GUWAHATI, April 5 ? Queen of elephants Parbati Barua is very sad today. For, the once tender - hearted people of her native State Assam have become intolerant towards the wild elephants. They even do not bother today to poison these majestic animals to death. Fourty seven-year-old, Smt Barua, a descendant of the Gauripur Jamindars and daughter of the legendary elephant expert Late Prakritesh Chandra Barua (Lalji), who has spent almost entire of her life with the elephants and known among the wildlife experts all over the world as the only woman elephant catcher in the world, said, while...

GOSSAIGAON, April 5? A group of miscreants, later on confirmed to be Adivasi militants, attacked a group of school students coming from Joyma Mission High School near Khoranala village under Guma Reserve Forest in Gossaigaon Sub Division around 2 pm today. The miscreants were armed with bows and arrows. Three school students? Dipak Basumatary (15) of Class VIII, Afsan Marak (14) of Class IX and Durga Narzary (17) of Class X were seriously injured in the incident. Afsan Marak?s chest was pierced by an arrow and was shifted to Kokrajhar RNB Civil Hospital. The Gossaigaon Anchalik ABSU...

Imphal, April 05: As anticipated, the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) which has two MLAs has snapped ties with the Opposition Democratic People?s Alliance (DPA) and joined the Congress led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) regime today. With this the strength of the SPF has risen to 38. A six point memorandum of understanding was signed between the DPP and the SPF for the induction of the DPP. Among others the main points of the MoU envisage that the territorial integrity of Manipur shall be protected at all cost, all necessary actions will be taken for reviewing the notification declaring...

KOHIMA, April 4? The State Government has introduced Nagaland Communitisation of Public Institutions and Services Bill 2002 to further consolidate the decentralisation process in the hill State, reports PTI. The bill, introduced by Local Self Government Minister Rokonicha, seeks to provide a legal framework to devolute more power to the community in matters connected with the management of public utilities, public services and activities of the state government in areas like school education, health, water supply, power, transport, roads, forests, sanitation and other welfare and development...

SHILLONG, April 4 ? The Union Government has taken a policy decision not to deploy the BSF on internal security duty and henceforth the troops will be guarding the international border only, said the Director General, BSF, Gurbachan Jagat. Addressing a ceremonial parade and investiture of the BSF here this morning, Jagat said ?The CRPF and the Rashtriya Rifles, which are now undergoing training in internal security duty, will replace the BSF troops which are currently on internal security duty.? ?Presently, as many as 50 BSF battalions are engaged on internal security duty, mainly in J&K, the...