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Jorhat College pays homage to 2 prominent women of yesteryear

By Staff Correspondent

JORHAT, July 24 - Jorhat College (Amalgamated), one of the oldest educational institute here, with an aim to pay tribute to two great women personalities of Assam, dedicated two girls� hostels by adopting the names of two biographical novels on the lives of the two illustrious women.

Both the novels have been penned by two well-known women writers. As per the unique initiative adopted by the college authorities, one of the hostel has been named Merang, after the famous novel on the life of renowned educationist Indira Miri, a Padmashree Award-winner, whose author is noted writer and journalist Anuradha Sharma Pujari.

The other hostel has been named Abhijatri, a famous Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel on the life of Chandraprabha Saikiani, a freedom fighter and a social reformer, authored by eminent writer and columnist Nirupama Borgohain,

Principal of Jorhat College Devabrata Sharma told The Assam Tribune that the college authorities while discussing on coining names for the hostels found that generally hostels in the educational institutes across the State were named after significant rivers or places.

Sharma said that the authorities decided to give other names to the hostels, which would enable one and all to pay respect to well-known personalities from the past and let the present generation know about their sacrifices and contributions towards the society.

The Principal said that names of the two novels were selected as both were biographical ones � on two great women of yesteryear � and both the books were penned by well-known women writers. Another connection of the two writers with Jorhat were that Nirupama Borgohain had for a brief stint worked as a teacher at Jorhat College, while Anuradha Sharma Pujari originally hails from this historic premier tea city.

Incidentally, Merang was the pet name of Indira, Sharma informed.

Miri, who was a scholar educated at Edinburgh, was the Principal of the Post-Graduate Training College here. He mentioned that Indira had contributed immensely in development of the education sector in the State after resigning from her Government job in erstwhile NEFA (Present-day Arunachal Pradesh) during the early part of her life.

Similarly, he said that Saikiani was not only a freedom fighter, but a courageous lady who fought for the legitimate rights of women and against social taboos prevailing in the early part of the last century. Sharma said that a brief write-up on the names of the two novels have been put up in the hostels to let everyone know about their lives.

Significantly, Jorhat College in 2015 opened its doors to transgender students, making it the first college in Assam to do so. It also introduced at least 33 per cent representation for women in about 25 of its internal committees and the NOTA (none of the above) option in the students� union elections held in August, 2015.

The co-educational college established in 1962 and affiliated to Dibrugarh University, runs higher secondary and degree courses in the Arts stream. It presently has a student strength of 1,500.

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