For starters, the Garo Students' Union is meeting Chief Minister DD Lapang on Monday noon to seek fulfilment of their demands, which include making public of the Inquiry Commission reports on September 30th firing incident in West and East Garo Hills.

GSU president A Sangma said, "We want the government to give a copy of the report to us and also make it public."

Other issues to be raised include having the winter capital at Tura, completion of land acquisition for construction of Governor's House at Tura and adhering to the job reservation policy. Besides, associate subject matters to be raised for discussion include the Garo Hills housing scam, Nagalbibra Thermal and Ganol Hydro electric power projects and others.

Meanwhile, the Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB) asked the NBCC to stop fencing work before March 26, failing which, a quit notice would be issued to the latter. The Committee is awaiting the State Government's response to its second visit to Nongjri and Pyrdiwah to assess the problems being faced by landowners due to the proposed fencing.

Also, the All Meghalaya Contractors' and Suppliers Association is supposed to decide a "drastic course of action" in its meeting scheduled for Monday. Most contractors have threatened to resort to destruction of works executed by them, if the government failed to clear their bills by March 31.

The Black Flag Day procession of the Domestic Workers' Movement in the State capital is also scheduled on Monday, which would start from Don Bosco Youth Centre, and culminate at the Secretariat. This is aimed at protesting the mysterious death of the former DGP's domestic help, Mrs Rinehskhem Kharsohnoh. An RTI would also be filed before the PIO concerned.

To add to its problems, the JACC on High Security Registration Plate (HSRP) issue has decided to go ahead with its indefinited night road blockade in four districts except Garo Hills from 7.30 p.m. to 5 a.m. The JACC is asking the government to reduce the HSRP rates or keep the implementation of the same in abeyance.

SHILLONG: The State Cabinet on Saturday discussed the issues related to Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council to solve the tussle between its two factions, and entrusted the matter to the Chief Minister. Official sources on Sunday said that the Cabinet discussed the matter in depth and a solution may be arrived at soon.

Meanwhile, Congress is exploring the possibility of a patch up between the JHADC CEM Moonlight Pariat and his rival Edmund Lyngdoh.

Earlier, Chief Minister DD Lapang had asked Mr Pariat not to go ahead with the budget session on March 20, suggesting to postpone it to March 28. However, Mr Pariat went ahead with the session. Both Mr Pariat and Mr Lyngdoh were at loggerheads over the former's expulsion from the party by the Jaintia Hills District Congress Committee.

When contacted, MPCC president OL Nongtdu informed that the Chief Minister, who is also holding the District Council Affairs portfolio, would be requested to have a meeting with both the JHADC leaders.

According to Mr Nongtdu, after expulsion from the party, Mr Pariat was no more a Congress MDC, but an Independent. According to Mr Nongtdu, an Independent MDC cannot hold any office.

"The issue was taken up with the former Chief Minister JD Rymbai and he had sought the opinion of the Law department," Mr Nongtdu said.

"During the proposed meeting of both Mr Pariat and Mr Edmund with the Chief Minister, a compromise formula is likely to emerge," Mr Nongtdu said.

SHILLONG: With the other political parties gearing up for Assembly elections, the Congress has sent a circular to the block Congress committees to recommend names of candidates from respective blocks by May 31.

"We too are preparing for elections and two months time has been given to the block Congress committees for furnishing the names," MPCC president OL Nongtdu told The Shillong Times on Sunday.

According to Mr Nongtdu, the MPCC may recommend the names to AICC by October and a request will be made to the AICC to give final clearance to the candidates by November. The Congress will contest in all the 60 seats, Mr Nongtdu said, adding that the names of the candidates would be cleared three months ahead of the Assembly elections. 

Even as he said this, Mr Nongtdu expressed the hope that the names of all the sitting Congress MLAs would be cleared by AICC. He also stated that there has been no damage to the party due to the leadership crisis.

"At present, there are no problems and the block Congress committees would be able to strengthen the party," he said.

Mr Nongtdu made it clear that he would not contest the Assembly elections but would instead apply for a ticket for Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha seat. So far as the demand for a change of leadership in MPCC was concerned, Mr Nongtdu said, "demand for my removal is over."

