GUWAHATI, April 8 — Dimasa student leaders today demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident of gruesome murder of 23 Dimasa people by the extremist group Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic) in Cachar district on March 31 last. Addressing newspersons at Dispur Last Gate here All Dimasa Students’ Union (ADSU) president Sanmoni Kemprai, Dimasa Students’ Community, Guwahati (DSCG) president Smt Subarna Haflongbar and DSCG general secretary Rajdeep Kemprai also demanded that the inquiry should be conducted by a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and the inquiry should also deal with...

Shillong, April 8: How does one describe a septuagenarian woman who gives up her family riches to live in a cave? Eccentric or compulsively adventurous?

Seventy-one-year-old Bris Sibon Basiawmoit’s lifestyle — far from the madding crowd and closest to nature — qualifies her to be branded a combination of both. Lovingly called Mei Deng by those close to her, she has been staying in a cave at Um Sharang in Ri Bhoi district for seven years now.

Ask her why she lives alone in a cave and Basiawmoit’s reply is a simple one.

“I am happy here, unlike in the cities, which are far and full of problems...

Guwahati, April 8: The seven-member advisory group to the ministry of home affairs, set up to look into the security loopholes in the seven northeastern states, today rued that despite several attempts, it has not been able to meet any of the chief ministers except Tarun Gogoi.

The group, which include among others, supercop K.P.S. Gill, former Arunachal Pradesh chief secretary S.K. Agnihotri and Lt. Gen. (retired) S.K. Pillai, was also supposed to recommend measures to plug those loopholes.

“We have been trying for the past six months to meet all the chief ministers. But we managed to meet...

Silchar/Guwahati, April 8: Tension continued to crackle in the twin districts of Cachar and North Cachar Hills after the recovery of an unidentified body today, while the Assembly team that had visited the strife-torn areas blamed both Hmar and Dimasa militants for the ongoing ethnic feud.

The toll in the ethnic riots was revised to 24 after the body of a suspected victim in the massacre on March 31 came floating down the Rukni river, near Monierkhal in Cachar district, this morning.

Section 144 CrPC was clamped in Halflong town as a precautionary step after miscreants set fire to a scooter...

NEW DELHI, April 7— Flooded by pleas for more funds from the north-eastern States, the Ministry for Development of North-eastern Region (DONER) has sought enhanced Budgetary allocation from the Finance Ministry. Minister for DONER, Dr CP Thakur disclosed this here today that even as he sought an appointment with the Prime Minister to discuss the issue of withdrawal of Central Excise Duty exemptions on certain products.

Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of an exhibition ‘Development Initiatives in the North-eastern Region’, which he inaugurated here this afternoon, the Minister divulged that...