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Release of Udar Akash Journal (International Kolkata Book Fair Special Issue) by Education Minister Dr Paratha Chatterjee
By Dr. Amzed Hossein
A Special Issue of well-known peer-reviewed Journal UdarAkash, with a focal theme of ‘NO CAA, Co-existence & Harmony’, was released by the state Education Minister as well as a writer and eminent schola, Dr ParathaChatterjee, at the Kolkata book fair ground. The programme was attended by Tridib Chatterjee, Sudhansu Sekhar De, Prof Aveek Majumdar, Dola Sen, and several eminent poets and writers.
This Special Issue has a collection of essays on the gap between the promises and reality of the development for the Dalit, minorities and other marginalized sections of the population in Bengal particularly, and of India in general. It has brought together as writers politicians of various shades, academicians, senior journalists, social activists and religious leaders who have engaged in attempts of self-scrutiny and suggesting proposals for future actions and thereby to dismantle the so-called vote-bank politics. This is a very valuable magazine for researchers as well as general readers who wish to understand the politics of deprivation and doublespeak in our country. Apart from some writers of Bangladesh, Moinul Hassan, author and the former MP, Tarun Mukhopadhyay, Miratun Nahar, Milan Datta, Vice-Chancellor Prof Basab Chowdury, along with many young scholars have written a number essays on important themes. The essays on Vidaysagar are noteworthy. In the poetry section, Subodh Sarkar and other established budding poets have contributed. The short stories are interesting and innovative. The Journal is edited by Faruque Ahamed who is also an essayist, short story writer and poet. He has been publishing this journal entitled ‘UdarAkash’ since 2002 when he was still a college student. Each year two issues of this journal are published – one after the Eid-Sharod Festival Issue and another on the eve of the International Kolkata Book Fair Issue. Almost all eminent Bengali poets and authors including Sunil Gangopadhyaya, Nirendranath Chakraborty, Shankha Ghosh Joy Goswami and so on have contributed their writings to this journal. Besides, many well-known professors of most of the universities of West Bengal including Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, University of Kalyani, Burdwan University, Rabindra Bharati University, University of North Bengal, Aliah University and some other Indian universities from outside Bengal have been published in the pages of this journal. University professors and creative writers from Bangladesh are frequent contributors to this journal. Moreover, teachers of a large number of colleges in and outside West Bengal as well as independent researchers and scholars have chosen this journal to publish their research articles. Recently, Faruque Ahamed has been engaged in equipping himself with the requirements of publishing e-books and e-journals, in order to increase importance of digital world.
