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NEW DELHI, April 4 — The honeymoon between NSCN (IM) leadership and Government of India’s chief interlocutor, K Padmanabhaiah appears to be over, with the Naga leadership warning that peace talks would be hit by if Government insisted on arms surrender. Even as the Government of India and NSCN (IM) are preparing the ground for the next round of talks somewhere in Europe, the Naga outfit fired another salvo at Padmanabhaiah by regretting ‘the irresponsible’ utterances from representatives of Government of India.

The NSCN (IM) is apparently put off by a statement about the possibility of the...

GUWAHATI, April 4—Alarmed at the ethnic flare-up in Cachar district areas along the Assam-Mizoram border where Hmar People’s Conference (HPC) extremists have killed at least 23 Dimasa villagers, the State Assembly today decided to rush an all-party team headed by the Speaker Prithbi Majhi to take stock of the situation in the violence-affected areas. The speaker announced that the House team would leave early tomorrow even as the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi underlined the need for evolving a coordinated mechanism by all the NE States to fight insurgency jointly.

In response to a Zero Hour...

Dimapur, April 3: Naga Hoho president M. Vero today said the search for a political solution to insurgency in Nagaland should not be affected by the success or failure of efforts to unite warring factions.

Addressing a seminar here on ?Reconciliation, peace and unity?, the man who heads the apex organisation of Naga tribes said ?internal issues? must be dealt with separately to ensure that the pace of the ongoing political dialogue does not slacken.

Vero?s statement marks a departure from the popular view that the Naga peace process will remain a one-sided affair until the entire community...

New Delhi, April 3: Ecological changes in the eastern Himalayas could have a bearing on an unlikely aspect of life — monastic rituals at the 400-year-old Tawang monastery of Arunachal Pradesh.

The exotic rhododendron flower has long been used in the religious rituals at the historical Tawang monastery, but the species is now on the brink of extinction because of continuous environmental damage. Of the 65 species of rhododendrons found in the country, as many as 43 have been classified as “rare and threatened”. Rhododendrons, called sheng by the local residents of Tawang, grow at altitudes...

NALBARI, April 3 – When the Central and State governments have been trying to make the ongoing Sarba Siksha Mission Abhijan a grand success in each district of the State, the primary education system of insurgency-infested Nalbari district continues to be in deplorable condition. In the district, at least 13 primary school are running without own building and the building of other 50 schools are in a very deplorable state having no atmosphere for imparting lessons to primary level students. Similarly, 188 primary schools are running with single teacher making the students a disadvantaged lot.

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