Development

IMPHAL, Dec 9 ? Violence against the weaker section of the Manipuri society is on the rise with the report of 168 crimes (against women) since the beginning of this year till date. This was stated in a seminar held as part of the international fortnight observation protesting violence against women and girls from November 25 till December 10 under the aegis of the United NGOs? Mission, Manipur at the premises of the Manipur Volunteers? Health Association, Imphal.

?There were 12 women murder cases, four attempted murders, 11 suicides, 28 assaults, 17 child abuse cases, 49 complaint cases and 23...

GOLAGHAT, Dec 9 ? The centenary celebration of the Kaziranga National Park is going to be held in the month of February 2005. It may be mentioned here that the Kaziranga National Park was declared in 1908 as a forest reserve and on February 11 in 1974, Kaziranga was declared as a national park.

This year an increase in foreign tourists is being expected. The world famous one-horned rhino population has been increasing gradually. An increase in the tourist flow is also expected in Nameri, Pabitora, Orang, Dibru-Chaikhowa national parks. According to the office of the State Tourism, there is a...

GUWAHATI, Dec 9 ? What could be called their channel to survival, small canopy bridges have come to facilitate the movement of hoolock gibbons (Bunopithecus hoolock) in a part of their habitat. This recent initiative of some researchers and scholars have given isolated populations of hoolock gibbons access to new territories, which according to experts, would lead to healthy populations of the species.

The project named ?Survey and study of the behavioural response of Hoolock Gibbon in fragmented forest and its conservation perspectives,? also covered valuable ground in establishing major home...

NEW DELHI, Dec 9 ? Keeping with the commitment made by the Prime Minister, the Guwahati-Bangkok flight has been revived and the first flight would leave on January 1, Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patil announced here today. But Air India is out of the picture and the weekly flights would be operated by the Indian Airlines.

The international carrier opted out of Guwahati-Bangkok sector following huge loss of revenue after operating the flights for about a year. The flight was introduced with much fanfare in April 2002.

Meanwhile, faced with flaks from MPs of the North-east, the Civil...

NEW DELHI, Dec 9 ? Continuing their round of courtesy calls, NSCN (IM) leaders today called on a host of leaders including former Prime Ministers, Atal Behari Vajpayee, VP Singh, even as NSCN(IM) general secretary, Th Muivah said that they are positive that something would come out.

Amidst escalating tension in Manipur with the rival Khaplang faction, the chairman and the general secretary of NSCN(IM), Isak Chisi Swu and Th Muivah talked peace. They reiterated that whatever the conflict, dispute or differences, it must be all solved through peaceful negotiations.

The visiting NSCN (IM)...

NEW DELHI, Dec 9 ? Euphoria of having a MP from North-east as Minister in-charge for the region is over, as MPs from the north-eastern States are seething with anger over alleged non-performance of Minister, Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), PR Kyndiah. Laid back attitude of the only Cabinet Minister from the North-east has left his colleagues fuming, even as they prepare to approach Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to change the Minister DoNER.

The reason for the MPs? ire were the pile of schemes and projects they had submitted to the Minister, which were either rejected or kept...

GUWAHATI, Dec 9 ? The ULFA today rejected the offer of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to come for talks. In a statement e-mailed to the media here this evening, ULFA Commander-in-Chief Paresh Baruah said, ?The reply of the Prime Minister to Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami will disappoint the peace loving people of Assam. It is not surprising that the Prime Minister?s reply was sent by the security adviser to PMO which shows that the Prime Minister did not think it worth to give a personal reply to the sincere effort of Dr Goswami.?

The ULFA leader stated that the PMO?s letter is contradictory and...

NEW DELHI, Dec 9 ? Asserting that his Ministry?s heart was with Assam on the gas cracker project, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), Mani Shanker Aiyar struck a positive note claiming that the Project was back on track.

Participating in a Question Hour discussion in the Lok Sabha here this morning, Sri Aiyar said that his Ministry was actively pursuing the Project. The Minister said that delay in execution of the Project was owing to great differences in margin. The lenders need to get adequate return on investments to reach a comfort level.

The MoP&NG recently convened a...

SHILLONG, Dec 8 ? The Centre has accepted the recommendations of an 11-member committee, which was constituted to suggest measures for the revitalisation and to operationalise the revised mandate of the North Eastern Council (NEC), which was established in 1972.

Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha recently, Union Tribal Affairs and DoNER Minister PR Kyndiah said that the Centre has, by and large, accepted recommendations of the committee, an official statement issued here said.

The recommendations relate to the organisational and functional restructuring of the NEC secretariat, setting up...

GUWAHATI, Dec 8 ? Will the common bamboo species of the State and for that matter of the north eastern region of India, witness gregarious flowering soon? ?No, an emphatic No,? said Dr Chandra Barooah a scientist with the Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC). Dr Barooah has done extensive study on the common bamboo species like the Jati and Bhaluka of the region. Barooah has obtained his Ph D from Gauhati University (GU) for his dissertation? Bamboos of Assam: Taxonomy and Distribution.

Together with his guide Prof S K Borthakur of the G U Botany Department, Dr Barooah has...