To make things more intriguing Mr Rymbai has revised his stand on resignation; he says will now take a final decision after knowing the minds of coalition partners and his loyalist party MLAs. While the Chief Minister is returning from Delhi on Thursday, things have begun to hot up here with hectic behind the scene political activities.

Secretaries of the four regional parties - UDP, MDP, HSPDP and KHNAM - held a discussion on alternative ministry formation. There was no official word on the outcome, but informed sources said that there was emerging consensus on forging unity.

Rymbai loyalists had an informal meeting on Wednesday to take stock of the political situation. A separate meeting was also held by some leaders of UDP. They have decided to wait for the arrival of Mr. Rymbai and UDP President and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Donkupar Roy to have a meeting on Thursday evening to take final stand. Indications are that this time, the regional parties are firm not to drag on with the demand for change of leadership.

Mr Rymbai said that first he would consult his supporting legislators before arriving at a final decision on the resignation from the post of Chief Minister. He will also have consultations with the regional parties on Thursday evening once he is back from Delhi.

Meanwhile, informed sources said that the regional parties will write to Mrs Gandhi that they cannot accept the decision of Congress high command to bring back Mr Lapang at this juncture. When contacted Dr Donkupar Roy told The Shillong Times that he would arrive in Shillong on Thursday and hold meeting with UDP leaders.

The Deputy Chief Minister also informed that they were in the dark about the decision of the Congress President to change the leader indicating that the coalition partners were not taken into confidence in the exercise.

"At this juncture, we want development and peace", Dr Roy said.

He also recalled that last time in June, when there was change of leadership from Lapang to Rymbai, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee spoke to them from Delhi about the development. After their arrival from Delhi too, they were in touch with the regional parties, Dr Roy said adding that this time, they were not informed about anything.

"Since I was in Delhi, I came to know about the development only from the Chief Minister and not from AICC," Dr Roy said.

He added that frequent change is not good for the state though this is an internal matter of the Congress party.

"We fear that the corrupt leaders of anti-Rymbai camp with the help of some AICC leaders will loot the state's resources," GSU Khasi Hills President Mr Aldo Sangma said.

Terming Mr Rymbai as a "clean and honest" Chief Minister the student body warned that the Central leaders would be held responsible for the consequences of Mr Rymbai's ouster.

Besides the GSU, various NGOs of Khasi and Jaintia Hills also have opposed the AICC directive to Mr Rymbai to step down.

"Mrs Gandhi should have replaced Mr Ved Prakash and Mr Fernandes," the GSU leader said adding that the AICC President had been misled by the two representatives.

Meanwhile, the HNYF has decided to call night curfew in protest against the decision of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to oust Chief Minister JD Rymbai. The Federation will hold a public meeting on March 10 to seek support for mass agitation in this regard. Timeing of the night curfew will anounced in this meeting.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, HNYF president GH Kharshanlor said that they had no political agenda but were agitating for the general interest, "as people are annoyed over frequent change of leadership". The HNYF will also write a letter to Mrs Gandhi within this week requesting her to rescind the order to Mr Rymbai to step down.

The AICC and Lapang will have to shoulder the blame for any untoward incident that may take place during the indefinite night curfew, date for which will be announced in due course, Mr Kharshanlor said.

Support galore for Rymbai:The Synjuk ki Seng Samla Shnong (SSSS) has extended moral support to the HNYF's proposed agitation in protest against the AICC decision to remove Chief Minister JD Rymbai.

"We are shocked over the decision of the AICC. At this juncture the party high command should not have entertained any demand for change of leadership," SSSS general secretary Wankitbor Nongbet said.

"If the crisis persists, it is better to go for fresh election or President's Rule," he said. The public sentiment is against the return of Mr DD Lapang as Chief Minister and the AICC has disregarded the vital aspect, according to the SSSS leader.

"People should give their mandate against the Congress party in the coming Assembly election as the party has no independent stand and depends solely on the Delhi leaders," he said.

