Jnanpith Award 2000 presentation
Indira Goswami: A gem of Indian literature

Receiving India's Nobel, the Jnanpith award, from Nobel laureate Sir V. S. Naipaul, the Assamese writer finds herself in the ranks of women greats of India. "I'M very, very sensitive to the difficulties that writers of Indian languages have to put up with. But difficulties are challenges and opportunities. That's what Goswami has been doing", said Nobel laureate Sir Vidia S. Naipaul. Sir Naipaul's honourable remark came when he presented the 36th Jnanpith Award for the year 2000 to Assamese writer Indira Goswami.

At a glittering evening function on February 24 in New Delhi, Ms. Goswami, also known as Mamoni Raisom (mother's gem) literally sparkled when she received the award from Sir Naipaul who also released her latest novel, Chhinamasta on the occasion. "It's a miracle for me to find Sir Vidia presenting the Jnanpith. I took pictures of his house in Port of Spain, which apparently inspired A House for Mr. Biswas", said Assamese writer from the land of "blue mountains and red rivers". In her speech Goswami was full of emotions and high respect towards her heritage and her home state that has nurtured her talents as a writer.

Making a special mention about her friends and colleagues at Delhi University who helped her overcome her turbulent past, the lady writer said that her pen was her saviour. "Writing has saved me from acute depression and a certain early death." She was candid in her admission that her past experiences had greatly influenced the literary works. Recalling the time she spent at Vrindaban in 1969, where she saw widows in miserable condition, and also her stay with prostitutes as well as in slaughter houses, Mamoni Raisom said "I cannot write without having some personal experiences".

Earlier welcoming Ms. Goswami, Bharatiya Jnanpith president Indu Jain said: "Ms Goswami is not only of Assam, but also of aasman. Ms Jain urged the writers and journalists to work towards saving "this patch of land which nurtures us all". While Indu Jain put a chandan tilak and presented a coconut to Ms. Goswami, Sir Vidia gave her away the customary shawl. Vice President Krishan Kant on his turn presented the winner with a bronze replica of the Vagdevi and felicitated her for joining a galaxy of women greats such as Amrita Pritam and Mahashweta Devi.

Among the dignitaries who joined Ms. Goswami's felicitation were Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, poetess Sheila Gujral and Jaya Jaitly. A widow since she was 27, Indira Goswami has transformed her trauma into triumph. The extraordinary story-teller and a loner since her 27th birthday, when she lost her husband in an accident had recently said in an interview: "Each individual is a lonely island. You can't rely on anyone. Though I had many admirers, I choose not to marry them. I told them we could be friends...but never man and wife. I don't want to bear children for any man."

Her marriage was a fairytale  that ended tragically. Her husband died a year after they were married. "I had lost everything. But that's when the writer in me was born. I started writing with passion. And soon it became an addiction," she said in an interview. Now the Jnanpith Award   winner has stopped worrying about the past or present as she said: "I always have my best friend by my side  - my pen."

Against the move to create BTC
A do-or-die movement by non-Bodos launched
Believing it to be an effort towards creation of Bodoland, the non-Bodo organisations term the decision on BTC as "an irrevocable and grave historical blunder to the non-Bodos staying in the area."  

THE Sanmilita Janagosthiya Sangram Samiti (SJSS), a forum of 18 non-Bodo organisations in the BAC has launched a do or die movement against the creation of the proposed BTC. It has started by taking out torchlight processions in different parts of the proposed territory. The air became heavy and surcharged in the eight districts of lower Assam when hordes of non-Bodos took to the streets beating drums and blowing conches in these processions. They shouted slogans against the State Cabinet decision to form the BTC. There was also a call to block rail and road transport but was later withdrawn.

