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— Arup Kumar Dutta Let us, the older generation of Assam, eat the humble pie and frankly admit that we have failed the land of our birth. None of the numerous problems that bedevilled the region during our lifetime have been solved. On the contrary, we will be leaving it far worse than it had been during our youthful days.
We had inherited an ambience of tranquillity that today appears irrevocably lost. Assam may have been a somewhat laid back place during those days, but life had swirled placidly by without constant reports of death and maiming polluting the media. Now violence appears to be the order of the day, with the State considering even greater violence on its part to be the sole panacea for the prevalent anarchy. In those days, though the region was a part of India, political power remained firmly in the hands of native leaders who understood the needs of the people.
The leadership today seems to have become lackeys of that undefined entity called ‘the Centre’ and does what it is ordered to do just like puppets. It does not hesitate to unleash paramilitary forces from outside on its own people in order to quell insurgency. It is totally dependent on handouts from the Centre and time and again approaches it with a begging bowl. The paradigm of colonialism, first enforced in this region during the British rule, has not disappeared six decades after independence and is well set to continue into the future. In the process whatever pride we had had as a sub-nationalistic group has disappeared into thin air.
Assam was relatively self-sufficient in production of food-grains, fish, vegetables, items of clothing etc. even till the mid-fifties of the last century. Currently we have to import most items from outside, making us vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous trading elements from elsewhere. Floods have been our lot for centuries, but irrational interference by politicians, bureaucrats and contractors have ensured that far from controlling our water bodies, these today have been empowered to wreak more destruction than ever before.
But our most pathetic failure had been inability to preserve our cultural identity and heritage. Migrants from outside the country have taken over the land and our leaders have not been able to display the political will to stop this scourge from spreading. True, around three decades back the people of Assam had embarked on a mass movement against the silent foreign invasion, and for a while succeeded in wresting political power for the indigenous people. But betrayal on the part of the youthful leaders and growing indifference of the Assamese middle-class to the issue ensured that the disease at the moment has gone beyond cure. We have allowed ourselves to become political and cultural pariahs in our own State.
Today we are a fractured society ruled by lackeys whose only interest in life seems to be to cling on to power at any cost and feather their own nests. However, it would be suicidal to give way to cynicism and lose all hope of revitalisation of the Assamese race. Since the older generation has failed, this onus for this must rest on the young generation.
Fortunately, despite past betrayals and having to work within an inimical environment, sections of this generation have not lost the will to carry on the fight. For example, under the banner of various youth organisations including pioneering ones such as the AASU, the younger generation has revived the issue of foreign migrants, and have launched another campaign against the influx. Perhaps this concerted effort will bear some fruit in the future and resuscitate hope that Assamese society will be saved. However, it is a change in the ethos of the younger generation at individual levels, which offer the best chance for our social survival. First, the ambience today is that of cutthroat competition, and young people will have to adapt themselves to it. Second, there is real need for youngsters with vision and exposure to other climes to come back and usher in changes amongst our people.
I have been heartened lately by encountering some young Assamese who are conscious of the need for the above. It is impossible to include every one of them in the span of such a brief essay, so I have to be content with citing just a couple of examples. Currently a number of Non-Governmental Organisations, manned by young people, are active in Assam to work in various sectors. One of these is the Mushroom Development Foundation, headed by a youth called Pranjal Baruah. The Foundation is engaged in the task of encouraging the cultivation of mushroom as a supplementary cash-crop amongst farmers in Assam.
Buffeted by natural calamities such as floods and erosion, stuck to traditional modes of agriculture due to lack of exposure to latest technologies, indigenous farmer are today an impoverished lot. What Baruah and his associates are endeavouring to do is to economically empower these farmers to cultivate mushroom to supplement their income, the climatic conditions in Assam being conducive to the growth of this commodity. They have already established on an experimental basis a group of 50 farmer families at Sonapur to cultivate mushroom, as well as a three-tier mechanism to ensure that the farmers can directly reach out to the market and secure commensurate returns on their produce.
If the experiment is successful, the foundation plans to introduce such cluster formation of mushroom farmers all over the state, providing these with micro credit and marketing facilities to ensure sustainable growth. Assam being a fertile place, there is no reason why such mechanisms cannot be introduced for other agricultural products in order to boost income of our farmers. What is needed is the dedication and sincerity displayed by young people like Baruah.
At another level, young Assamese entrepreneurs like Satyabrata Sharma are branching out into innovative fields, thereby debunking the myth that we are incapable of prospering in business while staying in the state. Sharma, M.Sc in Biotechnology with long experience. has started manufacturing inputs for organic farming such as organic manure, bio-pesticides, bio-fertilizer and botanical pesticide, using local strains. The aim of his firm, S S Biotech, is to eliminate the use of chemical agricultural inputs in order to retain the productive value of the soil. Significantly, he has used his experience as an Assamese to develop products suited to regional farmers. The fact that he has already been able to open out numerous outlets in the North-East and has even received orders from outside testifies to the success of his endeavour.
These are but random examples. I have met many other idealistic and enterprising young people who, rather than leave the state, have chosen to stay behind and work for the economic empowerment of our people. Make no mistake, economic empowerment is the key to survival as a society. My only hope is that the young generation, through their commitment and idealism, get Assam out of the mess that we elders have got her into. SOURCE: ASSAM TRIBUNE EDITORIAL 06.09.08
— Arup Kumar Dutta Let us, the older generation of Assam, eat the humble pie and frankly admit that we have failed the land of our birth. None of the numerous problems that bedevilled the region during our lifetime have been solved. On the contrary, we will be leaving it far worse than it had been during our youthful days.
