News

NEW DELHI, March 5 — The creation of the proposed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) is likely to be delayed, with the Ministry of Home Affairs today declining to fix a time-frame to introduce the amendments to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, ID Sami said that there was no firm time-frame fixed in the memorandum of settlement (MoS) to introduce the Bills in the Parliament. Some of the provisions of the MoS require amendments to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and the Constitution...

Shillong, March 4: Seventy-year-old D. Dethwelson Lapang, who was today sworn in as chief minister of Meghalaya for the second time in his chequered career, had been written off as a “losing candidate” not long ago.

But the veteran politician not only won the Nongpoh seat, but was also unanimously elected leader of the Meghalaya Congress Legislature Party and chairman of the new Meghalaya Democratic Alliance, paving the way for his rise to the top post.

Lapang’s “rivalry” with Meghalaya Congress president Salseng C. Marak had often landed him in controversy.

Marak’s defeat at the hands of...

Jatinga village (N.C. Hills), March 4: The view of sunrise from the Hempeopet peak, they say, is better than the morning spectacle from Tiger Hill in Darjeeling.

Situated at an altitude of 6,000 feet above sea level, the peak will now form the backdrop of an exotic trail for adventure lovers as the North Cachar Hills district administration is planning to throw open a path for trekking in the Borail range. The picturesque Jatinga hamlet, which lies at a distance of 10 km from Haflong, is internationally famous as the home of the kamikaze birds. It is now poised to be a tourist destination...

DIBRUGARH, March 5— Under the Samaritan scheme of the Assam Police called Project Prahari, at least one remote village in the district is set to see a happier future. The project is a brainchild of the Assam DGP, Hare Krishna Deka. Ordinarily used to round up ruffians and maintain law and order, cops of the Khowang police station in the Dibrugarh district are taking up an altogether different role as society peers and thereby helping villagers to help themselves.

Project Prahari was launched at the nondescript Bokahulla village on March 17 last year. During the past twelve months, the hundred...

Shillong, March 5: Cracks have already begun to surface in the day-old Meghalaya Democratic Alliance led by Congress chief minister D.D. Lapang. Sources today said friction between the Congress and the United Democratic Party (UDP), the two major partners, over portfolios has come to the fore.

They said Lapang was still undecided on the size of the ministry, despite having already inducted 38 ministers. The chief minister parried questions on seeming differences within the coalition but hinted at a “common minimum programme” for governance, which was being worked out to check dissension.

The...