AIZAWL, March 26: Opposition Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) has expressed fear that BJP's "hidden agenda" to dilute culture and religion of the Mizos through textbooks in elementary education and high school might be overlooked by the state government, reports PTI. Raising the issue during Question Hour in the Assembly on March 23, Opposition leader and MPC chief Lalhmingthanga asked the State School Education Minister F Malsawma whether the state government was aware of the BJP's hidden agenda. Lalhmingthanga alleged that change in academic session adaptation of Central Board of School...

SHILLONG, March 26: Meghalaya Home Ministry TH Rangad told the State Assembly that the banned Hynniewtrep National Volunteer Council (HNLC) and Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) militants had been using the National Highway passing through the State capital, for arms smuggling, report agencies. Replying to the zero hour notice tabled by Opposition member, Pynshai Manik Syiem (Independent) on the setting up of police check gates near residential areas in the city, Ranged said setting up of such gates was necessary to check unlawful activities which also included drug trafficking. He also...

NEW DELHI, March 25: Discrepancy in National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) data on HIV and AIDS patients has landed the Northeastern States and the non governmental organisations (NGOs) in an embarrassing position, with experts questioning the estimates that the region has the highest HIV incidence in the country. That the ongoing controversy over the NACO's figures is likely to only turn bitter in coming days was evident from the heated exchanges between the AIDS workers from the region and experts at a seminar on "Reality and Myth: HIV-AIDS in Northeast India." The seminar organised by...

SHILLONG, March 25: Meghalaya Forest Minister Adolf Lu Hitler R Marak told the State Assembly on Friday that the Government would soon acquire land for a State Zoo at Mawlei Mawkhah on the Shillong-Guwahati road, about 25 kms from here, at a cost of Rs 1.71 crore, reports PTI. Replying to a zero hour notice tabled by Pynshai Manik Syiem (IND), Mark said the land would be acquired by the Government after completion of land acquisition procedures by the Deputy Commissioner of Ri Bhoi district. The directive for setting up of the Zoo came from the Zoo Authority of India asking the authorities...

NEW DELHI, March 25: The social workers and NGOs in Nagaland have pressed the alarms bells following unabated smuggling of brown sugar from Assam into the State. The revelation was made by a prominent social worker Kumini Kathpiri, Project Deputy Director, State AIDS Control Society of Nagaland, who said that the number of drug users in the State has shown an increasing trend following easy availability of made to order drugs. She later told this newspaper that reports of smuggling of brown sugar from Assam to the State first came in about three years ago. Kathipri said it has been found that...