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News Letter 2009 of the Assam Association of the UK
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Page 1
Welcome.
Past 12 months have been busy with elec-
tion of the office bearers, selection of the
new Executive committee members, and
updating of the Constitution of UAAUK.
Our heartfelt thanks to the outgoing com-
mittee and office bearers for doing such a
good job.
There was noticeable lack of understanding
of the procedure to amend the constitution.
No doubt, a Constitution should have an
inbuilt mechanism for amendment to keep
The Editor says:
∗ There was no proposal to change the
format of the Newsletter. Hence its
format remains unchanged for the 7th
year running. It seems people wish to
have the newsletter in its present “
short and crispy” form rather than a
bulky journal. However, I welcome
proposals for changes for us to con-
sider.
∗ What I had always feared for appears
to have happened. Despite several re-
quests this years local news section is
not particularly rich. To emphasize
again, unless you provide me with the
material I can only produce so much.
∗ Have the past 12 months not been
dynamic?
∗ Best wishes for the oncoming 12
months.
Ranjit K Baruah
Office bearers:
President : Ranjit K Baruah
Secretary : Nripen Barkataki
Treasurer : Julie Bora
Vice President : Jitendra Lal Barkakati
Asst Secretary : Leena Sharma
Cultural Secretary : Dwijen Baruah
Web Master : Jayanta Sharma
Executive Committee:
Nina Goswami Chinu Kishore
Shyam Saikia Larry Khongwier
Rishi Kakati Bhupendra Dev Sarma
Probir Brahma Julie Sarmah
Message from the Office
Bearers:
Newsletter: United Assam Association
of UK :
Barnsley 2009
Dr Kumud Sharma who regularly enthrals Assam Day audiences has donated his mu-
sic PA system to UAAUK— a big thank you
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi laid
the foundation stone ceremony
of BB Engineering College at
Chandrapara in Kokrajhar .
Saraighat Journalists’ Forum
paid tributes to the 10,000 mar-
tyrs who were massacred by the
Mughals at the battle of Alaboi
in 1669, two years before the
famous Saraighat battle be-
tween the Mughals and the
Ahoms. Shillong set a precedent by opening its
door of the mosque to women for
prayers.
Assamese speaking people have grown
by 0.40% dispelling fears that they soon
become minority in their own land.
pace with time. But any amendment should be
proposed, debated by the EC and, if acceptable,
put before the AGM for debate and democratic
acceptance.
We now have about 120 members but we need
more.
Can you help to recruit, if not, do you know
someone who can?
Long live Assam Association of the UK.
PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh laying the
foundation stone of Jorhat Medical College
More than 1130 people
were killed in extremism-
related violence in the
North East in 2008. More than 600 of those were
civilians, while, around 60
were members of security
forces and the rest were
members of militant
groups Ankur Dutta, secretary of
the Assam Football Asso-
ciation (AFA), has been
named manager of the
Indian U-16 football team
which was to tour Eng-
land.
The Church at Police Bazar, Shillong
Oncoming
winter in As-
sam
Sunset along the Bang-
ladesh border fence
Memorable quotes:
I want to be bored to death, as good a
way to go as any—Peter De Vries
It was such a lovely day I thought it
was a pity to get up—W Somerset
Maughm
There is no pleasure in having nothing
to do; the fun is having lots to do and
not doing it-Mary Wilson Little
I do not want people to be very agree-
able, as it saves me the trouble of lik-
ing them a great deal-Jane Austen
Youth is a blunder; Manhood a strug-
gle; Old age a regret– Benjamin Dis-
raeli
There are 3 kinds of lies—lies, damned
lies and statistics-Mark Twain
Common sense is a collection of preju-
dices acquired by age eighteen-Albert
Einstein
A desperate disease requires a danger-
ous remedy—Guy Fawkes
Love and scandal are the best sweet-
eners of tea—Henry Fielding
It is better to understand a little than
to misunderstand a lot—Anatole
France
Where there will be marriage without
love, there will be love without mar-
riage—Benjamin Franklin
At twenty years of age the will reigns;
at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the
judgement—Benjamin Franklin
To err is human, not to, animal—
Robert Frost
Of course a film should have a begin-
ning, a middle and an end. But, not
necessarily in that order—Jean Luc
Godard
A verbal contract is not worth the
paper it is written on—Samuel Gold-
wyn.
WEDDING BELLS:
Bornalee, daughter of Apurba and
Manoo Baruah married Sandeep.
