Senior Arunachal village chiefs pick up crayons for the first time

The drawing competition among ‘gaonburas’ and ‘gaonburis’ was to convey it is never too late to draw or write

It is never too late to draw, paint or write, a contest for senior village chiefs in Arunachal Pradesh has conveyed.

A local association of ‘gaonburas’ and ‘gaonburis’ (village headmen and headwomen) in Ziro, the headquarters of the State’s Lower Subansiri district, organised a drawing competition for their counterparts in and around the town on June 12.

The contest was held in Ziro’s Dutta Middle School.

“There were many illiterates among the ‘gaonburas’ and ‘gaonburis’ who picked up crayons and sketch pens for the first time in their lives. The objective of the contest was to let them come out of their routine work of solving civil cases,” Yachang Tacho, the organiser, said.

The institution of ‘gaonburas’ and ‘gaonburis’, referred to as GBs, was set up under the Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulation, 1945. Arunachal Pradesh has about 9,500 GBs who deal with customary laws besides acting as a bridge between the traditional and the civil administration.  

“The contest was also an effort to instil the love for pens, pencils, books and the amazing world they create. If the eldest in society picks up pens and pencils, the youths will too,” Mr. Tacho said.

Of the 36 ‘gaonburas’ and ‘gaonburis’ who participated in the contest, 30 had never been to school. The other six had studied up to Class 5.