GUWAHATI, February 16: A senior IAS officer in Nagaland, V Sekhose, his brother and four others, arrested for allegedly killing five rhesus monkeys and a variety of birds at Kaziranga national park in upper Assam, have been remanded to 14 days judicial custody by a Court after rejecting their bail plea. Divisional forest officer Partho Pratim Das told PTI over telephone from Kaziranga on Monday that the five and Sekhose, secretary, art and culture department, Nagaland Government, allegedly killed the five monkeys, four pond herons, two endangered hill mynahs, two spotted doves, a drongo, and caused serious bullet injuries to a kingfisher on February 12 at Deopahar. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 17, 2

AGARTALA, February 17: Tripura government on Wednesday denied Opposition allegation that four tribals had died of starvation at Tirthamukh village of South district in the first week of January. The district magistrate of South Tripura district had inquired into the allegation by Opposition Tripura Upajati Juba Samity general secretary Rabindra Debbarma about starvation deaths and found them to be "false and baseless," a senior government official told reporters here. Debbarma had made the allegation to the press on February 10. The official said one Nashanti Reang of Tirthamukh village, who, according to Debbarma, had died of starvation in the first week of January, was found alive and in "normal condition". The other three tribals named by Debbarma had died of diseases but not of starvation, he added. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 18, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 18: The Assam government has named the entire stadium complex of the city as RG Baruah Sports Complex. Declaring this at a function held on the occasion of RG Baruah’s birth centenary year at the RG Baruah Guest House here today, chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said that as the architect of modern Assam RG took all the pains to set up this unique infrastructure. It is a fitting tribute to the great man to name the stadium complex after him, he added. However, the names of the other stadia in the complex — Nehru Stadium (main outdoor stadium), Kanaklata Indoor Hall, ABITA Centenary Indoor Stadium, Zakir Hussain Memorial Gymnasium Hall, BP Chaliha Swimming Pool, Nurul Amin Tennis Complex — will remain the same. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 19, 2000)

AIZAWL, February 17: Mizoram police arrested five Myanmarese nationals, belonging to the Zomi Revolutionary Force at Champhai, a town near India-Myanmar border on Tuesday evening, police said. Few Myanmarese currencies (kyats), besides one nine mm pistol, six rounds of live ammunition and Rs 38,000 in Indian currency (all in 500 denomination, were recovered from the rebels who were arrested from Champhai, about 200 kilometres from here, police said. The five were now in police custody. Police said the rebel group had been mainly operating in border areas of Manipur. – PTI (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 19, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 18: The Assam government has decided to set up 100 mini cinema halls all over the state to give a boost to the Assamese film industry, said chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. Speaking at the 39th annual session of the Asom Natya Sanmilan at Kampur in Nagaon district on Thursday, Mahanta said that the unemployed youths can take advantage of the government scheme to set up mini cinema halls by forming cooperative societies. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 19, 2000)

SHILLONG, February 20: Since the newly-formed anti-goonda squad went to town with a drive in mid-January against vices like gambling, drinking, drug abuse and prostitution in Jowai, criminals are for once feeling the heat. The squad is concentrating its drive mostly against illicit liquor and illegal drinking joints as "all criminal activities like gambling, prostitution, drugs, etc., revolve around liquor," said the superintendent of police, Jaintia Hills, R Raju. The district headquarters town with a population of hardly 40,000 has an unenviable record of over 100 illegal liquor joints operated mostly by women, in addition to a small number of licenced wine stores. "We realised that the core problem of Jowai was liquor which led to various crimes like gambling, prostitution and accordingly decided to crack down on the liquor dens," Raju disclosed. Free availability of liquor, including the local brew kakiyat is also blamed for drunken driving and consequent traffic accidents, which were on the rise. (Bedabrata Lahkar; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 21, 2000)

AIZAWL, February 20: Four armed Myanmarese armymen, including a Lance Naik, were on Friday arrested by police near border village of Kelkang in Champhai district in Mizoram, police said. Three G-3 rifles and 140 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the possession of the Myanmarese soldiers who were reported to be deserters from Rihkhawdar Myanmarese army post, Superintendent of Police (Champhai), K Amona told PTI over phone from Champai. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 21, 2000)

