BTAD to be sworn in on December 7
The interim council of the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD) will be sworn in on December   7 at Debargaon, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani. The Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) cadres will  formally lay down their arms  the previous day. Along with  Mr. Advani, State Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) Ajai Singh, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Union Minister of State for Home Swami Chinmayanand will also be attending the swearing in ceremony. The surrender ceremony will be held at Kokrajhar on December 6. A meeting held in this connection constituted a reception committee headed by S. K. Bismuitiary has been formed to celebrate the Bodo ‘victory day’ on these two days.

AP recognised 5 MLAs as BJP members 
Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Setong Sena has formally recognised as members of BJP five of the seven Congress (D) legislators who joined the party on October 13 last. The BJP’s strength in the Assembly has now risen to 36 in the 60-member House. Four of the new members are ministers. Two Congress (D) members,  two associated and two unattached members, are also supporting the ruling United Democratic Front government. The opposition Congress has 18 members. The MLAs taken in the BJP fold are: Urban Development  Minister Rajesh Tacho, Civil Supplies Minister Kahfa Bengia, Rural Development Minister Tanga Byaling, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Minister Tadik Chije and legislator Wankila Lowang.

NSCN (K) ultras involved in looting incident : Police
After the looting of  passengers and arsoning of two night buses in Mokokchang district, Nagaland Police have confirmed the involvement of NSCN (K) in the  incident and urged the ceasefire supervisory board (CFSB) chairman to direct the outfit to hand over the main culprit. IGP (Int) C Kihon in a letter to CFSB chairman Lt Gen (Rtd) R V Kulkarni urged him to direct NSCN (K) authorities to hand over ‘capt’ Lukhato Sema, a cadre of the  outfit, from Zunheboto district to police, who was found to have led the armed gang on two passenger buses. About 15 armed robbers in camouflage fatigue way laid two buses coming from Mokochung to Dimapur in the night near  Changki junction and looted the passengers before setting the vehicles on fire, completely damaging one of them. Asserting that the act was a pure criminal one, the letter said police considered ‘capt’ Lukhato a criminal and hence would initiate efforts to arrest him in accordance with the law. A criminal case has been regis tered with Mongkolemba police station in this connection, the letter said.

100-bed ESI hospital for Meghalaya 
Meghalaya Labour minister Sayeedulla Nongrum said that the Centre had agreed to set up a 100-bed ESI hospital in the State. The foundation stone of the proposed hospital would be laid at Byrnihat in East Khasi Hills district possibly in next month, he said. Nongrum said that the project was sanctioned after a lot of persuation. He stressed the need for a better interaction among the people.

Seminar on regionalism in NE 
A seminar on ‘Regionalism in North-East India” was held at Chaiduar College, Gohpur recently. The seminar was organised by the Department of Political Science of the college. The seminar, which was inaugurated by the Principal of the college, A Goswami was conducted by K. Goswami, former vice-principal of the institution. J Upadhayaya, head of the Department of Political Science threw light on regionalism and its development. B P Sarma, senior lecturer of Political Science of Biswanath College was the resource person. Dr I.G. Singh also participated in the seminar.

CARE condemns Mumbai detention 
CARE Foundation has condemned the detention of six HIV+ Indians who were arriving after attending a conference of People Living with HIV/AIDS at Kampala, Uganda by Maharashtra State AIDS Cell. The six persons have been detained on the ground that they could not produce certificates proving that all of them have been inoculated for yellow fever. Foundation vice-president said that the six persons which include one woman are being quarantined in a single room at the Yellow Fever Hospital without any food provision in violation of the National Policy that clearly states that all PLWA have to be treated for all opportunistic infections and other conditions. One of the detained is from Manipur.

Bodo audio cassette released 
A Bodo audio cassette titled Sona Nong Bese Somaina was released recently. The cassette was released by Rihon Daimary.

RSS warns of ISI conspiracy in NE   
The RSS has called upon the people of the North-East to understand the sinister game plan of the ULFA in collusion with the Pakistani ISI in targeting Hindi-speaking population in the region. Thus the RSS called upon the people of the region to undermine and curb the design of the anti-national forces. RSS spokesman Ram Madhab said that the banned ULFA was carrying out the design of the Pakiastani ISI in carrying out attacks on Hindi-speaking population in Assam and other parts of North-East. Quoting the latest Intelligence Bureau (IB) report, the RSS spokesman claimed that illegal migrants from Bangladesh have become deciding factor in politics in as many as 50 constituencies out of the 126 Assembly segments in Assam. 

