Assam
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On February 27, 2006 the cabinet of ministers in Assam adopted a controversial proposal to change the name of the state to Asom which is yet to be implemented.[link].
While the Shan invaders called themselves Tai, they came to be referred to as Āsām, Āsam and sometimes as Acam by the indigenous people of the country. The modern Assamese word Āhom by which the Tai people are known is derived from Āsām or Āsam. The epithet applied to the Shan conquerors was subsequently transferred to the country over which they ruled and thus the name Kāmarūpa was replaced by Āsām, which ultimately took the Sanskritized form Asama, meaning "unequalled, peerless or uneven" [Banikanta Kakati: Assamese: Its Formation and Development, p2]
kiraTa kachhaari khaachi gaaro miri yavana ka~Nka govaala | asama maluka dhobaa ye turuka kubaacha mlechchha chaNDaala ||
Assam is very rich in vegetation, forests and wildlife. Lumber was once a lucrative business, until it was declared illegal by the Supreme Court of India. The region also has a number of reserved forests, and one of them, Kaziranga, is the home of the rare Indian Rhinoceros. The state produces a lot of Bamboo, although the bamboo industry is still nascent. The wildlife, forests and flora, rivers and waterways, have great natural beauty, providing growth in tourism.
High rainfall, deforestation, and other factors have resulted in annual floods that cause widespread loss of life, livelihood and property. An earthquake prone region, Assam has experienced two large earthquakes: 1897 (8.1 on the Richter scale) and 1950 (8.6).
Assam is divided into 23 districts: Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Cachar, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Marigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, North Cachar Hills, Sibsagar, Sonitpur, and Tinsukia.
The number of ethnic communities in the state is very large. The People of India project (POI) has studied 115 communities. Of these 79 (69%) identify themselves regionally, 22 (19%) identify themselves locally, and 3 communities identify themselves transnationally.
The benefit of development in Assam is relatively evenly spread. It has a larger representation of leadership in panchayat and regional levels and a relative gender equality.
The earliest ruler according to legend was a mlechchha (non-Aryan) ruler named Mahiranga (sanskritized form of the Tibeto-Burman name Mairang). He was followed by others in his line: Hatakasura, Sambarasura, Ratnasura and Ghatakasura. Naraka removed this line of rulers and established his own dynasty. Historians consider Naraka's victory over the mlechchha rulers to mark the beginning of sanskritization in this region. The Naraka king mentioned at various places in Kalika Purana, Mahabharata and Ramayana covering a wide period of time were probably different rulers from the same dynasty. Kalika Purana, a sanskrit text compiled in Assam in the 9th and 10th century, mentions that the last of the Naraka rulers, Narakasura, was slain by Krishna. His son Bhagadatta, mentioned in the Mahabharata, fought for the Kauravas in the battle of Kurushetra with an army of kiratas, chinas and dwellers of the eastern coast. Later rulers of Kamarupa frequently drew their lineage from the Naraka rulers.
Two later kingdoms left the biggest impact in the region. The Ahoms, a Tai group, ruled eastern Assam for nearly 600 years (1228-1826). The Koch, a Tibeto-Burmese/Dravidian group, established their sovereignty in 1510 which later extended to western Assam and northern Bengal. The Koch kingdom later split into two. The western kingdom became a vassal of the Moghuls whereas the eastern kingdom became an Ahom satellite state.
In spite of numerous invasions from the west, mostly by Muslim rulers, no western power could establish its rule in Assam until the advent of the British. The most successful invader was Mir Jumla, a governor of Aurangzeb, who briefly occupied Gargaon the then capital of the Ahoms (1662-1663). He found it difficult to control the people, who carried on guerrilla attacks on his forces and forced his army to leave the region. The last attempt by the Moghuls under the command of Raja Ram Singh resulted in the victory for the Ahoms at Saraighat (1671) under the Ahom general Lachit Borphukan.
Under British Administration, Assam was made a part of the British India province called the Bengal Presidency. Sometime about 1905-1912, Assam was separated and erected as a separate province of Assam.
At the time of independence of India, it consisted of the original Ahom kingdom, the present-day Arunachal Pradesh (North East Frontier Agency), Naga Hills, original Kachari kingdom, Lushai Hills, and Garo, Khasi and Jaintia Hills. Of the Assam province on the eve of Independence, Sylhet choose to join Pakistan in a referendum; and the two princely states Manipur and Tripura became Group C provinces. The capital was Shillong.
