From April 1 next year, over 600 state-run Madrassas will be converted into upper primary, high and higher secondary schools with no change of status, pay, allowances and service conditions of the teaching and non-teaching staff.
The tribal areas, where autonomous councils were created under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, were also exempted from the purview of the CAA, officials said quoting from the rues of the law that were notified on Monday.
A home ministry spokesperson, however, said the decision does not imply that the AFSPA has been completely withdrawn from the three insurgency-hit states but will continue to be in force in some areas of the three states.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the state is committed to ensuring that the indigeneous people have legal rights over their land, Modi said, after launching a drive to give ownership certificates to over one lakh families. Marking its launch, the prime minister distributed 'pattas' to 10 people at the historic 'Jerenga Pathar'.
Six days after a violent clash between police forces of Assam and Mizoram claimed seven lives and injured over 50 people, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said such incidents along the inter-state border are 'unacceptable' to people of both the states and advocated a resolution through talks.
The Mizoram government is ready to withdraw the first information report (FIR) filed against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuango said on Sunday.
A day after it was reported that a teenager was killed at the hands of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction) cadres, other organisations have slammed the state for failing to resolve the militancy along the border. Anurag Kashyap reports
While Mizoram alleged that personnel of the Assam police fired on its civilians injuring one, the neighbouring state claimed that the men in uniform only returned the fire after miscreants from the other side of the border sprayed bullets on them.
The tribal communities, asserting their rights under the Forest Rights Act, are now planning to gather in Delhi to demand "justice" for their livelihoods and traditions that are closely linked to the forests.
Nandita Saikia, a BA student at Moridhal College in Dhemaji district, was attacked by Rintu Sharma while she was returning home from her college on Saturday, police said.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday said the state government is working towards peace talks and has held several meetings in Assam's Silchar.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the chief ministers of Assam and Mizoram, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Zoramthanga respectively, and urged them to ensure peace along the disputed border and find an amicable settlement.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said it is fighting the Assam assembly elections to form the government on its own as people are "displeased and disappointed" with the Congress-led Central and state governments.
'The BJP has 106 MLAs and Eknath Shinde claims the support of 40 MLAs. So why are they both not forming the government right now in Mumbai? Why the delay?' Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf reports.
'We have already directed our party members and supporters and advised them that not a single vote goes to the BJP'
Gen Dwivedi, who has vast operational experience along the frontiers with China and Pakistan, was serving as the Vice Chief of the Army.
'He fears that the youth tide has gone against him and he will be swept away in the next assembly election in the state.'
The high commission of India in Dhaka and the assistant high commissions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna have been assisting in the voluntary return of Indian nationals, he said.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Singh's mother also claimed that pressure was being put on him to contest the polls, adding that he will now begin his political innings from Khadoor Sahib.
Assam's longest border dispute is with Nagaland, which began since the creation of the state in 1963.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Wednesday that he along with Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma will meet Union home minister Amit Shah to submit the recommendation of the two Northeastern states for resolving the boundary dispute in six areas.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
It's intriguing that the prime minister now wants his American partner to help protect the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. That's conceding to the Americans a pre-eminence India has always contested, resented and feared, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The Congress said the PM has neither found the time nor even had the inclination to visit the state for even a few hours.
Government sources said Modi will also chair meetings to review the aftermath of the Cyclone Remal, especially in the north east region hit by natural disasters.
Allowing an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the high court had remanded the matter back to the trial court to conduct a fresh hearing on the question of framing of charge against all the four accused persons including Gogoi.
Assam CM said the police case filed against two senior Mizoram government officials - Deputy Commissioner of Kolasib district and Sub-divisional Police Officer of Vairengte - will be withdrawn.
The prime minister has been unveiling a slew of development projects running into lakhs of crores of rupees at various places as he turns the spotlight on his government's development and welfare agenda in the run-up to the general elections expected to be held in April-May.
The home minister, however, said the government will make an exception in case someone from a family comes forward and informs the authorities that his or her close relative has joined a terror outfit.
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three countries.
Rahul claimed that the Assam CM has taken land in Kaziranga National Park.
Due to heavy rains and waterlogging over the tracks at several locations on South Central Railway network, as many as 99 trains were cancelled and four trains were partially cancelled while 54 trains were diverted, an SCR official said.
For now, Modi's government appears singularly focussed on demonstrating that it is not in any way inhibited by the BJP's loss of a majority, and will continue along its patented path of bulldozing all opposition and doing just as it likes, asserts Prem Panicker.
The immediate challenge for the Centre and the home ministry is to ensure the conduct of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of its statehood.
There were certainly qualities adhering to the Tata Group, which emanated from the persona of Ratan Tata. Most notable of these would be the low profile he maintained, which sharply contrasted the in-your-face celebrity status, celebration of wealth and pursuit of importance many of liberalised India's rich, love, notes Shyam G Menon.
'Someone who cannot even take his cabinet into confidence, how will he take the NDA alliance into confidence?'
'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
The Brahmaputra and Barak rivers along with their tributaries are in spate, even as floodwaters started receding from a few areas, they said.
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