0309 (Admit Card/Certificate/

Marksheet). HS-2000

documents, Roll-702, No. A90

(Admit Card/Certificate/

Marksheet), BA-2003

documents Code No. 03226,

Roll No. 30 (Admit Card/

C e r t i f i c a t e / M a r k s h e e t ) .

(Mandeep Dutta) Guwahati.

Lost/P/SP003855/1

2500 to 98,000 sq. ft Industrial

Shed/Warehouse, Godown at

Khanapara, Beltola, Lokhra,

Amingaon, Changsari, Mirza.

9435403986.

Godown/P/AC005098/30

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI

KIEV, Dec 31: Moscow andKiev on Monday signed a five-year agreement on the transitof Russian gas to Europe viaUkraine, after months of diffi-cult talks but just ahead of alooming New Year deadline.

The current gas transit dealbetween the two ex-Sovietcountries expires Tuesday andties between them have beenshredded since Moscow an-nexed Crimea in 2014 and sup-ported a separatist insurgen-cy in eastern Ukraine.

Some 18 percent of the Eu-ropean Union’s annual naturalgas consumption comes fromRussia via Ukraine, puttingadditional pressure on EU of-ficials who helped to brokerthe deal.

“Ukraine has signed a five-year transit contract,” Ukrain-ian President Volodymyr Zel-ensky announced on his Face-book page, nearly two weeksafter a provisional deal wasagreed.

“A whole complex of docu-ments has been signed,” al-lowing “the transit of gas afterDecember 31,” Alexei Miller,the boss of the Russian gas gi-ant Gazprom told Russianmedia.

It is expected that Gazpromwill transit at least 65 billioncubic meters of natural gas viaUkraine next year, then at

least 40 billion per year from2021 to 2024, said Zelensky,earning Kiev “more than sev-en billion dollars”.

Last year Russian gas giantGazprom supplied Europewith 200.8 billion cubic metresof natural gas, with about 40percent going throughUkraine, earning the countryaround $3 billion a year in tran-sit fees.

Russian President VladimirPutin said earlier this monththat Moscow wanted to keepsome gas flowing throughUkraine, despite having builtseveral pipelines to Europesince the current deal wasagreed a decade ago.

It comes days after Russianenergy giant Gazprom paid$2.9 billion to Ukraine’s Naf-togaz to settle a long-runningdispute over transit fees, inwhat had been a major stum-bling block to agreeing thenew deal.

Russia’s gas pipelines in-clude the Nord Stream 2project due to be completedby the end of next year, whichseeks to double gas volumesto Germany.

The United States has longopposed the 9.5-billion-euro($10.6-billion) project and theUS Senate voted last week toslap sanctions on companiesworking on it. – AFP

Russia and Ukrainefinalise gas transit dealahead of NYE deadline

PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM GUWAHATI & DIBRUGARH

RN-1127/57 TECH/GH – 103/2018-2020, VOL. 82, NO. 1 GUWAHATI, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

82 years of service to the nation

www.assamtribune.com ePaper app for The Assam Tribune Pages 24 Price: 6.00GET IT ONGoogle Play

p3 p10 p17Kerala Assembly passesresolution against CAA

‘WADA better positionedto wipe out drug cheats’

Move to delink HS classesfrom Cotton opposed

May the New Year blow

away the dark clouds of

CAA and usher in peace and

prosperity in Assam...

NOTICEToday’s issue of The

Assam Tribune carries a

four-page New Year

supplement – Echo ’19

Infra projectsNEW DELHI, Dec 31:

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Tuesdayunveiled Rs 102 lakh croreof infrastructure projects,which will be implementedin the next five years aspart of the Centralgovernment’s spendingpush in the infrastructuresector. – PTI

nnnnn Also see page 9

Army chiefNEW DELHI, Dec 31:

General Manoj MukundNaravane today took overthe charge as Chief ofArmy Staff succeedingGeneral Bipin Rawat, whohas been appointedIndia’s first Chief of theDefence Staff. – IANS

House sessionGUWAHATI, Dec 31: A

special daylong session ofthe Assam LegislativeAssembly has been calledon January 13, 2020. Thesession will start at 9:30am, an official pressrelease stated. – StaffReporter

Financial grantto indigenousliterary bodies

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31:

The State government to-

day announced financial

grant for indigenous Sahit-

ya Sabhas (literary bodies)

of Assam, including Asam

Sahitya Sabha and Bodo Sa-

hitya Sabha.

In a meeting here, chaired

by Chief Minister Sarbanan-

da Sonowal, it was decided

that the State government

would provide Rs 10 crore

to the corpus fund of Asam

Sahitya Sabha, Rs 5 crore to

Bodo Sahitya Sabha and Rs

3 crore each to the other in-

digenous Sahitya Sabhas as

one-time grant.

Accordingly, the Asam Sa-

hitya Sabha would be able to

derive an amount of Rs 80

lakh annually as interest

from the corpus fund, while

the Bodo Sahitya Sabha

would receive Rs 40 lakh and

other indigenous Sahitya

Sabhas would get Rs 24 lakh

each annually.

The Chief Minister also

announced that the State

government would provide

a one-time financial grant of

Rs 50,000 each to one thou-

sand new writers belonging

to various communities of

the State under the ‘Bhasha

Gaurav’ scheme which was

a budget announcement.

Sonowal hoped that the

scheme would be able to in-

spire young generation writ-

ers to engage in literary

works in different indige-

nous languages of the State.

The Chief Minister also

urged the indigenous liter-

ary bodies to put emphasis

on research works for pres-

ervation and promotion of in-

digenous language and cul-

ture, and assured all help

from the State government

in this regard.

SEE PAGE 5

State tourism lost Rs 500 crdue to anti-CAA stir

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31:

State tourism sector has lost

an estimated revenue of Rs

500 crore due to the pro-

tests against the Citizenship

(Amendment) Act during the

peak tourist season.

Addressing the media here

today, Assam Tourism Devel-

opment Corporation (ATDC)

chairman Jayanta Malla Baru-

ah said when the tourism in-

dustry of the State was wit-

nessing a surge in tourist

footfall, the violent protest

dealt a blow, resulting in trip

cancellations and an expect-

ed 30 per cent fall in the an-

nual tourist inflow.

Also, with the negative

travel advisories issued by a

dozen countries, including

the US, Canada, UK, Aus-

tralia, France, Russia and Is-

rael, the brand value of As-

sam tourism received a ma-

jor setback that would take a

long time to recover.

“The period from Decem-

ber to March is the peak tour-

ist season for Assam. How-

ever, as the violent protests

erupted in different corners

of the State, including the

capital city, a number of sec-

tors, including tour opera-

tors, hoteliers, tour guides,

transport services to name a

few, have been badly hit.

Even if we expect the reviv-

al of tourism sector from

February, revenue not less

than Rs 500 crore has been

lost in December and the

same can be anticipated for

January,” Baruah said.

As a damage control exer-

cise, the ATDC has entered

into a tie-up with Google for

a digital campaign that would

help in image building for the

State tourism sector through

small promotional videos on

YouTube and Facebook, be-

sides pushing promotional

contents in the Google

search engine.

“The losses suffered recent-

ly are irreparable in nature

because the loss during peak

tourist season is a permanent

loss that has no recovery

chances. Nearly 100 regis-

tered and 100 unregistered

tour operators, employing

1,000 people, have suffered

immensely. Similarly more

than 500 tour guides, 1000

hotels and approximately 109

home stays lost their business

during the period,” he said.

SEE PAGE 5

Will ensure timelyimplementation ofprojects: Krishna

R DUTTA CHOUDHURY

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: Kumar Sanjay Krishna, who as-

sumed office as the Chief Secretary of Assam today, said that

providing an efficient and honest administration to the peo-

ple of Assam would be one of his major goals. He also said

that he would work for peace, progress and prosperity of

Assam within the framework of the Constitution of India.

Talking to The Assam Tribune after assuming office this

evening, Sanjay Krishna said that he would try his best to

ensure that all the projects and schemes, including the

Centrally-sponsored schemes, are implemented within a

stipulated time-frame. He admitted that sometimes, im-

plementations of different projects are delayed and this

issue needs to be addressed.

“I want to ensure that the bottlenecks at all levels of

administration are removed to ensure timely implemen-

tation of the projects. The departments should get the

funds on time and they should also ensure that the works

are completed on time,” he added.

The new Chief Secretary said he would like to see As-

sam as a peaceful State. He called upon all sections of peo-

ple in Assam to maintain peace and assured that he always

respects the sentiments of everyone.

Asked whether the experience of working in the Cen-

tral government departments for a long time would help

him in discharging his duties as the Chief Secretary, Sanjay

Krishna said that a number of his batchmates in the Indian

Administrative Service are now working in senior posi-

tions in the key ministries in the Government of India.

That, coupled with the experience of working with the

Central ministries would help him to ensure that due funds

are released to the State on time. It may be mentioned

that Sanjay Krishna had served in various Central govern-

ment departments, including the Prime Minister’s Office

(PMO), and the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture for

around 10 years.

Sanjay Krishna also admitted that his experience of serv-

ing the State as the Additional Chief Secretary of the Home

Department helped him in understanding the law and or-

der problems and the aspirations of various sections of

people. “That experience should be helpful for me in dis-

charging my duties as the Chief Secretary in a better way,”

he added.

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: Em-

inent theatre personality and

cultural activist Ratna Ojha,

who was instrumental in

bringing the State theatre in-

dustry back on track with

some pathbreaking works

since the early 1970s,

breathed his last in the wee

hours today. He was 88.

Ojha’s last rites were per-

formed at the Navagraha

crematorium with full state

honours this evening.

An artiste, poet and an ac-

claimed writer who penned

several books and novels, Ojha

was a multifaceted personali-

ty who donned several hats.

Known as somebody who

contributed immensely in the

sociocultural sphere, he was

also in the forefront of activ-

ism during the Assam Agita-

tion. Despite his ill-health, the

cultural icon took part in the

recent protest against the Cit-

izenship (Amendment) Act.

Born in Barpeta on De-

cember 5, 1931, Ojha began

his journey as an artiste at

the age of seven at the Barp-

eta Satra. Later, he was cast

in the Assamese film Loti-

Ghoti and Chikmik Bijuli. He

also worked as an assistant

director in both the films.

Ojha also lent his voice for a

duet in Chikmik Bijuli along-

side Dilip Sarma.

Regarded as the pioneer of

street plays in Assam, Ojha

directed his maiden street

play titled Kokaideu written

by legendary playwright

Arun Sarma, in 1971.

He also penned a number of

dramas for different medium

during his eventful career. He

also wrote dialogues for Assa-

mese films like Bhagya and Hal-

odhia Choraye Baodhan Khai.

Ojha, a recipient of the Na-

tasurya Award in 2005, also

had a long association in the

field of journalism and worked

with several publications like

Dainik Shantidut, Bhudan

Jagya, The News Star and

Sadiniya Batori.

Cultural activistRatna Ojha no more

SEE PAGE 5

Ratna Ojha

JOCOSERIOUS

Train fares hikedfrom today

NEW DELHI, Dec 31:In a shock to millions ofpassengers across thecountry, the Indian Rail-ways on Tuesday hikedpassenger fares for sleep-er class by two paise perkilometre and for 3AC,2AC and AC first class byfour paise per kilometre.

According to a commercial

circular issued on Tuesday,

the new fares will come into

effect from January 1, 2020.

In the circular, the national

transporter stated that pas-

senger fares for sleeper class

in mail and express trains

have been revised by two

paise per kilometre, while

for 3AC, 2AC and AC first

class, fares have been hiked

by four paise per kilometre.

The Railways also in-

creased fares for passenger

trains by one paisa per kilo-

metre.

It also said that the fares of

premium trains like Rajdha-

ni, Shatabdi, Humsafar,

Vande Bharat, Duranto, Ra-

jya Rani, Mahanama, Gati-

maan, Garibrath, Jan Shatab-

di, Yuva and Suvidha Express

will also be revised to the

extent of the above proposed

increase in class-wise fares

as per the notified fare table.

The circular also stated

that there will be no change

in reservation fees, superfast

surcharge, etc.

It also said the difference

of fares on tickets booked

before January 1, 2020 will

not be collected from the

passengers.

The increase in passenger

fares in sleeper class from

New Delhi to Patna for a dis-

tance of 997 km means that

passengers will now have to

shell out approximately Rs

20 more per ticket. For AC

coaches, passengers will have

to pay Rs 40 more for the

same distance.

Sleeper class to be dearer by 2 paiseper km, AC class 4 paise per km

The Assam Tribune wishes its readers, advertisers, agents and well-wishers a HappyNew Year 2020.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 20202 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI

Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University

Head Office: Patgaon, Rani, Guwahati - 781017

M.Phil. and Ph.D. Admission Announcement 2020-21

Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, Guwahati,

announces admission to M.Phil. and Ph.D. Programmes for the

session 2020-21 in the following disciplines:

1. M.Phil. (11seats in total; Disciplines: English-2, Assamese-2,

Commerce-2, Economics-1, Political Science-3, Sociology-1)

2. Ph.D. (22 seats in total; Disciplines : Management-3, Political

Science-2, Commerce-8, Economics-5, English-1,

Sociology-3).

The No. of seats may be vary subject to the approval of the

concerned authority

Last Date of submission of application forms :

31st January, 2020

Date of Entrance Test for M. Phil. and Ph.D. :

9th February, 2020

The application for entrance test will be through online mode

only. The applicants are requested to visit the University website:

www.kkhsou.in. for online application. The Application amount

for Ph.D. will be Rs. 1000 and Rs.500 only for M.Phil. programme.

Sd/-

Registrar

RE-SCHEDULED EXAMINATION NOTICE

THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT AT GUWAHATI(The High Court of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and

Arunachal Pradesh)

It is for information to all concerned that the

postponed Written examination (objective type

multiple choices) which was earlier scheduled to be

held on 15.12.2019 in connection with direct

recruitment to Grade-1 of Assam Judicial Service,

will be held on 11.01.2020 (Saturday) at Guwahati.

Other details can be seen in the relevant notification

published in the official website

(www.ghconline.gov.in) & Notice Board of Gauhati

High Court at Guwahati. No individual call letter will

be issued to any candidate.

Sd/- Registrar (Vigilance),

Janasanyog/D/8477/19 Gauhati High Court, Guwahati

NOTICEIt is for the information of all concerned that this office

will hold written test for the post of Junior Asstt. (District

Level) on 05.01.20 in Guwahati vide advertisement

No.Janasanyog/D/8817/17 dt.07.05.17. The details of

venue, reporting time, exam time will be available in E-

admission Certificate. The candidate shall have to

download their e-admission certificate from the website

vide www.finance.assam.gov.in. and http://

onlinener4.com. Queries relating to download of E-

Admit Card shall be entertained over helpline number

given at the time of download of E-Admit Card.Sd/- Director of Audit

(Local Fund), Assam, Guwahati-6Janasanyog/D/8485/19

No CE/ Maint/210/2019/4

PRESS NOTICE INVITING TENDER

The Chief Engineer PWD (Border Roads & NEC works),

Assam, on behalf of Governor of Assam invites bids for Defect

Correction work of PMGSY Road for the year 2019-20

amounting to Rs. 111.20 lakhs in 1 (one) no of package in

Tinsukia district in the state of Assam. Details may be seen in

the website pmgsytendersassm.gov.in and also in the office

of the undersigned in the Maintenance Cell during office hours

from 01.01.2020 to 19.01.2020.

Sd/- Chief Engineer, PWD

(Border Roads & NEC works)

Assam, Chandmari, Guwahati-3Janasanyog/CF/3125/19

No. NLM/20/SKILL-DEV-SM/1/IEC SUPPORT/Pt.II/2017/69

ORDERDue to unavoidable circumstances opening of the Technical

Bids for Hoarding and Printing (Notified vide No. NLM/20/SKILL-

DEV-SM/1/IEC SUPPORT/Pt. II/2017/34 Dtd. Khanapara the

19th Dec, 2019) is rescheduled as follows.

Bid opening Date: 04.01.2020 ( Earlier Date: 03.01.2020)

Bid Opening time : 3.00 pm

Venue: OTI BUILDING, KHANAPARA

Yours sincerely

Sd/- State Mission Director, NLM, Assam, and

Commissioner & Secretary to Govt. of Assam A.H.&

Veterinary Department, Khanapara, Guwahati-22Janasanyog/CF/3116/19

Officers and staff perform rituals during the inauguration of Pune metro, in Pune, on Tuesday. – PTI

MUMBAI, Dec 31:

Peeved at Congress Pune

MLA Sangram Thopte being

denied a ministerial berth, his

angry supporters vandalised

the city party office, here on

Tuesday evening.

Several Congress, Youth

Congress and student activists,

including a Youth Congress sec-

retary from Solapur resigned

en masse from their posts in

the party, though the exact

numbers were not available.

Scores of Congress sup-

porters of Thopte, shouting

slogans, armed with sticks and

rods, barged into the party

office in Shivaji Nagar and vir-

tually went on a demolition

spree, vandalising and fling-

ing around chairs, tables, glass

fittings, computers, a televi-

sion set and other furniture.

They did not spare the

chamber of city party Chief

Ramesh Bagwe, said other

office-staff who witnessed

the vandalism.

State Congress President

Balasaheb Thorat expressed

concern over the develop-

ments and said the party lead-

ers would speak to them and

sort out their grievances.

The developments came a

day after Chief Minister Ud-

dhav Thackery expanded his

Cong MLA’s supportersvandalise party office

cabinet to its full strength,

which has brewed discontent

among sections of the Maha

Vikas Aghadi allies on Tuesday.

Several senior leaders and

legislators of Shiv Sena-Na-

tionalist Congress Party-

Congress, who feel left out

of the cabinet, have been ex-

pressing their resentment in

different manner.

Late on Monday night,

NCP’s four-time MLA Pra-

kash Solanke from Majalgaon

in Beed threatened to quit his

seat, claiming he was disgust-

ed with politics and would

only concentrate on social

work henceforth.

However, on Tuesday

evening, Solanke announced

he has decided to continue as

a legislator after speaking with

the party leaders. Minister

Dhananjay Munde endorsed

his view, saying that after dis-

cussions, Solanke will not quit

and work for the party.

Despite assurance by Con-

gress MLA from Solapur

City Central Praniti (Sushil-

kumar) Shinde that she

would speak with her sup-

porters, several party work-

ers have quit this evening.

Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha

member Sanjay Raut, who

played a key role in deliver-

ing the MVA government,

was reportedly sulking as his

two-term MLA brother from

Mumbai Sunil Raut was not

made a Minister.

However, both the broth-

ers late on Monday dismissed

speculation and said there was

nothing amiss, and that the

party was above any post.

Several senior Sena ex-

ministers like Ramdas Kad-

am, Ravindra Waikar, Di-

wakar Raote, Deepak Kes-

arkar and Tanaji Sawant

were dropped this time.

Sanjay Raut attributed this

to the limited choices before

the party and its inclination to

give chance to new and young-

er faces in the government.

There is speculation that

former Chief Minister Prith-

viraj Chavan is also nursing a

grudge after he was over-

looked for both the Speaker’s

post and a cabinet berth. But

there are indications he may

in the reckoning for the post

of state party chief as the in-

cumbent, Balasaheb Thorat,

is now a Cabinet minister.

A Sena leader told IANS

late on Monday that there

was no need for any of the

MVA legislators to panic if

they have missed a chance to

join the state cabinet. – IANS

A pair of Royal Bengal tigers at Tata Steel Zoological Park (TSZP) in Jamshedpur, onTuesday. – PTI

CHENNAI, Dec 31: The

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK)

general council here on Tues-

day demanded that the Sri

Lankan Tamil refugees living

in India should be allowed

dual citizenship and the gov-

ernment should sign an

agreement with the Lankan

government in this regard.

According to the PMK,

there is a demand in Tamil

Nadu that the Lankan Tamils

be given Indian citizenship

under the Citizenship

(Amendment) Act (CAA).

Pointing to the Lankan

Tamils’ fears that they would

lose their Lankan citizenship

if they acquired citizenship of

some other nation, the PMK

said they could be accorded

dual citizenship.

PMK demands dualcitizenship for Lankan

Tamil refugeesThe PMK said the Lankan

Tamils living in Canada and

Europe have not acquired cit-

izenship there, fearing loss of

their native citizenship.

According to the PMK, a

decision should be taken on

the kind of citizenship that

Lankan Tamils should be

given after ascertaining

their wishes.

It said India should enter

into an agreement with Lan-

ka to allow them to live in

India with dignity.

The PMK also said the

National Register of Citizens

(NRC) should not be imple-

mented in Tamil Nadu as it

didn’t share borders with

any other country and the

Lankan Tamils come here as

refugees. – IANS

JAMMU, Dec 31: In a New

Year gift, Short Message

Service (SMS) will be re-

sumed in Kashmir from

Tuesday midnight, Jammu

and Kashmir Principal Sec-

retary Rohit Kansal said here

on Tuesday.

Broadband services will

also resume in government

schools and hospitals from

Tuesday midnight. While the

move has been welcomed in

Kashmir, there is a feeling that

the government should now

restore broadband internet

services for the public.

“We appreciate the gov-

LUCKNOW, Dec 31: The

Uttar Pradesh Police has

sought a ban on the Popular

Front of India (PFI), days af-

ter its complicity was sus-

pected in the recent

statewide violent protests

against the amended citizen-

ship law. UP DGP OP Singh

said on Tuesday that they had

written to the Union Home

Ministry, seeking a ban on the

PFI after its Uttar Pradesh

head, Wasim, and 16 other

activists were arrested for

allegedly masterminding the

violence in the state capital

during anti-CAA protests.

“We have written to the

Union Home Ministry, rec-

ommending that the PFI

should be banned,” the DGP

told reporters here.

Deputy Chief Minister

Keshav Prasad Maurya said

the PFI in a way is the “in-

carnation” of the Students

Islamic Movement of India

(SIMI).

The PFI’s role has been

“established” in vandalism in

the state, Maurya told report-

ers. “The truth is emerging

through the probe. If SIMI

reappears in any form, it will

be crushed,” he added.

When asked if the PFI will

be banned, Maurya said,

“The process is on. Such or-

ganisations will not be al-

IAF chiefformally inductsDornier aircraftNEW DELHI, Dec 31: Indi-

an Air Force Chief RKS

Bhadauria has formally induct-

ed the light utility aircraft Dorn-

ier into the No. 41 ‘Otters’

Squadron, a statement issued

by the central government said

on Tuesday.The aircraft was

inducted on Monday during a

ceremony at the Palam Air

Force Station. The IAF in 2015

had signed a contract to pur-

chase 14 Dornier aircraft,

which are flight inspection sys-

tem planes, for Rs 1,090 crore

from state-run Hindustan Aer-

onautics Limited (HAL).

“While the first aircraft

was delivered on November

19, the second is expected to

be delivered in early 2020,”

the statement said. The

Dornier-228 aircraft is a mul-

ti-purpose, fuel efficient, rug-

ged, light weight twin turbo-

prop aircraft with a retracta-

ble tricycle landing gear.

“The Chief of the Air Staff,

Air Chief Marshal RKS

Bhadauria formally inducted

the Flight Inspection System

(FIS) Dornier aircraft into No

41 Squadron, the Otters’, at

a ceremony at Air Force Sta-

tion Palam today,” the state-

ment said. – PTI

250 militantsactive in J&K

SRINAGAR, Dec 31:

There are 250 militants active

in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K),

out of which 100 are foreign

militants while the rest are

locals, DGP Dilbagh Singh said

in Jammu on Tuesday.

The DGP said that the sit-

uation was coming back to

normal and it’s just a matter

of time that the Internet

service will be restored.

“Very soon there will be

good news about restoration

of Internet”, he said. – IANS

UP seeks ban on PFIfor anti-CAA violence

lowed to grow. If needed,

they will be banned.” Wasim

was arrested for allegedly

masterminding the violence,

police had said last week.

“We have got success in ar-

resting the mastermind of

the Lucknow violence.

Wasim, Nadeem and Ashfaq

of the PFI have been arrest-

ed. While Wasim is the state

head, Ashfaq is the treasurer

and Nadeem is a member of

the PFI,” Lucknow SSP Ka-

lanidhi Naithani told report-

ers here. Police seized plac-

ards, flags, pamphlets, liter-

ature, newspaper cuttings,

banners and posters for the

anti-NRC or CAA protest

from them, the SSP said.

During interrogation, Na-

deem and Ashfaq told police

that they made the strategy

for the December 19 pro-

tests and publicised it on so-

cial media, he had said. Na-

deem and Ashfaq incited peo-

ple for the protest through

WhatsApp and other plat-

forms by sharing literature

and video, Naithani had said.

Besides, in Shamli district

of western Uttar Pradesh,

28 people, including 14

members of the PFI, were

arrested for allegedly at-

tempting to incite mass gath-

erings during anti-CAA pro-

tests. – PTI

SMS to be restored in Kashmirernment’s decision to re-

store SMS in Kashmir, but it

will be really helpful if the

government moves a step

ahead and opens up the in-

ternet,” said Riyaz Ahmed,

who is preparing for PhD.

“We have to go to the gov-

ernment office now for filing

our e-tenders. Our difficul-

ties won’t end. However, we

appreciate the step,” said

Altaf Ahmed, a government

contractor.

A communication blockade

was imposed across J&K af-

ter the revocation of Article

370 on August 5. The curbs

were lifted gradually with

landlines being restored first,

which was followed by the

opening up of post-paid mo-

bile phone services.

While broadband internet

has been restored in Jammu,

it still remains suspended in

Kashmir. Mobile internet

service continues to remain

blocked both in Jammu and

Srinagar. The service was

restored last week in Kargil

area of the newly formed

Union Territory of Ladakh.

Prepaid mobile phone serv-

ices continue to remain sus-

pended in Kashmir. – IANS

RANCHI, Dec 31: Senior

JMM MLA Stephen Maran-

di on Tuesday was sworn-in

as the Pro tem Speaker of

the Jharkhand Assembly.

Governor Droupadi Murmu

administered the oath to Ma-

randi at the Raj Bhavan here.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren

and ministers Rameshwar

Oraon and Satyanand Bhokta

were present on the occasion.

Stephen Marandi sworn-inas Pro-tem Speaker

Former Chief Minister Shibu

Soren and senior government

officials were also present.

The three-day Assembly ses-

sion begins on January 6. The

Pro tem Speaker will admin-

ister the oath to the 81 newly-

elected MLAs as members of

the House and conduct the

proceedings till a regular

Speaker is elected during the

brief session. – PTI

NATIONAL

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 3

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Janasanyog/D/8492/19

LOCAL FORECAST:

Mist in the morning andmainly clear sky later.Minimum Temprature ismost likely to be 8°C onWednesday.

TEMPERATURE:

Max 25.4° C

Min 8.4° C

WEATHER

GUWAHATI

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal paying his last respects to cultural icon Ratna Ojha who died in the wee hours of Tuesday,at the latter's residence in Guwahati. – UB Photos

Move to delink HS classes fromCotton University opposed

CITY CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: A

group of students of Cotton

University today submitted

a memorandum to Governor

Professor Jagdish Mukhi,

who is also the Chancellor of

the university, urging him not

to delink the Higher Second-

ary (HS) classes (10+2)

from the university.

The group, comprising five

members of the Cotton Uni-

versity’s AASU unit, met the

Governor and requested him

to strengthen the HS classes

instead of withdrawing them.

President of the universi-

ty’s AASU unit Hrishikesh

Dutta said, “The university

authority, for some reasons,

is determined to withdraw

the HS classes. There is an

attempt going on to delink

the HS classes. However, as

per Clause 7 (C) of the Cot-

ton University Act, 2017, the

HS classes shall be a part of

the university. We are against

the proposed move.”

The students also demand-

ed that the HS classes be

brought under the supervi-

sion of a dean. “Special facul-

ty should be recruited for the

HS classes and infrastructure

should also be upgraded to

yield better results. Special

classes, competitive exami-

nations and other means of

educational activity should be

organised for the betterment

of the students,” Hrishikesh

added.

Hirakjyoti Bora, a student

of the university said, “The

move to delink the HS class-

es might be an indirect at-

tempt to benefit private en-

tities like coaching

classes and private colleges

in the city.”

Meanwhile, a copy of the

memorandum has also been

sent to the office of the Chief

Minister, the Education Min-

ister and the Vice Chancel-

lor of the university.

On Monday the Cotton

University Students’ Union

submitted a memorandum to

the VC and the Registrar of

the university expressing

their opposition against the

proposal to delink the HS

classes from the university.

The students also request-

ed the VC and the Registrar

to stand by the students and

place their opinion against the

proposal.

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: Due to violent

agitation by protesters against the Citizen-

ship (Amendment) Act, the Northeast Fron-

tier Railway (NFR) has incurred a cumula-

tive loss of over Rs 100 crore between

December 9 and 30.

The NFR stated that the losses were in-

curred due to damage caused to railway

properties and also due to cancellation of

passenger trains as well as goods carrying

trains to and from the Northeast Frontier

zone to other zones.

The damage caused included burning down

of railway stations, damage to railway tracks,

level crossing gates, burning of important

communication and other electronic gears.

“While the total damage caused to rail-

Anti-CAA stir caused overRs 100-cr loss to NFR

way properties in divisions like Tinsukia,

Katihar, Lumding, Rangiya is about Rs 10

crore, the loss incurred in originating earn-

ings due to loss in passenger earnings is

about Rs 30.13 crore,” informed Subhanan

Chanda, Chief Public Relations Officer, NFR.

Further, the loss in freight earnings has

been put at about Rs 63.42 crore, while the

loss in parcel earnings is stated to be Rs

5.05 crore.

During this period, about 38.86 lakh pas-

sengers could not take up their journey in

NFR due to cancellation of trains.

While NFR immediately swung into ac-

tion to restore train services after improve-

ment in law-and-order situation by introduc-

ing manual train operations in some affected

portions, the damage caused in other sec-

tions is still being repaired, Chanda said.

Girl diesin road

mishap atSonapur

CORRESPONDENT

JORABAT, Dec 31: In a

tragic incident, a girl

student of Dimoria College

died on the spot this

morning after she was hit

by a speeding dumper at

Sonapur on the outskirts of

the city.

The accident occurred at

Koraiguri of Dhupguri.

The deceased has been

identified as Mousumi

Biswas.

According to eyewit-

nesses, Mousumi was

riding a bicycle when she

was hit by the dumper

(MZ 05A 3942). She was

on her way to college.

Meanwhile, aggrieved

by the incident, local

people along with the

Dimoria regional unit of

the AASU locked the gate

of SM Infrastructure Pvt

Ltd for which the dumper

was allegedly operating for.

The students’ body

asked the company to pay

compensation to the

victim’s family.

The local people also

urged the authorities

concerned to fix timings

for the heavy vehicles

carrying sand from the

sites operating legally in

the area and demanded an

immediate ban on all the

illegal sand mahals in the

village.

US varsityhonours

State rightsactivist

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31:

Noted human rights activist

from Assam Dibyajyoti Sai-

kia has been conferred hon-

orary doctorate degree by

the California Public Univer-

sity, USA for his invaluable

services in the field of human

rights, social harmony and

community welfare.

Saikia received the Doctor

of Humanities (D Hum) hon-

our on Sunday at a special

programme organised in

Tamil Nadu, where a number

of other eminent personali-

ties from Malaysia, Sri Lan-

ka, Singapore and Dubai were

given honorary doctorate.

Saikia, who has been active-

ly involved in anti witch-hunt-

ing campaigns throughout the

State and also in several parts

of Maharashtra, Madhya

Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Bi-

har, has two decades of expe-

rience in the field of social

work. Apart from working in

the field of eradication of su-

perstition in the rural pockets

of Assam, he has also worked

to foster communal harmony.

Saikia has received a

number of other awards and

honours including Babu Jag-

jivan Ram Award, Maulana

Azad National Award and Bhu-

pen Hazarika Peace Award.

Sher Chowdhurymemorial lecture

on January 4GUWAHATI, Dec 31:

The 6th Annual Sher Chow-

dhury Memorial Lecture

will be organised on Janu-

ary 4 at the Vivekananda

Kendra Auditorium here.

The memorial lecture is

organised by Surjya and

Bhabani Books.

Noted environmentalist

Saumyadeep Dutta will de-

liver a lecture on the occa-

sion, stated a press release.

Award ceremonySTAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: JCI

Guwahati Queens celebrat-

ed its fourth installation-

cum-award ceremony on

Monday.

New members were in-

ducted and the unveiling of

the poster of the movie

Chapak was done by the

zonal president. A new

team was also formed on

the occasion, a press release

stated.

The Kalapahar Block Congress Committee carrying out asignature campaign against the Citizenship (Amendment)Act in Guwahati on Tuesday. – UB Photos

CITY

4 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

MESSAGE FOR TODAY

Challenges need to be given to an organization.

– RATAN TATA Different thoughts, different books

Welcome 2020, with hopeIf the denizens of Planet Earth had expected the last

decade to have roused optimism about their future, the

glass yet remains half empty for much of mankind! No

doubt a combined assault involving many nations had de-

fanged the soldiers of the dreaded Islamic State to some

extent, but the spectre of global terrorism continues to

haunt humanity. If reprehensible actions of terror groups

such as the Taliban and the Boko Haram were not enough,

reports of the IS regrouping has sent shivers down the

spines of people of the world. Festering issues such as the

North Korean denuclearization, Israel-Palestine conflict,

tragedy in Yemen, the prolonged protests in Hong Kong

are yet to be resolved, while new conflict hotspots contin-

ue to erupt in other parts of a perpetually divided world.

Cold War II had stealthily crept upon an unsuspecting plan-

et, even as the issue of mass migration hangs like a Damo-

cles’ sword over advanced nations and portends clashes

of cultures on a devastating scale. The doomsday clock

had not stopped ticking on the environment front; each

day brings terrifying news of icebergs melting, ocean lev-

els rising, abnormal heat sparking wild fires, greater urban

and industrial pollution posing health hazards. Traditional

enemies, such as India and Pakistan, continue to glower

against each other in a macabre pantomime while damag-

ing trade wars among powerful entities threaten to bring

about economic Armageddon!

True, as we step into a new year and a new decade,

there is not much to cheer about. Today our nation is polar-

ized as ever, the ongoing protests against the Citizenship

(Amendment) Bill being merely a manifestation of deep

social divisions. Closer at home, Assam at the moment is in

the throes of yet another ‘movement’, against the same

CAA the rest of the nation is demonstrating against, though

the reason is different. While enlightened citizens of the

nation are voicing their protests against an attempt to de-

stroy the secular credentials of India as enshrined in our

Constitution, the indigenous people of Assam are fighting

for their very existence and identity! That the powers

which currently rule the roost in Delhi and Dispur contin-

ue to turn a blind eye to the genuine fears of the people of

Assam add to the aura of pessimism currently wafting in

the wintry air. Prior to this, the disappointment with the

NRC updating exercise had enhanced the forebodings

that the time is not far when genuine Assamese would

become minorities in their own homeland. However, as the

adage goes, had it not been dark we would never have

seen the stars! The beginning of a new year is not the time

for pessimism. So let each one of us welcome 2020 with

hope in our hearts that we will soon see the light at the end

of this dark tunnel.

Disturbing concernsThe biennial India State of Forest Report-2019 released

on Monday has revealed disturbing developments vis-a-

vis deforestation in the Northeast – a global biodiversity

hotspot – with the region losing 765 sq km of forest cover

during 2017-19. Overall, the country has gained 3,976 sq

km forest cover but the catch is that the increase involves

mostly commercial plantations and open forest cover.

Dense forest cover which is the best indicator of the well-

being of the natural environment and which accounts for

the country’s rich biodiversity has shown a decreasing

trend for several years as have moderately dense forests.

As for the Northeast, except Assam and Tripura, all the

States in the region recorded a drop in forest cover and

the more worrying part being it a consistent trend of late.

The gain for the northeastern States of Manipur (499 sq

km), Arunachal Pradesh (276 sq km) and Mizoram (180 sq

km), with Assam showing a surprising increase of 222 sq

km, does not relate to dense and moderately dense forest

covers. The report cites the traditional practice of shifting

cultivation among the tribal communities as mainly respon-

sible for the decrease in forest cover, followed by factors

such as developmental activities including construction of

big dams in the case of Arunachal Pradesh and a few other

States. The trend of diminishing green cover in the north-

eastern States is a disturbing phenomenon which needs to

be checked with timely and appropriate interventions.

Aside afforestation programmes, there is a need to wean

away people from the practice of shifting cultivation which

was viable when these States had very less populations.

