Students of the Asom Jatiya Vidyalaya in Guwahati on Wednesday had a memorable telephonic conversation with Edward Michael Fincke, the commander of the International Space Station, which is located 350 kilometers above the earth's surface.Fincke fielded questions ranging from his daily schedule at the ISS to his research work. He gave the enthusiastic students several insights into the food habits and water management at the zero gravity environment.
Opposition parties in Assam assembly on Tuesday raised a storm over inordinate delay in complete the fencing along the 263 km India-Bangladesh border in the state. The opposition called upon the Congress government in Assam to urge the central government to show urgency in resolving border disputes with Bangladesh to facilitate completion of fencing work.
The Congress-led coalition government has tabled the Assam Preventive Detention (Amendment) Bill 2009 with an aim to make the Assam Preventive Detention Act, 1980, more effective. The government intends to increase the maximum period of preventive detention from six months to two years.
Making the split in the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom official, the pro-talks faction of the outfit has given up the demand for sovereignty and announced its readiness to hold talks with the central government within the framework of the Constitution. The faction said it favours autonomy over sovereignty.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday said he will step down as the chairman of the counter-insurgency Unified Command in order to concentrate on development activities. The chief secretary will take over the responsibility. "I want to focus more on development work as it is the development that will ultimately neutralise insurgency. Had there been no insurgency, the state could have afforded to pump more money into development and welfare schemes," he said.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said the Centre would take a decision of further extension of the ceasefire agreement with the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), a Bodo tribe militant group in Assam within some days.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit the blast victims under going treatment in Guwahati Medical College Hospital later in the evening on his arrival at the city. The prime minister is travelling to Shillong on Saturday to attend Indian Science Congress. "I have full faith in Assam police and am confident that they will capture them," he said.
A bomb exploded injuring three persons in the Birubari area of Guwahati on Thursday. Official sources said the Improvised Explosive Devise kept in a Gauhati Municipal Corporation dustbin went off at around 1530 hrs.
The sacked President of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) which is now in truce with Government of India, Ranjan Daimary alias D R Nabla has refused to heed to recognize the new president of the outfit Dhiren Boro and vowed to continue the 'struggle' for 'freedom' of Bodo tribe in Assam.
The Assam government suspended a registrar of Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Dr Punyadhar Deuri two days after the notorious drug lord, Pakhi Mian alias Samsul Haque Talukdar escaped from judicial custory while he was undergoing treatment at the hospital.
The New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express had a close shave when unidentified militants exploded a bomb on the railway track between Khatkhati and Bokajan railway station in Karbi Anglong Hill district of Assam in the wee hours of Wednesday minutes after the train had crossed the area.
The drug lord Paki Mian was admitted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital on December 19, as per the Guwahati Jail's medical officer's orders.Mian is wanted in three cases of murder and 21 cases relating to drug smuggling. He managed to drug the two armed Assam police guards before escaping from the hospital bed, much to the embarrassment of the Assam police.
A team of Central Bureau of Investigation has arrived in Guwahati to take over the probe into the October 30 serial blasts that rocked four places in Assam, killing 93 and injuring close to 550.
United Liberation Front of Asom chief Golap Barua alias Anup Chetia has moved the United Nations for refugee status and political asylum in a safe country in the event of his release from a Bangladesh jail. The Indian government wants his to be extradited.
Finding accusing fingers pointed at it for the October 30 serial blasts in Assam, the proscribed National Democratic Front of Bodoland has sacked its fugitive chairman Ranjan Daimary in its general council meeting to save the current three-year-old peace process with the Government of India. The militant group has virtually split because general assembly's decision to replace Daimary with vice chairman Dhiren Boro alias B Sungthagra.
Several insurgents, including 28 members of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam, laid down their arms at the Dinjan Army base in Tinsukia district of eastern Assam on Tuesday.The Army informed that besides the 28 ULFA cadres, seven members from Naga rebel groups and three members from a tribal outfit called Karbi Longri North Cavhar Hills Liberation Front also gave up their arms.The rebels deposited a huge cache of arms and ammunition.
A group of heavily armed militants shot dead the leader of a Manipuri women's group on Sunday night, in front other members of her family, at her residence in Nongren Mayai Leikai in Imphal East district.KCP-MC has claimed responsibility for the dastardly act, saying the senior leader of 'Meira Paibis' (woman activists) had not heeded their warnings, against keeping in touch with security forces, which are operating against rebel groups in the state.
The security forces in Assam have decided to beef up security throughout the state after receiving intelligence inputs about militants' design to carry out attacks during Christmas and harvest festival Bihu.
The Centre has rushed five teams of medical experts to the six bird flu-hit districts of Assam, to check if the infection has spread to humans. But state authorities on Monday claimed that the bird flu outbreak has been brought under control and no fresh incidents have been reported in the last 24 hours.Central teams of medical experts have not found any cases of humans being infected, informed a senior medical official.
Apprehending trouble in its bases outside the country in the post-Mumbai scenario that has stepped up the crackdown against terrorism in South Asia, the banned United Liberation Front of Asom is trying to step up activities in Assam through smaller tribal militant groups promoted by it.
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