Within hours of the cabinet decision on February 13,  the URMCA had also decided to launch a series of agitational programmes in protest of the Cabinet decision. The URMCA felt that the Bodos would start ruling over the non-Bodos once the BTC is created. The All Adivasi Student Union of Assam (AASUA) sent a memorandum to President K. R. Narayanan, urging him to stall the State Government's move. The AASUA termed the decision as 'an irrevocable and grave historical blunder to the non-Bodos staying in the area'. The organisation threatened that if nothing is done, the Adivasis along with the other tribals like Koch-Rajbanshis, Rabhas and others would be forced to take up arms. The Koch-Rajbanshis also reiterated the same feeling. The All Assam Koch-Rajbanshi Sanmilani (AAKRS) held the Congress Government responsible for its mindless working. It requested the President of India to halt the entire process of creation of BTC till the Adivasis were granted ST status and the Adivasis staying at relief camps from 1996 were rehabilitated into their own land. The Koch-Rajbanshis have even hinted that if the Bodos get the BTC, they will start agitation with renewed vigour with their counterparts in West Bengal to demand a separate Kamtapur state. The AAKRS opined that the BTC is basically preparing the ground for the Bodo demand for statehood. It expressed that the BTC would not bring back peace on the northern bank of river Brahmaputra and would only lead to a Palestine like situation.

Neutral bodies like the Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad warned of bloody clashes between the Bodos and non-Bodos if the BTC was created. The organisation is in favour of solving the Bodo problem on the basis of Bhupinder Singh Committee report. It has demanded a quadrilateral meeting involving the Centre, State Government, the BLT and the non-Bodo organisations for fresh deliberations before establishing BTC. The United Minorities Front (UMF) also extended its support to the parishad.

The BLT, ABSU and other Bodo organisations on their part said that bodies like the SJSS or others have no locus standi on this issue. "These leaders are desperately trying to create a clash between the Bodos and the non-Bodos for their narrow political interest," felt Urkhao Brahma, advisor to the ABSU. A joint delegation of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha and other frontal Bodo organizations like the ABSU, All Bodo Women Welfare Federation (ABWWF) and Bodo Writers Association  appealed to all communities living in the proposed BTC to prepare themselves for living together in harmony. They cautioned the people against the evil designs of politically motivated groups to create tension and misunderstanding among various communities.

'Centre must ask B'desh to close militant camps' 
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar pleads for an equitable distribution of funds of the North East Council (NEC).  

IN a recent meeting with Union Home Minister L. K. Advani, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has urged the Centre to put pressure on Bangladesh to close down the North-East militant camps on its soil. Mr. Sarkar also demanded that the Bangladesh Government should hand over the arrested militants to India at the earliest.

Continuing his recent strident postures against the Centre, Tripura Chief Minister resented over the fact that though the Centre was kept informed about the rebel camps in Bangladesh and lists with specific locations were given from time to time, the matter was not taken up at all with the Bangladesh authorities. Mr. Sarkar expressed in the meeting that if the Centre fails to put pressure on Bangladesh Government to close down the camps, North-East problems would never end.

The Tripura Chief Minister also sought a full Army brigade for counter-insurgency operations in Tripura and demanded augmentation of BSF strength to effectively guard the Indo-Bangla border. Tripura has a 856 kms long border with Bangladesh. The Tripura Chief Minister asked for a helicopter from the Centre to deploy  security forces in inaccessible localities.

Union Home Minister L. K. Advani, on his part, had assured the Chief Minister of extending all possible support to the State including pursuing Bangladesh Government to flush out the North-Eastern militants from its territory. Mr. Advani informed that the work on barbed wire fencing along Indo-Bangla border in Tripura would be expedited. He assured that when the new BSF companies would be ready for deployment, it would be sent to Tripura.

Earlier, speaking in the recently concluded NEC meeting, the Chief Minister resented over the fact that the Centre had rejected the formula of equitable distribution of funds of the NEC. The formula, according to the Chief Minister was finalised in the last meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) held at New Delhi. Taking strong exception to the way Tripura was being deprived of its share from NEC funds, the Chief Minister said that in terms of flow of NEC investment, Tripura had got only about five and half per cent of funds from NEC since inception, though it is the second most populous State in the North-East and is also one of the most backward States in the region.

Further commenting on the formula of equitable distribution of funds of the NEC, Tripura Chief Minister said that in the New Delhi meeting, the North-Eastern states after long deliberation could arrive at a consensus on a formula for broad allocation of NEC funds among the member states. "Now we are told that the formula is not acceptable to the MHA or the Planning Commission and that it had altogether been given up."