The three BDOs are Dr Roy who was previously deputed at Selsella, John Lakiang and Mathias D Sangma.

It may be mentioned that last year the Centre released Rs 50 lakh under the RHIS and the wife of state legislator Beckstar Sangma withdrew the money in the name of some NGOs. The scam was unearthed by NCP leader PA Sangma.

NEW DELHI: The annual Plan for Meghalaya for the year 2007-08 on Wednesday was fixed at Rs 1,120 crore, which is Rs 220 crore higher than last year's allocation.

However, Wednesday's allocation fell far short of what the State had demanded i.e. Rs 1,360 crore.

This allocation also includes onetime additional Central assistance of Rs 73 crore for projects of special importance to the State. The plan size for which the state machinery is working for a long time was finalised here at a meeting between Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister JD Rymbai.

Mr Rymbai sought special Central assistance to complete spill-over roads & bridges of previous Plan. He also wanted steps to be taken for trade with Bangladesh. Chairman of the state Planning Board Salseng C Marak, Deputy Chief Minister Donpukar Roy, Chief Secretary SK Tewari were present in the meting.

During the discussions Mr Ahluwalia agreed that the State needed accelerated development of infrastructure specially power and road connectivity. Better infrastructure specially power would be needed to sustain and support high level of growth target set for the Eleventh Plan.

The approved outlay of Rs. 1,120 crore includes One-time ACA for equity contribution for Myntdu Leshka HEP (Rs 25 crore), transmission line from Misa-Byrnihat (Rs 38 Crore) and transmission line from Umiam-Mawngap (Rs 10 crore).

But the Planning Commission felt that the State government should make optimum use of funds being already made available by the Centre for various social sector programmes including drinking water, education and health.

The Chief Minister said that during Eleventh Plan period investment on agriculture would be substantially increased to achieve four per cent growth rate. Road transport, power generation and transmission, horticulture including processing, rainwater harvesting, tourism, agriculture, bamboo based activities.

Sources said that the neck of R Kharsohnoh was just about hanging with the torso suggesting that it could not have been a case of suicide. However, police has inferred that it was a case of suicide.

Sources said that in a suicide bid the injury was unlikely to be like this. If it is a murder case, then the question would arise as to how could the murderer enter the high security area. And if no outsider could sneak into the DGP's heavily guarded complex, was it then an inside job?

Police however stuck to its surmise that it was a case of suicide.

NEW DELHI: The outgoing Chief Minister JD Rymbai has reiterated that he will consult his party MLAs, Ministers, coalition partners, workers and supporters before tendering his resignation. Talking to The Shillong Times here at Meghalaya House on Wednesday, Mr Rymbai said he would take their views into consideration before quitting from his post.

When questioned if he would desist from putting his papers on pressure from his supporters despite the party high command's wish, the Congress veteran said "such a scenario should not be presumed".

In reply to another question about reports of regional parties trying to form an alternative government, he pleaded ignorance.

Our Reporter adds: Former Chief Minister DD Lapang, who is likely to take over from Mr JD Rymbai after Mrs Sonia Gandhi asking the latter to step down, is yet to receive any official intimation from the Congress high command regarding the change of leadership in the state government.

Mr Lapang informed this on Wednesday after a brief meeting with Governor MM Jacob here. Turning down a question on the date of his swearing-in as the Chief Minister Mr Lapang said that everything would be clear after he receives an official intimation from the AICC.

Meanwhile, the Governor asked Mr Lapang to ensure presence of all the legislators during President APJ Abdul Kalam's address to the Assembly on March 16.

According to the BSF, Mithun was a bamboo smuggler from Ryngku village along the border, and that he was shot dead while trying to escape.

On the other hand, GSU and local villagers alleged that the BSF personnel fired on the teenager while they were being chased by a mob for harassing two girls. The district administration has called for eyewitnesses to appear personally or file affidavit on March 20 at the Deputy Commissioner's office.

The students said that they had lost one hour of their precious time in search of their respective examination halls from one part of the city to another. The subject on the first day of the examination was English.

