From Trishna Pegu
Guwahati : Assam Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi said that the institutions of higher education should develop innovative ways to combat the novel corona virus and its various mutations which have dealt severe blow to health and wealth of human being. Addressing the second convocation of Bodoland University in Kokrajhar today, Governor Prof. Mukhi appealed to the teaching and student fraternity of the university to work out an interface between the regional and global ideas to develop an innovative approach against the pandemic which took the world to a halt.
Addressing the students, he said, “You just cannot localize everything if you want to deactivate the virus that has taken a large toll of human life. Your job as such is to receive the global knowledge and make use of it for the benefit of the region. Unless you do that, you will not be in a position to develop yourself and the region.” He, therefore, asked the teaching fraternity of Bodoland University to work assiduously to promote the university and motivate foreign students to the university in near future. He also asked them to look for ways and means to forge more academic collaboration from the best foreign universities. He also asked them to have a holistic vision, not a fragmented one, to develop the state. Talking on the lesson of the COVID 19 pandemic which is on the wane now, Governor Prof. Mukhi said that since life is a gradual progression towards maturity and perfection, he called upon the students to strive for it in a yogic process as prescribed by Sri Aurobindo and other ancient sages of India. He also said that eeducational institutions are the best places for the practice of such yoga.
The Governor said that Bodoland University is the prime focus of entire lower Assam in the academic field. Because of its strategic location, this university can be accessed to students, both national and international. He, therefore, requested the stake-holders to assess the development of the university and prepare a blue-print for its further development. He however said that while preparing the future roadmap, care should be taken to create adequate space for the university to take care of old people, women, children, diffrerently-abled, transgender and backward classes of society. He also asked Bodoland University fraternity to use the university as a launch pad for individual development which will lead to societal development. Prof. Mukhi also said that the students of Bodoland University should take the lead in drafting an action plan for societal development in sync with the green nature.
Moreover, the university students should also empower the society at large to fight against the menace like witch hunting in BTR areas and elsewhere. He also said that though Assam achieved a tremendous success in vaccination against Corona virus, still there are small reluctant pockets which need to be vaccinated. He, therefore, urged upon the university students to devise a mechanism to generate awareness to bring all sections of the people under vaccination programme to enable the society in general to build herd immunity against the virus. Reminding their social responsibility, the Governor asked the passing out students to stretch their helping hands to the less privileged students to bring about social and academic parity in the society. Vice Chancellor Visva Bharati, Prof. Bidyut Chakrabarty, Vice Chancellor of Bodoland University Prof. Laishram Ladu Singh, Chief Executive Member of Bodoland Territorial Council Pramod Boro, faculty members, students and a host of dignitaries were present on the occasion. Later the Governor also unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in MG Park at Kokrajhar Town in the presence of the First lady of Assam Prem Mukhi, CEM, BTC Pramod Boro and a host of dignitaries.