Developmental activities in the Northeast should be

put to stringent environmental scrutiny in view of the

region’s status as a biodiversity hotspot and its fragile

geological conditions. Uncalled-for large-scale interven-

tions such as construction of big dams are best avoided to

protect its pristine natural environment. The Centre’s

grandiose plans of constructing 160-odd dams in the East-

ern Himalayas, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh, need to be

shelved in the greater interest of ecological, geological,

and socio-cultural concerns of the local communities with

small populations. Growing deforestation in Arunachal is

also having serious downstream concerns for Assam, with

the increasing ferocity of the floods in Assam having a lot

to do with deforestation in the upper catchment areas

and the consequent sedimentation of the rivers. With

climate change now a grave reality, all these aspects con-

cerning loss of dense and moderate forests, disturbance

in river ecologies which invariably impacts livelihoods of

millions, etc., need to be acknowledged by the Govern-

ment as serious issues which in turn call for a reorienta-

tion of our development strategies. It is eminently clear

today that any developmental process that disregards

the well-being of the natural environment will be self-

defeating in the long run. Ultimately, it is for our own sake

that we will have to take care of the natural environment

that has sustained us through the centuries.

t was after years that I went

inside the store. It was a swank

showroom displaying the lat-

est models of anything elec-

tronic from computers to camer-

as, television sets to fridges. It took

me some time to meet the owner

of the store as he was busy in a

meeting with some Japanese busi-

nessmen. I was having a look

around and discussing the advanc-

es in the latest iPhone, which costs

more than a lakh of rupees. I felt

happy that there were people in

Assam and the Northeast to afford

a high end mobile phone with a

price tag of a lakh plus. Waiting to

meet the owner, I strolled around

the store conversing with the floor

assistants and educating myself on

the benefits of a smart TV and a

smart fridge. Not only have the

people of Assam become smart,

but even TVs and fridges have be-

come smart these days. As a show

of intimacy with the owner, I told

the young shop assistants how

their boss, fresh from a semi-town-

ship in Jorhat, had started out from

a small room and a scooter, selling

and delivering desktops and com-

puter accessories in the offices and

homes of Guwahati and how stead-

ily not only sold computers but also

introduced the people of the city

to digital technology. I was proud-

ly regaling them with anecdotes,

especially about the one about the

Congress minister who kept a

computer monitor prominently

displayed on the office table, which

had no connection to a CPU! He’d

put the monitor on display, as their

leader Rajiv Gandhi had insisted

that computer literacy in India be-

gin from the top. The CPU came a

good six months later when the

minister heard that you could play

cards with the computer.

I

Lettersto the

EDITOR

Goebbelsian lies

Sir, – Every alternate day, the

Chief Minister of our State

Sarbananda Sonowal is making

public statements through

newspapers and press state-

ments about the controversial

Citizenship (Amendment) Act,

2019 against which continuous

protests are going on demanding

its repeal. The Chief Minister

seems to have taken oath not

only to the very ideologues of his

party, but also to Paul Joseph

Goebbels, the close associate of

Adolf Hitler who believed and

succeeded in the principle,

‘Repeat a lie thousand times, it

will become a truth,” something

well known as the Goebbelsian

lies. Amongst a lot of statements

made by the Chief Minister, the

following two are noticeable: a)

No new immigrants will come to

Assam taking advantage of the

CAA and b) the constitutional

safeguard of the Assamese people

The owner took a good 45 min-

utes to make his appearance after I

was treated to two cups of coffee

by the secretary, who wouldn’t let

me leave as per orders of the boss.

He was very apologetic and took

me to his room and again ordered

for another round of coffee. We got

talking about the present state of

affairs of Assam and the

economy of the country.

Although a non-Assa-

mese by birth, the entre-

preneur had studied in

the Assamese medium

and was familiar with

Assamese literature and

litterateurs. Then the

topic came to motivation-

al books. Motivational

books now form the bulk

of non-fiction books sold

worldwide. Not only are

they taught in business

schools, these books and

their authors are heard

in paid lectures in the

developed world. Eco-

nomically, those coun-

tries did not have the

dire need to study or dis-

cuss these books, but were read to

stay ahead of competition. China,

Japan and Korea and even the Rus-

sians get the popular English moti-

vational writings translated into

their languages within a month of

hosting the charts. This has a mul-

tiplier effect in their societies, in a

sense that it keeps them updated

with the latest thoughts and con-

cepts and also keeps the youth

motivated for higher levels of per-

sonal successes and thereby the

nation as a whole. Yet in Assam

motivational literature was not

available in Assamese in original or

in translation. A Steven Covey or

Shiv Khera or Yuval Noah Harari

is not a familiar name among the

youth of Assam. Years ago Homen

Borgohain probably wrote the only

such motivational book Uchcha-

akankshya. Assam’s current moti-

vational heroes are Zubeen Garg,

Samujjal Bhattacharya, Himanta

Biswa Sarma and we’ve seen how

they have led the youth force in

Assam. The saving grace among

the youth motivators are probably

limited to the sportspersons like

Hima Das or the moviemaker Rima

Das, innovator Uddhav Bharali who

have been examples of positive

thinking and ambition. As for the

entrepreneurs and innovators, not

many get to hear about them as

the mindset of the media is rooted

to politics in the headlines. My

store owner friend rued the ab-

sence of motivational literature in

Assamese and how that had nega-

tively affected the thinking of the

youth of Assam into a quick money

culture. The surfeit of fiction of all

shades have not been able to add

positivity into the State, rather it’s

left us emotionally surcharged, with

no positive outcomes.

The third cup of coffee over, I had

to leave in deep thought of this defi-

ciency. Our publishers and transla-

tors must take this up in right ear-

nest and haste. Literature in eco-

nomics and commerce are also lim-

ited to textbooks. Updated books

on these subjects or being Assam

specific are not available easily or at

all. How can we expect the society

to think modern and move

with times if motivational

reading, monitoring the

Sensex, economic news

of the day, technological

advances are not a part of

the daily life of the youth?

Opposing the CAA is ok

but choosing to limit one-

self to the mundane is not

the answer.

Motivational books

apart, even books and

magazines in Assamese

on economics, com-

merce, science is a rarity.

It’s imperative that devel-

opments in these fields

get discussed in drawing

rooms and student com-

mon rooms. The Assam

Science Society had start-

ed a monthly magazine on popular

science in the early 60s, but in the

absence of required government

support, the magazine never took

off. The Government on its own had

never tried to install a scientific tem-

per in the educational environment.

Assamese textbooks have a bias to-

wards history, harping on the gold-

en days of the past. How golden it

was is debatable. Our kingdoms

were small ones without much eco-

nomic power. The monuments, that

have lived to see modern days, give

us an indication of the state of the

financial status of the kingdoms. No

temple or monument is grand on an

international scale nor landmark

achievements in technology or aes-

thetics. But they are our own and

we have to take care of it. Econom-

ics has never been given its due

importance, not even in the 21st

century, when the world talks of

GDP, strength of the currency, vola-

tility of the stock market, trade bal-

ances, world market share. The

Prime Minister has not been able to

transfer this commercial bent of

mind into our ministry, who feel that

building MGNREGA and PMGSY

roads and doling out largesse are

great achievements. Without eco-

nomics percolating into the society,

Assam will languish in being ob-

sessed with refugees and infiltrators.

Even in other aspects of social activ-

ity we definitely need to raise our

standards.

The poor standards of political

banter are an indication of the low

level of discourse in the State. Min-

isters and youth icons speak in a

language that will put fish market

conversations into embarrassment.

A spiritually-biased government, if

it goes into street fighter’s lingo,

does not speak well of the prevail-

ing standards nor augurs well for

the future. Restraint should be the

guiding factor, not a mood of ‘eye

for eye, tooth for tooth’. No securi-

ty in the world is unreachable and

violence or repression does not get

to the final goal anywhere. What

applies to the government applies

equally to its opponents. In a nation

of youth, the 40 pluses would bet-

ter do to suggest than lead. If it’s a

student’s fight, it’s better left to be

fought out by the students. The

State must intervene in the event

of violence only. Living in the past

serves no purpose. The Govern-

ment would do well to instil an at-

mosphere of intellectual debate and

discourse, so that modern ideas

reach every open window in the

State. This brooks no delay.

Anti-CAA stir: Next is what?nprecedented civil dis-

turbance is being wit-

nessed in many parts

of the country for the

past few weeks over the Citizen-

ship (Amendment) Act, or CAA.

Having initially begun in Assam,

the violence quickly fanned out to

other parts of the country.

While violence in any form can-

not be condoned, the ruling dispen-

sation in New Delhi will have to

shoulder blame for first having

rushed through the legislation with-

out trying to build a political con-

sensus, and then failing to pre-empt

the violence sweeping across

States. The Opposition parties and

their leaders too cannot absolve

themselves from their insidious

role in exacerbating an already vol-

atile situation. Instead of trying to

calm the situation, a few have been

even found adding fuel to fire with

provocative comments. Blaming

the Government is easy, but that

doesn’t mean that they can run riot

with irresponsible statements by

instilling fear in the minds of a par-

ticular community.

Meanwhile, even as Assam –

which witnessed violence for three

consecutive days beginning on De-

cember 10 over CAA – limps back

n Anirban Choudhury

to normalcy, the winter of discon-

tent is apparently unlikely to go away

anytime soon. It needs no iteration

that, unlike in other parts of the coun-

try, the campaign against CAA in

Assam is about ethnic identity. And

with dharnas, rallies, public meet-

ings, etc., becoming the norm and a

section of local media acting as rab-

ble rousers, there is no indication

that the cycle of protest will end

anytime soon. The saving grace,

however, is that almost all organi-

zations have decided to carry for-

ward their stir in a ‘democratic’ and

‘peaceful’ manner, besides announc-

ing not to carry out any protest post

dusk. This has been done with the

twin objectives of helping normalcy

return to the State and thwarting

unscrupulous elements from hijack-

ing the movement.

Further, to allay misgivings and

apprehensions among the student

community and their parents, All

Assam Students’ Union chief ad-

viser Samujjal Bhattacharyya has

also been quite categorical in as-

serting that the academic atmos-

phere would not be allowed to be

affected by the ongoing agitation.

The apprehension was not totally

unfounded as lakhs of students had

to lose their precious academic

years during the six-year Assam

Movement (1979-85).

Now, even as organizations filed

petitions before the Supreme

Court challenging the CAA, they

have also made no bones about not

calling off their stir anytime soon.

Thus, the campaign against the Act

seems to be on a long haul. Be that

as it may, but while the outrage

against the legislation is under-

standable, there are some aspects

of the movement that raise sever-

al questions.

Without going into the merits of

the CAA or the stir surrounding it,

what is very apparent is that the

current movement is being large-

ly emotionally driven as was wit-

nessed during the six-year Foreign-

ers’ Movement. People are pour-

ing out on to the streets in large

numbers singing, reciting poems,

performing naam and jikir (tradi-

tional hymns sung collectively),

painting, tonsuring heads, etc.,

even as a section of the media, par-

ticularly some local news channels,

has converted the entire campaign

into some kind of a reality show

replete with melodrama telecast

live 24x7 so as to arouse public pas-

sion. But, as the earlier mass move-

ment of 1979-85 had proved, any

agitation driven purely by emotion

and bereft of any strategic planning

is likely to falter in the long run.

Sadly, the current campaign’s lead-

ership seems to have learnt little

from history and apparently trudg-

ing along on a similar course this

time too. Impressed with huge pub-

lic turnouts, they are yet to put their

heads together in chalking out a stra-

tegic plan and seem content in play-

ing to the gallery. While the move-

ment’s primary objective may be

lofty, there is still no clarity over: i)

how long this would continue (as the

legal battle won’t end anytime soon);

ii) whether it would be called off in

the event of a favourable judgement

from the Supreme Court; iii) what

would be its ultimate goal; iv) will a

political alternative (or alternative

politics) be explored in future, es-

pecially if the apex court’s ruling

doesn’t go along the expected lines

of the movement’s leaders? With-

out any vision or long-term plan-

ning, it could prove difficult for the

leadership to sustain the current

tempo, and the movement runs the

risk of faltering as public fatigue

would set in soon. Yes, protesters

across the world tend to get emo-

tional, but it’s the responsibility of

leaders and organizations leading

them to draw blueprints, which is

absent in Assam today.

Another aspect is the move-

ment’s somewhat exclusive char-

through the implementation of

the Clause 6 of the Assam

Accord. The last paragraph under

Sl 3 (3) of the Act gives ample

scope to an immigrant to claim

that he/she had entered into India

from the three mentioned

countries before December 31,

2014. The second statement is in

complete departure from the

very essence of the Clause 5 of

the historic Assam Accord. The

constitutional safeguard of the

Assamese indigenous people

would be meaningful only after

the implantation of the Clause 5.

Through this column, I would

like to request the Chief Minister

to desist from making such

fallacious statements to fool the

people; instead, he should

pressurize his party bosses to

repeal the Act and prove his

commitment towards the people

of his land. Any further delay may

invite erosion in the faith to the

democratic institutions, for which

time will excuse none. Yours etc.,

TILAK HAZARIKA, Gauhati

University.

Appeal from VCsSir, – Apropos the letter ‘Who

financed them?’ (AT, December

28), one couldn’t resist the urge

to pen a few words on the

contention of the person who has

objection to the appeal to students

to attend classes which happens to

be their prime duty, and asper-

sions regarding the source of

finance to meet the cost of

publication of this public interest

advertisement. A fund known as

‘student welfare fund’ is present

in all the universities for the said

purpose, i.e., for the welfare of

the students. The call to attend

classes instead of going to attend

lectures of student leaders and

aspiring politicians is quite

justified as the main purpose for

which the parents spend their

hard earned money and students

the precious time of their lives is

to attend classes and study hard.

The universities are not that poor

that they cannot afford this much

for the students. Yours etc.,

BHASKAR PHUKAN, Chand-

mari, Guwahati.

Good write-upSir, – The interview of Prof

Dulal Goswami (AT, December 29)on the Brahmaputra river basin isvery timely and gives a deepinsight to the problem of flood anderosion, and the loss of thelivelihood of the people of Assam.It also gives ideas on formulation ofpolicies by the government on thebasis of study needed on the basinplan 2020. Thanks for the goodwrite-up. Yours etc., M FAREED,

Rehabari, Guwahati.

Mental disordersSir, – According to a recent news

report, about 20 crore Indians

suffered from mental disorders in

2017. This includes 4.6 crores who

suffered from depression and

another 4.5 crores from anxiety.

But apart from this, there are

several hundreds of politicians of all

political parties of all States and also

at the Centre who often make

bizarre and obnoxious comments

while attacking their political

opponents in public, derogatory

comments about dress code of

women and their physical looks, and

U

Articles (within 1000-1100 words) and

Letters to the Editor for publication in

the editorial page may be sent to the

email ID: editor@assamtribune.com.

acter. Besides being largely con-

fined to the Brahmaputra Valley, the

movement has also seemingly

failed to cut much ice among other

communities in the valley, let alone

in other Northeastern States. The

sad reality is that communities in

the Northeast are largely bound by

convenience than by heart. Hence,

it shouldn’t come as a surprise if

other communities view the en-

tire campaign as another assertion

of Assamese chauvinism. There-

fore, the challenge before the lead-

ership is to make the movement

more broad-based and inclusive

lest it acquires a sectarian charac-

ter and fails to meet its objective.

There are several fault lines that

need to be bridged else it will be-

come another voice in wilderness.

The movement will have to take

into account the complex ethnic,

communal and linguistic composi-

tion of the State.

Further, even within the Assa-

mese community, not everyone is

gung ho over the movement. With

changing demographic dynamics, a

section is not entirely convinced

that opposing Bangladeshi Hindus

alone from acquiring citizenship

would ensure protection of the

community. Thus, the anti-CAA

campaign will have to traverse

many undulating paths.

Literature in economics and

commerce are also limited to

textbooks. Updated books on

these subjects or being Assam

specific are not available easily or

at all. How can we expect the

society to think modern and

move with times if motivational

reading, monitoring the Sensex,

economic news of the day,

technological advances are not a

part of the daily life of the youth?

n Swapnanil Barua

particularity in the matters related

to the victims of heinous crimes like

rape and murder. Is not this a

preliminary sign of serious mental

disorder? Yours etc., DEVA K

DUTTA, Andheri (East), Mumbai.

Wrong informationSir, – The news item titled

‘Songs of Bhupen Hazarika, Zubeen

Garg become protest anthems’

published in this newspaper on

December 31, 2019 is partially

misinformed as it stated that the

song Biswa Bijoyee Naujowan is a

song by Dr Bhupen Hazarika, song

whereas it is known to all that it was

written and composed by Rupkon-

war Jyotiprasad Agarwala. Moreo-

ver, the song Maya sung by Zubeen

Garg has nothing to do with any

ongoing protest. It is a purely

romantic song, and as far as I am

concerned, this song is not sung by

Garg in any recent anti-CAA protest

rally. Yours etc., RAKESH DAS,

Kahilipara, Guwahati.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 5CITY

Janasanyog/D/8482/19Janasanyog/D

/8516/1

9

MAKE A FLYING START: Egrets glide over the Brahmaputra in Guwahati on Tuesday. – UB Photos

OBITUARY

Dr PK ChaudhuriGUWAHATI, Dec 31: Noted academ-

ic, advocate, administrator and political

analyst Dr Pabitra Kumar Chaudhuri

breathed his last today at his Nabagraha

Hill Side residence due to old-age ail-

ments. He was 92.

Dr Chaudhuri was the son of noted

freedom fighter the late Rohini Kumar

Chaudhuri, who was also a minister in Assam and a mem-

ber of the Constituent Committee along with BR Ambed-

kar during framing of the Constitution of India member.

Dr Chaudhuri did his schooling from St Edmunds in Shil-

long, college education from St Stephens in Delhi and his

Masters from the University of London. He had an illustrious

career, from the Indian Foreign Service to being the resident

chief executive of OIL, director personnel HMT, etc. He held

several prestigious posts in the State as well as in the Central

government. He was the chairman of several State PSUs,

Member of the Assam Administrative Reform Commission,

Member of the Public Enterprise Selection Board, etc.

He was also a keen academician and was closely associ-

ated with the Gauhati University. He leaves behind his

wife Manju Chaudhuri, three sons, grandchildren and a

host of relatives. He will be cremated tomorrow at the

Nabagraha Crematorium.

Biren BarthakurSTAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: Biren Bar-

thakur, a resident of Natun Mati, Mari-

ani, breathed his last at a city-based hos-

pital here last night after a prolonged

illness. He was 69.

A prominent social worker of Mari-

ani, his death has cast a pall of gloom in

the town. Barthakur had retired from

Jayshree Tea of Birla Group in 2008. He is survived by his

wife, three sons and a host of relatives. His last rites were

performed at Mariani.

GRP arrests 60persons in drugtrafficking cases

CITY CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: The Government Railway Po-

lice (GRP) has arrested more than 60 persons under the

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in the

year 2019.

Besides, it apprehended more than 15 persons for gold

smuggling and unaccounted cash recovery from January

to December 2019.

Statistics released by the GRP today stated that 61 per-

sons were arrested in connection with the recoveries of

ganja, morphine, heroin, tablet, eskuf syrup, opium, keta-

mine and other drugs.

Besides, two persons who were found in possession

of gelatins stick, detonator, fuse wire and firearms were

arrested.

Further, around 750 kgs of drugs and banned substances

were recovered this year.

“The GRP also recovered 10228.89 grams of gold

worth Rs 3,15,05,054 and apprehended 10 persons in

connection with it. The police also recovered cash worth

Rs 4,77,84,000 this year. On March 22, the police had

also apprehended two persons with foreign currency (US

Dollar),” the data added.

“Frequent incidents of drug seizure at railway stations

are a matter of serious concern and the GRP is doing its

best to make the journey of passengers safe,” an official of

GRP said.

Committee for Garigaon devpGUWAHATI, Dec 31: The Asom Sangrami Mancha re-

cently formed its Ward No.1 committee with 30 mem-

bers to work for development of the Garigaon area of the

city. – Staff Reporter

AIR Guwahati to broadcastnew dramas from today

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: The

All India Radio Guwahati,

through its FM radio service

Mahabahu and Medium Wave

411.5 meter, will broadcast a

new drama every week from

next year, stated AIR Guwa-

hati station director Rajib

Barua here today.

The first drama of this

year to be broadcast by the

AIR Guwahati is Jaal. Writ-

ten by young playwright Bi-

kash Deka, broadcasting of

the drama will start from

January 1 and will end on next

Sunday.

Moreover, from the next

week, one drama will be

broadcast from Monday to

Friday.

In the New Year, the AIR

Guwahati is aiming to cover

altogether 52 new dramas and

most of these dramas are

penned by young play-

wrights.

In January, altogether four

plays namely Jaal written by

Bikash Deka, Ata Kukur

Ajan Manuh by Prasanta

Mena, Kaitor Phul by Bah-

nishikha Bora and Ajon Seu-

jiya Manuh written by Naren

Patgiri will be broadcast by

the channel.

This special programme

titled ‘Natsala’ will be aired

from 9.15 am to 9.30 am.

The AIR Guwahati will

also broadcast one new nov-

el namely Bakul Phulor Dore

written by Mrinal Kalita from

January 7. In the New Year,

it will also start a programme

on folk-song.

CITY CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: Like in other parts

of the country, Guwahatians too was decked-

up to welcome the New Year, even as the

civic administration and the police have is-

sued an advisory on the New Year revelry.

Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi, while ex-

tending his best wishes to all the people of

the State on the occasion, said, “I convey

my greetings and best wishes to the peo-

ple of the State for the New Year and hope

that this New Year usher in peace, pros-

perity and progress for the nation and its

people.”

Professor Mukhi also appealed to all the

citizens to build stronger relations with one

another and work for national development.

Governor Mukhi extendsNew Year greetings

Cultural activist ...(Contd from page 1)

He also served in the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra,

the Doordarshan Kendra, Guwahati, the Bongaigaon Refinery

and Petrochemicals Ltd and the Northeast Frontier Railway.

In his early days, he worked as a teacher in Barpeta. As a

drama activist, he was the founder of the Gahbar drama group

and president of the Asom Natya Sanmilan for two terms.

Recalling the late Ojha, veteran flutist Prabhat Sarma said,

“He was my friend, philosopher and guide. He helped me in

every step. Today, Assam has lost a true artiste.”

Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Sarbananda

Sonowal, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, and various

groups, organisations and personalities have mourned the death.

In a condolence message the Governor said, “I condole the

death of Ratna Ojha who enriched theatrical landscape of the

state with his innumerable contributions. I convey my heartfelt

condolences to the bereaved family members and pray to God

to be with the bereaved family members in this testing time.”

Chief Minister Sonowal, who paid his last respects to Ojha’s

mortal remains, in a statement said, “I am deeply saddened by

the demise of veteran theatre personality Ratna Ojha, who pro-

fusely enriched the mosaic of Assamese art and culture during

his lifetime.” The CM’s Media Adviser Hrishikesh Goswami

also mourned the noted playwright’s passing away and offered

his sympathies to the bereaved family. Mourning the death, AASU

adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya recalled the active role played by

Ojha every critical juncture of the Assamese society.

The Journalists Association of Assam (JAA) and the Nation-

al Union of Journalists India (NUJI) also mourned in his death.

Ojha is survived by his wife and three daughters, besides a

host of relatives.

Financial grant ...(Contd from page 1)

The meeting was attended by representatives of Asam

Sahitya Sabha, Bodo Sahitya Sabha, Indigenous Tribal Sahit-

ya Sabha Assam, Deori Sahitya Sabha, Dimasa Sahitya Sab-

ha, Asom Nepali Sahitya Sabha, Nikhil Rabha Sahitya Sabha,

Karbi Sahitya Sabha, Mising Sahitya Sabha, Nikhil Bishnu-

priya Sahitya Sabha, Purbanchal Tai Sahitya Sabha, Tiwa Sa-

hitya Sabha, Asom Manipuri Sahitya Parishad, Garo Sahitya

Sabha, Moran Sahitya Sabha, Asom Chah Janagosthi Sahitya

Sabha, Sonowal Kachari Sahitya Sabha, Kurukh Sahitya Sab-

ha, Koch Rajbangshi Sahitya Sabha, Saotal Sahitya Sabha,

Mundari Sahitya Sabha and Sarania Kachari Sahitya Sabha.

State tourism ...(Contd from page 1)

Also, the jeep safaris in Kaziranga and Manas national

parks incurred huge losses due to the stir. “A total of

499 jeeps in Kaziranga, Manas and Pobitora that used to

make at least two trips per day in peak season are now

getting one or two trips per week. Families depending

on such services, including taxi service, elephant safari,

airport cabs, etc., have also been affected beyond com-

prehension,” he said.

The State tourism department that has been running

several campaigns to woo foreign tourists is also appre-

hensive about the duration it will take for withdrawal of

negative travel advisories to foreign tourists.

In 2018-19, altogether 41,209 foreign tourists visit-

ed Assam against 28,419 in 2016-17. “The advisories

restricting foreign nationals from visiting Assam won’t

be withdrawn unless the governments of those coun-

tries are not absolutely sure about the situation here.

We might plan familiarisation trips to the foreign del-

egates after some time to assure them about the secu-

rity of their nationals in Assam,” he said.

Astronomicalgallery

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: In the New

Year, the Guwahati Planetarium will

open an astronomical gallery and a

virtual reality zone for the visitors

on its premises.

Officials of the planetarium informed

that the astronomy gallery will be

equipped with various astronomical

models like the celestial sphere, grav-

ity well, etc. It will be a combination of

astronomy, space technology, etc.

In the virtual reality zone, visitors

will be able to get the experience of

space journey and other allied sci-

ences projects through the mecha-

nism developed by the IIT Guwaha-

ti. A 3D theatre will also come up at

the planetarium in the coming days.

– Staff ReporterUtpal Baruah (L) of UB Photos releasing a poster of shortfilm Mor Prem aru Jilmil Junak in Guwahati on Tuesday.

6 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020STATE

CORRESPONDENT

DOOMDOOMA, Dec 31:

Along with rest of the globe,

the people of Tinsukia

district also bade adieu to

2019 on Tuesday. It was an

eventful year that began

with anti-CAB agitation and

ended with anti-CAA

agitation in the district. In

between, the people of the

district witnessed a number

of events, both positive as

well as negative.

In the beginning of the

year, various organisations,

especially the student bodies

AJIT PATOWARY

Venerable Satradhikar of

Majuli’s Natun Kamalabari

Satra and a leading Vaishnavite

scholar of the country Naray-

an Chandra Goswami is unwell.

Doctors attending on him are

of the opinion that he is suffer-

ing from liver cirrhosis due to

a fatty liver resulting from less

intake of protein, said Deka

Satradhikar of Natun Kamala-

bari Satra Satyajit Mahanta.

Satradhikar Narayan Chan-

dra Goswami, who is around

78 years of age, is known for

his scholarly works on Bra-

jabuli language and Neo-

Vaishnavite religion and Satri-

ya culture. He is also an au-

thority on Satriya dance. His

books – Satriya Sanaskritir

Swarnarekha, Brajabuli

Bhasar Byakaran aru Abhid-

han, Satriya Nrityar Byaka-

ran, Assamat Bhaonar Par-

ampara etc., are recognised

as reference books by both the

CORRESPONDENT

NALBARI, Dec 31: Activists of Nalbari dis-

trict unit of AASU on Monday shouted slogans

before the Danguwapara residence of State

Minister of Industries and Commerce Chan-

dra Mohan Patowary against the Citizenship

Amendment Act and the BJP Government.

About 300 AASU activists on Monday took

out a bike rally from Tihu area in Nalbari dis-

trict and covered almost all the areas under

Dharmapur, Patacharkuchi and Barama constit-

uencies. The protesters gathered in front of

the residence of Minister Chandra Mohan Pato-

wary and raised various slogans. They shout-

ed slogans like “We oppose CAA,” “BJP Gov-

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH, Dec 31:

Several Satradhikars along

with thousands of Vaishnava

Bhakats staged a massive ‘Ad-

hyatmik Gonohunkar’ against

the Citizenship Amendment

Act (CAA), 2019 in Chabua

town, some 22 km from here

on Monday.

The massive ‘Gonohunkar’

by the spiritual gurus was held

under the Assam Satra Ma-

hasabha, Chabua and two lead-

ing organisations of the Mot-

tock community – Sadou

Asom Mottock Yuba Chatra

Sanmilan and Sadou Asom

Mottock Yuba Chatra

Parishad.

The spiritual protest,

which was also attended by

hundreds of other men and

women, including students

was organised at the Young

Blue Club playground.

CORRESPONDENT

NORTH LAKHIMPUR,

Dec 31: A 24- hour hunger

strike was started in North

Lakhimpur on Monday by All

Assam Chutia Students’ Un-

ion (AACSU) in protest

against the Citizenship

Amendment Act-2019.

The hunger strike, organ-

ised by Lakhimpur district unit

of AACSU began at 12 noon

in front of the Deputy Com-

missioner’s office and was at-

tended by members of the

students’ body and common

public alike. The president of

Lakhimpur district unit of

AACSU Jayanta Hazarika and

its secretary Amrit Das led

Seminar onIndian culture

from Jan 28CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR, Dec 31: A

two-day interdisciplinary na-

tional-level seminar titled

‘Reconfiguring Indian Culture

and Scientific Temperament in

the 21st Century’ will be held

at the Central Institute of Tech-

nology here on January 28 and

29. The seminar is being or-

ganised by the Humanities and

Social Sciences Department

(HSS) in collaboration with the

English Department of Bod-

oland University, CIT sources

informed.

Interested participants may

apply for the seminar on or

before January 18. Dr Tanush-

ree Nayak, Head of the Depart-

ment is the convener of the

seminar. The other members

of the organising committee

are Dr Pradip Brahmachary,

Bihung Brahma, JDH Basum-

atary, Dr Gunajit Sarma and Dr

Kaushik Barman. There will be

prominent academics like Prof

PC Pattanaik from the Univer-

sity of Delhi, Prof Laishram

Ladusingh, Vice-Chancellor of

Bodoland University, Prof

Ashok Pattanaik from Utkal

University, Bhubaneswar, Prof

G Bez from NEHU, Shillong,

Prof Dwijen Sharma from

NEHU, Tura campus and Prof

Bhagabat Nayak from Rajiv

Gandhi University, Itanagar will

address the seminar.

The objective of the semi-

nar will be to link Indian cul-

ture to scientific temperament

in the broader perspective of

global scientific pursuit.

Foundationstone laid

HAILAKANDI, Dec 31:

MLA Anwar Hussain Laskar

laid the foundation stone of an

RCC bridge over Katakhal

river on Monacherra-Kalach-

erra Road at Gudamghat Fer-

ryghat on Monday.

The foundation stone was laid

by local MLA Laskar in the pres-

ence of Deputy Commissioner

Keerthi Jalli, Executive Engi-

neer of PWD AK Nandi and

other officials of Hailakandi Dis-

trict Territorial Road Division.

Built under Signature

Project for the year 2018-19,

the estimated cost of the 120-

meter RCC bridge under

Hailakandi Rural Road Divi-

sion is Rs.9.98 crore.

Executive Engineer, Nandi

informed that the timeframe

for completion of the bridge is

two years. – Correspondent

Medicineshop sealedBONGAIGAON, Dec 31: A

medicine shop named ‘Life

Pharma’ in the town was sealed

on last Saturday night as per

the order of Deputy Commis-

sioner Dr Sadnek Singh, who

during his sudden visit to the

pharmacy could not locate the

pharmacist, nor did he get any

satisfactory reply about the

whereabouts of the pharmacist

from the owner. The District

Information and Public Rela-

tions Department confirmed

this report. It is alleged that

most medicine shops in Bon-

gaigaon town and its outskirts

have been running without

pharmacists and some of them

even use the license of expired

pharamacists. Such practice has

posed a serious threat to pub-

lic health. – Correspondent

A CORRESPONDENT

NAGAON, Dec 31: The district committee

of All Assam Journalists’ Union (AAJU) in as-

sociation with various local organisations like

AASU, AJYCP, Nagaon Zila Sahitya Sabha,

teachers community and others staged a sit-in

protest against the Citizenship Amendment

Act, 2019, in front of the office of the Deputy

Commissioner here on Monday.

During the agitation, the protesters con-

firmed that the move started in the state

against CAA will continue until the Act was

scrapped or dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Pankaj Kumar Nath, president of AAJU’s

central committee, Gouri Shankar Saikia,

Amorjyoti Phukon, president and general sec-

retary of district AASU, Deepmoni Nora and

Pragjyotish Bonia, president and secretary of

district AJYCP, veteran Assamese short sto-

Hailakandiregisters

39 deaths,137 mishaps

CORRESPONDENT

HAILAKANDI, Dec 31: A

meeting of the District Road

Safety Committee (DRSC)

reviewed accident-related

cases, including fatalities for

the current year in Hailakan-

di district.

Reviewing the traffic sce-

nario at a meeting with stake-

holders at the conference hall

here on Monday, Deputy

Commissioner-cum-Chair-

person of the DRSC, Keerthi

Jalli asked the departments

concerned to analyse the ac-

cident data by comparing the

accident time (day or night)

and to adopt effective meas-

ures to deal with the scenar-

io, including putting up radi-

um-coated barricades to pre-

vent mishaps.

Altogether, 137 accident

cases were reported from Jan-

uary to November this year

resulting in 39 deaths and 186

injuries.

Jalli directed the health au-

thorities to submit status re-

port on developing infrastruc-

ture and facilities at the SK

Roy Civil Hospital to provide

immediate treatment to acci-

dent victims during the gold-

en hour. It may be mentioned

here that the civil hospital

under reference has been de-

clared ‘Trauma Centre’ by the

Government of India.

In the meantime, the meet-

ing decided to create aware-

ness on road safety at the pan-

chayat and village levels involv-

ing all the stakeholders. It also

decided to request the school

authorities to form a cadet

group comprising senior stu-

dents in each school to create

awareness on road safety.

NewIndo-Banglariver route

openedCORRESPONDENT

DHUBRI, Dec 31: In a bid

to boost trade between Bang-

ladesh and India, the Assistant

High Commissioner of Bang-

ladesh Tanvir Mansur formal-

ly opened a river route be-

tween India and Bangladesh by

flagging of a commercial cargo

service between the two coun-

tries in Dhubri recently.

Speaking on the occasion, the

Assistant High Commissioner

of Bangladesh said that Indo-

Bangla trade has increased

manifold in the wake of improv-

ing relations between the coun-

tries and the new route is like-

ly to give a fresh impetus to

bilateral trade.

It may be mentioned that

on July this year the first car-

go vessel from Dhubri to

Bangladesh was introduced.

Spiritual gurus launchprotest against CAA

The Satradhikars and

Bhakats were in their conven-

tional white dress while the

other members of the Mot-

tock community attended the

protest rally in their tradition-

al outfit.

Monday’s protest was to-

tally unique when compared

to the ongoing traditional

forms of protest. The spiritu-

al gurus prayed in unison for

divine intervention so that

Assam and its people may be

united and protected. Holding

banners and placards, the par-

ticipating Satradhikars and

Bhakats who congregated

from all Satras of Chabua en-

gaged in sloganeering. They

said they do not want CAA

and will not accept it.

The villagers, including

women of Mulukgaon, the an-

cestral place of Chief Minister

Sarbananda Sonowal, who also

took part in the ‘Adhyatmik

Gonohunkar,’ criticised

Sonowal bitterly. Reprimand-

ing the Chief Minister for his

role in seeking to impose CAA

in the state, the villagers de-

scribed him as irresponsible

and a spineless leader. The vil-

lagers said that all illegal im-

migrants irrespective of faith

must be deported.

The Satradhikars, Bhakats

and the general public first

held a short meeting at the

ground and later took out a

procession through Chabua

town to register their protest

against CAA. Distingusihed

Satradhikars and leaders of

Sadou Asom Mottock Yuba

Chatra Sanmilan and Sadou

Asom Mottock Yuba Chatra

Parishad spoke on the occa-

sion. Local leaders of All As-

sam Students’ Union and

Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba

Parishad (AJYP) also took part

in the rally.

Nalbari AASU takes outbike rally against CAA

ernment go back”, “Chandra Mohan Patowary

murdabad”. The protesters also raised slogans

against the Patacharkuchi MLA Pabindra Deka

and Barama MLA Maneswar Brahma.

The bike rally started from Tihu area and

covered Barkura, Balikaria, Banekuchi, Shil-

gosani, Makhibaha, Haribhanga, Kaithalkuchi,

Barama, among others. Four protest meet-

ings were also held at Tihu, Makhibaha, Kai-

thalkuchi and Shilgosani where AASU or-

ganising secretary Himan Barman, AASU’s

central executive member Bhabajit Bezbaru-

ah, AASU’s district president and secretary

Gunajit Pathak and Akshay Deka delivered

speeches against the Citizenship Amend-

ment Act.

AASU activists taking out a bike rally in Nalbari district against the Citizenship AmendmentAct, on Monday. – Photo: Ramen Kalita.

