GUWAHATI, March 17: Noted poet Hiren Bhattacharjya was crowned with the prestigious Assam Valley Literary Award instituted by the Williamson Magor in glittering ceremony at Rabindra Bhawan here today. The award - comprising Rs 2 lakh in cash, a citation and a specially-designed trophy - was presented to him by noted Gujarati novelist Raghuveer Chaudhari. The cash component, which was originally Rs 1 lakh, has been increased to Rs 2 lakh from this year. The demure poet, whose hallmark is simplicity in literary works as well as lifestyle, said terrorist violence and intolerance in the Assamese...

GUWAHATI, March 17: The flow of tourists to Assam has been steadily rising following an improvement in the law and order situation in the State, an official release said here today, reports PTI. Foreign countries have recognised the very fact that the law and order situation in Assam has registered tangible improvement over the last few years and have therefore started to revise their Travel Advicer for willing tourists, the release said. The British Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata John Mitchiner has in a letter informed Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta that their Travel Advice would...

GUWAHATI, March 17: The stage is set for constituting an Assam Power Corporation for carrying out the generation and transmission functions of the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) under the Power Sector Reforms Programme. The State Cabinet recently approved the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU), to be signed with the Ministry of Power, Government of India, for power sector reforms in Assam. As per the draft MoU, after the setting up of the Assam Power Corporation, subsequently the generation part would be separated into one or more companies. According to the MoU, two distribution...

RAJIV GANDHI NAGAR, March 17: The Congress today resolved that it will never allow repeal of the act pertaining to detection and deportation of illegal migrants from Assam. In its political resolution, the Congress said it would ensure that as in the past, the foreigners who had entered the State illegally and were staying there were detected and deported in accordance with the provisions of the Illegal migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act. The Congress also called for according the highest priority for resolving the problems facing the north-east and fulfilling the pledges made to the...

IMPHAL, March 17: As the present political crisis in New Delhi deepens, the Samata Party-led People's Front Ministry in Manipur is preparing to give full co-operation to the party's national leaders. As the first step, the Samata Legislature Party meeting was hurriedly organised at the Chief Minister's Secretariat last evening to discuss the resignation of the Union Defence Minister and Samata Party leader George Fernandes and other Samata Party leaders from the Union Council of Ministers. The meeting of the Samata legislators which was presided over by Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam...