Report of the General Secretary, OBASSG February 2017 to November 2017.

General Secretary’s Report

Old Boys Association, Sainik School Goalpara

25th November 2017 : Rukminigaon, Guwahati.

Esteemed Members,

Honourable President, OBASSG; respected ShriHiren Ch. Nath, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Guwahati and our Chief Guest of the day; other dignitaries on the dais; life members of our Association; and other members of our Association. Good Morning. I welcome all of you to the 19th AGM of Old Boys Association, Sainik School Goalpara. Before beginning this report, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the esteemed members of our association for having reposed trust in me. I hope this report will justify the trust that you had reposed in me.

In the 18th AGM of OBASSG held on 11 February 2017 at Hotel Ambarish, Guwahati the incumbent Executive Committee was elected for a term of two years. Since taking over charge from the previous committee on 25 February 2017, we have held 5 (five) executive committee meetings and one extraordinary general body meeting.

Immediately upon taking over charge, a team comprising some members went to the school on 2 March 2017 to wish the class X and XII students good luck for their respective exams. The team also welcomed the Class XII students into the OBASSG fold.

The first meeting of the new EC was held on 11 March 2017 at Hotel Ambarish. It was a daylong meeting with contributory lunch and it discussed many important things. Among other things, the meeting approved a yearly calendar of activities for 2017-18. The same was published on the official website and other media on 2 April 2017.

On 8 April 2017, a team representing OBASSG paid a visit to SishuMangal Kendra, an orphanage for children located at Noonmati. The members of the team spent some lively moments with the inmates of the orphanage and had tea and snacks with them. Some utility items like beds, bedclothes, footwear etc. were also donated to the orphanage.Thanks to Alakesh Barman 3129 for his contribution.

OBASSG also participated with gusto in the Youth Conclave organized at B. Borooah College, a leading institution of higher education in the region. Our association had put up a health and fitness stall in the Conclave which offered blood sugar, blood pressure and body weight examination to the
participants absolutely free of cost. The stall was greatly patronized by the participants as well teachers
of the institution.

Manash Borah Memorial Debating Competition is an annual event of OBASSG that we all eagerly look forward to. The Competition has established itself as one of the leading debating competitions of the region. OBASSG successfully conducted the 8th Manash Borah Memorial North East Inter Institutional Debating Competition on 31 may 2017 at ITA Auditorium, Machkhowa. The Competition was inaugurated by Prof. Amar Jyoti Choudhury while the speaker was prof. Moniru lHussain. Ratna Singh, Manabendra Sarma and DipakSarma were the three esteemed judges. Nearly 24 teams from
across the state participated in the event. I take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Dr. (Mrs.) Shahnaaz Rahman for sponsoring the competition.

Like the previous years, this year also the meritorious children of our members were felicitated in a small function held at R. J. Degree College, Guwahati on 10 June 2017. Altogether 6 students were felicitated.

To provide encouragement to budding entrepreneurs OBASSG, in association with MSME, Govt. of India, organized a one-day ‘Industrial Motivational camp’ at MSME premises, Bamunimaidan, Guwahati. Altogether 40 participants took part in the programme. I take this opportunity to thank Sidhartha Sankar Baruah (Roll No. 1532) for arranging the programme.

On 23 July 2017, a flood relief camp was organized by OBASSG at Majuli. Altogether 394 flood affected families were provided relief. The relief materials included food items, biscuits, clothes etc. We express our sincere thanks and gratitude to Phoenix for collaborating with us and to
DebangaGogoi for co-ordinating the entire programme.

A Tree plantation programme was organized at BalajiMandir, Guwahati on 30 July 2017. Nearly
twenty members participated in the programme. As part of the programme, 500 hibiscus saplings were planted in the BalajiMandir complex. We thank Mani S. Singh Roll No.3114 for arranging the entire programme.

15 August is a memorable day for all Indians, especially for us, ex-SSGinas. It takes us back to the old days spent in the school. For the last many years OBASSG has been celebrating our country’s independence day by organizing a blood donation camp at Guwahati. This year was the tenth straight year when the camp was organized at Dr. B. Barooah Cancer Institute. Altogether 52 units were donated this year at Guwahati. The highlight this year was that like many previous occasions, friends and relatives of OBA members, apart from spouse, also donated blood. We thank Dr. RajJyoti Das (Roll No. 1407) for the camp at Guwahati. Blood donation camps were also organized at different locations across the country like Jorhat, Imphal, Bangalore, etc. The total number of units of blood donated across the country is approximately one hundred.

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October 2017, some members from OBASSG visited Mother Old Age Home at New Guwahati. The members spent some quality time with the old people there and also had lunch with them.Thanks to DrRoopjyoti Hazarika1455 and DrBidyutBorgohain1501
for their contribution.

An extraordinary General Body Meeting of our Association was held on 2 October 2017 at MSME, Bamunimaidan for necessary amendments to our constitution as per some requirements under the Income Tax Act of Govt. of India. The members present unanimously adopted the amendments and authorized the General Secretary to the needful in this regard. We extend our thanks to Sachindra Das (Roll No. 160) for doing everything necessary in this regard.

Nearly 60 members of OBASSG attended the functions of School Raising Day and Old Boys’ Meet on 12 November 2017 at the school. The annual trophies and cash awards were presented to the award winners on that day. In the friendly football match and tug of war organized between the OBASSG team and the School staff, the OBA team came out victorious in both.

Apart from the activities outlined above, the OBASSG also extended the following services/ assistance:

Provided tickets (including lunch) to the entire SSG football team to watch two matches of FIFA U-17 World Cup at Guwahati.
Assisted in finding Guest Lecturer for school.
Put up banners in Assamese containing the details of admission into SSG in various places of the state.
Organized a free health check-up camp cum cardiology camp for the life members at Agile Hospital, Guwahati 0n 18th September. Dr. SasankaBaruah (Roll No.1535) arranged the whole event.
We are really very proud to inform you all that sixteen new life members have been added in this short period of only ten months. We hope to enroll more members as life members in the coming year.

The last ten months have been exciting. We set out with a target and we tried our best to achieve those targets. It is for you to judge our performance. In these months, I have been guided, assisted and helped by many of our esteemed members and I would like to place on record my sincere thanks and appreciation for them. Let me first thank our honourable President Brig. (Retd.) RanjitBorthakur for guiding me throughout these ten months. I also place on record my sincere gratitude to all our esteemed members who have contributed in some way or the other. My special thanks and gratitude are due to the office bearers and members of our Executive Committee who have made the various events successful. Last, but not the least, our gratitude and appreciation for our valued sponsors who have helped us through advertisements and in either cash or kind.

Dear brothers, we have covered a long way and there is a longer way to cover. Just as a batsman builds his innings with singles and also by hitting fours and sixes, we should also plan short term as well as long term. The essential thing is to keep in touch and to communicate. The more the communication and exchange across the batches the stronger will be the bonding. We have been doing our best to promote the school and to improve the facilities at school. Without slackening this a bit, we also need to look outwards and engage ourselves in more community-society related works. The Golden Jubilee of our alma mater proved that when needed, our members can pool together huge resources as well as manpower. This has led me to believe that OBASSG can do greater things. We have a definite social role to play and we should channelize our efforts to that end.

Long live SSG, long live OBASSG.

Thank you.

(Girija Kanta Barman)

General Secretary, OBASSG