Anti-CAB, CAA stir dominated events in Tinsukia dist in 2019led the people of the district

against the Citizenship

(Amendment) Bill. AASU,

AJYCP, KMSS and all other

ethnic bodies organised

strong protest against CAB in

the entire district. People

from all walks of life partici-

pated in these protests.

However, the Union

Government did not raise the

Bill in Rajya Sabha at that

time and consequently the

anti-CAB agitation in Tinsukia

district along with the rest of

the State also cooled down for

the time being.

In 2019 too, the people of

the district suffered from

flood, erosion and other

natural calamities like storm ,

hailstorm etc. During the

monsoon season, storm

accompanied with heavy rains

and hail affected several areas

of the district. Moreover,

flood and erosion also affected

several regions of the district

from July to August.

In field of education, the

year 2019, was quite good.

After a gap of a few years,

four students of the district

could enlist their names

among the top tens in the

Higher Secondary Examina-

tion- 2019. From RD Junior

College, Digboi Ankur

Baruah (from Naharkatia),

Shruti Sonowal (from

Rupbon, Doomdooma),

Mithilesh Sharma (from

Hilika Tea Estate, Borhap-

jan) and from Margherita

College Priyankhu Agarwal

got positions in the HS Final

Examination.

In the field of sports,

culture and literature too

the year 2019 was a mixed

one for the district. Several

sportsmen of the district

were able to shine in various

sports competitions held in

State, national and interna-

tional level. In this year,

eminent poet of the

Ramdhenu era of Assamese

literature Ujjawal Saikia and

litterateur and police officer

Partha Sarathi Dutta left for

their heavenly abodes,

which was a great loss for

Assamese literature.

There was a time when

Tinsukia district remained in

the headlines for law-and-

order situation, especially for

insurgency problems. But in

2019, the district compara-

tively remained calm except

for a few incidents of killing,

abduction and extortion.

Police and security forces

were able to nab several

insurgent cadres and

linkmen. Meanwhile, a good

number of people lost their

lives in road mishaps that

occurred in various places of

the district in this year.

From the beginning of

September, the anti-CAB

agitation began again in the

district along with rest of

the State. The agitation

intensified across the district

after the CAB was passed by

both the Houses of Parlia-

ment and got assent of the

President of India. The

normal life in the district

remained paralysed for

about ten days since

September 12 due to the

anti-CAA agitation. People

from all walks of life

spontaneously came out of

their houses and participated

in the agitation.

Amidst the turbulence of

anti-CAA agitation people of

the district bade adieu to the

year 2019 with the hope that

the new year 2020 will bring

peace and prosperity for the

district and the State and the

country as well.

Chutia students stage 24-hourhunger strike in N Lakhimpur

the hunger strike against the

CAA. It is scheduled to end

on Tuesday noon.

Earlier, a massive protest

rally against CAA was held in

Laluk within the district. Or-

ganised by the Laluk regional

unit of AJYCP, the rally was

attended by representatives

of various organisations, in-

cluding Srimanta Sankardev

Sangha, All Assam Mattuck

Yuva Chatra Sanmilani, All As-

sam Thengal Kachari Stu-

dents’ Union, AASAA, KMSS

and many others.

The protest rally, which

was held in Laluk playground,

began with a tribute-paying

ceremony to the six martyrs

of the anti-CAA movement.

The participants also took out

a protest march along the

streets of Laluk after the ral-

ly. The students of Mad-

havdev University also staged

a sit-in protest against CAA

in Narayanpur on Saturday.

In the meantime, a debate

contest on CAA was cancelled

on Sunday in North Lakhim-

pur following ‘no-show’ by

the participants to speak for

the motion. Organised by Sa-

chetan Chatra Samaj and La-

khimpur Debaters’ Society,

the competition was an open

call to argue and discuss about

CAA. But as no one turned up

to speak in favour of the Act,

the organisers cancelled the

event.

Scribes, others protestagainst CAA in Nagaon

Mustard flowers in full bloom at a field in Dhakuakhana as seen on Tuesday. – UB Photos

Members of various bodies staging a sit-in demonstration against CAA organized by Bihpuria Press Club, at Narayanpuron Tuesday. – UB Photos

ry-teller, Sivananda Kakoti, former AGP min-

ister Girindra Kumar Boruah, educationist duo

Amorjyoti Goswami, Dilip Borah, Thogit Ma-

hanta, i/c president of Nagaon Zila Sahitya Sabha

were present in the agitation and spoke against

the controversial Act.

Almost all the participants criticised the Act

and said that it will crush the basic identity of

the indigenous people of Assam and destroy its

centuries-old tradition, art, culture and language.

Meanwhile, Nonoi anchalik body of AASU

also organised a huge rally against CAA at

Nonoi Chariali. Hundreds of villagers took to

the streets and raised strong protest against

the Act and opined that with the anti-indige-

nous Act, the saffron party was in fact digging

its own grave in the state.

During the agitation, the protesters claimed

that they will teach the BJP in the state As-

sembly election during 2021.

Satradhikar NarayanChandra Goswami unwell

Dibrugarh University and

Gauhati University for their

PG levels.

Also a Sanskrit scholar, the

Satradhikar has translated into

Assamese the original Ramay-

ana authored by Balmiki from

Sanskrit. He has 20 books, in-

cluding the translated ones, to

his credit. He has edited the

Kirtan Ghosa and Naam Gho-

sa, Ankiya plays, Borgeets of

Srimanta Sankaradeva and his

apostle Madhavadeva and

Sankaradeva's literally works,

among others.

Besides, he has penned

nine plays and over 60 arti-

cles on various issues con-

cerning Neo-Vaishnava reli-

gion and culture of Assam. He

also contributed to the Asomi-

ya Biswakosha produced and

published by the Asam Sahit-

ya Sabha.

He was conferred the hon-

orary Doctor of Literature (D

Lit) degree by Dibrugarh Uni-

versity in 2010 for his works

on Satriya culture.

He was admitted to a Gu-

wahati city hospital on De-

cember 5 and then with the

support from the State Gov-

ernment he was shifted to

Gangaram Hospital, New

Delhi on December 17.

Though he was released from

hospital on December 29, he

is still under medication, said

the Deka Sattradhikar.

THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 7WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

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CINEMA PROGRAMME

Members of Mariani Vaishnav Samaj performing Naam during a protest against CAA on Tuesday. – UB Photos

Principal of Jorhat College (3rd from left) Dr Devabrata Sharma releasing five departmentaljournals at the college on Friday.– Photo: Staff Correspondent, Jorhat.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

JORHAT, Dec 31:The Principal of Jorhat

College (Amalgamated) Dr Devabrata Shar-

ma in a brief function held on Friday at the

newly-built Conference Room of the college,

released five departmental journals.

The names of the journals are: Insight, a

peer-reviewed journal of the Department of

Economics, edited by Dr Mouchumi Mahan-

ta (Associate Professor), Bibhavan, a jour-

nal of the Department of Assamese, edited

by Assistant Professor Dr Jyotirmoy Bord-

oloi, Jorhat College Journal of Social Scienc-

CORRESPONDENT

NORTH LAKHIMPUR,

Dec 31: Journalists represent-

Nalbari people takeanti-CAA pledge

CORRESPONDENT

NALBARI, Dec 31: In response to a call given by the AASU,

most of the family of Nalbari district took anti-CAA pledge by

displaying banners with different slogans opposing the Citizen-

ship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The Nalbari district unit of AASU with the help of the local

AASU units carried out the protest in the house of every family.

The organising secretary of the central committee of AASU Himan

Barman,central executive Bhabajit Bezbaruah,district president

Gunajit Pathak and general secretary Akshay Deka also took part

in making the anti-CAA protest successful in every household.

Central executive member of AASU Bhabajit Bezbaruah said

that the people of Nalbari district will symbolically light earthen

lamps in every homestead on the evening of the English New

Year to show respect to the martyrs of the anti-CAA movement.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH, Dec 31:

Amidst the ongoing protests

against the Citizenship

Amendment Act, 2019, the

additional district magistrate

here today passed prohibito-

ry orders under Section 144

of the CrPC, banning

assembly of five or more

people in public places,

holding demonstration and

CORRESPONDENT

GAURIPUR, Dec 31: Sen-

ior journalist, educationist and

former Principal of BN College

of Dhubri, Girindra Nath Gos-

wami (79) was felicitated by the

Dhubri branch of Asam Sahit-

ya Sabha on December 29 for

his achievements in the field of

journalism, education and so-

cio-cultural activities.

The felicitatory meeting held

on the premises of the Sahitya

Sabha Bhawan was presided

over by Udayan Chakraborty,

president of the branch.

In the beginning, a group of

Scribes stage demonstrationagainst CAA in Narayanpur

ing various media houses from

Lakhimpur district staged a

sit-in protest against the Citi-

zenship (Amendment) Act-

2019 in Narayanpur today.

Initiated by Narayanpur

Press Club, the demonstration

was attended by six different

press clubs of Lakhimpur dis-

trict, including North Lakhim-

pur Press Club and Journalists

Federation of Assam (JAFA)’s

Lakhimpur district unit.

The demonstrating journal-

ists sported black badges and

shouted slogans against CAA

at Narayanpur Tiniali where

members from other organi-

sations also participated.

Earlier, a 24-hour hunger

strike by All Assam Chutia Stu-

dents’ Union (AACSU) in pro-

test against the Citizenship

(Amendment) Act-2019 ended

today in North Lakhimpur to-

day with a renewed pledge to

continue the fight against the

black law in the coming days.

The hunger strike, organised

by Lakhimpur district unit of

AACSU which began at 12 noon

in front of the Deputy Commis-

sioner’s office here on Monday

was attended by members of

the students’ body and common

public. The president of Lakhim-

pur district unit of AACSU Jay-

anta Hazarika and its secretary

Amrit Das led the hunger strike.

Section 144 CrPC imposed in Dibrugarhexpressing resentment.

The order also prohibits

carrying sticks, dagger,

swords and other weapons,

disrupting traffic by taking out

rallies, holding strike, burning

effigies, construction of tombs

of martyrs at government or

semi-government places,

weapon training, forceful

collection of donations,

gambling and lottery games.

Through the same order,

the district administration

has also banned bursting of

firecrackers on roads,

smearing colour or objec-

tionable things on people,

particularly on women and

children, passing offensive

comments on women, use of

sound system from 10 pm to

6 am, blowing of horn near

educational institutions,

hospitals and court, delivery

of provocative speeches,

indulging in communal and

anti-national activities, use of

tinted glass, high beam light

and coloured lights in

vehicles, among others.

However, in the matter of

assembly of five or more

people, cinema halls,

educational institutions,

railway stations, bus stops,

marriage venues and

religious places are exempt-

ed, a release stated.

AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi addressing a public meeting against CAA atNaharkatia Kalapani playground on Tuesday. – UB Photos

Brown sugarseized, 2 held

CORRESPONDENT

MANGALDAI, Dec 31: On

the eve of the New Year and in

the wee hours today, two per-

sons along with a big consign-

ment of brown sugar were ap-

prehended by Darrang Police.

A police team of Mangaldai

Sadar Police Station led by its

Officer-in-Charge Inspector

Niranjan Baruah assisted by

Sub-Inspector Dantejit Daim-

ary, acting on a tip-off, nabbed

two persons with a big con-

signment of brown sugar car-

ried in several dozen tiny plas-

tic containers and also in sepa-

rate polythene packets.

The accused persons have

been identified as Saddam Hus-

sain and Hanif Ali, both resi-

dents of Gusbari village under

Mangaldai Police Station. Dur-

ing preliminary interrogation

by police, the duo confessed that

the consignment was carried

from Khanapara to be sold in

Mangaldai area.

In the meantime, investiga-

tion into the case, i.e., No.

1027/2019 u/s 22(C) under the

NDPS Act, was on.

Donations soughtfor SankaradevaSangha sessionGUWAHATI, Dec 31: The re-

ception committee of the 89th

Mahurapathar Kamargaon, Boka-

khat session of Srimanta Sanka-

radeva Sangha has appealed to the

people to donate liberally for hold-

ing the Sangha session success-

fully with a four-day programme

from February 5.

The reception committee in a

statement said it has decided not

to take help from the Govern-

ment, any minister or MLA who

have been supporting the Citizen-

ship (Amendment) Act, 2019, for

holding the Sangha session. Rath-

er, it has opted for seeking the

help of the common people to suc-

cessfully hold the session.

The reception committee said

that it took this decision as a part

of the people’s struggle to resist

the draconian CAA, and has

urged the people to appreciate

the said spirit of this decision and

hence to donate liberally to make

the Sangha session successful.

Five departmental journalsreleased in Jorhat College

Senior scribe GN Goswami fetedchildren of the cultural sub-

committee of the Sabha pre-

sented the opening song and

thereafter the objectives of the

meeting were explained by Ja-

kir Hussain, secretary of the

Sabha. A large number of mem-

bers of the branch, including

Pachu Gopal Chakraborty,

former vice president of Asam

Sahitya Sabha, Giasuddin

Ahmed, former president of

the Sabha, Lutfur Rahman,

Akan Bayan, Habibar Rahman,

Hemen Chakraborty, secretary

of Dhubri unit office, Ahid Khan

Parish, Sarbeswar Kalita, Bid-

hayak Chakraborty, Dhruba

Kumar Sen, former MLA, Nili-

ma Chakraborty and a few oth-

er well-wishers spoke about

the contributions of Goswami

for development of education,

culture and journalism.

The president of the meet-

ing expressed his gratefulness

to Goswami for his untiring ef-

forts for uplift of the society,

specially in the fields of educa-

tion, culture and development

of Assamese language among

all sections of people of the dis-

trict through his speeches on

various occasions.At the end of

the programme, Jakir Hussain

offered the vote of thanks.

es, which is a journal of the Department of

Sociology, edited by Assistant Professor Dr

Diganta Kumar Phukan, Prospect, a journal

of the Department of Philosophy, edited by

Associate Professor Minoti Gogoi, and

Pragya, a journal of the Department of Edu-

cation, edited by Assistant Professor Julee

Saikia.

The function was attended by all the faculty

members of the institute. Principal Dr Deva-

brata Sharma while speaking on the ocassion

appreciated the efforts of the editors and con-

tributors for the journals and urged them to

continue with the good work.

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: The

Animal Husbandry and Veteri-

nary Department organised a

two-day training programme on

poultry farming for skill devel-

opment of the stakeholder farm-

ers of Hailakandi district.

The programme, organised

under the National Livestock

Mission (NLM) of the Govern-

ment of India, concluded on

Tuesday. As many as 39 farmers

were oriented on different as-

pects of poultry and duckery

farming, namely feeding, man-

agement, healthcare, et al with

focus on entrepreneurship devel-

opment. Training was also im-

parted to the farmers for ensur-

ing optimum growth and better

acclimatisation of poultry and

duckery under field condition.

The training is aimed at en-

hancing farmers’ income and

contributing to their nutritional

and livelihood security.

Training impartedon poultry farming

“The Animal Husbandry and

Veterinary Department has been

promoting livestock farming

amongst the farmers, especially

educated and unemployed youth

as a viable business option in view

of increasing demand of poultry

and its products,” said District

Veterinary Officer RA Laskar.

Assuring the farmers of con-

tinued support in future, Laskar

said, “Poultry farming is a profit-

able venture if done on scientific

lines and the Animal Husbandry

and Veterinary Department is

getting a lot of queries regarding

commercial and backyard poul-

try farming, including duckery.”

Besides lectures, practical train-

ing on handling of poultry birds,

nutritional management, value

addition of livestock produce and

prevention of diseases through

vaccination protocols were pro-

vided. The inaugural pro-

gramme was jointly coordinat-

ed by the Subdivisional Agricul-

ture Officer AR Ahmed.

NORTH EAST8 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

No. DME/Adm/M.Sc.(N)/84/2008/Pt/18949

ADMISSION NOTICEAdmission into the 1st year M. Sc. Nursing courses

in R.C.N. Guwahati for the session 2019-20.

It is for the general information of the candidates whose

names have appeared in the Merit list of M. Sc. Nursing

Entrance Examination, 2019 conducted by Srimanta

Sankaradeva University of Health Sciences that one seat in

Mental Health (Psychiatry) Nursing under E.W.S. quota is lying

vacant. Accordingly a counseling for selection of candidate

for admission into the same will be held at the Office of the

Director of Medical Education, Assam on 6th January/2020 at

1.30 p.m. Interested candidates are directed to attend the said

counseling along with all original testimonials including E.W.S.

certificate etc. for selection.

Sd/- Director of Medical Education,

Janasanyog/D/8467/19 Assam

No CE/CW/34 /2019-20/

PRESS NOTICE INVITING TENDERThe Chief Engineer, P.W.D (Roads), Assam on behalf of the Governor

of Assam invites bid from approved and eligible contractors registered

with Assam PWD (Roads) for construction of 6(Six) nos. of Foot Over

Bridges at (1) Sukleswar Temple, (2) Taj Vivanta, (3) Kar Bhawan, (4)

Mahendra Show Room, (5) Mizoram House & (6) Hanuman Mandir(G.S

Road) in Guwahati under SOPD(G) for the year 2019-20 in Guwahati city

of Kamrup (Metro) district of Assam. Details may be seen at website -

assamtenders.gov.in and also at the office of the undersigned in the

“City Works Cell”, from 02.01.2020 to 24.01.2020 during office hours.

Schemes are not yet sanctioned by the competent authority. In the

event of non- sanction of the schemes, the bids may be cancelled and no

claim what so ever on this account shall be entertained from the bidders.

Sd/- Chief Engineer, PWD (Roads),

Janasanyog/CF/3142/19 Assam, Chandmari, Guwahati-3

NOTICE INVITING TENDEROnline tender (Two Bid System- Technical and Financial) are

invited from reputed firm for supply of training Food Material/

Housekeeping Material at Institute of Hotel Management,

Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Guwahati- 781036.

The interested firm may visit the Institute

website www.ihmctanghy.org.in and https://

www.tenderwizard.com/CTANIHM for details. The last date

of submission of tender is 20.01.2020.

Sd/- Principal

Institute of Hotel Management

VIP Road, Upper Hengrabari,

Janasanyog/C/8405/19 Barbari, Guwahati- 36

No. AAAS/Assam/Tender/2017-18/09/

e-TENDER NOTICE

AYUSHMAN BHARAT-PRADHAN MANTRI JAN AROGYA

YOJANA (AB-PMJAY) AND ATAL AMRIT ABHIYAN (AAA)

Competitive Quotations are invited in a Two Envelop Bidding

System (i.e. Qualification Bid & Financial Bid) from Third Party

Administrators (TPAs) (Licensed with Insurance Regulatory

and Development Authority) to implement Ayushman Bharat-

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and Atal Amrit

Abhiyan (AAA) in the State of Assam as Implementation

Support Agency (ISA).

The tender document may be downloaded from http://

assamtenders.gov.in. The participating bidders should havevalid Digital Signature Certificate(DSC) and have to register inthe portal http://assamtenders.gov.in. The bid should besubmitted on-line in the portal http://assamtenders.gov.in

on or before 4.00 PM of 21/01/2020. Late bids shall not beaccepted and summarily rejected.

The details of Qualification Bid and Financial Bid arementioned in the tender document. The Qualification Bid shallbe opened at 2.00 PM of 22/01/2020.

Sd/- Chief Executive Officer,

Atal Amrit Abhiyan Society, AssamJanasanyog/CF/3132/19

TENDER NOTICE

NIT.NO. NO.ATPO/MDTC/AMC/2009-99/Pt-1/

Assam Trade Promotion Organisation invites sealed quotation

from reputed Firms/vendors etc having experience and valid

licenses for AMC service work on 33kv Electrical and Water

supply system at Maniram Dewan Trade Centre, Guwahati.

The last date of submission of tender is 20/01/2020. For details

may contact the undersigned during office hour.

Sd/- General Manager, ATPO

Maniram Dewan Trade Centre

Betkuchi, Guwahati-35

NOTICE INVITING QUOTATION

NIT.NO. NO. ATPO/MDTC/Air-con/rep-main/2018/171

Assam Trade Promotion Organisation invites sealed quotation

from reputed Firms/vendors/Suppliers etc dealing in supply

and installation of Air conditioners, having experience and

valid licenses for supply and installation of total 5T split AC

system at Maniram Dewan Trade Centre, Guwahati.

The last date of submission of tender is 21/01/2020. For details

may contact the undersigned during office hour.

Sd/- General Manager, ATPO

Maniram Dewan Trade Centre

Betkuchi, Guwahati-35

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

NIT.NO. NO. ATPO/MDTC/2014/110

Assam Trade Promotion Organisation invites proposals from

reputed Firms/vendors/Suppliers/Individuals having

experience on following work at Maniram Dewan Trade Centre,

Guwahati.

1) Installation of two numbers digital signage and two numbers

glow signage.

The last date of submission of proposal is 21/01/2020. For

details may contact the undersigned during office hour.

Sd/- General Manager, ATPO

Maniram Dewan Trade Centre

Betkuchi, Guwahati-35Janasanyog/C/8396/19

No.S(E)46/2019/78

Tender Extension NoticeIn continuation to the NIT dated 06-12-2019 for “Supply,Installation, Testing and Commissioning andMaintenance of Aadhar enabled Biometric AttendanceSystem with 5 years comprehensive warranty andsupport for Assam Secretariat” and the subsequentExtension Notice vide No.S(E)46/2019/71, dated21.12.2019, it is for information to all concerned thatthe last date for Bid submission of tenders is extendedto 8th January, 2020 till 3 P.M. Other terms and conditionsremains the same as per the NIT.

Sd/- Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of Assam

Secretariat Administration DepartmentJanasanyog/C/8377/19

Forecast for North Eastern

States : Weather is most likely

to remain dry over Arunachal

Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya,

Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram

and Tripura .

Warning: Dense fog is very

likely to occur at isolated

pockets over Assam and

Meghalaya.

Temperatures :

Max (°C) Min (°C)

Dibrugarh 25.8 8.0

Tezpur 25.2 9.9

Silchar 28.2 12.2

Dhubri 23.0 12.9

Jorhat 24.2 6.4

N Lakhimpur 26.5 5.7

Shillong 17.7 6.2

Cherrapunjee 21.7 8.2

Aizawl 19.4 7.2

Kohima 13.2 3.8

Pasighat 25.0 12.3

Itanagar 27.0 7.5

Imphal 24.0 5.1

Agartala 29.5 11.8

WEATHER

NORTHEAST

Two youths on bicycles greet each other as a woman walks by, during sunset in Agartala on Tuesday. – UB Photos

SOBHAPATI SAMOM

IMPHAL, Dec 31: Manipur Chief Min-

ister Biren Singh today stated that his

Government was taking all necessary

steps to implement the inner line per-

mit (ILP) system in the State from to-

morrow onwards. He said the ILP has

been the long-standing public demand to

save indigenous people from infiltrators.

Meanwhile, the Manipur Government

will focus on tourism, horticulture and ag-

riculture in the New Year, said Biren Singh

while talking to media persons here today.

The Government is going to give a

thrust to these sectors in view of in-

creased tourist inflow and greater output

of horticultural products, Biren Singh said.

“One great achievement of the State

in the last three years has been the in-

crease in number of tourists visiting the

State,” he said. “Earlier only 400 to 500

tourists from abroad used to visit the

State annually. Now about 1,000 of them

visit the State on a monthly basis,” the

Chief Minister claimed.

ILP in Manipur from todayThe Government also proposes to in-

clude two picturesque spots – Tamei (in

Tamenglong district) and Tengnoupal (in

Tengnoupal district) – on the North East

tourist circuit, he said, adding that the

proposal was put forward during an Act

East policy meeting chaired by the Un-

ion Home Minister recently.

The State Government has also decid-

ed to develop 60 tourist spots under 60

Assembly constituencies by providing Rs

50 lakh each, including Rs 20 lakh each

from the MLA’s local area fund, apart from

introducing another helicopter service for

tourists within February next year.

“In the horticulture sector, we are

going to promote fruits from each of the

districts like oranges from Tamenglong,

lemons from Ukhrul, bananas from Non-

ey, ginger from Pherzawl, etc.,” he said.

“We are sending pineapples to Mumbai

and Delhi, besides other places. There

are also demands from Italy and Germa-

ny,” Biren Singh added.

The annual output of ginger produced

in Pherzawl has also increased in the last

few years, he pointed out.

Being a landlocked State, there is need

to improve the agricultural sector by tap-

ping groundwater and developing around

50 small check dams on the foothills in

Manipur. “So we have submitted propos-

als worth Rs 440 crore to the ministry

concerned,” he added. “We are also tak-

ing steps to conserve agricultural land in

view of the limitations,” said Biren Singh.

Highlighting the achievements of the

BJP-led coalition Government in the

State so far, the Chief Minister said that

one lakh families received benefits un-

der the CMHT, a healthcare scheme, and

another 90,000 families under the Ay-

ushman Bharat scheme.

Around 80,000 houses were construct-

ed under the ‘Housing for All’ scheme in

the State. Education in government

schools has also improved compared to

the past. The Government now plans to

develop 60 government model schools

in all the 60 Assembly constituencies.

Around 450 teachers have been trans-

ferred in this regard.

RAJU DAS

SHILLONG, Dec 31: The year

2019 revolved mainly around the

issue of the Citizenship (Amend-

ment) Act and the people protested

against it throughout the year, eclips-

ing other events.

At the beginning of 2019, several

organisations and political parties

opposed the Citizenship (Amend-

ment) Bill. Right from January this

year, rallies were held and opposi-

tion against the CAB was registered

by different groups in the State.

Even the State BJP legislators

supported the opposition to the Bill

during a rally held in the State capi-

tal. The Khasi Students’ Union had

organised a public rally, opposing the

CAB, at Motphran with the theme,

‘Say No to CAB’, on January 30.

CAA protests eclipsed other events in MeghalayaThe rally was part of the North

East Students’ Organization (NESO)

programme to hold such rallies in

every State. The following day an-

other public rally was held by the

Confederation of Hynniewtrep So-

cial Organizations at the Students’

Field at Jaiaw to oppose the Bill.

Such rallies periodically paralysed

normal life till December 12 when

the Bill became an Act and immedi-

ately, there were reports of violence

and arson from several parts of the

State capital. Curfew was imposed

and mobile Internet services were

suspended by the East Khasi Hills

district administration. The mobile

Internet service was restored only

on December 20 and the curfew was

lifted a few days earlier.

The CAA overshadowed other

events, especially frequent power

outages in the State. Meghalaya,

which was a power-surplus State

some decades back and sold power

to Assam, is now reeling under a

severe power crisis.

Right up to April this year, there

was loadshedding and after a gap of a

few months, there is darkness again

with power cuts in the current month.

The loadshedding schedule ranged

from one to four hours during the

daytime and about four hours at night

till April this year. In December, there

was loadshedding for two hours daily

throughout the State.

Some other major events include

the one in February when the CBI

virtually set up its headquarters here

to investigate the Saradha scam. A

number of people ranging from

former Kolkata Police chief Rajeev

Kumar and others were grilled at its

anti-corruption branch at Oakland.

In the same month, the district

council elections were held and the

regional parties went on to form the

Khasi Hills council. In March, Chief

Minister Conrad Sangma present-

ed a deficit budget of Rs 1,323 crore

in the Assembly today for the fiscal

year, 2019-20.

During May, in a repeat of the

2014 poll results in Meghalaya, the

National People’s Party (NPP) and

the Congress retained the Tura and

Shillong Lok Sabha seats respective-

ly. Throughout the country, the BJP

won the general elections in May

with a thumping majority.

On July 12, the long and costly res-

cue operation at the Ksan coal mine in

Jaintia Hills came to a close after sev-

en months following approval from the

Supreme Court. It cost several crores

of rupees to the State Government

with the recovery of only a few bodies

out of the many who drowned in the

rat-hole coal mine.

On October 11, the State received

the shocking news of Archbishop

Dominic Jala’s demise in a road acci-

dent in Colussa County, United States.

Later, the State had its usual share

of festivals like Durga Puja, Id, the

Cherry Blossom carnival and Christ-

mas till December this year.

Meanwhile, the CAA issue still has

not petered out with people of the

State demanding implementation of

the inner line permit (ILP) system in

Meghalaya. The Meghalaya Legisla-

tive Assembly unanimously adopted

a government resolution to urge the

Centre to implement the ILP in the

State on December 19. The Centre

is yet to respond to this resolution.

CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR, Dec 31: Aru-

nachal Pradesh Governor Brig

(Dr) BD Mishra (retd) and

Chief Minister Pema Khandu

today extended warm greet-

ings to the people of the State

on the eve of the New Year.

Wishing all “a very happy

and prosperous New Year

2020”, the Governor ex-

pressed the hope that the New

Year would bring joy, happi-

ness, good health and prosper-

ity to all citizens in the State.

The Governor, in his mes-

sage, said that the New Year

presents a great opportunity

for all to make a new resolve

and live up to it. It is the right

time to reflect on the core

values and traditions and move

forward with the spirit of ‘na-

tion first’. The challenges and

achievements of the preced-

ing years bring forth a sense

IMPHAL, Dec 31: Four

cadres of proscribed militant

outfit – Kanglei Yawol Kanba

Lup (KYKL) – were arrested

today in Thoubal district, po-

lice said.

All four of them – identified

as Amujao Meitei, Sadokpam

Nongpoknganba, Khagenbam

IPFT announcesstir over Tipraland

demandCORRESPONDENT

AGARTALA, Dec 31: The

Indigenous People’s Party of

Tripura (IPFT), a partner in

the BJP-led coalition Govern-

ment in the State, has an-

nounced an indefinite sit-in

demonstration over the de-

mand of formation of Tipra-

land, embarrassing the Biplab

Kumar Deb-led Government.

The sit-in demonstration will

commence at Khumulwng, the

headquarters of the Tripura

Tribal Areas Autonomous Dis-

trict Council (TTAADC), from

January 6. However, many said

the IPFT wants to begin its

campaign for the ADC election

from Khumulwng by launching

the indefinite stir.

IPFT general secretary

Mever Kumar Jamatia today

confirmed the party’s deci-

sion of beginning the agitation

for Tipraland, a core demand

of the regional party. Mean-

while, the party is also de-

manding withdrawal of the

Citizenship (Amendment)

Act from Tripura.

“We had a meeting with Un-

ion Home Minister Rajnath

Singh where the party leaders

urged him to keep Tripura out-

side the ambit of the CAA as it

will be disastrous for the party.

So far, we have not received

any positive gesture from the

Centre. It is really painful,” said

Jamatia, who is the Tribal Wel-

fare Minister of Tripura.

If the IPFT starts an agitation

from January 6, peace in the ADC

areas will be disturbed as there

is already tension following the

anti-CAB protests. The Joint

Movement Against Citizenship

Amendment Bill (JMACAB)

has also expressed dismay over

the role of the Ministry of Home

Affairs on addressing its con-

cerns after implementation of

the Act.

Arunachal Guv, CM extendNew Year greetings

of perseverance and pursuit

for attainment of higher goals

in the New Year.

“Let us begin this New Year

with determination to stand

by our ideals, work with hon-

esty, accountability, responsi-

bility and prepare for self-au-

dit and mid-course correction

as and when needed,” he said.

“Let us, on this New Year,

seize the moment for con-

sciously living our life with pur-

pose, renewed vigour, replac-

ing doubts and negativity with

hope, and positivity,” the Gov-

ernor said, while wishing that

the New Year usher in ever-

lasting peace and tranquillity

in the State.

Greeting the people on

New Year’s eve, Chief Minis-

ter Khandu expressed the

hope that the “goal” set by

‘Team Arunachal’ of a vibrant

and progressive State would

be achieved in the New Year

2020. He reiterated that goals

give direction, put a powerful

force into play on a universal,

conscious, and subconscious

level, giving life direction.

“My goal – this year – is all

set: To rededicate my heart and

soul for welfare of each district,

each community, each religion,

each family and each individual

of my state. The seeds of de-

velopment and new initiatives

for welfare and well being of all

classes of people have been put

in place in the last few years.

My goal is to see these being

implemented in the truest

sense. This year will be anoth-

er step forward in creating new

opportunities for all to lead a

happy and prosperous life.

“Let’s bury our differenc-

es, let’s forgive each other for

our faults and drawbacks and

let’s surge ahead as one unit –

Team Arunachal,” Khandu

said in his message.

4 ultras held in ManipurAthoi and Mayanglangbam

Khoiraba – are active mem-

bers of the banned organisa-

tion, Thoubal SP Soibam

Ibomcha said.

“During preliminary

questioning, the cadres re-

vealed that they were

trained for 45 days at a cen-

tre in Myanmar,” the SP

said, adding that more details

would be available after fur-

ther investigation.

Official sources said the

Manipur-based outfit has set

up camps in the hilly terrains

of the neighbouring country

to avoid police glare. – PTI

BIPLAB KR DEY

TURA, Dec 31: The Garo

Hills saw multiple murders in

2019, though killings related to

militancy were relatively few-

er. The year saw friends killing

friends, wives murdering hus-

bands, husbands murdering

wives, among many cases in the

region – with the ages of those

murdered ranging from six

months to 70 years.

In one of the first incidents

that took place near the Dalu

PS in April, a betel nut trader

from Assam’s Mankachar was

murdered. The victim, iden-

tified as Roshidul Islam, was

duped by his driver who

helped local criminals kidnap

him. Police were able to crack

the case easily, leading to the

arrest of the criminals as well

as the driver, Aziz.

Bonhomie took an ugly

turn after two persons, ap-

parently friends of a victim,

strangled him to death in

April. The assailants had a

grudge against their friend.

Alom Mondal (18) was the

victim, while Sofial Sheikh

(18) and Malu Sheikh (24)

were found guilty of the mur-

der that took place in an area

under the jurisdiction of the

Phulbari PS.

The Garo Hills was shaken

after an eight-year-old girl

PM mournsNagalandAssembly

Speaker’s deathNEW DELHI, Dec 31:

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi today condoled the

death of Nagaland Assembly

Speaker Vikho-o Yhoshu, de-

scribing him as a diligent lead-

er who was devoted towards

development of the State.

Yhoshu (67) died on Mon-

day at a hospital in Mumbai

after battling lung cancer for

several months.

“Anguished by the demise

of the Speaker of Nagaland’s

Assembly Vikho-o Yhoshu. He

was a diligent leader who de-

voted his life towards the

progress of Nagaland. My

thoughts are with his family and

supporters in these moments

of sadness,” the Prime Minis-

ter wrote on Twitter. – PTI

Murder cases rockedGaro Hills in 2019

from Ruga village in South

Garo Hills was raped and mur-

dered by an employee of her

father after the accused way-

laid the minor while she was

returning home. The accused,

Bitchon Ghosh, was arrested

after he confessed to the

crime. The brutal rape and

murder in May led to mas-

sive protests.

In May again, 65-year-old

Minggan Ch Sangma was

murdered and his body

dumped near Menggotchigre

village near Jangrapara under

the Tikrikilla PS in West Garo

Hills. This killing was the first

in a suspected case of alleged

witch-hunting though the case

is yet to be solved.

In the East Garo Hills in July,

angered at the continued abuse

of his sister, the brother-in-law,

Birit D Shira, of one Francis G

Momin murdered him before

surrendering to the police. The

suspect dumped the body of

the victim in a well near Bal-

srigittim.

In the same month, the

murder of a six-year-old girl

by an apparently insane man,

sent shivers down the spine

of residents. The incident oc-

curred near Kharkutta village

in North Garo Hills. The ac-

cused, Silsrang B Marak, lured

the six-year-old from her

house on the pretext of hunt-

ing crabs, and later killed the

victim and dismembered her.

He later dumped the body and

the head in two different plac-

es in the Manda river. The

head was recovered, but the

body could not be found.

In July, a man was reported

missing for over a month in

West Garo Hills. Almost the

entire family, including the

mother, son and son-in-law,

were involved in the apparent

contract killing. Three contract

killers were arrested, leading

to the case being cracked. The

victim was strangled before

being dismembered and bur-

ied in an area under the

Dadenggre PS limits.

In August, the body of Nar-

jina Begum, a Rajpur resident

under the Phulbari PS, was

found floating in a river. Her

husband, Mominur Islam,

was the prime suspect and ab-

sconded immediately after

the killing.

Recently, a man was mur-

dered after villagers believed

he was possessed by spirits.

The victim was suffering from

fever and blabbered in his

sleep, which led to villagers

believing he was possessed.

While no one was arrested for

the murder under the Bajeng-

doba PS, the man who alleg-

edly gave the advice was the

local witch-doctor.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 9BUSINESS & ECONOMY

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: In a major pushto the slowing economy, the Centre to-day lined up infrastructure projectsworth Rs 102-lakh crore across 18 Statesand Union Territories (UTs) in varioussectors such as railways, urban develop-ment, health, water and education.

Unveiling the first report of the TaskForce assigned to identify the projects,Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamansaid that the Centre and the States wouldshare 39 per cent each of the total costwith the private sector investing the bal-ance 22 per cent.

