Bam  History:  Centenary Celebration of Rajghat Dar-ul-Foyez Madrassa :Souvenir:
                                                           FOIZUL KHURSHID

Centenary celebration of Dar-ul -Foyez Madrasa, Bam:More photos

Release of Rajghat Dar-ul-Foyez Madrassa Cencenary Celebration Souvenir

Jalal Mazumdar President,Rajghat Dar-ul- Foyez Madrassa Centenary Celebration Organising Committee addressing press conference at Madrassa premises.

Rajghat Dar-ul- Foyez Madrassa,Bam celebrates  centenary with three days programme  

Rajghat Darul-Foyez Madrassa, Bam celebrated its centenary with three days programme from 29-31 January 2018,packed with seminars,intellectual discourses,cultural programmes and religious discourses.Settlement of Bam started in 1885 and Rajghat Darul Foyez Madrassa one of the oldest madrassas in Southern Cachar was established in 1915(Estimated).Established by Pir Khurshid Ali of Karimganj at Saptagram the Madrassa was shifted to residential complex of Maulana Arjad Ali Choudhury of Rajghat in 1918 and subsequently to Bhagabazar and finally to its present location. Rajghat Darul Foyez Madrassa spearheaded the Islamic education in Bam for last one hundred years and produced many Islamic scholars and inspired generations to establish several madrassas in Bam.The Isalmic education initiated in early Bam settlement helped development of  sense of right and wrong through moral and spiritual values among the simple new settlers without much formal education.The Organising Committee headed by Jalal Maumdar , a resident of Bam and Chairman, Silchar Development Authority,has also brought out a Souvenir edited by Prof.Sabir Ahmed Choudhury.The souvenir is a  vast of source of information of the Bam region.The centenary celebration has been widely covered by print and electronic media. Below are few snapshot of news published in print media.

.

 Bam at cross road: Observing the trend of migration historian Upendra Chandra Guha in his book “Cacharer Itibritya”had predicted in 1912 that in near future Bam would prosper and restore the past glory. In less than a century of his prediction Bam has more than restored its past glory. Today Bam is bustling with growth, development and prosperity and marching towards modernity. Now based on the present trend of growth and development in Bam ,fast technological development taking place all over the worldand ideas changing every day if someone like Upendra Chandra Guha has to predict what Bam would look like in 2112-he would be in great difficulty.With the  fast changing scenario the name’ Bam’ as a geographical region is also fast losing its identity and gradually getting eclipsed by the name of growth centres of Bam like Bhagabazar,Dholaibazar  and other places.Today no one  goes to Bam ,rather one goes to Bhagabazr or Dholaibazar.In coming days the name ‘Bam ‘will  be preserved for the posterity only through the name ofthree institutions of Bam-Bam NityaNanda Higher Secondary and Multipurpose School,Bam Bidyapith High School and Bam Nova Kumar High School. To save the name Bam people of Bamregion must name as many public institutions, organisations and places after Bam. Bam people should also promote Bam through various activities like organising ‘Bam Festival’ -the way Sheorartal ForestVillage, a village of Bam in the deep south with population of 1237 and land area of seventy five hectors, has recently celebrated the centenary of the village with pomp and grandeur and brought out a Souvenir complete with messages from Chief Minister and other Ministers. But  even if name Bam as geographic region  fades away one thing is certain-the idiom ‘Bam –Bauri’ is here to stay in the vocabulary of mainland Cachar people and their posterity to mean backwardness, remoteness, unsophi- stication and all the negativities.

Epilogue: This partial history of Bam is written mostly based on personal knowledge of the author, interviews with Bam residents and references at bibliography. It is hoped that this article will induce scholars of universities in North East specially Assam University,Silchar to take up research projects in history, geography, wildlife, trade and commerce, anthropology and other inter disciplinary fields pertaining to Bam. Someday someone may also attempt to write a full history of Bam.

..............................................................................................................................................................

     Note:This is the concluding part of GLIMPSES OF HISTORY OF BAM..Inputs  of readers of this Blog will be appreciated to further enlarge and enrich the History of Bam. Any such inputs may be mailed to:jiya0786@yahoo.co.in.

    Glimpses of History of Ban has been translated selectively and published in the Centenary Celebration Souvenir of Rajghat  -Rangauti Dar ul Foyez Madrassa ,Bam Bhagabazar.From now on  Bengali version of Glimpses of History of Bam will be published in this Blog in series.

    After the publication of Bengali version ,more articles and write-ups  relating to Bam  from contributors  specially from Bam will be published.Such articles may be on events, institutions, culture, education,success stories,trade and commerce,history, personalities, social issues,wild life  etc of Bam. Contributors may mail the articles /write ups either in English or Bengali to the above e-mail Id. Valuable  photos from the past or current photos may also be sent.  Please join hands to write the history of BAM.

............................................................................................................................................................

Economy of Bam:

Farming is no longer the mainstay of Bam Muslims. Agriculture appears to be no longer viable operation as farm hands are not available and there are alternative options .Farming is giving way to business in new areas.Tertiary sector is emerging as substitute of farm sector.Bam has an added advantage .Bam serves as land bridge between mainland Cachar and Mizoram.This has opened up business opportunities with Mizoram and beyond. While the Government of India is talking about look east policy for about a decade and act east policy after the new NDA Government came to power in 2014,the Bam people realised the business opportunities with bordering countries to the south of Mizoram much earlier. With the improvement of road connectivity, communication network and boom in transport sector,various business opportunities have opened up before the people and they have seized it. This has ushered in a new era of growth and prosperity. The days of traditional economy of early years of Bam are long gone.However there is not much activity in manufacturing sector except brick making industry to cater to Mizorammarket. But this is bringing more harm than good as brick industry is swallowing up valuable farm land and polluting the environment.