GUWAHATI, Dec 30 ? Noted filmmaker Jahnu Barua, celebrated author Indira Gowami, prominent journalists Sanjoy Hazarika , Patricia Mukhim, Dileep Chandan and others have called on Bhutan and India to ensure transparency and respect the rights, especially of non-combatant women and children, in the ongoing military operations in Bhutan.

In a statement e-mailed to this newspaper they have urged that civil society groups and media be given access to the detainees. They also called on the armed groups to turn to dialogue and end their armed struggles in an effort to solve the problems of the...

NEW DELHI, Dec 30 ? The ceasefire between Central Government and Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) has been extended for another year. The ceasefire would remain in force till December 31, next year. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) here made a formal announcement to that effect today. The suspension of hostile operation between militant outfit DHD and security forces in Assam has been extended for one more year. The suspension of hostile operations has been in operation since January 1. It was decided to extend the suspension of hostile operations between the DHD and the security forces after mutual...

GUWAHATI, Dec 30 ? The crackdown by the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) inflicted heavy loss to militant outfits ? the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) ? both in terms of loss of cadres and weapons while more and more cadres of the outfits are still being arrested or have surrendered before the security forces.

Police sources said that so far, 170 ULFA cadres, who either surrendered or were arrested have been handed over to the police in different parts of Assam since the RBA crackdown began on December 15. Altogether 27 children of the ULFA...

GUWAHATI, Dec 30 ? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today accused the self-styled commander-in-chief of the banned ULFA, Paresh Baruah, and other top leaders of the outfit of standing in the way of talks with Government of India. Addressing a press conference at Janata Bhawan this afternoon, Gogoi in reaction to the ULFA leaders attaching pre-conditions for talks with Government of India (GOI), said that the ULFA cadres by and large wanted to sit for talks barring a handful like Paresh Baruah who are puppets in the hands of anti-India forces in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

?As long as the top leaders...

SHILLONG, Dec 30 ? Barring Manipur (38.96 per cent) and Nagaland (30.59 per cent), in all other States of the north-eastern region, the proportion of gross irrigated area as percentage of gross cropped area various from nearly eight per cent to 18 per cent, which is much less than that of the national average. In light of this, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, has recently taken initiative to make ?Rainwater harvesting? a popular technology in the region.

The North East, in fact the entire country has a ?millennia tradition? of rainwater harvesting, this was pointed...