ITANAGAR, Jan 16 ? Approximately 30,000 (thirty thousand) of pilgrims braving the chilly cold took a holy dip at the famous Parashuram Kund in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh on the eve of ??Paush Makar Sankranti.?? Official sources from Tezu, the district headquarter of Lohit told The Assam Tribune over phone Tuesday that thousands of pilgrims, sadhus, old men-women and children from different parts of the country including pilgrims from neighbouring Nepal and Bhutan queued up in the early morning to take holy dip with a belief that a dip in the kund is enough to exonerated oneself from...

GOALPARA, Jan 16 ? Although eri and muga culture has the potentiality to revolutionise the economy of Assam, lack of professionalism is hampering the growth of the silk industry in the State. So far Goalpara district is concerned, which has a history of rearing of eri and muga by the tribal population (mainly), sericulture is perhaps the only sector which can provide employment to thousands of persons and earn foreign exchange. Jogesh Deuri, an experienced extension officer of sericulture said this while delivering a talk on sericulture as an agro-industry, organised by zoology department of...

Guwahati, Jan. 16: The NSCN (I-M) today dismissed the Centre?s assertion that future rounds of peace talks with the outfit would be held only in the country.

Deputy kilo kilonser (?home minister?) of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) V. Horam told The Telegraph via telephone from Dimapur that they were not bound to hold future talks in India.

?As far as we are concerned, the future talks could be held in Delhi or in any European or Asian country,? Horam said.

Union minister of state for home I.D. Swami, in a telephone interview with The Telegraph recently, had said the...

Imphal, January 16: The torch rally called by the United Committee Manipur took an ugly turn when thousands of people who came out braving the January chill turned violent at different points of the capital city today. However the rally passed off peacefully without any major hitches at other places. Rallies were taken out peacefully at Pallel, Moirang, Kumbi, Thoubal, Kakching and Bishnupur. An enraged mob turned their wrath towards some UCM volunteers and tried to burn the vehicle in which the volunteers were travelling at Uripok today. Timely action by the police saved the vehicle. Cops on...

Jorhat, Jan. 16: A landmark signature campaign is under way in rural areas along the Brahmaputra in Jorhat and Sivasagar districts to create awareness to conserve birds in the region. A charter containing suggestions for protection of birds with one lakh signatures will be presented to chief minister Tarun Gogoi at the inaugural function of first-ever bird festival in Assam. The four-day event will begin on January 19 in Jorhat and Sivasagar simultaneously.

The festival has been organised by the Action for Greener Earth to generate awareness among the people to preserve the avian heritage on...