Ultras held in Mizoram-Myanmar border
Eight members of Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) were arrested with arms in Mizoram-Myanmar border   town of Camphai. The insurgents, indulging in extortion, were both from Manipur and Myanmar, the police said, adding one 9mm pistol, one US made M-16 assault rifle and 40 rounds of ammunition were seized from the rebels. The arrest created furore in Champhai from where State Chief Minister Zoramthanga and former Chief Minister and PPC chief Lal Thanhawla were contesting. ZRA, an underground organisation of the Paite community based in Manipur and Myanmar, is reported to be involved in extortion in the north-eastern part of Mizoram adjoining Manipur and Myanmar

Post mortem report points to torture death
The post mortem report of deceased IRB rifleman Md Riyajuddin has revealed damning evidences of severe torture while in custody and the medical officer who conducted the test has given the cause of death as “The death was due to intravaeranial haemorrhage and multiple bruises produced by blunt force.” The report of the medical officer went on to describe the cause of the death as, “homicidal in nature”. The post mortem report went on to extensively say that there were multiple bruises on the forehead and left side of the face, bruise marks on the left mastoid area, wound on the undersurface of the chin, abrasion on the left side of the chin, abrasion on the right side of the neck, extensive bruises on the back of the trunk from shoulder to the 10th thoracic vertebra and from shoulder to shoulder etc. Strongly condemning the custodial killing of the rifleman, the All Manipur Muslim Organisations’ Co-ordinating Committee has announced that it will launch a non-cooperation move mentt.

Centre lauds Sonitpur on rural development 
The Sonitpur district administration has earned appreciation from the Union Ministry of Rural Development for spectacular performance in ensuring transparency and people’s participation in implementation of rural development programmes. The Ministry of Rural Development, in its latest publication Parivartan —  mentioned the endeavours of the district administration for taking up a number of innovative initiatives.

Central-level DA, ADA to Naga staff
The Nagaland Government has decided to grant Dearness Allowances (DA) and Additional Dearness Allowances (ADA) to its employees at par with the Central Government employees from January next. The DA will accordingly be increased to 57 per cent from the existing rate of 55 per cent of payment in the revised scales under Revision of Pay(RoP), 1999, and ADA from the existing rate of 151 per cent to 162 per cent of pay in respect of Government employees drawing pay in the pre-revised scales under RoP, 1993, according to official sources here today. An office memorandum to this effect was issued by the State Finance Department (RoP cell) and would be effective from January 1, 2004. The term pay for the purpose of calculation of DA should be the pay drawn in the prescribed scale of pay, including stagnation increments if any, and non-practicing allowances but should not include any other type of pay like special pay or personal pay.

AIGSF welcomes BTC
The All India Gorkha Students Federation (AIGSF), the apex Gorkha students body of the country, expressed its satisfaction on the formation of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in Assam. The AIGSF is of the opinion that the BTC would help to fulfil the long-cherished dream of the Bodo people along with other communities living in the BTC including the Gorkhas. The AIGSF also hoped that the BTC would have the Gurkha representation in the interim council for the betterment and welfare of Gorkhas living in the BTC area.

17 NSCN (K) cadres join NSCN (IM)  
The NSCN (K) received a major jolt when 17 of its cadres, including one deputy kilonser (minister) and a vice-chairman of the Ao region from the armed wing, shifted their loyalty to the NSCN (IM). Confirming this defection, sources within the NSCN (IM) said that the cadres only joined the outfit recently and the NSCN (IM) would formally announce soon. The sources said the defection might change the complex balance of power, which had been existing in Ao region between the NSCN (K) and its rival NSCN (IM). Till recently, the NSCN (K) had strong presence in the area and Mokokchung town was practically its command and control headquarters for entire operations in Nagaland and Manipur. “These NSCN (K) leaders and cadres were repenting for their past mistakes and they had realised the folly of their leaders, who have gone against the interest of the Nagas,” the sources added.

Blessed Mother Teresa Road 
As announced earlier by the Maghalaya Chief Minister, the Meghalaya Government has named a road in the state capital after Mother Teresa. An existing road behind Raj Bhavan connecting the All India Radio and Camel-back road at the YWCA has been renamed as Blessed Mother Teresa Road.

Magazine launched   
Anunad, a quarterly Assamese magazine, was launched recently. The inaugural function was presided over by Mr Rajendra Deb, former principal of Birjhora Kanya Mahavidyalaya.

Firing on villagers condemned
The villagers of Tinsukia were fired upon when they protested against the forcible eviction of 50 labourers of Tinsukia Divisional Forest Department. The forest guards, led by the DFO allegedly evacuated the villagers and decamped with their valuables and belongings. They were also forced to sign  on blank papers. The Chabua unit of AGP has condemned   the action of the DFO and termed it as barbaric. They have blamed the Congress government for evicting the genuine indigenous people while turning a blind eye on the illegally settled.

NEC stipends, book grants to be stopped 
The North Eastern Council (NEC), which has been in the past inviting applications every year from candidates of the region admitted to Ph.D/ M.Phil/ Post-Graduate/ degree/ diploma in universities/ institutes in certain specified disciplines for award of stipend/ book grants, has decided not to entertain applications from this year onwards for NEC’s stipends and book grants.

Planning Commission fund for Tamenglong 
Planning Commission would be releasing Rs 15 crores annually for the next three years for the taking development works in Tamenglong district as an outcome of the seminar held on the development of Tamenglong district on Nov 10 and 11, 2000. The said fund is be released under a scheme launched by Planning Commission in the Tenth Plan, name Rashtriya  Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY).

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