GUWAHATI: Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate from Bangladesh, will lead the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) government in creating a developed, transformed, and self-sustaining economy in the tribally populated territory that was long plagued by insurgency.
Yunus will participate in brainstorming sessions at the first Bodoland International Knowledge Festival, which will be held in Kokrajhar from February 27 to March 2, and be organised by Bodoland University in partnership with the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) administration. Delegates from US and other foreign embassies, intellectuals, and educators will also attend the event.
The festival's theme is the accomplishment of important SDGs for sustainable development (SDGs) in modern BTR and around the globe.
Yunus will be among the luminaries present for the huge event's opening, BTC Chief Executive Member Pramod Boro told the media on Thursday.
"Kokrajhar and the BTR have received unfavourable press over the years. We had a reputation for being rebellious and archaic. But things have evolved with time, and we've advanced. We now want Kokrajhar and the BTR to be known as places where educated and literate people go, not places where insurgencies happen," said Boro.
He stated, "Through this Knowledge Festival, we hope to foster a culture of dialogue and participatory priority-setting for solving issues of current human society that would foster a scientific temperament to solve social and economic issues of the society in a post-conflict scenario."
The festival would capture the information exchange, knowledge-action-reflection, and ongoing learning of many communities of practise in BTR.
The event would be attended by around 300 invited delegates from all over India and 35 foreign delegates from 14 other nations. The event will be graced by Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimari, RK Ranjan Singh, the Union Minister of State for Education & External Affairs along with Vice Chancellors of five Universities.
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