Development

NEW DELHI, Dec 1 ? The logjam has been removed and the Naga peace talks are back on tracks. The NSCN (I-M) leaders are tipped to arrive here later this week. The development came even as camps belonging to Khaplang faction of NSCN came under attack of Myanmar army across the border. The camps in which ULFA cadres were sheltered were also attacked, sources in Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed.

A spokesman of the Khaplang faction confirmed that Myanmar army launched attacks on their camps. He alleged that mostly innocent civilians were targeted by the army junta, adding that there was no...

SHILLONG, Nov 30 ? Meghalaya Agriculture Minister, HDR Lyngdoh has expressed the need for upgradation of the state?s basic agriculture training centre at Upper Shillong here into a full fledged Meghalaya Agriculture Training Institute with PhD courses to cater the need of the whole north-eastern region.

Lyngdoh made this observation when he along with the state Parliamentary Secretary for Horticulture, L Malngiang accompan visited the centre yesterday. He also inspected the sites for the proposed fruit and vegetable regulated market to be established by the state government in the area to...

AGARTALA, Nov 30 ? National Liberation Front of Tripura?s factional (NLFT-NB) leader Nayanbashi Jamatia has stressed on political dialogue with state and central governments to bring an end to the decade long militancy in the state.

Addressing a press meet here on Tuesday, Nayanbashi said that Indigenous Freedom Movement of Tripura (IFMOT), a newly floated organization of the outfit by him is keen to hold political dialogue in the coming days. As Nayanbashi will be out on a foreign tour it will be Bartholomew Borok, another influential leader of the outfit who will attend the next round of...

GOALPARA, Nov 30? On the last day of World Heritage Week (November 25), Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Guwahati circle has opened the long-awaited archaeological museum in the foothills of Sri Surya Pahar. Sri Surya Pahar about 12 km away from here is the historical and archaeological site where remnants of Gupta period and later civilisations belonging to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism lie scattered and some items have been excavated during the last couple of years.

Dipak Kumar Goswami, deputy commissioner of Goalpara district inaugurated the museum and in his inaugural speech lauded...

GUWAHATI, Nov 30 ? Though eviction drives are carried out from time to time, encroachment of forest areas remains a major problem and according to records available with the State Forest Department, more than 1700 hectares of forest land in the greater Guwahati area is in the grip of encroachers.

Highly placed sources in the State Forest Department told The Assam Tribune that the total reserve forest area in greater Guwahati is about 32,730 hectares, covering eleven reserve forests ? Khanapara, South Amcheng, Hengerabari, Amcheng, Jalukbari, Fatashil, South Kalapahar, Garbhanga, Rani...

GUWAHATI, Nov 30 ? The rhino and the tiger are two extraordinary animals which in their natural habitat and behaviour pose no threat to human beings, yet anthropogenic factors have threatened the survival of both the species within their habitats in India?s North East, as in other parts of Asia and Africa.

Recognising this fact, a consultation workshop ?Rhino and Tiger Conservation-Education Project? was organised by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), North-East, in the Assam State Zoo recently.

The workshop supported by the US Fish and Wildlife Services, saw representatives from the...

GUWAHATI, Nov 30 ? The Union Ministry of Rural Development has taken a serious note of the tendency of banks not to extend rural credit in the North-east (NE). Union Minister of Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has decided to take up the matter with the Ministry of Finance.

Addressing newspersons here this afternoon, Singh said that rural development programmes in several areas of the region have failed because of the attitude of certain bank officials to deny loans to the needy people. He said that some of the bank branches in the region have recorded zero finance.

?While the well-to...

VIENTIANE, Nov 30 ? China and India have moved closer to finalisation of the guidelines for resolving the contentious boundary dispute which has a direct bearing on Arunachal Pradesh. When Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao this morning ? their first meeting ? he gave enough hints to his counterpart that India would like any solution to the boundary dispute to be on the basis of the ground realities. ?Any accommodation reached should take into account ground reality,? Dr Singh was quoted as having said, even as the Chinese Premier confirmed his visit to Delhi in...

VIENTIANE, Nov 30 ? Insurgents operating in India?s North East enjoying safe haven in Myanmar, Thailand and other ASEAN countries have rough days ahead, with a mechanism to build institutional linkages for intelligence and information sharing on movement of militants being set up. The ?ASEAN-India partnership for peace, progress and shared prosperity? that was signed by Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh here today might spell trouble for the North-east based militant outfits.

Taking off from where India and ASAEN left off in Bali, it was agreed today to strengthen and expand effective...

GUWAHATI, Nov 29? The North Eastern Small Scale Industries Association (NESSIA) has vehemently opposed West Bengal?s move to include North Bengal in North Eastern Council and called for immediate rescission of the move. This was stated in a press release.

Considering the move as ill-conceived, Sailen Baruah, NESSIA State president said that the association viewed that the proposed inclusion of North Bengal in the North Eastern Council would enable them to avail the same benefit of tax concession, excise and sibsidised power etc, under the North East industrial policy 1997, and will have a...