THE EDELWEISS OF BODOLAND

DR Birphung Narzary (45) is a born leader. From organizing monthly "mazlis" (a small gathering) with a group of friends to share their poetry, short stories, and experiences of life, he became a dedicated social worker. Today, this joint registrar of the Bodoland University is a household name in Assam's Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), thanks to his continuous efforts to help those in need.

He took the lead in forming BRANSTHU, named with the initials of friends - Birphung, Bipul, Raju, Ranen, Argeng, Naithao, Nakul, Swmdwn, Sajit, Tarun, Hriday and Uttam. They grew up in an environment of protracted conflict, witnessing mass internal displacement of their neighbours, friends turning rebels to wage an armed struggle, deaths and destruction. It was a time when many Bodo youngsters had taken up the gun to secure the rights of the community, driven by an insurgency movement.

In 2004, Narzary and his friends - by then, all of them educated young men-converted BRANSTHU to an NGO called Northeast Research and Social Work Networking (NRSWN). A postgraduate in health administration from the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Mumbai, Narzary took the lead in founding it.

The idea, initially, was to help malaria-affected people living in the far-flung areas bordering Bhutan. As time rolled by, they began working in the fields of education and women empowerment, among others.

The first opportunity for them to work on a large scale came in 2004, a year after the creation of the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which now administers five districts of western and northern Assam.