IMPHAL, Feb 13? Manipur Governor Arvind Dave formally inaugurated the 32nd all manipur shumang leela festival 2004 here at the newly constructed Thokchom Iboyaima Shumang Leela Shanglen,a playhouse for the courtyard play at Hapta Kangjeibung near Shree Shree Gobindajee Temple in Imphal on Thursday.

Lighting the inaugural lamp and speaking on the occasion Governor Dave said," Shumang Leela is one of the most important art forms of Manipuri courtyard theatre. It is as popular as jatra of Bengal, tamasa of Maharashtra, and nautanki of Uttar Pradesh". "Shumang" in Manipuri means courtyard and...

DIMAPUR, Feb 14 ? With the inauguration of the district headquarter at Peren by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the decade-old dreams of the people of the region turned into reality on Wednesday last. Carved out of Kohima district, Peren also known as ?Rice Bowl of Nagaland? became the 11th district of Nagaland amidst thousands of Zeliangrong tribesmen shouting slogans ? ringtei lo (long live) Peren district'.

?Speaking on the occasion Rio, said, ?Creation of a district is only a means to achieve the objectives of accelerating the administration closer to the people?. Expressing...

MAJULI, Feb 14 ? Silhoutted against a massive fabric painting of Garunda, the Pitambardeva Kshetra at Daria Dubi Paar reverberated to the deafening beat of khol, dhol and cymbals, as exponents of the Satriya culture and tribal artistes like regaled an audience at the inaugural function of the two-day second Majuli Festival which got off to a colourful start here today.

Taking a leaf out of the Dutch experience during a subsequent discussion on, ?Geographical and cultural protection of Majuli? ? a worthy son of the river island Brahmaputra and Cambridge University mathematician Dr Khargeswar...

Dimapur, Feb. 13: The NSCN (I-M) today virtually sealed the fate of the shaky reconciliation process, mocking the Naga National Council?s Wokha meet slated for next Wednesday as ?ridiculous?. Rubbing salt into the wound, it claimed that ?most of the genuine NNC leaders? have already defected to it as early back as in 2001.

In a hard-sitting statement today, the NSCN (I-M) said most of the current NNC top brass in the Wokha region are ?self-styled ridiculous leaders? moonlighting in the payroll of the state government as ?work-charge labourers, dak runners and peons?.

The NSCN (I-M) statement...

Imphal, Feb. 13: Thounaojam Chaoba Singh, president of the BJP?s Manipur unit, has appealed to a militant outfit to reconsider its decision to award him capital punishment and asked for forgiveness if it was offended by his actions. Last month, the banned Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) had asked the state BJP leaders to expel Chaoba Singh from the party, saying the outfit had passed capital punishment on him.

The deadline set by the outfit for Chaoba Singh?s expulsion is February 15. The outfit also threatened to target BJP leaders if Chaoba Singh was not expelled from the party before the...