Take the example of 65-year-old Lydia Bamon, who runs a flower and fruit stall below Hotel Centre Point here. The Khasi woman from Mawpat told The Shillong Times, "I have to support my family as there is nobody to look after me and my grandchildren."

Though she has two sons they left their mother after marriage according to the Khasi matrilineal system. The old woman, who has been running the stall at the place for more than 32 years, said, "Destiny is not in our favour as husband of one of my three daughters left us, compounding the financial problems."

Irony is that Mrs Bamon, who should be looked after by her children at this age, had to help manage even the school fees for her grandchildren.

Condition of another 65 plus woman from Smit area, Josephine Kharyngi, is no better. She used to move from one place to another to sell fruits. "I have to work in spite of the old age to take of the grandchildren," she said. Her only daughter passed away leaving her children and old mother in distress.

"There are occasions when I feel that I cannot continue to work anymore, but the very thought of the grandchildren brings tears to my eyes and I find enough strength to fight the battle of life," Mrs Kharyngi said.

She said that she would continue to work as long as she is "alive". She also blames the destiny for her plight.

There are several similar cases of old women from various indigenous and non-indigenous communities in the city working in order to support their families.

"The regions lacks this type of institutions either in traditional face-to-face teaching system or in open and distance learning system for training and preparing academic professionals for the empowerment of the students with special needs," Prof Roy said.

"The important fact is that the Rehabilation Council of India (RCI) has granted Nodal Status to the NEHU CDE for launching of this programme," Prof Roy said. Commenting on the importance of open distance learning system, she said that it was a common scenario in the past that after failing to get admission in the conventional Universities, students opt to seek admission in the distance learning medium like IGNOU. "But distance learning system is more than this as it is an institute which allows the students to upgrade their skills in their own space and time and also with their own ability," Prof Roy said. She said that a mere degree from a conventional university will not at all ensure a job, but distance learning system equips the students with the skills on how to develop human resources which will tap the natural resources to bring about income generation.

SHILLONG: The Lympung Ki Seng Kynthei (LSK) in collaboration with the District Social Welfare Office, Jaintia Hills district is organising a day long programme at Tuber kmai village, Jaintia Hills on Thursday.

Aimed at celebrating the International Women’s Day, the programme will start at 11 am on the theme of Rural Health Care with special emphasis on women.

SHILLONG: The three-day long North East Agricultural Fair together with a National Seminar on Developing Extension Strategies for the North-east came to an end with the Governor of Meghalaya MM Jacob delivering the closing ceremony address as the Chief Guest. The Governor expressed his happiness that ICAR arranged this important farmers’ fair for the benefit of all stakeholders and remarked that even the attempt to bring all the stakeholders under one roof to pave the way towards participatory planning itself was a commendable job.

The Governor indicated his happiness over the credit target of Rs.2.25 lakh crore kept in the Union budget for the year 2007-08 out of which Rs.1100 crore was for irrigation purposes in addition to the allocation of Rs.1, 800 crore for ground water recharging schemes. It was heartening to note that 100 per cent subsidy for small farmers has been planned for efficient water harvesting an issue bothering the farmer in this part of the country, so that 4 per cent agricultural growth in the country could be achieved. Our farmers need to be facilitated by different agencies so that they can be benefited from these schemes under the Eleventh Five-year Plan, the Governor said. The Governor urged the farmers as well as State Governments to join hands with research & extension agencies so that the food production in the region could be optimized.

It is not easy to explain Lalu Prasad's success as India's railway minister and his earlier failure as chief minister of Bihar. While Bihar under his stewardship acquired the image of the most backward state in India, mired in poverty because of the lack of development, the same Lalu Prasad, when he took charge of the railway ministry, transformed it into a miracle of modern management technique.

The astonishing nature of his achievement was highlighted during the presentation of the railway budget when he announced the enormous profit of Rs.20,000 crore (Rs.200 billion). And this remarkable feat was made possible without increasing passenger fares and freight rates.

