The United States Embassy, Kolkata visits Wild Mahseer on February 23, 2012
Introduction
Albert Peter Burleigh (born March 7, 1942 in Los Angeles, California) is a United States foreign service officer and diplomat. He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy
Albert Burleigh graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1963.
He served as United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka 1995–97, serving concurrently as Ambassador to the Maldives. In 1998–99 he was briefly the acting ambassador to the UN. In 1999 President Clinton nominated Burleigh for the post of United States Ambassador to the Philippines and Palau, but the U.S. Senate never acted upon the nomination, and it was eventually withdrawn. In 2009 he was appointed to serve as the interim American Ambassador to India. In June 2011 Burleigh was selected to succeed Timothy Roemer as the ambassador to India, pending Senate confirmation. He is the first U.S. Ambassador to be fluent in Hindi.
Consul General Dean Thompson served most recently as Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff, which coordinates the development and implementation of Department policy on behalf of the Secretary of State.
Prior to his assignment in the Operations Center, Mr. Thompson was Deputy Director of the Executive Secretariat's Information Resources Management office. He has also served as Chief of the Economic and Commercial Section at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 2003-2006, where he was a member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Thompson began his career with assignments in the Political, Economic and Consular sections at the U.S. Embassies in Asuncion, Paraguay and Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Mr. Thompson earned a Master of Science degree in National Security Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, a Master of Public Management degree from the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, and a B.A. from Wittenberg University. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Thompson worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is married to Jane Thompson, an early-childhood special education teacher. They have three children.
At Wild Mahseer
The Ambassador Peter Burleigh, Consul General Mr. Dean Thompson & Mrs. Thompson and Consul Mr. Clinton Brown arrived at Wild Mahseer around 2 PM on the 24th, February 2012. They were then escorted to the bank of the Brahmaputra River from where they went floating on a traditional wooden riverboat, spotting endangered freshwater gangetic dolphins.
On their return they relaxed at our main Heritage Bungalow. This was followed by a delicious Indian meal. The next morning after a comfortable and calm sleep the officials proceeded towards Guwahati at around 8 AM.
We were thoroughly privileged to have an opportunity to serve the Ambassador, General Consul and the Consul of the United State, Kolkatta Office.
Dr. Joseph Stiglitz: An Introduction
Dr. Stilglitz’s Assam Visit
Dr Joseph E Stiglitz, visited the certified organic Hathikuli Tea Estate (among the largest organic farms in India) on January 6th 2012 after having spent 2 days at Kaziranga National Park. He was accompanied by his wife Anya and research collaborators from Columbia University. The focus of their visit was to gain a firsthand understanding of the Organic cultivation processes, and the outcomes of converting to Organic in terms of economic and ecological benefits and biodiversity resurgence.
After their Hathikuli visit the Stiglitz's were escorted to Wild Mahseer, via Assam Valley School.
The visit to Assam Valley School and interactions with the faculty was a great way to showcase the initiatives in Education in Assam, and they were enthralled with what they expressed as a world class institution "in the middle of nature".
During their 4 day stay at Wild Mahseer they undertook several village treks to visit an Ecotourism project in Dharikati village, savoured ethnic brews and cuisines in Mising, Nepali and Assamese homes, were captivated by traditional weaving looms and the intricate designs of the handlooms and skills of the weavers. They were also adventurous enough to undertake a river rafting expedition in Jia Bhorelli followed by a lunch with the forest guards and a walk in the jungles of the Nameri Reserve Forest.
Dr. Joseph Stiglitz visited the Operation Smile Comprehensive Cleft Care centre at Mahindra Mohan Chaudary hospital, Guwahati where he was given an overview of incidence of cleft in Assam and the need for the year round surgeries and development of local skills for long term sustainability. He was informed about the public private partnership model with Government of Assam, NRHM and supported by Sir Dorabji Tata trust and allied trusts leading to the setting up of the centre. Dr Stiglitz also took a walk around the centre to see the infrastructure and activies at the center and also an opportunity to see the patients.
Dr Stiglitz visit to Kaziranga and other parts of Assam was followed by a talk show programme in Guwahati with Lord Meghnad Desai of London School of Economics entitled "Asia Rising: Implications on the World Economy" on January 10th. The chief guest at the programme was the Honorable Chief Mminister of Assam, Mr Tarun Gogoi and the introductory speech and welcome address was made by Mr Ranjit Barthakur. The programme was attended by an audience of 900 people representing universities, high schools, ministers, bureaucracy, corporates and media and was covered live by Times Now and all regional channels.
During the course of his deliberations with Lord Desai, Dr Stiglitz made special mention of the “outstanding initiatives” made in Hathikuli for conversion to Organic, and the “ecological concern” of our organisation in preventing chemical run offs to the world heritage site of Kaziranga National Park.