The Minister said that infrastructure hasbeen a focus of the government in the lastsix years with projects worth Rs 51-lakhcrore (5-6 per cent of GDP) taken up.

“We are now committing 102-lakh crorerupees for the next 5 years,” Sitharamansaid, adding, another Rs 3-lakh crore worthof projects would be added shortly.

It may be noted that out of the total

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Thegovernment is expected to providetax incentives to start-ups in theforthcoming Budget to support thegrowth of budding entrepreneurs,sources said.

The Department for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)has suggested several measures tothe Finance Ministry for start-ups inthe Budget.

The recommendations includeextension of tax incentives toincubators supported under AtalInnovation Mission; reduction in

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Kerala re-tained the top rank while Bihar was ad-judged as the worst performer in NITIAayog’s SDG India Index 2019, whichevaluates progress of States and UnionTerritories on social, economic and en-vironmental parameters, as per a reportreleased on Monday.

According to ‘SDG India Index 2019’,Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim haveshown maximum improvement, butStates like Gujarat have not shown anyprogress vis-a-vis 2018 rankings.

“Kerala retained its rank as the topState with a score of 70. Chandigarh toomaintained its top spot among the UTswith a score of 70.

“Himachal Pradesh took the secondspot while Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Naduand Telangana shared the third spot,” thereport said.

Bihar, Jharkhand and ArunachalPradesh are the worst performing Statesin this year’s Index for Sustainable De-velopment Goals (SDGs).

With regard to poverty reduction,States which have done well include

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: A

day after the government said

all operators will be allowed

to participate in the upcom-

ing 5G trials, the Department

of Telecom (DoT) held a

meeting with various service

providers and equipment

vendors, including Huawei, to

discuss the way forward.

The meeting today, chaired

by Telecom Secretary Anshu

Prakash, lasted for over an

hour. An official with one of

the telcos said that all opera-

tors attended the meeting.

A Huawei executive, who

was present at the meeting,

declined to comment on the

proceedings.

Telecom Minister Ravi

Shankar Prasad on Monday

said the government will al-

locate airwaves to all telecom

AJIT PATOWARY

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: North Eastern TeaAssociation (NETA) has opposed the propos-al of the Assam Power Distribution CompanyLtd (APDCL) to hike its power tariff. TheAPDCL proposal if translated into reality, willspell doom for the already stressed tea indus-try of the State, warned NETA adviser Bidy-ananda Barkakoty in a statement here.

He also urged the Chief Minister to inter-vene in the matter considering the presentcondition of the State’s tea industry.

APDCL has proposed increase in powertariff for all categories of its consumers for thecoming financial year of 2020-21. For the teacategory of its consumers, the state-run pow-er utility has proposed a hike in the fixed chargeto Rs 320 against the existing Rs 250, that is ahike of 28 per cent. It has also proposed toraise the energy charge from Rs 7.15 per unit

BUSINESS REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 31: Tohelp consumers beat its

upcoming price hike plans,

country’s largest car-makerMaruti Suzuki India Ltd

(MSIL) is offering mega

discounts on its range ofpassenger vehicles across its

retail channels ARENA and

NEXA.Talking about the

company’s discount policy,

Shashank Srivastava,Executive Director, MSIL,

in a media communication

said, “The best time to buya car is now as the offers of

mega discounts and big

savings benefits are on.These offers are aimed at

enhancing customer

satisfaction and helpingthem drive home their

loved car. Going forward,

discount levels will bereduced.”

In this context, he added

that on the back of suchdiscounts and benefits,

during the Christmas season

the company had deliveredcars to over 1,000 families.

To a question on offering

EESL, HPCLink pact to set up

charging infraMUMBAI, Dec 31: State-

owned Energy EfficiencyServices on Monday said it hassigned memorandum of under-standing with Hindustan Petro-leum Corporation for settingup charging infrastructure toboost electric mobility.

As a part of the national elec-tric mobility programme, En-ergy Efficiency Services(EESL), a joint venture of fournational public sector enterpris-es under the Ministry of Pow-er, and HPCL have entered intoa two-year MoU to set up pub-lic charging infrastructureacross the country, the compa-ny said in a statement.

The MoU covers collabo-ration for planning, develop-ment and installation of charg-ing facilities at suitable loca-tions for two, three, and four-wheeler vehicles.

“With the installation ofpublic charging stations, therange anxiety of EV owners isexpected to reduce, which willincrease the adoption of elec-tric mobility. This will alsobring down automobile emis-sions, enabling cleaner andgreener environment, in turn,safeguarding public from healthrisks,” the company said.

Commenting on the part-nership, EESL Managing Di-rector Saurabh Kumar saidthat this tie-up will addressthe range anxiety concernsthat EV-adopters may have.

“Increased access to charg-ing infrastructure is vital forthe uptake of electric mobili-ty across the entire EV eco-system of two, three, andfour-wheelers. Our partner-ship with HPCL will also es-tablish more visibility ofcharging infrastructure, send-ing a signal to the general pub-lic that India’s electric mobil-ity vision is being realised infull potential,” he added. – PTI

Govt mullsinvestment

clearance cell towoo investorsNEW DELHI, Dec 31: The

government is consideringsetting up an investment clear-ance cell and provide definedtimelines for all kinds of Stateand Central approvals to attractinvestments, an official said.

In order to further ease thebusiness climate of the coun-try, it is also looking at devel-oping a single application formfor all kinds of clearances andprovide deemed approvals,the official said.

For onboarding Central de-partments and States, the gov-ernment is looking at two sin-gle point of contacts – one eachfrom Central department andState; list of licences and docu-ments; detailed processes; time-lines for each approval /deemedapprovals; and support for ITsystems integration from all de-partments, the official added.

The Department for Promo-tion of Industry and InternalTrade (DPIIT) is working onthe proposal, which could beimplemented in four phases.

According to the proposal,an investor would also be ableto track the status of his/herapplication. Currently, an inves-tor has to seek several approv-als such as company incorpora-tion, GST registration, import-export code, environmentclearance, and NOC for groundwater extraction, at Central andState government levels.

Investors require singleapplication, self-certification,document submission at sin-gle place, time-bound/deemed approvals, real-timestatus update. – PTI

SBI cutsEB-based

rate by 25 bpsMUMBAI, Dec 31: The

country’s largest lender StateBank of India has announced a25 basis points reduction in itsexternal benchmark-based rate(EBR) to 7.80 per cent per an-num from 8.05 per cent per an-num, effective January 1, 2020.

With this cut, interest ratefor the lender’s existing homeloan customers as well as mi-cro, small and medium enter-prise (MSME) borrowerswho have availed loans linkedto external benchmark-basedrate will reduce by 25 basispoints, the lender said.

New home buyers will getloans at an interest rate start-ing from 7.90 per cent perannum as against 8.15 per centper annum previously. SBIhad introduced floating ratehome loans from July 1, 2019.

The lender had adoptedrepo rate as the externalbenchmark for all floating rateloans for MSME, housing andretail loans from October 1,2019, after the Reserve Bankof India mandated all banks tolink a certain categories of loansto external benchmark-basedinterest rate. The RBI decisioncame as there was a delay onpart of banks in passing on thereduction in repo rate. – PTI

Centre lines up infra projectsworth Rs 102-lakh cr

expected capital expenditure of Rs 102-lakh crore, projects worth Rs 42.7-lakhcrore (42 per cent) are already underimplementation while projects worth Rs32.7-lakh crore (32 per cent) are in theconceptualisation stage.

The remaining projects are under thedevelopment stage.

The ambitious plan has been launchedeven as the private sector’s response sofar has been tepid with the once popularPPP model failing to take off.

Most projects in the highways sectorhave been taken up with the governmentproviding bulk of the funds. But the Cen-tre remains optimistic.

Sitharaman said that the private sec-tor share in the overall infrastructure isexpected to reach 30 per cent by 2025.

Among many measures to boost the econ-omy, the government considers buildinginfrastructure as key and has laid emphasison it. It has stepped up its spending on infra-

structure so that it does not become a con-straint on the growth of the economy.

The government had earlier constitut-ed a task force to draw up the NationalInfrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for each ofthe years from fiscal 2019-20 to 2024-25.The high-level panel is chaired by theDepartment of Economic Affairs (DEA)Secretary and includes the NITI AayogCEO, Expenditure Secretary, DEA Ad-ditional Secretary (Investments) and Sec-retaries of the administrative ministries.

The Finance Minister said that this isthe first of its kind exercise and wouldbe followed by setting up of a robustmonitoring mechanism. She said that NIPwill enable a forward outlook on infra-structure projects which will create jobs,improve ease of living, and provide eq-uitable access to infrastructure for all.

It is estimated that India would needto spend $4.5 trillion on infrastructureby 2030 to sustain its growth rate. – IANS

DoT holds discussionwith telcos, vendors

service providers for conduct-

ing trials of superfast speed

5G networks.

As things stand today, India

will not bar any equipment

suppliers in the upcoming tri-

als for 5G.

Asked specifically about the

status of Huawei in this con-

text, the minister had said,

“All players mean all players”.

This stance is expected to

spell relief for the Chinese

gear maker, which is facing

curbs in the US, and rivals

western equipment makers

such as Ericsson.

Many countries, however,

have allowed telecom service

providers to use Chinese gears.

And now, India has also indicat-

ed its unwillingness to keep any

company out of 5G trials.

This implies that all opera-

tors, backed by equipment

vendors they have decided to

partner with, will be able to

participate in the upcoming

5G trials in the country.

“I would like new innova-

tions by Indian players in 5G.

5G is future, it is speed. There-

fore, we will encourage new

innovations in 5G,” the minis-

ter had said on Monday on the

sidelines of a telecom event.

Huawei India CEO Jay

Chen had said in an e-mail

statement to PTI on Monday

that the company firmly be-

lieves that only technology in-

novations and high-quality

networks will be the key to

rejuvenating the Indian tele-

com industry. – PTI

5G trials

Power tariff hike to hitailing tea sector hard: NETA

to Rs 8.75 per unit, which is a hike of 22.3 percent, Barkakoty said.

The tea industry of the State is already un-der threat due to the adverse market scenar-io prevailing for the past few years. The pro-posed steep hike in fixed charge and energycharge of the APDCL, if effected, will be det-rimental for the Assam tea industry, he said.

Tea being an agricultural commodity andthe sector providing employment opportu-nity to a large number of rural population inAssam, the need of the hour is to supportthis agriculture-based rural industry, theNETA adviser argued.

“We understand the need to hike electrici-ty tariff by APDCL. The hike should be as percost inflation on all commodities, otherwisesuch an abnormal hike will adversely affectailing tea industry of Assam. We request theintervention of Chief Minister of Assam in thisregard,” he said.

Best time to buy a caris now: Maruti Suzuki

finance facility for cars, he

said Maruti Suzuki has tied-

up with leading public andprivate sector banks along

with regional rural banks to

help customers get easyvehicle finance.

Talking about other

benefits being offered byMSIL, Srivastava said, “The

company also offers its

customers the convenienceof exchanging their old cars,

buying or renewing

insurance and access to awide range of car accesso-

ries under the same roof.”

When asked about itsreadiness on BS6 transi-

tion, he said, “Maruti

Suzuki is already offeringeight models – Alto,

WagonR, Baleno, S-Presso,

Swift, Dzire, XL6 andErtiga – with BS6 petrol

variants. In a move to offer

customers new technology,the company has launched

the BS6 variants much

ahead of its deadline. Withover 4 lakh sales of BS6

petrol variants, they make

up over 70 per cent of totalpetrol vehicle sales for

Maruti Suzuki.”

Govt may provide tax incentives for start-ups in BudgetGST (goods and services tax) rateson AIF (alternate investment fund)management fees; and tax benefitson ESOPs, they said.

Start-ups need talented workforceand ESOPs are one of the bestoptions to attract skilled people asgiving just high cash payout adds tothe burden on cash-starvedenterprises, industry players said.

Tiger Global-backed tea cafe chainChaayos founder Nitin Saluja saidthat there should be less tax onESOPs. “It should attract as littletax as possible. ESOPs are one of

the best options for start-ups attheir early stages,” Saluja said.

Further fees charged by fundmanager of AIF domiciled in India isliable to 18 per cent GST as itqualifies as a taxable supply.

Sources said that reduction inGST rates will help India to becomean investment hub.

Start-up India initiative of thegovernment aims at fosteringentrepreneurship and promotinginnovation by creating an ecosystemthat is conducive to growth ofbudding entrepreneurs.

There are 19 components under theStart-up India action plan spanningacross areas such as simplification andhand-holding, funding support andincentives, and industry-academiapartnership and incubation. So far thedepartment has recognised 26,619start-ups. Of these, maximum were inthe IT services space which wasfollowed by healthcare and lifescienc-es, and education.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman is likely to present theBudget for 2020-21 fiscal onFebruary 1, 2020. – PTI

4 NE States perform well in poverty reduction

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs,Atanu Chakraborty during the launch of National Infrastructure Pipeline, in New Delhi on Tuesday. – PTI

Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh,Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim.

On ‘zero hunger’ parameters, Goa, Mi-zoram, Kerala, Nagaland and Manipur werethe front runners, according to the report.

“The United Nations’ SDG target of2030 can never be met without India...We are fully committed to achieving UN’sSDG target,” NITI Aayog CEO AmitabhKant said at the launch of the report.

Speaking at the event, NITI AayogVice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar said south-ern States have done well in health.

“West Bengal (rank 14) has also donewell in NITI Aayog’s SDG Index 2019,but given the education level(in theState), West Bengal should be in top 3performing States,” Kumar added.

The NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman alsosaid Modi government will not leave anystone unturned to make sure Indiaachieves SDG Agenda 2030.

According to the report, India’s com-posite score improved from 57 in 2018 to60 in 2019 with major success in water andsanitation, industry and innovation. How-ever, nutrition and gender continue to beproblem areas for India, requiring morefocussed approach from the government.

The report said while three out of fiveStates in the top spots perform equal toor better than the country average on 12goals, the other two States do the sameon 11 goals.

“Only three States were placed in thecategory of Front Runners (with a scorein the range 65-99, including both) in2018 – Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, andTamil Nadu. “In 2019, five more Statesjoined this league – Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, Karnataka, Sikkim and Goa,taking the total tally to eight,” it noted.

The SDG India Index, launched last yearby NITI Aayog with the help of UnitedNations, took into account 16 out of 17 goalsspecified by the United Nations as SDGs .The Index this year ranked States basedon 54 targets spread over 100 indicatorsout of 306 outlined by the UN. – PTI

NITI Aayog’s Index forSustainable DevelopmentGoals

NEW DELHI, Dec 31:Shops, business firms or com-panies with an annual turno-ver of Rs 50 crore or moreand required to provide digitalpayment facilities to custom-ers as part of government’sstride towards a less-casheconomy, will not have to payany penalty till January 31 fornot installing the system.

They would, however, haveto cough up Rs 5,000 per day aspenalty for failing to accept pay-ments in the prescribed digitalmodes from February 1, 2020.

Clarifying this, the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

said that the move was aimedat giving sufficient time to thespecified person to install andoperationalise the facility for ac-cepting payment through pre-scribed electronic modes.

In a circular,the CBDT saidthat penaltyunder Section271DB of theFinance Act shall not be leviedif the specified person installsand operationalises the facilitieson or before January 31, 2020.

“However, if the specifiedperson fails to do so, he shall beliable to pay a penalty of five

thousand rupees per day from1st February, 2020 under Sec-tion 271DB of the Act for suchfailure,” the circular dated De-cember 30 said. In order to en-courage digital economy and

move towardsa less-casheconomy, anew provisionwas inserted

in the Income Tax Act to requireevery person having a businessturnover of more than Rs 50crore to mandatorily provide fa-cilities for accepting paymentsthrough prescribed electronicmodes.

RuPay and UPI are amongthe prescribed mode of pay-ment for digital transactionswithout any Merchant Dis-count Rate (MDR). The MDRis the percentage of the digit-al transaction that a merchantpays to banks.

In her Budget speech in July,Finance Minister Nirmala Sith-araman had listed out BHIMUPI, UPI-QR Code, AadhaarPay, certain debit cards, amongothers, as the low-cost digitalmodes of payment which couldbe offered without levyingMDR in order to promote aless-cash economy. – IANS

Deadline for installing digitalpayment system extended till Jan 31

Firms, shops withannual turnover ofRs 50 cr or more

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 202010 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI

NATIONAL

ASSAM PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONJawaharnagar, Khanapara, Guwahati-781022

No.227/E-9/2016-2017

PRESS NOTICE

Fact Sheet of examinations/viva-voce interviews conducted by the Assam Public Service

Commission from January/2019 to December/2019.

(1) DIRECT RECRUITMENT

Sl. Name of Post and Deptt. Date(s) of Result Nos. of Total number

No. Viva-voce declared candidates of Candidates

o n interviewed recommended

1. Lecturer in DIETs in various 11th, 18th, 19th, 28.01.2019 316 23

categories under Elementary 21st, 24th , 25th

Education Deptt & 28th Jan./ 2019

(English/Foundation of

Education)

2. Lecturer in DIETs in various 11th, 12th, 13th & 14.02.2019 114 10

categories under Elementary 14th Feb./2019

Education Deptt-(PSTE

(Mathematics)

3. Lecturer in DIETs in various 25th, 26th, 27th, 05.03.2019 219 10

categories under Elementary 28th Feb./2019 &

Education Deptt. (PSTE 1st, 2nd & 5th

(Science) March/2019

4. Jr. Scientific Officer (Biology, 11th, 12th, 13th, 20.03.2019 102 3

Physics and Questioned 14th, 15th, 16th,

Documents) Divisions under 18th, 19th &

Home & Political Department 20th March/2019

5. Lecturer in DIETs in various 6th,7th, 8th, 09.05.2019 112 10

categories under Elementary 9th May/ 2019

Education Deptt. (Art

Education)

6. Sr. Scientific Asstt. (Serology 14th, 15th, 16th & 17.05.2019 61 1

Division) under Home & 17th May/ 2019

Political Department

7. Asstt. Geologist under Mines 21st, 22nd, 23rd 24.05.2019 41 11

& Minerals Department & 24th May/2019

8. Lecturer in DIETs in various 10th & 11th 11.06.2019 13 3

categories under June/2019

Elementary Education

Deptt. (Planning &

Management)

9. Lecturer in DIETs in various 17th, 18th, 19th & 21.06.2019 110 15

categories under Elementary 21st June/2019

Education Deptt.(Physical

Education)

10. Lecturer in DIETs in various 16th to 30th 30.08.2019 269 11

categories under Elementary August/2019

Education Deptt.(Social Science)

11. Lecturer in DIETs in various 23rd and 24th 24.09.2019 24 4

categories under Elementary Sept./2019

Education Deptt.

(Education Technology)

12. Director of Economics & 30th Sept./2019 30.09.2019 6 1

Statistics, Assam under T&D

Deptt.

13 Lecturer in DIETs in various 22nd to 25th 25.10.2019 63 11

categories under Elementary Oct./2019

Education Deptt. (CMDE)

14. Inspector of Factories under 19th & 20th 20.11.2019 39 2

Labour Welfare Deptt, Nov./2019

TotaI = 115

(2) Audit Officer Examination (Promotion)

Sl. Name of Examination Date of Results Nos. of Total number

No. Examination declared candidates of candidates

o n recommended

1 Audit Officer under Assam 22nd, 24th,25th

Local Fund Audit & 28th 07/11/2019 80 57

Service(Promotion)Exam January/2019

(3) Computer Operator, APSC Office

Sl. Name of Examination Date of Results Nos. of Total number

No. Practical declared candidates of candidates

Test o n recommended

1. Computer Operator, APSC 8th December/2019 11/12/2019 82 17

Office

Direct Recruitment : 115

Audit Officer : 57

Computer Operator : 17

Total : 189

Sd/- Secretary,

Janasanyog/D/8479/19 Assam Public Service Commission

Young girls preparing to welcome the 'New Year 2020' in Shimla, on Tuesday. – PTI

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: The

Army is “better prepared” to

face any challenge that may

come up at India’s borders with

Pakistan and China, Gen Bipin

Rawat said on Tuesday, noting

that the Army’s restructuring

and modernisation were

among his biggest achieve-

ments during his tenure as the

Army chief. Gen Rawat had as-

sumed charge as the 27th Chief

of Army Staff on December

31, 2016, and retired from the

post on Tuesday after a distin-

guished career. On Monday, he

was appointed India’s first

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

During an interaction with

reporters after receiving a

ceremonial farewell, Gen Ra-

wat was asked if the troops

are better prepared and

equipped to face challenges at

the borders with Pakistan and

China, with him at the helm

of the Army for three years,

and he said, “Better pre-

pared... I would say, yes”.

He was given a Guard of

Honour in the forecourt of

the South Block at the Raisi-

na Hill complex here. Before

becoming Army chief, he

handled various operational

responsibilities in many are-

as, including along the LoC

with Pakistan, the LAC with

China and in the northeast.

Responding to another ques-

tion on what he counted as the

biggest achievement during

his tenure as the Army chief,

Gen Rawat said, “My focus

was on the Army’s restructur-

Army better prepared to faceany challenge: Gen Rawat

ing, weapon system moderni-

sation and non-contact warfare.

And, I endeavoured to do the

best.” Some of the major ar-

tillery gun systems, including

the M777 American Ultra

Light Howitzers and the K-9

Vajra, and the Sig Sauer as-

sault rifles were inducted into

the force in his tenure.

Gen Rawat, an alumnus of

St Edward School in Shimla

and the National Defence

Academy in Khadakwasla,

Pune, was commissioned into

the 11th Gorkha Rifles of the

Indian Army in December

1978 from the IMA Dehra-

dun, where he was awarded

the ‘Sword of Honour’. He

has a vast experience in op-

erations across a wide spec-

trum of conflict and terrain

profiles. Rawat commanded

an Infantry battalion along the

Line of Actual Control (LAC)

in the Eastern Sector, an In-

fantry Division in the Kash-

mir Valley, and a Corps in the

North-east. – PTI

India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat afterinspecting the Guard of Honour in New Delhi, on Tuesday. – PTI

T H I R U V A N A N -

THAPURAM, Dec 31: The

Kerala Assembly on Tues-

day passed a resolution de-

manding scrapping of the

controversial Citizenship

Amendment Act (CAA), be-

coming the first state in the

country to do so.

While Chief Ministers of

non-BJP ruled states like

Mamata Banerjee of West

Bengal have announced that

they would not implement

CAA, CPI(M)-ruled Kerala

was the first to take the leg-

islature route to register its

opposition to the law.

Setting aside their politi-

cal differences, the ruling

CPI(M)-led LDF and Oppo-

sition Congress headed UDF,

once again came together to

launch a joint fight against the

Centre on the CAA, which

has seen unprecedented pro-

tests all over the country.

While all the members of two

fronts unanimously support-

ed the resolution at the spe-

cial session and vehemently

criticised the central govern-

ment, the lone BJP MLA in

the 140-member house op-

posed the resolution, term-

ing it as “illegal and uncon-

stitutional.”

Vijayan, who moved the

resolution and Leader of Op-

position Ramesh Chennitha-

la, who seconded it, alleged

that CAA was an attempt to

make India a religious nation,

which Rajagopal rejected say-

ing the Act was being “misin-

Kerala Assembly passesresolution against CAA

terpreted” and lies were be-

ing spread by the fronts for

narrow political gains. The

Chief Minister said the imple-

mentation of the controver-

sial act will lead to religion-

based discrimination in grant-

ing citizenship, which was

against the secular values en-

shrined in the Constitution.

The legislation, which

contradicts the basic values

and principles of the Consti-

tution, was a cause of con-

cern for the Non Resident

Indians also, he said and

wanted the Centre to take

steps to drop CAA and up-

hold the secular credentials

of the Constitution.

The southern state has al-

ready put on hold all activi-

ties in connection with the

National Population Register

(NPR) considering the “ap-

prehensions” of the public

that it would lead to National

Register of Citizens (NRC).

Noting that the Act had

triggered widespread pro-

tests among various strata of

society, the Chief Minister

said it had dented India’s im-

age in front of the interna-

tional community.

Vijayan also made it clear

that there would be no de-

tention centres set up to

house illegal immigrants in

the state.

Just because both houses

of Parliament has passed the

CAA, it cannot be implement-

ed as it was against constitu-

tional values, he said.

Congress leader Ramesh

Chennithala also criticised

the CAA and came down on

the state governor Arif Mo-

hammed Khan for support-

ing the Act.

“The governor should be

above politics,” Chennithala

said adding he should under-

stand the feelings of the peo-

ple of the state.

Chennithala claimed that

the controversial Act virtu-

ally rejects the equality guar-

anteed by the Constitution

and violates the fundamental

rights of the citizens. The

CAA cannot be viewed as an

isolated move but it should

be seen along with the NRC

and NPR, he added.

The Opposition Congress

-led UDF had wanted the

Left government to convene

a special session and pass a

resolution against the CAA

during an all-party meeting

convened by the Chief Min-

ister on December 29 to dis-

cuss the issue.

The two fronts had recent-

ly held a joint protest here

against the CAA in which

Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vi-

jayan and Opposition leader,

Ramesh Chennithala had par-

ticipated with scores of lead-

ers from different parties.

The resolution was passed

at the special session con-

vened to ratify the extension

by another 10 years the res-

ervation for SC and ST com-

munity in the state assem-

blies and Parliament. – PTI

People sit around a fire to keep themselves warm on a cold winter morning at Rajpath in New Delhi, on Tuesday . – PTI

Securitybeefed upfor PM visit

BENGALURU, Dec 31:

Elaborate security

arrangements have been

made in view of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi’s

two-day visit to Karnataka

on January 2 and 3,

officials said.

The Special Protection

Group officials had a

meeting with state govern-

ment officials, especially the

police regarding the

security arrangements.

During his stay in Tumaku-

ru, drones will not be

allowed and anybody

violating the direction will

face stringent action, said a

notification issued by

Deputy Commissioner of

the district Dr Rakesh

Kumar. According to the

tour itinerary, the Prime

Minister will reach

Bengaluru on January 2 and

fly to Tumakuru by a

helicopter to visit Sri

Siddaganga Math. Modi

will later take part in the

Krishi Karman Awards

function at the Junior

College grounds where he

will address a gathering

and distribute fishing

equipment, a government

press release said.

The same evening he will

return to Bengaluru to visit

the Defence Research and

Development Organisation.

He will stay at the Raj

Bhavan.The next day, the

Prime Minister will

inaugurate the 107th Indian

Science Congress at the

Gandhi Krishi Vignana

Kendra Campus at the

University of Agricultural

Sciences in Bengaluru,

before flying to New Delhi

in the afternoon.

To oversee the arrange-

ments, Chief Minister B S

Yediyurappa visited

Tumakuru on Tuesday and

held a meeting with

officials. Speaking to

reporters later, Yediyurap-

pa said Modi will reach

Siddaganga Math at 2.15

pm where he will pay his

obeisance to the seer there.

He will be in the town till

5.30 pm on January 2, he

added. “Later, he will take

part in the Krishi Karman

and Krishi Samman Awards

function which about 1.5 lakh

people are likely to attend.

He is going to give awards to

28 progressive farmers from

21 states,” said the Chief

Minister. The Chief Minis-

ters of Manipur and

Jharkhand and the Governor

of Uttarakhand will also

attend the event. – PTI

BENGALURU, Dec 31:

Not taking chances with un-

ruly revellers and anti-social

elements, the Karnataka

government has directed

the city police to step-up se-

curity for a safe New Year

Eve (NYE) bash, an official

said on Tuesday.

“On the state govern-

ment’s advice, security

across the city has been tight-

ened with additional police

personnel in the city and up-

scale suburbs to enable rev-

ellers usher in the New Year

safely and deal sternly with

Security stepped up for safe New Year Eve in Bengalurutrouble makers,” a state

home department official told

IANS here.

With Prime Minister

Narendra Modi visiting the

city on Thursday on a two-

day visit to the state and the

5-day Indian Science Con-

gress (ISC) 2020 com-

mencing in the city from

Friday, protests, rallies and

sit-in demonstration have

been banned in public plac-

es during the week for safe-

ty and security.

“Safe and peaceful celebra-

tion of NYE will be allowed

in the central business dis-

trict and upmarket places

across the city but stringent

action will be taken against

those revellers disrupting

the event and causing law

and order problem,” assert-

ed the official.

Chief Minister BS Yediy-

urappa and state Home Min-

ister Basavaraj Bommai re-

viewed the security arrange-

ments in the city and Tu-

makur with top police offic-

ers, including state Director-

General of Police (DGP)

Neelamani Raju, Additional

Director-General of Police

(ADGP) for law and order

across the state Amar Kumar

Pandey and Bengaluru Police

Commissioner Bhaskar Rao.

In view of the ongoing pro

and anti-protests on the Cit-

izen Amendment Act (CAA)

by many social and political

organisations, including col-

lege and university students

during the last fortnight, the

BJP government has or-

dered the police to maintain

heightened vigil against mis-

creants and habitual offend-

ers who take advantage of

situation and create law and

order problem.

“The police also banned

driving or riding on flyovers

and elevated roads from 9

pm to 6 am on Wednesday

to avoid drunken driving

and mishaps,” reiterated

the official.

“Vehicular traffic and park-

ing of cars and 2-wheelers will

not be allowed on the hilly

roads to prevent untoward

incidents and maintain law and

order on the NYE from to-

night to tomorrow morning,”

added the official. – IANS

BJP MLAbooked forbeating cop

PILIBHIT (Uttar Pradesh),

Dec 31: A Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) MLA, Kishan Lal

Rajpoot, from Uttar

Pradesh’s Barkhera constitu-

ency, along with his 15 identi-

fied and more than 35 uniden-

tified supporters, have been

booked for allegedly beating

a police constable with shoes

at a police post and robbing

him of a gold chain and wallet.

This comes after a court

ordered that the FIR be reg-

istered.

According to reports, the

constable, Mohit Gurjar, had

conflict over the refund of a bike

that he had bought for Rs

50,000, but the seller, Rahul,

allegedly did not have valid reg-

istration documents, and thus,

he failed to get the bike trans-

ferred into Gurjar’s name.

Gurjar said that on Sep-

tember 12 when he sought his

money back, Rahul allegedly

called him to the Pilibhit Man-

di Samiti gate, where MLA’s

nephew Rishabh, and some

other people were also

present along with Rahul.

The constable said: “When I

reached the spot, they abused

and thrashed me. They opened

fire at me and I had a narrow

escape. They robbed me of my

gold chain and wallet and caused

serious injuries to me.”

Gurjar alleged that he rushed

to the Assam Road police post

to save his life, but the MLA,

along with his supports, reached

there and started beating him

with his shoes. – IANS

Cold wave inUP continuesLUCKNOW, Dec 31: Se-

vere cold wave continued un-

abated in Uttar Pradesh with

the minimum temperature in

Kanpur touching zero degrees

Celsius and state capital Luc-

know recording 0.7 degrees

Celsius on Monday, the mete-

orological department said.

Bahraich recorded a low of

0.2 degrees Celsius, the de-

partment said on Tuesday.

Jhansi recorded a minimum

temperature of 1.8 degrees

Celsius, followed by Baraban-

ki (1.6 degrees Celsius) and

Furstaganj in Amethi district

(1.4 degrees Celsius).

Fatehpur recorded a low of

2.2 degrees Celsius, Sutan-

pur 2.4 degrees Celsius, Ba-

reilly 2.5 degrees Celsius,

Churk in Sonbhadra 2.6 de-

grees Celsius and Banda 3.0

degrees Celsius. – PTI

THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 11WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020NATIONAL

Janasanyog/DF/2498/19

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Re-

searchers at the Indian Insti-

tute of Technology (IIT) here

have produced a small and

medium scale energy storage

device. According to the

team at IIT Delhi, various

energy storage options are

available currently with asso-

ciated advantages and disad-

vantages depending upon ge-

ographical location and need.

“One of the storage options

NEW DELHI, Dec 31:

The year 2019 will go down

as a watershed in the BJP’s

journey as the party not only

achieved its highest-ever tal-

ly in Lok Sabha but also real-

ised its decades-long ideolog-

ical planks with the Modi

government pushing the saf-

fron agenda with renewed

vigour in its second term.

However, it was not alto-

gether a smooth run for the

BJP as regional satraps in al-

liance with the Congress suc-

ceeded in dethroning it in

Maharashtra and Jharkhand

while nationwide protests

against the Citizenship Act

and the concept of National

Register for Citizens pushed

it on the defensive.

The scale of protests

prompted its top leaders, in-

cluding Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and party

president Amit Shah, to de-

couple the Citizenship

Amendment Act (CAA) with

the NRC, and it remains un-

certain as to how the saffron

party will push on with its

ideological agenda in the face

of mounting challenges. All

debated and done, party lead-

ers are likely to look back at

2019 with more than a touch

of satisfaction as the year saw

nullification of Article 370,

criminalisation of triple talaq,

One killed,6 injured

HYDERABAD, Dec 31: A

13-year-old school student

was killed on the spot and six

other students were injured

here on Tuesday after a lor-

ry hit the auto-rickshaw in

which they were travelling,

police said.

The accident happened

when the sand-laden lorry

collided with the three-

wheeler resulting in the death

of the boy while six others,

including his brother, were

hurt, a police official said.

Eight children were in the

auto-rickshaw when the mis-

hap occurred, he said. The

three-wheeler overturned

under the impact of the colli-

sion, he said.The deceased

was a seventh class student,

he said.”We are verifying

CCTV footage to checkwho

had jumped a signal,” the of-

ficial said. However, the lor-

ry driver has been taken into

custody, he added. – PTI

Man gets lifeimprisonmentTHANE, Dec 31: A 25-

year-old man was on Tues-

day sentenced to life im-

prisonment by a court in

Maharashtra’s Thane for

killing his girlfriend as he

doubted her character. Dis-

trict Judge VY Jadhav held

Swapnil alias Babu Hanu-

man Jadhav guilty under

IPC sections 302 (murder)

and 376 (rape) and also

fined him Rs 30,000.

The victim, who was 18 at

the time, and Jadhav, a lift

mechanic, lived in the same

locality in Mumbra here and

were in love, said Additional

Public Prosecutor Sanjay

More.

“He used to doubt her

character and would also take

objection to phone calls the

victim used to get from a

friend. On April 29, 2014,

Jadhav took the victim to a

hillock and stabbed her sev-

eral times and left her to die

there. Her sister found her

there,” he said. – PTI

KOTA, Dec 31: A day af-

ter the BJP formed a fact find-

ing committee to inspect

what led to the deaths of in-

fants in Kota, the four-mem-

ber panel visited a hospital in

Kota district in Rajasthan on

Tuesday and interacted with

the patients.

Soon after the visit, one

of the members of the com-

mittee, Locket Chatterjee,

took to twitter to lash out

at the Congress-led Rajas-

than government for its al-

leged failure.

She accused Rajasthan

Chief Minister Ashok

Gehlot of celebrating the

JMM-Congress-RJD alli-

ance’s victory in Jharkhand

Assembly polls when infants

were dying in his state.

Chatterjee also trained her

Delhi’s air qualityimproves

NEW DELHI, Dec 31:The air quality of the nation-al capital improved signifi-cantly from ‘severe’ to ‘verypoor’ category on Tuesday.

Delhi’s overall Air QualityIndex (AQI) crossed 300 onTuesday morning which fallsin the ‘very poor’ category,as against 440 on Monday.

An AQI between 0-50 isconsidered ‘good’, 51-100 is‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moder-ate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400‘very poor’ and 401-500 as ‘se-vere’. An AQI above 500 fallsin the ‘severe plus’ category.

Air quality levels furtherdeteriorated in Anand Vihar,recording pollution levels at412, making it fall in ‘severe’category. In Ghaziabad, airquality index was 348, and inNoida it was 427.

According to System of AirQuality and Weather Fore-casting and Research (SA-FAR), “A fresh water distur-bance is very likely to affectthe region by December 31and improve surface windspeeds and ventilation. Im-provement in AQI towardshigher end or the ‘very poor’category is expected. Furtherimprovement, to the middleof the ‘very poor’ category, isexpected by January 1, 2020”.

They further advised eve-ryone to reduce heavy exer-tion. People with heart orlung disease, adults and chil-dren should avoid longer orheavy exertion. – PTI

IIT Delhi researchers develop new devicethat is currently showing sig-

nificant potential is the vana-

dium redox flow battery

(VRFB). It has some unique

characteristics of independ-

ent power and energy capac-

ity tenability, complete dis-

charge without damage, and

easy replacement of liquid

electrolyte having active in-

gredient,” said Anil Verma,

Department of Chemical En-

gineering, IIT Delhi.

