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| A physically-challenged boy tries out the latest innovation — a modified tricycle designed by students of Prince of Wales Institute of Engineering Technology, Jorhat. Picture by Aabir Borgohain |
Driven by compassion and aided by their imagination, five final-year students of the mechanical engineering department of the Prince of Wales Institute of Engineering Technology (POWIET) in Jorhat have given spastic children a wonderful gift.
POWIET students Imran Hussain, Ravi Kumar Choudhury, Dambaru Saikia, Ashok Kalita and Swapnali Deka toiled under the guidance of lecturer Pranab Kumar Borthakur of the mechanical engineering department to create a ?modified tricycle? which they recently gifted to Prerona, the Cinnamara-based institute for spastics.
The group had pooled in Rs 6,000 to buy used galvanised iron pipes, which they used to fabricate the frame. They avoided unnecessary joints to minimise weight. ?Fitted with cables and lever-operated brakes, the tricycle can easily be manoeuvred forward, backward and even sideways,? one of the student innovators said.
The five students voiced the need for engineering design-cum-research and development laboratories in all polytechnics. ?Once such labs are set up, innovative ideas lying idle on drawing boards can be transformed into reality,? Imran said.
The POWIETians also stressed the need for co-ordinated research projects by prominent institutions of learning and the introduction of courses in mechatronics and robotics.
A small gesture from the Land of the Rising Sun towards the rainiest place on earth has spawned a major conservation project.
Eight Japanese tourists who visited the ecology park in Cherrapunjee sometime last year had their wish granted recently when the money they donated was used to start a green campaign. In a reciprocal gesture, the Mawsmai Durbar ? in collaboration with the soil and water conservation department ? dedicated the campaign to the tourists.
The eight Japanese, all members of the Purnima Society of Japan, had been taken aback by the sight of an ecology park without enough trees. They handed Rs 37,750 to the then deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills, D.P. Wahlang, and requested him to plant some trees in the park.
About 500 saplings were planted on a single day. A greenhouse set up by the Shillong Agri-Horticultural Society ? several hybrid and indigenous orchids are on display there ? was also inaugurated.
Indeswar Boruah is a frustrated man today, just a pale shadow of the hero who once rescued former Prime Minister Morarji Desai from the debris of a plane crash.
On a visit to his cottage, one finds Boruah with a bidi dangling from his lips. Every time he meets a new visitor, he narrates the story of his daredevil act.
Boruah, who along with three of his colleagues, rescued Desai from the plane crash at Tekela Gaon near Jorhat in Upper Assam in 1977, is facing a tough time. He is finding it terribly difficult to support his family.
Despite several promises by the then Prime Minister, a bicycle was all that Boruah got from the Indian Air Force as a token of appreciation.
?They assured me to construct my house and the village roads, but all in vain,? Boruah said, sitting in front of his house in a broken chair while his wife nodded her head in support.
?In spite of the Prime Minister?s decision to establish a hospital for our village all that we got was a health sub-centre, while the hospital was established at Solmara, 20 km away from here,? he informed, adding that the villagers have donated four bighas of land for the said hospital.
Boruah?s has three sons and they are all unemployed while both his daughters are married.
?I have approached the authorities concerned several times for a job to any one of my son but to no avail,? he added.
?I still remember the fateful night of November 4, 1977 when the Puspak Rath (a Russian plane) carrying late Desai crashed in a rice field near my cottage in which all the five crew members died,? he said recalling the incident.
?The Prime Minister was supposed to address a public meeting at Jorhat on that day. It was raining,? he recounted.
Narayan Desai, son of the former Prime Minister, was seriously wounded in the crash along with the then chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, P.K. Thungon.
?I brought him to my cottage along with several other persons and offered him tea. The Prime Minister sat in a broken chair and asked me for a glass of water,? Boruah recalled.
Although the Assam government renamed Tekela Goan as Desai Nagar later, it forgot the man behind the episode.
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| A group of Arunachali women |
The slogan of women?s empowerment has caught on in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Women here are slowly emerging out of the shadow of their male counterparts and making their presence felt by donning leadership roles.
Nongnem Techi symbolises this resurgence of Arunachali women. A gram panchayat member of Bubang village in Changlang south constituency, this 28-year-old woman has set an example for other women in her community.
The Lower Bubang village, which she represents, has 62 families from the Muklom, Jugli and Havi communities.
Nongnem lives with her mother and three brothers. Being the sole earning member of her family, she also runs a small shop in the village and, in her spare time, she weaves clothes. Before being nominated to the panchayat, she was associated with Arunjyoti, the Arunachal chapter of Vikekananda Kendra, a renowned NGO.
She played a pivotal role in eradicating opium-addiction from her village. As a panchayat leader, she tries to ensure that rural development schemes reach the needy. Nongnem hopes that more women like her will join the panchayati raj system and take their rightful place in society.
