Funds to naamghars

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday announced that Sarbananda Sonowal's BJP-led government will provide Rs. 2.5 lakh each to 8,000 naamghars across the state in the next couple of months. According to Sarma, the financial assistance will be provided under the 'Asam Darshan' scheme by October this year. What is interesting is that the responsibility of selecting and making lists of the eligible naamghars has been vested on deputy commissioners of the districts and not on political leaders like MLAs and MPs. This is despite the fact that the government will provide financial assistance to 55 naamghars per Assembly constituency. What is also noteworthy is that naamghars located in the SC/ST belts will be given priority in the selection process, with minister Sarma saying that the inhabitants of those areas have dearth of funds to develop their naamghars on their own. Moreover, priority will also be given to those naamghars which are widely and frequently visited by pilgrims. Naamghars, it may be recalled, were conceived by none other than the 16th-century saint-reformer Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradeva, and this humble institution has in the past 500 years stood solidly as a symbol of the collective identity and culture of the people of Assam. Unlike the prayer-halls in other faiths, Sankaradeva had devised the naamghar not just as a religious institution. Instead, the great saint had built it to serve a number of socio-religious and cultural purposes. Accordingly, the naamghar is a village community's prayer hall, community centre, meeting place, theatre hall, women's centre, village court and youth club – all rolled into one. The identity of the Assamese society is inseparably intertwined with and symbolised by the naamghar, and it deserves to be protected and promoted.