As the world is invaded by technological inventions and wonders, life becoming more fast and crazy, yet there can be no doubt that the critical factor for the development of a nation or a state is its human resource. The productivity of a nation is influenced by the number of its skilled population. When we look into the problem of underdevelopment from human resource perspective we are bound to take a look at the educational scenario. In India, the higher education scenario has been very sickly, due to the pro profit policies, lack of infrastructure, entry of private players, etc. The growth of distance education phenomenon in India has no doubt brought a ray of hope. The present paper aims to look into the role of distance education in Assam and the potential it carries in building a huge wealth of human resources. (Contains 3 tables.)