Not surprisingly, Lalu Prasad has become the toast of business schools, which are eager to fathom the secret of his success. So the one-time bare-bodied cowherd, who used to ride buffaloes in the paddy fields of Bihar in his poverty-stricken childhood, stalks these days into the hallowed precincts of management and business institutes to lecture an audience in business suits on how to successfully run an establishment.

There is little doubt that behind his deceptive exterior ticks an astute mind, which has little difficulty in mastering the complexities of a behemoth such as the railways and ensuring that it operates at a profit.

If he had only applied the same mental faculties - observers often say - to the problems of Bihar, the state under his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) might have been as much of a success story as Indian Railways is today.

It isn't that he didn't have the time. He presided over the state's political destiny for as long as a decade and a half. But he left it worse than when he found it. And he also paid a political price for his failure by losing the elections to his one-time friend, Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United who has replaced him as chief minister.

To understand why Lalu Prasad allowed Bihar to drift into decay and destitution, it may be instructive to consider the social factors that played a major role in his rise to power. It has to be remembered that his career in politics coincided with the period when the backward castes, to which he belongs, were making their presence felt in the Hindi heartland states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The impetus to the emergence of the backward castes as a powerful political force was provided by the implementation of the Mandal commission report in the early 90s when V.P. Singh was prime minister. As is known, the emphasis of the Mandal report on castes led the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party to place its focus on communal politics in an effort to consolidate the Hindus vis-à-vis the Muslims and other minorities.

It is during this mandal-kamandal turmoil (kamandal being the utensil carried by Hindu holy men) that politicians like Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh - all belonging to the backward castes - came to represent influential forces to reckon with.

However, the bane of their sectarian politics with its constant need for pandering to particular castes meant that their leaders had little time for development projects relating to health, education, water supply, power and roads.

Instead, their whole attention was on manipulating casteist and communal elements in order to retain and strengthen their hold on power. As is usual in politics, they also had to cope with internal tussles, as when Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar - one a Yadav and the other a Kurmi - fell out and joined rival political formations.

But it is not enough only to blame the preoccupation with caste-based politics for the failures on the development front. What is perhaps even more important is to understand the myopia of the politicians whose sole political capital was their association with particular castes. For Lalu Prasad the championing of the cause of his caste brethren not only meant endowing them with political power and social respectability, but also demonstrating that the leader himself had remained true to his village-based background.

This close identification was unavoidable because it wouldn't be possible for, say, a city slicker to earn the political loyalty of the mainly rural, caste-based followers. In fact, the sophistication of conduct associated with the urbanites had to be shunned, and the very deficiencies of the backward castes in terms of purported social graces paraded with aplomb.

This attitude was echoed by former West Bengal Finance Minister Ashok Mitra when he said, "I am a communist, not a gentleman". Just as the bourgeois gentleman's polished demeanour became a matter of derision for a representative of the proletariat, similarly the backward castes were supposed to take pride in, say, the lack of a working knowledge of English. What was supposedly a drawback for a community became its badge of distinction.

In his personal habits, language, clothes and lifestyle, therefore, Lalu Prasadwas a virtual mirror image of the members of his caste who live in the countryside. Unlike any of his predecessors, like Karpoori Thakur, another backward caste chief minister, Lalu Prasad was a master in playing this role.

He made it a point to be seen among his cows, sometimes milking them for the benefit of the television cameras, and living the unostentatious life of a villager, albeit an affluent one. His language consciously retained the kind of rusticity the city-dwellers looked down upon even if they found it amusing.

But it was precisely these tricks of presenting himself as a man of the masses that paid heavy political dividends.

But all good things come to an end. And Lalu Prasad may have overdone his act of playing to the gallery. Not only that, his focus on being the true villager amounted to letting the villages remain exactly as they were for generations - without roads and electricity and with primitive educational and medical facilities.

