Karbi literary body’s 4-day general conference underway

DIPHU — The 32nd annual general conference of literary body- Karbi Lammet Amei (KLA) has began following the inauguration of the entrance gate by executive member of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) and president of Reception Committee, Surjya Rongphar.

The KLA four-day conference, which is being held at Rongthelu Aklam in Rongthelu, about 20 km away from Diphu, will conclude on February 25.

Delegates from 95 Aro Amei (branch committees), 10 Longri Amei (regional committees) and central committee members are taking part in the conference. Delegates and visitors from other districts of Assam and neighbouring states of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh are also attending the event.

As many as 26 books including translations by different writers and published by KLA were released on the second day of the conference. 

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly, Dr. Numal Momin said the KLA and the Karbi tribe will work continuously to enrich the Karbi language and literature.

‘Karbi Lammet Amei has requested me to approach the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma for granting special leave for employees serving in various parts of Assam. CM has approved leave for the entire four days of the conference from so February 22 to the 25th,’ he said, while thanking the chief minister for it.

To strengthen the Karbi language Dr. Momin said that the Karbi Language Teachers (KLT) engaged in different government schools should regularly go to school and teach students. Every people of Karbi Anglong should speak and learn the Karbi language, he added.

The Deputy Speaker also said, “Yes I am very happy to become a lifetime member of KLA. I applied and within a few days the KLA will give me the lifetime membership card.”

The director of the Centre for Karbi Studies, Dr. Dharamsing Teron, emphasised standardisation for writing Karbi language.

“We see everyone is writing using their own spellings. For a particular word, everyone is writing with different form or spelling. There is no uniformity. The KLA should be firm or specific in the use of spellings. If they don’t say about the correct spelling then everyone will write differently. The KLA should introduce standardization for writing Karbi language to avoid mistakes,” he said while urging the youths to take up the task of preserving folklore, legends, and myths by documenting them before they disappear from the face of the earth.

He suggested the KLA include the Karbi Ph. D holders and lecturers working in different colleges and universities in the development of Karbi literature as they are the persons involved in the academy spheres.

General Secretary, KLA, Joysing Tokbi, said 26 books were released today.  Book written by Lunse Timung; books for children, translation of Padmashree Rongbong Terang’s book “Jak herua pakhi’ into Karbi; Nirudh Chuadhury’s book ‘Samili Mansab’ translated by Khogen Engti; and book of Jonasing Phangcho ‘Ne lun, ne lamjir’; and many more. 

Tokbi also informed that for the first time, the KLA has published five books this year written by different writers of Domra Karbis of Kamrup Longri and Dima Hasao district.

The book-releasing programme was attended by EM, KAAC Surjya Rongphar and Mukut Mahant; principal in-charge, Diphu Govt. College, Bernard Rongphar; and writer Pabitra Bora. The programme was chaired by the vice president, KLA, Karon Hansepi.

Poet’s meeting was held in the evening with several poets presenting their poems.