"Light Up North East" – A one-day National Conclave at Guwahati

Guwahati, June 5, 2015:

“LIGHT UP NORTH EAST”
NATIONAL CONCLAVE FOR PROMOTION & MEDIA FOCUS OF NORTHEAST
AN INITIATIVE OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT 3240.

Rotary International District 3240 is organizing “Light Up North East” – an one-day National Conclave for promotion and media focus of the Northeastern Region in Guwahati on June 6, 2015, Saturday.

Designed as an exclusive programme to promote the Northeastern states to the rest of the country through the Media in a positive manner, the one-day event “Light Up North East” will bring together a galaxy of eminent media personalities from across the country as well as the Northeastern region. The event will be held in Hotel Radisson Blu, Guwahati from 10 AM onwards.

The main objectives of this one-day initiative called “Light Up North East” include drawing a strategy to overcome the various prevailing negative aspects – several of them perceived – growing out of the poor knowledge and interest people outside the region have about the Northeastern Region and its people.

The initiative also intends to examine the inadequate media focus and the little space that the Region gets in the media, which in turn tends to generate certain negative perceptions. Moreover, it is also a fact that people across the country are somehow not yet convinced that the problems of the Region are due to disturbances caused by some social imbalances, and that many of these have now been largely overcome and situation is much better today.

The list of eminent journalists and media personalities who have confirmed their participation in this one-day conclave “Light up North East” include Mr Debjyoti Chakraborty (National Affairs Editor, Hindustan Times), Mr Amit Barua (Resident Editor, The Hindu), Ms Sheela Bhatt (National Affairs Editor, Rediff.com), Ms Usha Rai (veteran development journalist, formerly with The Indian Express and The Times of India), Ms pamela Philipose (veteran development journalist and former Editor, Women’s Feature Service), Ms Sevanti Ninan (Editor, The Hoot), Mr R Rajagopalan (National Editor, Vartha Group), Mr Kaushik Mitter (Managing Editor, The Asian Age), Mr Vijay Naik (Consulting Editor, Sakal Group), Mr Nitin A Gokhale (formerly Defence & Strategic Affairs Editor, NDTV) and Debdut Ghosh Thakur (Ananda Bazar Patrika).

Eminent editors and journalists from across the Northeastern region who are taking part in the deliberations of “Light up North East” on the other hand include Ms Patricia Mukhim (Editor, The Shillong Times), Mr Pradip Phanjoubam (Editor, Imphal Free Press), Mr PJ Barua (Executive Editor, The Assam Tribune), Ms Monalisa Changkija (Editor, Nagaland Page), Ms Tongam Rina (Associate Editor, Arunachal Times), Mr Sanjib Deb (Dainik Sambad, Agartala), Mr Zarir Hussain (Editor-in-Chief, NewsLive), Mr Nitumoni Saikia (Editor-in-Chief, Pratidin Times), Mr Manas Chaudhuri (former Editor, The Shillong Times) and Samudra Gupta Kashyap (The Indian Express), among others.

The inaugural session of the one-day conclave “Light up North East” will be attended by a galaxy of dignitaries including Mr PB Acharya, hon’ble of Nagaland and Assam, Mr Pranab Gogoi, hon’ble Speaker, Assam Legislative Assembly, Mr Sarbananda Sonowal, union minister of state for sports and youth affairs, Mr Jitendra Singh, union minister for DoNER, Mr C T Liu, Past District Governor, Rotary International District 3500, Taiwan (who will represent the Rotary International President), Lok Sabha members Smt Bijoya Chakravarty, Mr Ramen Deka and Mr RP Sharma, and Swapan Choudhury, District Governor, Rotary International District 3240, among others.

The “Light up North East” programme also includes special felicitation to three achievers from the Northeast, they being film-maker Mr Jahnu Barua, social worker Ms Temsutula Imsong, and journalist Ms Tongam Rina. Mr Jahnu Barua will also make a brief presentation of a case for a Separate Time Zone for the Northeastern region.

Besides the above, representatives of 34 Rotary districts of the country, who represent over one lakh Rotarians, will also attend “Light up North East”. Editors of newspapers and media houses, eminent scholars, educationists, opinion leaders, and student representatives are also among those who have been invited to attend the one-day event.

(Rotarian Budhin Borthakur)
President, Organizing Committee
Light Up Northeast.