KOLKATA, Nov 16 ? The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled for later this month at Goa, will have an unusual first-time entry ? a full-length feature film in Kokborok, the indigenous language of Tripura, made by a Catholic priest. Mathia (The Bangle), which features in the ?Panorama? section of the IFFI, is scheduled for screening at ?Screen-I?, the largest of the IFFI venues, according to the film?s director, Fr Joseph Pulinthanath.

?Mathia is a story of trust, betrayal and redemption built around the social phenomenon of witch-hunting,? Fr Joseph, a priest of the Salesian...

SHILLONG, Nov 16 ? The Khasi Students Union today demanded renaming of the North Eastern Hill University and expressed opposition to the move of Development of North Eastern Region Ministry to include Sikkim in the university?s jurisdiction.

Citing cases of local students being ?deprived? of admission to the NEHU as there was a ?continued inflow? from other North Eastern states to the university, the prominent students? body called for renaming the NEHU as Shillong Central University.

?Meghalaya is the only state in the North-east without its own university. It is hightime the state gets its...

IMPHAL, Nov 15 ? A new research project on breeding and culturing ?giant fresh water prawns? (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) imported from West Bengal and Maharastra has made a major breakthrough in the world of pisciculture reseach works in the state. These species suited for culturing in Manipur, joint director of the fisheries, Karam Saratkumar Singh told this correspondent.

For the first time, over 50 kg of ?giant prawns? measuring around 30 cm long and weighing about 200 grams were sold in the annual fish fair-cum-fish crop competition 2004 at Imphal on Saturday. The giant prawns which draw...

IMPHAL, Nov 15 ? Forest areas are shrinking from 67.6 percent to 48 per cent in the total area of 22,327 sq kms of Manipur, according to the latest report of the state forest department. In 1987 the forest areas were 17679 sq kms but in the latest survey using remote sensing satellites, the figure shrunk to 17418 sq kms. Areas under the Reserved Forest category are 1467 sq kms, Protected Forest 4171 sq kms and other forest 11,780 sq kms, the report said.

Around three kms from Imphal, the Langol Reserved Forest with its 7.45 sq kms areas serving as the ?green lungs? of the Imphal valley has...

DIMAPUR, Nov 15 ? The NSCN-IM has charged New Delhi of secretly arming its rivals to diminish its influence in Naga areas. The organization threatened to call off the planned visit of its top brass ? chairman Isak Chishi Swu and general sescretary Th. Muivah ? to India if New Delhi did not clarify why it was still continuing to arm and abet its arch rivals, the FGN and the NSCN-K.

Isak and Muivah are scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on November 28 and then to Nagaland sometime in the first week of December.

K Chawang, deputy kilonser of the outfit alleged, ?We have concrete evidence that the...