SHILLONG, June 17 – The Social Welfare Department of Meghalaya failed to utilize 85 per cent to 100 per cent of the Central funds available under the National Programme for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in the State, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India placed in the State Assembly has pointed out. Despite the nominal budget allocation of eight per cent from 1998 to 2003 for implementing the People with Disability (PWD) Act, 1995, the department failed to utilize 55 per cent of the same, the report stated.

The CAG report observed that this showed the Social...

GUWAHATI, June 17 – The State Government, in its bid to calm frayed tempers, today said that no final decision has yet been taken regarding the granting of 6th Schedule status to the Misings in upper Assam. It has also assured that the interests of the non-Misings in the area would not be compromised in any way. State Welfare of Plains Tribes and Backward Classes (WPT & BC) Minister Bharat Narah said during a press conference at the Janata Bhawan here that fears, being fuelled by the opposition AGP, that the Misings are on the verge of being accorded 6th Schedule status, are totally off the...

NEW DELHI, June 17 – With the deadline for downsizing of ministry fast approaching, Assam ministers are making a beeline to Delhi to lobby with the Party High Command to save their job. At least half dozen ministers of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s cabinet are currently camping in the State Guest House and five star hotels trying to meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi, while more were reported to be on their way.

Some of the Ministers who have already landed in the Capital included State PWD Minister Sarat Borkotoki, State Transport Minister Anjan Dutta, State Industry Minister, Bhubaneswar...

New Delhi, June 16: Doner’s big plans for the Northeast just got bigger. Less than a fortnight after being upgraded from a department to a full-fledged ministry, the Doner team led by Union minister P.R. Kyndiah has drafted a budget in which estimates exceed those for the previous fiscal by several hundred crores of rupees.

An official source said the estimates total Rs 2,000 crore, the highest appraisal since Doner was set up as a department in 2001. These include allocations for the North Eastern Council (NEC) and the non-lapsable pool of central resources, both of which are controlled by...

Dibrugarh, June 16: It is not the nine-to-five office job that he had hoped to land after completing his post-graduation. Neither is it loaded with the perks that he once dreamt of. But Nipon Saikia is happy that life as a tourist guide at the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park offers “job satisfaction”, if not financial benefits.

Nipon and several more youths became tourist guides under a novel employment-cum-conservation scheme launched by the Dibru-Saikhowa authorities. They underwent a crash course in conservation recently.

The idea of forming a group of tourist guides came from S.S. Rao, an...