“It is considered that

VRFB would be a competent

device to store renewable

energy. However, in the Indi-

an scenario, where we need

to serve a large number of

isolated pockets of population,

small and medium energy

storage and utilization is more

important. VRFB combines a

battery’s efficiency and fuel

cell’s independent energy

storage capacity and works by

moving an electrolyte con-

taining suitable vanadium ion

through VRFB that converts

chemical energy to electrical

energy and vice-versa,” he

added. The project will ad-

dress design of the battery

pack, which will be in-line

with the requirement for

home light systems given by

the Indian Renewable Ener-

gy Development Agency

(IREDA). – PTI

A watershed year for BJPbut new challenges emerge

enactment of CAA and a Su-

preme Court order paving

the way for Ram temple con-

struction in Ayodhya, issues

which have agitated Hindut-

va cadres for decades.

If the results of the April-

May general election under-

scored the BJP’s preemi-

nence in national politics with

the party winning 303 seats

in the 543-member Lok Sab-

ha, its footprint in state gov-

ernments was reduced to a

mere 35 per cent of the coun-

try’s landmass from the peak

of 71 per cent in 2017.

If the outgoing year again

highlighted the appeal of

‘brand Modi’, it also brought

to light the BJP’s vulnerabili-

ty in state elections when the

Prime Minister and national

issues are not driving factors

for the common voter’s

choice.The massive mandate

of 303 seats in the general

elections, however, set off its

own unintended consequenc-

es for the party, which man-

aged to ruffle feathers of quite

a few allies with its “big broth-

erly” airs.The BJP lost its

Hindutva ally Shiv Sena in

Maharashtra and the JD(U),

which is now its biggest part-

ner, is yet to get over the

slight of being offered mere-

ly one cabinet berth in the

Modi government as a “sym-

bolic representation”, as Bi-

har party leaders recalled dis-

dainfully. JD(U) president and

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish

Kumar summarily rejected

the proposal.

The year also saw the rise

and rise of Shah as he after

being inducted as the Home

Minister in the second Modi

government was the face of

the central dispensation in

pushing its major decisions

with distinct ideological hues.

Whether it was the nullifi-

cation of Article 370, bifurca-

tion of the erstwhile state of

Jammu and Kashmir into two

union territories, strengthen-

ing of anti-terror laws or the

passage of the amended citi-

zenship bill, Shah spearhead-

ed the government’s agenda

and took on the opposition

with his usual mix of com-

bative articulation and ideo-

logical clarity.Even when he

focussed his energies on lead-

ing the party during the first

term of the Modi govern-

ment, there was never a

doubt on who is the real

number two in the organisa-

tion after Modi. And it was

no coincidence that Shah was

at the helm of the govern-

ment’s drive to carry out the

BJP’s central Hindutva

planks in the second stint of

the government. – PTI

Rahul must visit Kota,not Italy: BJP panel

guns at Rahul Gandhi and

Priyanka Gandhi, saying:

“Where are Rahul Gandhi

and Priyanka Gandhi? Moth-

ers have lost their infants due

to government callousness.”

As many as 77 infants

have died within a month in

Kota, 12 of them within a

week. In the last one year,

over 940 child deaths have

been reported.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om

Birla has urged Chief Minis-

ter Gehlot to deal with the

issue “sensitively”.

Kanta Kardam (Uttar

Pradesh), Jaskaur Meena

(Rajasthan) and Bharti Pawar

(Maharashtra) are the other

members of the fact finding

committee, which has now

upped the ante on the Gehlot

government.

The panel was set up on

Monday by BJP working

President JP Nadda. It will

submit its report within

three days. – IANS

12 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

INTERNATIONAL

No. DMB/W/CIDF/2019-20/10/

INVITATION OF CONSULTATING SERVICES

Selection of consultations/ Consulting Firms for

preparation of DPRs for the CIDF (City

Infrastructure Development Fund) for Diphu townThe authority of City Level CIDF Implementation and Monitoring (CCIMC)

for Diphu Town here in after referred to as the authority invites offers from

reputed consultant/ Firms for preparation of Detailed Project Report

(DPRs) of the project approved under CIDF for Diphu.

The RFP (Request for Proposal) may be obtained from the office of the

undersigned during the office hours from 20.12.2019 to 07.01.2020.

The interested Consultant/ consulting Firms may submit their Financial

bids affixing Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council fee of Rs. 10.00 (Rupees

ten) only with their credential/ information/ Testimonials in prescribed

format enclosed in the bid documents. They are also require to pay a non-

refundable fee of Rs. 1000/- (Rupees one thousand) only in cash to be

deposited in the office of the undersigned.

The sealed bid documents for the same is to be submitted to the office

of the Principal Secretary, Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council &

Chairperson, City Level CIDF Implementation and Monitoring (CCIMC),

super-scribing on the top of the envelope "Financial Bid document for

selection of consultant/ Firms for preparation of DPR for the CIDF for

Diphu". The Applicants/ Bidders who have already been approved by the

Govt. of Assam after receiving their Technical Bids and empanelled as

successful bidder/ Consultant could submit their Financial Bid against

the following schemes :

Sl. Name of Scheme Probable

No. Amount

1 Construction of Inter State Bus Terminus at Diphu 1200.00

at DM Road Near Recreation Centre

2 Construction of Truck Terminus Sweeper collony and 500.00

Cremation Ground

3 Construction of New Market Complex at Rongkhelan 1000.00

at Land presently occupied by Vety. Deptt.

4 Beautification and protection of Lorulangso river 500.00

from DGBHS Field to Diphu River

5 Beautification and protection Dharamnalla river from 800.00

Railway Bridge to Dharamnalla Bridge

6 Construction of New Auditorium Building at 400.00

Rongthenag of Diphu town

7 Construction of Waiting Shed at each and every

ward of Diphu Town 100.00

8 Construction of Public toilet with all facilities in each 280.00

ward of Diphu Town

9 Providing fitting and fixing of road Furniture at the 150.00

major road of Diphu Town

10 Installation of City Signage in and around Diphu Town 100.00

11 Construction Lawn Tennies and Volleyball Court with 100.00

Gallery at the Kasa Stadium, Diphu

12 Construction of Basket Ball Court with Gallery at 100.00

Kasa Stadium, Diphu

13 Construction of Water Fountain at main Market 50.00

14 Construction of Heritage Building of CST Memorial 400.00

Hall at Lorulangso of Diphu Town

15 River Front Development with Amusement park of 1000.00

Diphu River

The last date of submission of Bids is 07.01.2020 till 2.00 pm. The Bid will

be opened on 07.01.2020 at 3.00 pm, in presence of the bidder or their

authorized representative. If the opening date becomes a holiday then

the bid will be opened on the next working days at 3.00.

The undersigned reserves the right to change the terms and condition,

accept or reject any one or all the bids without showing any reason

thereof.

Sd/- Principal Secretary

Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council

&

Chairperson

City Level CIDF Implementation and Monitoring (CCIMC)

Karbi Anglong, DiphuJanasanyog/CF/3146/19

¤˘ ¤ 1˚2013

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ø˚À √̋√Ó≈¬ ¤È¬± ø¬ıÀ˙ ∏̄ õ∂fl¡ä1 ¬ı±À¬ı ›¬Û1Ó¬ ά◊À~ø‡Ó¬ ̂ ”¬ø˜ ‡G Ê√1n∏1œˆ¬±Àª ’øÒ¢∂ √̋√Ìfl¡1±ÀȬ± õ∂À ˛̊±Ê√Úœ ˛̊ ∆ √̋√ ¬Ûø1ÀÂ√ Œ¸À ˛̊À √̋√ 1±Ê√… ‰¬1fl¡±À1 ̧ ±˜±øÊ√fl¡ õ∂ˆ¬±ª ø¬ıÀù≠ ∏̱̄Rfl¡’Ò… ˛̊Ú Úfl¡ø1¬ıÕ˘ ø¸X±ôL ¢∂ √̋√Ì fl¡ø1ÀÂ√º¶§±˚- ¶§±˚-fl¡Ó‘«¬Q˙œ˘ ø¬ı¯∏˚˛±, ¸ø‰¬¬ıά◊¬Û± ˛̊≈Mê√, ˜ø1·±“› 1±Ê√˝√√ ’±1n∏ ≈√À˚«±· ¬ı…ª¶ö±¬ÛÚ± ø¬ıˆ¬±·Janasanyog/CF/3147/19 ’¸˜ ‰¬1fl¡±1

COTTON UNIVERSITYPanbazar, Guwahati:781001

NOTICE INVITING EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

NI-EOI No. CU/S&P/2019/15

Expression of Interest in sealed covers is invited from

manufacturers or authorized dealers/suppliers in two bid (techno-

commercial & financial) system for empanelment of vendors

with respect to supply of computer peripherels for a period of

one year. The deadline for the same is 3.00 PM of January 20,

2020. For more details, please visit the website

www.cottonuniversity.ac.in. The NI-EOI No. CU/S&P/2019/

08 Dated June 03, 2019 stands cancelled.

Sd/- Registrar.Janasanyog/CF/3138/19

No. CE/CC/WR/NIT/2019-20/1003/12

PRESS NOTICE FOR BIDChief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Chandmari, Guwahati-3, on behalf of Governor of Assam invites

Tender for the following works:

Sl. Name of Name of The Scheme Amount (in Rs.) FUND

No. Division

1. Barpeta Protection of Uttar Safakamar and its adjoining area

W.R. from the erosion of river Beki on its L/B (Ph-I) 34653390.26 SOPD-G

Division

2. Guwahati Construction of flood wall along L/B of river Pamohi

East W.R. along with other ancillary works. 14803066.69

Division

Details may be seen at website http://assamtenders.gov.in

1. The interested registered Contractor/ Bidders of WRD who are experienced in the execution of works,under

Water Resources and possess required technical and financial strength may obtain the SBD which can be down

loaded from the website http/assamtenders.gov.in. Amendment/Addendum to the SBD, if any, and further

notifications shall appear in this website.

2. The Contractor/bidder must be registered with the Electronic Tendering System (ETS) of the Govt. of

Assam (website http/assamtenders.gov.in. Contractors can download documents free of cost. Contractors

have to necessarily down load the bidding document from the ETS using their own ID(Digital Signature

Certificate). Bid documents not procured (downloaded) through the ETS/not using the contractor’s own user ID

will be considered invalid and summarily rejected. Contractors submitting bids online have to submit copy of

the documents of technical bid required to be submitted manually before the expiry of the sequence ‘Online Bid

Preparation & Submission’ in the tender schedule . The last date and time for submission of the Technical Bids

manually is the same as the expiry of the sequence ‘Online Bid Preparation & Submission’ in the tender

schedule. Bid will be rejected/ cancelled if Financial Bid submitted off-line/hard copy.

3. All the interested bidders are requested to read the Bid Document carefully before submission of their bid.

4. For any e-tendering related querries please mail to etenderingcewrd@gmail.com

Sd/- Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department

Janasanyog/C/8369/19 Assam, Chandmari, Guwahati-3

No: MC/268/2013/Pt-I/200

SHORT TENDER NOTICESealed tenders affixing court fee stamps of Rs 8.25/-

(Rupees Eight and Twenty Five paisa only) are invitedfrom recognized registered and resourceful bidder forsupply of an equipment (Biosafety Cabinet Class II A2)for the project titled “Mapping hotspots of MDR-TB inAssam, Sikkim and Tripura using Genomic approaches”in the Department of Microbiology, Gauhati MedicalCollege.

Last Date of Receipt of tender is 8th January, 2020,upto 2pm.

Detailed specifications and terms and conditions canbe obtained from the website of Gauhati MedicalCollege (http://gmchassam.gov.in) and also from theOffice of the Principal Investigator. Department ofMicrobiology, Gauhati Medical College during officehours on all working days.

Sd/- Principal Investigator

Department of Microbiology

Janasanyog/CF/3121/19 Gauhati Medical College

PRESS NOTICE

The Director of Fisheries, Assam re-reinvites sealed bid/quotation affixing non refundable

court fee stamp of Rs. 8.25 (Rupees Eight and paisa twenty five) only from Manufacturer/

Authorised distributor/Authorized dealer / Registered Supplier/Firm for the following supply. The

last date of submission of bid at the office of the undersigned is 7th January, 2020 up to 2.00 PM.

The bid/quotation will be opened on the same day at 2.30 pm where the bidders or their

authorized representative may be present. The stipulated time of completion is 1 (one) month.

SL Name of Supply Work Quan- EMD Cost of bid Time

tity document period

(Rs.)

1 Supply and installation of 1 Set Amount 200.00 1(one)

Multi-parameter water quality equivalent to month

probe for Aquaculture 2% of the quoted

value of quotationer

(1% for SC/ST/OBC/

MOBC bidder)

Intending bidders may see the details and download the Bidding document from the website

https://fisheriesdirector.assam.gov.in” of the Deptt. of Fisheries, Assam from 2nd January,

2020 up to 2.00 PM on 7th January, 2020.

Sd/- Director of Fisheries,

Assam, Guwahati.Janasanyog/C/8397/19

Fireworks are seen from Mrs Macquarie’s Chair during New Year’s Eve celebrations, in Sydney on Tuesday. – AP/PTI

DHAKA, Dec 31: The

Bangladesh government has

suspended mobile networks

along the borders with India,

citing security reasons “in

the current circumstances”,

a move that will affect around

10 million users in the area,

according to media reports.

The operators suspended

the networks on Monday

within one kilometres of the

borders with India, the Dha-

ka Tribune reported.

The Bangladesh Telecom-

munication Regulatory Com-

mission (BTRC), in its order

to telecommunications serv-

ice providers- Grameen-

phone, Teletalk, Robi and

Banglalink- on Sunday, said

network coverage in the

border areas should be sus-

pended until further notice

for the sake of the country’s

security in the current cir-

cumstances, it said.

A high-level meeting of

the government took this

decision, following which the

instructions were issued,

BTRC Chairman Jahurul

Haque was quoted as saying

by bdnews24, declining to

give further explanations.

A BTRC official was quot-

ed as saying in the Dhaka Trib-

une that around 2,000 base

transceiver stations have

been closed that would affect

around 10 million users in 32

districts that share border

with India and Myanmar.

According to the report,

Home Minister Asaduzza-

man Khan Kamal and For-

eign Minister AK Abdul

Momen expressed igno-

rance over the government’s

decision.

I do not have any such in-

formation. Let me know

about it first and then I will

comment, Kamal said.

Brig Gen (retd) S M

Farhad, secretary general at

the Association of Mobile

Telecom Operators of Bang-

ladesh, said, mobile network

operators in Bangladesh are

compliant with government

regulations; accordingly, the

directive on border network

coverage has already been

implemented.

This decision will certain-

ly have an impact since a large

segment of citizens in the

border areas will be out of

the range of the internet,

voice and other services.

The Bangladesh govern-

ment’s directive came days

after the Indian government

passed the controversial Cit-

izenship Amendment Act.

According to the law, mem-

bers of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist,

Jain, Parsi and Christian com-

munities who have come from

Pakistan, Bangladesh and Af-

ghanistan till December 31,

2014 following religious per-

secution there will get Indian

citizenship.

Reacting to the protests

erupting in India over the

CAA, Foreign Minister

Momen on December 22

voiced concern that any “un-

certainty” in India is likely to

affect its neighbours.

He said that Bangladesh

has requested New Delhi to

provide a list of Bangladeshi

nationals living illegally in

India, “if any”, to be repatri-

ated.

He had also cancelled his

visit to India beginning De-

cember 12, hours before he

was to arrive in New Delhi.

However, diplomatic

sources in New Delhi had said

that Momen and Home Min-

ister Khan cancelled their

visits to India over the situa-

tion arising out of the passage

of the controversial Citizen-

ship Bill in Parliament.

Bangladesh was learnt to

have been upset following

the roll out of the NRC in

Assam around four months

ago even though India con-

veyed to it that the issue was

an internal matter of the

country.

The NRC has been prepared

to identify genuine Indian citi-

zens living in Assam since

March 24, 1971, or before, and

identify illegal Bangladeshi mi-

grants in the state. – PTI

Bangladesh suspends mobilenetworks along Indian borders

NEW YORK, Dec 31:

Spikes in cases of life-threat-

ening diarrhea in young chil-

dren across the world may be

associated with climate condi-

tions linked to the oceans, ac-

cording to a study which may

lead to new early-warning sys-

tems to prepare for diarrhea

epidemics.

The study, published in the

journal Nature Communica-

tions, noted that diarrhea is

the second leading cause of

death in children younger than

five years of age in low- and

middle-income countries,

with 72 percent of the deaths

occurring in the first two

years of life.

The researchers, including

those from Columbia Univer-

sity in the US, said El Nino-

Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

is a coupled ocean-atmosphere

system spanning the equato-

rial Pacific Ocean.

They said the ENSO oscil-

lates in a 3-to-7-year cycle be-

tween two extremes, El Nino

– warmer ocean temperatures

– and La Nina – cooler ocean

temperatures, affecting local

weather patterns around the

world, including tempera-

tures, and rainfall.

Analysing the links between

ENSO, and cases of diarrhea

among children under age five

in northeastern Botswana, the

scientists found that La Nina is

associated with cooler temper-

atures, increased rainfall, and

higher flooding during the

rainy season.

Their assessment revealed

that La Nina conditions lagged

0-7 months are associated with

about a 30 per cent increase in

incidence of diarrhea in the

early rainy season from De-

cember through February.

“These findings demon-

strate the potential use of the

El Nino-Southern Oscilla-

tion as a long-lead prediction

tool for childhood diarrhea

in southern Africa,” said

study first author Alexandra

K. Heaney from the Univer-

sity of California, Berkeley

in the US.

“Advanced stockpiling of

medical supplies, preparation

of hospital beds, and organiza-

tion of healthcare workers

could dramatically improve the

ability of health facilities to

manage high diarrheal disease

incidence,” Heaney said.

Earlier studies had linked El

Nino events to diarrhea out-

breaks in Peru, Bangladesh,

China, and Japan, but until now

the effects of ENSO on di-

arrheal disease in Africa had

been limited to cholera — a

pathogen responsible for only

a small fraction of diarrheal

cases in the continent.

However, the researchers

said infectious diarrhea is

caused by many different path-

ogens like viruses, bacteria,

and protozoa.

They said climatic conditions

can have a critical influence on

pathogen exposures, particu-

larly those associated with

waterborne transmission.

Citing an example, the sci-

entists said extreme rainfall

events may contaminate drink-

ing water by flushing diarrhea-

causing pathogens from pas-

tures and dwellings into drink-

ing water supplies.

They speculated that cen-

tralised water disinfection

processes currently used in

the studied regions may be

insufficient to deal with chang-

es in water quality brought on

by extremes of wet and dry

weather. – PTI

Ocean climate patterns linked todiarrhea epidemic outbreaks: Study

ISLAMABAD, Dec 31:

There were nearly 370 ter-

ror attacks in Pakistan in 2019,

causing the death of 518 peo-

ple, according to a report by a

think-tank.

This is a 30 per cent drop

from the 739 fatalities from the

nearly 400 terror attacks in

2018, the Center for Research

and Security Studies (CRSS)

said in its report on Monday.

It said 141 militants were

arrested in 2019 including 24

of the Jaish-e-Muhammad

(JeM) and two of the Jamat-

ud-Dawa (JuD).

One of the causes in bring-

ing militancy under control

was the apprehension of the

outlaws belonging to various

banned outfits during this year,

according to the CRSS.

Only two militant outfits –

the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan

(TTP) splinter groups and the

Islamic State (IS) – claimed re-

sponsibility for 12 and one at-

tacks respectively, but their

own ranks depleted by nearly

30 per cent.

“Nearly 370 terror attacks

were reported during 2019

that left 518 persons dead in

the country,” the report said,

adding that the civilian fatali-

ties declined by about 36 per

cent.

Balochistan was the most

affected region of militancy

and insurgency but the larg-

est drop of 44 per cent in fa-

talities was also observed in

this province. Khyber Pa-

khtunkhwa and tribal region

also saw a drop of 44 per cent

in violence, while Sindh reg-

istered 19 per cent and Pun-

jab 11 per cent.

However, Islamabad saw an

uptick in violence, registering

seven fatalities in 2019, as op-

posed to six in 2018.

Gilgit-Baltistan showed the

most improvement, going

from seven fatalities in 2018

to no fatalities this year. – PTI

Over 500 people killed in 370 terrorattacks in Pakistan in 2019: report

10 dead in Iranbus crash

TEHRAN, Dec 31: At

least 10 people were killed

in Iran on Tuesday when the

bus they were travelling in

careened into a canyon west

of Tehran, state news agency

IRNA reported.

“Ten people died in the in-

cident and 11 were trans-

ferred to the nearest hospi-

tal,” emergency services

spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi.

The accident occurred at 5

am (0130 GMT) on a high-

way close to the city of Zan-

jan, he added.

The bus, which was being

driven at high speed, skidded

off the road and plunged 12

metres (40 feet) into the can-

yon before landing on its roof,

Zajan’s deputy police chief

tolf IRNA.

Those killed included a

woman and a 12-year-old

boy, Mohammad Ali Azimi

said, adding that the death toll

could rise.

Pictures released by the

news agency showed Red

Crescent emergency work-

ers searching through the

wreckage of an overturned

yellow bus. – AFP

India deepensstrategic ties

with South Africain 2019

JOHANNESBURG, Dec

31: The bilateral ties between

India and South Africa further

deepened in 2019 with the

two countries stepping up

their cooperation in the area

of defence and developing a

road map to enhance their

strategic partnership.

South African President

Cyril Ramaphosa was the chief

guest at the Republic Day pa-

rade in New Delhi on January

26. The visit of Ramaphosa,

the second South African

president to be the chief guest

at the Republic Day celebra-

tions, was of high symbolic

value and was very special for

both the countries as India

celebrated the 150th birth

anniversary of Mahatma Gan-

dhi, while South Africa ob-

served the 100th birth anni-

versary of the anti-apartheid

icon, Nelson Mandela.

Twenty-four years ago,

shortly after the end of the

Apartheid regime in early

1994, Mandela came to India

as the Chief Guest at the Re-

public Day parade in 1995.

In 1997, India and South Af-

rica signed the Strategic Part-

nership, called the Red Fort

Declaration. Since then, the

bilateral ties between the two

countries have grown strong-

er with the two nations having

MoUs in practically all areas.

During his 2019 India visit,

President Ramaphosa re-

newed the Declaration with the

three-year Strategic Pro-

gramme of Cooperation. – PTI

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 13INTERNATIONAL

ADVERTISEMENTA Walk-In-Interview will be held on the dates mentioned below for selection of candidates to be engaged purely

on contractual basis for the following positions of the Mini ITI's at Rangia.

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Time for reporting : 9.30 AM to 12.00 Noon

Sl. Name of No. Date of Educational Qualification Experience Remuneration

No. the post of Interview (Consolidated

Posts Fixed pay)

1 Workshop 3 07.01.2020 N.T.C/N.A.C in any trade 2 years experience Rs. 9000/- PM

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N.B : Candidates registered with the Employment Exchange, Rangia are eligible to apply.

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2. Interested candidates may appear before the selection committee with all original documents, experience

certificates etc. along with sets of self attested photocopies of the same, 2 (two) copies of recent passport

size Photographs and one filled in form in the prescribed format appended herewith on the date of interview.

3. No TA/DA will be paid to the candidates for attending the interview.

4. The selection committee reserves the rights to cancel/ postpone/ extend to subsequent date the said

interview without assigning any reason thereof.

5. The post are purely temporary on contractual basis.

6. The applicants must be permanent residents of Assam.

7. The applicants must have valid Employment Exchange Registration Card.

8. The Candidates who do not possess the requisite qualification and experience shall be summarily rejected.

9. Details are available on ITI Guwahati Notice Borad.

10. Candidates must report within the schedule time i.e. 9.30 AM to 12.00 Noon or else they will not be allowed

to participate in the walk-in-interview.

Sd/- Principal cum Member Secretary

IMC, ITI, Guwahati

Curriculam Vitae

1. The Name/ Names of the Post/ Posts Applied for ..................................................................................

2. Full Name of the Candidate ................................................................................................................

3 Date of Birth

Day Month Year

4. Age on 1st January 2019 ..................................................................................................................

5. Gender (Please tick) M F

6. Marital Status .................................................................................................................................

7. Father's/ Husband's Name ................................................................................................................

8. Present Address .............................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................

Tel No. ................................................................................. Mobile No. ............................................

9. Permanent Address .........................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................

Tel No. .................................................................... Mobile No. ..................................................

10. Employment Exchange Registration No. ..........................................................................................

11. Nationality ................................................................................................................................

12. Whether belonging to any of the following Caste/ Category

UR SC ST(P) ST(H) OBC/ MOBC

13. Whether Physically Handicapped? (Please tick) Yes No

14. All educational/ other Professional Qualifications/ Training Courses etc./ HSLC Examination onwards.

Level Examination Division/ Year of passing Duration of the Board/University Subject

passed Grade/ Degree/ Diploma

(HSLC percentage

onward) of mark

Experience in details/ dully authenticated experience certificates to be furnished.

I am a candidate for the post of .................................. and the stated above are true to the best of my

knowledge and belief. In case of any false statement, I am liable for any action the Government deems fit and

proper.

Date : ............................ Signature of Applicant

Place : ........................... Address : ............................

..........................................

Janasanyog/D/8472/19 ..........................................

Photograph

(2 Copies)

No. ITI-G/IMC/Recruitment/2019-20/

IN CAPITAL LETTERS

IN CAPITAL LETTERS

Protesters chant slogans against the Lebanese political class, in front of the Central Bank, in Beirut, Lebanon, onMonday. Banks have recently imposed informal capital controls, limiting withdrawals to up to $300 a week and totallyhalting transfers abroad while anti-government protesters, taking to the streets for nearly three months, have turnedtheir ire against the financial sector. – AP/PTI

SYDNEY, Dec 31: Thou-sands of holidaymakers andlocals were forced to flee tobeaches in fire-ravagedsoutheast Australia Tuesday,as blazes ripped through pop-ular tourist areas leaving noescape by land.

Four thousand people weretrapped on the foreshore of thetown of Mallacoota and manyothers sought refuge on beach-es in fire-encircled seasidetowns up and down a 200-kilo-metre (135-mile) strip of coast.

Some residents with boatseven took to the sea, hopingfor refuge from one the worstdays yet in Australia’s months-long bushfire crisis.

Dozens of properties werefeared to have been destroyedsince late Monday and at leastseven people were unaccount-ed for in New South Wales andVictoria states as flames

reached well-populated townslike Batemans Bay.

In some places the blazeswere so intense, the smokeso thick and the fire-provokeddry lightning storms so severethat aerial reconnaissance andwaterbombing had to be halt-ed, the New South Wales Ru-ral Fire Service said.

In Mallacoota, smoketurned day to night and theauthorities said nearby fireswere causing extreme thun-derstorms and “ember at-tacks”. “We’ve got a fire thatlooks like it’s about to impacton Mallacoota,” Victoria’sEmergency ManagementCommissioner AndrewCrisp told public broadcast-er ABC, adding that firefight-ers had been deployed toprotect the group.

Authorities had for daysbeen warning tens of thousands

of tourists enjoying Australia’ssummer holidays to leave thearea but for thousands it wasnow too late to leave.

“We’ve got three striketeams in Mallacoota that willbe looking after 4,000 peopledown on the beach there,” Crispsaid. “We’re naturally very con-cerned about communities thathave become isolated.” Prepa-rations were reportedly underway for an evacuation by sea orair if needed.

On social media, residentssaid they fled on boat or wereputting on life jackets in casethey need to seek refuge fromthe fire in the water.

Temperatures in bushfireareas can hit hundreds of de-grees Celsius (Fahrenheit) kill-ing anyone nearby long beforethe flames reach them.

Fleeing into the ocean is a“last resort option” according

to Victoria’s emergency man-agement agency. Local radiojournalist Francesca Wintersonsaid she was watching the fireapproach the town and her ownhome while she tried to broad-cast emergency warnings amida powercut.

“I’d rather be alive than havea house,” she told ABC Gipps-land. Australia’s unprecedent-ed bushfires have been burn-ing for months, but the latestin a series of heatwaves andhigh winds have wrought newdevastation. The crisis has hitcities like Sydney and Mel-bourne, home to several mil-lion people.

On Monday, around 100,000people were urged to flee fiveMelbourne suburbs as the spi-ralling bushfire crisis killed avolunteer firefighter battling aseparate blaze in the country-side. – AFP

Thousands trapped on Australiabeaches encircled by fire

Huawei thanks Indian Govtfor 5G trials permission, says

committed to IndiaBEIJING, Dec 31: China’s

telecommunications giantHuawei on Tuesday thankedthe Indian government forpermitting it to participate inthe upcoming trials for 5Gnetworks, a major boost to thecompany amidst a US clamp-down on it citing national se-curity risks.

The 5G is the next genera-tion cellular technology withdownload speeds stated to be10 to 100 times faster thancurrent 4G networks. The 5Gnetworking standard is seenas critical because it can sup-port the next generation ofmobile devices in addition tonew applications like driver-less cars and gadgets made outof artificial intelligence (AI).

Huawei rivals westernequipment makers, such asEricsson, and is banned in theUS. India on Monday indicat-ed its unwillingness to keepany company out of the 5G tri-als. Telecom Minister RaviShankar Prasad said the gov-ernment will allocate airwavesto all telecom service provid-ers for conducting trials of su-per-fast speed 5G networks.

“Huawei has been notifiedby the Indian government ofpermission to take part in the

5G trials,” Cyril Xu, SeniorManager, International MediaAffairs at the Shenzhen-basedcompany told PTI here whilereacting to India’s decision.

“We thank the Indian gov-ernment for their continuedfaith in Huawei,” Cyril said ina statement.

“We firmly believe that onlytechnology innovations andhigh quality networks will bethe key to rejuvenating theIndian telecom industry. Wehave our full confidence in theModi government to drive 5Gin India,” he said.

“We have our full confidencein the Indian Government andindustry to partner with besttechnology for India’s own longterm benefit and also for crossindustry development. Hua-wei is always committed toIndia,” he said.

Huawei’s participation in the5G trials in India, which is thenext biggest telecom marketafter China, has been one ofthe key topics in the India-Chi-na talks at various levels. Chi-na has been asking India to takeindependent and objective de-cision to permit Huawei 5Gservices in the country.

Significantly, India’s decisionto permit Huawei came after

the recent 22nd round of Spe-cial Representatives talks onthe border issue between Na-tional Security Advisor AjitDoval and Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi in New Del-hi. India had been maintainingthat it would take a decision inthe best interest of the coun-try. The issue of Chinese com-panies like Huwai participat-ing in 5G trials also came upduring the recent 2+2 Indo-US ministerial dialogue inWashington.

“We discussed the risks thatChinese-built communicationnetworks, including 5G, poseto our treasured freedoms andhow China’s unfair and preda-tory economic activity in theIndo-Pacific presents a risk tothose very freedoms,” US Sec-retary of State Mike Pompeosaid at a joint news conferenceattended by Defence SecretaryMark Esper, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar and De-fence Minister Rajnath Singhon December 18.

The US has classified Hua-wei as a national security threatamid claims the company has“close ties to the Chinese gov-ernment and military appara-tus”. Huawei rejected the USallegations. – PTI

Protesters damage property inside the US embassy compound, in Baghdad, Iraq, onTuesday. Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the US Embassycompound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to areception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire. – AP/PTI

WASHINGTON, Dec 31:Washington has accused Iraqiauthorities of having failed to“protect” US interests, theday after deadly American airstrikes against a pro-Iran groupsparked anger.

At least 25 fighters werekilled in Sunday night’s attacks,which were in retaliation forthe death last week of a UScivilian contractor.

“We have warned the Ira-qi government many times,and we’ve shared informa-tion with them to try to workwith them to carry out theirresponsibility to protect us,”a senior US State Depart-ment official told reportersin Washington on Monday.

He noted that the US mili-tary and diplomats are in thecountry “upon the invitation ofthe Iraqi government.” “So it’stheir responsibility and duty toprotect us. And they have nottaken the appropriate steps todo so,” he said, speaking oncondition of anonymity.

Multiple attacks have in re-cent weeks targeted Iraqi bas-es where Americans arepresent. The United States hasblamed the attacks on pro-Iranfactions. On Sunday, the US-ledair strikes were directed atseveral bases belonging to theHezbollah Brigades, one of themost radical factions of Hashedal-Shaabi, a Tehran-backed Ira-qi paramilitary coalition.

The strikes killed 25 andwounded 51 in Iraq. The at-tack was in retaliation for thedeath Friday of a US civiliancontractor in Kirkuk in a Hez-bollah Brigades rocket attack.

On Monday, Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Sal-man and US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo “agreed that theIranian regime and its proxiescontinue to be a destabilizingforce in the region and thatnations have a right to defendthemselves in the face of thesethreats,” State Departmentspokeswoman Morgan Orta-gus said. – AFP

‘Baghdad failed toprotect Americans’

BAGHDAD, Dec 31: Doz-ens of angry Iraqi Shiite mili-tia supporters broke into theUS Embassy compound inBaghdad on Tuesday aftersmashing a main door and set-ting fire to a reception area,prompting tear gas andsounds of gunfire.

An Associated Press re-porter at the scene sawflames rising from inside thecompound and at least threeUS soldiers on the roof of themain embassy building. Therewas a fire at the reception areanear the parking lot of thecompound but it was unclearwhat had caused it.

A man on a loudspeakerurged the mob not to enterthe compound, saying: “Themessage was delivered.”

The embassy attack, one ofthe worst in recent memory,followed deadly US airstrikeson Sunday that killed 25 fight-ers of the Iran-backed militiain Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbol-lah. The US military said theairstrikes were in retaliationfor last week’s killing of anAmerican contractor in a rock-et attack on an Iraqi militarybase that it had blamed on themilitia.

Dozens of protesterspushed into the compound af-ter smashing the gate used bycars to enter the embassy. Theprotesters, many in militiauniform, stopped in a corri-dor after about 5 meters, andwere only about 200 metersaway from the main building.

Half a dozen US soldiers

were seen on the roof of themain building, their guns werepointed at the protesters.

Smoke from the tear gasrose in the area, and at leastthree of the protesters ap-peared to have difficultiesbreathing. It wasn’t immedi-ately known whether theembassy staff had remainedinside the main building orwere evacuated at some point.

There was no immediatecomment from the US Em-bassy.

The protesters hanged aposter on the wall: “Americais an aggressor,” and somecommanders of militia factionsloyal to Iran joined the pro-testers. Among those wasHadi al-Amiri, the head of thestate-sanctioned paramilitary

Popular Mobilization Units,the umbrella group for theIran-backed militias.

Yassine al-Yasseri, Iraq’sinterior minister, also ap-peared outside the embassyat one point and walkedaround to inspect the scene.He told the AP that the primeminister had warned the USstrikes on the Shiite militia-men would have serious con-sequences.

“This is one of the implica-tions,” al-Yasseri said. “Thisis a problem and is embar-rassing to the government.”

He said more security willbe deployed to separate theprotesters from the embas-sy, an indication the Iraqitroops would not move in tobreak up the crowd by force.

Earlier, the mob shouted“Down, Down USA!” as thecrowd tried to push inside theembassy grounds, hurlingwater and stones over itswalls. They raised yellowmilitia flags and taunted theembassy’s security staff whoremained behind the glasswindows in the gates’ recep-tion area and also sprayedgraffiti on the wall and win-dows. The graffiti, in red insupport of the Kataeb Hez-bollah, read: “Closed in thename of the resistance.”

Also, hundreds of angryprotesters set up tents out-side the embassy. As tempersrose, the mob set fire to threetrailers used by securityguards along the embassywall. – AP

Iraqi supporters of Iran-backed militia attack US Embassy

S Koreanprosecutors

indict Moon’skey ally over

corruptionSEOUL, Dec 31: South

Korean prosecutors on Tues-day indicted a key ally ofPresident Moon Jae-in on adozen charges including brib-ery as they concluded amonths-long probe into a po-litical scandal that rockedSeoul’s liberal governmentand sparked huge protests.

In a rare public response toan ongoing criminal case,Moon’s office released a state-ment accusing prosecutors ofpushing an excessive probe intoformer Justice Minister ChoKuk and questioned whetherit was politically motivated.

The Seoul Central DistrictProsecutors’ Office said Chowas charged for receiving 6million won ($5,190) inbribes, in the form of scholar-ships his daughter receivedfrom a medical school in Bu-san from 2017 to 2018, whenhe served as Moon’s seniorsecretary of civil affairs.

A prosecution official saidCho faces 11 other charges, in-cluding working with his wifeto manipulate official docu-ments and create fake materi-als to help their daughter’s ad-mission into the school.

He is also charged with ob-structing justice and attempt-ing to tamper with evidenceregarding his family’s dubiousprivate equity investments,according to the official, whodidn’t want to be named, citingoffice rules.

