Before the commencement of the inaugural session on “Ensuring Harmony: The Role of Police and Civil Society” Shri B.J.Mahanta, IPS, IGP (L&O), Assam welcomed the guests and participants to the session and facilitated the felicitation of the distinguished resource persons, participants and invitees.
Shri Shankar Barua, IPS, the Director General of Police, Assam and Chairman, Project Aashwas then invited Sri R.S.Mooshahary, His Excellency, the Governor of Meghalaya to formally open the session by lighting the lamp.
INAUGURAL
Welcome Address: Director General of Police, Assam
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Director General of Police, Assam |
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In our multi-ethnic society police need to go beyond their normal mandate of policing;
He rightly stated that police should not only be impartial but they have to be seen to be impartial by public while discharging their duties.In his key note address Dr. Lalit Kumar, Secretary, National Foundation for Communal Harmony, New Delhi who played a stellar role in organizing this seminar and making it really meaningful for us all stated that-
Despite all problems Assam is making progress and it is due to the constructive role played by both Police & Civil society in Assam.Police can and must create grounds for communal harmony.Civil society should no longer remain silent spectators.He summed up by comparing Assam to USA in terms of the challenges it has been going through for decades and exhorted the people of Assam for having stood up to the challenges.
Guest of Honour, Sri Jishnu Baruah, IAS, Commissioner and Secretary, Home & Personnel etc, Govt. of Assam in his address said that in our multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society the need of the hour is that we have genuine respect for our fellowmen and not just superficial understanding.
Shri R.S. Mooshahary, His Excellency, the Governor of Meghalaya who graced this seminar with his vast and valuable experience and very pragmatic thoughts on the subject of ‘Ensuring Harmony: The Role of Police and Civil Society’ remarked -
That over last few decades Assam has seen much death and destruction. Hence, there is a grater need to identify the agents and factors that foment communal disharmony.
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Some of the factors he highlighted are :
- Misconception of religion,
- Intolerance,
- Living in the past,
- Racism,
- Caste and Ethnicity: on this remarked that even today we cast vote on caste lines
- Regional differences: In this connection Hon’ble Governor in a lighter vein narrated his experience of being taken for a Japanese / Chinese etc. by a fellow Indian from outside north-east India.
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Hon’ble Governor also advocated certain measures for communal harmony. Among them most important are:
- Intermarriage,
- Good governance,
- Tourism,
- Democracy,
- Sports,
- Good Bollywood pictures,
- Technology etc
All these, in his opinion, can actually help in bringing about national integration in the state of Assam in particular and the country in general.
* He also stressed upon the point that Police role is much limited as compared to that of civil society in this regard;
* Police deals with criminals and not with the causes of crime – That is where civil society should step in.
Shri Natwarbhai Thakkar of Nagaland Gandhi Foundation in his opening remarks from the chair of the 1st session, spoke on two factors namely;
- Global warming and 2) Religious fundamentalism.
He suggested change of attitude and change of heart of both police & civil society in ensuring communal harmony.
Sri Satyajit Mohanty, IPS, Director and IGP (Training), Orissa stressed upon surgical and curative steps to be taken by police and the need for interaction with the public.
His presentation of Orissa experience regarding sensitization of civil society and police-public relationship was an enlightening one because nothing teaches better than one’s own experience.
Sri S.S. Minakshi Sundaram, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Udalguri district, Assam dealt with the subject of ensuring harmony in detail and the way entire communal flare up in the district was brought under control.
His brilliant presentation emphasized on-
- Team spirit,
- Creating of data base,
- VDP participations,
- Identifying the bone of contention,
Harnessing the support of civil society etc.
The post - lunch session started with an interaction session with seven families who have facing life bravely with the help of the assistance from National Foundation for Communal Harmony initiated and followed up through Project Aashwas of Assam Police. This session, conducted by Shri Samudra Gupta Kashyap, brought to the fore the zest of life and hope of the children and the mothers rendered unfortunate by violent events.
Sri T.G.Baruah, Chairman, The Assam Tribune Group, Sri. M.K. Sahu, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Karbi-Anglong district, Sri Samudra Gupta Kashyap of The Indian Express and Sri Prasanta Rajguru, Executive Editor of Assamese daily ‘Amor Asom’ dealt at length on the topics of the Karbi Anglong experience and Civil Society Perspective and it was well participated so far as the discussion was concerned.
There were several informed observations made by many members of the audience and several questions were put and answers discussed.
Finally, the entire seminar was concluded by the rapporteur for the seminar, Shri Luish Aind, APS, AIGP (R), Assam thanking all
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