NEW DELHI, July 12 - The crisis in the tea industry has taken a heavy toll with a record number of 96 tea gardens including 17 in Assam having closed down affecting over 28,000 workers during the last three years. Disclosing this Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, EVKS Elangovan said that though 41 of them have since reopened 55 continued to remained closed. The gardens were located in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Tripura. According to the written reply furnished in the Rajya Sabha, in Assam six of the 17 closed gardens have reopened, while rest of the 11 continue to remain...

ITANAGAR, July 12 - In a boost to the Congress in Arunachal Pradesh, 13 former MLAs, including eleven ministers of the Gegong Apang-led United Democratic Front and former Speaker Setong Sena formally joined the party today, deputy CLP leader Tako Dabi said, reports PTI. All the the eleven ministers held office before the downsizing on July 7. Ten of them were from the BJP, while another was an Independent. One BJP member of the dissolved House, who had given a letter to join Congress earlier was also inducted into the party today, he said.

Sena is a member of the Congress(D), while the...

GUWAHATI, July 12 - Members of the Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK), the All Mising Students Union, today urged the people of the State to become aware of the perils involved in massive constructions on the region?s rivers, and on hilly terrain across its borders. In a press meet in the city today, the students? body exposed two major constructions, which once completed would threaten the existence of a large number of population spread across Assam. Referring to the recent flash floods witnessed in several parts of lower Assam, spokesperson Ranoj Pegu described it as the effect of water being...

NEW DELHI, July 12 - Responding to Assam Government?s SOS, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is likely to visit the flood-ravaged State this weekend, even as a high-level technical team on a stock-taking mission headed by Union Water Resources Minister, Priyaranjan Das Munshi is arriving in the State shortly. The devastations caused by floods in Assam and Bihar figured in Lok Sabha today, with agitated members belonging to the two States demanding adequate relief measures and sanction of funds to meet calamity. Arunachal Pradesh also kept up the pressure on Centre with the State Government...

New Delhi, July 11: Stepping up pressure for the removal of governor V.C. Pande and imposition of President?s rule, a delegation of MLAs from Arunachal Pradesh, led by former chief minister and state Congress president Mukut Mithi today urged the AICC to take up the issue with the Centre.

After a meeting with Congress general secretary and Arunachal Pradesh in-charge Oscar Fernandez, Mithi told reporters that he has submitted a first-hand account of his interactions with the governor.

?We have briefed the high command about the development, besides a clarification of the actual position...