SHILLONG: The fate of five State Congress legislators hangs in the balance with the NCP deciding to pursue the case of their defection to the Congress after being elected from NCP in the 2003 elections. The five NCP MLAs (orginally six with late Cyprian Sangma) -- ED Marak, Brening A Sangma, Beckstar K Sangma, Samuel M Sangma and Nidhuram Hajong -- had left the party and joined the Congress on December 11, 2003.

Soon after the NCP defectors joined Congress, a case was filed against them which is still pending in the Supreme Court for final hearing.

The NCP had also written a letter to the Meghalaya Speaker in 2004 urging him to disqualify the MLAs who were elected on NCP tickets, on the ground of defection as per the provisions of paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

Moreover, a letter written by the Leader of the Opposition Admiral K Sangma also stated that the MLAs had voluntarily given up the membership of the political party on whose symbol they were elected thus incurring disqualification.

Speaking to The Shillong Times, NCP Leader PA Sangma said, "We are moving for early disposal of the case. We are hopeful that much before the 2008 Assembly elections, there will be a verdict against the defectors."

According to Mr Sangma, there was valid reason for the Supreme Court to disqualify the five Congress legislators. There was a similar case in UP recently where 13 BSP MLAs were disqualified as per Anti-Defection law. In the case of UP, the MLAs left the party before the amendment of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.

"But in case of Meghalaya, the Anti-Defection Bill was passed by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha when the NCP legislators switched their allegiance to Congress," Mr Sangma said, adding that the case to disqualify the defectors was stronger now than ever before.

Mr Winstone Syiemiong was elected as president, Monarch Shabong and Losterfield Kharbuki as vice presidents, Ivan Marbaniang as general secretary besides two joint secretaries.

The Executive member has been elected from each and every constituency of the East Khasi Hills.

Shillong: The North Eastern People Federation (NEPF) has appreciated the efforts of Health Minister Mrs Deborah C Marak to revamp the health care system in the State.

The NEPF had a meeting recently to discuss the health scenario in the State. It had also paid visits to many health centres of the State and found out that the conditions of the health centres were worse that expected.

At the same time, the NEPF was pleased to find out that the State's Health Department, in fact took a keen interest on the issue.

"This was proved by the recent statements made by the Health Minister in which she declared and admitted that there is in fact shortage of medicines in the State Hospitals and health centres," the NEPF quipped.

Mrs Deborah also paid visit to many health centres, which proved that she had taken an initiative to look upon the problems of the general people.

The NEPF felt that other members of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly should take similar initiatives in all their concerned departments.

Shillong : Rong Khli (Tiger festival), a post-harvest festival of War-Jaintia community, was celebrated at Nongtalang village in Jaintia Hills district on Saturday with pomp and gaiety.

‘Rong’ means festival and ‘Khli’ means tiger by the natives.

The festival is held whenever a tiger is killed accidentally or by the villagers while hunting.

According to the sources, the festival is celebrated to appease God or else certain calamities or misfortunes like epidemic diseases, starvation and blindness would befall the people.

The main festival organised at Nongtalang where participants performed the dances of the different clans. The dancers carry their shields and swords during the dances. During night, there is only one female dance, which continues till morning. (UNI)

With less than a month to go for the commencement of a staggered, seven-phase poll in Uttar Pradesh, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has gifted the opposition BJP and the Samajwadi Party a major campaign theme by raking up the Babri Masjid controversy.

It's not just the Congress' political rivals which have lapped up the opportunity to tear into the Amethi MP's claims. Friendly parties such as the CPM too are not at all pleased with attempts to reignite an old controversy. The timing and the venue chosen by Mr. Rahul Gandhi to project his family as the only champion of the Muslim cause is significant. The fact that he chose to make his claim on the Babri Masjid's fate (that it would have remained secure had his family been at the helm of affairs in the country) from the Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom, the controversial Islamic seminary, is certain to be used by the RSS-BJP combine to depict the Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi as being 'anti-Hindu' as they go about drumming up support for the coming assembly polls.

