Assam: Statue of noted educationist Tabu Ram Taid unveiled

LAKHIMPUR: Education Minister Dr. Ranoj Pegu unveiled the statue of Tabu Ram Taid, a colossal personality of the State hailing from Mising community, who was an internationally acclaimed educationist, linguist, eminent author, an efficient administrator and former chairman of the SEBA. The statue was constructed at the Miri Jiyori College premises located at Ghunasuti in Lakhimpur district. Notably, Tabu Ram Taid was born on August 1 in 1942 at Ayengiya village under Gunasuti area, an economically challenged and geographically remote village in the valley of River Subansiri. He breathed his last on August 17 in 2019 in Guwahati. He was well-known for his book titled as “An Introduction to Mising Phonology and Grammar” along with an anglo-assamese grammar book. He had been active in preserving his native tribal language, Mising. In 1972, he founded the Mising Agom Kebang (Linguistic Society of the Mising), serving until 1980 as its president. The organization helped reintroduce the language into primary schools. He had published a number of papers about the Mising language as well as an orthography and dictionary of the language, and he edited collections of Mising folk songs. He contributed three research papers on the Mising language published in the journal, ‘Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area’, University of California, Berkeley, USA. 1987 and 1995. He also authored a series of lessons in English for school students which had been broadcast over radio multiple times since the mid-1970s. Moreover, he authored a number of English textbooks for elementary students and several key volumes about Mising, Mising Bhaxar Banan Poddhoti (an orthography) and Mising Gompir Kumsung (a 900-page dictionary). He wrote widely in periodicals in Assamese, English and his native tribal language. There are two volumes of his collected articles named ‘Ekunki Nibondha’ and ‘Glimpses’ ‘Banikanta Kakati, the Man and his Works’ was compiled and edited by him along with Professor Ranjit Kumar Dev Goswami in 1987 and published by the Publication Board, Assam. He authored ‘A Dictionary of the Mising Language’ which was the very first dictionary of the Mising language (published in 1995 by an association of Mising language teachers). His ‘Mising Folk Tales’ was published by the Sahitya Akademi in 2013.

Dr. Ranoj Pegu inaugurated the statue of the noted figure by cutting the “peer” by following the Mising community tradition in a festive atmosphere in the presence of Tabu Ram Taid’s wife Basanti Taid, Lakhimpur MP Pradan Baruah, Mising Autonomous Council Chief Paramananda Chayengiya, Speaker Sunil Pegu, Mising Agom Kebang (MAK) president Harinarayan Pegu, general secretary Someswar Koptak, former president Govinda Taid, dignitaries of Mising frontal organizations and a number of prominent figures.

The public meeting organized on the occasion was chaired by MAK president Harinarayan Pegu, wherein Dr. Ranoj Pegu, MP Pradan Baruah, Paramananda Chayengiya, Sunil Pegu, Govinda Taid delivered lecture on life and works of Tabu Ram Taid. “The statue will be inspiring the upcoming generations to go ahead following the noble ideology of Professor Tabu Ram Taid”, Dr. Ranoj Pegu stated. He further declared that a package of Rs. 1 crore would be given to Miri Jiyori College for infrastructure development. He assured that the college would be provincialized in the upcoming days along with other 26 colleges of the State. He added that a fund would be given to Ghunasuti HS School too for infrastructure development.

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