How can we create an investment friendly atmosphere to boost tourism in Assam and turn it into one of the most sought after destinations of the world?

  

       

                “Nowhere in the world, you can ever find even if you scour through life.”

-          Lakshminath Bezbaruah

      

Lying between 89°.50′ to 96°.10′ E. longitude and 24°.30′ to 28°.40′ N. latitude spreading over an geographical area of 78,438 sq. km, Assam is ‘the Shangri-La of the North-Eastern India’ situated at the foothills of eastern Himalayas and falls in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Assam, with its sprawling tea gardens and unending stretches of paddy fields interspersed with groves of coconut, areca nuts, and banana trees, is one of the biggest States in the North East of India and the most accessible. It is a land that could mesmerize you with its mythology and magic; its flora and fauna; its diverse culture and the sheer variety in its population. Frolic of apes, graceful elephants, fluttering of wings & singing of birds, migratory birds flying into the hills, the majestic tiger enforcing his authority, all invite you to carry back home a little what the heaven is made of. This ancient kingdom of the Ahoms having breathtaking scenic beauty; mighty waterways; fertile valleys; dense forest; lofty hills and lush tea gardens, fascinated the rest of the world since the days of Hiuen-Tsang. This highland of red river and blue hills having bountiful natural resources in its womb; has a great potential of tourism as it possesses various historical monuments (like Ranghar, Talotal Ghar, Kareng Ghar etc.), wildlife sanctuaries and World Heritage Sites (like Kaziranga and Manas National Park), natural beauties (hills, Brahmaputra, Barak and its tributaries), spiritual and pilgrim sites (Satras of Majuli, Barpeta and Nagaon), industrial areas (Tea, petroleum and mining industries) and sites for adventure and golf courses. Despite of presence of such marvellous resources for tourism somewhere Assam is lacking behind the other states of India due to its improper, unplanned tourism policy and very limited availability of funds is constantly acting as resistance to create an investor friendly atmosphere to boost Assam tourism. To overcome such resistant factors, to maximize the footfalls to Assam making it a tourist hub of India and to make it a popular destination of world; we need to act in a planned manner so that we can bring an investor friendly atmosphere in Assam. For that we have to follow some steps that have been described below in a detail manner that will help in bringing the exposure need to boost the tourism industry of Assam:

·         Well maintenance of Resources: As described above Assam has great varieties of resources for the tourism industry. From ancient historical monuments to wildlife sanctuaries, from pilgrim sites to adventure sites, from tea industries to mining and petroleum industries, from its diverse culture to its diverse eco-systems, this highland has some great scopes or resources for tourism. But these resources need a proper maintenance. We often encounter examples regarding the damage of these resources due to improper maintenance like the Satras of Majuli, Monuments of Ahoms present in Sivasagar like Tolatol Ghar, Siva Doul etc. Mainly flood occurred during monsoons effect these resources including the bio-reserves present in Assam. The biggest problem regarding the maintenance of the resources in Assam is the illegal occupation of the bio-reserves which is severely affecting the eco system. So the Government, NGOs and local bodies should emphasize the matter of well maintenance of the resources of tourism so that it catalyses the development of tourism in Assam.

·          Development of Infrastructure: Though Assam has resources but it is not infrastructural well developed. To create an investment friendly atmosphere and to attract the private sectors it has to be copped up with recent technologies and a well developed infrastructure. Government should give importance in developing the infrastructural facilities including roads and communication system as the private sectors will always look for a profitable venture. Developed infrastructure always ensures an investment friendly atmosphere and will increase the tourist traffic to Assam. Government should primarily focus on the promotion of tourism and for strengthening up the infrastructural environment that would be attracting the investors to the state by taking help of some centrally funded scheme like NESIDS. Government of Assam may also submit proposals or appeal to the Central Government to get assistance from “World Bank Groups” for their investment to Assam at a minimum interest rate so that the infrastructural problem and fund problem may be overcome.  