It was this neglect -- either deliberate or because of oversight of what has come to be known as the bijli-sadak-pani (electricity-roads-water) factor, which proved to be his undoing as chief minister.

Had he played his bucolic part for the first 10 years of his tenure to consolidate his base and then turned to the development issues, he would have been irreplaceable, especially because, as his successful stint in the railway ministry has shown, he has the capability for efficient management.

Towards the end of his 15 years at the helm in Bihar, he did realize the need for turning his attention to development, but it was too late by then.

But what goes around can come around. Who knows that, as the wheels of politics turn, Lalu Prasad can still achieve in Bihar what he has done in Delhi? He is still young, as politicians go.

A few months ago there was a minor uproar at home. It was about the trivial sum of 10 rupees. My five-year-old son had been asked by his school to bring a small contribution for charity. My wife dutifully put a 10-rupee note in an envelope and asked him to hand it over to his teacher.

When my son came back from school, my wife asked him if he had given the money. "What money?" he replied. Thereupon he was subjected to a thorough interrogation, and asked if he had had the temerity to blow off the money in the school canteen. But he kept insisting that he had no clue about any money whatsoever.

When he had almost been reduced to tears, he remembered that he had given the envelope containing a piece of brown paper like the one that he sometimes saw his father hand over to shopkeepers to his teacher.

There was relief all around. Later in the evening, when a neighbour heard the story she was most annoyed with us for not having taught our son the value of money. "You know, he will be taken for a ride", she admonished us.

This set me thinking. What is the right time to teach children the basics of money? As good Bengalis, we were taught by our parents to leave the pursuit of filthy lucre to others. There are many who believe that the preference of Saraswati over Lakshmi has doomed generations of Bengalis to penury.

Letting aside the peculiarities of Bengalis, there is also the question of how best, if at all, to preserve a child's innocence. The Romantics, particularly Wordsworth, have always idealised childhood 'Heaven lies about us in our infancy' and its innocent pleasures.

Many of today's parents, faced with ever-increasing demands for expensive gizmos from their kids beginning at a very early age, would probably vehemently disagree. This doesn't, of course, solve my predicament on when to expose my son to money and its many charms. As for my son, he has not waited for any lessons in management.

He now has a piggy bank, gifted to him by his grandmother, where he diligently throws in any loose change lying around the house. He has also drawn up a long list of toys and books that he plans to buy when the piggy bank is full. (By arrangement with The Times of India)

Why are we so cruel to each other? Why do we malign, betray, let down, be abusive and sarcastic, besmirch our own kind?

Yes, I am talking of us, women.

Did I hear you ask, "What do you mean our own kind? I am not cruel or rude to anyone!"

Or did I hear you say, "Other women are not my concern. I am concerned only with my own."

Which brings us to a fundamental question, whom do we consider "our own"?

Our parents, who think of nothing but getting rid of us by marriage? Our daughters, for whom we have few other aspirations but to get them off our hands? Our sons, whose wives we dread, and who in most cases will get rid of us, or dump us in old age homes?

Our husbands who treat us like unquestioning slaves born only to serve them? Who?

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why our mothers-in-law were so rough on us, and why we, in turn, are awful with our own daughters-in-law? I have thought about it a lot, so let me put forth my theory, if for nothing else, to get you thinking enough to agree or disagree with it.

In our patriarchal society, women are objects to be used - as servants, as housekeepers, to satisfy the male sex urge, to produce children, to keep the home, to serve aging members of the family, to beat when male frustration levels are high, to pump for more money from our paternal families when the husband needs money, and for sundry other service uses. As we grow up, we are told that the home we consider our home and the family we consider our family, are in fact not ours - that our real home will be our husband's home and our real family, his family. We are told that we are 'parayu dhan' in our birth homes, only being kept till such time as the right 'sauda' can be worked out and the parents' karmic duty fulfilled. Not much love there, and no man to call your own.

