Ratan Tata, Lovlina Borgohain receive civilian award
Nineteen personalities from various fields were conferred Assam’s highest civilian awards – Assam Baibhav, Assam Saurav and Assam Gaurav – for their outstanding contributions to the society. The Assam Baibhav Award was bestowed upon industrialist Ratan Tata. Assam Saurav Award was given to educationist Prof Kamalendu Deb Krori, IAS officer Dr Lakshmanan S, Prof Dipak Chand Jain for business management, Lovlina Borgohain for sports and Neel Pawan Baruah in art and culture. Assam Baibhav, Assam Saurav and Assam Gaurav carry I5 lakh, I4 lakh and I3 lakh respectively.
City Lions Club feeds 2 lakh in a year of new initiative
The Lions Club of Gauhati’s unique project “Lions Ahaar - Meals on Wheels” completed 365 days on January 24. During the period, wholesome meals were distributed to 2.25 lakh people free of cost. The club said it was a wonderful journey with support from members, donors, other organisations, individuals and well wishers. “We’ve been able to serve 2,25,000 people over this period and it is a very satisfying achievement. We celebrated the first anniversary of the service by arranging lunch at the Dr B Barooah Cancer Institute on January 24,” the club said in a statement. The service had immensely benefitted Covid patients in home isolation as well as their family members. Lions is the world's largest service club organisation with 1.35 million members in over 206 countries.
IIT-developed drone at Republic Day event
The Republic Day event in Kamrup was marked by a drone show, the first of its kind in the Northeast. The drones, developed by the IIT-Guwahati start-up ‘Drones Tech Lab’, are providing solutions in several domains including disaster management, agriculture, survey and mapping. “Over the years, these drones have been notable for being instrumental in handling some major challenges in the Northeast and eastern parts of India. Majuli has the issue of incessant flooding, which not only leads to loss of lives and property but also erodes a significant part of the island.
Police launch 24x7 info, distress helpline
Guwahati Police has launched a 24x7 information & distress support line for the citizens of the city. People can share any credible information on illegal activities with the police and reach out to the cops for help if in distress. The police shared two helpline numbers. The Assam Police under the Himanta Biswa Sarma government has launched a war against drugs. Talking about the initiative, Police Commissioner Harmeet Singh said, “Our drug Infoline generated good leads. We wanted to expand the horizon and apply the learnings from there to provide easier access to the citizens, so that they are able to reach out to us in need through these numbers for support.”
Prasanta mazumdar
Our correspondent in Guwahati prasantamazumdar@newindianexpress.com