Cyrus, son of Eric Saihan and Late Pur-
maya Guzder married Alex.
Ranjit, son of Dwija and Kunja Mahanta
married Bina
ACHIEVERS:
1, Ranjan, Ranjit K Baruah’s younger brother won the Indian National Enterpreneur of 2009
award
2, Paporee, Karuna and Rumi Das’s elder daughter has graduated in Medicine and
Pranamee, her younger sister graduated in Human Biology.
3, Mrs Rini Kakati has been awarded the
“Glory of India” award
4, Omar, Aftab and Rumi Ahmed’s son has been awarded the PhD
5, Piyush, Bhupen and Pronoti Dev Sarmah’s
son has completed a BMed Sci in Interna-tional Health and is travelling to Guwahati for
his project at Guwahati Medical College
6, Enisha, Pallab and Nizara Das’ daughter has graduated with a First Class Intercalated
BSc in Experimental Pathology as a part of her degree in Medicine
NEW ARRIVALS:
Jacob, a grandson to Putul and Nilu Hazarika
Isabella, a grand daughter to Sue and Prab-hat Baruah
New visa fee from April 1 to enter UK are as follows :
the basic visitor visa fee would go up from £50 to £63 , student visa fee from £85 to £99 , Long Term Visa (including Work Permit and Highly Skilled Migrant Programme ( HSMP) Visa from £85 to £200 and settlement Visa from £260 to £500 . The transit visa fee would go up from £30 to £44 .
fees for those who are already here: Indefinite Leave to remain would go up from £335 to £750 , Nationality - Right of Abode from £20 to £135 , Naturalization from £200 to £575 , highly skilled migrant programme from £315 to £400 and HSMP leave to remain from £335 to £350 .
Former captain Chandu Borde, who
was in-charge of the Indian cricket
team on the historic 1988-89 tour of
Pakistan, was appointed manager of
Indian Cricket Team
Headlines: U.K
Page 2 Newsletter: United Assam Association of UK : Barnsley 2009
PROPOSALS FOR NEW POINT BASED SYS-
TEM FOR CITIZENSHIP:
Here is British government’s new idea on how to
tailor citizenship to political loyalty and the country’s economic needs. Under this an appli-
cant’s skills and respect for British values will
count in his or her favour, while those showing
an “active disregard” for these values will be
penalised by having points taken away. After a
consultation period, the system will be imple-
mented in 2011, applying to some 160,000 legal
migrants who seek British citizenship each year.
It currently takes between three and five years of lawful residence to qualify for a British pass-
port. Points will be linked to qualifications and
potential earnings, as well as a commitment to
Britain, ( existing ) requirements of a citizenship
oath and knowledge of language, customs, his-
tory and the constitution. Points would be de-
ducted if applicants for citizenship “fail to inte-
grate into the British way of life”, exhibit crimi-
nal or anti-social behaviour or get involved in
“any circumstances where an active disregard for UK values is demonstrated”. While the Home
Office was unable to explain the exact meaning
of these terms, British media have been quick to
pick up on the point that migrants questioning
British troop deployment abroad or taking part
in anti-war demonstrations could jeopardise
their chances of gaining a British passport. The
press has pointed out the apparent contradiction
between preserving democratic values while denying free speech to passport applicants. The
Liberal Party’s home affairs spokesman, Chris
Huhne, said, “There should be no question of
barring people because they criticise govern-
ment policy. Democratic values must come
first.” Woolas, Home Office Minister expects
applicants to embrace the “British way of life”,
clarified that these are designed to control im-
migration by “breaking the automatic link be-
tween coming to Britain temporarily to work or study and staying permanently”. The proposals,
under which migrants would be given extra
points for moving to regions with skill and la-
bour shortages, were preferable to an “arbitrary
cap” on migration, said Woolas. They would
“bring better confidence to the public”, in areas
which were “overburdened” by migrants. “The
new path to citizenship aims to create the right
balance for Britain, allowing us to better man-age and provide support for those on the jour-
ney to citizenship,” he said.
Assam Day 2008 in pictures:
Dr Nagen Sarmah has been invited by the
Stockport Conservative Club for a talk. His
topic of choice is“Experience of a British Asian
Doctor in the UK”
ENGAGEMENTS:
Prateem, son of Rita and Naren Sai-
kia got engaged to Sue
India
1. never invaded any country in her last 1000
years of history.
2. invented the Number system. Zero was in-
vented by Aryabhatta.
