Students of Modern High school perform at their Annual Day function at Rabindra Bhawan in Guwahati on November 19. Picture by Eastern Projections

Seminar

A seminar on Geography and Contemporary Issues was held at Sonapur College recently. It was organised by the department of geography, Sonapur College, in collaboration with North East India Geographical Society (NEIGS).

Bimal Kar, reader, department of geography, Gauhati University, described the sequential development of the subject in terms of its philosophy and methodology right from the ancient period to the modern era.

Kar put forward the different facets of the subject’s inter-disciplinary character. He also threw light on the latest techniques incorporated in geography like Geographical Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS).

Kar, who is also the general secretary of NEIGS, said the organisation has been taking up various initiatives for promotion of teaching and learning of geography from the school level to the post-graduate level.

The organisation has a perspective of making the subject popular among the masses.

The seminar was inaugurated by principal-in-charge Dhanjit Medhi.

New batch

A freshers’ welcome was organised by Central IT College (CITC) on November 18 to welcome its new students in different streams in management, information technology and computer science, biotechnology, journalism and mass communication and allied health science.

The inaugural session was presided over by M. Hoque, director, CITC. The highlight of the event was a competition among freshers for the title of Mr Fresher and Miss Fresher.

The evening session was presided over by president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, Kanaksen Deka.

The Mr Fresher and Miss Fresher titles were bagged by Nipom Medhi and Nafisha Ali respectively. Merit scholarships amounting to Rs 80,000 were distributed among students of the college, along with a certificate of excellence.

The cultural nite was inaugurated by singer Tarali Sarma. Students and faculty members performed various items to make the occasion a festive one.

Debate

Army School, Basistha, hosted the Command-level English Debate Competition on November 11. Army School, Bengdubi, Tezpur, Bagrakote, Shillong and Barrackpore participated.

The topic of the debate was Should Ethnic Groups Have Complete Control Over Their Natural Regional Resources? The venue was the auditorium of the Army Institute of Nursing at 151 Base Hospital, Basistha.

Brig. G. Ramdas, Col. Sree Ram and Lt Col. A.N. Gautam were present on the occasion as guests of honour.

The winners of the competition were the Bengdubi team. Tezpur secured second place while Army School, Shillong, bagged the third position.

Celebrations

Preparations have started for the golden jubilee celebrations of Model High School, which will be held on February 7 to 9 next year.

A souvenir will be published on the occasion and a request has been made to former teachers, students and employees of the institute to contribute.

Former students who have won recognition at state, national and international levels in various fields have been asked to send a photograph and biodata.

Former general secretaries of the students’ union have also been requested to send their photographs.

A golden jubilee organising committee has been constituted with Mrigendra Mohan Goswami as president and Bedarata Goswami as secretary. Various sub-committees have also been formed.

Competition

Participants and organisers at the Dinesh Goswami inter-college debate contest organised by Rotary Club of Gauhati South at Rabindra Bhawan on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

The Dinesh Goswami Memorial Inter-college Debate Competition was held on November 18 at Rabindra Bhavan. Cotton College was adjudged the best team while Lara Dutta from the College of Veterinary Sciences was declared the best speaker.

The competition was organised by the Rotary Club of Gauhati South. The topic was Policy of Reservation of Jobs should be Abolished Altogether. Eight leading colleges took part in the debate.

The debate was keenly contested with both sides putting their points across forcefully.

Col. (retd) Manoranjan Goswami conducted the debate. Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court, B.S. Reddy, who inaugurated the debate, congratulated the organiser for holding a public debate on such an “explosive issue”. So far, debates have generated “more heat and less light” on this important issue and political institutions have been unable to build a consensus.

Rotarian Subash Chandra Goswami delivered the welcome address. Floral tributes were paid to late Dinesh Goswami, a parliamentarian.

Jyotika Kumar of Pragjyotish College and Arijit Nandi of Cotton College were adjudged the first and second runners-up respectively.

The judges of the competition were H.N. Das, T.L. Barua and Yamini Phukan.

Lecture

The third biennial Banikanta Kakati Memorial Lecture was held at the Phanidhar Dutta seminar hall at Gauhati University in collaboration with the Barpeta Sahitya Sabha on November 15.

The subject of the seminar was Dr Banikanta Kakati Itihas Charcha.

Nagen Saikia, former president of Asam Sahitya Sabha, was the speaker. Saikia said all books written by Kakati contribute to the origin and development of Assamese.

Kakati’s books Mother Goddess and Goddess Kamakhya depict the origin and development of Assam, its culture and the Assamese community as a whole.

The seminar was presided over by Malini Goswami of the Assamese department of Gauhati University. She said research works of Banikanta Kakati are a source of inspiration for present day Assamese scholars.

A staff reporter