NEW DELHI, Feb 28 — The Union Budget is unlikely to bring immediate relief to the fund-starved north-eastern States despite an enhanced Central plan allocation of Rs 5,016 crore, even as Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha sought to bail out the oil and tea sectors by continuing with subsidies to North-east-based refineries and a hike in customs duty on tea. Although the Union Budget for the year held no new surprises for the region, the Union Finance Minister ensured adequate Central funds for pending projects. The total allocation for the Department of Development of North-Eastern Region...

GUWAHATI, Feb 28 – Union Finance Ministry officials, during a post-Budget video conferencing with a group of select journalists from the city, stated that the Budget proposes to protect the interests of mini-refineries of Assam in wake of dismantling of the Administered Price Mechanism (APM) through 50 per cent reduction of excise duty on refinery products. Regarding any special proposal in the Budget to give fillip to tourism sector in the north-eastern region, the Finance Ministry officials said that although no specific measure was proposed for improvement of tourism sector in the NE region...

Imphal, February 28: With the electoral process almost over today the four party Secular Progressive Front (SPF) headed by the Congress (I) is likely to stake claim to form the Government tomorrow. The Congress (I) has today increased its tally to 20 by securing one more seat in Churachandpdur district. With this the combined strength of the Front has gone upto 35 in a 60 member House. Dr ChaltonlienoftheINChas won the Tipaimukh seat by defeating Ngursanglur of NCP. The winner secured 3602 votes while the loser got 3566 votes. The Manipur State Congress Party has also increased its strength to...

Imphal, February 28: Altogether 41 candidates who were MLAs in the 7th State Assembly including bigwigs like former Chief Ministers Rishang Keishing, Radhabinod Koijam, W Nipamacha and former Deputy-Chief Minister Dr L Chandramani who were tipped as Chief Ministerial candidates in the pre-poll scenario could not make a return trip to the 8th State Assembly. Others biting the dust include State Assembly Speaker Dr S Dhananjoy, Prof Gangmumei Kamei, H Bidur, H Bhuban and Dr Y Jiten. A total of 59 former MLAs contested in the recent poll. Of them, 17 have returned to the new House Prominent among...

KOHIMA, Feb 27 — In order to contain spiralling overdraft from RBI and ever-increasing non-plan expenditure, Nagaland government has decided to enforce economy measures, including postponement of the release of development funds to various departments, with immediate effect, reports PTI. The State cabinet Tuesday reviewed the latest fiscal position of the State in the backdrop of increasing overdraft from the Central bank and decided that no additional allocation beyond the budgeted amount be given to any department except in unavoidable circumstances. State Finance Commissioner Lalthara...