It was, in fact, the Amethi MP's father Rajiv Gandhi who, as the country's Prime Minister, ordered the opening of the disputed structure's gates to Hindu worshippers. Rahul Gandhi's statement betrayed his "feudal" mindset. The Gandhi family nourishes the feeling that only they know how to rule the country, while the others are nincompoops. This category not only includes leaders of the opposition, but also those belonging to the alliance partners and even the Congress. The BJP poked fun at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying: "It should serve as a warning to him. Today, Narasimha Rao is the target of the Gandhi family's diatribe. It could be Manmohan Singh tomorrow."

The CPM, which extends the crucial prop to the UPA government, too frowned upon Mr. Rahul Gandhi's statement. "We believe the government at that time could not carry out its responsibility in the manner which it should have done. There is no point in raising this historical question now," CPM politebureau member Sitaram Yechury said.

Whether it is through the demolition of Babri Masjid or the Bamiyan Buddhas, the slaughter of pilgrims on their way to Amarnath or the torching of Muslim homes in Ahmedabad, the imposition of the edicts of Mullah Omar others may denounce them as militants, terrorists or hoodlums; but in their own eyes, these creatures of politicised religion are men charged with a divine mission, God's warriors. Politicised religion restores their dignity: It gives them a definite identity that no one can snatch away; the fact that it has a clandestine, adversarial element makes it all the more integral to their being.

The new politicised versions of religion that we see in operation today-whether it is the Hindutva of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the Islamism of the jihadis - do not represent the revival of religious traditions. Rather, these are counter-modernities, frenzied updates, proposals for a new world premised on the purging of real and imagined humiliation and the eradication of all opposition, all difference.

Marx had the traditional varieties of religion in mind when he enunciated his celebrated, but frequently misunderstood, description of religion as the opiate of the people. The soporific passivity and fatalism of religion, Marx observes, are the only consolation for a human being who is bereft of hope, who has been alienated from his own life and work, turned into a cog in a world-wheel governed by the logic of power and wealth. But the varieties of politicised religion that have become available today do not induce passivity in their adherents. On the contrary, they act as stimulants, inducing in their adherents a desire to effect a dramatic change in their circumstances.

The man in fatigues has yielded place to the man in politics as the principal threat to democracy. This transition is not without its pleasing ironies of crossover, of course, General Musharraf, for instance, represents a class of military men who has colluded extensively with fanatical religious. There is also certain symmetry between the two species, for the adherents of a politicised religion, like soldiers in an army, are in a permanent state of combat and vigilance. The world is fundamentally divided, for them, into friends and foes, the former to be protected and cultivated, the latter to be hunted down and exterminated.

Politicised religion is an unfinished project. It does not stop until it has converted the entire world, or its chosen territorial domain, to its cause. To gain its end, it can and does resort to the most brutal violence. Politicised religion is also a spectrum-narrowing force. It suspects and resents the polychromy of the imagination, and rigidly monitors the human possibilities of expression, creativity, art and thought.

Brought up on a decent diet of mythological as most of us have been, we know that the genie, once out of the lamp or bottle, cannot be pushed back in. In the old days, the men in fatigues could eventually, be ordered back to their barracks and the democratic process restored. But how, to bring these reflections to bear specifically on India, do we order the sants back to their ashrams, when, acting with considerable ingenuity, they have managed to infiltrate the democratic process, subverting it from within?

How do we order the mullahs back to their madrasas, when they are not Indian subjects, but guest preachers broadcasting from elsewhere? In a deeply tragic sense, post-colonial India has brought down this catastrophe upon itself, by introducing electoral democracy into a society organised along blatant asymmetries of class, caste, ethnicity and religious identity - a society that was never reformed. In such a situation, democracy automatically encourages the deployment of mass mobilisations based on agonistic and even confrontational forms of collective identity, whether offensive regionalism (the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu; the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra in its earlier phase), defensive ethnicity (the movements that culminated in the formation of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh) and, most dangerously, religious militancy (the Shiv Sena in its current phase; the VHP and the other front organisations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).

This is the systemic weakness that the sants have exploited, crashing through the gate into civic space, which they now attempt to annex as they wage their religious war against preach their own, equally repugnant doctrine of religious war from across the borders are also opportunists.

They have profited from the majoritarianism that was always implicit in our democracy, and which has been fully exposed by the steady emergence of the Hindu Right as a political force. When the sants and the mullahs come marching in, they set about creating a dominion of bodies, a vehicle for the dominion of souls that they command. They translate their apocalyptic visions of salvation or redemption in secular terms, as a quest for justice. And the political class uses them for the benefit of their ideology.

