GUWAHATI, March 15 - �People of Assam should be proud of the fact that a major section of Assamese residents in Delhi is presently engaged in serious activities for the promotion of Assamese language, literature and culture. The time has now arrived when concerted efforts must be undertaken to realise their endeavour,� said Prof Dilip Borah, working president of Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani, at a meeting organised by the Delhi Chapter of the Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani, Assam Study Circle of JNU and Dakhal Prakashan to release two important publications, namely, Shipa (the mouthpiece of the Delhi Shakha Sahitya Sanmilani) and Damita (Hindi translation of Damitar Dastavej, an Assamese novel by Rudrani Sarma alias Dr Anuradha Sarma, general secretary of the Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani). This was stated in a press release.
The purpose of the meeting, which took place on March 12 at 2 pm in the Committee Room, School of Social Sciences I, JNU, was formally outlined by Samudra Kajal Saikia, the editor of Shipa, and the proceedings were subsequently handed over to Ashok Kumar Pandey, the proprietor of Dakhal Prakashan, New Delhi. Three important personalities of contemporary Hindi literature, namely, Vivek Mishra, Vandana Nag and Noor Zahir, released Damita and deliberated at length upon various aspects of the novel, especially the daily struggles of an oppressed woman against patriarchal domination. This was followed by a session of discussion with the audience, and subsequently, the release function of Shipa took place. Prof Dilip Borah narrated the story of the genesis of the Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani. He also reiterated the commitment of the Sanmilani towards book publication, organising various lectures on Assamese language, literature and culture, besides other steps and measures for the uplift of the said language. As a part of the tradition of bringing out a magazine under the auspices of each branch of Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani, the Delhi unit too had launched an endeavour in this direction and this led to the conceptualization and birth of Shipa, which was formally released by Amrit Jyoti Mahanta, an Assamese resident of Delhi, and featured a series of interesting and thought-provoking articles and poems. As representatives of Assam Study Circle, Bedabrat Gogoi, Bikram Bora, Tanmoyeerani Neog and Upasana Hazarika took the responsibility of coordinating and managing the whole event. Samudra Kajal Saikia has been entrusted with the responsibility of forming the district committee of Delhi Sahitya Sanmilani.
In the course of the meeting, a decision was also taken to organise the next Asom Vidya International Seminar and Conference in Delhi under the joint enterprise of Delhi Chapter of Asomiya Sahitya Sanmilani, Comparative Indian Literature Association (CILA), North East India Network for Academic Discourse (NEINAD) and Assam Study Circle JNU.
