Agartala, June 6: The Reangs, second largest tribal group in Tripura, are demanding formal recognition of their language Kai Bru as separate from Kokborok, the mainstream tribal language of the state.

Several seminars and meetings have been held in the Reang-dominated areas of Kanchanpur in North Tripura and Shantir Bazar in South Tripura to press for the demand. A Reang-dominated outfit, Bru National Renaissance Organisation (BNRO), is spearheading the struggle for recognition of Kai Bru. However, the Tripuri, Jamatya, Noatia and other tribal groups have opposed the demand.

Sachlang Tripura...

Imphal, June 6: With more than 15,000 people testing positive for HIV in Manipur so far, an alarmed government has decided to install condom vending machines in three districts. Manipur will be the first state in the Northeast to have such a facility.

State family welfare minister Bijoy Koijam said such a step would promote safer sexual practices and as well as family planning. The condoms will be available free of cost, he said.

The Manipur family welfare department has struck a deal for supply of 12 such machines from the Mumbai-based Hindustan Latex Company.

To be installed at strategic...

Silchar, June 6: Bru refugees displaced from Mizoram after ethnic riots and settled in relief camps in North Tripura since November 1997, have demanded the Centre?s intervention to resolve their repatriation problem.

Bruno Msha, president of the Mizoram Bru Refugee Committee, said here recently that it was high time the Centre intervened to resolve the impasse. He said more than 3,600 refugees have died of various diseases in the camps in the past six years.

He regretted that since the last round of talks between the Bru refugee leaders and the Mizoram government in 2001, no major initiative...

GUWAHATI, June 6?The State Government has made a fresh request to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs to reconsider the demand of the Koch-Rajbongshis of the State for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST), excluding areas of North Cachar Hills and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Councils.

The justification provided by the State for inclusion of Koch-Rajbongshis in the ST list is that these people are categorised as STs in West Bengal and Meghalaya, while in Tripura, they are treated as Scheduled Caste (SC); the Assam Institute of Research and Training also recommended inclusion of...

IMPHAL, June 6 ? Manipur government has extended the disturbed area status of the state under Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, for one more year from Sunday, a government notification said, reports PTI. The notification, issued Saturday, said the disturbed area status had been extended under the act to enable the armed forces aid the civil administration in tackling insurgents in the state.

Official sources said Manipur cabinet had on May 24 decided to extend the disturbed area status for one more year in view of increasing insurgency-related violence and incidents. The sources said...