SHILLONG, January 30: The banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) has criticised the operation of the Meghalaya police in which the area commander of the outfit was arrested on January 24, reports UNI. The outfit in a release here on Sunday said the arrested youth was not its member and criticised the police for arresting about 80 "Hynniewtrep youths" from different parts of the State capital two days before the Republic Day. The release said the "random arrest was a revenge by the police as they could not catch the real members of the outfit." The outfit denied that Rs 90,000...

IMPHAL, January 30: Eight cadres of underground Kangleipak Communist Party, KCP, including its home in-charge, finance secretary and district commander, Imphal east, were killed by troops of the 17th Assam Rifles in an operation in the early hours this morning. Four weapons, along with at least five hand grenades were also recovered. Officials sources said a 17th AR column led by its commandant, Col Dilwar, launched operations in the Khongman Manjil area at around 4.30 this morning after learning of the presence of some activists of the KCP there. Eight activists of the outfit were killed...

IMPHAL, January 30: As part of the commitment given in the 26 point action plan by the Chief Minister to the union Home Minister, Important government offices are now guarded by the CRPF personnel, according to a senior police officer who was talking to this newspaper. CRPF personnel from other districts are being despatched to Imphal to guard the remaining offices. It is stated that after the deployment of CRPF personnel at the major government offices, unauthorised persons are not allowed to enter the offices. Even the bonafide employees who do not produce their identity cards or the...

SHILLONG, January 29: Meghalaya has a dubious distinction of having the highest drop out rate in the country. In fact, out of the 100 students that get admitted in KG standard, only 36 students remain in school after they reach Xth standard. Talking to this correspondent, Ranjan Chatterjee, Commissioner, Education said that the drop out percentage in Meghalaya is 64, the highest in the country. Chatterjee said that an all out effort is being planned to arrest the rate of drop outs and have greater interaction between the students and teachers. In a order, the State Government has made it...

GUWAHATI, January 29: Gujarat's devastating earthquake has created alarm in Assam, which falls in one of the highest seismic zones of the country, with experts predicting the probability of an earthquake of a magnitude greater than eight on the Richter Scale at any time before 2010. Renowned environmental scientist S K Sarmah, who has conducted intensive research on the seismological trends in the Northeast, said studies on earthquake patterns of this region indicate that strain is accumulating in some parts of the region. Three earthquake clusters have appeared in the region and in one of...