NEW DELHI, Nov 2 ? An Advance Centre for bamboos and rattans (cane) would be set up at Aizawl, Minister of Environment and Forests A Raja has announced today.

Addressing the 13th annual general meeting of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Society here today, Raja ? who also its president ? said that the Government has already approved the establishment of the Centre under the administrative control of Rain Forest Research Institute (RFRI), Jorhat.

The Minister said the Centre was a long-standing demand of the people of Mizoram, as nearly 49 per cent of the State?s area...

GUWAHATI, Nov 2 ? The Assam Government has drawn up an agenda for privatisation of state public sector undertakings (PSUs) and closure of non-viable PSUs. This was disclosed by the Minister of Industries and Commerce Anjan Dutta while addressing a meeting of the general managers of the district industries and commerce centres here today.

The Minister, in his address, said that the Industries and Commerce Department should lay stress on development of indigenous technologies for utilisation of the natural resources available in the State. He said that the development of small-scale sector...

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 ? The Centre has agreed to constitute an experts committee to review the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in a fresh measure to defuse the crisis in Manipur.

The decision to constitute the experts committee comprising representatives from various fields and organisations including the agitators was taken at an hour-long meeting between the Apunba Lup and the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, here this evening.

The Union Home Minister picked the thread from where the Prime Minister left off yesterday by agreeing to replace the AFSPA with a more humane Act...

IMPHAL, Nov 1 ? Claiming responsibility over the custodial death of a Kuki couple, the powerful Kuki insurgent outfit, Kuki National Front, has warned that any individual working against the outfit would not be spared but would meet the capital punishment.

While the law enforcing agency personnel and police are trying to find out clues leading to the death of the couple, the KNF in a statement clarified that Thangin Kipgen, 55 and his wife Lhingneikim Kipgen, 45, residing at the Military Colony under the Kangpokpi police station were killed after abduction from their residence.

They were...

GUWAHATI, Nov 1?A Regional Consultation on Identification of Research Areas on Women, organised by the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, New Delhi, got under way today at its regional centre, Guwahati.

The Regional Consultation is being organised with the objectives of identifying gaps in researches on women?s issues in the region, determining priority areas of research, examining methodological issues and to draw a plan for networking amongst research institutions and developing a plan of action for carrying out researches on women of the region. About 40...