GUWAHATI, Nov 21 ? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today made a commitment that the Central Government under his stewardship would take all the necessary steps to preserve the cultural heritage of Majuli island. The island is the largest inhabited river island on the earth and also the treasure- house of State?s Vaishnavite culture and religion.

The Prime Minster was giving away the Srimanta Sankaradeva Awards for 2002, 2003 and 2004 to renowned educationist and social reformer Late Indira Miri, renowned theatre personality of the country Habib Tanvir and noted Satriya scholar and Satradhikar of...

IMPHAL, Nov 21 ? Winding up his visit to the trouble-torn Manipur, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today extended an open invitation to all groups including the ULFA, who abjure violence, for talks to resolve all outstanding issues in the North East and expressed hope that a ?humane? law would replace the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, reports PTI.

?Our government is willing to talk to any group which shuns the path of violence and seeks peaceful resolution of all outstanding problems ... This is an open invitation to all those young men and women who have taken to arms to give...

GUWAHATI, Nov 21 ? The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today stressed the need for creating a cohesive autonomous institution to deal with the gigantic problem of floods. He also assured that the Central Government was committed to implementing the Assam Accord in letter and spirit.

Inaugurating the new capital complex at Dispur here today, the Prime Minister said that though the rivers Brahmaputra and Barak and their tributaries were lifelines of the State, every year, the people had to suffer the devastation of floods and ?our efforts should be to make floods a thing of the past.?

He...

ITANAGAR, Nov 20 ? Bosiram Siram, a newly-elected BJP MLA from Pasighat East, has taken over as president of the Arunachal Pradesh unit of the party. ?BJP president L K Advani appointed me as new state unit president yesterday,? he told a press conference here on Friday.

Asked why the outgoing president of the state unit Taba Hare was absent at the press conference, Siram, a former chairman of the Siang district panchayat, said he had met Hare Friday morning and the latter congratulated him. He disclosed that Hare resigned from the post of state unit president seven days ago owning moral...

SHILLONG, Nov 20 ? Chief Minister DD Lapang has apprised Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh of the long-hanging inter-state boundary dispute with Assam. The Chief Minister, who was recently in New Delhi met the Prime Minister to hold a threadbare discussion on the issue.

?I told the Prime Minister that Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi too was keen on arriving at a lasting solution in this regard,? Lapang said, adding the grassroots administrative organisations of both the neighbouring states were engaged in discussions to thrash out a solution acceptable to all.

The Ri-Bhoi and Jaintia Hills...