NEW DELHI, July 6: Laloo Prasad?s maiden Railway Budget has no new projects and trains for the Northeast. The UPA Government?s Railway Budget 2004-2005 has come as a disappointment to those expecting major announcements, as the Railway Minister tried to share the credit with his predecessor, Nitish Kumar, who announced the introduction of a number of trains less than five months ago.

As far as the north eastern region (NER) is concerned, the Budget has little to offer by way of new projects. A new train Guwahati-Delhi Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express was announced in the Interim Budget...

Dibrugarh, July 5: After a gap of nearly two decades, the Assam Inland Water Transport department, in collaboration with the Inland Water Authority of India, will reintroduce cargo service on the Brahmaputra between Guwahati and Dibrugarh from the second week of July.

?Initially, the service will operate twice a month and we have been instructed to book goods from Dibrugarh and Nimatighat in Jorhat,? said commercial officer of Dibrugarh I. Rahman, who is overseeing the operation.

Cargo and passenger services on the Brahmaputra were a regular feature before Independence with British planters...

Guwahati, July 5: The BJP today tried to allay apprehensions among its Christian-dominated state units in the region, saying the revival of its Hindutva agenda had nothing to do with ?any religion?. This clarification comes in the wake of the en masse resignation by the party?s Mizoram unit last month.

Senior party leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told mediapersons here today that Hindutva has nothing to do with any religion.

?Our stand remains the same: equal treatment to all, appeasement of none,? Prasad said. He, however, added that the resignation of the entire...

Imphal, July 5: Manipur University is planning to bring the people of India and Myanmar closer by opening a Burmese studies centre here for students interested in knowing more about their neighbour. Indo-Myanmar border trade was opened through Manipur?s Moreh township by the then Union commerce minister, P. Chidambaram, more than a decade back.

But Manipur had been maintaining close trade ties with its neighbour long before that.

Instances of cross-border marriages were also not uncommon.

University registrar R.K. Ranjan Singh said the University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved the...

Kokrajhar, July 5: The National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) has joined hands with the Nepalese Maoists in what is seen as an attempt to recoup itself after the Bhutan operations of December. Sources said a meeting between Nepalese Maoists and NDFB militants was held at an undisclosed location near the Indo-Bhutan border at the temporary headquarters of the outfit?s 2nd ?battalion? under its ?western command? recently.

The sources said the meeting chalked out plans for joint training and joint strikes. They added the Nepalese extremists will supervise modern tactics of guerrilla...