Prosecutors arrested Cho’suniversity professor wife,Chung Kyung-shim, in Octo-ber. Cho served as Moon’sjustice minister for a monthbefore resigning in Octoberas the scandal grew, but hehas firmly denied any legalwrongdoing.

A Seoul court last week re-jected prosecutors’ request toarrest Cho over separate alle-gations that he blocked a 2017government inspection intocorruption allegations sur-rounding the pro-governmentvice mayor of Busan. – AP

14 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

INTERNATIONAL

Janasanyog/DF/2505/19

The sun sets over the Pacific Ocean as the most recent in a series of storms passes through Southern California, seen from Palisades Park in SantaMonica, California on Monday. – AP/PTI

HOUSTON, Dec 31: Hous-

ton, known as the world’s en-

ergy capital, grabbed interna-

tional headlines in 2019 when

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and President Donald

Trump addressed the historic

“Howdy, Modi!” diaspora

event that further cemented

the Indo-US strategic ties and

people-to-people contacts.

The unprecedented joint

appearance by the leaders of

the world’s two major econo-

mies in America’s oil and gas

capital reflected a desire by

Washington and New Delhi to

deepen their bilateral energy

cooperation.

Modi stopped in Houston,

Texas, on September 22 on his

way to New York to attend the

annual UN General Assembly

session and spoke to over

50,000 Indian-Americans, the

largest ever gathering for an

elected foreign leader on US

soil. Trump, who joined Modi

at the rally held at the sprawl-

ing NRG Football stadium,

emphasised his personal sup-

port for the prime minister and

advocated a more pro-busi-

ness and trade outlook in India

as the underpinning of a stron-

ger US-India partnership.

The two leaders also signed

an agreement that would al-

low the US to export natural

gas at a low cost to India.

Last year, the two sides

signed a US-India Strategic

Energy Partnership to en-

hance collaboration in this are-

na. Both sides believe the full

promise of energy trade re-

mains unfulfilled and want to

increase cooperation, particu-

larly with respect to shale and

liquefied natural (LNG) gas.

Sending a message of unity

between the world’s oldest

and the largest democracies

despite trade tensions, Trump

highlighted the growth of US

exports to India, the billions of

dollars India is spending on

US-made defence equipment

and joint military exercises.

“India has never invested in

the United States like it is do-

ing today,” President Trump

said, adding that “we’re doing

the same thing” in India.

“These tremendous ex-

ports not only expand em-

ployment in America, they

increase freedom and secu-

rity for India,” Trump said

during his address at “Howdy

Modi” rally.

Strategic importance of

Houston for India is also be-

cause it is the fourth busiest

gateway for trade between the

US and India.

Houston enjoys its own

unique relationship with India.

India is Houston’s 10th larg-

est trading partner with USD

4.3 billion in trade. From 2017

to 2018 year to date, trade

between Houston and India

increased by 36 per cent. In-

dia is also the 6th largest buy-

er of US LNG.

According to data compiled

by the city, more than 28 Hous-

ton-based companies operate

69 subsidiaries in India.

While most of the attention

around Modi’s visit was fo-

cused on a potential US-India

trade breakthrough and the

Kashmir impasse, the an-

nouncement of a significant

energy MoU signed in the

prime minister’s presence

was a significant step towards

meeting India’s growing en-

ergy needs.

Touted as one of the largest

LNG deals in US history,

Petronet LNG signed a USD

2.5 billion deal in Modi’s pres-

ence, during a private ceremo-

ny, prior to the Howdy event,

with energy giant Tellurian Inc.,

thus securing 18 per cent eq-

uity in the USD 28 billion Drift-

wood project in Louisiana to

secure long-term gas imports.

“India is one of the fastest

growth markets for LNG and

should soon become the sec-

ond-largest LNG importer,”

according to the Tellurian

CEO Meg Gentle. – PTI

Houston grabs global headlines in2019 with ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event

Howdy Modi eventhighlighted thepower of Indian-Americans in termsof a strongsuccessful immigrantcommunity anddisplayed on worldstage that US-Indiafriendship is basedon democracy,burgeoningeconomy, and moreimportantly, commonbond to fight terror

– Partha Chatterjee,

Director energy trading & risktechnology for global LNG

“

Pakistani mediamogul rejects

rape accusationsISLAMABAD, Dec 31: The

chief executive of one of Paki-

stan’s most influential news-

papers has denied accusations

he raped an acclaimed film-

maker, in a case that has spot-

lighted sexual abuse targeting

men and added momentum to

the country’s fledgling #Me-

Too movement.

Director Jamshed Mah-

mood Raza took to social me-

dia over the weekend to al-

lege that Dawn newspaper’s

Hameed Haroon raped him 13

years ago.

In October, Raza first de-

scribed the assault publicly on

Twitter but referred to the

alleged perpetrator as a

“powerful person in our me-

dia world”.

Haroon – who hails from

one of Pakistan’s wealthiest

and most influential families

– issued a fierce denial in

Dawn, the country’s most

popular English daily, late

Monday, calling the accusa-

tions “simply untrue and in-

tentionally fabricated”.

“I categorically deny the al-

legation of rape levelled

against me,” said Haroon in a

statement. Raza later slammed

Haroon’s comments, saying

the statement was “nothing

but a slap to all us survivors”.

The allegations have again

stirred controversy in the

deeply conservative country,

where most discussions about

sex and abuse are considered

taboo. Some voices have

called for accountability, while

others dismissed notions of

male-on-male sexual assault.

“I have a question: how can

a grown man be raped by an-

other individual? Couldn’t they

have fought him off,” tweeted

writer Salman Rashid.

Others disagreed. “Rape is

not only about physical pow-

er; it is about power in gener-

al. If a powerful person coerc-

es you to have sex with them,

that is rape,” wrote Nida Kir-

mani on Twitter. – AFP

DUBAI, Dec 31: A group of

Indian expats in the UAE have

submitted a memorandum to

the Indian Embassy in Abu

Dhabi expressing concerns

over the contentious amend-

ed Citizenship Act which many

claim is “discriminatory” on

religious grounds, according to

a media report.

Around 30 people from the

Indian community met with

the embassy officials on Sun-

day to voice their opposition

with the Citizenship Amend-

ment Act (CAA), the Gulf

News reported.

The community members

contended that the newly

passed law propagates a divi-

sive society as it promises cit-

izenship to followers of all re-

ligions, except Muslims from

Pakistan, Bangladesh and Af-

ghanistan, the report added.

According to the CAA,

members of Hindu, Sikh, Bud-

dhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian

communities who have come

from Pakistan, Bangladesh and

Afghanistan till December 31,

2014 and facing religious per-

secution there will not be

treated as illegal immigrants,

and be given Indian citizenship.

Speaking to the Gulf News

after handing over the “Letter

Of Opposition To CAA” Abdul-

lah Khan, an Abu Dhabi resi-

dent, said, “I am worried about

my family in India. I tried to call

them in Azamgarh in Uttar

Pradesh but did not succeed as

the communication lines and

Internet were shut down after

protests over the CAA.”

“The Indian community

here decided to register its

humble request to abolish the

law which divides society

where people of all religions

Indian expats in Abu Dhabisubmit memo to embassy,

want CAA revoked

otherwise live together

peacefully,” Khan said.

The letter by the commu-

nity requests the Indian author-

ities to strike down the “dis-

criminatory, divisive and un-

constitutional” Citizenship

(Amendment) Act 2019

passed and notified on Decem-

ber 12, 2019 by the Indian gov-

ernment, the report said.

Another Abu Dhabi resi-

dent, Sanjay Manohar Pan-

cha, who also turned up at the

embassy, said, “I would like

that all people be given their

equal due as per the Consti-

tution of India, whether they

are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs

or Christians.”

Another resident who was

at the embassy, Akhtar Ali,

said, “The CAA is against our

Constitution and we demand

it is scrapped immediately.

People from all communities

live together, so why is there

such a division and exclusion

of Muslims?”

“When all communities in

India reside peacefully, why is

the government forcibly intro-

ducing this new law? When the

public opposes any decision of

the government, it should not

forcibly impose it on them,”

he added. In India, large scale

protests are taking place by the

people who took to the streets

shouting anti-government slo-

gans over the contentious cit-

izenship law.

Opposition and other critics

slammed the CAA, saying it is

against India’s secular Consti-

tution as it makes religion as a

ground for citizenship. The BJP

has asserted that it is meant for

minorities persecuted in three

neighbouring countries due to

their faith. – PTI

Around 30 people from the Indiancommunity met with the embassy officialson Sunday to voice their opposition with

the Citizenship Amendment Act

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 15

LEISURE & LIFESTYLE

08:30 Druto Xongbaad12:00 Duporor Xironam13:00 Cinemaghar15:00 Abelir Khobor17:00 Xondhiyar Xirunam18:00 Xondhiyar Xeerxo Xongbaad19:00 Dintur Xironaam20:00 Druto Xongbaad20:30 North east scan21:00 Dintur Bixoi22:00 Aporadha Nama23:00 Noixo Xironam

08:30 Devotional Music08:45 Swachh Bharat Batori

08.50 Batori

15:00 Vigyan Prasar

15:30 Classical Music

16:00 Abelir Batori

16:05 Akholor Juti

16:30 Chiphung

17:00 Nimishote Batori

17:02 DD Kisan TV Serial in Hindi

17:30 Krishi Darshan

18:00 Dharabahik

18:30 Batori

18:45 NE News

12:00 Oggy And The ...

12:30 Roll No. 21

14:00 Oggy And The ...

15:30 The Tom & Jerry Show

16:30 Roll No. 21

17:30 Oggy And The...

18:30 The Tom & Jerry Show

19:30 Oggy And The...

20:30 Ben 10

21:30 Tom And Jerry Tales

22:30 Ben 10

12:00 Chhota Bheem

12:30 Grizzy And The ...

13:30 Chhota Bheem

14:30 Grizzy And The ...

15:30 Super Bheem

16:30 Grizzy And The ...

18:30 Chhota Bheem...

20:00 Super Bheem

21:00 Grizzy And The ...

22:00 Mr. Bean

23:30 Teleshopping

LOCKHORNS

THE PHANTOM ® By Lee Falk

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

BLONDIE

Know your DAYBy JACQUELINE BIGAR

HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020:

This year, you mix practicality and fantasy well, allowing you to

create unusual possibilities that you never even considered. If single,

you could meet some unusual people who encourage you to explore

life and living. Your response of course is your choice. If attached, you

have a close connection with your sweetie that both of you acknowl-

edge. Though you might not always agree, the two of you are in sync.

PISCES reads you cold.

The Stars Show the Kind of Day You’ll Have: 5-Dynamic; 4-Positive;

3-Average; 2-So-so; 1-Difficult.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)HHHH You spring into action on the first day of the year. It appears

that you are about to accomplish a resolution or two almost immedi-

ately. Get past confusion if possible. A loved one admires your energy and

commitment. Tonight: A must appearance.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)HHHHH You prove to be unstoppable. Your sense of direction could

toss your plans into chaos, when a special invitation teases your

imagination. Follow through on your heartfelt desires. Be willing to choose a new

adventure. Tonight: The world is your oyster.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)HHHHH You seem more willing than usual to have a serious conver-

sation. As you face a change within an important relationship, you see

a new pathway. Do not be fearful. Your sense of direction and ability to ground

yourself will carry you through any hassles. Tonight: Let the games go on.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)HHHH Let others express their organizational talents. You are too

much into daydreaming and thinking about an upcoming adventure. Do

not forget to call an older relative. He or she will be delighted to hear from you.

This person has news for you! Tonight: Kick back.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)HHHH Do not test others. Rather, give them the space to float and

daydream. If you have a need to be efficient, so be it. You can

accomplish a lion’s share of the work. A loved one would prefer your attention.

He or she will let you know. Tonight: Go with the flow.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)HHHH You cannot help but respond to loved ones who seem more

open than they have for a long time. A suggestion might be excellent,

but it needs some fine-tuning. You can do just that. Tonight: Make the most of

the moment.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)HHH Pace yourself. You have a lot to do and might not be in the mood

for a lot of people. Understanding evolves through time spent with a

close friend. Tonight: Know when to call it a night.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)HHHHH Indulge your imagination more often. A loved one or child

will relish the fun. You come up with some doozies that will not be

forgotten, and they will be a delight to play out. Go with the flow. Tonight: Be

yourself.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)HHH Listen to feedback. You might want to express your thoughts to

a family member who is very responsive to your ideas. Together you

come up with solutions – great solutions. Tonight: Make it simple.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)HHHHH You are personality-plus, with the added touch of an imagi-

nation that can get out of control. You certainly come up with unusual

ideas. How you handle them, and whether you act on them, depends on you.

Tonight: Start with your thank-you’s.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)HHHH Try to separate financial costs from what is happening. You

could find that another party is making a mistake, especially if count-

ing your change. Think positive. Tonight: Slow down and get some much-

needed rest.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)HHHHH Use this day well. You might not be sure of the best way

to handle a provocative situation. Ignoring it might be the easiest,

but in the long run, not the best. Tonight: Note how easy handling a

problem can be!

H H H

Thought for the day

You learn about equality in history and civics,but you find out life is not really like that.

– ARTHUR ASHE

Those whom we support ___ __ __ in life.

– Marie Ebner von Eschenbach (4,2,2)

Words:Arose, caulk, pundit, shrimp.Answer: Those whom we support hold us

up in life. – Marie Ebner von Eschenbach

Given below are four jumbled words. Solvethe jumbles to make proper words and movethem to the respective squares below. Selectthe letters in the shaded squares and jumblethem to get the answer for the given quip.

JUMBLED WORDSHEALTH CAPSULES®

by Bron Smith

Health Capsules is not intendedto be of a diagnostic nature.

CROSSWORD - 6784

Across: 3 Sleds, 8 Copes, 10 Rheas, 11 Fib, 12 Excel, 13Winsome, 15 Aesop, 18 The, 19 Ampere, 21 Remnant, 22 Czar, 23Bend, 24 Neighed, 26 Peeved, 29 Raw, 31 Ernie, 32 Capably, 34CD-ROM, 35 Ion, 36 Moral, 37 Float, 38 Revel.

Down: 1 Sofia, 2 Webster, 4 Luxe, 5 Dreamt, 6 Shlep, 7 Manor,9 Pin, 12 Emended, 14 Ohm, 16 Sewed, 17 Perdu, 19 Anagram, 20Scape, 21 Raven, 23 Bewails, 24 Needle, 25 Hap, 27 Error, 28Vicar, 30 Ulnar, 32 Cone, 33 Boo.

SOLUTION

12:00 Animals Unleashed

12:30 How Do Animals Do That?

13:00 Chasing Monsters

13:30 Brave Wilderness

14:00 Wildest Survival

15:00 Wierd, True & Freaky

16:00 Animal Strategies

17:00 Fast And Fierce

18:00 How Do Animals Do That?

18:30 Animals Unleashed

19:00 Animal Planet Exclusives

20:00 The Daredevils

21:00 Animal Planet Presents

22:00 Around the Wild In..

23:00 Animals Unleashed

12:00 Wild Encounters

13:00 Survival of the Fittest

14:00 Deadly December

15:00 Animal Fight Club

16:00 Wild Encounters

17:00 Hostile Planet

18:00 Deadly December

19:00 Surivial of the Fittest

20:00 Hostile Planet

21:00 Wild Encounters

22:00 Lions of the Namib

23:00 Deadly December

07:00 Breakfast Live08:00 Live at 809:00 Good morning Assam10:00 Assamese news11:30 Kotha Barta (R)12:00 Mid Day Live13:00 Assamese Telefilm14:30 Afternoon Prime17:30 Guwahati Bisesh18:00 Guwahati Live18:30 Breaking @ 6:3019:00 Assamesse Prime Time20:00 Discussion Show21:00 Super Prime Time22:00 Live at 1022:30 Noixo Guwahati

23:00 Noixo Batori

1700 Xopun1730 Barala Kai1830 Xopunor Aasutia Rang2000 Jonaki Kareng2030 Xopun2100 Oi Khapla2130 Bah Amarawati Bah2200 Borola Kai

12:00 Follow the Blues

12:30 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

13:00 Greatest Game of 2019

14:30 PKL 2019 Year in Review

15:00 Game Plan

15:30 Super V

16:00 Select Dugout Review

16:30 Cricket Countdown

17:00 Follow the Blues

17:30 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

18:00 Super V

18:30 Cricket Countdown

19:00 Ind vs WI T20I HLs

19:30 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

20:00 Greatest Game of 2019

21:30 Cricket Countdown

22:00 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

22:30 Game Plan

23:00 Cricket Countdown

23:30 Hero ISL HLs

12:00 Greatest Game of 2019

13:00 Game Plan

13:30 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

14:00 Greatest Game of 2019

15:30 PKL 2019 Year in Review

16:00 Game Plan

16:30 Super V

17:00 Hero ISL HLs

17:30 Cricket Countdown

18:00 Follow the Blues

18:30 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

19:00 Select Dugout Review

19:30 Cricket Countdown

20:00 Ind vs WI T20I HLs

20:30 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

21:00 Greatest Game of 2019

22:00 Game Plan

22:30 Cricket Countdown

23:00 ICC Cricket World Cup HLs

23:30 Hero ISL HLs

12:00 WWE Raw

15:00 Kick-Off!

16:00 WWE Raw

19:00 UCL HLs

12:30 Qayamat: City Under

Threat

14:50 International Rowdy

17:30 Mera Thikana

20:00 Phir Hera Pheri

23:00 Adharm

11:20 The Wolverine14:10 Arundhati Ek Anokhi

Kahani16:40 Alien vs Predator18:40 Percy Jackson: Sea of

Monsters21:00 Captain America: Civil

War

12:40 The Lego Movie 2: The

Second Part

14:30 The Dictator

15:50 Journey to the Center of

the Earth

17:30 Rush Hour 3

19:10 Rampage

21:00 San Andreas

23:10 Ocean’s Eight

12:15 Fool’s Gold

14:10 Mousehunt

15:45 The School of Rock

17:40 The Time Machine

19:10 Up in the Air

21:00 Who Am I?

23:00 Project Almanac

11:30 Prince of Persia: TheSands of Time

13:30 Ralph Breaks theInternet

15:20 Deadpool17:10 Cinderella19:00 Avatar22:10 Guardians of the Galaxy

STAR GOLD

22:45 Kaala Karikaalan

STAR MOVIES

22:10 Guardians of the Galaxy

23:10 The Past

13:30 Vijaypath

16:20 Amar Akbar Anthony

19:50 Kahin Pyaar Na Ho

Jaaye

23:00 Himaatwala

13:10 Dhadak16:00 Rowdy No. 118:15 Daring Rakhwala20:00 Lagaan

12:00 Best Of Crime Patrol

19:00 Mere Sai

19:30 Vighnaharta Ganesh

20:00 Isharon Isharon Mein

20:30 Patiala Babes

21:00 Beyhadh 2

21:30 Tara From Satara

22:00 Mere Dad Ki Dulhan

22:30 Crime Patrol Satark

23:30 Best of Crime Patrol

12:00 Guddan Tumse Na Ho...

12:30 Kumkum Bhagya

13:00 Kundali Bhagya

13:30 Tujhse Hai Raabta

14:00 Dil Ye Ziddi Hai

14:30 Ghar Sa Yummy...

15:00 Choti Bahu

16:00 Pavitra Rishta

17:00 Kumkum Bhagya

17:30 Kundali Bhagya

18:00 Haiwaan

18:30 Tujhse Hai Raabta

19:00 Yeh Teri Galiyaan

19:30 Dil Ye Ziddi Hai

20:00 Guddan Tumse Na Ho...

20:30 Tujhse Hai Raabta

21:00 Kumkum Bhagya

21:30 Kundali Bhagya

22:00 Ishq Subhan Allah

22:30 Manmohini

23:00 Guddan Tumse Na...

23:30 Kumkum Bhagya

13:00 Yehh Jadu Hai Jin

13:30 Kasautii Zindagii Kay

14:00 Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum

14:30 Nazar

15:00 Divya-drishti

15:30 Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke

16:00 Pyar Ka Dard Hai Meetha...

17:00 Sasural Genda Phool

18:00 Yeh Ristha Kya Ke...

18:30 Kullfi Kumarr Baje...

19:00 Namah: Laxmi Nar...

19:30 Sanjivani

20:00 Kasautii Zindagii Kay

20:30 Yehh Jadu Hai Jin...

21:00 Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum

21:30 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata...

22:00 Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke

22:30 Ye Hai Mohabbatein

23:00 Nazar

23:30 Yehh Jadu Hai Jin...

12:00 Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hain!

13:30 Gudiya Hamari Sabhi...

SOLUTION TO TRIBUNE CROSSWORD – 6784

11:00 Vivegam14:00 Biwi No. 116:30 Bagawat Ek Jung19:50 The Real Jackpot23:00 Baby

10:55 Singham Returns14:00 Arundhati Ek Anokhi

Kahani16:40 Gangaajal19:50 Double Attack22:45 Kaala Karikaalan

Across3 Mushers’ vehicles

(5)8 Manages suc-

cessfully (5)10 Flightless birds (5)11 Trivial lie (3)12 Do particularly

well (5)13 Charming (7)15 Fable writer (5)18 Definite article (3)19 Electrical unit (6)21 Fragment (7)22 Emperor of Rus-

sia (4)23 Arch (4)24 Made a sound like

a horse ? (7)26 Annoyed (6)29 Not cooked (3)31 A boy’s pet name

- ‘Irene’ anagram ?(5)

32 Competently (7)34 Multimedia device

(2-3)35 Charged particle (3)36 Ethical (5)37 Suspend on water

(5)38 Make merry (5)Down1 Capital of Bulgaria

(5)2 U.S. lexicographer

(7)4 Elegance (4)5 ___ up : imagined

or invented ? (6)6 Drag (5)7 Country house (5)9 ATM need (3)12 Corrected text (7)

14 Resistance unit (3)16 Stitched (5)17 Hidden (5)19 Word of transposed

letters (7)20 Scenic view (5)21 Black bird (5)23 Strongly regrets

(7)24 Tease or harass,

badger (6)25 Comforter or quilt

(3)27 Blunder or a bloom-

er (5)28 Clergyman (5)30 Pertaining to the

bone in the forearm(5)

32 Geometrical shape(4)

33 Jeer or deride (3)

20:00 WWE Raw

23:00 Olympic Official Film

13:30 Ultimate Guide to UFC

14:00 UEFA Champions League

16:00 ESPN FC Show

16:30 Serie A HLs

17:00 UCL HLs

18:00 Kick-Off!

18:30 NBA HLs

19:00 Best of UFC

20:00 UEFA European Qualifier

20:30 ESPN FC Show

21:00 UEFA European Qualifer

22:00 NBA HLs

22:30 UEFA European Qualifier

12:00 Forged In Fire

12:40 Pawn Stars

13:40 Storage Wars

14:10 Food Tech

15:10 Omg! Yeh Mera India

16:00 Forged In Fire

17:00 Storage Wars

17:30 Shipping Wars

18:00 Dynamo

19:00 Food's Greatest Hits

19:30 Win Lose Or Fail

20:00 Omg! Yeh Mera India

21:00 Counting Cars

21:30 Shipping Wars

22:00 Pawn Stars

22:30 Storage Wars

23:00 Forged In Fire

12:00 Wildlife: Deadly Instincts

13:00 Adventure: Primal Survior

14:00 Surivive The Wild

15:00 Science: Street Genius

16:00 Adventure: Primal Survior

17:00 Investigation: Airport...

18:00 Science of Stupid

20:00 Africa’s Deadliest

21:00 Adventure: Primal Survior

23:00 Investigation: Airport...

14:00 Happu Ki Ultan Paltan

14:30 Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hain!

15:00 Laal Ishq

19:00 Gudiya Hamari Sabhi...

19:30 Happu Ki Ultan Paltan

20:00 Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hain!

20:30 Paramavatar Shri Krishna

21:00 Meri Hanikarak Biwi

21:30 Gudiya Hamari Sabhi...

22:00 Happu Ki Ultan Paltan

22:30 Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hain!

12:00 Subharamabh12:30 Shakti Astitva Ke...13:00 Choti Sarrdaarni13:30 Vidya14:00 Big Boss15:30 Subharamabh16:00 Kahaani Ab Tak...18:00 Subharamabh19:00 Vidya19:30 Choti Sarrdaarni20:00 Shakti Astitva Ke...20:30 Ram Siya Ke Luv Kush21:00 Subharamabh22:00 Bepanah Pyaarr

22:30 Bigg Boss

W B

23:00 Project Almanac

HBO

23:10 Ocean’s Eight

People who regularly sleep for more than

11 hours or less than four hours are 2-3

times more likely to have the incurable

lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis, compared to

those that sleep for seven hours in a day,

researchers have found.

They attribute this association to the body

clock.

The study, published in the journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences, also reveals that targeting the body

clock reduces fibrosis in vitro, revealing a

potential target for this incurable disease that

kills about 5,000 people, a year in the UK, the

same number as leukaemia.

“Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating

condition which is incurable at present.

Therefore, the discovery that the body clock is

potentially a key player opens new ways to

treat or prevent the condition,” said study lead

author John Blaikley from The University of

Manchester in UK.

“More work need to be done around

studying the association between pulmonary

fibrosis and sleep duration to establish both

causation and reproducibility,” Blaikley said.

Our internal body clocks regulate nearly

every cell in the human body, driving 24-hour

cycles in many processes such as sleeping,

hormone secretion and metabolism.

In the lungs, the clock is mainly located in the

main air carrying passages - the airways.

However, the team discovered that in people

with lung fibrosis, these clock oscillations

extend out to the small air spaces, called alveoli.

Studies in mice revealed that by altering the

clock mechanism it was possible to disrupt the

fibrotic process making the animals more likely

to develop pulmonary fibrosis.

The researchers then showed that pulmonary

fibrosis is associated with short and long sleep

duration using human data from the UK

Biobank.

The link between sleep duration and lung

fibrosis is similar in strength to other known

risk factors for this disease.

People who report they regularly sleep four

hours or less in a day doubled their chance of

having pulmonary fibrosis while those sleeping

11 hours or longer in a day tripled their chance

of having the disease, compared to those

sleeping seven hours per day.

Smaller, but still elevated, risks were also

seen in people who like to stay up late at night

or those who do shift work.

(Source: IANS)

Why sleep mattersToo short, long sleep linked to incurable lung disease

16 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATISPORTS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

Janasanyog/D/8489/19

No. DM/PWD/ SOPD-ODS /2019-2020/596

SHORT TENDER NOTICESealed tender affixing court fee Non refundable stamp of Rs. 8.25 (Rupees eight & paisa twenty five) only

are hereby invited from the registered contractors of Dhubri Municipal Board, as applicable having past

experience of executing works of similar nature and tender will be received by the undersigned at this office

up to 14.00 hrs of 10.01.2020 and the tender shall be opened at 15.00 hrs on the same day in presence of

Contractor/Authorized person for construction of 14 nos drain’s in Dhubri Municipal town area under SOPD-

ODS fund for the year 2019-2020 as per noted below works. The bidder must specify the rate of percentage

basis at which the intending Registered Contractor will execute the work clearly and legibly, both in figures

and in words. Any alteration, modification, etc. must be signed by the tenderer. Rates shall be inclusive of

all taxes. The detailed may be kindly be obtained from the office of the undersigned up to 09.01.2020 during

office hours.

SI. Name of Work Ward Time of Rate in figure Earnest

No. No. completion money

1 Construction of drain outlet 1 Rs. 14,70,685/- 29414.00

near Hanuman Mandir,

Gowala patty

2 Construction of drain outlet 3 Rs. 10, 12,980/- 20260.00

starting from E & D Bund

culvert towards River

Brahmaputra.

3 Construction of drain starting 3 Rs. 43,84,580/- 87692.00

R.K.Bose Bangla patshola up

to E & D Bund sluice gate.

4 Construction of drain 4 Rs. 32,96,628/- 65933.00

starting from N.S. Road

Culvert up to Main channel

near Raja Pharmacy.

5 Construction of drain outlet 5 Rs. 39,88,505/- 79770.00

from Chagal Hati towards

Charmain Road Sani

Mandir

6 Construction of drain outlet 9 Rs. 25,90,800/- 51816.00

from backside of D.T.O.

office towards Garikhana

road main culvert

7 Construction of drain outlet 16 Rs.37,00,500/- 74010.00

from Gharikhana Road 120

Culvert towards Sujoy days

Dutta ditch.

8 Construction of Khalilpur 15 Rs. 39,63,413/- 79268.00

drain outlet , Nathpara

9 Construction of drain 11 Rs. 47,89,488/- 95790.00

outlet by the side of

Kabarsthan.

10 Construction of drain outlet 14 Rs. 20,70,070/- 41401.00

at Hazarigaon road starting

from Lakhan house, South

College Nagar

11 Construction of RCC pucca 12 Rs. 9,78,138/- 19563.00

drain with slab cover from

Rail Gumti ditch towards

River Brahmaputra through

main channel.

12 Construction of drain along 13 Rs. 50,41,410/- 100828.00

A.M. Co Road from Shiv

mandir up to TB Hospital

13 Construction of drain along 7 Rs. 17,71,590/- 35432.00

Thana bye lane & beside

aloo Gaddi.

14 Construction of drain along 13 Rs. 10,35,785/- 20716.00

A.M. Co. Road towards

ditch.

Sd/- Executive Officer

Dhubri Municipal Board,

Janasanyog/CF/3140/19 Dhubri

NEW DELHI, Dec 31:

Since the Khelo India Pro-

gramme was launched in

2017, many institutes have

been accredited under the

Khelo India Talent Develop-

ment Programme across In-

dia. The academies provide

full scholarships, which in-

clude accommodation, diet

and equipment to the ath-

letes who get selected for the

Development Programme

after performing well in the

Khelo India Youth Games.

The third edition of the com-

petition will be held in Gu-

wahati from January 10 to

Coaches hail Khelo India accredited academiesJanuary 22.

The Punjabi University in

Patiala became a Khelo India

accredited academy in 2018.

A total of 30 students have

been selected after putting up

good performances at the

Khelo India Games to train

in archery at the Punjabi Uni-

versity which has been run-

ning since 2007. They have

produced medallists such as

Gagandeep Kaur (Common-

wealth Games 2010 – bronze

in archery) and Trisha Deb

(Asian Games 2014 – bronze

in archery).

“We were given the Khelo

India Games accreditation

because our results are bet-

ter than the other academies

in India. The Punjabi Univer-

sity has been producing great

results. Our university main-

ly focuses on archery as far as

Khelo India Games athletes

are concerned. However,

Punjabi University provides

facilities for all sports includ-

ing athletics, football, hockey

and so on,” said Surender

Singh Randhawa, archery

coach at Punjabi University.

Randhawa, who is an Asian

Grand Prix gold medallist in

archery added that Punjabi

University helps athletes

prepare for international

tournaments.

“The university helps ath-

letes prepare for internation-

al tournaments. Our main fo-

cus is on the Olympics. Our

biggest target is Olympic

medals. We have two grounds

for archery in the university

and we provide world-class

facilities,” said Randhawa.

The Rajiv Gandhi Khelo

India Academy in Konni,

Kerala was mainly built for

the upcoming volleyball

players in India. There are a

total of 18 athletes in the

academy which started in

December 2018.

“This academy was main-

ly built for the volleyball play-

ers coming out of the Khelo

India Games. We have an in-

door stadium, help centre,

accommodation for athletes

and two outdoor volleyball

courts,” said Gopu Kumar,

Director, Rajiv Gandhi Khe-

lo India Academy.

Kumar added that the

main target of the academy

is to help volleyball players

selected from the Khelo In-

dia Games to play for the In-

dian volleyball team. – IANS

MANCHESTER, Dec 31:

Manchester United manag-

er Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is

“optimistic” about new sign-

ings in January.

The English Premier

League side lost out to

Borussia Dortmund on rop-

ing in highly rated Erling

Haaland.

But the manager said it is

about getting the right play-

ers and he has the backing of

the management.

“I’m always an optimist,”

Solskjaer was quoted as say-

ing by ESPNFC.

“I’m optimistic we can keep

players fit and if the right ones

become available we do have

the resources and I do have

the backing from the board,

but it’s also about getting the

right ones. It has to be.

“There’s no point sudden-

ly bringing someone else in

now for the sake of three or

four months if that can dis-

rupt any good feeling or

chemistry in the group, be-

cause the chemistry in the

group is really good.

“It has to be the right type

and it has to be a good in-

vestment for the long term

as well.”

United take on Arsenal on

Solskjaer hopeful of goodadditions in January

Wednesday after beating

Newcastle and Burnley over

Christmas.

“If we can keep on improv-

ing, one addition and if you

get two additions of course

that will be competition for

places,” Solskjaer said.

“That’s what you’ve got to

deal with at this club. We

haven’t had enough because

we’ve had so many injuries.

“We’re improving. I think

we can see more and more

of what we want to be and

our identity and what we’re

good at. We’re making games

suit our style more and

more. We’re quite a bit away

still from where we want to

be but I think we’re the

youngest team in the Pre-

mier League on average,”

Solskjaer added. – IANS

Solskjaer

Thisara Perera joins Sri Lanka ArmyCOLOMBO, Dec 31: Sri

Lanka all-rounder Thisara Per-era has joined the Sri LankaArmy as a Major. The 30-year-old cricketer confirmed the

news via Twitter and said thathe accepted an invitation ofArmy Commander LieutenantGeneral Shavendra Silva.

According to a report in Co-

lombo Gazette, Perera hasbeen enlisted to the Sri Lan-ka Army Volunteer Force asa Major in the Gajaba Regi-ment. – IANS

ASSAM INDUSTRIAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

(A GOVT. OF ASSAM UNDERTAKING)

Industrial Estate, Bamunimaidam, Guwahati-21

Phone (Fax) : 0361/2556864

Website : www.aiidcassam.in e-mail : md-aiidc@assam.gov.in

Janasanyog/CF/3118/19

No. AllDC/2078/’2019/47

Re E- PROCUREMENT NOTICE /INVITATION FOR BID (Re- IFB)

The Office of the Managing Director, AlIDC, Industrial Estate Bamunimaidam, Guwahati-21, re invites Bid

from eligible registered contractor (up to date) under APWD (Bldg &Roads)/ Industries & Commerce Department

for the following works ‘ON TWO BID SYSTEM’ through e-procurement in the portal www.assamtenders.gov.in.

Sl. Name of Works Estimated Cost Earnest Money/ Bid Security Cost of bid Period of.. Eligibility of

(In Rs.) (in Rs.) completion Bidder

General Reserved

Category Category

1 Up gradation of Industrial Estate, 1,23,92,942/- 2,47,859/- 1,23,929/- 3,700/- 270 days Class – I (C) and

Dorikapar, Sivasagar, District. above

Sivasagar, Assam.(Phase – I)

(Construction of Cement

Concrete Road, RCC Drain & Cross

Drainage Works), Group - II

2 Up gradation of Industrial Estate, 84,91,439/- 1,69,829/- 84,914/- 2,500/- 270 days Class – (II) and

Dorikapar, Sivasagar, District: above

Sivasagar, Assam.(Phase – I)

(Construction of Cement Concrete

Road & RCC Drain), Group - Ill

3 Up gradation of Industrial Estate, 91,45,683/- 1,82,9 14/- 91,457/- 2,700/- 270 days Class – (II) and

Dorikapar, Sivasagar, District: above

Sivasagar, Assarn. (Phase –I)

(Construction of Cement Concrete

Road, RCC Drain & Cross Drainage

Works), Group - IV

The contractor/bidder must be registered with the Electronic Tendering system (ETS) of the Govt.

of Assam (Website: http/assamtenders.gov.in). The details of bids can be viewed in the portal

www.assamtenders.gov.in from 03/01/2020 to 13/01/2020.

Contractors/ Bidders can download document in free of cost. Contractors/ Bidders have to down

load the bidding document from the ETS using their own ID (Digital Signature Certificate) and to be

uploaded through ETS not using contractor’s own user ID will be considered as invalid and summarily

rejected. Contractors submitting bids online have to submit copy of the documents of technical bid

(comprising of Bid Document and Documents in support of IFB & Bid Document) manually along with

Bid Security & Cost of bid document before the expiry of the sequence ‘Online Bid Submission’ date

and time as mentioned in the tender schedule. Bid will be rejected/ cancelled if Financial Bid submitted

off line/ hard copy.

Online bid preparation and last date and time of manual submission of hard copy of cost of Bid

Document, Bid Security separately as mentioned above & self signed documents uploaded along with

copy of Bid Document from 10.00 hours of 03/01/2020 up to 14.00 hours of 13/01/2020. Date & time of

receipt/opening of technical bid is at 15.00 hours of 13/01/2020. The bid will be available through the

link http/assamtenders.gov.in from 10.00 hours of 03/01/2020 up to 14.00 hours of 13/01/2020.

