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Hornbill Festival 2015

a record turns out

Xavier Rutsa

The premier Nagaland’s

Hornbill Festival, 2015 marked a record turned out of crowds flocking at Kisama, Naga Heritage Village, which took place from December 1 to 10. This year, it was the 16th edition.

A number of visitors to Kisama was 2, 43,113 this year against 1, 72, 404 during 2014. This year saw an increase of 70,709 visitors to the Hornbill Festival. Every year it starts on December 1, which also coincided with the statehood day. Assam and Nagaland Governor P.B. Acharya graced the inaugural function as the chief guest while the Nagaland Chief Minister, T.R. Zeliang was the chief host.

As a unique feature, PB Acharya unveiled the Hornbill Tree which was erected on the occasion of the 16th Hornbill Festival at Naga Heritage village, Kisama on December 1st.

Speaking on the occasion, Acharya said that the statehood day, which coincides with the start of Hornbill festival, is a joyous occasion when all people of Nagaland can recall with pride and satisfaction the significant achievements made by the Nagas during the past years. He said Nagaland has achieved remarkable progress over the last five decades, particularly in the field of education and healthcare.

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Preserving Majuli’s Rich Heritage

Dwaipayan Dasgupta

Issue about whose future the conscious people in the State of Assam are apprehensive and which much has been written in newspapers and periodically discussed in the print media is no other than that of Majuli, the largest river island in the world. Nestled in the middle of the Brahmaputra River falling under the Jorhat district, the island is essentially the pride of Assam and its people with it having been a rich repository of the State’s socio-cultural and ethno-religious heritage. Easily accessible by nearly two-hour bus ride and ferries from the city of Jorhat, this landmass with a population of around 1,60,000, a majority of whom having been Mising tribals, is also a home to Assamese neo-vaisnavite culture. Interestingly, the riverine island came into limelight sometime in the 15th century when the revered saint and fountainhead of the Assamese culture Srimanta Sandardeva and his disciple Madhavdeva upon propagating a new form of Vaishnavism. The religion of Sankaradeva, what is called “Vaishnavism” was simpler, more accessible and less ritualistic than the Hindu religion. It was rooted in faith and prayer. Unlike Hinduism, there is no provision for idol worship or sacrifice in his religion other than a dance drama form of bhaona and ankiya nat using the Bhagwat Gita written by Sankaradeva.

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Health is loss of wealth in North East India State of Affairs

Meenakshi Deb

It is said health is wealth. Keeping this saying in mind Government of India since last many years is taking steps to improve the health of the country by providing the state government with sufficient funds to build infrastructure, procure equipment and machineries and availability of medicines for patients besides other logistics.

Fortunately, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report ended on 31st March 2014 has discovered serious lapses on the part of the Health and Family Welfare Department Meghalaya, where in there was a loss of Rs 4.03 crores.

In order to prevent losses and judicious use of the resources technical committees were formed under Rural Health Mission. Similarly a technical committee under Rural Health Mission was formed to guide the department in procuring medicines under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). The committee in its second meeting held in September 2010 recommended that selection of items and the quantum of procurement of medicine should be need based to avoid wastage of medicine.

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POWERING THE NATION

The Meghalaya Bharat Scouts and Guides, Shillong is overjoyed and proud that A.Swer, the State Secretary received the Silver Elephant, which is the highest award of the Bharat Scouts and Guides in India for her contribution towards development of youth in the state and the country as a whole.

Meanwhile, G.G. Pariat received the Silver Star Medal, the third highest award of meritorious service. The awards were presented by President of India, Pranab Mukherjee at a special function held recently at the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.