To celebrate the occasion a Diamond Jubilee Celebration Committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the Principal, Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh. The committee has decided to celebrate a year-long programme starting from November 3, 2006 and to be completed on November 3, 2007 in the college.

The demise of the man who gave sensuousness a new dimension through use of imagery that brought alive the rhythm of the descending mists and the smell of the harvest, has created a void in the cultural world of Asom. As the news spread, people flocked to the residence of the poet to pay their last homage. Born in the year 1926, Mahanta had served in various capacities as teacher, editor, writer of children literature, translator and actively participated in the freedom movement. A socially committed writer, Mahanta depicted the pangs of the exploited class in his poems.

A pioneer of the six-year-long Asom movement (June 8, 1979-August 15, 1985), Phukan had carved a coveted and unique station in the contemporary history of the State leading a matchless brigade of young souls which symbolized the historic spirit of fight-back.

I hope, the so called intellectuals of assam will pay attention to the genuine problems of Assam instead of trying to change the name. Please, don\\'t try to get cheap publicity by creating unnecessary controversy. Changing the name will create confusion in International level. The brand name “Assam Tea” will also be affected. Above all “Asom” is also not correct. The actual name cannot be written in Roman script.

Yours truly

An Assamese.

Assam has its own identity whenever we talk of tradition and culture. It is a land of many tribes and all of them have different folk dances. To showcase some of the folk tradition of the state a programme titled ' Brahmaputra Beats' was organized in India International Centre , New Delhi on 25 th and 26th February. The programme includes dances on folk orchestra and an Ankiya Naat titled Parijat Haran.

Although the English spelling of the State had been a matter of contention for some time, the Cabinet took a decision to hold a discussion on it following the article written by litterateur Chandra Prasad Saikia in a recent issue of the magazine Goriyosi. In the article Saikia advocated a change in the spelling and proposed Axom in place of Assam.
As far as the letters ‘s’ or ‘x’ in the spelling is concerned, the Cabinet informed that it would be open to suggestions from all quarters. But for the time being ‘Asom’ will be the effective spelling, it added.

Today was the grand finale and for the last time in Andheri Sports Complex, the two ‘SaReGaMaPa’ finalists, Debojit and Vinit, fought in the musical mahayuddh and Debojit emerged victorious
North voted 1 crore 55 lakhs, East Zone voted around 3 crore, West and South less than 1 crore !!

The armed forces in Assam and other areas of the North East are protected by the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA). To call this Act merely unreasonable or undemocratic would amount to praise it. It is so savage and atrocious that it is difficult to find any adjective to describe it. The powers that it gives to security personnel are immense. It is currently in force in the northeastern States like Assam and Manipur declared as ‘disturbed area’. That dec! laration is done by the Governor (or the Administrator of a Union Territory or the Central Government).

The inaugural film was Kaalsandhya by latre Bhabendra Nath Saikia , other films which were screened in the festivals are Jahnu Barua's "Firingoti'', Santwana Bardoloi's "Adajya'' (The Flight), Manju Bora's "Laaz'', Sanjib Hazarika's "Matsyagandhya'' (Outrage), Jwangdoa Bodosa's ``Hagramayo Jinahari'' (Rape in the Virgin Forest) and Sanjib Sabhapandit's ``Juye Poora Xoon'' (The Self Triumphs). All the film had English sub title during screening.

Dr. H.T. Sangliana , Member of Parliament was present on the occassion as a chief guest. The event commenced with mezi projwolon, followed by games like tekeli bonga, koni juj etc. The cultural programme preceded immeditely. It comprised of bihu songs & dance, modern song, drama and western dance. People were mesmerized by the amazing performance of Jitul Sonowal, one of the pioneers of modern assamese songs. The program was concluded by a rock concert by a group of talented artist.