DIMAPUR, May 3 – Former Prime Minister and JD(S) president HD Deve Gowda on Sunday said the United Front Government under him was the first regime at the Centre to make serious efforts to remove regional imbalances and solve the insurgency problem in the North East.

“I have been the only Prime Minister who visited the region for seven consecutive days and announced the first economic development package to remove the infrastructure bottlenecks in the North East,” Deve Gowda told PTI here. The former Prime Minister said he was aware of the long-felt demands and needs of the people of the...

IMPHAL, May 3 – After registering a record in the Guinnesss Book of World Records by Moiranthem Okendra by planting the tallest “topiary plant (duranta)” it is now the turn of doctors serving in a private hospital to claim a similar record by performing a record operation in this tiny State. A team of doctors from Shija Hospital and Research Institute, a high-tech private hospital located at the foothill of Langol Hill Range near Imphal, added another feather in the State’s cap in this competitive world by removing the largest neck tumour (1.2 kg) from a 12-day-old infant.

The leader of the...

KOHIMA, May 3 – Both the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) and the Opposition Congress, locked in keen contest for the lone Parliamentary seat, have tried their level best to capitalise on the vexed Naga political problem during the month-long campaign for the May 5 Lok Sabha poll, reports PTI. The election machineries as well as the political parties are expecting a peaceful polling for the first time in the recent years as underground militant organisations resolved neither to boycott nor indulge in the election process in the State.

Unlike in the past, no reports of any...

Shillong, May 3: The construction company that sued the Meghalaya government for scrapping a lucrative real estate deal is close to signing a new contract to redevelop the same property as part of an out-of-court settlement. Chief minister D.D. Lapang today defended the decision to allow Asian Housing Construction Ltd (AHCL) to “rebuild” Calcutta’s Meghalaya House, saying critics of his government should realise that it is the only way to avoid paying a hefty amount as compensation.

“I am very clear about it and do not want anyone to make an issue out of it. We have to come out of the legal...

SHILLONG, May 2 – Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang today attributed the low voter turnout in the state in Lok Sabha polls to the less importance people attached to parliamentary elections compared to the assembly ones, reports PTI.

"We are yet to create an awareness among the people that Lok Sabha election is as important as the Assembly ones," Lapang told reporters.

It was evident from the low voter turnout of about 54 per cent in the state for the April 20 hustings, he said. The Chief Minister's statement assumed significance as the campaigning particularly in the Shillong Lok Sabha...