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Journalism of Courage
Veteran journalist and former editor of The Indian Express, B G Verghese, and noted Assamese scholar and an exponent of Vaishnavite art, Keshavananda Deva Goswami, were awarded the prestigious Srimanta Sankaradeva Award by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi here on Friday.
Verghese, who headed the team that authored Vision 2020, a document for Assam and the Northeast, in his acceptance speech called for creation of non-territorial electoral constituencies in order to tackle the problem of illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
“Assam, and for that matter the entire northeastern region, must go for a 13 per cent growth rate in order to catch up with the country’s 9 per cent growth rate in the next two Plan periods. The region must also go for flood moderation on a top priority, apart from accelerating the process of creating more skilled human resources,” said Verghese, while receiving the award for the year 2005.
Keshavananda Deva Goswami, who was given the award for 2006, urged the Government to take up projects to popularise the ideals of Srimanta Sankaradeva, the 16th century saint-reformer of Assam.