·         Creating an “ease of business doing” environment and providing relaxation and subsidization by modifying the Tourism Policy of Assam: Government should be able to provide an “ease of business doing” environment for the investment sectors. They should ensure the private companies, MNCs the profits of investment in Assam along with motivating the entrepreneurship of the local individuals by creating an ease of business doing environment by exempting some amount of tax. Ease of doing environment facilitates properly to the investors for better and simpler regulations for businesses and stronger protection of property rights. Government should provide some relaxation and subsidy to the private sectors so that they can set up and make profits at initial stage. In this case the recent tourism policy will certainly help to make Assam a popular destination of world as it is providing single window clearance system and different amount of subsidy for the film industry who come and shoot in the state; like there will be an additional 10 per cent grant if the film's storyline is on Assam's culture, tourism and heritage, while another 10 per cent rebate will be offered if more than 50 per cent of the entire shooting is done in the state. This type of relaxation and subsidy will certainly attract the film industry to work in Assam and will give a exposure to Assam ensuring maximum footfalls.   

·         Proper promotional channels for the campaign of Assam Tourism: Assam is the gateway to the North Eastern states. Assam needs some proper promotional channels to reach the voice of the natural beauties of it to the world tourist. It needs a great amount of exposure. The Assam government has allocated Rs 15 crore to promote tourism in the state under ‘Awesome Assam’ brand focusing on the one-horned rhino; Assam Tea and the mighty Brahmaputra taking India’s International star Priyanka Chopra as the brand ambassador. Moreover the Govt. should be able to attract the youths as they love adventure and always want to explore the things. For that tourism needs a social media platform. There is a need to express the natural beauty of Assam in social media like facebook, twitter, youtube etc. and by maintaining a proper and detail website containing the information of tourist attractions present here. Carnivals and festivals like Namami Brahmaputra or Namami Barak can also attract the youth tourists to come here and enjoy the adventurous ride of the beauty of Assam and to explore it. But it will always need a proper way of promotion so that the tourist gets easily attracted towards this beautiful land.

·         Controlling the insurgencies:  The problem of insurgency has become the stumbling block in the course of development of Assam. It founded every development strategy and hampered all the development work. Kidnapping, extortion, killing, bandh, strikes, and curfews have become the order of the day. The foreign and the domestic tourists consider it risky to visit this part of the country, in view of the prevailing law and order situation. The general impression has been that any foreign or domestic tourist could be a soft target of the insurgents. This type of incidents happened some days back in Kaziranga National Park where some tourists were likely to be affected by the insurgents which was almost likely to affect the tourism in Assam. So the government should be able to control such insurgencies to boost tourism in Assam and will create a more investment friendly atmosphere.

·          Development of human resources by providing them training: Assam government should give importance to the development of the human resources by arranging training and workshops so that they can provide good hospitality behaviours to the tourists. Assam virtually does not have any trained guides in important places of tourist attraction. Consequently, as the tourists arrive at such a place there is hardly anyone to satisfy the inquisitiveness of the tourists. The Department of Tourism should initiate a programme to train tourist guides with more ethical and moral values by providing them a more hospitality behaviour. A good hospitality towards the tourists may act as a catalyst to boost the tourism. For the development of human resources government can also recognize and encourage excellence in tourism services and tourism products in the state.

Undoubtedly, Assam has a great amount of resources for the tourism industry and a great potential for investment friendly atmosphere but it is still lacking behind the other states only due to the less exposure or promotion to the world. If the factors that has been discussed above can be improve in a proper way there will arise a vibrant scope of enrichment of the tourism industry in Assam and will not only make a friendly atmosphere to invest but also will provide a great amount of benefits to the both public cum private sectors. These can make a positive step towards making Assam a popular sought after destinations of the world. Our continuous efforts and true participation for an investment friendly atmosphere can make the tourists more interesting towards Assam. Because as the tagline of says “Once you visit Assam, It stays with you forever”.

       

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge - Stephen Hawking

                                         “A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing”

                                                                                        ----- Alexander Pope.

Knowledge is the biggest asset of mankind and that is why it is considered to be the most essential component in our life, all the religions have do focused and emphasized on the importance and significance of the acquiring of knowledge. Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness or understanding of someone or something such as facts, information, descriptions or skills which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering or learning and referred to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. As famous philosopher Plato defined knowledge as “justified true belief”.Knowledge is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world. It is quite impossible for human being to achieve such a level without knowledge. 

