Assam CM defends move to create indigenous faith department
The Hindu
Preaching and professional management system of mainstream religions have threatened tribal beliefs and cultural practices, he says
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday defended the State government’s move to create a department for preserving indigenous faiths that were “fading away” due to “preaching and professional management systems” of mainstream religions. Replying to a Zero Hour notice in the State Assembly regarding the creation of the department, the Chief Minister said time, modernity and global religious communities had taken a toll on tribal cultures, practices, languages, livelihoods and faiths in Assam. “The mandate of the new department to be put under the joint control of the directorates of Archaeology, Museum and History and Antiquarian Studies will be to interact with the tribal people, study the folklores, customs and practices for ensuring these are not forgotten,” he said.![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20250217064624.jpg)
When fed into Latin, pusilla comes out denoting “very small”. The Baillon’s crake can be missed in the field, when it is at a distance, as the magnification of the human eye is woefully short of what it takes to pick up this tiny creature. The other factor is the Baillon’s crake’s predisposition to present less of itself: it moves about furtively and slides into the reeds at the slightest suspicion of being noticed. But if you are keen on observing the Baillon’s crake or the ruddy breasted crake in the field, in Chennai, this would be the best time to put in efforts towards that end. These birds live amidst reeds, the bulrushes, which are likely to lose their density now as they would shrivel and go brown, leaving wide gaps, thereby reducing the cover for these tiddly birds to stay inscrutable.