Economy / Assam

GOALPARA, Dec 17 ? Goalpara district, within a short span of 17 years has emerged as a major rubber producing district not only in Assam but the entire country. If, tempted by the success of the growers of the district, unemployed youths, particularly those having cultivable land (even fallow land) take up rubber cultivation scientifically, not only could we expect tremendous socio-economic change at micro and macro level, but also foreign exchange.

This note of expectation transpired from the deliberations at the two-day workshop of rubber growers organised by Ajagar Social Circle at Agia...

GUWAHATI, Dec 8: Failed by its staff, the State government has decided to bank on computers to enhance efficiency of the administration and expedite the development process in the State. Switching on the computerised sales tax collection network in the State at Taxation Department headquarter here, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi stated that computerisation would be part and parcel of the State government?s effort to impart transparency and increase efficiency of the administration so that development process could be accelerated. Gogoi said the hi-tech Assam, Tax e-Governance Network would connect...

GUWAHATI, June 15 ? The decision of the State government to cut down on the ?salary and wages? component of the Annual Plan for the year 2003-04 has left it with additional Rs 480 crore for utilisation in development work. This amount of Rs 480 crore combined with Rs 61 crore ?one-time annual central assistance (ACA)? granted by the Planning Commission for the State in the current fiscal will put the State government at a slight liberty to go for sectoral as well as scheme-wise allotment of fund for various departments.

Minister of State for Planning and Development, Himanta Bishwa Sharma...

DIBRUGARH, June 14?Three tea executives gone to the netherworld in a mater of a fortnight in the State is reason enough to explore some conflict resolution measures. As most cases of violence in the tea gardens in the state relate to labour unrest and their problems, labour leaders feel that a meaningful implementation of the Plantation Labour Act of 1951 would go a long way in ensuring peace in the estates.

Speaking to The Assam Tribune at length today, the general secretary of the influential Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, Madhusudan Khandait said? ?We want an amendment to the antiquated...

Dibrugarh/Guwahati, June 13: Showing no sign of repentance, the seven labourers who yesterday lynched a tea executive in Dibrugarh district have accused the managerial staff of ?oppression and injustice? reminiscent of colonial times.

With the mood of the labour community being defiant and payment of bonus ? always a thorny issue ? due three months from now, tea executives across Assam are bracing for more tense moments.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has constituted co-ordination committees at the district level to take up tea garden-related issues. The divisional commissioner of each region will...

GUWAHATI, June 13 ? Panic has gripped tea executives in the State, particularly those working in tea estates are passing through a lean phase financially, in view of the killing of three executives within a fortnight including the one lynched by tea workers at Moderkhat Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district yesterday. These brutal killings of tea executives by mobs of tea workers indicated that trouble is brewing in the tea gardens in the State. The tension between disgruntled tea workers who are feeling cheated by the failure of many cash-strapped managements to provide them with all the perks...

Dibrugarh, June 12: Assam?s crisis-ridden tea industry today woke up to the shocking news of another tea executive being lynched by a group of irate labourers.

The victim, Mukul Dowerah, was assistant manager at Nandanmal tea estate in Dibrugarh district. He became the third garden executive to be murdered in Assam in less than two weeks. Labourers of Sapoi tea estate in Sonitpur district had lynched two managers and set fire to their bodies on May 30.

Dibrugarh police said seven labourers waylaid and killed 35-year-old Dowerah when he was returning to his office after a field visit on his...

DIBRUGARH, June 12 ? An assistant manager of the Modarkhat tea estate near Tengakhat in the Dibrugarh district was today lynched by a group of irate tea workers. He later succumbed to his injuries. A group of about 8 to 10 persons went to the assistant manager of the estate, Mukul Dowerah, this morning, asking for work. Of these, three were sacked from service about a fortnight ago for unauthorized absence from work over a prolonged period. Moreover, as there was no vacancy, he told the group accordingly and went out to the Sadavisa out garden for his routine duties. As he returned to his...

Jorhat, June 9: A Switzerland-based international labour union has taken up cudgels on behalf of India?s 20 lakh-strong tea workforce, which is bearing the brunt of the worst recession in the industry?s chequered history.

In a letter to Union commerce minister Arun Jaitley, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers? Associations said the plight of tea labourers was cause for ?grave concern?.

The union is affiliated to the International Labour Organisation and represents three million workers from 124 countries.

Its general secretary...

GUWAHATI, June 7 ? The May 30 tragedy at Sapoi Tea Estate in Sonitpur district where two tea executives were burnt down after they had been dragged out of their official residences by a mob of tea workers, has raised serious security concern among the planters in the State. That the gory incident took place in front of armed homeguard personnel posted in the estate to safeguard the tea executives has raised questions in the tea circle over the effectiveness of these personnel in providing security to the lives and property of tea officials in the State.

?Nothing illegal and violent should be...