BILASIPARA, May 5 – The Minister of Forests, Assam, Pradyut Bordoloi has declared the Hakama Beel near here in the district of Dhubri as a bird sanctuary and community conserved reserve. Sri Bordoloi, who visited the beel on the occasion of celebration of ‘Gachh Bihu’ Asom, and Hakama Beel Bird Sanctuary Demand Committee on May 2 praised the two NGOs for rendering conservation services towards the beel to which every winter several thousands of migratory birds like pelicans, sarali hanh and other birds come and make the beel their temporary abode.

The NGOs had to take the initiative for...

IMPHAL, May 4 – Altogether nine persons including seven members of the proscribed underground outfit, Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), and a civilian were killed in three separate encounters and a bomb explosion in Manipur today. The seven KRA cadres were killed in a four hour-long encounter with personnel of the 19 Assam Rifles in the wee hours today at Molnom village area,over 40 km north east of Imphal under Litan Police Station in Ukhrul district.

Till the filing of this report, the operation was in progress to flush out the other militants hiding nearby, informed the PIB (Defence Wing)...

SHILLONG, May 4 – Three prominent NGOs of the State have asked the Uranium Mining Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to quit Meghalaya immediately. The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), Meghalaya People’s Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) and the Hynniewtrep Environmental Site Protection Organisation (HESPO) have rejected the UCIL’s invitation for a debate on the proposed mining of uranium at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district and instead asked the latter to pack up their bags and “get out of our land.”

The NGOs reiterated their decision to continue the movement against uranium mining in...

SHILLONG, May 4 – Denying any rift among the five partners of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) in the wake of fielding separate candidates for the April 20 Lok Sabha polls in the Shillong constituency, Chief Minister D D Lapang has claimed the coalition was ‘intact,’ reports PTI.

“The fact remians that the we have started together and we stick to that. We got no complaints and petitions (about misunderstandings among the allies).... MDA is intact,” Lapang told reporters here yesterday on a question of a possible rift in the ruling coalition. Lapang said the alliance partners...

Diyun, May 4: His community waited 40 years for the stamp of legitimacy, but Mukut Kumar Hajong can’t seem to wait even half that many hours to make his voting debut. One of the few Chakmas and Hajongs to be included in the electoral rolls of Arunachal Pradesh, Mukut said on the eve of polling that he would “try to be the first one to vote” when the clock strikes seven tomorrow morning.

Only 1,497 Chakmas and Hajongs can vote this time, but the enthusiasm of the communities about being given the opportunity to play a part in an Indian election for the first time more than makes up for the lack...