Dear Reader,
While all eyes are on the farmer protests at the Delhi borders, a dharna of terminated school teachers in Tripura’s Agartala was met with lathi charge and tear-gas shells, injuring nearly 40 of them, on January 27. The teachers had been protesting for more than 50 days, demanding permanent jobs. The context? In 2014, the Tripura High Court scrapped the appointments of nearly 10,000 teachers due to irregularities in the recruitment process. In 2017, the order was upheld by the Supreme Court. While many of these teachers got placed in alternative jobs through interviews, over 8,000 were later re-inducted on an ad-hoc basis till March 31, 2020. However, they were rendered jobless thereafter. Allegedly, grave financial crisis post job loss led a 32-year-old school teacher to die by suicide earlier this month. As the law-and-order situation worsened last week, Section 144 was imposed in the area. Here is what went down. While it is quiet now, the protesting organisations representing the teachers said they will announce their next move soon. From #ExpressExplained While we are still on the subject of protests, we thought it would be a good time to throwback all the way to January 28, 1894, when more than 140 farmers fell to British bullets, while protesting increase in taxes by the colonial administration. This happened in a small village in Assam’s Darrang district — Patharughat. Guwahati-based author, Arup Kumar Dutta, who has authored a book on the subject, describes it as “one of the most tragic and inspiring episodes in the saga of the Indian freedom movement.” Yet, hardly anyone knows about it. But don’t worry, we have you covered here. Election Watch Last week, with both PM Modi and HM Shah’s visit to poll-bound Assam, the BJP ramped up campaigning in multiple events. While the PM, delivering his address at Jerenga Pothar in Sivasagar, said that the BJP was committed to protecting the land, language and culture of the indigenous people, he steered clear of any mention of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, a sensitive issue in the state. In his speeches in Kokrajhar and Nalbari, Shah denounced the newly formed Congress-AIUDF alliance, saying it would only open the gates to “infiltrators” in order to secure a vote bank. On the ground, while the BJP launched an initiative by sending out vans to collect people’s opinions to prepare the manifesto, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, with a few Congress leaders, took an auto-rickshaw ride across Guwahati for the same purpose. Meet the Padma Shris 14 people from the Northeastern states — as well as Padma Bhusan for late Assam CM Tarun Gogoi — were conferred the Padma Shri in various fields of art, education, social work etc. Among them is Manipur's Hanjabam Radhe Devi, who at 88 is the state's most well-known the Potloi Setpi, or traditional Manipuri bridalwear design and Tripura's Satyaram Reang, who has devoted his life to promoting the traditional Hojagiri dance of the state. And this Sunday, don't miss our profile on Birubala Rabha, the 72-year-old anti-witch-hunting crusader from Assam. Finally, Meet Imcha Imchen, the young Naga pop sensation whose song, “Spare My Heart” made it to Apple India’s Top 100 songs of 2020. While you may think he sings about the strife and violence — so typical in our neck of the woods — you’re wrong. Imchen says he rather sing about love, romance and healing. In his words: “The northeast is always associated with turbulence, violence and strife, so sometimes it’s good to tell the other side of the story.” We couldn't agree more. Until next week, Tora Agarwala | 
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