You are given away in marriage, probably to a man you don't know, and probably a man who needs someone to cook and clean in the house, and to produce children. You have been brought up on the romantic love of Bollywood heroes and heroines singing songs in Australia and Kashmir, and have half expected that of your husband. You draw a blank. Probably, your mother-in-law doesn't like the way you cook or look, behave or talk. She feels you are badly brought up and her son is too good for you. Again, no love from your husband who prefers the company, and the cooking, of his own mother. So you long for your son. "He will love me. I will cuddle him and call him my own. He won't let any other woman come before me. I shall see that he has everything he wants. My daughter will not belong to me but he will."

Your son will be born. You will raise him as the apple of your eye. You will place all your longings in him. The inevitable will happen and he will have to be married, for that is what society demands. You will consult marriage brokers, the potential daughter-in-law's bank balance, her father's ability to provide your son a dowry, and you will make a choice. And from her first entry into the house, you will hate her - for she might displace you in the heart of the only man you have called your own. And so the cycle will begin again, like the Hindu karmic chakra. Except this time you will be the tyrannical mother-in-law.

Meanwhile, your daughter will be facing the same karmic chakra in her house. But from the start, you have made her 'parayu dhan', so you will coax her to make compromises. "Beta bandh chhod to karvi pade. Apne to stree kahavaye. Evu badhu to thay."

You are locked in your unhappiness because you are threatened by your daughter-in-law. Your daughter is locked in her loneliness because she cannot turn to her parents, and her married life is hell. And your daughter-in-law has you for hell and cannot turn to her parents who believe your home is her real home.

Do we stop to realise how we are being manipulated to remain unhappy and unfulfilled slaves? Are we given the time to think through this game plan and to consider that love is not about buying and selling, not about sauda, not even in the trading state of Gujarat?

Have we considered that love and affection are not like a roti that can be partitioned and that has a finite size, but like a smile that spreads happiness and joy, and the more you give the more you have? Have we thought that sharing our thoughts and fears with "our" women will bring relief and happiness and sharing and caring in our lives, more than hatred and fear? Have we looked into our souls to see who we really are, that we are not cogs in the cruel and rigid social order, but human beings who have the freedom to make connections with other women, connections that may or may not be approved of by a self serving patriarchy?

Of course, I am not talking of all women and all men and all families. There are many exceptions, many families which have gotten out of the chakra, many where women feel free to be themselves, where they feel a lot of self worth. But there are too many that are, to a greater or lesser degree, bound up in some part of this scenario. And that is why it needs being talked about.

The 8th of March is our day. The one day we have snatched from the world, to think about and celebrate ourselves. Shall we not begin a different, more trusting and joyful life with at least "our" women today?

Let us start with trusting and celebrating the women closest to us, and next year we can make a bigger circle.

Sir,

As we can see that our town has a number of Govt structures like schools, hospitals and so on, but the sad plight is that such structures get the least Govt attention in contrast to the fact that they are utilised to the most by us. Recently, one of the welfare organisations went to have a look at one such hospital,viz,Ganeshdas hospital. After the survey it was reported that the patients had to buy all the required medicines from outside and there were no proper beds for patients to sleep in. At times, two patients have to sleep in one bed. Even the numbers of doctors and the nurses were found to be insufficient. When enquired, the doctors reported that, because of the heavy rush of patients from outside the town, mostly from villages, they are unable to meet the required needs.

According to one of the members of the organisation, these villagers came here for treatment mainly because several PHCs and CHCs in their villages are not functioning properly. The doctors appointed to look after these centres do not take their responsibility to attend them. No wonder that these people have to travel till here for medication.

If this is what our doctors do, then I think that the pledge they undertake on their graduation isn't of any meaning to them.

Therefore, I request the concerned authorities and the Govt itself to take these matters as serious as possible in order that these structures may function in a better way so as to bring good health and overall welfare to our people.

