AGARTALA, May 6? Police have arrested Mebar Kumar Jamatia, a leader of Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), in connection with the reported kidnap of assistant general secretary of the party, Sridam Debbarma, police sources said here Monday, reports PTI. Jamatia was remanded to five days police custody for investigation into the reported kidnap of Debbarma, also an executive member of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) from Gurudayal Para in West Tripura district. Jamatia accompanied Debbarma when they went to Gurudayal Para on Friday last, police said adding...

GUWAHATI, May 6 ? Sharp decline in the population of endangered river, dolphins, locally known as ?sihu?, has prompted the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to initiate action to declare Kulsi river, the only known abode of resident river dolphins in the world, as a wildlife sanctuary for effective conservation of the species. Sources informed that the Union Ministry vide letter No. 6-13-114/2001/RONE/AS/2702-4 asked the Principal Secretary, Environment and Forests, Government of Assam, to carry out population estimation of river dolphins in Kulsi river and consider declaring the area...

NEW DELHI, May 6 ? Hit by the Eleventh Finance Commission (EFC) awards, the Assam Government has decided to seek compensation from the Union Finance Ministry for landing the State in serious financial mess. ?Assam Government is not going to ask for reopening of the EFC but we expect the Central Government to compensate us for injustice done to us,? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

?Delhi cannot allow this to happen to Assam, and has to come up with a compensation package,? he said, adding that he was aware that the Central Government was not in a position to reopen the EFC. The Chief Minister...

Imphal, May 06: A fierce encounter between two rival militant outfits near Latinkhan inside Jiribam PS last Saturday afternoon reportedly claimed the lives of five cadres. According to reports received by our correspondent, a five-hour long gun battle ensued between cadres belonging to MPLF and a combined team of NSCN (I-M) and ZRA cadres in a jungle near Latinkhan, 23 kilometers off Jiribam PS, inside Churachandpur district resulting in the death of five militants. However, official sources at Jiribam PS have not confirmed the report so far claiming they have not received any information. On...

GUWAHATI, May 5 ? The size of migration of people to Assam between 1951 and 1991 was 28,75,492 and of this, the size of the illegal foreign migrants to the State, during the period, was 12,98,754. This was revealed by a study conducted by the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development (OKDISCD) here. The study entitled ?Migration to Assam : 1951-1991?, was conducted by a team of experts comprising Prof Atul Goswami, Prof Homeswar Goswami and Dr Anil Saikia on behalf of the OKDISCD. The study, however, revealed that during the said period the estimated number of total foreign...