Development

GUWAHATI, Dec 4 ? The winter sun is once again illuminating artefacts, which have emerged from some mounds in Dubarani at Barpathar after a gap of several centuries. While there is no definite information when the artefacts became entrenched in the mounds, some of them could belong to AD 7-8 century.

Excavation in the Dubarani site in Golaghat district has till now revealed two brick-built temple plinths. In another round of recent excavation, a Shivalinga has also been exposed to the delight of the archaeologists. The objects are now being prepared for conservation in situ. Recently, Lecham...

IMPHAL, Dec 3 ? A series of landmine blasts at the ?conflict zone? in the interior areas of Manipur bordering Myanmar that cost the lives of a dozen people including securitymen, insurgents and civilians have sounded an alert particularly to the voluntary organizations of the ethnic tribals.

In the absence of high tech devices, troops of the Indian Army now launching large-scale counter-insurgency campaigns at the Indo-Myanmar border villages of Molcham and Selon in Chandel district of Manipur are using cattle to detect landmines planted by insurgents, intelligence reports said here on Friday...

NEW DELHI, Dec 3 ? At least 293 tea gardens in Assam have defaulted in payments of Provident Fund (PF) dues, while 65 criminal cases have been filed so far against defaulting tea garden managements.

Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Sis Ram Ola in a letter to AGP MP, Sarbananda Sonowal, copy of which was released to the media informed that recovery cases against 164 tea gardens under Assam Tea Plantation PF schemes were underway, involving an arrears of Rs 37.67 crore. So far only Rs 4.06 crore have been realised.

The Union Minister further added that 12 FIRs have been lodged for...

NEW DELHI, Dec 3 ? Assam Government?s indifference to illegal cutting of trees is likely to land it in a soup, with the Supreme Court today calling for a status report on Rani Reserve Forest from an independent agency.

Alarmed by reports of devastation suffered by Rani Reserve Forest following massive felling of trees, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice SK Sabarwal, Justice Arijit Pasayat, Justice SH Kapadia, in a response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) ordered Regional Chief Conservator of Forest, Shillong, a Central Government agency to file a status report...

KOHIMA, Dec 2 ? Top leaders of NSCN-IM have decided to visit New Delhi soon to further the Naga peace parleys after the Centre issued a clarification to them on ?misunderstandings between the two sides over certain issues?. ?All hurdles have been cleared by the Government of India before their visit and the collective leadership are arriving any time in the next few days,? said NSCN-IM Information and Publicity in-charge Kraibo Chawang.

Chawang told PTI that the Centre despatched its official clarification to the collective leadership recently in view of ?misunderstanding between the two sides...

GUWAHATI, Dec 2 ? The passenger carrying capacity of the popular trains going out of the North Eastern region will be increased in a phased manner and the Railway Board has already taken a decision to increase the number of coaches in four trains originating from Guwahati.

Railway sources said that Indian Railways already started the process of running longer trains in other sections and running of 24-coach trains has become a common feature. But so far the trains running from the North East were not included in the scheme and only recently, the Railway Board has taken a decision to introduce...

NEW DELHI, Dec 2 ? At least ten militant outfits operating in the north-eastern region (NER) including the ULFA and NDFB have been declared outlaw under the ?Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2004? tabled in the Lok Sabha here today.

The list of terrorists? organisations, however, held no surprises as they continued to face ban and under provisions of POTA since junked by the Government. A POTA ( Repeal) Bill was tabled simultaneously by Union Minister of State, S Reghupathy here this morning.

Despite stiff opposition from the NDA, the UPA Government in keeping with the...

KOHIMA, Dec 1 ? The fifth ?Hornbill Festival?, showcasing different facets of Naga heritage, got off to a colourful start here with Governor Shyamal Datta calling upon the people to make serious endeavours for preserving their culture and bio-diversity of the state.

Coinciding with 41st Nagaland Statehood Day, the five-day annual festival began at Naga heritage village Kisama, ten km south of the capital town, with an aim to provide a slice of Naga life under one roof to promote tourism. Dutta lamented that Nagaland, once famous for its pristine natural beauty, fauna and flora, was today in a...

GUWAHATI, Dec 1 ? The State Government will introduce a Bill in the next session of the State Assembly to effect an amendment to the Assam Taxation (on Specified Land) Act, 2001 with a view to bringing natural gas, crude oil, coal and lime stone to the taxable item?s list.

Announcing this here today, Minister of State for Planning and Finance Himanta Biswa Sarma said that this amendment was sought to be brought in consonance with a judgement of the Supreme Court of India, said official sources here.

The State Government has proposed to levy a cess at the rate of Rs 200 on per MT of the crude...

GUWAHATI, Dec 1 ? The Assam Government is going ahead with the reform programme of the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) despite the opposition of the employees, and the Board is likely to be unbundled into three companies shortly.

Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, the Minister of State for Power, Pradyut Bordoloi, said that reform of the power sector is a must to improve the power scenario of the State and ?the people of Assam deserve better power supply.?

He alleged that some misinformation was spread over the issue of reforms and asserted that the Government is not going to...