In 1961, the Government of Assam passed a legislature making the usage of Assamese language compulsory. The legislature resulted in widespread protest across Assam, particularly by the significant non-Assamese speaking minority. In one such incident, 11 Bengalis were killed due to police firing in Silchar in southern Assam on May 19th. Coming under intense pressure, the Government withdrew the legislation.
In the 1980s the Brahmaputra valley saw a six-year Assam Agitation that began non-violently but became increasingly violent. The movement was triggered by the discovery of a sudden rise in electorates in electoral rolls. The movement tried to force the government to identify and deport foreigners who, the natives maintained, are illegally inundating the land from neighboring Bangladesh and changing the demographics. Critics called it a xenophobic reaction of a racist people. The agitation ended after an accord between the leaders of the agitation and the Union Government. Most of the accord remains unimplemented today, a cause for a simmering discontent.
This was followed by demands for greater autonomy especially by the Bodos in the later 1980s and 1990s. The period also saw the growth of armed secessionist groups like United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). The union government responded by deploying the Indian army to control the situation in November 1990, leading to claims of human rights violations. The Indian army deployment has now been institutionalized under a Unified Command. Worsening inter-ethnic relationships also marked this period.
The 2000s saw inter-ethnic killings, especially in the Karbi and Cachar hills (e.g the Hmar-Dimasa conflict).
The word gamosa is derived from the Kamrupi word gaamasa (gaama+chadar), the cloth used to cover the Bhagavad Purana at the altar. The equivalent word in Oriya is spelled as gaamu + cha = gamucha.
Significantly the gamosa is used equally by all irrespective of religious and ethnic backgrounds.
Bihu is the national festival of Assam. Primarily a festival celebrated to mark the seasons and the significant points of a cultivator's life over a yearly cycle, in recent times the form and nature of celebration has changed with the growth of urban centers. A non-religious festival, all communities---religious or ethnic---take part in it. Three Bihus are celebrated: rongali, celebrates the coming of spring and the beginning of the sowing season; kongali, the barren bihu when the fields are lush but the barns are empty; and the bhogali, the thanksgiving when the crops have been harvested and the barns are full.Rongali ,kongali & bhogali bihu are also known as 'bohag bihu','kati bihu'& 'magh bihu'respectivly.The day before the each bihu is known as 'uruka'.There are unique features of each bihu.The first day of 'rongali bihu' is called 'Goru bihu'(the bihu of the cows).On this day the cows are taken to the nearby rivers or ponds to be bathed.Cows takes a special position among the people of Assam who are mostly peasants.
| Year | Gross State Domestic Product |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 25,160 |
| 1985 | 56,730 |
| 1990 | 106,210 |
| 1995 | 194,110 |
| 2000 | 314,760 |
Assam's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $13 billion in current prices.
The tea industry developed by the British planters brought in labour from as far as Bihar and Orissa and their descendents form a significant demographic group in the state.
Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals is the only S&P CNX 500 conglomerate with corporate office in Assam. Its gross income for 2005 was Rs.56,740 million.
Militant groups began forming along ethnic lines after Independence, and demands for sovereignty grew, resulting in the new states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram in the 1970s. ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom), and NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) are two major militant groups that came into existence in the 1980s, leading to a strong military crackdown. The low-intensity military conflict has been continuing for more than a decade now without an end to the insurgency at sight. High rural unemployment adds to this insurgency.
At the turn of the last century (1900s), people from present-day Bangladesh migrated to Assam, encouraged by British to increase agricultural production and thus revenue. The migration still continues today under political patronage of the Congress party. The British tea planters imported labour from central India to work in the estates adding to the demographic canvas.
Like indigenous peoples in other parts of the world, the many ethnic groups of this region struggle to maintain their cultural heritage. There are active autonomy movements in the Bodo and Karbi dominated regions. In recent times, ethnicity based militant groups have mushroomed (NDFB, BLT, UPDS, DHD, KLO, HPCD etc.) leading to violent inter-ethnic conflicts (e.g. the Hmar-Dimasa conflict).
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