Silchar, Feb. 12: The tea industry in Assam has pleaded for ?restricting any further expansion of the areas under tea,? in a bid to correct the excessive supply of tea crop in the market. It also stressed the need to improve the labour productivity as part of the cost-cutting exercise and the ?rationalisation of manpower?.

Addressing the 103rd annual general conference of the Surma Valley branch of the Indian Tea Association (ITA) here today the ITA chairman C.K. Dhanuka said the urgency came in the wake of a persistent plummeting in the prices of tea crop and the simultaneous spiral in the...

Kohima, Feb. 12: A disconnection drive by the BSNL services in the last fortnight in Nagaland has distressed its consumers. ?How can I file a bill which is years old?? complained Atanu Phukan of the PTI. Avinash Koli, organising secretary of the BJP in Nagaland, complained that his telephone connection has not been restored despite payment of the bill. ?Now the elections are close and I have nowhere to go,? he said.

The new system of despatching bills through the postal department has created problems. General manager P.K. Sarkar said people should take the matter to the postal department...

Aizawl, Feb. 12: The 1st Assam Rifles (Lushai Hills) battalion has found a champion in the state branch of the Public Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), in face of the home ministry threat to pull it out of Mizoram.

In a letter to deputy chief minister L.K. Advani, who holds the home portfolio, the PUCL outlined the battalion?s history and said it was the true symbol of nationhood to the Mizo people.

Explaining the role of Laldenga, the late founder of the Mizo National Front (MNF), in the steps taken towards the removal of the 1st Assam Rifles from the state, the PUCL said Laldenga had taken...

Imphal, Feb. 12: Tribal students refused to accept the textbooks prescribed by the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BSEM), saying the introduction was too late for this academic session.

The board introduced a fresh set of common textbooks for Class I to V under a new common syllabus for all schools, including missionary and private schools, from this academic session after strong pressure from several students organisations.

Earlier, private schools throughout the state used to prescribe their own textbooks, while the government schools had common textbooks. But the latest move has...

TURA, Feb-12 ?Polling in the three districts of Garo Hills is expected to cross the 60 per cent mark by the end of the day as early indications revealed. Voters turned out in large numbers in most places of the Garo Hills to elect 29 members of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC). But in Tura town voting began on a slow note with most polling stations recording low turnouts, which has been attributed to Wednesday night?s IED blast in the heart of the town.

A loud explosion ripped through the front portion of a restaurant in Tura Bazar injuring its manager and a helper. The...