Assam is going thru a period of deep turmoil once again, this time in opposition to the proposed high dam on the Subansiri ( LSHEP) and RIGHTLY so.
Assamnetters are arguably some of Assam's most educated and informed and are a significant part its intelligentsia, be it in Assam or away. But it is quite surprising to see that Assamnetters are NOT involved in this time of reckoning for the people of Assam. My guess is that one of the major reasons why they remain apathetic is because they are ignorant of the issues involved. Why is that so? Again, one reason is because of the paucity of believable and trustworthy information on the issues involved. Another might be because of the politically and emotionally charged rhetoric that is flying around, waving broad generalities and half-truths and even undisguised propaganda. But there is good information out there and serious, able people are analyzing, evaluating and debating the many underlying issues. Unfortunately it is not widely available to the thoughtful and able. I know some people are working on disseminating the nuts and bolts of the issues, backed up by sound technical, economic, sociological and ecological considerations. But it can't come out soon enough! In my recent trip to Assam I was fortunate to have come upon a lot of good info. and an old friend who is deeply involved in it briefed me on some of these to raise my concerns enough to post this note to my fellow Netters to urge them to get involved and raise their voices. For starters, allow me to share a very good critique, albeit still general in nature, by my brother Mukul Mahant. It was published in a new magazine called Bazar View. You can see it at > http://www.bazarview.com/issues/1/ . Scroll to pages 31 thru 39. I hope more such informed and thoughtful analyses will be coming out. If there are others who have good , solid, nuts and bolts type of info., please do share. It may be a good time to start a Facebook Blog or some such social-media on the issue to share info. and build support for those who are mounting the opposition in Assam. cm _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
