AGARTALA, Feb 3 ? Wearing specs they live on the treetops. As the sun rises in the east they all come together to bask on the winter sun?off and on making incomprehensible noises. And whenever any one approachers, they just take flight to dense forest. A typical monkey business, indeed. Naturally. Because they are the ?bespectacled? primates, a unique feature of Tripura?s forest.

Scientists call them Phayer?s Langur (Trachypithecus phayrei). These small and agile langurs got the name Spectacle Monkey or ?Chashma Bandar? for their striking feature?white rings encircling the eyes giving them an...

KOHIMA Feb 3 (NEPS): Nagaland Home Minister Dr TM Lotha said the approach of the ONGC for the exploration of oil in Nagaland was ?unrealistic because they had not given due recognition to the landowners.

Speaking to NEPS here today, the Home Minister made it clear that the plight of the landowners should be addressed and further added that the ONGC was quite ?insensitive? towards this.?They (ONGC) have not taken care of the interest and wellbeing of the landowners,? the Minister stated. Therefore, the landowners were unhappy with them.

Dr Lotha also flaged the unsystematic style of...

NEW DELHI, Feb 3 ? The north-eastern region has little to cheer about the interim Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh here today, as the only concession aimed at benefitting the region was a package envisaged to bail out the ailing tea industry.

Assam and other States in the region have again been over-looked as far as setting up of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) pattern institutes are concerned. Extending the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), the Finance Minister announced that one medical college each in Andhra Pradesh, Jammu &...

Kohima, Feb. 2: The Nagaland government has proposed an 80-km diversion in the Dimapur-Imphal highway before making it a four-lane one.

Prime Minster Atal Bihari Vajpayee had announced a more than Rs 400-crore project to upgrade the National Highway 39, commonly known as Dimapur-Imphal highway here, during his visit to the state in October last year. The state government is understood to have proposed the diversion via Niuland to capital Kohima in fear of paying huge compensation to landowners if the present stretch was to be kept intact.

Nagaland resident commissioner Ponraj attended a...

Tura, Feb. 2: Breaking its silence over the Centre and the Meghalaya government?s peace overtures, the banned Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC) today said it was finally ready for talks.

In an e-mail to The Telegraph, its chairman Dilash Marak, alias Susime Marak, said a five-member delegation was constituted at the executive committee?s meeting on January 10 to finalise the modalities for peace talks.

This is the first clear statement by the ANVC chief, believed to be in Bangladesh, on the Centre and the Meghalaya government?s offer to hold a dialogue with the militant group.

Meghalay...