This justice is to be obtained through the seizure of State power and the refashioning of the secular polity into a religious one or, where this is not possible, by creating a system of authority parallel to, and subversive of, the constituted State and existing civil society.

Those who stand on the liberal side of the political divide that currently prevails in India would prefer a rousing cleric. That is, to adopt Spinoza's distinction, we would like our reason, which establishes values through discussion and debate, rather than on the order of prophecy, whose values are derived from sacred teaching that is not open to argument.

The order of reason accepts that the world is the realm of the relative; the order of prophecy imposes upon the world the pattern of the absolute. And as Kierkegaard remarked, absolute in a relative world is a demonic one. Such is the nature of the demonic spirit that rides, unbridled, through India today.

When Indian polity is polluted anyone can become a champion of a cause whether it is religious or casteist. We are all guilty of using religious sentiments for political end, whether it is the Congress party or the BJP. In such a vitiated atmosphere there are always claims and counter-claims to be above communal politics, which is bad for a multi-ethnic democratic country like India. INAV

Twenty-year-old Neha (not her real name), a resident of Delhi had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS during a routine antenatal check up in 2004. She agreed to undergo treatment to prevent mother-to-child HIV infection at a Hospital, where she gave birth to a girl.

Neha along with 100 pregnant women were the first in Delhi to undergo treatment to prevent HIV transmission to their unborn child. They were treated with the drug Nevirapine to prevent transmission of the disease to their children and doctors advised them to come for regular check ups. But then Neha simply "disappeared" along with her child. The doctors were worried because the treatment with Nevirapine yields results only after 18 months of childbirth, when the baby takes the final HIV tests. During the period, both the mother and the baby need to report to the hospital at regular intervals for monitoring their conditions.

Recently, Neha reappeared at the hospital with her baby after almost 18 months. There were hoops of joy in the hospital when HIV rapid tests showed that the baby was HIV negative. "The baby is Delhi's first success story. The drugs effectively prevented the transmission of HIV infection from the mother to the child," says Dr. Snehlata of the Delhi State HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Society (SACS).

But many children in our country are not as fortunate as Neha's daughter. According to estimates by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), which is in - charge of formulating and implementing a national policy to combat HIV/AIDS, 60,000 children are born infected with the HIV virus every year. These newborns join the unknown number of HIV positive children in the country. Activists, however, say that the number of such children is about 250,000.

And the number of such children is growing. "The increasing number of HIV infections among children is one of the major challenges in the country" says Dr. Anand Swarup, who is in charge of the paediatric HIV clinic at Rammanohar Lohia Hospital. He also complains that poor diagnosis is adding to the problem. Recurrent diarrhoea and respiratory infections, which are symptomatic of HIV infection, are very common even in the case of normal children. "Therefore, doctors do not suspect HIV when a child suffering from diarrhoea and respiratory infection is bought to them for treatment. An HIV orientation among medical practitioners is still lacking," adds Dr. Anand Swarup.

Even the government seems to be apathetic in trying to address the plight of HIV infected children. According to India's Progress Report (IPR) submitted at a UN meeting in June 2006, there is no nationally co-ordinated data on children infected with HIV virus. The data on children is absent because HIV/AIDS programmes continue to target only the "high risk groups" like sex workers and drug addicts, says Dr. S. Panda of Society for Positive Atmosphere and Related Support to HIV/AIDS (SPARSH). "We seldom accept that the entire population, including children, are at risk of contracting the disease," he adds.

Since children are almost "invisible" in the government's response to HIV/AIDS, it's left to the parents to care for these HIV positive children and provide them with the best possible treatment. The irony is that many of these parents are themselves HIV positive, are poor and cannot afford to buy medicines or go for treatment.

In many instances, HIV positive children or those orphaned by the disease are forced to withdraw from school and face discrimination in the society. Many also opt out of school to take care of HIV infected parents.

The plight of these children has enraged activists, who call for comprehensive programmes to tackle the problem. "There is a gross neglect on the part of the Government of India in formulating paediatric guidelines, providing paediatric medication and training health care providers in child care. It's time that the government puts its full attention to address these issues," says the US-based Dr. Vineeta Gupta of Stop HIV/AIDS in India Initiative.

