New Delhi: A Muslim couple in Assam’s Jorhat district has been earning praise for helping build a ‘namghar’ (prayer hall) for their Hindu neighbours.

Hemidur Rahman and his family recently helped build the prayer hall in the village of Handique in the Titabor subdivision of Jorhat. Rahman, a businessman, said, “Places of worship of different religions have the same value.” His wife Persia Sultana also said, “We should live in Assam as one and as Assamese, we all should try to help each other in their own capacity.”

Residents of Handique village have lauded their efforts at building communal harmony, and the couple was invited to join others in offering the first prayers at this newly constructed namghar on 2 September. A local person said, “Rahman was repairing a road near the namghar. When he saw the condition of our namghar, he came forward to help us.”

This, however, isn’t the first time that Rahman and Sultana have helped build a place of worship. They have earlier offered financial aid to construct mosques, temples and namghars in and around the district. They have also supported the repair of many roads connecting these holy spots.

With no road, Arunachal men carry patient on makeshift stretcher for more than 150 km

It took around 36 people and five days of journeying through jungles and streams to ferry a patient to the nearest health facility in Arunachal Pradesh.

Sayedwe Yobin, from the state’s remote Vijaynagar circle of Changlang district, carried his ailing mother on a makeshift stretcher with the help of 35 others on foot to reach the nearest hospital in Miao, a town around 157 km away.

Videos of the incident have been widely circulated on social media.

Apathy of Vijoynogor Circle near Myanmar border in Changlang District(Arunachal Pradesh):Due to absence of proper road connectivity, the locals are still seen carrying sick persons in bamboo stretcher and trekked atleast 156 km for five days to reach their nearest town Miao. pic.twitter.com/Hhng8n5R7t

— Gandhi Darang (@DihbohDarang) September 6, 2020

Pple of Vajaynagar caryng da patient to rch da nrest hospital whch is MIAO(Changlang,AP) by walking157km whch tkes 6dys to rch the nearst twn Miao. @Devansh_IAS @PemaKhanduBJP @PMOIndia @TapirGao @sangnoamar @RanjuDodum @CSArunachal @mejetaku @ChownaMeinBJP @arunachal_today pic.twitter.com/B8s051Lls8

— Jason Khangthing (@Jsonkhangthing) September 5, 2020

“We started our journey on 31 August and reached Miao on 4 September. We made a makeshift stretcher and four of us carried my mother,” Yobin said.

He added, “We also had to take rest during our journey. We made makeshift huts and spent our nights in them. That’s where we used to cook our food for the entire day.”

Shot in Tripura, India’s first Hindi feature film on NRC to release soon

Siliguri-born director Saif Baidya has made what he says might well be India’s first Hindu feature film on the contentious issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the Northeast.

Titled Noise of Silence, the film is inspired by real-life events in Assam and has been shot entirely in Tripura.

“In 2017, I met a friend who recounted to me the ordeal of his family in Assam after NRC was released in 2015. While his father’s name was on the list, his mother and his name did not find any mention. His father is in Indian Army,” Baidya said.

The shooting of the film, which began in November last year, ended in February. It stars actors Puja Jha and Firdaus Hassan.

Baidya had earlier directed a short film called Chaar Pandrah and another feature film titled NCR: Chapter One.

Meghalaya man celebrates Teachers’ Day, birthday & retirement together

Meghalaya school teacher Orlando Kharbani, who had been an educator since 1982, recently celebrated his birthday, Teachers’ Day and his retirement day on 5 September.

Born on 5 September 1960 at Nonglwai village in the state’s West Khasi Hills district, Kharbani had been teaching at the Sacred Heart Boys’ Higher Secondary School in Mawlai, one of the deficit schools in the state, for close to 40 years.

But it wasn’t his school that gave him this mega party. His children, grandkids and other relatives came together to honour the man’s contributions at his residence in Mawlai Mawdatbaki Umparmaw. Kharbani is worried that for retired school teachers like him, there is no social security in the state.

“It is really disheartening to see the conditions of our teachers in the state. No matter which category of schools you teach, the government should step in and do something for the betterment of teachers who have served and contributed to the state in the field of education,” Kharbani said.

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