In most of the cases, it is not possible to understand an information or domain exhaustively; so our knowledge is always incomplete or partial. But one thing that many people overlook that incomplete and little knowledge can be a dangerous thing; not only for an individual but even for the whole mankind creating problems and devastating impacts on the people of world. A person with little knowledge can not only create havoc to his life but also to the environment. Such little learning leads a man to become an arrogant;  it leads one to the illusion of knowledge.  So what is illusion of knowledge and how is it dangerous?  Illusion of knowledge is nothing but one’s faulty, subjective, unscientific, vague, unproven and dubious assumption about a thing or information. It  is said  that the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge. Two great men are credited to have said this famous aphorism. Daniel J. Boorstin and Stephen Hawking cited this to aware mankind about  the flaw  of the illusion of knowledge.  Actually knowledge becomes an illusion when an inferior answer becomes permanent knowledge. The illusion of knowledge is somewhat more dangerous than ignorance; it is not only the greatest enemy of knowledge but also for the whole mankind. Suppose you go to an ignorant alcoholic person and told him about the evils of alcohol consumption, he will simply said “I don’t care” and will walk away. But if you approach to an alcoholic person with illusion of knowledge and told him the  same;  you  will get a  reply like “don’t believe those science books; they trick everybody. If alcohol was bad for us then God would have told us in the new testament.” So clearly it may provoke anyone to become an alcoholic. Let’s take  an  example where in a class of many students a teacher taught something very interesting and important topic and after that she asked whether they all got the point or not. Then the ignorant will say nothing or no whereas some students will just say yes blindly because of fear of being judged and to show that they are intelligent which also can be called as illusion of knowledge.

Ignorance is simply the lack of knowledge. The illusion of knowledge is less lack and more of a replacement of knowledge. An ignorant person can be given education, he can be taught. But an arrogant person is much harder to deal with; he can’t be educated as he always pretends to know everything. He refuses to be given  knowledge;  he refuses to question or judge himself and his beliefs because he thinks that he is right all the time. There is a saying “you can wake a person who is sleeping but you can’t wake a person who pretend to be sleeping”. Illusion of knowledge is something that stops you from learning the truth that accepts false statement s as the ultimate truth. It will always keep you away from the real truth as you will think you already  had it and hence will resist you from acquiring the real knowledge. Without proper and complete knowledge one may cause great harm to himself and to the  society as well. One of the biggest examples in this scenario is the terrorism, the religious extremist people trains the youth in such a manner that don’t get the proper knowledge and use them as a robot  that  had incomplete and little knowledge. The suicide bombers  have been mind washed in such a manner with illusion of knowledge that they agree to either take the lives of other or even give their own lives.  It is very common aspect that one’s knowledge can be very much useful and productive but in such scenario the illusion of knowledge can be deadly and hazardous too.

Actually all human beings suffer from this flaw of illusion of knowledge in more or less quantity, even some great personalities who are role models of mankind like Dickens, Addison, Einstein also  faced such problems  of illusion of knowledge. To achieve a perfect success it is very necessary to get rid of this flaw as it carries lots of problem  along with it.  To overcome such flaw one must see the things in their totality; one must go through minute analysis; one must be able to judge themselves. One may be a teacher, a doctor, a scientist, a cop or a cab driver but they must remember that illusion of knowledge about their respective fields can create problems, difficulties and inconvenience to others. It is unquestionably true that the  illusion of knowledge is the greatest enemy of knowledge and always stands as an obstacle. It is obvious that illusion of knowledge is the greatest enemy of knowledge; not ignorance.

Colonel Guru Prasad Das - The inventor of Vacuum Brake on trains

 In the earliest days of railways, trains were slowed or stopped manually. There were no brakes to stop a running train until 1930. In this year a scientist who left school in class VIII standard, who hailed from a very backward place invented vacuum brake for trains which had nomenclature as "Seamless Coil Brake" later. Interestingly I feel very proud to say that this person and me shares the same locality. So my dear readers, lets talk about this personality today, lets put some limelight on the unknown facts about the inventor of GP Brake - Guru Prasad Das. 

