NEW DELHI, Dec 5 ? The need for change in the recruitment policy of the Railway in order to avoid future clashes between States, was overwhelmingly endorsed by Members in the Lok Sabha, with Members from Bihar urging Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar to bifurcate Katihar Division from North East Frontier Railway and include it in Hazipur Zone. The growth of regionalism, particularly in Assam, was perceived as a serious threat to the unity and integrity of the nation. ?We have to check the menace of provincial chauvinism and protect federalism, which has engulfed Assam,? remarked Basudev...

Udalguri, Dec. 5: The banned National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) struck a discordant note on the eve of the formation of the interim Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), describing it as an exercise in futility. The militant group, which, along with the Ulfa, has been a major source of worry for Dispur, said December 6 would go down in history as the day a group of ?opportunists? surrendered the Bodo dream before Delhi.

The BTC was envisaged in the February 10 accord between the NDFB?s rival, the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), and Dispur and Delhi. The interim council will be...

Kokrajhar, Dec. 5: For the battle-weary Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) cadre, it is the moment for mixed feelings as life as a ?soldier? comes to an end. On the eve of their formal surrender to the authorities with a vow to lead normal lives, BLT cadres from different backgrounds spoke about their past and future aspirations.

Twenty-two-year-old Sanjib Basumatary and his two friends from Ambari Surubera in Nalbari district want to resume the studies they had discontinued to join the ?freedom movement? some years ago.

?We want to stand on our own feet now,? they said.

Recalling his weird past...

AGARTALA, Dec 5 ? Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) which fought the last Assembly elections in February as a Congress ally, is now trying hard to forge alliance with the BJP. An INPT delegation led by party general secretary Rabindra Debbarma has already left for Delhi to meet Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and other senior BJP leaders. Though Debbarma and his party colleagues maintained that they were going to the capital to press for more powers to the Tripura ADC ? autonomous state under Article 244A, sources in the INPT, however, confirmed that the main agenda to be discussed in...

GUWAHATI, Dec 5: Defence Minister George Fernanades today stated that Pakistani ISI in collusion with the banned ULFA was trying to fish in the opportunity provided by anti-Bihari violence in Assam. Talking to newsmen at the Army base in Narengi here, Fernandes said, ?Although it was not the ISI which stoked the fire of anti-Bihari attacks in Assam, it is definitely trying to fan the fire in collusion with the banned ULFA.?

Earlier, the Defence Minister visited victims of anti-Bihari violence in Tinsukia civil hospitals and in relief camps in Doom Dooma. He was also briefed by Brigadier A K...