NEW DELHI, May 6 – The peace talks between the Government of India and NSCN(I-M) has yet again run into rough weather over the issue of unification of Naga-inhabited areas, highly placed sources said. The deadlock in the peace process prompted Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee to summon Mizoram Chief Minister, Zoramthanga to Delhi for consultation in an attempt to resolve the fresh crisis. The Mizoram Chief Minister last Friday had a close-door meeting with the Prime Minister on the issue, sources added.

The latest crisis can be traced to the last round of official-level talks held in...

DIBRUGARH, May 6 — Unidentified miscreants fired several gunshots at the wee hours today at the Jeraigaon residence of ULFA commander-in-chief, Paresh Baruah. According to Miliki Baruah, mother of Paresh Baruah, the family woke up at around 2 am this morning after they heard the shots. Paresh Baruah’s elder brother, Bimal, who is a civilian army employee with the Military Engineer Services at Chabua, lives with his mother in the village.

The police have begun investigating the case. In the last six years, miscreants fired at the house at least on three occasions. A younger brother of Paresh...

NEW DELHI, May 6 — The Union Cabinet today formally cleared the proposal for amendment of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution paving the way for tabling of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Bill in the ongoing session of the Parliament. The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Sushma Swaraj, said that in order to give effect to the provisions of the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS), the Cabinet has approved the amendments to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and the Article 332(6) of the Constitution and the Schedule Tribe Order 1950 to modify the list of the STs in respect of...

SHILLONG, May 6 — February this year witnessed the installation of a ‘Khichdi’ government cobbled together by the Congress which emerged the single largest party in the fractured verdict thrown up in the elections to the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly. With no clear mandate given by the electorate in successive Assembly polls, coalition politics has inevitably become the political culture of the hill State which was born in 1972.

The present coalition government led by Chief Minister D D Lapang is an amalgam of five political parties viz., the Congress, UDP, MDP, HSPDP and KHNAM besides...

Guwahati, May 6: International organisations active in the field of community forests, under the aegis of Community Forestry International (CFI), are working on a project to support the development of effective policies and programmes enabling communities to manage forest lands in the Northeast.

The partner institutions in the project are the regional centre of the National Afforestation and Eco Development Board and the North Eastern Hill University. The project, being funded by the John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation, will end in 2005. The CFI assists rural communities to stabilise and...