এনআরসি থেকে বাদ চন্দ্রযান ২-এর গর্ব আসাম বিজ্ঞানী
Assam’s pride & man behind Chandrayaan-2 excluded from NRC

September 3: Assam’s pride and renowned scientist Dr. Jitendra Nath Goswami, the man behind Chandrayaan-1 & 2 was excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC). He was the Chief Scientist of Chandrayaan-1, and was also the developer of this project. He served as a Director of Physical Research Laboratory situated at Ahmadabad, Gujarat. He was also associated with Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan.

Dr. Jitendra Nath Goswami was born at Jorhat in Assam on 18 November, 1950. Jitendra Nath Goswami did his BSc from Cotton College, Guwahati and MSc from Gauhati University. He then joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) for his PhD work on studies of cosmic ray records in Apollo and Luna samples.

Dr Goswami is the brother of the Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly, Hitendra Nath Goswami. The names of Dr. Jitendra Nath Goswami’s family members were also not there in the final NRC. Though he still possesses land in his name in Jorhat, Assam, but he has been residing in Ahmedabad, Gujarat for the last 20 years. Expressing his views, Dr. Goswami said, “In most probability I have not been able to do the requisite procedure for getting my name along with my family in the NRC. In case of any complexities, I can produce the land documents which are in my name.”

• Surprisingly, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in September, 2018 presented the Pt. Giridhan Sarma Award to Principal Scientist of Chandrayaan I & 2, DrJitendra Nath Goswami during the Diamond Jubilee celebration of Arya Vidyapeeth College. “Glad to present the Pandit Giridhar Sarma Award 2018 to renowned scientist Shri Jitendra Nath Goswami at Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati. Had a wonderful time being part of Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the prestigious institute,” stated Sonowal on his Twitter handle.  Apart from a citation, Dr Goswami was also handed over a cheque for Rs 50,000 along with the award. The award presentation ceremony was also attended by Assam Education Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Minister of State for Health Pijush Hazarika, All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya and others.But Dr. Hitendra nath Goswami, the Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly told that his brother had not applied for NRC.

The final NRC list of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published on 31 August, 2019. Out of a total number of 3,30,27,661 applicants, the names of 3,11,21,004 were included in the final NRC. That means a total of 19,06,657 persons were excluded from the NRC.