Deeply appreciate the innovative governance initiative of Shri Saikia. Hope such leadership will enthuse other spheres of government activities in Assam.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone. -------- Original message --------From: "Sanjoy Hazarika [email protected] [FriendsofAssamNE]" <[email protected]> Date: 29/09/2017 7:45 p.m. (GMT+05:30) To: kula saikia <[email protected]> Cc: "Support A. Child" <[email protected]>, Friendsof Assam NE <[email protected]>, "Dr. Birubala Rabha" <[email protected]>, North East <[email protected]>, Ankur Bora <[email protected]>, Wahid Saleh - Indiawijzer <[email protected]> Subject: [FriendsofAssamNE] Re: [NorthEastIndia] The Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition and Protection) Bill, 2015 Very glad to see your note, Saikia Saheb! I am sure that our many friends, who are really so keen and committed to doing good back home and are taking some initiatives, appreciate your intervention. All of us agree that it is v important to be up to date especially in these days of such excellent connectivity. Warmly Sanjoy On Sep 29, 2017 11:30 AM, "kula saikia" <[email protected]> wrote: Dear Ankur Thank you for your mail. I think we met long back and discussed about Project Prahari. If you recall Project Prahari launched by me in remote villages of Kokrajhar in August 2001 to fight against social prejudices like witch hunting was a first concerted effort to bring all the stakeholders including law enforcement agencies together. Presently more than 100 villages have been under this project. It has been mentioned by Government of India as one of the very successful women empowerment model in their country status report to General Assembly,UN in 2005. It has been recognised as a Best Governanace practice model too. In fact Project prahari is being taught in some management schools like IIMs, ISB , Singpore etc. Harvard University has made available this as case study on Change Management through Harvard Business Review link of which is given here: https://hbr.org/product/being-a-change-agent-a-lessons-from-a-lynch-mob/INS911-PDF-ENG In fact regarding the anti witch hunting Act in Assam, i was involved in draft preparation of the Act. Recently State Social welfare board has formed a coalition with Prahari to work jointly in anti witch hunting measures. I thought this update on Prahari etc. and my fight against the menace of witch hunting would interest you. Kula saikiaSpecial DGP (law and order)Ph 9435049624 Sent from my iPhone On 29-Sep-2017, at 1:51 AM, Ankur Bora [email protected] [NorthEastIndia] <[email protected]> wrote: Srijut Sarbananda Sonowal Chief Minister, Government of Assam, CM Block, Janata Bhawan, Dispur, Assam 781006 Subject: The Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition and Protection) Bill, 2015 Sir, We would also like to bring your urgent attention for the need of Anti -Witchcraft Act. Bihar was the first state in India to pass the prevention of Witch (dayan) Practices Act of 1999. Jharkhand followed with an Anti -Witchcraft Act in 2001. Unfortunately, there is no such law yet in Assam and there is no legal measure to punish offenders. Since there is no separate anti-witch hunting law in Assam, the accused are booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is often treated as a routine crime case where the culprit is not brought to justice. At present there is a crucial need to use the legal system to battle crime against witch hunting. Such incidents are happening even today. We, a few nonresident Assamese, have been supporting crusader Birubala Rabha on her tireless effort. Wahid Saleh, the recipient of the Dutch knighthood and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award , earlier wrote a letter on this issue ( attached). An article , by the undersigned , was also published in Assam Tribune which had been prepared with inputs from noted author Indrani RaiMedhi and Shri Preetom Saikia, IAS. Commissioner and. Secretary. Department of. Elementary. Education. Government of. Assam. ( attached) Assam Assembly, passed a Bill in the year 2015 to end witch-hunting. However, the bill is yet to become a law waiting for clearance from Central Government. There is a news item published on September 22 about Ministry of Home Affairs referring back some of its provisions to the State Government for review. We urge the Government of Assam to press on with the Central government and bring an end to the diabolical incidents of witch hunting. Thanks and we would appreciate a response Ankur Bora Dallas , Texas , USA <AssamTribune.jpg><Letter to CM_Assam_1-20170519.pdf>
