Development / Assam

The drive against forest encroachers began in Assam on May 7, 2002. It reached a flashpoint during the eviction drive in Botahguli, where one person died of bullet injuries after paramilitary forces opened fire to control a mob. It immediately became a political issue. The powerful student bodies of Assam challenged the forest department to act against illegal migrants. Assam Gana Parishad (agp), the state’s main opposition party, argued for protecting the indigenous peoples’ rights. Tribal bodies strongly opposed the drive, alleging that it targeted the indigenous people only. “Tribals are...

GUWAHATI, Jan 17? Of the State?s 54,16,601 children in the age group of six to fourteen years, 14,49,088 are out of school. Of them, 7,47,908 are boys and 7,01,180 are girls. In all, 2,74,460 children are found to be dropouts in this age group, and 1,48,283 of them are boys, while 1,26,178 are girls. A total number of 11,74,628 children in this age group, in the State, have been found to have never enrolled themselves in schools. While 5,99,626 of them are boys 5,75,003 are girls. The State has 28,38,870 boys and 25,77,731 girls in the age group of six to fourteen years. The future of the...

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...

Silchar, Jan. 14: The Assam Central University at Dargakona has launched an extensive campaign to popularise the use of solar-ray treated water for drinking in south Assam, Mizoram and Meghalaya. The ecology department of the university, in collaboration with two NGOs in Nepal and South Africa, had been selected by the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Sciences and Technology to carry out the project. The Swiss institute and the ecology department have signed an MoU in this regard.

The institute has launched similar projects in Columbia, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and...

DIBRUGARH, Jan 8 — A controversial decision to put up a boundary wall around the campus of the Assam Medical College (AMC) during 1982-83 by its then principal Dr Nekibur Zaman, has put the institution authorities in a quandary. For, the wall excludes more than 442 bighas of land which old land records say, belong to AMC. The matter has since been taken up by the local Youth Leadership Centre (YLC), which has also filed a public interest complaint before the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Earlier too, the matter was reported in a section of the print media, but lost significance as...

DIBRUGARH, Jan 7 — A herd of elephants, numbering between 30 and 35, have been terrorizing the people in a dozen villages in the south-western fringes of the city. This annual depredation by the pachyderm pack has till now gone unchecked, even as the forest department officials are at their wit’s end as to how to tackle the situation. The villages that have been hit hard by elephants knocking at human dwellings include Kathalbam, Metakani, Sessa Nagaon, Bordoibam and Majgaon in the Medela Dehingmukh area, Dighalia and Moinammirigaon in the Kolakhowa area and Paroliguri, Baregharia and...

Guwahati, Jan. 6: The Centre has prepared a bail-out package for Assam’s ailing tea industry. Tea exporters from Assam, who use the inland container depot at Amingaon, will receive an enhanced transport subsidy of Rs 2 per kg. Currently the transport subsidy is Re 1 per kg. According to a Federation of Industries and Commerce of North Eastern Region (Finer) release, the Tea Board and the commerce ministry has agreed on principle to enhance the transport subsidy by Re 1 and a notification in this regard would be issued soon.

The request was accepted by the commerce ministry and the Tea Board at...

Guwahati, Dec. 5: Experts on road-building and maintenance are flipping through the pages of history for inspiration from the Ahom monarchs, who built Assam’s most durable roads and bridges. These experts, gathered here for the ongoing Indian Roads Congress, are of the view that the methods employed by the erstwhile Ahom rulers to maintain the road network of that era were worthy of being adopted even today. “Coupled with modern technology, the system of old can make roads easier to maintain and strong enough to withstand the ravages of time,” engineer B.M. Goswami said in his presentation.

T...

GOLAGHAT, Jan 4— Depredation of the wild elephants is becoming a common feature at Marangi Revenue circle within Golaghat district. A herd of wild elephants have been continuously damaging dwelling houses and standing crops of the people of the area since 2000. The elephants have so far killed more than 30 people and this has made the people of Fallangani, Fulbari, Balizan, Porajanghal Thuramukh, Kdoju and Symraipur areas spend sleepless nights.

Recently, a herd of 50 to 60 elephants had damaged — the dwelling houses of Modon Gogoi, Bopai Bora, Ghanasyam Gogoi and Sashidhar Konwar of Rangbong...

KOKRAJHAR, Jan 2 – Dwellers along the Sankoch river in Assam have urged the authorities concerned to check the unabated encroachment by migrants from West Bengal especially in the forest lands on the Assam side along the West Bengal boundary. The public here have asked the State Government to take up the issue with the West Bengal authorities.

According to the information available here, a large portion of forest land under Ripu Mauza No. 1 lat around 113 No. pillar (khuti) of Gossaigaon sub-division of about 1000 Bighas of forest land has been under encroachment of the neighbouring State...