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Majuli Friendship Day

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Majuli Friendship Day was organised by Society for Srimanta Sankaradeva in Nagaon to create awareness about the wealth and issues of Majuli. The programme started with plantation of sapling in ADP College premises by  Padmashree Jadav Payeng  with co-operation of ADP College Teachers Council. Tree plantation by Jadav Payeng in ADP College The people gathered on the occasion took an oath “I take a vow to do my best to preserve the ecology. I will plant at least one sapling every year in my premises.” It was administered by Jadav Payeng. Then the main event started in  Nagaon Natya Mandir. An  Art competition & Photography Exhibition was held there on the theme 'Majuli'. Dr Kandarpa Kumar Deka, VC, MSSV formally inaugurated the event. He was assisted by Nalini Bora of Srimanta Sankaradeva Sangha and others.  Dr Deka  said that plantation of trees and taking proper scientific measures was necessary to address the problem of erosion faced by ri...

NAAC Peer Team visits A.D.P. College

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A three men Peer Team from National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) visited the premier institution of middle Assam, A.D.P. College in Nagaon from November 19 to 21. The Peer Team was headed by Prof A.K. Pattanayak, former Vice Chancellor of Utkal University of Culture. Dr Deepak Kumar Verma, Principal of PK Roy Memorial PG College, Dhanbad was the Co-ordinator of the team. Prof Paramjit Singh Judge of Department of Sociology, Guru Nanak Dev University was also a member of the team. The team was guided all along by Dr Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti, Co-ordinator of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of A.D.P. College. Principal of A.D.P. College, Dr S.U. Ahmed gave a powerpoint presentation to the Peer Team, which was followed by an IQAC presentation about quality performance of the college. Dr Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti took the team to all the departments, centres and facilities. The team minutely examined the departmental records and the publications of the faculty me...

Ebook on Madhavadeva

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I have released a biography of Mahapurusha Madhavadeva, the legendary poet-artist-social reformer from medieval period in ebook format. It is a concise biography, giving a bird's view of life and works of the great man. I am sure it will quench the thirst of the beginners and generate more interests about the saint. Titled "Mahapurusha Madhavadeva", this ebook is available in Amazon. The link for procuring the ebook is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014XK44MM

"Srimanta Sankaradeva : a multi-faceted genius", latest book on Sankaradeva

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My latest book "Srimanta Sankaradeva : a multi-faceted genius" has been brought out by Purbanchal Prakash, Guwahati. They published it on behalf of Society for Social Science Research, Sivasagar. The Society had requested me to bring out some of my articles in a compilation. So I compiled some articles earlier published in different journals and websites. The book "Srimanta Sankaradeva : a multi-faceted genius" has nineteen chapters. The first chapter is a compact biography of the saint. The subsequent chapters deals with Chihna Yatra, Kirtan Ghosha, Sankari dance, Sankari music, Sattra etc. There are comparative studies with Guru Nanak and Swami Vivekananda too. Madhupur Than is described in one chapter. I have discussed the saint's philosophy, educational perspectives etc too. The management expertise of the saint is discussed in one chapter. How I have tried to take his message across the globe is also discussed in the last chapter. Written in Englis...

Cultural Heritage of Majuli

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Majuli, one of the largest river islands in the world has been in the news for last several years for the consistent bids to the World Heritage Committee, UNESCO for World Heritage status. The World Heritage Committee not only decides whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List, but also defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from the States Parties. That is why its inscription assumes an added dimension. The Committee can however defer its decision and can request for further information on properties from the States Parties. This happened in the case of Majuli. The World Heritage Committee sought further data on the nominations each time. World Heritage Committee also examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not properly managed. It also deletes properties from the list of World Heritage in case such properties are in danger or ...

Silver Jubilee of our marriage

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Madhumita and I celebrated Silver Jubilee of our journey together on July 8 by taking a family trip to Diphu in Karbi Anglang. We had married on July 8, 1990 in a solemn function at Dibrugarh. A quarter century passed since then.  Our daughter Airy has completed post-graduation and Sarvajit is doing graduation. It was vacation time for all. So all were at home. We decided to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of our marriage quietly with nature. Diphu was the place I decided as the others had not been to that place. There was great expectation. We travelled to Diphu in Karbi Anglong district early in the day. The road from Doboka to Diphu was picturesque. We visited the botanical garden and a cathedral in Diphu town. Airy and Sarvajit accompanied us.  We had lunch at the Little Dragon restaurant. Then we decided to return via Lumding.  The Diphu-Lumding road turned out to be a dangerous jungle road. The road was totally damaged. In most parts the road was unbelievab...

Taking Srimanta Sankaradeva to global arena

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I have always considered Srimanta Sankaradeva as my role model. His multi-faceted contributions fascinate me. Our socio-cuItural lives are permeated by his influence even now. I feel proud that he was born in Assam. But very little was known about him outside Assam till some time ago. It has therefore been my endeavour to let people know about him and his unparalleled works. I have written what I have learnt about his life, works and philosophy. Till date 26 books about the saint have been published from my pen in both English and Assamese. I have written in Times of India, Prabuddha Bharata, Bhavan’s Journal etc about the saint. My personal blog www.borkakoti.blogspot.in has details of these works. But sometimes I feel that all these are not sufficient as people are gradually giving up reading books or journals, because of either change in taste or professional compulsions. A different medium is necessary to spread the message of the saint. However at the same time I was impres...