Sd/- Managing Director

AIIDC

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATI 17SPORTS

Originating from Japan,

‘su do ku’ is a mind game

and a puzzle that can be

solved with proper

reasoning and logic. Fill

the grid with digits in such

a manner that every row,

every column and every

3 x 3 box accommodates

the digits 1 to 9 without

repeating any.

Solution of last problem

SU DO KU

LONDON, Dec 31: Liverpool appear to have the PremierLeague title wrapped up with a 13-point advantage oversecond-placed Leicester but the fight to avoid relegationlooks like being down to the wire tussle.

Just nine points separates ninth-placed Crystal Palace andthird from bottom Aston Villa. Here AFP Sport picks out threepivotal matches in Wednesday’s action:

The old adage ‘too good to go down’ should apply to Arse-nal, who have been a fixture in the top tier since 1919/20.

However, they are just six points above the drop zone andnew boss Mikel Arteta would probably have preferred aneasier opponent than Manchester United as he bids to winhis first game after a draw and defeat in his opening twomatches in charge.

The United attack will be licking their lips at the thoughtof giving the weak Gunners defence a thorough test withgoalkeeper Bernd Leno and defenders Skohdran Mustafi andDavid Luiz far from reliable.

Arteta will want to see more of what his side produced inthe opening half hour of the 2-1 defeat by Chelsea if they areto avoid a fifth successive home loss in all competitions –their present run of four is their worst since 1959.

“Individual errors cost you games but I can’t fault theeffort, commitment and for putting in place what we prac-tised,” said Arteta.

However, with confidence at a low ebb defeat for Arsenalon Wednesday and victory for third from bottom Aston Villa atBurnley would suck them deeper into the relegation battle.

David Moyes may not be welcomed back universally byWest Ham fans but if the 55-year-old saves them from rele-gation for a second time like he did in the 2017-18 season,before being dispensed with, then all will be forgiven.

A home game for the side fourth from bottom againstBournemouth, who are just a point above them in 16th, rep-

Eyes turn to PremierLeague relegation dogfight

resents a seemingly ideal first challenge.However, their home form has been as woeful as Arsenal’s

with four successive defeats – equalling their worst run inthe Premier League since November 2005 – and it would notbe a surprise to see Moyes energise their attack by selectingboth Michail Antonio and Sebastien Haller.

The Cherries have largely escaped attention in their ter-rible run – just one win in nine – but the pressure may beginto mount on Eddie Howe with a defeat.

“It feels great to be home,” said Moyes.“I feel like I’ve got unfinished business.”Nigel Pearson engineered a remarkable rescue act for

Leicester in the 2014-15 season – at the time they wereonly the third side to escape the drop having been bottom atChristmas – arguably laying the foundations for their evenmore miraculous title win the following campaign.

The 56-year-old – who was relieved of his duties prior tothe league winning season – could be on course to do thesame for second from bottom Watford. Their third managerthis term has guided them to two wins and a draw in fourmatches since taking over.

This new found confidence was reflected in easing to a 3-0 win over third from bottom Aston Villa on Saturday – scor-ing two of their goals after they had been reduced to 10 men– and this will be a much needed weapon when they hostWolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves arrive sitting pretty in seventh place and on theback of an impressive win over champions Manchester Cityand considered unlucky to have lost to Liverpool on Sunday.

Pearson for his part will be looking for more of the same ofwhat he witnessed against Villa: “We showed good intensity.We showed incredible unity on the pitch and bench. We haveto make sure that remains high on our agenda – to keep theplayers together.” – AFP

LONDON, Dec 31:England’s record goalscor-er Wayne Rooney willmake his debut for second-tier Derby against Barnsleyon Thursday, the club’smanager Phillip Cocuconfirmed.

Rooney, 34, joined Derbyas a player-coach from MLSside DC United but hasbeen ineligible to play forhis new side until January.

“If a player with thequalities, career and theexperience of Rooney (isavailable) you have to bevery happy and glad he ishere,” said Cocu afterMonday’s 2-1 home winover Charlton in theChampionship.

“He’s fit, he can start buthe will need a few games.Expectation will be highwhen he starts playing butwe have to give him a fewgames to build up hisminutes and get in theteam.

“So maybe not perfect

Rooney gets startingnod from Derby boss

from the start but it’simportant he will get in theteam as soon as possible sowe get a certain shape in

our team.”Rooney’s debut can’t

come soon enough forDerby.

Their win on Mondaymoved them into 17th place

in English football’s second-tier.

However, they are stillnine points shy of the play-

off spots and 21 behind thetwo automatic promotionplaces.

On Monday, teenagemidfielder Jason Knightscored his first goals in

professional football to giveDerby the three points,ending a run of sevengames without a win.

Victory came despite theRams playing most of thematch a man down afterKrystian Bielik was sent offfor a crude challenge onConor Gallagher.

Knight put Derby aheadin the 10th minute at PridePark when he forced theball in at the back post onlyfor Bielik to see red soonafterwards.

But 10-man Derby stilldoubled their lead 13 minutesfrom time when Knightscored his second following across from Max Bird.

Charlton ensured anervous finish for the homeside when the southLondon club pulled a goalback seven minutes fromtime thanks to LyleTaylor’s successful penalty,awarded after CurtisDavies brought downGallagher in the box. – AFP

Wayne Rooney

MILAN, Dec 31: Swedishstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic willbe officially presented as anAC Milan player on January3, the Italian club confirmed.

Ibrahimovic returns to theside on a six-month deal, prom-ising to help rescue the strug-gling Serie A outfit’s season.

The 38-year-old will un-dergo his medical on Thurs-day, January 2 and will holdhis first press conference thefollowing day.

“AC Milan announces thatZlatan Ibrahimovic’s pressconference is scheduled forFriday January 3rd at CasaMilan at 10 am (0900GMT),”they said in a statement onMonday.

The six-month deal is re-ported to be worth around3.5 million euros ($3.9 mil-lion) plus bonuses, with theoption of a further year.

Ibrahimovic set for AC Milan presentation on January 3It will mark the Swede’s

second stint with Milan, sev-en years after he left for Par-is Saint-Germain.

He played for the Rosson-eri from 2010-2012 scoring56 goals in 85 appearances andhelped the club win their 18thand last league title in 2011.

One of the most successfulclubs in the world, AC Milanare 11th in the table just sev-en points above relegation.

“I’m coming back to a clubI hugely respect and to thecity of Milan I love,” theformer Sweden forward saidafter the announcement ofhis return.

“I’ll fight together with myteam-mates to change thecourse of this season. I will doeverything to make it happen.”

Milan have come up shortin their attacking options withjust 16 goals in 17 games so

far this term.Ibrahimovic left Los Ange-

les Galaxy last month after atwo-year stay having scored52 goals in 56 games, allow-ing to sign with another sidefor free.

He had previously wonthree league titles with InterMilan, and two with Juventus,which were revoked follow-ing the match-fixing scandal.

Milan’s first game afterthe winter break will be athome against Sampdoria onJanuary 6.

Ibrahimovic started his ca-reer at Malmo in his nativeSweden.

He went on to play forAjax, Juventus, Inter, Barce-lona, Milan, PSG and Man-chester United, winning tro-phies with all these clubs butnever the ChampionsLeague. – AFP

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had previously won three league titles with Inter Milan, and two with Juventus,which were revoked following the match-fixing scandal.

MONACO, Dec 31: Rob-ert Moreno was unveiled asthe new coach of Monaco, ad-mitting his bitter bust-upwith Spain boss Luis Enriquehad paved the way for him tobecome “number one”.

Moreno, 42, takes over at2004 European and 2017

French champions Monacoafter Leonardo Jardim wassacked for the second time.

However, he arrives at theLigue 1 outfit having beenaccused of “disloyalty” byEnrique.

Moreno was previouslySpain assistant coach but was

Moreno happy to be ‘numberone’ at Monaco after Spain split

promoted to the top job af-ter Enrique resigned to takecare of his nine-year-olddaughter Xana, who died inAugust of cancer.

“I had nine extraordinaryyears at his side,” saidMoreno on Monday.

“But that is all in the past.

Today is my presentation asMonaco coach. I havecoached since I was 14 andobtained my UEFA licenceat 25.

“I always wanted to be-come the number one. Thisis the start of that stage,”added Moreno who guided

Spain through qualifying forEuro 2020 in the absence ofEnrique.

He arrives at the Russian-backed principality club withthe team in seventh place inLigue 1 and 17 points behindleaders and defending cham-pions PSG.

Jardim, who took Monacoto the league title in 2017,was fired at the weekend,just over a year since he waspreviously sent packing.

Moreno said he had beenconsidering a range of offerssince his acrimonious No-vember departure from theSpanish national team.

“The Monaco project hadthe best guarantees and con-ditions,” he said after sign-ing a deal until June 2022.

“I knew that I wanted towork at a high level and Iwanted a project thatmatched this desire. Cominghere means growing as acoach and a person.” – AFP

I alwayswanted to

become thenumber one.

This is thestart of that

stage.– Robert Moreno

“

MONTREAL, Dec 31: Out-going WADA President CraigReedie says the Russian dop-ing scandal shows that cleansport is under attack, but theanti-doping organisation nowhas the tools to better weedout drug cheats.

Taking stock of his sixyears at the helm of the WorldAnti-Doping Agency, the 78-year-old Briton insists thegroup is “stronger” thanever as it faces the “unprec-edented” challenge of thedoping crisis in Russia.

“Considering the last sixyears in particular, I am espe-cially pleased to see howWADA responded to the chal-lenges it faced since 2014, inparticular the Russian dopingcrisis,” he said in his end-of-term message.

The crisis, he recalled, ledto the creation within WADAof an “intelligence and inves-tigations” service, whichplayed “a decisive role” in

WADA better positioned towipe out drug cheats: Reedie

the recent decision to ex-clude Russia from majorworld sports competitionsfor falsifying anti-doping data.

The Russian anti-dopingagency RUSADA announced

on Friday that it has challengedthe exclusion.

Ultimately, it will be up tothe Court of Arbitration forSport to rule on the matter, saidReedie, whose term officiallyends on Tuesday.

“Throughout this processWADA has shown it has the will,

the expertise and the legal toolsto stand up effectively to thisunprecedented level of cheat-ing and corruption,” he said.

WADA decided on Decem-ber 9 to ban Russia from par-ticipating in major interna-tional events for four years,including the 2020 and 2022Olympic Games and the 2022World Cup.

Only hand-picked Russianathletes will be able to par-ticipate in the competitions,but under a neutral flag andwithout the national anthembeing played.

WADA estimated that Rus-sia had “manipulated” the dataof the Moscow anti-doping lab-oratory which were transmit-ted to it at the beginning of theyear, an umpteenth rebound ina scandal which started with therevelation in 2015 of an institu-tional doping practised since2011 and involving senior offi-cials, secret agents and traf-ficked urine vials. – AFP

Reedie

MOSCOW, Dec 31: A hat-trick of losses in the last threerounds ended KoneruHumpy’s hopes of a second ti-tle at the women’s World Rapidand Blitz Championships asthe Indian Grandmaster fin-ished 12th overall in the two-day blitz competition here.

Kateryna Lagno of Russiaand Norway’s MagnusCarlsen defended their titlesin the women’s and men’sblitz competition on Monday.

Humpy, who had claimedthe World Women’s RapidChess Championship title af-ter drawing the Armageddongame against Lei Tingjie ofChina on Saturday, wasplaced second with sevenpoints from nine rounds af-ter the opening day of theblitz competition.

However, the 32-year-oldIndian failed to continue inthe same vein and ended thetournament with 10.5 pointsout of 17 games.

Humpy started the secondday of the blitz competitionby winning the first twogames. She then shared thelead with Lagno after round13 with two draws.

After round 13, Humpy andLagno had 10 points each butthe Indian then drew againstRussia’s Alisa Galliamova inthe 14th round to drop to thesecond position, half-a-pointbehind Lagno, who hadclaimed another crucial win.

Humpy, who had taken atwo-year sabbatical from2016 to 2018 after she be-came a mother, then lost thefinal three games to bow outof contention.

Another Indian HarikaDronavalli finished 25th inwomen’s blitz competition.

Lagno, who had scored 8points out of 9 games to grabthe top position after day one,continued her good run to fin-ish with 13 points out of 17games to retain the title. – PTI

Humpy finishes 12thin blitz competition

VAR only for ‘clear and obvious’ mistakes: BrudLONDON, Dec 31: The Video As-

sistant Referee (VAR) should onlyoverturn on-field decisions when therehas been a “clear and obvious” error,according to one of football’s leadinginternational rules officials.

VAR has proved highly controver-sial since it was introduced into thePremier League this season.

A particular source of concern hasrevolved around offside calls.

Last weekend saw Norwich, Bright-on, Sheffield United, Wolves, Bright-on and Crystal Palace all have goals dis-allowed by marginal VAR rulings amiddoubts over whether the availabletechnology is accurate enough to makesuch fractional calls.

Players and managers have also ques-tioned whether the system should notbe used to reverse an on-field decision

that appears correct to the naked eye,a view that received support on Mon-day from the general secretary of theInternational Football AssociationBoard (IFAB) – the sport’s ultimaterule-making body.

Lukas Brud, while not addressingspecific incidents in English football,said IFAB guidance advises VAR shouldonly be used to correct clear errorsalso applied to offside.

“Clear and obvious still remains – it’san important principle,” Brud said in com-ments reported by the British media.

“There should not be a lot of timespent to find something marginal.

“If you spend minutes trying toidentify whether it is offside or not,then it’s not clear and obvious and theoriginal decision should stand,” headded. – AFP

Lukas Brud

CAPE TOWN, Dec 31:England coach Chris Silver-wood has hinted that eitherof veterans James Andersonor Stuart Broad might bedropped for the second Testagainst South Africa to makeroom for a spinner.

A 107-run defeat in theseries-opening Boxing DayTest in Centurion has onceagain spelled out England’sred-ball troubles.

Adding to their woes, ill-ness bout within the squadthat laid low 10 people at var-ious times has only com-pounded matters, with Do-minic Sibley latest to join thelong list of players to havebeen afflicted.

England might drop Anderson or BroadSpinner Jack Leach has

now regained fitness and thecoach said they are willing totake a hard call if need be. Inthe first Test, England wentfor an all pace attack.

“In Jimmy (Anderson) andStuart (Broad), we have awealth of experience andwe’d be really stupid not totake that into considerationevery game,” Silverwoodwas quoted as saying by ICC.

“But, equally, you wantyour youngsters to comethrough, and if we’re goingto make room for a spinner,we’ve got to have a look atwhich seamers are right forthis pitch. If there’s a big de-cision, we’re not afraid to

make it.”The Newlands pitch is one

of the few in the country thatassists spin bowling, and Sil-verwood was well aware ofthat fact. “We’ve got to lookat playing a spinner at New-lands,” he said. “We’ll godown there and do what wealways do – look through therecords, what featureswhere, and who is going tohave most impact on thatgame. We’ll do our home-work and go from there.”

England Test captain JoeRoot also echoed these senti-ments ahead of the second Test.

“It’s a fine balance. You’vegot to look at the surfaceand at an attack you feel is

best going to counter thatand best counter the oppo-sition,” he said.

“I think the ideal scenariois to have people pushingthem (Anderson and Broad)all the time, so that they’reconstantly trying to improvethemselves. They’ve got fan-tastic records behind themand they’ve produced fantas-tic things for England in thevery recent past.

“You don’t want to wishthose guys away or look backand think, ‘we’ve forced Jim-my Anderson out’.”

Silverwood said that illnessand adversity have made histeam stronger and let theplayers come closer. – IANS

18 THE ASSAM TRIBUNE, GUWAHATISPORTS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

BRISBANE, Dec 31: Former world

number one Maria Sharapova said on Tues-

day she still had “a lot of fire” as she at-

tempts to resurrect her career after an

injury-plagued 2019.

The five-time major winner will open

her 2020 campaign in Brisbane after be-

ing awarded a wildcard by organisers in

preparation for the Australian Open lat-

er in January.

“To be fair when I was younger I never

saw myself playing past 30,” the 32-year-

old Russian told reporters in Brisbane.

“But I still feel there is a lot in me to

give. I still have a lot of fire in me and I

am big competitor.”

Sharapova has not played since a

first-round loss to career-long rival

Serena Williams at the US Open in

August.

She has slipped to 133 in the world

rankings after a 2019 season ruined by a

shoulder injury which limited her to 15

competitive matches.

“As long as the shoulder stays healthy

Sharapova accepts Brisbane wildcardand my body allows me to, I hope there is

a lot of time left for me,” she said.

Sharapova won the Brisbane title in

2015 and joins a high-class field for next

week’s event spearheaded by Australia’s

world number one Ashleigh Barty and

Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka.

World number two Karolina Pliskova

is also playing as are fellow top 10 stars

Elina Svitolina, Petra Kvitova and Kiki

Bertens.

“It’s a fresh start after a tough last sea-

son,” said Sharapova. “There were a lot

of ups and downs, there were times when

I was ready but the shoulder wasn’t.

“But I have had a fairly good off season

and I am motivated to compete. At this

point in my career when I have that feel-

ing, it’s a good sign.”

The Brisbane International begins on

January 6, with Sharapova then sched-

uled to play the Kooyong Classic exhi-

bition event in Melbourne before the

opening Grand Slam of the year from

January 20. – AFP

Maria Sharapova

LAHORE, Dec 31: Paki-

stan head coach Misbah-ul-

Haq feels 2019 has been a

tough year for the country in

Test cricket with their strug-

gles against South Africa and

Australia on the road, and has

highlighted the need to im-

prove performance.

Pakistan also just fell short

of a semifinal berth at the

World Cup in England and

Wales on the basis of net run-

rate. They beat Sri Lanka 2-0

at home in their last ODI as-

signment, but defeats to Aus-

tralia and England have put a

dent in their win-loss ratio.

Pakistan had thrashed Sri

Lanka by a huge margin of 263

runs in the Karachi Test to win

the historic two-match series

1-0 and end the year on a high.

“Pakistan ended 2019 on a

high note with victory against

Sri Lanka, but, overall, it was

a tough year for Pakistan in

Test cricket,” Misbah was

quoted as saying by the Paki-

stan Cricket Board (PCB).

“In white-ball cricket, our

mainstays like Fakhar Za-

It was a tough year forPakistan in Tests: Misbah

man, Hasan Ali and Shadab

Khan, on the back of whom

we had won the ICC Cham-

pions Trophy 2017, lost form

at a crucial time which saw

us suffer in the ODI World

Cup and T20I format.

Though, we managed to stay

number one in the format

throughout the year. Over-

all, our win ratio in T20I

cricket has fallen,” he said.

“Going further, we have to

improve a lot of things in

both red-ball and white-ball

cricket. This team has

enough potential and new

boys are also making their

way in international cricket.

There’s certainly a bright fu-

ture ahead for us,” the former

captain added.

Misbah also hailed the rise

of Babar Azam as the top bats-

man in the country.

“The emergence of Babar

Azam as a mega star across all

formats is very good news for

Pakistan cricket. He remained

number one in T20I cricket and

is in the top ten batsmen in

the ODI cricket.” – IANS

Noted footballer NikunjaBrahma passes away

CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR, Dec 31: Well-known footballer and ex-BSF

Commandant Nikunja Brahma, who represented Assam in

national level football tournaments, breathed his last on Mon-

day after a brief illness, at a private hospital at Cooch Beher in

West Bengal.

He was 68 and leaves

behind his wife, two sons,

daughter in law, grand

daughter and a host of

relatives.

Born on December

22, 1951, Brahma repre-

sented Assam (Kokra-

jhar Government High-

er Secondary & Multi-

purpose School) in Sub-

roto Cup, New Delhi in

1969 and 1970, National

School Games Champi-

onship in 1969 and

emerged champions,

represented Junior State

team in Dr BC Roy Trophy in 1971, represented Gauhati

University in 1971 and 1973, represented senior State foot-

ball team in Santosh Trophy in 1972. He was also the recip-

ient of National Sport Talent Scholarship in 1971 from As-

sam. He also played for Maharana AC, Daimalu Sports Club,

Barhoongkha Club, among others.

Brahma retired as commandant of Border Security Force

(BSF). His last rites were performed today at his native vil-

lage here. His body was taken to Kokrajhar District Sports

Association (KDSA) where people from all walk of life paid

tribute. BTC Executive Member Doneswar Goyary and

KDSA officials visited his house for condolence and paid their

last respect to the departed soul.

National yoga sports meetGUWAHATI, Dec 31: Assam girl Pallabi Saikia got the na-

tional Yog Ratna award while Syed Inamul Hussain was award-

ed national Yoga-Ratna title in the National Yoga Sports Games

held at Aligarh on December 27 and 28. Over 600 participants

from 25 states took part in the championship.

From Assam a six-member team of Guwahati based North

East Yoga and Meditation Centre took part in the meet and all

the participants won medals.

The team was lead by international referees Syed Inamul

Hussain and Pallabi Saikia.

Medal winners: Rumati Basumatari (gold), Sibani Baru-

ah, Dipika Rajkhowa, Ashlekha Gogoi (all silver), Arpana Devi,

Ranju Kalita (both bronze).

Pratidin, Prag News winGUWAHATI, Dec 31: Pratidin Group and Prag News post-

ed thumping victories in today’s matches of the 7th TG Baru-

ah Memorial Media T20 Championship at the Judges’ Field

here.

In the first match, Pratidin Group outplayed GL Publicati-

ons by eight wickets while in the second encounter of the day

Prag outplayed NE News by 173 runs.

The highlight of the day’s matches was 105 by Prag News

batsman Mriganka Sarma.

Brief scores: GL Publications 65 (Prasad Buragohain

19; Abhinash Thakuria 3/11, Tonmoy Dey 3/12, Manjit Sarma

2/7). Pratidin 67/2 (Jagjit Singh 38).

Prag News 238/2 (Mriganka Sarma 105, Nikhil Basfor

77). NE News 65 (Trolika Mazumdar 15; Bonijit Kalita 3/2,

Sanjit Dai 2/8, Pronoi Bordoloi 2/3).

Assam second in NE karate meetGUWAHATI, Dec 31: Hosts Assam secured second posi-

tion in the 7th North East Karate Championship bagging 120

medals, including 34 gold, 37 silver and 49 bronze medals

which concluded yesterday at the College of Veterinary Sci-

ence Indoor Stadium in Khanapara here.

Arunachal Pradesh lifted the best team title winning a total of 98

medals including 36 gold, 25 silver and 37 bronze medals while

Meghalaya stood third with a total of 49 medals including six gold.

The championship was officially inaugurated by the presi-

dent of Karate Association of India Likha Tara in presence of

North East States Karate Federation of India president C

Dosavunga, general secretary Bulang Marik and UKAA work-

ing president Sharmila Deka.

Medals and trophies were distributed by Dr Bibeka Saikia,

Dean of the College of the Veterinary Science on Monday.

Silpukhuri karatekas win medals: Karatekas of Silpukhu-

ri Karate-do Academy won six medals in the recently con-

cluded National Level NE Karate Championship.

Medal winners are: Anwesha Kashyap (gold in kata, sil-

ver in kumite, silver in team kata), Jiya Sarma (silver in kata),

Monmayukh Saikia (silver in kata), Kristi Sadhana Kashyap

(bronze in kata).

LONDON, Dec 31: The International

Cricket Council has found a backer in Eng-

land as the sport’s apex body plans to scrap

five-day Tests from 2023 to ease player

workload in a crowded calendar.

The ICC could make four-day Tests man-

datory from 2023 as part of the World Test

Championship, primarily to free up the

crowded calendar.

“We believe it could provide a sustaina-

ble solution to the complex scheduling

needs and player workloads we face as a

global sport,” an ECB spokesperson was

quoted as saying in Daily Telegraph.

Tests have been played over five days

through most of their 140-year history.

If four-day Tests are held during the 2015-

2023 cycle, it would free up 335 days of

England backs ICC plansto scrap five-day Tests

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: In-

dia speedster Jasprit Bumrah

on Tuesday described 2019

as a year of “accomplish-

ments, learning and memo-

ries” on and off the field and

said he was eagerly looking

forward to another success-

ful year in 2020.

“2019 has been a year of

accomplishments, learning,

hard work and making mem-

ories, on the field and off it

too. And on the last day of

the year, I’m looking forward

to everything that 2020 has

to offer!” Bumrah wrote on

his twitter handle along with

a few pictures of his achieve-

ments in the year gone by.

In 2019, Bumrah not only

emerged as India’s pace

spearhead in all three for-

mats of the game, but also

scheduled cricket.

A four-day Test is not a new concept with

the last one played between England and

Ireland earlier this year. South Africa and

Zimbabwe too played one in 2017.

“We’re definite proponents of the four-

day Test concept, but cautiously so, as

we understand it’s an emotive topic for

players, fans and others who have con-

cerns about challenging the heritage of

Test cricket.”

Indian cricket board president Sourav

Ganguly has said it is too early to make a

comment on the matter.

Last week, Cricket Australia’s chief ex-

ecutive Kevin Roberts said mandatory four-

day Tests are “something that we have got

to seriously consider”. – PTI

Bumrah terms 2019 as year ofaccomplishments and learning

became one of the best bowl-

ers of the world.

Bumrah, 26, finished 2019

as the numero uno bowler in

one-day cricket while occu-

pying the sixth spot in ICC

Test bowlers rankings.

In the year gone by, he also

achieved a rare feat, becom-

ing only the third Indian to

scalp a hat-trick in Tests af-

ter Harbhajan Singh and Ir-

fan Pathan.

Bumrah picked up 62, 103

and 51 wickets respectively

from 12 Tests, 58 ODIs and

42 T20Is that he played for

India so far.

But the right-arm pacer

has been out of action since

August after India’s tour of

the West Indies because of a

stress fracture on his back.

Bumrah, however, has re-

covered from the injury and

is set to make his return in

the three-match T20 series

against Sri Lanka starting in

Guwahati on January 5.

He has also been picked in

the squad for the three-

match ODI series against

Australia to begin in Mum-

bai on January 14 after the

Sri Lanka rubber. – PTI

LONDON, Dec 31: Skipper

Priyam Garg’s fifty went in vain

as India Under-19 team suf-

fered a five-wicket loss to South

Africa in an inconsequential

third Youth ODI at the Buffalo

Park here.

Before this match, India Un-

der-19 had already taken an

unassailable 2-0 lead after win-

ning the first two matches of

the series. Sent into bat, India

under-19 team lost three wick-

ets before crossing the fifty-run

mark with Achille Cloete strik-

ing twice for the hosts.

Garg and N Tilak Varma (25)

then steadied the ship as the

two added 58 runs together.

The partnership was broken

India U-19 team lose toSA by five wickets

when Garg, who scored 52, got

out soon after India Under-19

reached hundred. N Tilak Var-

ma got out soon after as South

Africa restricted India Under-

19 to 192 for 8 on the board.

For South Africa Under-19,

Pheku Moletsane (2/36) picked

up two wickets and was in-

volved in two run-outs. South

Africa Under-19 then returned

to overhaul the target with 10

balls to spare, riding on Jonath-

an Bird’s 121-ball 88.

Chasing 193 runs to win,

South Africa Under-19 lost

Bryce Parsons (15) in the ninth

over after a first-wicket part-

nership of 35 runs.

Opener Andrew Louw (31)

and Bird then shared a 49-run

stand for the second wicket

before the former and Lev-

ert Manje (0) departed in

space of a run.

Luke Beaufort (14) then gave

company to Bird as they shared

a 48-run partnership to take

South Africa Under-19 to 130.

Jack Lees (29) and Bird then

added 67 runs before Yashasvi

Jaiswal dismissed the former

in the 48th over.

Bird then took South Africa

Under-19 home.Brief Scores: South Africa Un-

der-19 193/5 (Jonathan Bird 88 notout, Andrew Louw 31; Yashasvi Jaisw-al 2/40) beat India Under-19 192/8(Priyam Garg 52, N Tilak Varma 25;Pheku Moletsane 2/36) by five wick-ets. – PTI

Messi wantsNeymar return

to Barca: ReportBARCELONA, Dec 31:

Lionel Messi has told Ney-

mar that he is ready to quit

FC Barcelona and make way

for him, if needed, as the Cat-

alan giants are looking to the

Brazilian star as a replace-

ment for the Argentine strik-

er, according to reports.

According to France Football

as quoted by The Sun, Messi

sent a WhatsApp to his former

team-mate and Paris Saint Ger-

main striker that read: “Only

together can we win the Cham-

pions League. I want you to

come back. In two years, I’m

leaving, and you’ll be alone,

you’ll take my place.”

Spanish giants Barcelona’s

think-tank also feel that Ney-

mar can fill the shoes of Messi

once he is gone, after trying out

Antoine Griezmann, Philippe

Coutinho and Ousmane Dem-

bele to see if they can step up,

as per the Spanish outlet Sport.

Neymar met his former

team-mates Messi and Luis

Suarez at the ex-Liverpool for-

ward’s wedding vow renewal

service recently. Neymar is

reportedly not happy with the

French side PSG after he fell

out with manager Thomas

Tuchel. – IANS

NEW DELHI, Dec 31:

South Asian Games gold med-

allist Ashmita Chaliha has ad-

vised all young athletes not to

think too much about results

and focus only on putting their

best-foot forward.

“There are pressures for

sportspersons, but my coach

always tells me to play my

game freely and not to take too

much pressure. He tells me not

to think about winning or los-

ing and has asked me to focus

on playing my best game,” said

Ashmita.

Don’t think of result, just giveyour best: Ashmita to youngsters

The 20-year-old, who won

gold in the Tata Open India In-

ternational and Dubai Interna-

tional in 2018, said that the

Khelo India Youth Games are a

great opportunity for upcom-

ing athletes to excel in various

fields. The third edition of the

competition will be held from

January 10 to 22 in Guwahati.

“A lot of athletes are getting

an opportunity to excel in tour-

naments such as the Khelo In-

dia Youth Games in various

fields such as badminton, taek-

wondo, among others. The

government has financially sup-

ported all the fields very well. I

would like to wish all the ath-

letes, who are participating in

the Khelo India Youth Games

in Guwahati, all the very best,”

said Ashmita. She also said that

all aspiring badminton players

in Assam should join the As-

sam Badminton Academy in

Guwahati. Ashmita, who won

two golds at the South Asian

Games this year, has been train-

ing with an Indonesian coach

Edwin Iriawan at the academy

for the last two years. – IANS

Bumrah

Rashid takento cleaners

ADELAIDE, Dec 31: Pre-

mier leg-spinner Rashid Khan

could not finish 2019 on a high

as he was taken to the cleaners

in the ongoing edition of the Big

Bash League (BBL) where he

plays for Adelaide Strikers.

Afghanistan spinner Rashid,

ranked No. 1 in T20Is, was tak-

en for 44 runs in four overs, the

most he has leaked in the BBL

against Sydney Thunder in

front of a packed festive crowd

here on New Year’s Eve.

Sydney Thunder won the

toss and elected to bat first

as Callum Ferguson top-

scored for them with a 46-

ball 73. Rashid got Ferguson’s

wicket but it was scant con-

solation as the batter tonked

him to all areas of the park

along with Usman Khawaja

who scored 63. – IANSMedal winning Assam karatekas in 7th North East Karate Championship pose for a photograph with medals.

APPOINTMENT

Applications are invited to fill the following

vacancy in the Features Section of

The Assam Tribune, Guwahati.

Sub-Editor: The Candidate should be graduate

in Arts, Science or Commerce, and have previous

experience of minimum 3 years in an established

English daily Newspaper. A good knowledge of

Computer, ability to translate from Assamese to

English and good writing skills are essential. The

applicant should be below 35 years.

Emoluments and perks as per Wage Board

recommendations will be offered. Apply with

complete bio-data along with Xerox copies of the

original certificates as well as published articles,

along with a photograph, within 7 days of

publication to:

The Personnel Officer,

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Guwahati – 781 003.

Printed and published by Ganesh Ch. Das on behalf of Assam Tribune Pvt. Ltd. at the Tribune Press, Tribune Buildings, P.O.- Assam Tribune, M.R.D. Road, Chandmari, Guwahati-781003. Tel. 0361-2660102 (EPABX), 0361-2661360, 0361-2668807 (News Desk), FAX 0361-2666396. E-mail:

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Echo '19www.assamtribune.com SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT GUWAHATI, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020

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Time’s ticking: The world is passing through a critical phase. There are existential concerns everywhere. Environmental blues apart, darker fears have engulfed the cycle of life. Hues of despair have gripped humanity from the political, social and cultural points of view. Yet, there is hope for a brighter tomorrow... that order will eventually emerge from the prevailing chaos...

valuation of times gone by cannot be done in isola-tion, for the approaching future is threaded through with the continuum we try to make sense of as we move into the year 2020. In the context of the evolv-ing social and political scene in Assam that has

now reached the highest court of the land, the far-reaching implications of the imminent verdict cannot be completely hazarded yet. But there is no denying the fact that the resistance to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 is a preventive measure – to forestall the Act from further erod-ing the already crisis-torn Assamese ethos. In the event of the Act being rendered ine ective by the judiciary, the actual problem of illegal migrants in the state remains to be addressed. The resis-tance to the Act is not the only issue at hand for the people of Assam, even though it is one which requires immediate a ention, and must be dealt

with urgently. It is indeed troubling to note that resistance and protest are becoming some sort of an identity badge of the Assamese people. In the year that is now disappearing into the annals of history, we have had checks on individual free-dom, not to add the curtailing of communication facilities, resulting in the breakdown of contact, and more importantly, in bringing to the fore, questions of power that a ect our everyday lives.

Amidst the clouded social environment where animosity has peaked to impinge us in ways we never imagined, there are streaks of silver lining that stand out all too well. Assam has been the model of harmony, its people standing up to be counted as accommodative and understanding in this time of tumult, and the sense of brotherhood and familial feeling that binds us serving as the bedrock withstanding assaults from di erent quarters. The sporadic incidents which have resulted in loss of public property must be con-demned in unequivocal terms, and action against the perpetrators should be taken to their logical conclusion, but such are exceptions rather than

the norm. The people of Assam are peace-loving and trust in each other is the strength that has bound us together. The ground-swell of opinion, manifested in the public space through di erent cultural and social registers reß ect the collective worldview of a people whose concern for the land, language and society is genuine and heart-felt. It needs no saying that the people of Assam want to move ahead and focus on ma ers that are of such pressing importance.

The laurels brought forth by Hima Das in the arena of sports in 2019 showcase a plethora of talent that needs to be tapped and nurtured, and along with the other states of the Northeast, it has never been a question of dearth, but it is more about the opportune environment that all aspiring sportspersons from the region hope for. The highly talented crop of Þ lmmakers who have broken new ground in contemporary cinema this year – Rima Das, Bhaskar Hazarika, Anupam Kaushik Bora to name a few – portend a fresh storytelling canvas on celluloid, a process we look forward to developing ever so strongly in the coming year.

2020 is a crucial year for us as a people. Our iden-tity and our resilient social fabric faces a crisis that we need to engage with through understanding and foresight. There have been too many missteps in the last several decades from which we have not been able to recover fully. The realization of our potential as a people requires us to facilitate a healthy, condu-cive environment which can only be achieved when the genuine resistance to the Citizenship Amend-ment Act, 2019 is addressed in real terms. What has been a promise-gallery for so long has turned out to be an assembly of pipe-dreams. Hope has not disap-peared down the dark alley of despair as yet, but the voice of the people must be heard and no process, howsoever well-argued, cannot aspire to a ain its stated goals when the most pertinent questions that occupy us today remain unanswered. History is the teacher we need to take our lessons from – for it is humility and understanding that have always sustained a people, not the show of might or the dis-play of power, and peace and harmony characterise Assamese society, something we all look forward to and hope for in 2020.

Looking for answers

Landmark political year

Amidst the clouded social environment, there are streaks of silver lining, writes Bibhash Choudhury

vctfwtmtis

h d th hi h

ith just one-and-a-half years to go for the Assam Assembly elections in 2021, political instability and a full-blown agitation on the sen-sitive foreigners’ issue is the last thing that an elected government would have asked for in normal

circumstances, but not the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP Gov-ernment in the State. Steadfast in their commitment to bring in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in Parliament, the State BJP considering its success in the Parliamentary polls this year where it bagged nine of the 14 seats as a mandate for the Bill adopted a cavalier a itude over the Bill. Even as other northeastern States passed resolutions in their Assemblies and vehemently opposed the Bill with their Chief Ministers taking party delegations to meet the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and even the Prime Minister, the State BJP gave the impression that the people of the State were with them to accept the Þ ve to six lakh Bengali Hindu refugees (as claimed by the BJP) who came in during the post-1971 period up to 2014 to ensure victory in about 17 Legislative Assembly seats where the post-1971 stream of Bengali Hindus would make a di erence. Things came to such a pass that in open deÞ ance of the Constitution of the country and the electoral laws of the land, a senior Cabinet Minister even went to the extent of openly coming out with statistics of voters on communal lines in defence of the Bill and appealing to the indigenous people of the State to support it to protect themselves from the Bangladeshi Muslim inroads in the State.