At present, most HIV centres in the country provide paediatric dosage by dividing adult formulations, resulting sometimes in violent side effects in children. The most humane and cost-effective way of containing HIV in children is the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. But fewer than 4 per cent of the 189, 000 infected women are receiving testing and counselling and fewer than 3 per cent are receiving the anti-retroviral prophylaxis.

In order to develop a comprehensive and sustainable response to children, the Central Government had initiated a task force in March 2005 and endorsed protection, care and support of children living in a world of HIV/AIDS. In June, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss had promised that anti-retroviral (ARV) combinations would be distributed from HIV clinics with the goal of reaching 10, 000 children this year and 1, 00, 000 by 2007.

But promises apart, there remains the need for community-based programmes to enable HIV infected children and orphans to live in an environment free of stigma and fear. And with the increasing incidences of HIV infection in out country, such children cannot remain invisible any longer. INAV

Sir,

All of us are well aware of the ridiculous political scenario in Meghalaya. Embarassing! Frequent change of leadership has made the State a laughing stock in other parts of the country. Lapang's coming back to power was not at all surprising because the move was on since long. I think these politicians like playing games with the sentiments of the people of the State who silently endure all the 'wicked' plans of our power-hungry politicians.

We, the people of Meghalaya, are too simple, or maybe waiting for the right time to show our leaders here that we are not ignorant anymore of their dirty games. Well, we are heading towards 2008 and then time for the elections. I do hope that this time the people will do their job wisely.

Our State has many NGOs who claim to be working solely for the good and welfare of the people. Where are they? Are they sleeping? Where is their voice? I guess they are supposed to represent the voice of many, they are supposed to take up the initiative if anything goes wrong in the State and to raise their voices when there is instability in the Government. But, it seems that they are NGOs just in name and to make some quick bucks… in the name of their organisations.

What is the point to agitate when change has already been made? The HNYF's agitation to protest against the forced resignation of Rymbai is funny and pointless. If they were really thinking for the good of the State then they should have taken up the matter right from the beginning, or were they not aware of the 'change in leadership' issue, that have hit headlines in all local dailies. And now the agitation has also been withdrawn. Ha! Funny… has their demand been met or some 'under the table business' happened between them and the back-to-term leader. Please, the people have endured enough politically and socially. Stop these kinds of agitations, which have no point but only hamper and affect the common man's life. There are many other issues to think of for the good and benefit of all… why no one agitates against inflation, crimes, unemployment, etc… countless problems there are but both the NGOs and our politicians are after politics, they play politics at the expense of the poor people, something which is seriously deplorable.

Yours etc.,
O L. Mawlong,
Shillong-4.
Via e-mail

Sir,

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the queen of all hill stations of India, viz., Shillong, affectionately called 'Scotland of the East', and once famous for its various hills, waterfalls and wide range of pine tree forests, has now become an eyesore for the tourists and newcomers. This is because of: (i) Unplanned urbanization of the city and its suburbs, (ii) Unplanned destruction of forest cover (specially the unique pine & cherry tree forests), which has resulted in increase in temperature and shortfall of rainfall in the city, (iii) Massive RCC construction all over the city, (iv) Builder Mafia Raj, (v) Influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, (vi) Unplanned industrialization with stone quarries (rock cutting) in and around the city.

The natural outfall of this great tragedy, which is an outcome of human greed only, is: (i) Massive shortfall of rain, (ii) Rampant power cuts due to shortage in generation of power by hydro-electrical power plants, (iii) Increase in crime - especially theft and burglary. All these have led to Shillong losing its stature as a major tourist attraction resulting in unemployment and depression plus drug addiction among the youth.

If we consider the main reason behind this whole ecological disaster, human greed and political hollowness in this 'Abode of the Clouds,' comes readily to one's mind.

Assam Rifles -- an old paramilitary force of our county along with the Indian Army, ITBP, BSF, CRPF, are occupying large areas of land in and outside the city of Shillong, and have mercilessly destroyed the pristine and invaluable forest cover specially in Laitkor area, where the hills now appear like bald heads. Over and above all this, rampant construction of RCC buildings in and around the city has made Shillong an epicenter for ecological disaster, especially as an earthquake like Latur in Maharashtra and Bhuj in Gujarat cannot be ruled out in the near future.

