Development

NEW DELHI, Nov 17 ? The top brass of the outlawed ULFA including commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah are willing to come down to Guwahati for dialogue provided they get a formal invitation from the Government of India, Jnanpith Awardee Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami said here today. Dr Goswami was asked to convey this to the Government of India by the ULFA commander-in-chief.

The message apparently meant to convey ULFA?s seriousness as well as to refute allegations that it was under total grip of the ISI, is to be conveyed to the Prime Minister?s Security Adviser, MK Narayanan. The ULFA has sought a...

SHILLONG, Nov 16 ? A high-level meeting on Monday reconstituted the fact-finding committee to study the Assam-Meghalaya border imbroglio pertaining to the controversial Block-I areas in Karbi Anglong district of Assam.

The meeting, initiated by Union DONER and Tribal Affairs Minister, Patty Ripple Kyndiah, was attended by officials of Meghalaya and Assam and representatives of Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council (KAADC).

Held at Khanduli, close to the Meghalaya-Assam border, the meeting was attended by Lok Sabha member from Karbi...

GUWAHATI, Nov 16: Assam were 136 for 5 in reply to Jharkhand?s 194 all out in the Polly Umbrigar under-15 East Zone cricket tournament being played at Cooperative College Ground in Jharkhand today. Batting first on the first day of the three-day match, the hosts scored the total riding on useful contributions of 48 and 30 from the blades of S Srivastav and N Sinha respectively.

Bikram Chetry was the main wicket-taker for Assam who clinched six wickets giving ayaw 50 runs. Roshan Das was the other spearhead who claimed three wickets for 30 runs. The tourists? Rishab Das (45) and Parthajit...

KOLKATA, Nov 16 ? The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled for later this month at Goa, will have an unusual first-time entry ? a full-length feature film in Kokborok, the indigenous language of Tripura, made by a Catholic priest. Mathia (The Bangle), which features in the ?Panorama? section of the IFFI, is scheduled for screening at ?Screen-I?, the largest of the IFFI venues, according to the film?s director, Fr Joseph Pulinthanath.

?Mathia is a story of trust, betrayal and redemption built around the social phenomenon of witch-hunting,? Fr Joseph, a priest of the Salesian...

SHILLONG, Nov 16 ? The Khasi Students Union today demanded renaming of the North Eastern Hill University and expressed opposition to the move of Development of North Eastern Region Ministry to include Sikkim in the university?s jurisdiction.

Citing cases of local students being ?deprived? of admission to the NEHU as there was a ?continued inflow? from other North Eastern states to the university, the prominent students? body called for renaming the NEHU as Shillong Central University.

?Meghalaya is the only state in the North-east without its own university. It is hightime the state gets its...

IMPHAL, Nov 15 ? A new research project on breeding and culturing ?giant fresh water prawns? (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) imported from West Bengal and Maharastra has made a major breakthrough in the world of pisciculture reseach works in the state. These species suited for culturing in Manipur, joint director of the fisheries, Karam Saratkumar Singh told this correspondent.

For the first time, over 50 kg of ?giant prawns? measuring around 30 cm long and weighing about 200 grams were sold in the annual fish fair-cum-fish crop competition 2004 at Imphal on Saturday. The giant prawns which draw...

IMPHAL, Nov 15 ? Forest areas are shrinking from 67.6 percent to 48 per cent in the total area of 22,327 sq kms of Manipur, according to the latest report of the state forest department. In 1987 the forest areas were 17679 sq kms but in the latest survey using remote sensing satellites, the figure shrunk to 17418 sq kms. Areas under the Reserved Forest category are 1467 sq kms, Protected Forest 4171 sq kms and other forest 11,780 sq kms, the report said.

Around three kms from Imphal, the Langol Reserved Forest with its 7.45 sq kms areas serving as the ?green lungs? of the Imphal valley has...

DIMAPUR, Nov 15 ? The NSCN-IM has charged New Delhi of secretly arming its rivals to diminish its influence in Naga areas. The organization threatened to call off the planned visit of its top brass ? chairman Isak Chishi Swu and general sescretary Th. Muivah ? to India if New Delhi did not clarify why it was still continuing to arm and abet its arch rivals, the FGN and the NSCN-K.

Isak and Muivah are scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on November 28 and then to Nagaland sometime in the first week of December.

K Chawang, deputy kilonser of the outfit alleged, ?We have concrete evidence that the...

GUWAHATI, Nov 15 ? North-east?s uncodified customary laws and practices are a unique system of justice administration for the indigenous people of the region to resolve disputes, reports PTI. ?The customary laws of the North-east vary from place to place, village to village, tribe to tribe and also within the same tribe in different places. The laws are not codified and are thus not uniform but are a fascinating study of a unique judicial system?, says Dr Jeuti Barooah, Director of Law Research Institute, Eastern Region, Gauhati High Court.

Since ancient times, the village councils disposed of...

NEW DELHI, Nov 15 ? The outlawed ULFA is willing to sit for dialogue with the Government of India unconditionally but wants sovereignty as the core issue of the discussion. This was conveyed by Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami to Prime Minister?s security adviser, MK Narayanan. The preliminary meeting with the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO) official was described as cordial and Dr Goswami was assured of an appointment with the Prime Minister in a day or two.

The over-one-hour-long meeting between the Prime Minister?s security pointsman and Dr Goswami ended with preliminary discussion on the preparation...