Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday launched a financial assistance scheme for 'Udasin Bhakats', providing monthly support of 1,500 to celibate Vaishnavite monks associated with Satras across the state.
Revenue generated from the final podcast featuring Zubeen Garg will be placed in a 20-year fixed deposit to support emerging artists.
It was 23 years ago that the family had lost one of its daughters, Jongki, on a cold January winter, when her vehicle met with an accident while going to perform at a function.
Zubeen Garg's cousin and Assam Police DSP Sandipan Garg was apprehended on Wednesday in connection with the singer's death in Singapore last month, taking the total number of arrests in the case to five, a senior officer said.
The district administration said that air pollution is still within the acceptable limit and the local office of Pollution Control Board, Assam is closely monitoring the situation.
The 'key person' involved with the plan is still absconding, though the police have his whereabouts and he will be nabbed soon, Sarma said.
The well has not caught fire yet, and no one is injured in the incident, he said.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the arrest of six individuals, including an opposition MLA, for allegedly expressing support for Pakistan following a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. The arrests come as part of a crackdown on individuals promoting pro-Pakistan sentiments on social media. The chief minister stated that Assam will not tolerate any support for Pakistan in connection with the attack in Pahalgam, where 26 people were killed.
A senior police officer said bomb disposal squads have been rushed to all the places mentioned by ULFA-I but there is no report of recovery of any bomb or explosive.
Assam's flood situation remained critical on Tuesday with over 6.71 lakh people affected in 20 districts in the second wave of flooding this year, as the Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued 13 stranded fishermen from the severely-hit Dibrugarh district, an official said.
They accused Sarma of attempting to incite communal tension by targeting a specific community, potentially leading to riot-like situations in the state.
Hundreds of rural women who gathered to collect forms for a newly announced government scheme in Jorhat district of Assam left their queues to greet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was leading the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' through the area on Thursday.
Replying to the motion, he said the crime rate has not increased if the population growth is taken into account.
Dhubri is the worst-hit district, followed by Cachar and Darrang.
ULFA-Independent on Friday claimed responsibility for the blast near the gate of the army station in Assam's Jorhat district.
The Assam Police have issued notices to opposition parties 'ordering' them to 'withdraw' the hartal over the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and warned that 'legal action' will be taken against them if they fail to follow the diktat.
Hazarika, a former minister, said that he resigned from all posts in the AGP, including that of the general secretary.
Key provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which came into law this year may violate certain provisions of India's Constitution, a report issued by an independent research wing of the United States Congress has claimed.
A "mild blast" took place near the army station in Assam's Jorhat district on Thursday evening, a defence official said.
"I am a son of Assam and if a single person who has not applied for NRC in the state gets citizenship, I will be the first to resign," the chief minister said on the sidelines of a programme at Sivasagar.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam till Thursday.
Senior Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia has filed a police complaint against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his alleged "hateful statement" such as Lok Sabha MP and former party president Sonia Gandhi's "residence should be burnt".
Sarma said his government will take further steps based on the suggestions of the home minister.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a 'Red Alert' and predicted 'very heavy' to 'extremely heavy' rainfall across several districts of Assam over the next five days.
Sarma, while responding to reporters' questions on high price of veggies in Guwahati, had said, "Vegetables are not priced so high in villages. Here the Miya vendors charge us more. Had it been Assamese vendors selling vegetables, they wouldn't have fleeced their own people."
Two of the three ONGC employees who were abducted allegedly by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders on April 21, have been rescued.
In the last 24 hours, eight people have died after drowning in flood waters -- two each in Barpeta and Karimganj districts, one each in Darrang, Hailakandi, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts and eight people are still missing.
The PSU, in a statement, said that the three employees have been abducted by unknown armed miscreants in the early hours of Wednesday from a rig site of ONGC in Lakwa field of Sivasagar.
The accused person was working as a security guard at a company in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates that was storing the belongings of the late Argentinian footballer.
Gogoi was the only one whose bail was rejected by the court and he was released after spending 567 days in jail once Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das cleared him along with the three others of all charges.
The total number of people killed in flooding and landslides in the state this year has gone up to 76. While 50 people were killed in inundation, 26 died due to landslides.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with one more person losing his life and nearly 7.18 lakh people in 27 districts remaining affected by the deluge, an official bulletin said.
Akhil Gogoi, member of the legislative assembly from Sivasagar in Assam, is likely to be released from jail on Thursday as a special NIA court cleared him and his three associates of all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged role in the violent anti-Citizenship Amendment Act stir in Assam in December 2019.
The toll due to the flood since mid-May is now 101, they said.
Billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday did an hour-long session of yoga exercises in the open air as he led corporate India to join the International Day of Yoga celebrations. Several public and private sector companies held yoga sessions at their offices to promote the adoption of exercise in daily routines to stay fit and healthy. Adani, chairman of logistics-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group, and his wife Priti, who heads the Adani Foundation, "participated with more than 1,000 members of the Adani Parivaar team to celebrate health, mindfulness and meditation," the group said in a statement. The session was held at a football ground at Adani Shantigram in Ahmedabad. Several other business leaders tweeted pictures of their yoga sessions.
The ASDMA said more than 4.87 lakh people are currently suffering in Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Golaghat, Cachar, Dhemaji, Biswanath, Karimganj, Sonitpur, Majuli, Barpeta, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Morigaon and Chirang districts.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, was completely withdrawn in Meghalaya in 2018, Tripura in 2015 and Mizoram in the 1980s.
With two more deaths, the fatalities due to flood this year has gone up to 18.
At least 117 Electronic Voting Machines malfunctioned and were replaced during the first phase of assembly polls in 65 constituencies in Assam, where the two-phase election process started Monday.
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