NEW DELHI, April 30 ? Close on the heels of the Government of India extending the duration of the ceasefire with NSCN (Khaplang) faction by another year, the Centre had alerted Nagaland Government to take action against the outfit for circulating a notice against the minority community. The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, ID Swami said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that NSCN(K) faction?s four point notice was brought to the notice of the State Government for further appropriate action.

The Minister said the Khaplang faction had on January 16 circulated a four-point guideline...

GUWAHATI, April 30 ? There was a surplus rainfall of plus seven per cent between March 1 and April 24 this year in the State. There was also an improvement in the overall rainfall situation in the entire NE region during this period. But, this rainfall, however, does not have a clear-cut co-relation with the monsoon rainfall, said Meteorology office (Met) sources here today. The rainfall witnessed by the region now is pre-monsoon rainfall and the latest spurt in rainfall activities is due to the western disturbances prevailing since the last week of March. Conditions were also made favourable...

NEW DELHI, April 30? Several Bodo and non-Bodo organisations under the banner of Coordination Committee for Bodoland Movement (CCBM) today called on the BJP national president, Jana Krishnamurthy urging him to prevail on the Central Government to expedite the creation of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). A delegation of the CCBM spearheaded by All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) is currently in the capital to press for solution of the Bodo problem.

A spokesman of the CCBM told this newspaper that the delegation comprising representatives of Bengali, Adivasi, Nepali, Muslim, Rajbongshi...

GUWAHATI, April 30 ? Regretting that Assam has not been getting its due share in forms of royalty on crude oil and natural gas, the all-party delegation of Assam Assembly led by Speaker Prithibi Majhi today submitted a memorandum to Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ram Naik at New Delhi demanding fixation of royalty on crude oil on the basis of international market price. This was stated in an official release.

Stating that enhancement of royalty on crude oil on an adhoc basis has caused irreparable loss to the State Government which was already reeling under a financial crisis...

SHILLONG, April 30: With the Assembly elections in Meghalaya a little more than nine months away, the Congress today received shot in the arm bagging the Kharkutta seat in the district council bye-election the result of which was announced this evening. The win was all the more satisfying for the Congress as it is playing second fiddle to the Nationalist Congress Party in State politics since the last Assembly polls.