IMPHAL, February 21: Veteran Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and former member of Parliament Ngangom Mohendra died here yesterday after a brief illness, family sources said today. Mohendra, 75, became member of the CPI in 1946 and was the founder general secretary of the All Manipur Youth League (the youth wing of CPI) in 1949. He was elected a Member of Parliament from the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency on a CPI ticket in 1980. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 22, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 23: At least 3,127 cases targeting minor girls were registered with the police between 1992-97 in the districts of Assam where the victims were girls below the age of 18. Of them as many as 2,027 involved kidnapping, 767 rape, 240 molestation, 62 torture or cruelty, 19 dowry and 12 murder cases. These were some of the revelations made in the executive summary of a study to assess the present situation of the girl children in Assam that was presented during the three-day long workshop on 'Developing Strategies for the Girl Child in Assam' that began at the Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, here this morning. Jeuti Barooah, Director of the Law Research Institute, Gauhati High Court, who prepared the report on the girl child in association with Archana Sharma of the Gauhati University, said during her summary presentation that the girl child is "used, abused, misused, married and murdered." She said that the girl child is denied adequate nourishment and health care, while women are denied postnatal care after childbirth and remain frail and weak throughout their lives, prone to diseases and early death. Barooah’s study is based on secondary data collected from 16 institutions in the state during a three-month-long exercise. The study has been sponsored by the UNICEF and commissioned by the Assam Human Rights Commission. The study found that with traditional practices, Assam’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 544 per one lakh live births is significantly higher than the all-India figure of 453. The reasons cited are malnutrition, weak health, early marriage, etc. It also says that there is a huge gap between the participation rates of boys and girls in schools with a large number of girls being deprived of education. The gap in the literacy rates of the two sexes is also as high as 12.04 for the age group 15 to 19, the study notes. "The world of the girl child remains small with little opportunities and facilities. Her person, dignity and life are under severe attack from those who should have been her saviours," Barooah said. She said in her report that out of the total universe of child labour in the city, 16.73 per cent were girls. However, if one were to see the use of child labour in domestic work, it is found that 53.85 per cent of domestic servants are girls. Elaborating on the crime scenario, the study says that kidnappings constituted 64.82 per cent of all recorded cases involving girl victims between 1992 and 1997. Cachar district had the dubious distinction of heading the list in this category with 256 cases. An average of ten girls were raped each month in the state during the period under observation, the study says. It revealed that 767 girls, below the age of 18 were raped during the period. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 24, 2000)

AGARTALA, February 23: The Tripura government has decided to set up a judicial inquiry commission to probe the death of SDO Sukhram Debbarma, official sources said. Debbarma, the Agartala sadar SDO had been grievously injured on February 5 when a group of unidentified miscreants hurled bombs at his office here and opened fire at him. He succumbed to his injuries at a Calcutta hospital last week. The state government has requested the Gauhati High Court to appoint a sitting High Court judge to probe Debbarma’s death. Earlier, the Tripura Civil Service Association had demanded the judicial inquiry. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 24, 2000)

SHILLONG, February 27: A more than 300 per cent rise in the number of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators detected in Meghalaya between 1995 and 1999 has sent the alarm bells ringing in the hill state. Official information show a big spurt to 4,561 Bangladeshi infiltrators detected by police in 1999 as against 1,474 in 1995. The following year also witnessed a big jump in the number of infiltrators detected to 2533. The year 1997 recorded 2,869 Bangladeshis while it was 2,857 in 1998. Meghalaya home minister, TH Rangad today told The Assam Tribune "We have to stop the silent invasion of Bangladeshis into Meghalaya and the Northeastern region if the identity and culture of the region is to be protected." He pointed to Tripura and Assam, where the situation has virtually reached the ‘point of no return’, to justify his concern. "Meghalaya with a total population of 20 lakh can absorb the spate of infiltration only at its peril.’ Of the 14,294 infiltrators detected during the period 1995-99, 13,928 were pushed back, mostly to Assam, through which they came. The rest are facing prosecution under the Foreigners Act and other rules. The home minister, who belongs to the BJP, stated that the state government in its memorandum to the Prime Minister during his recent visit to the state, had highlighted the infiltration problem. "We have also written to the Union Home ministry for necessary clearance for issue of identity cards to all citizens in the state", he said. At the cost of Rs 20 — Rs 30 per card Meghalaya would require about Rs 6 crore. A new worry for the state is the large number of marriages taking place between the illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators and local women specially in the Jaintia Hills district. "This could be a calculated move of the infiltrators to get settled here", he agreed. The long stretch of 423-km long international border with Bangladesh makes it difficult for the state to check the influx of foreigners into the state. With a meagre force of only 117 personnel in the infiltration cell, the task of monitoring the unabated infiltration has become an impossible task, sources said. (Bedabrata Lahkar; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 29, 2000)