Arunachal Pradesh to streamline Gaon Burah system
The Arunachal Pradesh Government is streamlining the Gaon Burah institution which is performing magisterial duties in villages in the absence of separate judiciary in the State.
Administrative Reform Minister Takam Sanjoy said that the State Government has released Rs. 1.25 crore recently to each deputy commissioner to pay the honorarium to the Gaon Burah and head Gaon Burahs.
The Government is paying Rs. 250 per month to each head Gaon Burah and Rs. 200 to each Gaon Burah as honorarium.The Gaon Burah helps the Government in settling disputes in village level.
Even a Gaon Burah is empowered to impose a fine of Rs. 50 to an individual if he is found guilty in any case.

K. T. Singh new Tripura DGP
Additional Director General of Police K. T. D. Singh has taken over as the Director General of Police (DGP) of Tripura.
Mr. Singh succeeds B. Singh, an IPS officer of West Bengal Cadre who has completed his tenure in the State.

Writer dead
Noted writer and columnist Jagat Jyoti Roy died recently following a brief illness. He was 56 and is survived by his wife and two sons.
Mr. Roy, who was also an officer of Comptroller and Auditor General, was the president of Civil Audit Association. He wrote several books on Tripura's tribals and princely rule.

Wild cat bandh in Dimapur
Business establishments at Dimapur town observed a wild cat bandh in protest against excessive extortion, taxation and abduction.The bandh call was given by All Dimapur Business and Shopkeepers Association (ADBSA).
Meanwhile, the Nagaland Medicine Dealers Association (NMDA) and the Industrial Entrepreneurs Association of Nagaland have appealed for the early release of K. Harish Adyanthaya who was kidnapped by some unidentified persons recently.
The NMDA, at an emergency meeting has condemned the abduction of K. Harish, proprietor of M/s Quality Medicines, Dimapur. The NMDA has appealed to the abductors to release Harish immediately.

PM assures Sikkim of special economic package
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee assured Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling of a 'special economic' package for the cash-strapped Himalayan state. Mr. Chamling called on the Prime Minister at the latter's residence in New Delhi recently. The two held a half-an-hour discussion on the current political scenario as well as the State's long standing demands.
During their discussions, the Prime Minister thanked Mr. Chamling, who is also the President of the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), for his party's support to the BJP-led coalition Government during the confidence motion.

Literacy rate highest in Mizoram

As per the results of the 53rd round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), there has been a significant increase in the literacy rate in the country. Mizoram now leads the country with a literacy rate of 95 per cent. Kerala holds the second position with 93 per cent.
Literacy rate in 1991 was 52.2 per cent. This has gone up to 62 per cent at the end of December 1997, according to the NSSO, touch 64 per cent at the end of 1998.
Male literacy rates have now risen to 73 per cent as against 64.1 per cent in 1991 and the female literacy rates in the corresponding period have risen from 39.3 per cent to 50 per cent.

Kokborak becomes official language in TTAADC
Tribal Kokborak has replaced English as the main official language in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).The language was introduced at a simple function at Khumlang, TTAADC headquarters, by Tripura Education Minister Anil Sarkar.
Earlier, the State Government had also announced introduction of Kokborak as additional official language apart from Bengali and English in its official work.

Contempt notices to Delhi officials
The Imphal bench of Gauhati High Court has served notices to two sales tax officials in Delhi as to why contempt proceedings would not be initiated against them for allegedly violating earlier court order on free marketing of Manipur State Lotteries.
The order passed by Justice W. A. Shishak, followed filing of a petition by the Manipur State Lotteries.

Centre tells States to work out fiscal reforms

The Centre has directed state governments, including that of Nagaland, to work out fiscal reforms for better financial management and to overcome overdraft.

The National Development Council (NDC) meeting held in Delhi last month had asked the state governments to improve upon their own resources.The performance of the states will be reviewed in September and if found satisfactory, more incentives would be forthcoming from the Centre.

Nagaland warns school teacher
Nagaland school education minister H. Chuba Chang has warned the teachers and other staffs of the schools of the State that stern disciplinary action would be taken if they are found irregular in their duties.
In a release, Mr. Chang said that he had recently visited some government schools in Dimapur district and observed irregular attendence of some teaching staff.

Tripura to launch Vikash Patra
The Tripura Government has decided to launch "Tripura loan Vikash Patra 2009" with a target of raising Rs. 20 crore from the public for development of the State.
Each bond will be of Rs. 1,000 and the tenure of the Vikash Patra would be of ten years. The annual rate of interest of the cash debenture has been fixed at 12.5 per cent.

Assam Rifles to vacate Kangla fort
The Assam Rifles posted at the historic Kangla Fort will be shifted to the newly constructed Maha-Koireng Complex near Keithelambi within July 2000. This has been assured by Director General of Assam Rifles Lt. General Gurpreet Singh.

Two Bangladeshis shot dead
At least two Bangladeshis were killed when Border Security Force jawans opened fire on armed infiltrators at Baruakandi along the Indo-Bangla border in North Tripura.

Landslide hazard zonation
In Mizoram, a project of resources data base generation and landslide hazard zonation is being taken up by the Centre in order to generate a digital data base of the natural resources on 1:250,00 scale.

Tripura asks Rs. 50 cr from Centre to tackle drought
The Tripura Government has urged the Centre to provide Rs. 50 crore to tackle the prevailing drought situation in the State.State agriculture minister Aghore Debbarma said that the State Government had sent a detail report to New Delhi about the prevailing dry spell and subsequent damage to crops. Standing crops, both Boro and seasonal vegetables of eight thousand hectares area valued at Rs. 33.7 crore were damaged in the current drought, he added. The minister further said that in some areas about eighty to ninety per cent of crops were damaged.

German doctor dies of altitude sickness
A 62-year-old German doctor died of 'high altitude' sickness on the Yoksum-Dzongri trail in West Sikkim.Dr. Winand Vow Peterorof died of oulmonary odema while trekking at a place between Choka and Bakim, about 8000 feet high on Yoksum-Dzongri trail. Dr. Winand was part of the 16-member German trekking team.

Manipur for more Central funds
The Manipur Government has urged the Union Government to release more funds to solve the problematic situation arising out of the scarcity of water in the State. A decidion to this effect was taken at a high-level State Government officials' meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary H. Jelshyam recently. The meeting decided to release a sum of Rs. 15 lakh from the calamity fund to meet current scarcity of drinking water in Manipur. This amount is to be utilised by PHED for the purpose of emergency water supply.

Nagaland Govt.'s order on transfer and posting
The Nagaland Government directed its employees not to seek the help of public leaders in matters of transfer and posting. An official memorandum said that instances had come to the Government's knowledge that many officials were exerting influence through public leaders regarding their postings and transfers. Government servants often submitted petitions to the higher authorities without routing those through their immediate departmental heads.
The memorandum said that failure to comply with the official memo would invite disciplinary action.