The Probaxi Oxomiya Xonmilan organizing committee held its first
meeting in Guwahati at a city hotel on Friday, the 16th January 2004.
The Xonmilon is an attempt by well-meaning and resourceful
individuals in Assam to officially engage with Assam's strong diaspora
to facilitate rejuvenation Assam's bond with those around the world.
Mr. Jatin Hazarika, the President of the Probaxi Oxomiya Xonmilon
gave an inaugural speech and welcomed the Non-resident Assamese
(NRA) present from the USA and the UK. Mr. Chiranjeet Chaliha, the
President of the Northeast Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(NECCI) welcomed the NRAs for their support of the Xonmilon and
urged them to do the utmost to acquaint the people of Assam with the
depth and variety of experiences and achievements of the Assamese
diaspora has been able to garner. He also briefly described Assam's
problems with regards to technical and business development and the
expectations the mother country has of the NRA and the level of
support Assam can provide to the NRA in case they want to engage in
business activities in Assam.
Jugal Kalita, a professor in Computer Science from Colorado urged the
people of Assam to understand the sentiments of the NRAs about
Assam, the expenses they have to incur just to travel to Assam and the
difficulties of the bureaucratic procedures in Assam. He requested the
Organizing Committee's members in Assam who are very influential
to impress upon the Government of Assam to develop a policy
framework for creating a more conducive environment for the
sustained and productive business interaction of the NRAs with
Assam and its people. He mentioned that many NRA technical
professionals have dreams of starting small-scale IT technology centers
in Assam for mutual benefit of the people of Assam and the associated
NRA individuals, and he is confident they will come forward if the
environment is opportune for them.
Umesh Tahbildar, the President of the Devee Engineer LLC, New
Jersey suggested the importance of promoting manufacturing in
Assam. He mentioned that lately Assam has done well in the field of
medicine by having established several high-quality hospitals that are
drawing patients from Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and elsewhere.
However, Assam lags far behind in manufacturing. He also mentioned
the need for small hydro-electric power generation projects and the
looming Riverlinking Project started by the Government of India as
well the proposed damming of the Brahmaputra in Tibet. He requested
that the people of Assam be very vigilant about the designs of the
Indian and Chinese Governments. Dilip Dutta, Professor in
Mathematics of Rhode Island University asked the people of Assam to
liaise with the NRA who are experts in their individual fields and visit
Assam on a regular basis. He suggested that talks and other types of
interactions be organized by the Probaxi Oxomiya Xonmilon
Committee whenever such individuals visit Assam. Baroda Sharma
from USA, said that he is the Chairman of Assam Convention
organized by the Assam Association of North America and he offered
his willingness to publicize the information for the 2005 NRA meeting
during the Assam Convention in the USA.
Samudra Sharma a Consultant Psychiatist and his wife Anima Sharma
from Scotland offered their support for the next meeting in the year
2005. Lily Das Malik from London said that the Probaxi Oxomiya
Xonmilan should be celebrated in an attractive way just like Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas. Rini Kakati from London emphasized the interest of
the NRA from the UK who are mostly doctors. Among them are
Jadumoni Bora, Nagen Sarmah and Nilmoni Sikdar who had sent some
valuable suggestions for the benefit of the state in areas such as
Tourism and Health Care. Karuna Das, a physician from the UK was
also present in the meeting.
Rini Kakati thanked Bibhuti Bhusan Barthakur, General Secretary and
Manas Deka, Organizing Secretary for their hard work and sincerity in
making the 2004 NRA meeting a success.
It was decided that the next Probaxi Oxomiya Xonmilon will be held
on the 7th and 8th (Friday and Saturday) of January, 2005. It was also
decided that a Web site will be developed for the NRA Xonmilon of
2005 to communicate with those wishing to attend. The objective of
the 2005 Probaxi Oxomiya Xonmilon was agreed upon as the
following:
The objective of the proposed Probaxi Oxomiya Xonmilon of 2005 is to
establish channels of communication among the technical and business
leaders of Assam, the NRI from Assam, and those residents of Assam
living outside Assam within India, with a view to discussing creative
ideas to facilitate implementation of projects towards economic and
industrial development of Assam.
The topics to be discussed in NRA Xonmilon, 2005 will be 1) Health
Care 2) Tourism, 3) Agro-based Businesses, 4) Urban Development, 5)
Education and 6) Information Technology/Biotechnology.
- Contributed by Rini Kakati of London and Guwahati
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