Guwahati, May 25: The NSCN (I-M) today threatened to go in for a referendum on its demand for the integration of Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast if the Centre continued to be indecisive on the issue.

The organisation announced its stand after the talks between its leadership and the Centre?s chief interlocutor, K. Padmanabhaiah, again ended in a deadlock. The meeting was held in Bangkok.

NSCN (I-M) chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary Th. Muivah were unavailable for comment, but a source in the Thai capital confirmed that the duo held firm on the issue of integrating Naga...

GUWAHATI, May 24 ? At the tender age of seven years, Purnima Rongpharpi of Tekelangjun in Karbi Anglong has lost all colours of life and is left staring at a bleak future. Affected by deadly fluorosis, Purnima is suffering from acute backpain, chronic dysentry and mattled teeth at such an early stage in her life when she should be playing with toys.

Deadly fluorosis has deprived a large section of population in Karbi Anglong of their child hood and youth. Drinking water in many parts of Karbi Anglong hill district particularly in Tekalangjun, Dengaon, Ransapathar, Lungnit, Kheroni, etc, is...

GUWAHATI, May 23?Poachers last night killed two rhinos ? a mother and her calf at Pobitora wildlife sanctuary, home to the second largest population of the endangered great Indian one-horned rhinoceros after Kaziranga National Park, and decamped with the horn. The two rhinos were killed by electrocution near the Kamarpur camp, adjacent to the roadside, the Pobitora ranger said. This is the second time in the last two-and-a-half-years that poachers electrocuted a rhino, but failed to take away the horn. Mentionably, Pobitora, situated at a distance of just 52 km from the city, shelters nearby...

GUWAHATI, May 23 ? A study conducted by the Soil Conservation Department recently, reveals that the degradation status of the city hills is ?almost directly related? to encroachments upon them. The study also reveals that the city?s 18 hills are covered by 75 villages, consisting of 26,985 households with a total population of 1,23,979. Ironically, this was the total population of the city in 1971, said the study.

The hills like Sunsali, Kalapahar, Khanapara, Nabagraha, Gandhibasti are subjected to ruthless devastation by the encroachers, while Basistha, Sonaighuli, Kamakhya etc, hills have...

Guwahati, May 23: The agitation against the Tipaimukh dam in Manipur has finally reached the United Nations.

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, during its second session, which ended today in New York, discussed the threat posed by the Rs 1,078-crore multipurpose project to local tribals.

Raising the issue in the UN forum, representatives of the Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE) told the forum, ?The dam will mean virtually the total destruction of the worlds of the Hmar and Zeliangrong tribes and also have a long-term impact on many other indigenous tribals in...