Himgiri Prakashan organizes Sahitya Kala Sangam in Assam

SIKKIM LEADS THE WAY IN THE PRESERVATION OF NEPALI LITERATURE
GUWAHATI, 06 Feb: “Sikkim has played a major role in preserving and promoting Indian Nepali literature, language and culture. The initiative to install the full sized statue of first Nepali poet Bhanubhata Acharya was contemplated by Sikkim, whereas the major step in order to include Nepali language in the 8th schedule of the Indian constitution was successfully taken by Sikkim. Not only that, Sikkim hosted a mega event of honoring the great talents from Nepali community of national and international repute for the first time” said Lil Bahadur Chhetri, litterateur and author of famous Nepali novel ‘Basai’ while speaking as the chief guest here at Sikkim House, Panjabari in a literary meet called, Sahitya Kala Sangam organized by Himgiri Prakashan, Sikkim.
Mr Chhetri further said that in the field of promotion of Nepali language and literature, the Indian Nepali people always look forward to Sikkim. The present Chief Minister of Sikkim, Pawan Chamling is a poet and a literary person who has taken incomparable initiative in the field of literature. He recalled the mega event of Sikkim Samman Sammelan where he was also honoured and he lauded the effort. He further said that while organizing such a function in the near future, the talents of Assam also have to be genuinely taken into account. He hoped that such a literary function organized by Himgiri Prakashan, Gangtok, would bring litterateurs of the region together to exchange their works and unite in the promotion of literature at the national level.
While addressing the meet, Dr. Khagendra Chamlagai appreciated the event and stressed the need of publication of a bibliography of Indian Nepali litterateurs and hoped that Sikkim can take up such genuine work.
While presiding over the function, litterateur and journalist Bijay Bantawa in his speech expressed that literature has no boundaries and it works towards bringing people together immensely. The main objective behind organizing such a literary meet is to provide a forum to the writers and literary persons of North East from the Nepali or Gorkha community to exchange their creative work and views on literary pursuits. He also stressed the need of translation of Nepali books in different languages including Assamese and English.
The literary meet was also addressed by Dr. Kamal Chhetri, poetess, Laxmi Subedi, Secretary of Panjabari branch of Nepali Sahitya Parishad, Deven Sapkota, Social worker and advocate, Kishore Upadhyaya,Nanda Kirati Dewan and Kamal Pradhan. In the self composed poetry recital session, poet Rohit Gautam, Dr. Kamal Chhetri, poetess Laxmi Subedi, poetess Dr. Induprava Devi, poetess Niru Parajuli presented their poems.
In the musical presentation session, Kamal Pradhan, Rabi Thapa and Uttam Chhetri presented Nepali songs while Suman Rai presented a dance.
In the meet, General Secretary of Nepali Sahitya Parishad, Chintamani Sharma, the Gorkha youth of Manipur, Ramesh Baskota, Deepak Chhetri and a large number of Gorkha youth of Assam were present. The students from Sikkim studying medical science and various other disciplines were also present who interacted and shared their experiences during the meet.
Earlier, Ruth Rai on behalf of the organizers of the meet welcomed the guests. The organizers offered Sikkimese khadas to the guests while welcoming them in the meet. The function was conducted by Guwahati based correspondent of Himgiri and Snowline and promising Gorkha youth leader of Assam, Nanda Kirati Dewan. [from BIJAY BANTAWA]

Nobel laureate Prof Stiglitz and economist Lord Desai discuss the economic rise of India and China

GANGTOK, 11 Jan: A discussion titled, “Asia Rising: Implications for the World Economy”, on the economic rise of Asian giants – India and China - was organised at ITA Centre For Performing Arts, Machkhowa, Assam on Tuesday with two eminent speakers, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, and distinguished economist and author, Lord Meghnad Desai, informs a press release.
The event began with the chief guest on the occasion, Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi and his wife Dolly Gogoi felicitating Mr and Mrs Stiglitz and Lord Desai after which Secretary, Sports & Youth Welfare Department, Assam and Cultural Affairs (addl), Shantanu Thakur read out the citation for Prof Stiglitz and Lord Desai on behalf of the Assam CM.
According to the release, after the welcome address by Mr Gogoi, Investment Advisor to the Chief Minister, Government of Assam, Ranjit Barthakur introduced the subject and gave a brief on the session to the dignitaries and the audience. Opening the discussion in response to Lord Meghnad Desai, Prof Stiglitz said, “The failure of deregulation in the West led to so much of the problem. There has been growth, but a lot of people have not benefitted from the growth.”
With regard to sustaining the growth rate of India and China’s respective economies, Prof Stiglitz said “There is still a very big gap in per capita income. The knowledge gap is closing very rapidly but there is still 20-30 years to go before the growth rate can be sustained.” Talking about the IMF, Prof Stiglitz significantly said “The IMF has changed to addressing issues of inequality. But rural economy does not find representation in IMF.”
Responding to a question on whether popular movements against governments across the world, and especially the crusade against corruption in India led by Anna Hazare was an indication that systems of governance need to change, Stiglitz said “I think there is a serious need for change. Governments are not working as they should. And it’s not just corruption. There is a need to change policies and we need greater involvement of civil society towards bringing about changes.”
Commenting on the role of civil societies in an economy, Lord Meghnad Desai said, “I think civil society can play an active role in economics. They can pressurise the governments into framing policies for the betterment of the people.”
After this, the floor was open for interaction between the panellists and the audience. The release further mentions that this is the first time that a talk show of this stature and significance has taken place in Guwahati. There were students from across the Northeast attending the talk show which was a platform for them to interact with global opinion makers and understand the global responsibilities towards equity.
The event was organised by Youth Forum on Foreign Policy (YFFP) in association with Eclectic Times and the entire event was managed by Tattva Creations – Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications.

North East’s first handicrafts museum inaugurated

GANGTOK, 04 July: “While preserving traditional motifs on handicrafts, we should modernise the designs to appeal to the urban consumers across the country by proper finishing and branding. We should also involve National Institute of Design (NID) on a more long term and sustainable basis for increasing the income of artisans”, said Minister of DoNER, Bijoy Krishna Handique, while inaugurating the North East Craft Museum at Guwahati today, informs a DoNER release.

TATA Institute of Social Sciences to begin PG course in Guwahati Campus

GANGTOK, 24 May: “Setting up of Guwahati Campus of the prestigious TATA Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, a Deemed University, to cater to the North Eastern Region is one of the most positive developments in the education sector in the Region in the recent past,” said the DoNER Minister BK Handique, in New Delhi.
“It is heartening to learn that without waiting for physical infrastructure to come up, TISS has already chalked out a programme to begin two Masters programmes from July-August, 2011 and 5 years integrated Masters Programme on Social Sciences from June, 2012,” he announced.
When the Government of Assam proposed to the Ministry of DoNER to allot funds under NLCPR towards the infrastructure cost of the Institute at Guwahati, Mr. Handique, “readily agreed and approved, in principle, to release Rs. 81 crore towards the project”, a press communiqué received from the Minister’s office informs.
Assam Government has already identified the land required for the above purpose, the release adds.