We had inherited an ambience of tranquillity that today appears irrevocably lost. Assam may have been a somewhat laid back place during those days, but life had swirled placidly by without constant reports of death and maiming polluting the media. Now violence appears to be the order of the day, with the State considering even greater violence on its part to be the sole panacea for the prevalent anarchy. In those days, though the region was a part of India, political power remained firmly in the hands of native leaders who understood the needs of the people.
The leadership today seems to have become lackeys of that undefined entity called ‘the Centre’ and does what it is ordered to do just like puppets. It does not hesitate to unleash paramilitary forces from outside on its own people in order to quell insurgency. It is totally dependent on handouts from the Centre and time and again approaches it with a begging bowl. The paradigm of colonialism, first enforced in this region during the British rule, has not disappeared six decades after independence and is well set to continue into the future. In the process whatever pride we had had as a sub-nationalistic group has disappeared into thin air.
Assam was relatively self-sufficient in production of food-grains, fish, vegetables, items of clothing etc. even till the mid-fifties of the last century. Currently we have to import most items from outside, making us vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous trading elements from elsewhere. Floods have been our lot for centuries, but irrational interference by politicians, bureaucrats and contractors have ensured that far from controlling our water bodies, these today have been empowered to wreak more destruction than ever before.
But our most pathetic failure had been inability to preserve our cultural identity and heritage. Migrants from outside the country have taken over the land and our leaders have not been able to display the political will to stop this scourge from spreading. True, around three decades back the people of Assam had embarked on a mass movement against the silent foreign invasion, and for a while succeeded in wresting political power for the indigenous people. But betrayal on the part of the youthful leaders and growing indifference of the Assamese middle-class to the issue ensured that the disease at the moment has gone beyond cure. We have allowed ourselves to become political and cultural pariahs in our own State.
Today we are a fractured society ruled by lackeys whose only interest in life seems to be to cling on to power at any cost and feather their own nests. However, it would be suicidal to give way to cynicism and lose all hope of revitalisation of the Assamese race. Since the older generation has failed, this onus for this must rest on the young generation.
Fortunately, despite past betrayals and having to work within an inimical environment, sections of this generation have not lost the will to carry on the fight. For example, under the banner of various youth organisations including pioneering ones such as the AASU, the younger generation has revived the issue of foreign migrants, and have launched another campaign against the influx. Perhaps this concerted effort will bear some fruit in the future and resuscitate hope that Assamese society will be saved. However, it is a change in the ethos of the younger generation at individual levels, which offer the best chance for our social survival. First, the ambience today is that of cutthroat competition, and young people will have to adapt themselves to it. Second, there is real need for youngsters with vision and exposure to other climes to come back and usher in changes amongst our people.
I have been heartened lately by encountering some young Assamese who are conscious of the need for the above. It is impossible to include every one of them in the span of such a brief essay, so I have to be content with citing just a couple of examples. Currently a number of Non-Governmental Organisations, manned by young people, are active in Assam to work in various sectors. One of these is the Mushroom Development Foundation, headed by a youth called Pranjal Baruah. The Foundation is engaged in the task of encouraging the cultivation of mushroom as a supplementary cash-crop amongst farmers in Assam.
Buffeted by natural calamities such as floods and erosion, stuck to traditional modes of agriculture due to lack of exposure to latest technologies, indigenous farmer are today an impoverished lot. What Baruah and his associates are endeavouring to do is to economically empower these farmers to cultivate mushroom to supplement their income, the climatic conditions in Assam being conducive to the growth of this commodity. They have already established on an experimental basis a group of 50 farmer families at Sonapur to cultivate mushroom, as well as a three-tier mechanism to ensure that the farmers can directly reach out to the market and secure commensurate returns on their produce.
If the experiment is successful, the foundation plans to introduce such cluster formation of mushroom farmers all over the state, providing these with micro credit and marketing facilities to ensure sustainable growth. Assam being a fertile place, there is no reason why such mechanisms cannot be introduced for other agricultural products in order to boost income of our farmers. What is needed is the dedication and sincerity displayed by young people like Baruah.
At another level, young Assamese entrepreneurs like Satyabrata Sharma are branching out into innovative fields, thereby debunking the myth that we are incapable of prospering in business while staying in the state. Sharma, M.Sc in Biotechnology with long experience. has started manufacturing inputs for organic farming such as organic manure, bio-pesticides, bio-fertilizer and botanical pesticide, using local strains. The aim of his firm, S S Biotech, is to eliminate the use of chemical agricultural inputs in order to retain the productive value of the soil. Significantly, he has used his experience as an Assamese to develop products suited to regional farmers. The fact that he has already been able to open out numerous outlets in the North-East and has even received orders from outside testifies to the success of his endeavour.
These are but random examples. I have met many other idealistic and enterprising young people who, rather than leave the state, have chosen to stay behind and work for the economic empowerment of our people. Make no mistake, economic empowerment is the key to survival as a society. My only hope is that the young generation, through their commitment and idealism, get Assam out of the mess that we elders have got her into. SOURCE: ASSAM TRIBUNE EDITORIAL 06.09.08
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