News

GUWAHATI, April 9 — “People must be laughing at our products,” says the president of the Association of Tour Operators of North East India (ATONEI) Lata Umrey, a sad but candid admission that the North East has not yet matured as a favoured destination for tourists. This despite the fact that the region has to offer almost anything that a tourist may possible want. The problems are many.

It is to address these issues that the ATONEI, along with the North Eastern Council (NEC) is hosting a two-day North East Tourism Summit in Shillong from tomorrow. Tourism in the North East as a “gateway to...

GUWAHATI, April 8 – The Assam Legislative Assembly today passed the Assam Electricity Bill, 2003 to pave the way for power sector reforms and restructuring of the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) amidst strong protest and walk-out by the Opposition members. The members of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bodoland Demand Legislature Party (BDLP) demanded that the Bill should be sent to the select committee of the House for a thorough discussion on all the clauses and they staged a walk-out when the Government refused to accept their demand.

As soon as the...

Guwahati, April 8: The seven-member advisory group to the ministry of home affairs, set up to look into the security loopholes in the seven northeastern states, today rued that despite several attempts, it has not been able to meet any of the chief ministers except Tarun Gogoi.

The group, which include among others, supercop K.P.S. Gill, former Arunachal Pradesh chief secretary S.K. Agnihotri and Lt. Gen. (retired) S.K. Pillai, was also supposed to recommend measures to plug those loopholes.

“We have been trying for the past six months to meet all the chief ministers. But we managed to meet...

Shillong, April 8: How does one describe a septuagenarian woman who gives up her family riches to live in a cave? Eccentric or compulsively adventurous?

Seventy-one-year-old Bris Sibon Basiawmoit’s lifestyle — far from the madding crowd and closest to nature — qualifies her to be branded a combination of both. Lovingly called Mei Deng by those close to her, she has been staying in a cave at Um Sharang in Ri Bhoi district for seven years now.

Ask her why she lives alone in a cave and Basiawmoit’s reply is a simple one.

“I am happy here, unlike in the cities, which are far and full of problems...

GUWAHATI, April 8 — Dimasa student leaders today demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident of gruesome murder of 23 Dimasa people by the extremist group Hmar People’s Convention (Democratic) in Cachar district on March 31 last. Addressing newspersons at Dispur Last Gate here All Dimasa Students’ Union (ADSU) president Sanmoni Kemprai, Dimasa Students’ Community, Guwahati (DSCG) president Smt Subarna Haflongbar and DSCG general secretary Rajdeep Kemprai also demanded that the inquiry should be conducted by a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India and the inquiry should also deal with...