Vice President Hamid Ansari on Monday held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and conveyed the new Indian government's interest in furthering bilateral ties, even as he flagged off India's concerns over border related issues during his parleys with the top leadership in Beijing.
The worst-affected area is the world's largest inhabited river island, Majuli. Ninety-five per cent landmass of the river island, having an approximate area of 450 square km, is now under flood waters of Brahmaputra and its tributary Subansiri.
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 flood situation eased in Assam and northern districts of West Bengal with water receding and no fresh deaths being reported in both the states.
Flood in Assam on Thursday claimed its first casualty with two persons drowning in worst-hit Dhemaji district as several embankments breached and Brahmaputra and its tributaries were flowing above danger levels.
The flood situation remained critical in Assam, affecting 7.35 lakh people in 18 districts where one lakh hectares of cropland have been inundated by the surging waters of the swollen Bahmaputra and its tributaries.
Assam has been hit by floods with 25 villages in flood-prone Dhemaji district inundated on Wednesday, official sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over phone and discussed about the prevailing condition on Monday.
If the 1993, 1996, 2005 and 2012 border agreements have been unable to check Chinese aggressiveness, how can a fifth one succeed, asks Claude Arpi.
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country.
1 person died in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district each taking the toll in current phase of floods to 31.
Chinese troops are reinforcing their posts in large numbers, increasing their patrolling, stepping up violations in the Tawang and Walong areas.
Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his two-nation visit, analyses the outcome of crucial talks between the PM and his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.
Flood situation in Assam on Tuesday turned grim with most of the rivers breaching embankments and inundating new areas all over Brahmaputra Valley. Road links have been snapped in many places, while the death toll due to the current wave of flood has mounted to 11 with one more casualty in Dibrugarh district.
Flood situation in Assam on Tuesday turned grim with most of the rivers breaching embankments and inundating new areas all over Brahmaputra Valley. Road links have been snapped in many places, while the death toll due to the current wave of flood has mounted to 11 with one more casualty in Dibrugarh district.
Seven persons went missing on Friday evening after a boat carrying 22 persons on board capsized on the Champavati river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, in Bongaigaon district of western Assam.
Heavy rainfall during the last few days has increased the water level of the rivers in the four districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and Kamrup with vast areas of human habitation and cropland inundated, official sources said in Guwahati.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on accused the Gandhis of disrupting Parliament to avenge defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The situation in Karimganj, Cachar, Morigaon, Nagaon and Dhubri remains grim with the rivers still flowing above the danger level, sources said in Guwahati.
Eighteen people drowned in a boat capsize in the Kiling river in Morigaon district on Sunday evening. Another person drowned in Karimganj.
Large dams and flood problems are campaign issues both for the Congress and Asom Gana Parishad locked in direct contest in most of the six assembly seats in THE flood-prone Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts which go to the polls on April 4.
A 76-year-old American tourist tested positive for COVID-19 in Bhutan, the first such case in the country, after travelling through Assam recently.
Park officials said the striped cat, possibly a female, was spotted at 8.30 am near the national highway along the southern edge of the national park.
Dressed in his Assam Rifles uniform, 76-year-old Das, said that he escorted the Dalai Lama as his armed guard in 1959.
Sonowal, a law graduate, is considered to be a rarity -- an honest politician who also worked to unite different communities with his oft-repeated lines 'Barak-Brahmaputra-plains-hills'.
In Assam, nearly 27.80 lakh people across 26 districts have been affected by the deluge. The deaths were reported from the Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Morigaon districts. The death toll due to floods and landslides this year has risen to 122.
Assam's flood situation worsened further on Thursday with the Brahmaputra and its tributaries breaching more embankments as the death toll rose to 16, with the drowning of one person in worst-affected Majuli, the world's largest inhabited river island.Official sources said that the person drowned in upper Majuli's Dangdhora area, raising the death toll in the state to 16.Two more main roads in the island have been breached at two places, at Thakur Khute and Totoya.
The water level was above the danger mark at Dibrugarh and Jorhat in Upper Assam, river Katakhal at Matizuri Point in Hailakandi and Kushiyara at Karimganj in Barak Valley.
'This is the only place on earth where Elephas maximus climbs to these heights.'
Official reports reaching Guwahati said the Brahmaputra and almost all its tributaries were flowing above the danger level, forcing people living in low-lying areas in lower and upper Assam to move to higher ground.
An MoU on sharing hydrological information of the Brahmaputra River by China to India and another pact on amendment of the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for exporting rice from India to China to include non-Basmati rice were signed after the Modi-Xi talks in the eastern Chinese port city.
Successful boro cropping with record high yields has brought a degree of fame to Rajib
'The prime minister expressed concern and assured all possible help to the state,' CMO said.
Important for India was Xi's meeting with representatives of PLA officers and soldiers stationed in Tibet. The video of the encounter was interesting to watch, especially the large number of lieutenant generals and major generals, observes Claude Arpi.
The situation in three Barak Valley districts -- Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj -- was critical with river Barak and its tributaries creating havoc, inundating roads and disrupting communication.
In one of the worst ever floods in the state, 25 of the 27 districts remained inundated.
