Guwahati: In a bid to establish Kokrajhar globally as a destination of knowledge sharing and peace, 1" Bodoland International Knowledge Festival will be hosted by Bodoland University at its premise with support from the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) government from February 27 to March 02.

The four-day event will witness the participation of Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh, Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Minister of State for Education & External Affairs Dr. RK Ranjan Singh, Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary and Vice Chancellors of 5 different universities of Assam among others.

The event is likely to see the participation of more than 300 invited delegates from across India and 35 international delegates from 14 countries. More than 10,000 participants will be taking part in the Knowledge Festival comprising students, academicians, researchers, development practitioners. government officials, politicians, entrepreneurs, farmers and SHG members among others.

"This will be one of a kind event being conducted in the BTR. "We want to establish Kokrajhar and the BTR as destinations for education, knowledge sharing and tourism with this mega event," BTR Chief Pramod Boro said addressing a press conference in Guwahati on February 23.

"Over the years Kokrajhar and the BTR were portrayed in the negative. We were known for insurgency and backwardness. But time has changed and we have moved ahead. Now we want Kokrajhar and the BTR to be known as a destination for intelligent people, not insurgency," Boro added.

Bora said we want the region to draw knowledge and expertise from experts in various fields to enhance epistemic dialogue across cultures and communities.

"With this Knowledge Festival, we want to create an atmosphere of dialogue and participatory priority-setting for addressing concerns of contemporary human society which would promote scientific temperament to address social and economic concerns of the society in a post-conflict scenario," he added.

Further, the Bodoland International Knowledge Festival will document the knowledge exchange for continued learning and praxis, knowledge-action-reflection by different communities of practice in BTR.

The following baskets of themes and sub-themes will be deliberated and discussed: Science & Technology, Livelihood, Indigenous Knowledge System, Women Empowerment, Child Rights & Protection, Peace Building, Good Governance, Communication and Media, Behavioural Change & Communication, Human Rights, Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Justice and Action, Quality Education, Health and Wellbeing, Art & Culture, Youth Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property Rights, Trade, Commerce and Investment and BTR in the light of the Act East Policy.

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