NEW DELHI, March 20 ? In a significant boost to the ongoing Naga peace process, the NSCN(I-M) accepting an invitation of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee has agreed to hold talks in India. The offer was extended by Sri Vajpayee to the NSCN(I-M) leadership in Osaka in February but a formal consent was conveyed to Government of India at the last round of talks held in Kuala Lumpur though its interlocutor, K Padmanabhaiah sources said. The willingness on part of the NSCN(I-M) leadership to travel to India for negotiations has been well received at the Centre and it fits into its overall...

GUWAHATI, March 20: The Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) in association with the Customs department destroyed 218 hectares of poppy cultivation along the Assam-Arunachal border recently. It was one of the biggest operations of the two departments in the North East in which they destroyed opium worth Rs 4.5 crore. The operation called ?Tulip? was launched in Upper Siang and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh and took 20 days to complete. Officials sources informed today that they had destroyed 144.26 and 74.30 hectares in Upper Siang and Lohit districts respectively defying hostile terrain.

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GUWAHATI, March 20 ? National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an autonomous body of the UGC and Government of India, has so far accredited only four institutions of higher education in the north eastern region out of the total 250 universities and colleges certified by it till date. Professor V Rajasekharan Pillai, the Director of NAAC, today informed that another lot of 1025 universities and colleges in the country were in the process of being accredited shortly.

The four institutions from the N-E which have been certified by NAAC are : Gauhati University; Science College...

GUWAHATI, March 20 ? The move to create the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) today received a boost as on all-party meet convened by the Chief Minister, Sri Tarun Gogoi adopted a resolution favouring the creation of the Council with adequate constitutional safeguards to the non-Bodo people living in the proposed BTC area. An official release said that the meeting called for constitutional safeguards including political, social, economic, cultural, educational, language and land rights as well as other safeguards of the non-Bodos. The meeting expressed the view that the boundary of the...

Imphal, March 20: Even as the Chief Minister O Ibobi today said on the floor of the House that a search operation would be launched to rescue the kidnapped Deputy Commissioner of Chandel district Yambem Thamkishore a rally has been planned at Chandel tomorrow demanding the safe release of the officer. Replying to a call attention motion in the Assembly, Ibobi said local leaders have informed the Government that they are trying their best to find the whereabouts of the DC and establish contact with the captor. ?If the IAS officer was not released by today, heavy police and paramilitary forces...