Eight persons have been killed in floods and landslides in Assam as incessant rainfall caused massive inundation in 17 districts, affecting over 78,000 people, officials said on Saturday.
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".
If he cannot do it this term by using his bureaucracy and experts from different fields, it will be a tragedy, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments on Thursday signed an agreement in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah here to resolve their decades old border disputes.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has been accorded 'Z' category VIP security cover by the Union government following an attack on her. The CRPF has taken charge of her security, providing round-the-clock protection.
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A new report indicates that increasing unconditional cash transfer schemes for women across 12 Indian states are impacting their fiscal health, with six states projecting revenue deficits.
An agitated mob attacked a convoy carrying the accused in cultural icon Zubeen Garg's death case in Assam, leading to violence, property damage, and internet shutdowns.
Bora claimed that he had suggested the need for an Assamese leader at the national level of TMC, declaring the residence of Bharat Ratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika at Tollygunge in Kolkata as a heritage site and converting the Madhupur Satra in Cooch Behar to a cultural hub.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said he and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma will also visit the disputed areas later as a goodwill gesture.
The wife and sister of singer Zubeen Garg are seeking answers and demanding justice following his death in Singapore last month. They have taken to social media to express their grief and call for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
Sarma said his government will take further steps based on the suggestions of the home minister.
'There is a saying in Assamese about inflicting pain on an adversary: He cut my hands with a sword and rubbed salt into my wounds.' 'This has never been the BJP's culture but it started happening openly and frequently under Himanta Biswa Sarma.'
The term 'love jihad' is used by right-wing groups to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
Zubeen Garg's manager Siddhartha Sharma and festival chief organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta were arrested from Delhi on Wednesday in connection with the singer's death in Singapore last month, the Assam Police said.
The body of another worker, who was trapped inside a coal mine in Assam's Dima Hasao district, was recovered on Saturday from the quarry during rescue operations, an official said.
Seven rivers, including the Brahmaputra, were flowing above the danger level, even as the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Guwahati predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the NDA's victory in the Bihar assembly elections as a win for good governance, development, and social justice. He congratulated alliance partners and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.
After big win in Bihar, the BJP is likely to push harder in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK government and the uneasy BJP-AIADMK alliance are preparing for a tense election filled with seat-sharing fights, changing alliances, and the unpredictable entry of Vijay's TVK party, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Assam Assembly has discontinued the decades-old practice of a two-hour break on Fridays to allow Muslim legislators to offer 'namaz'. The decision, which was made in August but implemented this session, has been met with criticism from opposition MLAs who argue that it was imposed by the ruling BJP. The decision was taken by the House's Rules Committee, which was headed by the Speaker, and was justified as a move to promote secularism and productivity.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Nine migrant workers died after an under-construction building collapsed at the Ennore thermal power station in Chennai. Authorities have responded, and compensation has been announced for the families of the deceased.
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.
Two jawans of the Assam Rifles were killed and five others injured when a group of armed men ambushed a vehicle of the paramilitary force on September 19.
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.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday vowed to hunt down each and every terrorist involved in the Pahalgam attack and said all of them will be made answerable for the heinous act.
Revenue minister Harak Singh Rawat had resigned on Thursday after an unwed mother alleged he had fathered her child.
In May, 40 Rohingyas were blindfolded and flown to the Andaman and Nicobar islands and then thrown into the sea and made to swim to an island in Myanmar. And after the Pahalgam attack, at least 300 Muslims were 'pushed back' to Bangladesh from Assam.
The rain and flood situation in northeastern states remained grim on Tuesday, with lakhs people affected in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, even as the meteorological department predicted more rain in several parts of the region.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, allegedly linked to Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife, has visited India 18 times. Sarma, while speaking in the state assembly, claimed that the initial information in the case is "very fatal" for the Congress and will have a "huge impact" on the politics of Assam. He also stated that the investigation findings will put some people in an indefensible position.
On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi accused BJP MP Anurag Thakur of "abusing and insulting" him during the Lok Sabha discussion on the Union Budget.
'Previously, contributing only 25 per cent of material costs, states now face burdens of 40 per cent to 100 per cent of total costs, ensuring poorer states will curb project approvals, directly stifling work demand.'
Senior Congress leader Ripun Bora has been summoned by Assam Police for questioning in connection with a case related to party colleague Gaurav Gogoi's alleged links with Pakistan. The summons comes after Bora publicly stated that Gogoi's wife received salaries from the Pakistan government, which prompted Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to claim that Bora "knows a lot" about Gogoi's alleged links. The case centers around allegations of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who is claimed to have links with Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn, interfering in India's internal affairs. Gogoi has vehemently denied the allegations and accused Sarma of making baseless accusations.
Left to its machinations, the BJP would have loved to cut Nitish down to size, but it can't afford to do so as the JD-U is in alliance with the BJP at the Centre, and cannot form a government on its own in Bihar. For now, both need each other: Nitish for legitimacy, the BJP for numbers, points out Ramesh Menon.
'Why have we failed to address the issue of ensuring a requisite buffer zone in J&K, given that cross-border links of some J&K politicians are known?', asks Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
If they act now, they can reshape the strategic map of Asia without firing a shot. If they wait, the next opportunity will come only after a serious Taiwan Strait incident -- by which time the price will be far higher, and the room for boldness far smaller -- the opportunity may well be lost by then. The question is no longer whether this can or should be done, points out Varun Arya.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
Tata Electronics on Saturday began the construction of its Rs 27,000-crore chip assembly plant in Assam, which is expected to become operational next year and create 27,000 jobs initially. The plant will produce 4.83 crore chips per day using indigenously-developed technologies. The plant's Bhumi Pujan (foundation stone laying) ceremony was held at the project site at Jagiroad in Morigaon district in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran.
Replying to the motion, he said the crime rate has not increased if the population growth is taken into account.
Nine labourers were trapped inside a coal mine in Assam's Dima Hasao district on Monday after a sudden gush of water flooded the site, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The incident took place at the Assam Coal Quarry, situated in the 3 Kilo area of Umrangso in the district. Rescue operations were launched immediately with teams consisting of local authorities, emergency responders and mining experts working to locate and free the trapped workers.
