Development

AGARTALA, Dec 25 ? A labourer in jute mills at one time, sub-editor at the Ananda Bazar Patrika at another and an ardent Marxist, Nripen Chakraborty was involved in the Communist movement in India for six decades and became Chief Minister of Tripura for two terms.

Inspired by the Gandhian philosophy in his youth he took part in the Dandi March in 1930 and was in regular touch with the Abhay Ashram. A man of spartan habits and a lifelong bachelor, he became a party member in 1935 and joint secretary of the Bengal Provincial Communist Party along with Hirendranath Mukherjee in 1936. He also...

SHILLONG, Dec 25 ? The North Eastern Council (NEC) has undertaken evaluation-cum-impact studies on various projects by specialised agencies primarily to ascertain the effectiveness of the Central fundings, reports PTI.

NEC?s director of evaluation and monitoring R P Kharpuri told reporters here today that since inception, the Council has been formulating and sponsoring various development schemes and infrastructure projects in the region, but ?upon examination, it has been found that its implementations were not efficient and suffered shortcomings.?

The primary objective of commissioning such...

JORHAT, Dec 25 ?Synonymous with tea research since 1911, an ambitious catchment development study recently conducted by the Tocklai Experimental Station (TES) here may not only prove to be a boon for tea, but also boost rice cultuivation in the State.

?Taking help of geographic information system GIS), satellite mapping is effectively utilised for site-specific drainage improvement at locations which are vulnerable to water logging,? water technologist Dr Prashanta Kumar Bordoloi of the pioneer tea research organisation?s advisory cell told this newspaper.

?With roughly two lakh hectares in...

GUWAHATI, Dec 25 ? The All Bodo Students? Union (ABSU) has demanded that all Bodo mass organisations should be involved in the process of talks with militant outfit National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB). The ABSU also alleged that the Central and State Governments have so far failed to play a positive role to ensure the success of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).

Talking to The Assam Tribune, the ABSU president Rabiram Narzary expressed the view that the Government should not create a new problem while trying to solve one. He said that the BTC was created only last year following...

IMPHAL, Dec 24 ? The titular king of Manipur would be removed from his historical old palace and would be given accommodation in a new palatial multi-storey building as part of the ongoing Imphal city beautification drives, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh told the state Assembly on Thursday.

A committee constituted under his chairmanship has served a notice to the titular king Leishemba Sanajaoba whether he likes to take accommodation adjacent to the old palace or somewhere he likes for which the State Government is ready for reconstruction of the old palace, the Chief Minister said. The king...

AGARTALA, Dec 24 ? Wild goose chase is on in the police circles about the surrender of the breakway Nayanbashi faction in the NLFT outfit. Many eyebrows are being raised over the fact that the real identity of the outfit members who are slated to laid down their arms on December 25.

According to sources Nayanbashi fled to Bangladesh with a sum of Rs. 25 lakh from the outfits fund. Police are at their wits end to ascertain the actual members of the Nayanbashi members. Self-styled vice-president of the faction Buchuk Barak and Prime Minister Aron Barak are all at sea to prepare the catalogue of...

NAMRUP, Dec 24?Namrup, once a sleepy area with deep jungles, now ranks as one of the important industrial towns of Assam with three major gas-based industries, tea-gardens and forest resources.

The process of industrialisation began in Namrup in 1965 with the setting up of the Namrup Thermal Power Station (NTPS), the first of its kind in the entire Northeastern region. After that two other major Gas-based industries viz BVFC (then HFCL) Namrup unit of Assam Petrochemicals Ltd (APL) began commercial production from 1969 and 1975 respectively, providing direct and indirect employment to...

KALIABOR, Dec 24? Depredation by a herd of wild elephants at Chatial Mouza under Kaliabor sub-division has been causing panic among the inhabitants of the areas of Sorubhagiya, Sakmothi, Alchirnagagaon, Dalgaon, Bharali-gaon, Majgaon, Sonarigaon and other neighbouring villages. The wild elephants have been damaging standing crops. The inhabitants have been spending sleepless nights.

Despite repeated demands, the department concerned as well as local administration have not taken any appropriate measures to drive out the wild elephants causing havoc and operating from the forests of Kaziranga...

GUWAHATI, Dec 24 ? In what could be a boon to the fund-starved State Forest Department, moves are afoot to provide degraded areas of Assam for afforestation as part of the carbon trade programme under the Kyoto Protocol. At least, that is what senior forest department officials believe.

A typical Common Development Mechanism (CDM) plan might involve a US carbon-producing industry paying to conserve forests in India, which would absorb some of the excess carbon dioxide emitted in the United States. At present, such carbon trades are being promoted by the World Bank.

The perspective behind the...

GUWAHATI, Dec 24 ? The orders to the cadres of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to carry out acts of violence to protest the Royal Bhutan Army?s operation against the outfit came from the leaders staying in Bangladesh.

Highly-placed security sources said that some such messages were intercepted by the security forces involved in the counter-insurgency operations and all those messages came from Bangladesh. It is yet to be ascertained whether the orders came directly from the ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah, ? but it is sure that the orders came from Bangladesh.?

Sources said...