Assam remained cut off from the rest of the country by rail as train services remained suspended all over the state, with hundreds of Assam-bound passengers being stranded in Coochbehar in West Bengal on the border with Assam and other places
A heavy downpour in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh and catchment areas of the Brahmaputra has led to flooding in large areas in Upper Assam.
Amid continuing violence in parts of Assam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undertake a visit to the state on Saturday to take stock of the situation and the steps being taken to control it.
Scattered violence continued for the sixth day on Thursday in riot-torn lower Assam districts where one person was killed in police firing while four persons were injured in an attack by a group of persons in Baksa district.
Over one lakh people have been reeling under the impact of the third wave of floods in six districts of Assam as the rising water of the Brahmaputra river inundated vast areas of human habitation and cropland.
Rediff.com takes a look at life inside a relief camp in Kokrajhar, which was the epicenter of the recent ethnic violence, which claimed 77 lives.
A judicial inquiry will be held to probe the violence in lower Assam even as the Central Bureau of Investigation has taken up seven cases related to the clashes that have claimed 77 lives so far. "We have decided on a judicial inquiry. This will be done at a much larger scale and cover the entire gamut of issues, including lapses by administration and recommendations for preventing such incidents in the future," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.
A dwindling population of swarm buffalo has hit the dairy industry in Assam's Sorbhog and Bokakhat areas, famous for curd and milk products.
A major train tragedy was averted on Thuraday when a bomb planted on railway tracks by suspected tribal militants in lower Assam's Udalguri district exploded minutes after Arunachal Express passed the area, official sources said.
Food budgets in urban areas spent less on protein as compared to beverages and processed foods, reveals the Household Consumption Expenditure survey data for 2023-24.
Nearly 86 lakh people in the state's 32 districts have been affected by heavy rain and subsequent floods this year, bringing life to a screeching halt in many parts.
The violence in lower Assam has once again brought to the fore the problem of illegal migration and its impact on the socio-economic situation in the state, which had witnessed prolonged unrest on the explosive issue back in the 80s.
The suspected militants fled the scene after hurling the grenade.
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.
Following Monday night's bus tragedy that claimed lives of at least 28 persons of a marriage party at Charabori on Hajo- Guwahati Road in Kamrup District in Assam, the government has a appointed a one-man inquiry commission headed by Hemanga Kumar Sharma, commissioner of Lower Assam Division.
AAKRSU supporters claimed the violence was triggered by a conspiracy hatched by people opposed to a separate Kamtapur state.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday appealed to students and people from Assam and other parts of the north-east to refrain from rushing back to their home states in panic. The chief minister made the comment in the wake of reports of mass exodus of people, particularly students, who are afraid of a backlash following the widespread violence in lower Assam.
A team of Central Bureau of Investigation officials will visit violence-hit areas of Assam on Thursday after Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi decided to recommend a probe by the Central agency into the clashes.
Two persons died in Assam's Dhemaji district on Monday after alleged firing along the inter-state border.
Opposition parties in India, led by the Congress, have demanded a detailed discussion in Parliament on alleged discrepancies in voter lists. Rahul Gandhi raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, highlighting concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. The opposition alleges large-scale duplication of EPIC numbers, which they claim undermines voter integrity and the electoral process. They have also pointed out instances of inflated voter lists in states like Maharashtra and Haryana. The Election Commission has acknowledged discrepancies but maintains that these are not widespread and that corrective measures are being taken. The opposition, however, insists on a comprehensive discussion on the matter to ensure the integrity of elections in India.
'Assam is not a dumping ground for Bangladeshi Hindu refugees,' says Assamese actor Ravi Sharma who joined the BJP in August and quit the party on December 10 in protest against the Citizenship Act.
Blaming large-scale immigration from Bangladesh for the clashes in lower Assam, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Tuesday said the government's "inaction" in dealing with the problem of infiltrators has resulted in indigenous communities feeling threatened.
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.
Cheteshwar Pujara continued his good form in Ranji Trophy as he slammed his second successive century as Saurashtra dominated their Elite Group A match against Manipur.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused the Tarun Gogoi-led Assam government of not taking timely steps to contain the conflict in violence-hit districts of lower Assam.
Four more bodies were recovered on Wednesday in lower Assam, which witnessed fresh incidents of violence, taking the toll to 77, police said.
At least three more persons were killed while two others injured as fresh violence erupted in strife-torn Kokrajhar district, taking the death toll in the to 64.
Five militants were killed in an encounter with army in lower Assam's Sonitpur district in the wee hours on Monday. Troops of the Red Horns division exchanged fire with the insurgents belonging to National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam late on Sunday night at Akabasti, 8 km southeast of Lokra, army sources said.
While Himanta Biswa Sarma scotched rumours that he would be the king this time, political sources in Guwahati maintained that he, and not Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had a bigger say in choosing candidates, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Passengers of the Kamakhya-Puri Express had a close shave after a powerful bomb was found from the train in lower Assam's Goalpara district, where another powerful bomb was also recovered from a house on Friday, official sources said.
In one of the worst ever floods in the state, 25 of the 27 districts remained inundated.
Violence escalated in trouble-torn Kokrajhar district of Assam on Sunday with a senior DIG rank police official and three others injured in mob attack prompting police to fire in self-defence, while the death toll in the last two days' clash between Bodos and immigrants rose to 12.
Four persons were injured on Tuesday night, two of them seriously, in a powerful improvised explosive device blast at a 'Raas-leela' pandal in lower Assam's Udalgiri district, police said.
It will be interesting to see what shifts have been recorded in the last decade-and-a-half -- from the effects of demonetisation and Covid's second wave to the drop in fertility and increase in farm workers -- but we will only know this if and when the Census is conducted, points out Aakar Patel.
At least 23 people were killed, including women and children, and 44 others injured when a speeding bus collided with a truck in lower Assam's Dhubri district in the early hours on Tuesday.
High nitrate levels have been found in groundwater of 440 districts across India, with 20 per cent of the samples collected exceeding the permissible nitrate concentration, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has said in a report.
Ethnic violence continued in lower Assam's Kokrajhar district claiming the life of a farmer on Monday.
In a significant policy shift aimed at boosting agri-productivity and rural prosperity, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced six new agricultural schemes while increasing the subsidised Kisan Credit Card loan limit to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 3 lakh, benefiting 7.7 crore farmers, fishermen, and dairy farmers.
In Agartala, the Group A match between Mumbai and Tripura ended in a draw with the reigning champions earning three points by virtue of the first-innings lead.
The momentum the BJP has in its favour is partly due to the anti-incumbency wave the Congress is battling.