       In the year 1905 Guru Prasad Das was born at Bilartarihati of Barpeta. His father was Rama Prasad Das. After finishing his elementary education he took admission in Barpeta Govt High School. But he was very indifferent to his studies. When he was in class VII he became interested to business. In class VIII he took some clothes of silk from an owner of a shop named Ojha Store and without informing anyone he left for Calcutta to set up his own business.Thus for some couple of  months he passed an aimless life. But later he realized that he should work somewhere to live in and very soon he started working in a motor-car garage and came to get in touch with some persevering nonresident Assamese like Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaruah, passionate entrepreneurs Bholanath Baruah and Kameswar Das and which was an epoch making episode of the British period in India. For his assiduous character got a chance to work as mechanic helper in the motor garage of Bholanath Baruah and passed metric from there and took training of motor vehicle repairing from there. One day, a business person from a steel industry named Thompson & Co. came with his vehicle and was very pleased by his work. He gave him a work in his company and admitted Das in Calcutta Technical School where he got his diploma in mechanical engineering. Not only that he represented Thompson & Co. in a national level workshop which was held in Eden Garden. The British officials were very much amazed at his work. He could draw the attention of a British gentleman and Bilton Bell, the governor of Assam of that time and they sent him England for higher training at Institute of Mechanical Engineering after realizing his technical expertise in 1927. During his training period he made significant improvement in his technical skill and got the opportunity to do research for brakes. For his excellence British government gave him the opportunity to take the degree of Mechanical Engineering and thus he successfully became the first ever Mechanical Engineer of Assam. After completing his degree he was appointed to British Navy and thus he was the first mechanical engineer to work in submarine. Later he went to Germany and invented "Heat Meter". Coming back from Germany he joined Imperial Railway Service and after a period of five years relentless work in the field of brakes he was able to invent a vacuum brake for trains which is popularly known as GP Brake making the "Warne & Co." world famous in the year 1930. His achievement nominated him as Associate Member of Mechanical Engineers by the British Government. He was the first Indian Railway Service (IRS) and joined as the Assistant Superintendent of Howrah station of Calcutta under British rule in the year 1931. Later he resigned Indian Railways and joined Burma Oil Company. He also served as a workshop manager and Mayor of Calcutta Municipality. During the World War II he was appointed as a high official at Defense at Kanpur and retired in the year 1970 as Colonel. He was not only the inventor of GP Brake and Heat Meter but also he invented two other important inventions like "Cut off Control Gauge" and "Boiler Safety Valve". He was one of the worthy personalities that Barpeta had ever produced. This great Assamese scientist cum inventor Colonel Guru Prasad Das breathed his last on 26 March,1982 leaving behind his two sons and his wife Chancala Das.

             Now lets go for a quick review of the bitter parts of today's situation here. Obviously, we feel very proud saying that he was a "Barpeita Engineer" but how many of we know about the fact that the brakes in trains was actually invented by a Assamese people? How many of we heard his name or know about him? Ok lets forget the history, the big question is that brakes in trains was invented by a engineer of  Barpeta but "DO WE HAVE A TRAIN STATION Yet" ?? And the main tragic part is that after Guru Prasad Das undoubtedly many engineers are produced from this land but how many of them are really good in their works with the demand of advance technology?? How many of them are interested in kinda things like innovation ??  Or they are only interested in making fun of each other and robbing public money to build their own empire........ 

Seetha Amman Temple...The place where Sita was held captive..

Temple..It is a house of worship in Hinduism.It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together.Not only the Hindus,for Christian they have Church and Mosque for the Muslims also.The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temple are rooted in Vedic traditions.A Hindu temple reflects a synthesis of arts,the ideals of dharma,beliefs,values,culture and a life style in Hinduism.Temple is a link between man,deities and the Universal Param Brahma in a sacred space.In Hinduism we have around 33crores of gods.It is our tradition or a strong cultural belief to visit temples and to worship our family deity or Kuladevata in holy days.But,today I am not going to write about all of them rather I want to go to the age of Ramayana,to the time of Treta yuga.I want to tell you about a special temple of Sri Lanka.A temple which portrayed the epitome of female purity and virtue.A temple of the daughter of Mother Earth i.e. Sita.

