The Creative Axomiya

– Jayanta Madhab |

One must salute the creativity of the Axomiya who no more work “lahe lahe”.

Immediately the next day after “Advantage Assam” passed off on 4^th February, some imaginative Axomiya shared his assessment of the event through a now circulating whatsapp post in Assamese, which goes something like this : “Took the sea plane from Uttar Guwahati to Pandu. ..took the Bullet train there to reach Basistha where I was awestruck by the Twin Tower thronged by hordes of people – many from ASEAN countries ..some especially romantic couples taking selfies…went to the abutting small airpoprt where one could take a flight to different villages in Assam… took a flight to Nalbari … the whole journey seemed an ethereal dream… but ……suddenly woke up to a pat from someone… and lo ! it was the bus conductor asking for fare…” The post ends with a smiley followed by the inferential enunciation of its enlightened composer : “ If not anything else, Advantage Assam has succeeded in making our dreams big”.

Without any intention of commenting on the success or failure of Advantage Assam or any politics around it, the question that confronts any independent, non political Axomiya is : Would not such messages add more negativity and pessimism to the minds of the Assamese youth already suffused with a sense of despair and negativity as a result of the burgeoning unemployment ?

Why is it that the inventive Axomiya always sees some xarajanta in almost every bid at industrialization by the Government or by private players for that matter ? When the seemingly unviable Oil blocks were slated to be auctioned, we came up with a xarajanta about giving these blocks free to private players . When Patanjali Group undertook their Herbal project near Balipara, the ‘plot’ bordered on favouring them with free Government land and depriving wild animals of their unhindered movement . And to top it all, some ardent Axom lover even pronounced that the entire exercise of Advantage Assam was only a Government sponsored scheme to grab land from farmers and splurge it to private industrialists on a platter !!

In a state where the no of jatiya xangathan’s outnumber Cooperative agriculture or fishery firms, the young generation savour killing time and energy in observing xanmilans, xahhas, mahostavs, divaxs, adaranis and beedais , collecting sanda and enforcing district, block, mouza and road level bandhs and abarodhs , it is time we stop mocking at every Government and non Government effort towards industrialization of our poor state and rather look at them with positivity to cooperate and collaborate, so as to send a positive signal to the potential investors. The least we can do is to avoid doing a disservice to our youth by polluting their imagination with pessimism through our disruptive thoughts and actions .

It is time our new generation overcome their diffidence and direct their verves to something they would enjoy doing and take pride in . And with a positive business sentiment pervading the country – reinforced by a slew of Government measures on connectivity, IT, skill development, MSME, financial assistance etc, time is opportune for today’s well informed, talented and tech savvy youth to try their hands at entrepreneurship howsoever small, by grabbing the opportunity of ancillary ventures to be thrown by industrial activities. Besides economic independence, success in such endeavour will give them dignity, confidence and also livelihood to a few others as well. This in turn will spur others to tread a similar path to self accomplishment. What better way for today’s youth to become responsible citizens and serve the society they live in ? And is not the Society obliged to prod, guide and groom them to that end ?