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...

KOHIMA, March 4 — Former Nagaland Chief Minister Hokishe Sema was on Monday unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party, which made its maiden entry in state politics by clinching seven seats in the just-concluded election, party sources said.

At a meeting held at Dimapur, BJP legislators unanimously elected Sema as legislature party leader, in presence of BJP vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal and party in-charge of north-east V Satish and state BJP leaders.

The party legislators would proceed to Kohima to attend the combined meeting of constituents of Democratic Alliance of...

NAHARLAGUN, March 4 – Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mukut Mithi presented a tax-free budget with a total outlay of Rs 1476.03 crore for year 2003 –2004 in the State Assembly here on Monday. “I am happy to announce that I have no new taxes imposed in this year”, Mithi who also holds the portfolio of finance said, while presenting the budget.

However, he said stringent measures imposed in the previous Budget on OTA, honorarium, traveling expenses, office expenses and maintenance of vehicles and ban on LTC for four years would continue till the next financial year”. “The non-Plan revised...

NEW DELHI, March 4 — While ruling out the possibility of creation of an autonomous State for the hill districts of Assam, Minister of Home Affairs (MHA) has clarified that though ceasefire pact is in operation with Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) and United Peoples Democratic Solidarity (UPDS), formal peace talks are yet to start. In a written reply to a question tabled by Dr Jayanta Rongpi in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home, ID Swami has clarified that at present, there is no proposal for creation of autonomous State within Assam under Article 244 (A) of the Constitution.

The...

SHILLONG, March 4— The biggest-ever coalition ministry in Meghalaya was sworn-in here today with the former Deputy Chief Minister D D Lapang as the new Chief Minister. Apparently shaky over the fact that the last Assembly had been as many as six Governments in the span of five years, Lapang inducted a record 38 ministers-28 of Cabinet rank and the rest ten as Ministers of State in the two-tier Council of Ministers. State Governor, M M Jacob administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Council of Ministers at the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhawan in the presence of a big gathering.

A...