GUWAHATI, Jan 19 ? The 2,000-MW Subansiri Lower Hydel Power Project has been given the ?Techno-Economic Clearance? by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The 256th meeting of the CEA held on January 13 gave its recommendations on technical and economic viability for construction of the Subansiri Lower project at a total cost of Rs 6418.37 crore and US $ 39.648 million (December 2002 price level). The members of the committee which studied the techno-economic aspects of the project included, apart from the CEA, Department of Power, Government of Assam, PWD and Power Department, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. and Geological Survey of India, New Delhi. National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC) which is implementing the project, will start generating power within a period of six years and will produce power to its full capacity within seven years? time. NHPC is targeting to harness 20,000 MW of power in the north-eastern region within 2017. Some other projects in the pipeline are the 1600 MW Subansiri Middle, 2000 MW Subansiri Upper, 1700 MW Siang Lower, 1000 MW Siang Middle and the 11,000 MW Siang Upper projects.
Dr Nityananda Gogoi, noted scholar and historian, who decoded the four ancient documents belonging to the first quarter of the 19th century, told The Assam Tribune that the fact of auctioning women unraveled by the four Sanchi documents may also throw new light on the socio-economic conditions of Assam during that period.
According to Dr Gogoi, the documents also rectify the established historical fact that though the Swargadeo was the supreme ruler in the Ahom kingdom, various matters of local importance in the rural areas were transacted by the people through the panchayati system. Such panchayats were regularly instituted at the Biswanath Chora also.
The four Sanchi documents, belonging to the regions of Ahom Swargadeos Kamaleswar Sinha and Purandar Sina, reveal that even parents sold their daughters publicly at the Biswanath Chora. The first document (1802 AD) states that in the panchayat held at the Biswanath chora, Saru Kalita, Phedela and Manjur sold Dabahi and Merali, wife and daughter of Puhai, to Harihar Pujari for Rs 16 and Rs 10 respectively. According to the second document (1818 AD), the same Harihar Pujari bought Sarhari?s daughter Japari from Komal at Rs 6. On the other hand, the third document of just before the Yandabo Treaty records the sale of one Jila by her father Bhulai to Harihar Jalbhari at Rs 8. Likewise, the fourth document says that Chengkali Butari sold her daughter Chenehi to Mahai Borthakur for Rs 10. Interestingly, people present at the panchayats where sale and purchase of women took place were considered as witnesses. It was mandatory for the sellers to put their thumb impressions on the documents. Besides, the documents also recorded the names of writers such as Kakati Raghab Chakraborty, Madhuram Kataki, etc. Mention has also been found of offering betel-nuts, betel-leaves and gamocha to the panchayat as a token of respect.
It is worth mentioning that records of women auction in 19th century England have been found in histories and literary works. Thomas Hardy?s Mayor of Casterbridge offers such an episode where a Wessex farmer and the future Mayor, Michael Henchard, sold his wife to a sailor. But the fact about women sale in Assam has been quite new. The economic downfall in Assam towards the last phase of the Ahom rule due to weak rulers, the conflict among the noblemen for contending power and the Burmese Aggression coupled with the demand for cheap woman labour, might have prompted the public sale and purchase of women in Biswanath, experts commented. They, however, observed that the fact has provided ample scope for research towards the study of the State?s history in a new light.