BORDUMSA (Arunachal), Feb 15 — After three days of festivities, it is time for the thousands of Singphos who congregated here since Wednesday to disperse. It’s a sad occasion, and significantly, the celebrations ended with the ‘separation dance’ called Kumran Manao in the Singpho dialect. Earlier in the day, elders of the community had a meeting where problems and prospects of the Singpho community were discussed. Shapawng Yawng, after whom this most important Singpho congregation is named, is said to be the ancestor of the community. As Singpho legend has it, he was the sixth human to be...

SHILLONG, Feb 15 – While the most common refrain of the North Eastern Chief Ministers is that there is no fund for development, hundreds of crores of rupees earmarked for rural development go begging in the North East for want of utilisation. Take the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) of the Union Ministry of Rural Development. Against the All India average release of over 57 per cent, releases in the case of the NE States, with the exception of Sikkim and Tripura, are far below this average. While Sikkim tops in NE with 100 per cent release, Nagaland is at the bottom with barely 26 per cent.

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Imphal, February 15: The BSF DIG, PK Mishra, said the BSF troops have at 11.50 am today reached Henglep sub-divisional headquarters after pushing away the entrenched militants there and completed its area domination exercise, in preparation of the second phase of the elections to the 8th Manipur Legislative Assembly on February 21. Speaking to IFP on the phone, Mishra said immediately after the takeover, he himself landed by helicopter at Henglep town to oversee matters at 11.55 am. It is learnt, there were camera crew with him on the trip, including that of the Zee TV. Mishra said that troops...

AGARTALA, Feb 14 – Assam Rifles’ jawans have foiled an attack by the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) on their camp in West Tripura district Tuesday night, official sources said Wednesday. Spokesman of Assam Rifles’ Maj AJ Singh told newsmen that a group of 10 to 15 insurgents opened fire at the camp at village Ratanpur which was retaliated by the jawans and the ensuing gunbattle lasted five minutes. The insurgents, however, managed to escape under a cover of darkness and thick forest, he said. A jawan sustained minor bullet injuries and it is not yet known whether insurgents suffered any...

DIBRUGARH, Feb 14 — The three-day fifth Adivasi Mahasabha was held at Sarupathar College in Golaghat district from February 8. The conference was attended by about 15,000 persons from all over Assam. The meet was organised by the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam. At the open session of the concluding day, several Congress leaders attended as guest speakers. They included the Dibrugarh MP, Paban Singh Ghatowar, the Assam Assembly Speaker Prithibi Majhi, MLAs Rupam Kurmi, Aklius Tirkey and Etuwa Munda and the Assam Labour Minister, Rameswar Dhanowar. After inaugurating the open session...