News

Imphal, March 5: Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh today held talks with agitating members of organisations advocating the 27-character Meitei script.

The protesters had yesterday destroyed the foundation stone of a flyover laid by the chief minister after the government reportedly failed to meet their deadline for changing the inscription on the stone.

The organisations have claimed that the alphabets on the stone were “incorrect”.

Ibobi Singh laid the foundation stone for the Bir Tikendrajit flyover in the heart of the state capital on February 14.

The first ever flyover in the...

Imphal, March 5: The word “welcome”, written in bold on the overhead frame of the main door, appears incongruous for once. Young Yumlambem Sanamacha surely had no idea when he wrote the word that he was unwittingly inviting misfortune to his house.

On the night of February 12, 1998, a group of jawans of the Rashtriya Rifles entered Sanamacha’s house in Angtha village of Manipur — without even knocking — and dragged him away. He has not been seen since.

For his parents, Jugol Singh and Arubi Devi, the five-year-long wait for their missing son ended on February 23 when they performed his last...

Kohima, March 5: For the first time in Nagaland’s history, as many as three national parties will be part of a coalition government modelled on the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre. The Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN), which has 38 legislators in the 60-member Assembly, today submitted a list of signatures to Governor Shyamal Dutta. Indications are that a new ministry, led by former Congress minister Neiphiu Rio, will be sworn in tomorrow.

The nascent alliance includes the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF), the BJP, the Samata Party and the Janata Dal (United). While Rio is the...

Kohima, March 5: Humour and music play important roles in Neiphiu Rio’s life. On the eve of becoming the 17th chief minister of Nagaland, the veteran politician will have possibly reflected that he will require dollops of humour to retain his sanity while facing the music from a large band of detractors.

The NSCN (Khaplang)’s threat to assassinate prominent persons, not excluding the new chief minister and his Cabinet colleagues, was surely not the beginning Rio had hoped for. However, there is no stopping the Naga community and others who have made the state their home from hoping that the...

NEW DELHI, March 4 — Notwithstanding the clamour, the Union Finance Ministry has in the last two financial years not written off any loans, including that of Assam. The only two lucky States which had some amounts written off included only two north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. A sum of Rs 1.72 crore was written off in the case of Arunachal Pradesh while Rs 2.52 crore was written off in the case of Manipur. For the current financial year no loan has been written off in respect of any State, Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said in Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Assam...