Demanding reconsideration of the decision, Mr. Sarkar proposed that the NEC should ask the MHA and the Department of Development of North-East Region (DONER) to re-examine the issue in the interest of equitable distribution of benefits of the NEC programmes among all the North-Eastern states. He also pointed out that if the State-wise outlays for the 10th five year plan were taken into consideration, against the total draft outlay of Rs 6,074.67 crore (for the tenth Plan), the allocation for Tripura works out to only Rs 615.37 crore, in other words about 10 per cent while in the equitable distribution formula of funds, Tripura's share would have been 13 per cent.

"The proposed low percentage of flow in the tenth Plan to my State is not acceptable," the Tripura Chief Minister said and added, "I request for reconsideration of the entire issue." Further on the 10th five year plan, he said, "a new procedure has been adopted this time for finalising the proposals for Plan by holding discussion in advance with the Planning Commission and the department of north-eastern region and based on their reaction, while some proposals submitted by them have been rejected even before these could be discussed.

Cross-border terrorism: Is India soft to B'desh, Bhutan?
While many in NE region think that the Centre goes soft, WB Chief Minister believes that it is ISI which works through these countries.

TO many people, including Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, the Centre is not at all sincere in protecting its eastern border and as a result the North-Eastern region is facing the menace of insurgency for years. These people are of the view that the problems , the North-East region is facing  can be easily tackled if      the Centre shows same kind of urgency as it has shown in regard to country's western border.  

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar was furious when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee did not raise the issue of cross-border terrorism in his meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia during the SAARC summit in Kathmandu. He was particularly peeved over the fact that while the Centre did not miss any opportunity to raise the issue of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir and putting pressure on Pakistan to stop aiding the militants, it was reluctant to do the same with Bangladesh, despite the country providing shelter to almost all the militant outfits active in the North-Easter region.

Tripura Chief Minister expectedly got support from various quarters in the North-East, who are fighting terror in the North-East for long. They also believe that Inda is particularly soft towards Bangladesh and Bhutan, the countries which are being used by the North-Eastern militants to launch offensive against the people and the security forces.

Though Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is making maximum noises over India's softness towards her eastern neighbours, many believe that Assam suffered the most for Centre's soft attitude. They pointed out that though ULFA had established its bases in Bangladesh way back in early 90s, the Centre never tried to put any serious pressure on Bangladesh Government to flush out the militants from its soil. As a matter of fact, two top leaders of the ULFA, its chairman Arvind Rajkhowa and chief of its military wing Paresh Barua still spend most of their times in Bangladesh, they pointed out. They argue that it was in Dhaka that the underground organisations active in the North-East region came in contact with the dubious Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and still today the capital of Bangladesh is being used by the ultras to chalk out major subversive activities  against India.

Notwithstanding providing training to 3000 Royal Bhutan Army soldiers in counter-insurgency operations and even after making sophisticated weapons available to them, Bhutan too, has not done much to prevent its soil from being used by the militants, they feel. Bhutan's response to India's appeal to flush out terrorists from its soil did not achieve much success as the Himalayan kingdom only issued appeals to the militants to vacate their lands. As a mater of fact Bhutan's soft attitude towards the militants has now reached to such a stage that recently after the massacre of non-Bodos in Bodo-dominated areas in Assam, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi urged the Centre to seal the Indo-Bhutan border.  The ULFA and the NDFB are continuing all their subversive activities from the Himalayan Kingdom.

They also argue that not only to curb the menace of insurgency, but also to stop infiltration from across the international border, especially from Bangladesh, the Centre should  put pressure on its eastern neighbours as that would ensure peace in the North-East. But the advocates of strong line should also take a note of reality before jumping to any conclusions. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee commenting over the issue of Bangladesh harbouring militants on its soil, ruled out that the country  was extending any support to the militant outfits. He felt that mainly Pakistan was sponsoring them through the ISI.

The West Bengal Chief Minister was right as ISI was instrumental in providing support to the North-Eastern militants in Bangladesh and Bhutan. As the governments in both the countries are in no position to take on the militants head on, because of the underground organisations superior gun power, the Pakistani agency is taking advantage of that situation. Along with the Talibans, Pakistan was the greatest perpetrators of terrorism in the world. The Talibans are gone. It is only a matter of time before Pakistan meets the same fate as the Talibans.

Already international pressure has forced Pakistan to act tough on the terrorists. Violence in Jammu and Kashmir is on the decline, since the world put Pakistan under the scanner for its role in aiding and abetting terrorism. The ISI was forced to reduce its strength in the Kashmir cell under international pressure.