Floods wreak havoc in Assam every year, and this year has been no different. The State is facing one of the worst floods ever. With 28 districts submerged in the floods and more than 45 lakh residents affected, the Assam flood situation is grim, painfully displacing both humans and wildlife.
Manabendra Saharia, Assistant Professor – IIT Delhi, has called for declaring Assam Floods as National Calamity, which has already claimed more than 100 lives this year. The socio-economic impact of the Assam floods is a National Security issue apart from being a humanitarian one. He was speaking at a webinar by FLO, the Women’s wing of FICCI. The webinar witnessed the views of artists like Kalpana Patowary, Abhineet Mishra, Zublee Baruah, Abhineet Mishra and Joi Barua. Assamese Bollywood musician Joi Barua said, “People need to wake up and figure this out as floods have been the longest standing problem in Assam.”
The session was moderated by Rituparna Bhuyan Chief of Bureau, CNBC 18. FLO has tied up with Goonj, an NGO for the donations in cash and kind.
Jahnabi Phookan, National President FLO said, “The idea of EVERY VOICE MATTERS, National Campaign for Assam is to connect our great nation together to think as one, feel as one and work as one. Both Central & State Governments are stepping in to alleviate the suffering. Therefore, pre-emptive and proactive handling of the situation requires mobilisation of national political will”.
Manabendra added, “India loses approx. $10 billion a year to natural disasters and roughly 70% of it is because of floods. In the last 90 years, Assam has experienced at least 70 big floods, and this might be an underestimation as in reality we have experienced many medium-sized floods. He also called for a long-term solution to save Assamese people from this yearly tragedy.”
Vocalist Sunita Bhuyan played Vande Matram at the webinar. event She said, “Assam and North East are the part of the mainland and when we say Vande Matram, it represents each and every state of our country.” Kalpana Patowary, Indian playback and folk singer from Assam, “I am delighted that FLO has brought the issues of Assam on a national platform. The Northeast should be treated as a mainstream region and a solution for this problem has to be sought.”
Renowned singer and composer in the Assamese film industry, Zublee Baruah said, “Every Voice Matters is a great initiative that is enabling us to speak about people who have been affected by the Assam Floods on a national platform.”
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