Balinarayan Phukan receives ‘Pioneers of Higher Education Award, 2022’

LAKHIMPUR: Balinarayan Phukan, a noted educationist and retired Principal of Dera Natung Government College, Itanagar, who hails from Lakhimpur district, has been honoured by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh by conferring the ‘Pioneers of Higher Education Award, 2022’ on him. The Pioneers of Higher Education Award is the most prestigious and highest award in higher education of the neighbouring State.

Phukan received the award from Lt. General KT Parnaik (Retd.), the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, at the inaugural function of the 21st conference of Higher & Technical Education held in Itanagar. The event was conducted in the Golden Jubilee Banquet Hall, located in the capital city of the state of Arunachal Pradesh with a two-day long programme.

While conferring the award, the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh congratulated and highly appreciated Phukan for the contributions he rendered to enhance the academic field of the State.

Balinarayan Phukan was born at Choukham Goan under Bordoloni Mouza of North Lakhimpur on March 16, 1940. He passed the matriculation exam from North Lakhimpur Govt. HS School, IA and BA from North Lakhimpur College, MA in Political Science from Gauhati University (1966) securing First Division, Distinction, First Class respectively. After passing the MA exam, he got appointed from three colleges- North Lakhimpur College, Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati and Jawaharlal Nehru Government College, Pasighat. With the intention of spreading higher education among the youths of educationally backward Arunachal Pradesh, Phukan joined Jawaharlal Nehru Govt. College, Pasighat as Lecturer on July 31, 1967. He served there for 13 years and in 1981 he was transferred to Dera Natung Government College, Itanagar, where he served as senior lecturer, then Selection Grade Lecturer till 1995. He was then promoted to the post of Principal of the same college and served in that capacity till his retirement on September 1, 2001. In 2015, Phukan, as Honorary Founder Professor and Head of the Department of Yogic Science and Naturopathy, joined the Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva Vishwavidhyalaya, where he started the department with a Post-Graduate Diploma Course. He raised the department to a full-fledged one within a span of 5 years with MA/MSc, MPhil and PhD Courses. He retired from the university at the age of 81 in 2021. Currently, Phukan is associated with the Kumar Bhaskar Verma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University, Nalbari, helping the university in sorting the Department of Yogic Science. He is the writer of a book on Yogic Science named ‘Yog Vijnan Parichay’, which is now the basic textbook for Yoga Courses in different colleges and universities of Assam. He was also associated with the academics and administration of the Arunachal University (later known as Rajiv Gandhi Central University) since its inception as a member of the Academic Council, Finance Committee and Executive Council.

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