Bhuban Mohan Das, eminent anthropologist, delivers the ninth Tirtha Nath Sarma memorial lecture organised by Pragjyotish College Teachers? Unit at the college auditorium

Lecture

Bhuban Mohan Das, eminent anthropologist and educationist, recently delivered the ninth Pandit Tirtha Nath Sarma memorial lecture at the Pragjyotish College on Changes and Restlessness in Assamese Society. In his address, Das said the Assamese society, which once spontaneously opted for assimilation, began to undergo rapid changes due to unabated influx of migrants, assertions of ethnic groups and discriminatory attitude by the Centre.

The lecture was organised by Pragjyotish College Teachers? Unit.

Earlier, Dayananda Pathak inaugurated the lecture while Atanu Kumar Choudhury, general secretary of the teachers? unit, delivered the inaugural address. The meeting was presided over by Bisweshwar Deka, president of the teachers? unit. The meeting was also attended by Monalisa Baruwa of Gauhati University, daughter of late Tirtha Nath Sarma, founder-principal of the college.

Debate

Army School, Narengi, hosted the Inter-Army School Cluster I English Debate Competition recently at Satgaon, Guwahati. The participating teams were Army School, Shillong, Army School, Basistha, and Army School, Narengi. The participants displayed excellent skills in presenting their points and Army School, Narengi was declared the topper in the debate competition.

The school also hosted a three-day Eastern Command Inter-Army School hockey meet. The participating teams were Army School, Shillong, Army School, Missamari, and Army School, Bengdubi. In the final, Army School, Bengdubi, registered a thumping victory over Army School, Shillong (4-3). The trophies and certificates were handed over to the participants at a valedictory function.

Workshop

The department of Assamese, Bihupuria College, recently organised a daylong workshop on Preservative Conservation of Manuscript at the college in Lakh-impur with a view to train up the people of the locality who have taken up preservation of manuscript on their own.

Attended by as many as 120 manuscript owners and students of the college, the workshop was conducted by Bhupen Goswami, co-ordinator of the Manuscript Mission and librarian of Krishna Kanta Handique Library, Gauhati University. A four-member team from the Manuscript Mission, including Tarun Chandra Saikia, assistant co-ordinator, Prakriti Devi Baruah, Binu Goswami and Hashi Ram Das, trained the participants on the knowhow of preserving the collected manuscripts scientifically.

School fest

Sanskriti, the Gurukul recently celebrated Odyssey ? The Cultural Fest in Ahomgaon, Guwahati. Several guest schools like St Edmund?s, Shillong, Srimanta Shankar Academy, Army School, Narengi, Don Bosco High School, Delhi Public School, Guwahati, Happy Child High School, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Silpukhuri and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khanapara were invited to the fest.

Krishna Singh, the First Lady of Assam, graced the occasion. Prabhat Kadia from the Rotary Club of Guwahati East was the chief guest.

There were various competitions like spin-a-yarn (story telling), quiz, group dance and face painting. Don Bosco High School won the first prize in the spin-a-yarn contest, with Happy Child High School bagging the second spot. In group dance, Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Silpukhuri bagged the first prize, followed by Happy Child High school. St Edmund?s, Shillong won the first prize in face painting, while the hosts, Sanskriti, the Gurukul came first in the quiz contest.

St Edmund?s School, Shillong, was adjudged the best dressed and best-performing school.

The best disciplined school award was won by Maharishi Vidya Mandir, Silpukhuri while the best participating school was Army School, Narengi.

New firm

A national-level HR (human resource) consultancy firm, Genius Consultants Limited, was inaugurated recently at the Institute of Engineers, Guwahati, in the presence of the company?s managing director R. B. Yadav, director of Assam Institute of Management, Shantikam Hazarika, and others. This is the first time that an IT-enabled job portal ? www.geniousjobs.com ? will be opened in the region.

The ISO 9001 certified Calcutta-based company offers services in manpower recruitment and executive search, manpower outstanding, payroll and labour law compliance services outstanding, quality consulting and human resource consulting.

The company also has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar.

The Guwahati branch office will operate from Nabin Nagar, LKB Baruah Path, Guwahati - 24.

Cancer alert

The National Service Scheme (NSS) unit of Pandu College observed National Cancer Awareness Day in the college recently. The programme was conducted by Shantanu Roy Chowdhury, who is in charge of the unit.

At the meeting, Suhash Chakraborty, the medical officer of the college, enumerated the causes and risks of the disease and chances of survival. He said the disease could be cured if detected early enough.

He appealed to the students and the public to adopt an active lifestyle and quit the consumption of tobacco, narcotics and alcohol. The B. Barooah Cancer Institute extended great support to make the event a success. A.J. Kalita from the institute spoke on the issue. Under his guidance, student volunteers from the Morigaon and Ghanakanta Baruah colleges staged a street play to highlight the effects of tobacco.

P.K. Guha, president of the college?s governing body, principal B. C. Daspurka-yastha and vice-principal S.K. Duttaroy were also present.

Compiled by Pranab Kumar Nath