            Nuwara Eliya is a city in the hill country of the Central Province,Sri Lanka.The city was founded by Samuel Baker the discoverer of Lake Albert and the explorer of the Nile in 1846.The name of the city means "city on the plain" or "city of light".But this city beyond the Indian seashore is somehow connected to the million hearts of the Indian people.All of us must have a basic and a thin knowledge about the Ramayana as I had come to know about it from my grandma.We know how Ravana appears in the disguise of an ascetic requesting Sita's hospitality and tricked her into leaving the Lakshmana Rekha and is then forcibly carried away by the evil Ravana.At Lanka,Sita was kept under the heavy guard of Rakshasis in "Ashok Batika".However with the help of Hanuman and Sugriva,Rama was able to find out Sita and by defeating Ravana they came back together to Ayodhya.That Ashok Batika is today's Seetha Amma temple.It is now in the district of Nuwara Eliya.It is located 1km away from Hakgala Botanical Garden in a small village called Seetha Eliya or Sita Eliya.According to he myth,this is the place where Sita,the another form of Godess Lakshmi was held captive and where she prayed daily for Rama to come and rescue her.This temple has grown in terms of the traffic of visitors as it is the "only temple of Sita in the world".It is constructed beside a clear stream of the countryside in a pattern of modern south Indian temple.Along with the temple there is a temple of Pavana Putra Hanuman who is considered as the Monkey God who played an important role in rescuing Sita and who destroyed entire Lanka of Ravana with his long tail.The south Indian style of entrance can be seen at the entrance of Seetha temple.Realising the tourism potential of the temple the Sri Lankan Ministry of Tourism makes a plan to grow it as a center of sacred site and pilgrim complex.A forest of Ashoka trees can be seen by the side of the temple.According to the workers of the temple these Ashoka trees are a indication of her coming to the site centuries back.G.T.Pravakaran the in-charge of the temple said,"There is a rock on the opposite bank where Sita sat and mediated.Also this Ashoka forest is a clear indication that she came here when she was brought to Lanka." There is a particular point in the stream where water has no taste,this point is believed to be the spot she cursed.About a century ago the discovery of three idols one of which was Sita is a strong belief among the devotees of occuring of those incidents of Ramayana.There are several strong evidences like the spot where Sita bathed,the stone she sat on and she prayed that can convince us as well as the devotees that the episodes of the Ramayana epic did indeed took place here.

Those 3 Fundamental Needs!!!

