Guwahati (Assam) [India], September 8 : Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, graced the 44th Manik Chandra Barooah Memorial National Debate Competition at Cotton University, Guwahati, on Monday, interacting with student debaters from across the country and announcing new initiatives to strengthen maritime education linkages in the Northeast. 
The enthusiastic student participants had gathered from institutions across India, along with Bhutan, to take part in one of the region's oldest and most respected debating traditions.
Addressing the gathering, Sarbananda Sonowal said that Cotton University and the National Inland of Navigation Institute (NINI), Patna, would explore collaboration on maritime studies and student exposure programmes, opening new academic and career pathways for youth in the region. 
Such collaboration, he noted, would allow students from Assam and the wider Northeast to gain exposure to maritime affairs, an area traditionally under-represented in the region despite its rich riverine and cultural links to India's maritime heritage.
Sonowal also announced that a Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) under the Directorate General of Maritime Administration (DGMA) would be established in Guwahati to enable seafarer certification and safety services closer to home for aspirants from the Northeast. 
The Minister said this decentralisation of maritime infrastructure would save young aspirants the time and expense of travelling to distant cities for certification, and would encourage greater participation of Northeast youth in the maritime and shipping sector, a sunrise industry central to India's economic ambitions.
Paying tribute to the competition's namesake, the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, "Manik Chandra Barooah's vision gave Assam the gift of Cotton College, and that gift has, for over a century, shaped the intellectual and socio-cultural life of not just Assam but the entire Northeast and beyond." 
Sonowal described Cotton University as an institution whose legacy of nurturing free thought and public leadership continues to inspire generations of students.
Reflecting on the spirit of debate, Sonowal remarked, "Debate is the lifeblood of democracy. When our ‘Yuva Shakti’ learns to argue with logic, listen with respect, and disagree with dignity, they are not just winning competitions; they are strengthening the democratic traditions of our nation." 
He urged the participants to carry this culture of reasoned dialogue into public life.
Sonowal said the MMD and the proposed Cotton University-NINI Patna collaboration were not standalone announcements, but part of a wider pattern he has witnessed unfold across the Northeast in recent years. 
"When I look at what is happening in our region today- new institutions, new industries, new confidence among our youth, I see the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Modi at work. The Northeast has moved from the periphery to the centre of India's growth story as it takes charge of the growth of new India," Sonowal said. 
He noted that ports, shipping, and maritime affairs were traditionally seen as distant from a landlocked region like Assam, but that this very assumption was now being reshaped through deliberate policy attention and appropriate usage of the region's rich and dynamic water resources, including the mighty Brahmaputra, of which the day's announcements were a direct outcome.
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal congratulated all participating student debaters and organisers for keeping alive the intellectual legacy of Cotton University, and conveyed his best wishes for their future endeavours.