Imphal, Dec. 22: Manipur?s most famous tourist destination, Loktak Lake, is set to get a new lease of life.

The Okram Ibobi Singh government has constituted a 16-member committee to suggest ways to develop Loktak, which happens to be the largest freshwater lake in the eastern region.

The committee, headed by information minister W. Leima Devi, will work on a legislation, to be called the Loktak Protection Act. Devi is in charge of the Loktak Development Authority, too.

Located 48 km from the state capital, Loktak is a source of livelihood for the residents of the area and the crux of the...

DIMAPUR, Dec 22 — All of 21 years, standing at 5’4” and aspiring fashion designer- Bendangrenla Imsong, the 32-26-34 girl joined the bandwagon of the glamorous 12 when by the decision of the panel of four judges, she was crowned the most beautiful girl of Nagaland for the year 2002 at the Miss Nagaland 2002 Beauty Pageant held under the theme “Looking Beyond….” at the North Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, here, on Friday. Bendangrenla who started her glorious walk down the ramp with the Miss Dimapur 2002 title in the month of August and then went on to clinch the Miss Spunk Umbel 2002 title...

NEW DELHI, Dec 22 — Indian passports have been issued to leaders of Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM who are expected to arrive here on December 27 and meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee the next day, official sources said here today, reports PTI. While the NSCN (I-M) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, who already possesses an Indian passport, will arrive from The Hague, the outfit’s chairman Isak Chishi Swu and three others have been issued passports by the Indian mission in Oslo and will arrive here from the Norwegian capital, sources told PTI.

The Naga delegation will be lodged by the...

GUWAHATI, Dec 22— Parbati Barua, the queen of elephants, has one more call for her. This time from Chattisgarh Government to catch the four wild tuskers in Laxmipur area of Raigarh district. These wild tuskers have been creating havoc in Chattisgarh for quite a long time. An Indian Express report from Raipur said yesterday that the Chattisgarh Government had drawn up a Rs 36 lakh plan to catch the elephants with the help of Smt Barua. The operation to catch the elephants was scheduled to begin in October last after the pachyderms killed five persons and caused heavy damage to crops in the...

Imphal, December 22: The bilateral relations with some of India's neighboring countries like Myanmar has improved due to the initiatives taken by the Ministry of External Affairs and the government is pleased O Ibobi said addressing the 50th meeting of the National Development Council held yesterday at the national capital. Initiatives should be taken to enable the NE states to draw benefits from the trade with the South East Asian countries he said. The country should continue to assist her neighbors to establish structural linkages with the bordering NE states he said. He supported the...