Yours etc.,
Bipin Hazarika,
Shillong-4.

Apart from the violence in Nagaland, where three NSCN-IM cadres were killed on Saturday allegedly by the rival Khaplang group, both sides are expected to discuss several key subjects, including unification of Naga-inhabitated areas of the Northeast and a "charter of demands" given by the rebels for a solution to the dragging problem.

"We are expecting tangible discussions, something concrete," senior NSCN-IM leader RH Raising told PTI on Sunday.

The NSCN-IM team, to be headed by chairman Isak Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah, is likely to press for "total control" by the government over NSCN-K cadres who were allegedly behind recent attacks on NSCN-IM members.

Two NSCN-IM cadres were kidnapped on Saturday at AG Colony in Kohima town and later shot dead allegedly by NSCN-K militants.

In another incident at lower NST colony in Wokha, NSCN-K members opened fire on cadres of NSCN-IM, killing a woman and injuring another. A group of ministers led by Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes and Centre's interlocutor K Padmanabhaiah will represent the Centre. (PTI)

Meanwhile, the UNLF termed the development on Sunday as the "game-plan of the Indian security forces" while alleging that the Indian security forces have been using some Kuki organisations as their proxies on the issue of the alleged kidnapping of villagers.

Earlier, the Kuki students under the aegis of the Kuki Students Organisation (KSO) had staged a massive rally in New Delhi on March 23 in protest against the alleged abduction of the Kuki villagers.

Meanwhile, few days ago, media persons from Imphal visited the border area to ascertain the facts of abduction of 400 villagers.

According to local newspapers here in Imphal, some villagers had told the visiting journalists that the claims of the Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) and other Kuki bodies were not true.

The local newspapers said that the villagers who had interacted with the visiting media persons at Molcham village in the Indo-Myanmar border area informed that about 400 Kuki villagers had left their native villages before Christmas and set up a relief camp at TS Leijang.

The villagers also reportedly told the reason for leaving their villages saying that their move had been prompted by the fact that they could no longer stay at their villages owing to the ever intensifying clashes between the Indian security forces and the underground elements.

According to the reports, the villagers had informed the journalists that since the seed-sowing season had arrived they had started returning to their respective villagers since March 13. (NNN)

State Power Minister Manik Dey here on Sunday said that not only Dambut but all such projects in the North East (NE) region had been forced to be closed down as water-levels came down considerably due to lack of rains. The Dambut project is situated in Tripura's south district. Following the closure of almost all the Hydel projects in the NE region, Mr Dey said there was scarcity in power production in the state as well the whole region. The peak hour power demand in the state was now 130 MW daily, of which the state's production was 71 MW. (UNI)

Kohima: Nagaland Government has constituted a Public Private Partnership (PPP) cell in the Finance Department during 2006 to examine projects operating with such partnerships.

Disclosing this in the Assembly on Saturday Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said the cell would ascertain the risk factors, viabilities and other feasibilities of the project proposals and forward them to the Department of Economics Affairs for their clearance. He said the potential areas for PPP projects were agriculture, industries, urban development, tourism, water supply, health and education.

The basic objective of the PPP was to bring about private sector participation in these areas by roping in their resources and expertise to provide better and efficient service to the public in a manner that would profit the government, private partner and the public.

Rio said the Government would act as the facilitators in providing land, legal and system support. 20 per cent of the project cost would be available as grants from the Centre to enhance viability of the project. (UNI)

Gangtok: Rising above in tourism benchmark in the nation, Sikkim will be offering a mosaic of choices to the visitors this summer with three tourist festivals lined up in succession.

If handicrafts appeal to you, head for Rabongla. Want to spend some quality time in a famous tea garden, then its Temi Tarku for you. If you want to blend with Ramnavami celebrations with that typical local touch, then Aritar in East Sikkim is the destination for you.

''The second Lampokhari Paryatan Mahotsav 2007, which is being organised from March 31 to April 2, will be another mega event of the state for the promotion of tourism in Sikkim, '' said Mr KB Chamling, chief patron and area MLA.