Yours etc.,
Nafisa Marbaniang
Shillong-6
Via e-mail

Sir,

I would like to bring to notice the most heinous crime that the "so called" matrilineal society of Meghalaya is facing today. It is eve teasing. Many of you may feel I am making an issue out of nothing. But the need of the moment is to think differently or deeply the implications of eve teasing. We believe we cannot stop eve teasing and so

the best way to deal with it is to drape ourselves fully, look down and walk or just ignore. Well it's easy to ignore and we have become quite an expert in it, but the question which crops is can we really ignore? Frustrated by the situation we often start to think "why me" and try to find fault in ourselves. But its not we (women) who are suffering but in larger sense it's the so called male dominated society suffering from some kind of syndrome. Eve teasing is seen as an assertion of their masculinity, the pleasure and the superiority one achieves by verbally or visually assaulting the opposite sex.

The government is not ignoring this issue and there are even laws passed under constitution but how many of us are really aware of it? The bigger question is, can we really stop this, when even the public guards like police and army men find pleasure and pride in practicing it.

Yours etc.,
Rajani KC
Shillong-1
Via e-mail

Laying the foundation stone of a hostel for working women from the North East at Jasola here, Ms Chowdhury said the government has given very high priority for the development of North East.

A number of schemes have been started for the area by her Ministry, which include 100% financial assistance for the construction of Anganwadi buildings. Besides support for the supply of nutritional food under ICDS scheme, the Government provides significant amount for women self-help groups and crhches for children in the region, she said.

The 520 seater hostel being constructed in collaboration with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region will be completed within two years and have all modern facilities like fitness centers and sports arena. (UNI)

He also said that during the fifth Left Front rule, 862 militants had surrendered and returned to normal life. Rehabilitation arrangements have been made for 801 militants who have surrendered so far. Mr Sarkar further informed the house in a written reply that in total 1,066 innocent persons had been abducted by insurgents from various parts of the state during the past seven years and 200 of them still remain in captivity. He turned down the Opposition demand for constitution of a commission by a sitting judge to investigate the nexus between underground forces and political parties in the state. ''It is not necessary to constitute such a commission to probe into the alleged nexus between a political party and militants,'' the Chief Minister said, adding that ''our (the government's) work was to combat terrorism'' and we are doing it. (UNI)

According to Aizawl Superintendent of Police L T Hrangchal, police recovered the bodies near Tuiruang river yesterday in northeast Mizoram along with nine empty cartridges and a live AK 47 bullet from the spot.

Some non-Mizos heard gunshots on Monday night and they reported the incident to the police Tuesday morning, Mr Hrangchal said. He said that all the victims were identified as personnel of Hmar National Army. (UNI)

Guwahati: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is beginning the final commissioning trial of Anti Collision Device (ACD) from March 9 as a prelude to introduction of the device under its jurisdiction on a later date.

The General Manager of the NFR A K Sanwalka on Wednesday informed that the Indian Railways had chosen the NFR for the Rs 250 crore ACD pilot project. Successful completion of the project would lead to introduction of the same in railways in the rest of the country. He said that the ACD was initially deviced by the Konkon Railway with indigenous technology for use within its system. The ACD is basically meant for preventing fatal head-on collision between two trains running on the same track. The ACD helps locomotives to detect a train on the same track from the opposite direction at a distance of about 6 kilometres, and that leads to automatic braking of the train without being noticed by the locomotive driver. The NFR runs average 250 goods as well as express and mail trains in its system in a day. Meanwhile, in view of the constant threat from the militants, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) authorities have decided to improve the man power of Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel to man its property in the region more effectively. Mr Sanwalka informed that the Railways has recently recruited 900 RPF jawans for deployment in the NFR while 350 more jawans will be recruited in the next financial year.

The senior Railway official informed that though it was the responsibility of the State government to protect the railway property in the region from attacks of militants, the NFR was doing its mite to supplement the efforts of the State governments in the region in this regard.

The NFR has already installed close circuit TVs (CCTVs) in three major railway stations – Guwahati (Assam), Dimapur (Nagaland) and New Jalpaiguri (West Bengal)—under its jurisdiction while CCTVs would be installed in six more railway stations in the militancy affected States of the region soon.