3, invented the art of navigation in the river
Sindh 5000 years ago. The word 'Navigation' is derived
from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
4, invented Algebra, trigonometry and calculus .
Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11 th
Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans
used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as
1053.
5, invented Chess
6. The world's first University was established in
Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all
over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The Uni-
versity of Nalanda built in the 4 th century BC was one of
the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of
education.
7. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is
the most suitable language for computer software.
8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine
known to humans.
9. India was once the richest empire on earth.
10. The value of pi was first calculated by Budha-
yana, and he explained the concept of what is now k!
nown as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars
have (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works
dates to the 6 th Century which is long before the Euro-
pean mathematicians.
11. According to the Gemmological Institute of
America, up until 1896, India was the only source of
diamonds to the world.
12. USA based IEEE has proved that the pioneer
of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose
and not Marconi.
13. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation
was built in Saurashtra.
14. Sushruta, the father of surgery operated 2600
years ago
15. Indians established Harappan culture in
Sindhu Valley ( Indus Valley Civilisation) 5000 years ago.
16. the decimal system was developed in India in
100 BC.
Headlines: India Newsletter: United Assam Association of UK : Barnsley 2009
Page 3
Pizza Hut plans to invest around Rs 45
crore to set up 30 more stores in met-
ros and Tier I cities in the next three
years, up from the existing 135 stores.
Indians will have the chance to own the
original ‘people ’ s car’ - the Beetle from this year
More than 80 people were killed in a se-
ries of simultaneous bomb blasts across
Assam in October 2008 and just under 150
people were killed in atrocious attacks in
Mumbai in November 2008.
After the above events Ranjit wrote a
Memorandum on behalf of UAAUK ad-
dressed to the Indian Prime Minister and
Bhupen, Probir and Ranjit attended the
High Commissioner of India in London to
hand it over. The Memorandum expresses
major concerns by UAAUK due to the
ongoing problems in Assam without an
end in sight and compared the type of
action taken by the Authorities in Mum-
bai. A reply is still awaited
A total of 452 people have been killed in
Assam by elephants between 2001 and
2009. Sonitpur, Nagaon, Goalpara, Go-
laghat and Karbi Anglong recorded the
highest deaths.
Assam Ratna was awarded to Dr Bhupen
Hazarika in 2009 for his seminal contribu-
tion to Assamese culture and Music
Jayanta Barman , an Engineer and Prop-
erty Developer from Guwahati was
awarded the International Goldstar Mille-
nium Award for excellence in Global Inte-
gration and Economic Development
2009 saw India becoming only the fourth
nation in the world to have landed its
Tricolour in the Moon
Mamoni Raisom Goswami has been cho-
sen for the Principle Prince Claus Award
2008 by the Netherlands.
A hospital in Manipur has offered free
medical treatment for citizens of Myanmar
India commissioned its first home built
nuclear submarine into the Indian Navy.
India’s Raj Kumar Pachauri is re elected
Chairman of the Nobel Prize winning
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC)
Music maestro AR Rahman became the
first Indian to receive the prestigious
Golden Globe and then onto winning an
Oscar for the music in Slumdog Million-
aire.
September 2008 saw 5 synchronised
serial bomb blasts killing at least 20
people in Assam.
Sister Alphonsa from Kerala became the
first Indian woman to be elevated to
sainthood by the Pope Benedict XVI
Smoking in public places in India is now
banned
Traditional Assamese way to:
Pound the paddy
Pound the rice
and
Use the waterways
The Taj Hotel burning during the
Mumbai attacks
A child’s attempt to capture the
images of the aftermath of the-
simultaneous bombings in As-
sam
The Ramganga River separating the Kumaon mountains
from the Garhwali mountains in India
Welcome to Assam
Dhubri stands out as a place of religious confluence.
There’s the Gurudwara of Tegh Bahadur, the mosque of
Mir Jumla and the Mahamaya Temple in close prox-
imity. There’s also the Bura Buri Than on a hillock,
where Hamidi Muslims ritually initiate Vaishnavite
ceremonies.
Barpeta is the grain bowl, Bongaigaon has petrochemi-
cals and thermal power plants. Bongaigaon has wit-
nessed ethnic and communal riots in the last two dec-
ades. At least 4,000 people are still in relief camps.
Hajo, near Guwahati, is the epitome of religious har-
mony. Shah Sultan Ghyasuddin Auliya’s Poa-Mecca,
believed to ensure one-fourth the salvation of a Haj trip,
is close by the Hayagrib-Madhab Temple, revered both
by Hindus and Buddhists.