''The history of the Mahotsav dates back to the era of our forefathers who used to flock towards Rachela for leisure trips during Ramnavami. The idea of this Mahotsav is to follow the precedent and tradition set up by our forefathers. Ramnavami itself being an auspicious festival, the Mahotsav is also an idea to celebrate the festival collectively to maintain the unity in diversity of the State,'' he added.

Visitors will be spoilt for choices in this event with boating in Lampokhari, cultural presentations, tours to historic and exotic places and much more. A tryst with history is also offered with a car safari from Rhenock Aritar to Tshangu to enjoy the beauty of a portion of Jelep la pass (Old Silk route).

Visitors can also do short treks to Phusery lake, Pangolakha and Rachela, the historic tri-junction border of Sikkim, West Bengal and Bhutan. The destinations are home to Red panda, pheasant and other flora and fauna.

Last years success of the festival has been attributed not only to the collective effort of the members of Aritar Dalapchand Lampokhari Development Society but also the huge public participation, the organizers said. (UNI)

Agartala: Tripura Government has sounded alert across the State following reported spread of avian flu in neighbouring Bangladesh. A Bangladeshi poultry farm near Dhaka was reported to have been infected with bird flu.

Tripura shares a long stretch of 856 km border with Bangladesh and cross-border transportation of livestock including chicken was not uncommon in some parts of the State. Family Welfare and Preventive Medicine and Animal Resource Development (ARD) Department have jointly taken precautionary measures to avoid bird flu in the State.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has asked Tripura Government to take all precautionary measures to avoid avian flu in the wake of the detection of bird flu in Dhaka on Saturday, said Dr Narayan Chandra Das, Director ARD.

Over two hundreds trained veterinary doctors and ARD assistants were asked to keep close eye on the bordering areas of the State, he said adding that no such case is reported to the Department so far.

"Chicken import - legally or illegally - from Bangladesh is very less. It is not like fish. We do not think bird flu detection in far off Savar (in Bangladesh) would pose any threat to Tripura. But, in any case, we would certainly not take any chance and ensure all steps that are needed," said an official who did not want to be named.

Even as no avian case is reported to the Department, price of chicken has witnessed sharp fall over the past few days.

"The price of one kg chicken is around Rs 80 in local markets while its cost was Rs 120 before the report of avian flue infection in Dhaka," said a poultry businessman.

Businessmen feel that the poultry industry will suffer huge loss due to the reported detection of bird flu in Bangladesh.

The festival would be inaugurated this evening where various cultural programmes would be staged.

Additional security personnel have been posted at Unokuti, where jawans from Tripura State Rifles were deployed to maintain peace and order during the festival, police official from Kailashahar said. (UNI)

Guwahati: Keeping in view the fact that Guwahati has become an educational destination for the students of the Northeast region, forerunner students' body, All Assam Students' Union has started pressing the concerned authority for setting up a 'Science City' in Guwahati.

A delegation of AASU has already visited the Regional Science Centre at Khanapara and took account of various activities and in seeking guidance for setting up the science city.

AASU adviser Sammujjal Bhattacharyya said that it is high time for the city like Guwahati to have a science city like adding that setting up of the science city has become urgent as the city has turned into educational destination.

"We will extend full support and launch a campaign for early setting up of the science city. The students' body would also exert pressure on the central government agencies for the project," Bhattacharyya said.

Earlier, Assam Science and Technology Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also stated that the Government would set up a science city in the model of city like Bangalore in Guwahati. The minister had also written to the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) to help in creating the science city.

The NCSM is an autonomous society under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and has 28 science centres in various cities of the country under its fold.

"The Regional Science City at Khanapara has been doing excellent works and it has been exposing the students' community to various scientific developments," said Bhattacharyya while adding that the setting up of the science city would help the students' community further.

"We had gone to the RSC to discuss the project and also to seek guidance. The response is good and we would now pressurise the governments for the project," said the AASU adviser.

The project would showcase contemporary and imaginative exhibits, minds on experiences, working models, virtual reality, activity corners, labs and live demonstrations to provide an understanding of science and technology to the common man as well as to the students while simplifying those, said Bhattacharyya. (NNN)