The Assam government has decided to hand over all cases related to the ethnic violence -- that recently rocked Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts of Assam -- to the Central Bureau of Investigation to nab the culprits who masterminded the violence.
The probe report has estimated the cost of damage due to the accident at more than Rs 52 crore.
The stage is all set for the second and final phase of polls in 64 Assembly constituencies in 14 districts of Central and Lower Assam amidst tight security on Monday.
The tea industry's cup of woes brimmeth - scanty rainfall and pest attacks have dragged down production in May, prices are lower than last year, and demand from some export markets is muted. Production in North Bengal - comprising the Dooars, Terai, and Darjeeling - is majorly affected; parts of Assam are also hit. Arijit Raha, secretary general, Indian Tea Association (ITA), said that the Tea Board numbers for April show a crop loss of about 9 per cent for North Bengal, compared to last year.
The mob was protesting against the death of suspected ULFA linkman Ajit Mahanta allegedly in army custody on Sunday.
The All Assam Tribal Sangha, an umbrella organization of different ethnic groups in the state has exhorted the Central government to gear up vigilance infrastructure along the borders with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan to stymie the demographic invasion across the border.
The situation was on Saturday peaceful along the Assam-Nagaland border in Golaghat district, where 11 people have died so far, but nearly 10,000 people have fled their homes to take shelter in relief camps.
Himanta Biswa Sarma -- who is also the North East Democratic Alliance convenor -- took the oath of office and secrecy in Assamese.
According to two separate notifications, the decisions have been taken after review of the law-and-order situation in both the states.
'If such a practice were feasible, every state would seek additional funds, posing a significant risk to the overall health of the economy.'
The ruling Congress has so far decided on party nominees for six Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam while names of prospective candidates for the rest of the constituencies have been screened and sent to the central election committee of the party for final selection.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has cancelled all his programmes for the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka in the wake of clashes reported in parts of Manipur, sources said.
Concerned over unabated violence along Assam-Nagaland border, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday telephoned chief ministers of Assam and Nagaland and asked them to defuse tension along the borders of the two states.
The Assam government has requested the Centre for additional central forces to beef up security measures in the state in the wake of anti-talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland resorting to mindless killings of innocent civilians.
Manipur witness more violence on Tuesday when unidentified armed men, suspected to be cadres of banned terror groups, attacked people from the tribal community in the morning killing three of them in Kangpokpi district, officials said.
The BJP parliamentary board made the decision in an hour-long meeting attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah.
Shinzo Abe is planning to come to Guwahati for annual summit talks with his Modi from December 15-17.
The BJP has dropped C T Ravi, a leader from Karnataka, Dilip Saikia, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam, as its general secretaries, and Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi, both Lok Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh, and Sunil Deodhar as secretaries.
The Assam government on Wednesday in principle decided to take the initiative to initiate dialogue with top leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam, even without the participation of the outfit's commander-in-chief Paresh Barua, who is yet to be arrested."The Assam Cabinet, in a meeting held today, in principle decided to initiate dialogue with the ULFA, whose top leaders are now in jail," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told media personnel.
An umbrella organization of several ethnic groups has decided to launch an agitation opposing the statehood demands raised by a number of ethnic groups in Assam. including Bodos, Karbis and Koch-Rajbongshis.
The Centre has sought a report from Nagaland on the lynching of a rape accused by a mob in Dimapur and put neighbouring Assam on high alert in the wake of the incident.
With 32 people being killed in Assam, the Centre on Sunday said it is determined to curb attacks on minorities as the violence there was aimed at starting a "full-fledged communal conflagration".
'We should let the dust settle and see how the political equation unfolds in Assam'
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.
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.
The GST Bill, seen as single biggest tax reform in a long time, needs to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST Council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues
The Naxals are trying to set up organisational bases in the Northeast to forge ties with other insurgent groups to meet their military needs and the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border has emerged as another theatre of Maoist activities, the government said on Wednesday.
A major fire broke out at Numaligarh Refinery Limited in Assam's Golaghat district on Saturday, with the United Liberation Front of Assam claiming responsibility for triggering a blast which led to the subsequent fire.
These five persons belonging to non-Bodo community were called for questioning on Tuesday and were taken into custody after they allegedly admitted their involvement in the crime, CBI sources said.
Raising doubts over an encounter by the Assam police, the National Human Rights Commission has recommended that the state government pay Rs 5 lakh as monetary relief to the next of kin of Rajib Basumatary, who was killed in Doimoguri in Sonitpur, Tezpur on June 23, 2010.
A militant of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom was killed in an encounter with police under Dhekiajuli police station area in north Assam's Sonitpur district at around 8 pm on Friday night.
Unidentified persons on Monday night fired indiscriminately, exploded grenades and burnt some houses in a village in the strife-torn Kokrajhar district of lower Assam, the police said.
A state-of-the-art memorial ground will also be constructed in his honour.
It added that there was 'no sincerity' on the part of the central government to solve the insurgency problem of the state.
The Congress on Wednesday gave a notice on moving a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi-led central government in the Lok Sabha over the Manipur issue.
Following passage of the Constitution Bill, 2014, Dass and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who introduced it in the House, exchanged sweets.
The jawan performed his duty well and did not allow the rioters to loot the police weapons store, security officials said.
The offensive came as the Central government called off the truce with the outfit earlier in the day.
Their agitation will begin next week and continue till the central and Assam governments give an assurance that they would not be targeted.
Finding itself in a soup over the arrest of one of its senior leaders, Hira Sarania, by the police on charges of twin murders and robbery, the pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam on Wednesday decided to suspend him from the primary membership of the organisation, besides relieving him of all his responsibilities.
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