Scheduled to be completed in 2016, the 4.94 km rail-cum-road bridge, India's longest bridge, will come up across the mighty Brahmaputra at Bogibeel in Assam. It is not only expected to be a lifeline for the Northeast, but will also strengthen the country's security.
After several days of intensive statehood agitation by various ethnic communities, the situation in Assam limped back to normalcy on Wednesday. Trains services were restored while movement of vehicles including trucks carrying essential commodities resumed on the highways connecting the Assam and the Northeast to the rest of the country.
A powerful bomb exploded on a railway track in Karbi Anglong district of central Assam early on Thursday morning. According to the police, the attack was targeted at the Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express by militants from the suspected Karbi Longri National Liberation Front insurgent group. Nobody was injured in the blast. The incident occurred five kms away from Diphu, just after a security escort engine for checking the tracks passed the area.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Thursday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah has given firm assurances at a meeting held in Delhi of acting on his request for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the 'firing by Assam Police' along the states' border.
'Most Assamese don't understand a word like ghuspethiya and its insulting connotation.'
The founder of the newly floated Raijor Dal -- arrested in December 2019 over sedition charges - bagged 57,219 votes as an Independent, garnering support from 46.06 per cent of the electorate.
A large number of women from Malom in Imphal West district blocked the road to the airport in protest against the killing of the policemen in Moreh.
The fundamental construct of India's neighbourhood policy still needs to be what Vajpayee postulated, Manmohan Singh embraced, and Modi energised. It's just that we need to junk domestic politics and excessive religiosity, while acquiring much humility and a renewed respectfulness towards our neighbours, recommends Shekhar Gupta.
There are three things you never do in a small North East state: Undermine local leaders, divide and rule, push homogenisation, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The Assam Rifles has a skeletal presence of women and the officials feel that they are not trained for a law-and-order situation.
Manipur Police have so far arrested five persons in connection with the May 4 parading of two tribal women in Kangpokpi district of the state, officials said on Saturday.
Aizawl has been cut off from the rest of the country due to a landslide on National Highway 6 at Hunthar.
Stating that 35 weapons of different types, ammunition and warlike stores were recovered on the second day of joint combing operations on Thursday in the hills and valley sector, the official said that the security forces are adopting confidence building measure and a people centric approach to alleviate the hardships of the people, affected by the month-long ethnic strife in the northeastern state.
Narmada Bachao Movement leader Medha Patkar led a massive protest rally in Guwahati on Wednesday demanding shelving of dam projects in ecologically fragile and tectonically highly sensitive Northeastern region especially in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in order to safeguard interests of masses in the region.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
Cold-day conditions prevailed in parts of north India on Friday though the maximum temperatures rose slightly amid clear skies and sunshine during the day.
A self-styled commander of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, who was allegedly involved in the killing of an agriculture department engineer, was shot dead in an encounter with security forces at Nayakgaon village in lower Assam's Kokrajhar district.
The situation has improved marginally in Tripura and Mizoram in the past 24 hours.
'For the last two elections, the Congress manifesto has been thrown into the dustbin.' 'This manifesto will also be thrown into the dustbin.'
'The victory is an expression of agrarian distress and social turmoil.'
The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Wednesday with a railway track washed away in Lakhimpur district disrupting railway traffic with Arunachal Pradesh.
'The prime minister expressed concern and assured all possible help to the state,' CMO said.
Often during the day or night, there is intermittent firing where these groups are taking shots at these quadcopters, available freely in the market, the officials said.
Life was hit in lower Assam for the second day on Tuesday in three bandhs called to press for Bodoland and Kamtapur, while Karbi Anglong, which had erupted over statehood demand on the lines of Telangana, was slowly limping back to normal.
This year, Abahan Theatre's marquee play is based on the Olympic boxing medallist Mary Kom. Written by Abhijit Bhattacharya, popular Assamese actor Prastuti Parashar portrays the role of the champion pugilist from Manipur in the play.
In a letter addressed to Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Mizoram Home Secretary Lalbiaksangi said that National Highway 306, the state's lifeline that connects it with the rest of the country, has been blocked in Assam since July 26.
The ministry of home affairs has identified around 1,700 km of fencing that needs to be done, BRO's additional director general (East) PKH Singh said.
The Journalists Forum Assam on Tuesday appealed to the people of the northeast region to defy the call given by militant outfits prohibiting them from celebrating Independence Day on August 15.
Sources added that in the past one week, 4,000 trucks carrying essential supplies reached the valley via NH 37, which is the only road that is open for now.
'After a month of working on the new machine, I realised that the black glass on the VVPAT lets the programmer manipulate not just the electronic system, but the paper vote too.' 'And it will not be detected even during the mock poll or the actual voting because of the black glass.'
The killing of 16-year-old Priya Basumatary as 'punishment' for reportedly leaking information on the movements of five National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction) cadres, who were gunned down by the police following a tip-off, has sent shockwaves across Assam.
Assam's new Director General of Police, Khagen Sarma on Friday said that Pakistan's spy agency Inter Services intelligence and other external forces are behind United Liberation Front of Asom (anti-talks) faction leader Paresh Baruah's efforts to form a common force comprising all northeastern insurgent groups to fight Indian security forces
During a review, the EC found that the performance of some officers was "unsatisfactory" and they were found "complacent, if not complicit" in various matters, including the illegal supply of liquor as a possible poll inducement, sources said.
Yemen is ranked the worst (153rd), while Iraq is 152nd and Pakistan 151st.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Deputy PM Richard Marles will be among the key personalities who are expected to attend the ICC Cricket World Cup grand finale
The Centre on Monday claimed that the Maoist extremists were focusing to set up bases in upper Assam, close to international border and this could create a "serious strategic security complication" to northeastern states.
Unless the anarchy in Manipur is brought under control quickly, we are sowing the seeds of a flare up in the entire North East and the end of our dream of checking China in South East Asia, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'People understand Hitlershahi, tanashahi and now Modishahi.'
'Everything was sacrosanct when the BJP was led by Vajpayee and Advani.' 'That was a different culture. But with Modi and Amit Shah nothing is sacrosanct.'
India and China made progress in five-six friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh through talks in the last three years and efforts are underway to resolve the remaining issues, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.