Under the circumstances, the ruling dispensation in the State were in a for a rude shock when all hell broke loose in Guwahati and other parts of the State with the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on December 12. The streets of Gu-wahati were literally burning with angry protesters turning violent, a acking government property, buses and vehicles. With the Opposition Congress, AIUDF and Left parties joining in the protests, the AASU-led protest soon appeared to be going o the rails. However, it has to be said to the credit of

the AASU leadership that they soon took hold of the reins of the agitation and ensured that the agitation was not hijacked by vested groups to serve their narrow political interests. Keeping in view that the Bill which has now become an Act has been challenged in the Supreme Court and to maintain the non-violent and democratic character of the protests, the AASU has done well to maintain its avowed principles which has won the appreciation of no less a person than the Prime Minister. Of course, the Prime Minister would have done well to appreciate the genuine concerns of the people of Assam over their language, culture and identity in view of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). Prime Minister Modi has been saying that he would protect the interest of the indige-nous people of Assam. In keeping with the Prime Minister’s statement, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has already announced that he has asked the Clause 6 panel to submit its report within January next year. Further, he has said that the Group of Ministers’ Report on recommendations for ST status to the six ethnic groups, viz., Ahom, Mu ock, Moran, Chutia, Koch-Rajbongshi and Adivasi would be submi ed in January. This apart, Autonomous Councils for Mu ocks, Morans, Chutiyas, Koch-Rajbongshis have been announced, besides, allocation of Rs 125 crore each for the development of Mu ock, Moran, Chutiya and Ahom-inhabited areas. To allay the apprehension of the people about the Assamese language, the State Government has also initiated a move to declare Assamese as the State language.

For the Opposition Congress, the anti-CAA protests have come at an opportune time and the party has tried to cash in on the anti-BJP sentiments of the people. However, it is too early in the day to say to what extent the party would be suc-cessful in swaying the Assamese people’s sentiments in their favour, considering its dismal track record on the foreigners’ issue during its stay in power. With the Bodoland Territorial Council and the Sixth Schedule areas like the Dima Hasao and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Councils being exempted from the purview of the CAA, the Hagrama-led Bodoland People’s Party (BPF) has found itself on a solid wicket. This

left the other alliance partner of the BJP, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) to face the music of the people’s protests. A desperate AGP leadership, which has three ministers in the Cabinet, has Þ nally appealed to the Union Home Minister to exempt Assam from the purview of the Act.

Assam’s political landscape early in the year was dom-inated by the preparation of the National Register of Citi-zens (NRC) under the supervision of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi of the Supreme Court. The Þ nal NRC was published in August this year which left out 19 lakh people out of the 3.29 crore people who had applied for inclusion in the NRC. While, the AASU and most indigenous groups were unhappy at the 19 lakh Þ gure, the BJP was disappointed to Þ nd that a majority of the people left out of the NRC were Bengali Hindus. It turned out that Bengali Muslims were the most contented lot, with the AIUDF and other religious minority groups welcoming the NRC. Ironically, the State BJP has rejected the NRC, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying that Assam would again have to undergo the NRC exercise along with the rest of the country taking 1951 as the cut-o year, which is against the provisions of the Assam Accord.

For the Assamese people, the passing year 2019 will be remembered as a turning point in its chequered political history. The ruling BJP in its brief reign in the State has shown that when it comes to democratic electoral politics or the game of numbers, it is no be er than the Congress. If the Congress kept the international borders open and wel-comed Bangladeshi migrants to further its political agenda of ‘Ali-Adivasi-Bangali’, the BJP played the political card by assuring to throw out foreigners and then changing gears keeping in view its Hindutva agenda to club the Adivasis and Bengali Hindus with the indigenous people to throw out the ‘Ali’. The Supreme Court verdict on the contentious CAA and the political developments centring round the constitutional safeguards to the Assamese people in the coming days will dictate in which direction the political winds will blow in the coming year.

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2019 – a turning point in Assam’s chequered history, writes Prasanta J Baruah

wcircumstances, but not the S

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Year of political resurgence, by Shibdas Bhattacharjee

It was a boxers’ year, by Kausav Baruah

Page 2, The Asssam Tribune, Echo, SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT GUWAHATI, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020, www.assamtribune.com

Year of political resurgence New hopeA turbulent year ahead, predicts Shibdas Bhattacharjee

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Assam has a long way to go, writes Dr Dulumoni Goswamihe year 2019 was another

election year in India. Natu-rally, hectic political activity continued and predominantly occupied place in both media and public perception in Assam like other parts of the country. The BJP registered

a historic victory in Assam winning nine seats: Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Lakhimpur, Man-galdoi, Tezpur, Autonomous District (ST), Silchar and Karimganj, with the Congress bagging three and the AIUDF and an Independent one each. So also, the BJP won in three Assembly constit-uencies – Rangapara, Ratabari and Sonari, and AIUDF won the Jania by-election held in 2019. The BJP’s winning march continued throughout the year and the more signiÞ cant one was the party’s performance in West Bengal in the 2019 general elections that changed the arithmetic of Bengal politics. However, in the electoral politics, the BJP su ered a setback as the decades-long BJP-Shiv Sena alliance broke exposing the crack within the NDA, which has formulated a new chemistry of the sa ron party’s coalition politics in the poll-bound States in the days ahead.

The issue of NRC dominated the political arena of the State throughout the year. The Þ nal NRC failed to satisfy the causes and concerns of the in-digenous people of Assam. Both the AASU and the Assam Public Works, which was the Þ rst organiza-tion to Þ le a petition in the Supreme Court seeking to update the NRC, expressed unhappiness on this. But it was surprising to see AIUDF’s stand on NRC; the party thanked the Supreme Court for taking the initiative to ascertain genuine citizens. Both New Delhi and Dispur administrations tried to convince those left out from the Þ nal NRC list with mea-sures like no immediate arrest, 120 days to appeal and, more importantly, se ing of 300 foreigners’ tribunals for the appellants. The Modi Government later proposed to set up more than 1000 FTs across the State.

Things went on. But during the dying days of the year, the Modi Government commi ed the biggest blunder with its adamant approach to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in the Parlia-ment, despite strong opposition from the people of Assam. The new Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was rightly perceived as the last nail on the co n of the rights and identity of the indigenous people of Assam. The way people of Assam pro-tested against the new Act refreshed the memory of the Assam Agitation. The Sonowal Government imposed curfew in Guwahati and other important places, mostly in Upper Assam, stopped internet services and applied force to control the upsurge in the State. Five persons courted martyrdom in police Þ ring. But ignoring the force applied by the State machinery, people irrespective of parties and organizations are continuing with the democratic protests. Despite curfew, student leaders, artistes, intellectual community, media persons assembled in large number in Guwahati and in other places and vowed to continue the protest programme.

A close look at the controversial CAA exposes that it is nothing but a shameless e ort of the BJP Government to consolidate the Hindu vote-bank. SigniÞ cantly, the areas under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution in Assam and the States having the provision of Inner Line Permit of northeastern region have been kept out of this. This means, the prime intention behind CAA in Assam is to cement the BJP’s political prospect in the Brah-maputra Valley, which is against the tradition of religious and linguistic solidarity of Assam.

All these changed the image of the Sonowal Government that came to power in Assam with the slogan of Jati, Mati, Bheti. Stands taken by the Chief Minister, his powerful cabinet colleague Himanta Biswa Sharma and other BJP leaders were vehemently protested by the youth commu-nity of Assam that helped the anti-CAA move-ment, and the overall nationalistic movement of the indigenous people of Assam a ained an exalted status.

This is a ma er of pride that the people of Assam led the anti-CAA movement across the country as other parts of the country raised their voice against the Act following Assam. SigniÞ -cantly, Assam sent a clear message regarding her objection against Bangladeshi immigration and the ruling BJP’s approach to give it a communal shape more convincingly that transformed it into a national issue. Similarly, the democratic agita-tion in Assam caught international a ention this

time, with the UN, the United States and Europe-an countries expressing concern over this, apart from Islamic nations.

The ma er has already gone for judicial direc-tion. Nearly 15 petitions have been moved in the Supreme Court challenging the CAA. However, the democratic agitation is supposed to contin-ue in Assam. The year ahead is bound to be a turbulent one, which has every possibility to get enhanced before the next Assembly election in Assam. But apart from implications of electoral politics, the Sonowal Government must make sensible approach considering the BJP’s com-mitment to the people of Assam. The turmoil in Assam will a ect the State’s development process and the BJP governments both at the Centre and State are answerable for this. The earlier they understand this, the be er it is for Assam and the nation as a whole. The people of Assam want what they deserve.

hercoaAc

(Top) Jubilant

BJP supporters

after election

victory.

(Bottom)

Protests in

Assam against

CAA.

ndian education has made considerable prog-ress during the last few years. However, the education sector is still facing a number of challenges like access, equity and quality. In spite of various government initiatives, about 20 per cent of the Indian population is still unable to read and write. The passing of the

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) 2009 is a signiÞ cant milestone of educational development in the country. Similarly, prior to, RTE Act, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was started to provide free education to children of 6-14 years of age and treat it as their fundamental right. Still the number of children out of school is considerably high. The dropout rate is also alarming in many States of India, including Assam. The quality of education, particularly in government schools is a ma er of serious concern. According to the NITI Aayog Report, Assam has got the 10th Rank among all Indian states in the School Education Quality Index with 56.12 index, while Ker-ala has ranked 1st with 82.17 index. It indicates that Assam has to achieve a lot as far as quality of school education is concerned.

Indian higher education has also made considerable progress during the last few years. However, the quality of higher education is still a big question. As per the

Times of Higher Educa-tion world ranking 2019, which was released in September, no Indian university could achieve any position among the top 200 universities of the world. The Universi-ty of Oxford has bagged the Þ rst rank. However, as per QS Global ranking of universities, three In-dian higher educational institutions – IIT Bom-bay, IISc Bangalore, IIT Delhi – achieved the 162nd, 170th and 172nd rank, respectively. The growth of higher edu-cational institutions is considerable in India. As per the AISHE Report 2017-18, the number of universities in India was 903 and colleges 39,050, but as per the 2018-19 report, the number of universities has reached 993 and colleges 39,931.There is also a growth of private higher edu-cational institutions in the recent years as 385 universities are private-ly managed, although this number was 343 in 2017-18. Similarly the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education has also increased to 26.3 per

cent than the earlier report when it was 25.8 per cent. But Assam has only 16 per cent GER in higher edu-cation, which is considerably low.

The year 2019 was a signiÞ cant year in the Þ eld of edu-cational reformations in the country. The Government of India has assured to introduce a new national education policy. Accordingly, the Commi ee for Draft National Education Policy was constituted with 11 members under the leadership of prominent scientist and educa-tionist, the former chairman of ISRO, K Kasturirangan. The commi ee has submi ed its 477-page report to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development in May 2019. The commi ee has recommended a lot of major changes in the country’s education system. The recommendations of the Commi ee include some long-awaited shifts in the education sector like the inclu-sion of both early childhood education and secondary education in the Right to Education Act, doubling the budget allocation for education, strengthening decentral-ized mechanisms of teacher management and support, expansion of school nutrition programme to include provision of school breakfast, and a possible return of the no-detention policy. There will be major change in the structure of school education, as the earlier 10+2 structure of school education will be changed to 5+3+3+4 system. By 2030 the minimum degree qualiÞ cation for teaching will be a 4-year liberal integrated BEd degree, which will be o ered only through universities and multidisciplinary colleges.

New institutional architecture for higher education will be of three types of HEI based on a di erence in focus – research universities, teaching universities and autonomous colleges. All new colleges after 2020 must be only autonomous colleges. After 2030, there will be no a liated colleges in existence. After approval in the Parliament, the proposed education policy is expected to be implemented from the coming year. It will bring a revolutionary change in all the stages of education. The State government should also constitute an expert commi ee to Þ nd out appropriate strategies for implementation of the NEP in Assam.

On December 22, the Government of Assam has also taken some important Cabinet decisions to request the Central Government to make Assamese as State language, amending Article 365 of the Constitution. Assamese will also be made a compulsory subject in all schools, including private schools. The Assam Govern-ment has also decided to establish a new university at Golaghat in the coming year. In 2019, the Government has already established three new universities at Bajali, Hojai and Lakhimpur. The long pending demand of appointing a vice chancellor for the Assam Women University has also been fulÞ lled recently. We are still hopeful that the coming year will bring a lot of reforms in the education sector and there will be quality education at all levels in Assam.

nrecs2u

Right of C

“According to the NITI Aayog Report, Assam has got 10th rank among the all Indian States in the School Education Quality Index with 56.12 index while Kerala has ranked Þ rst with 82.17 index. It indicates that Assam has to achieve a lot so far the quality of school education is concerned.

Bharat Ratna conferred on singer-composer Dr Bhupen Hazarika.

Arun Jaitley, a stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Noted playwright,actor and fi lmmaker Girish Karnad.

GL Agarwala, managing director of GL Publications and noted social worker.

Drupad Borgohain, veteran left wing leader.

Swabhab Shilpi Amulya Kakati Memorial Award 2019 conferred on Pankaj Bordoloi.

Akademi Ratna award to Sattriya exponent Jatin Goswami.

Sri Sri Madhavdev Award for ’19 conferred on Dr Sunil Kothari.

Padma Shri conferred on Dr Ilias Ali (left) and Uddhab Kumar Bharali.

Sushma Swaraj, former External Affairs Minister and veteran BJP leader.

Prof Tabu Ram Taid, eminent educationist, author and administrator.

Dr Dilip Kumar Dutta, noted mathematician, linguist and litterateur.

Biraj Kumar Sarma, senior AGP leader and one of the signatories of the Assam Accord.

Republic Day Journalism Award ’ 19 conferred on Dhirendra Nath Chakraborty.

Pabindra Nath Sarma Memorial Award conferred on Diganta Sarma.

Kunjabala Devi Memorial Award conferred on Chandan Jyoti Borah.

Sahitya Akademi Translation Award 2018 conferred on Partha Pratim Hazarika

Ram Jethmalani, veteran lawyer and former Union Minister.

Benu Mishra, renowned artist and sculptor.

Purabi Bormudoi, Sahitya Akademi award winner.

Dilip Ranjan Dutta, noted actor of Assamese mobile theatre.

Bagh Hazarika Sampreeti Bota conferred on Mujibur Rahman.

Dr Bhabendra Nath Saikia Memorial Award for 2018 to Anindita Paul.

Krishna Kanta Handiqui National Award, ’ 19 to Assam Tribune Group.

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Of hope and despair Import all

A boxers’ year

Not much good news in 2019, writes Mubina Akhtar Agitations beget future leaders, writes Manish GoswamiE

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The puglists punched above their weight, writes Kausav Baruah

he environmental scenario of 2019 has been full of ups and downs. There has not been much good news for wildlife this year, with up to one mil-lion species at risk of anni-hilation and some within the coming decades. But

thanks to the relentless work of scientists, conservationists and armies of volun-

teers, many endangered spe-cies could see a return

from the brink of extinction.

Northern white rhino: In an e ort to save the near-extinct northern white rhino, scientists were able to create embryo of the species in lab. The breakthrough to the seemingly unachievable task of production of a northern white rhino embryo

came when an international group of scientists could successfully create two embryos of

the species using eggs from the last two female northern white rhinos – Najin

and Fatu – and frozen sperm from two dead males.

Tiger numbers: India’s wild tiger population has

increased by more than 30 per cent in four years,

raising hopes for the survival of the

endangered species. The

Þ gures have

been a

‘his-toric

achieve-ment’ said

the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who

lauded the conserva-tion e orts and went on

to say that India was one of the biggest and safest habitats

for tigers around the world. A census report unveiled on July 29 on

the occasion of International Tiger Day found that there were 2,967 tigers, up from

2,226, four years ago.1,09,75,844 trees felled in 5 years: Randeep

Surjewala, chief spokesperson for the Congress Party took to Twi er to a ack the Modi Gov-

ernment for allowing cu ing of over one crore trees for development projects. “Is

BJP destroying our future?” he asked. The Modi Government has cut a

whopping 1,09,75,844 trees in the past Þ ve years!” Surjewala

said. Earlier, responding to a question in the Lok

Sabha, Minister of State for Environ-ment, Babul Supriyo

said the Min-istry gave

permis-

sion to cut 1.09 crore trees for development purpos-es between 2014 and 2019. Out of the total, 2018-19 saw the highest number of 26.91 lakh trees felled.

Amazon wildÞ res: When the burning of the Amazon was at its peak in August, there were thousands of individual Þ res, almost three times as many that month – 30,901 – compared with the same period last year that put the spotlight back on the unprecedented rate of destruction of the so-called lungs of the planet. The Government of Brazil under Jair Bolsonaro came under severe criticism and there were protests and threats of Þ nancial penalties resulting in Bolsonaro’s deployment of the army to the Amazon, followed by an order of a 60-day ban on se ing Þ res to clear land there.

Climate Action: Sixteen-year-old climate ac-tivist Greta Thunberg who led millions of others around the world, addressed the UN’s Climate Action Summit in New York City this year. From the podium she thundered – “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are su ering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass

extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth.

How dare you!” The Swedish teen re-en-ergized climate activism, reinvigorating a

new, youth-led movement. Ban on single-use plastic: India has banned

the use of single-use plastic from October 2. This is undoubtedly the farthest-reaching commit-ments by any country to tackle the problem and surely an epoch-making one that is going to have far-reaching e ects. The announcement builds on state-speciÞ c bans on the manufacture, supply, storage and use of plastics that are already in place in at least 25 of the country’s 29 states.

Green crackers: The Supreme Court had banned the sale of Þ recrackers in Delhi-NCR saying there was “direct evidence” of deterioration of air quality due to use of Þ reworks on Diwali. Only two types of Þ recrackers were declared legal by the top court. The green version of ‘anar’ and ‘phuljhari’ with 25 to 30 per cent less of particulate ma er and 50% less sulphur-dioxide happen to be silent. The green crackers, as they are called, emit 30 per cent less air pollution – a ma er that has increasingly become a concern for Delhi and its adjoining areas.

Bird deaths: In November, carcasses of some 18,000 migratory birds found at Sambhar lake, 80 kms from the capital city of Rajasthan shocked conservationists all over the world. Toxic water quality of the lake has supposedly been seen behind the large number of avian deaths.

UN COP 25: The UN COP 25 Climate Con-gress in Madrid ended on December 15 with delegates from almost 200 nations calling for more ambition in cu ing green house gases and appeal for help to poor countries Þ ghting climate change. The UN Secretary-General has warned that failure to tackle global warming could result in economic disaster. The extended COP 25 talks ended in a watered-down deal, with negotia-tors failing to arrive at a key decision on global carbon markets.

Australian bushÞ re: Record low rainfall and record-breaking temperatures exacerbated bushÞ res in Australia that burnt over 3,000,000 hectares, destroyed over 700 houses and killed at

least 9 people with, at least one, unaccounted for. The state government of New South Wales

declared a state of emergency which has alarmed scientists, doctors and Þ reÞ ghters.

t was a chilly winter morning. The morning sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds. Chief Minister Lokananda was walking all alone in the lawns of his o cial hilltop residence overlook-ing the mighty Brahmaputra. Surprisingly, his trademark smile was missing and he seemed quite pensive. Even his two aides who generally give

Lokananda company like his shadow were nowhere to be seen. Though Lokananda wasn’t in the best frame of mind, he agreed to share his feelings about the last ten years of the century which is all set to become history.

Before I could get the conversation going, Chief Minister Lokananda asked, “Do by any chance think that I resemble Sanjay Du .?”

“No Sir. Not at all.”“Then why am I being mocked as ‘Khalanayak’? It was

Sanju who did that role in Subhash Ghai’s blockbuster and not me.”

“Right Sir.”“I feel sad that these days the people just can’t distinguish

between a Jananayak and a Khalanayak.”Chief Minister Lokananda without giving me time to ask

a question and gazing intently at the mighty river, said: “It doesn’t take time for public perception to change. Look at the way I am being trolled in the social media as well.

“The storage capacity of my smartphone just could not handle the barrage of hate posts. Not only in social media, but even from the TV studios, I am being blasted both by the anchors and the panellists.

“I don’t care much for social media but even when my old brother in arms and evergreen student leader Ever Shining Bha acharyya is openly spewing venom against me, I am feeling very dejected.”

“Sure, Sir.”“People should understand that I am the only leader to

constantly dwell on the unity of the two valleys and be-tween the people of the hills and plains in all my speeches. I take inspiration from John Lennon’s immortal number Imagine and want to make people from other countries live in peace in our State.”

“Sir, you are quite philosophical too.”“Not only philosophical but practical too. While I am

feeling sad because Ever Smiling Bha acharyya is lashing out at me, at the same time I am feeling happy because Þ nally the people have once again gone on agitation mode.”

“Why, Sir?“We must think of the next generation. Without any

agitations, how will the State get its new set of leaders after us? After all agitations are like nurseries that churn out leaders in the State.”

“But the economy of the State takes a hit.”“No, no way. The weavers of the State are now very

busy as the demand of the gamosa has simply skyrocketed. Instead of onions, the import of used vehicle tyres has gone up in the State. The garment traders are also quite happy selling black garments.

“But Sir, all these things does not do the State any good.”“ Who says so? Our de-

cision has put the State back on track. Everyone is ge ing a chance to excel and showcase their talent in the varied domains. It has become a happening State once again.”

“But Sir, won’t these ac-tions take the State back in time?”

“No, it won’t. Look when we can import al-most all the things to run the State, there is no harm in importing some voters as well to strengthen our democracy .”

twMlitp

Lokanan

he year 2019 will certainly be remembered as another year when Assam’s pugi l i s ts punched above their weight with some amazing performances, while the most promising

cricketing talent in recent years, Riyan Parag, came into the national limelight with some real good all-round display in the IPL.

Coming into 2019, all eyes were on none other than our very own ‘Dhing Express’ – Hima Das, although it wasn’t supposed to be as expected. The ace sprinter who was su ering from a lower back pain after competing at the Asian Games last year pulled out of the 400m heats at the Asian Championships in Doha in April. Despite the setback, Hima went on to win six gold medals in di erent events in Europe (four in 200m, one in 300m and one in 400m) from July to August.

Carrying on from where they left, Lovlina Borgohain won, gold while two other State boxers – Pwilao Basumatary and Bhagyabati Kachari, se led for silver in the 3rd Elite Women’s National Boxing Championships in January. Lovlina and Pwilao continued their medal-winning spree by clinching bronze medals at the 70th Strandja Memorial Boxing at SoÞ a, Bulgaria, in February. On the other hand, three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa won silver at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Finland’s Helsinki in March, while he secured an unprecedented fourth successive medal at the Asian Boxing Championships by winning the bronze in April. He signed o the year with a gold at the 13th South Asian Games in December. Jamuna Boro bagged the gold

p ghcaApwaw

medal in the 54-kg category by defeating fellow Indian boxer Y Sandhyarani of Manipur 5-0 at the India Open International Boxing Tournament held at Guwahati in May, while Lovlina se led for a silver.

Parag nearly became the youngest player to hit a 50 in the Indian Premier League as Rajasthan Royals overcame Mumbai Indians. Up against Mumbai Indians, the Royals were in trouble in their chase of 162 before Riyan Parag paired up with skipper Steve Smith to add 70 for the 4th wicket. Riyan was run out for 43. He also became the second youngest player to take a wicket in his maiden IPL season after Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.

Swimmer Shivangi Sharma representing the Indian team won an 800m freestyle relay gold

and a 400m freestyle individual silver at the 13th South Asian Games in Kathmandu. She had also won a gold in the 4x100m freestyle event and a silver in the 200m freestyle event. Another Assam swimmer – Astha Choudhury won three individual medals and two relay medals at the Xth Asia PaciÞ c Youth Games held at Russia’s Vladivostok. Ashmita Chaliha was crowned the women’s champion at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal. Ashmita Chaliha overcame a late surge from fellow rising star, Gayatri Gopichand of Telangana to Þ nish with a 21-18, 25-23 win.

Weightlifter Barnali Borah clinched the gold medal in the Khelo India Youth Games in Pune by lifting 55kg in the snatch and 77 kg in clean and jerk. Tridip Baruah bagged a bronze medal in the

67kg category. Papul Changmai brought laurels to the State by winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Apia, the capital city of Samoa, while the weightlifter earlier clinched a gold medal in the Senior National Weightlifting championship, held at Visakhapatnam in February.

Kabita Devi won a bronze medal for Assam in the Senior National Fencing Championship in February, while she went on to represent India in the Senior Asian Fencing Championship in June.

Tania Choudhury came out with ß ying colours in the Asia Pacific Lawn Bowls Championships at Gold Coast in Australia where she won two medals, including a bronze in the individual event. Assam bagged

six golds, Þ ve silvers and two bronze medals in the 7th National and 3rd Under-25 Lawn Bowls Championship held at Guwahati.

Udit Gogoi lifted the doubles crown by winning both the U-18 singles and the doubles titles in the National Series Tennis Tournament held at Kavali, Andhra Pradesh.

Assam won a gold medal in the recurve event in men’s section of the 39th Senior National Archery Championship held at Cu ack, while the women’s team Þ nished with bronze. The four-members men’s team that won gold featured Mukesh Boro, Sanjay Boro, Dhaniram Basumatary and Production Borgyari. On the other hand, Promila Daimary, Somali Basumatari, Himani Boro and Dipali Boro represented the Assam women’s team that bagged the bronze.

Lovlina Borgohain Shiva Thapa Riyan Parag Ashmita ChalihaJamuna BoroPwilao Basumatary

SP

OR

TS

Page 4, The Asssam Tribune, Echo ’19, SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT GUWAHATI, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2020, www.assamtribune.com

A year of Þ lms

Contemporary art trends

Classical music, dance forms need revamp, writes Swapnanil Barua

AR

TS

, M

US

IC,

CIN

EM

A

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ME

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Blood runs on the canvas, writes Rupanjali Baruah

Zubeen Garg in

Kanchanjangha.

Jatin and

Barasharani

in Ratnakar.

019 for the arts was just like the year itself, a 20 be-fore the 19, quite there but not near the Þ nishing line. In most Þ elds of art it was counting backwards, rath-er than counting forward,

except in Þ lms. Films had a year of boun-ty, with Assamese cinema seeing both commercial and artistic success. Ratnakar and Kanchanjangha were raging hits, both reaping in a proÞ t of Rs 5 crore each for its producers. Numberwise also, nearly 20 Þ lms were released, most of which unfor-tunately bombed at the box o ce, due to poor storyline, poor craft and ham-handed acting and direction. They were made by Þ rst-time directors, driven more by passion than preparation. With the intro-duction of DSLR cameras being used for making Þ lms, it has encouraged anybody and everybody to jump into Þ lmmaking and music videos, where quality is bound to su er. But Þ lms like Aamis and Bulbul Can Sing breathed international inß uences into Assamese Þ lmmaking, throwing up talented actors like Lima Das, Nitali Das and the young village stars from Chay-gaon. Our woman directors were active, with Manju Bora’s In the Land of Poison Women, Bobby Sarma Barua’s Mishing and Roopa Barua’s Daughters of the Polo God kept their presence felt in the international Þ lm circuit. IIFI Goa screened Dr Bezbarua, Bahubri a, a short Þ lm by Utpal Du a and Manju Bora’s In the Land of Poison Women.

As for infrastructure development, the Assam Government made money avail-able for improving Jyoti Chitraban and hosting GIFF and movie hall development and Þ lmmaking through the State Film Finance Corporation, conÞ rming the Chief Minister’s soft corner for the medium. Adil Hussain continues to be the only signiÞ -cant presence in Bollywood and interna-tional cinema from Assam.

In music, it was a poor year, save the Zubeen-tuned, Gayatri Hazarika-sung, Samir-penned song for the Þ lm Ratnakar – Raati raati. The other popular singers could not produce a new sound or a new lyric, except for songs on runaway brides. They stuck to the Bihu rhythm and tune or tried imitating Bhangra beats. E orts to use blues, rap, rock & roll or the baganiya tunes could only provide dance material, not music. This instant frivolous music will stay till the music makers hit the right chord of reading the minds of the young listeners, their angst and pain. In spite of the facilities now available for learning music and platforms through reality shows, Assam has not been able to throw up a Shreya Ghoshal from among the countless singers, who dare to spend

0lfnIce

except in Þlms F

he contemporary artists of Assam have been living in bleak times in trying to recover through art into a shell of their own, most of them have been experiencing them at

certain strategic phases in their lives and as a result there is a striking plurality in their approaches, pa erns of thoughts and movements in their artwork. There are creations where we discover a bit of camaraderie with nostalgia implicit in the tragic context of those happenings. The

past is no more, their claim that history will strengthen them is gone too and so they see those immeasurable wrongs done to their community in terms of their cultural heritage which are always in danger of perishing into a quiet oblivion. These are mostly these artists’ burden and they have to live with it.

The artwork of the contemporary artists of Assam is wired to the circuit of a genre

fortunes in making music vid-eos. The Bombay gang of As-samese singers have not made much headway either, with the leader Papon struggling to come up with another Moh moh ke dhage. The positive is that the musicians and record-ists from Assam in Mum-bai are faring be er, some being among the best in the country. The collapse of the private recording studios of Assam is, however, a tragic development.

In drama, small-town directors and playwrights are challenging the estab-lished names. None of the NSD lot could come up with anything pathbreaking during the year. They seemed to have reached a dead end of their creativity in both content and interpretations. The lure of easy festival grants and managing proÞ table acting schools have sapped up their creative in-stincts. The drama festivals are being held with regulari-ty throughout the State, but the performance quality has sapped the enthusiasm of the organizers. Natasurya Festival and Jyotirupa Festivals are still good draws, but rising costs and waning sponsorships will soon sound their death knell. In mobile theatre too, expensive stars are killing many a mobile theatre company. Abhijit Bha acharya and Prastuti Parasar continue to be the reigning deities of mobile theatre, their plays cashing on sentiment as the core point of all presentations.

The classical dance scenario has stag-nated. The prestigious Sa riya Festival has degenerated into a annual ritual to be gone through both by the performers and the organizer – Sangeet Natak Akademi. The only hope lies in the new generation of dancers and choreographers to re-vive the dance form. The other classical

performances have been reduced to annual schoolday presentation by the music and dance institutions. Classical music and dance performances of the exponents have become rare.

In Þ ne arts the scenario is be er, with more exhibitions being held, solo or in groups. Photography stan-

dards are also improving. Artists are now Þ nding international buyers and invitations to international workshops and shows. More galleries need to come up in the towns of Assam.

Archaeology and heritage preser-vation is a new area of interest among the public, which is a good sign. Public

participation and e orts can save a lot of artefacts and sites sca ered throughout Assam.The restoration of the Barry White Medical School building in Dibrugarh, the Chemistry building of Co on Col-lege and the manuscripts of Dakshin-

paat Sa ra by INTACH, have opened up a new chapter in heritage

conservation by the public.

of his brother artists too – In my heart/ sprout a seed/left behind by careless men/ who have eaten and forgo en. These artists cannot wish for a fairyland; their sensibilities are sharpened only by follies that have shaped the destinies of their race of men. The identity of the native has been fragmented, splintered into several subjective parts of separate experiences which have given rise to di erent stylistic possibilities of expressing them. In the smell of gunpowder they have forgo en the smell of blue orchids. These artists have inherited the innocence of myths, the solidarity of their ancient hills and sometimes the comfort of the river Brahmaputra that could have led them to explore only pleasant dreams on their canvas but the unß inching manner of death, brutality and general scenes of carnage have brought in nightmares with all its tangible realities. So blood runs on their canvas instead of tears. This abuse of their land raises angst in their art so their ß owers have only the colour of blood and the scars made by bullets are indelible moles on a beautiful face, there is just a body without a head. And it is not a folktale and this is the truth of a half and half kind of existence. Nothing seems to grow young again, and

each day is a Þ lth day. Their world, too, is the world of Octavio Paz with its blood spla ered calendar that did not inherit pleasant dreams and still hopes that someone someday will send them good dreams. The artists, however, share a fellowship bonded by a common feeling to search for ways to get away from the woes of their time and yet the personal remains personal which are felt on the fringes of their canvas. A sublime longing for something to carry them on in spite of life’s trials and happenings strengthen their art that

would have

otherwise proved to be

endemic. They are not passive

voices; there is a clear interpolation between

dream and reality where nightmares are not to overtake

fancies; they have raised before the world an elliptical universe of

both myth and truth, and so we can imagine that these artists will lead us to a be er understanding of their people and their time.

that is exclusive and separate because their experiences are di erent from artists from the rest of the country and their treatment of themes, motifs and images are entirely shaped and determined by the particular atmosphere of the region they belong to.

We are treated to a new series of experiments in artwork with new areas of exploration; to some it may seem like arsenal as they accuse and protest against assault on those factors both socio-political and economic that have done immense wrong to their communities, they, therefore, may read like sheets of angry witness to things gone bad. This disjunction helps us to assimilate their class history too. Though the past cannot be resurrected, these artists make us walk back in time and participate in a parade of folk and socio-cultural events where the imaginative power of the artists provide a blend of compassion and sadness at having to retire Þ nally into the folds of a di erent time; there are traces of atmosphere of speciÞ c locales, colour and motifs which bear relevance to the history inherent in the region. Sometimes personal torment, guilt and real desires are relegated and yet their absences make us aware of a mental fracture. Nilmoni Phukan, the eminent poet and art critic of Assam shares the woes

very year, as I sit down to pen this piece for our special year-end issue, I tend to look back at all those women’s stories that ba led for a ention in this 365-day period. Most reports reek of despair and doom, while some do bring a li le cheer, and very

few Þ ll us with hope, a feeling that all’s not lost yet. But let’s not get into recollection mode this time, instead, let’s just put this segment up for discussion.

Women, well, what about women? Why do we have a segment or a category in our name in almost every journal, newspaper, magazine, radio or TV programming schedule? There’s hardly any section called ‘Men’, is there? Is it because every other subject under the sun has been overrun by the men of the world? Be it politics, literature, economics, en-vironment, sport – men are running the show. And that’s why we need a separate space just so we can feel great about ourselves. A special category so we can write or discuss about women achievers, wom-en writers, women sport stars, and women actors. We do not or cannot hope to be discussed alongside men and their accomplishments.

Every time there is a female star on the horizon, whatever the Þ eld, we are quick to label and bracket her in the women’s slot. As eminent li érateur Nabaneeta Dev Sen once spoke about the patriar-chal impositions in the world of writing, “Writing is male territory, has been so right from the beginning, women are latecomers, and trespassers. A man is a writer but the woman who writes is a woman writer – her gender is specially mentioned.”

All those who watched the genre-bending British comedy Fleabag (Netß ix) might recall this one episode in Season 2 where a woman named Belinda wins the Best Woman in Business award. Although she accepts it with all the grace that a woman is expected to demonstrate, she follows it up with a scathing monologue about the ‘infantalizing’ accolade.

“It’s infantilizing bollocks,” she says. “It’s ghet-toizing. It’s a sub-section of success. It’s the f*****g children’s table of awards.” She was, of course, referring to being named as the best ‘woman’ in business, as opposed to the best in business across all genders.

What’s more concerning is that women hardly realize this. In fact, we revel in this glory of being sanctiÞ ed, of being given special status, of being given a voice, of being heard. But should we be ‘giv-en’ all this? Fifty per cent of the world population is women, so where is the need for anything to be o ered to us. Shouldn’t it all just be in equal terms?

A woman’s success is almost never equated with that of a man. Isn’t that what happened with Esther Duß o recently? She won the Nobel prize for Eco-nomics this year along with two of her colleagues, but her claim to fame was the fact that she is the wife of Abhijit Banerjee. She is every bit of the ge-nius that Banerjee is, but we overlooked that aspect and focused on her relationship status.

So, are we just supposed to be happy to be rele-gated to our own corner, where we read women’s books, watch women’s Þ lm, and win women’s

awards? I sure hope not. Let’s just all be seen as equals, as individ-uals who must be praised or criticized on equal terms. While we are at it, let’s just do away

with this term called ‘breaking the glass ceiling’. Why do we say that

Hillary Clinton or Indra Nooyi broke the proverbial glass ceiling? Who made that glass ceiling? If women making it to the top in business or politics is unprecedented, then isn’t that the same with men who take up fashion designing or make-up? Why do we never say that a man broke down the glass ceiling in a woman’s domain? Think, think hard and let’s just be open to the possibilities

of a truly equal world.

Why is ‘women’ a category, asks Bidisha Singha

On equal terms

men and their accomplishments.

Every time there is a female star on the horizon,

Esther Dufl o with husband Abhijit Banerjee

Hill

ary

Clin

ton

Indra Nooyi