The Economic Survey 2003-04 is a document that comes out at such a time that its importance gets lost within a day of its arrival. Most of us are too bothered with the Annual Budget placed the next day to care about what happened during the previous as depicted by the survey. And in any case the budget speech also deals with the major issues of development in the economy during the past few years. Therefore, it is only a few like Bibek Debroy of RGICS who would bother to read the Survey in detail and question what has been written there.

There have been numerous incidents of human rights violations in Assam and Northeast India during the past twenty or more years. India, although lauded as the largest democracy in the world, has a consistently poor record in terms of human rights violations. Places where people have been tortured, maimed and killed by the Indian army, paramilitary forces, and the police on numerous occasions are primarily in Kashmir, Punjab, Assam, and the Northeast India. Here are some reports which are available on the Internet.

Cases of extra-judicial killings, torture, disappearance and rape are on the increase as the Indian Army fights various insurgency groups in the state.

Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti
July, 2000

Instead of an Editorial

Swadhinata Phukan, alias Kabiranjan Saikia, deputy publicity secretary of ULFA, an armed opposition group was the victim of extrajudicial execution on the night of May 26, 2000.   Swadhinata Phukan was a member of the civil wing of ULFA, and was thus a non-combatant.  His death has highlighted the systematic use of extrajudicial executions as a standard method of counter-insurgency practice by the security forces.

15th May 2000.

The North East Coordination committee on Human Rights (NECOHR), strongly criticised the central government's proposal to enact the anti-people Prevention of Terrorist Activities Bill. As a part of a three day programme held from 15th to 17th May 2000 in Chanmari, Guwahati, a seminar was organised by NECOHR and hosted by MASS, to discuss the anatomy of the Bill on 16th May 2000.

(March 2000) 

In a growing display of abdication of all responsibility, vis-à-vis its duties, the state government in Assam has unleashed a wave of terror upon its striking workers. The following compilation of events wishes to highlight the plight of the struggling masses in Assam. It also seeks to bring into focus the violations being endured by every section of society in their struggle against State brutality.  The State and Government Employees

Press Release

A Protest Convention was held at Gauri Sadan, near Dighalipukhuri, Guwahati, on 20th February 2000 by Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti, to oppose the enactment of the proposed Criminal Law Amendment Bill. The Convention was a follow up of a protest rally which was organised by MASS on 17th February 2000. Thousands of people attended the rally and marched from the Assam Engineering Institute field, via Silpukhuri, to submit a memorandum for the President of India at the District Commissioner's office in Chandmari.

(A report on some rape cases of Assam)

Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS)

A report on some disappearance cases in Assam
Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti (MASS)
August 1998

The first recorded Assamese indviduals to come to the United States were Dhoniram Lucy N. Hayden and Sibaram James Tripp, converts to Christianity that the American Baptist Missionaries were trying to spread in Assam in the 19th century. The missionaries had gone to Assam in the 1840s and had established several schools, a printing press, and had published a magazine by the name Orunudoi, or Sun Rise. Hayden and Tripp were students at the Mission School in Nowgong. They started their travel on the 28th of December, 1848 from Calcutta by ship.

Address: PO Box 158 Plainsboro, NJ 08536

Historical: Assam OnLine (AOL) Electronic Newsletter

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Please click on a date to see the archive of news from that day.

Please click on a date to see the archive of news from that day.

Please click on a date to see the archive of news from that day.

By Mrinal Talukdar

For him the world means darkness, absolute darkness. For him the world is only sound, varieties of sound. For him every little step in this world is a challenge and for him every day is an achievement. He is Kishore Bhattacharrya, for whom the world is just a small village. It does not matter that he is blind. It is a handicap he has never allowed to stand on his way. Today this young man from a village near Guwahati is an epitome of success despite his handicap.

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Kamakhya Temple
Situated atop the Nilachal Hills, the foremost shrine of Assam, Kamakhya is an ancient seat of Tantrik and Shakti cults of Hinduism. A little distance from Kamakhya temple is Bubhaneshwari temple from where one can have a panoramic view of the Brahmaputra River and the city.

Sukreswar Temple
Close by the North Brooke Gate, built to welcome the then Viceroy of India, Lord North Brooke, Sukreswar temple is famous for the Sixth Jyotirlinga of India.

Umananda Temple