Fundamental !! Well..it sounds something strong primary or core.When the word "fundamental" combines with "basic" then it leads us to our day today emotions.Even a children of UKG knows, what are the basic human needs?or what are the fundamental needs?If you ask them they will shout out in a chorus, "Food,Shelter & Cloth".But we people are no longer child,right?We must go depth of the topic.
    In these days of sci-techs it seems that we all have these basic needs.Obviously we have.But don't dare to say "we all have" and if you do so then certainly I have to put you to those class of fellows who enjoys laughing at the needy ones.There are still millions of people who lack these fundamental needs.Let it be a beggar who spent their whole life on the footpaths or a ragpicker from the slums or a refugee from any corner of this violent world.But I am not going to talk about them today.UNICEF and some other NGOs have spotted out such pity persons who lack their basic needs and currenty working on to improve their livelihood .You can find pageful of articles describing their livelihood.Instead, today I am interest to tell you about those so-called rich inhumans.Yes ! A topic on those beasts.
     At first let's talk about food.It will be the foolish thing if I start now to give you a lecture on how food is important to us.Similarly people eating rotten breads from a grabage dump will find easy to answer the question than the people eating "chicken lolipop or tendori kabab" in an AC resturant.Our world is quite interesting where someone is busy to save their lives from starvation and nearly 16,000 children die per day due to malnutrition and on the other hand those animals dwelling in big buildings wasting trillions of food per year.Americans waste about 33 millions food per year.It is just an example,calculate for the entire world figure will not be less than trillions.But what about those hungry people who merely can afford their stomach a rotten piece of bread?There is more fruits in a rich man's shampoo than in a poor man's plate.When we are enjoying taking a bite in a tandori lolipop at the same time a child cries untill it dies out of starvation.21st centuries world doesn't let us to share anything.So why should we share it to the needy ones?We have enough money if we don't need we will throw it to the dustbin.We enjoy wasting while sharing hurts our ego.Let them die,let those children cry,don't share.But will you do us a favour?If you feel horrible to share food than buy only what you need.Don't buy in excess amount.Love food not waste.Buy only what you need.Don't buy to waste.
      Again,you will find the same discrimination for clothes and shelter too.You can see a Burj Khalifa against every slum areas.Whether let it be a slum of Mumbai of India,Cairo of Brazil or Caracas of Venezuela.And if you are really living in this globe than further I have no need to add some extra points for clothes.Sarcastically,what I found similar is only the dirt and mud covered clothes of the poor and the skirts of the rich having holes on their jeans !!
       World is progressing but the progress should not be defined only on the basis of smart cities around the world.We want a uniform progress.Our fundamental needs are our basic rights.Don't deprive the poor from their basic rights.If you have enough than leave the rest part for the needy ones too.Remember,you are not only the persons living in this green globe.Let others live a happy and prosperous life too !!!

Akshayam..The First Step

In Mahabharata once Dushashana tried to strip the cloths of Draupadi. But as Krishna was her brother she remembered him at once uttering the word "Akshayam" and Lord Krishna saved her dignity. The magical word "Akshayam" carries the meaning Unlimited or a thing that never can be ceased. So you may be have the idea why I have chosen the name "Akshayam Shruta". 

In the pursuit of boundless intellectual vistas, I found myself grappling with the whimsical quandaries that accompany the genesis of a blog. Questions, both amusing and perplexing, besieged my contemplative mind: What shall be inscribed upon the digital parchment? How ought I christen this reservoir of thoughts? In this cognitive conundrum, an epiphany dawned upon me - an open canvas for an unbridled intellectual expedition.

Forsooth, open domains, be they realms of cognition or matters of the heart, possess an allure that surpasses all. Openness, the cardinal virtue of unrestricted expanses, beckons like an inviting field ripe for exploration.

A peculiar penchant has, since my nascent days, propelled me towards the extraordinary. A fervor for the avant-garde, an inclination for the "hattke," as it were, has coursed through the corridors of my being. Fueled by the joy derived from the craft of prose and the allure of quizzes, I embarked upon this odyssey of a blog, harboring the anticipation that it would serve as an elixir, bestowing upon me the surplus energy derived from the inexhaustible fount of knowledge.

Pray, allow me to elucidate upon the boundless expanse of knowledge—an ocean from which a mere droplet, plucked with intention, brings forth negligible alteration. Verily, one drop procured from the font of sagacity shan't quench the insatiable thirst for enlightenment. The pursuit of learning, my dear interlocutor, is an unending odyssey that persists until the very curtain of mortality descends. 

I beg your indulgence in two preliminary caveats: firstly, an admission of my impoverished grasp of the English language bereft of any fanciful expressions, and secondly, a forewarning that my narratives shall traverse the spectrum from lengthy tales to succinct anecdotes, from erudite articles to concise informational vignettes, and from pensive musings to intellectual quizzes. 

Alas, my humble offering must forego the lyrical allure of poetry, as it eludes my grasp. Pray, endure my verbosity, for it is in the crucible of diverse forms that I aspire to mold my ruminations into articles of some aesthetic merit. No luminary, be it Einstein or Newton, sprang forth from the womb with innate genius. Rather, it is the crucible of thought and unquenchable curiosity that forges great minds. In this contemporary epoch, three facets must not be undervalued: knowledge, curiosity, and, most importantly, self. Let us not diminish the profound significance of these tripartite elements in navigating the labyrinth of the 21st-century world.