Guwahati’s has a Manipuribasi and Kacharibasti not far
from North Indian-dominated Athgaon and Bengali-
heavy Kalapahar, Hedayatpur of Garias or Asomiya
Muslims and Hatigaon of mostly Bengali-speaking Mus-
lims, and of course, Assamese localities like Chandmari.
There are 115-odd ethnic groups — not counting 87
communities comprising the Adivasis, a.k.a. the ‘tea
tribe’ — that inhabit a part of India not generally con-
sidered mainland.
The Legislative house is a study in ethnicity. The mem-
bers speak either in Assamese or English. Ethnicity
varies from Koch-Rajbongshi to Bengali-speaking Mus-
lims.
No state in India is perhaps as ethnically, politically and
geographically complex as Assam. Ruling it thus war-
rants an extraordinary balancing act. Assamese have
accommodated legends such as Azan Fakir, a Baghdadi
born Shah Miran, was given land by the Ahom kings to
preach Islam in the 17th century and Jyotiprasad Agar-
wala originally from Rajasthan, is an Assamese cultural
icon on a pedestal perhaps higher than that of Bhupen
Hazarika.
Then there are villages such as Borkola, exclusively of
Asomiya Sikhs who cannot write or speak Gurmukhi
British rule brought Bengalis and other communities in
administrative jobs and central Indian tribes as workers
in tea plantations. Independence and the creation of
Bangladesh complicated matters .
Arun Sarma, a scholar, adds: “Wanton violence, whoever
be the perpetrators, often sends out the wrong signals.
Assam has had a history of assimilation and coexistence,
and we should be the ambassadors of multi-
culturalism.”
Notable obituaries:Notable obituaries:Notable obituaries:Notable obituaries: BR Chopra from Mumbai Dr Robin Goswami from Tezpur Thomas Bata—owner of the shoe company Dr Pulin Ch Baruah from Jorhat Dr Girija Choudhury from Wales Mrs Reema Taylor-Phukan, Lon-don Mrs Hiranya Barpujari—Jolly Sharma’s mother Neel Bora—Late Dayananda Borah’s son Singer Dilip Sharma Maharani Gayatri Devi
Headlines: Elsewhere Newsletter: United Assam Association of UK : Barnsley
More from Assam Day 2008
Page 4
India born Indira Nooyi, Chairman and Chief
Executive of Pepsico has been named CEO
of the year 2009
Windsor Castle staff were baffled by the
delivery of 2,000 pints of lager , before
the England v. Croatia game, To unravel
the mystery, a royal protection cop called
the pub called The Windsor Castle five
miles away in Maidenhead and the reality
came to light. A castle spokesman said:
“It was very funny. But there’s no way
the Queen sits down in the evening with
a pint.”
A City Councillor from Nakuru in Kenya
had offered 20 cows and 40 goats as
dowry in seeking the hands of Chelsea
Clinton, daughter of Bill and Hilary Clin-
ton. He is rather displeased that the
Clintons are yet to confirm if his offer is
acceptable .
Did you know that:
The first traffic light was installed in Lon-
don’s Parliament Square in 1868. Revolv-
ing green and red lanterns were oper-
ated by gas and manually operated by a
police officer on the spot. These were
removed 4 years later after the appara-
tus blew up seriously injuring the officer
Holiday Jargons:
Old world charm.......No TV and only 1 light
Tropical.....................Rainy
Majestic setting........Long way from town
Options galore...Nothing included in this price
Explore on your own...At your own expenses
Romantic..................No phone in room
Just like home.........No maid service
Light and airy.........No air conditioning
Picturesque...........Theme park nearby
24 hour bar......Ice cubes at extra cost
Holiday complaints:
I was bitten by a mosquito. No one said
they could bite
\your brochure shows sand as yellow.
We found it white
Topless bathing should be banned. My
holiday was ruined because my hus-
band spent all day looking at other
women
It should be explained in the brochure
that the local store does not sell proper
biscuits like custard cream or ginger
nuts.
We bought Ray Ban glasses on the
beach for 5 euros( about £4) from a
street trader., They turned out to be
fake.
On my holiday in Goa in India I was
disgusted to find that almost every
restaurant served curry. I don’t like
spicy food.
No one told us there will be fish in the
sea. The children were startled.
We had to queue outside with no air
conditioning
It is your duty as Tour Operator to
advise us of any unruly or noisy guests
before we travelled.