CHENNAI, September 16: The Madras High Court on Wednesday imposed stringent conditions on lotteries run by the Mizoram government to ensure that the raffles were not organised through agents in violation of a Central law on the subject. Justice K Govindarajan passed the interim order on a writ petition from the Mizoram government seeking to restrain the Tamil Nadu government and police from interfering with the sale of its lottery tickets. The Tamil Nadu government said it had reason to believe that Mizoram was not actually organising the raffles, as required under Section 4 of the Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998, but had delegated the business to agents. Taking note of the apprehension, the judge said he would impose conditions on the sale of Mizoram lotteries in Tamil Nadu, and permitted the state to take action in case of violation of any of these conditions. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; September 17, 1999)

GUWAHATI, September 19: The Assam chief minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, has assured the representatives of the tea industry in the state of extending all possible help towards solving their various grievances soon and asked the chief secretary and the director-general of police for taking necessary measures in this regard here yesterday. At a meeting with representatives from Indian Tea Association, Tea Association of India, Williamson Magor and others, problems including roads and communication to various tea gardens and threats of extortion from militants were discussed extensively for taking up necessary steps for solving them, according to an official release. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; September 20, 1999)

GUWAHATI, September 20: The output of tea in the country, including Assam, has gone down considerably this year compared to the output last year. Along with that there is also a decrease in exports. This, when the leading tea exporters in the world - Sri Lanka, Kenya and China - are increasing their market share at the cost of Indian tea. Tea production in the country is expected to be around 825 million kg this year against an estimated 870 million kg produced in 1998. The Indian Tea Association (ITA) points out that the principal reason for the depressed output scenario is unprecedented drought conditions in Assam and North Bengal. Moreover, the adverse weather conditions in South India have resulted in a poor start for India's tea production. The ITA status paper "Tea: Production and Export scenario for 1999" states that with a poor start at the national level, the Indian tea production in 1999 will fall short of last year's level unless the initial setbacks are arrested. By the end of July the national production shortfall according to Tea Board figures was 52 million kg compared to last year. The total shortfall in Assam was 35 million kg, roughly, with Assam Valley accounting for 30 million kg and Cachar for another 4.5 million kg in shortfall. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; September 21, 1999)

DIBRUGARH, September 23: The Dibrugarh University authorities see nothing wrong in going ahead with the tea project, and have stressed that this would rake in much-needed resources for the institution. The DU registrar Bimal Gogoi, told newspersons here on Wednesday said that there was no secret deal as has been speculated in the press, vis-a-vis the project. He said that the DU had signed a memorandum of understanding with Bar Assam Builders Private Limited on December 21 last year, whereby it was decided to form a joint venture company to start a tea plantation on a plot of the varsity. It was stressed that the DU will retain full control over the project, with two directors and the chairman in the six-member board of directors. Three directors would be from the other partner of the project, of whom one will be the managing director. Accordingly, Bar Assam's Cheniram Bora is the managing director and the DU registrar, Bimal Gogoi the chairman of the joint venture, incorporated as the New Rajabheta Tea Company Private Limited (NRTCO). Of the two directors to be nominated by the DU, one will be from the teaching community and the other an Executive Council member. As of today, they are, Dr Homeswar Goswami and Homen Borgohain, respectively. As per the NRTCO articles of association, the company's managing director will be Bora, while the chairman shall have the casting vote, should the need arise. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; September 24, 1999)

GUWAHATI, September 23: Assam is all set to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production, claimed a paper submitted by the state directorate of agriculture, even as attack of dreaded hispa, in an epidemic form, has caused serious concern among the farmers of many areas in the state. The hispa pest has been damaging standing sali crops cultivation in hectare after hectare of paddy fields in several lower Assam areas. But, the directorate of agriculture, in a paper recently submitted at a national conference on agriculture for rabi campaign, claimed that provided the state government lays adequate emphasis on crops, both in terms of area coverage and production to the maximum extent possible, the state is all set to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production. The paper also said that in view of the higher productivity of summer rice, it had been decided to raise the area under the crop by creating assured irrigation facilities. During the 1998-99, the kharif production touched 2,809 tonnes and the total area under the crops was 24.54 lakh hectare , the paper said. The target for 1999-2000 has been fixed at 32 lakh tonnes of rice over an area of 23 lakh hectare . Despite the snap flood between June and July affecting 13 districts partly, the rainfall received during the current monsoon has been beneficial for agricultural operations in the state, the paper claimed. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; September 24, 1999)

GUWAHATI, September 27: The 1,862 employees of the once thriving Statfed are now being driven to penury due to non-payment of their salaries for the last 14 months. The joint platform of the employees, Statfed Karmachari Aikkyamancha (SKA) says that some of their colleagues have been driven to suicide, some to death due to lack of medical attention and some evicted from their homes due to their inability to pay rent. The last chairman of the Statfed, Durga Das Boro, who resigned from his post recently, has been availing all the perks and perquisites of the post without attending office for the last one and a half years, the SKA says. He has been running up fuel bills of Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 per month apart from the substantial telephone bills, the SKA states. Further, the former chairman spent Rs 38,122 on furniture and furnishings to do up his home, it says. Boro who quit his post recently after being nominated the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) candidate for the Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency, is surprisingly still using two vehicles belonging to Statfed. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; September 28, 1999)

SHILLONG, September 29: The Land Transfer Act which debars transfer of land to non-tribals continues to remain the biggest hurdle for outside investors and entrepreneurs in setting up industrial ventures in Meghalaya. Despite a peaceful atmosphere compared to the other Northeast states and in spite of the tax-holiday announced by the Centre and the new industrial policy declared by the state government providing various incentives and facilities to the potential investors, only a negligible number of entrepreneurs have come forward to invest in the hill state. The Land Transfer Act, which was enacted soon after the hill state was created, in order to protect the identity of the indigenous tribals and safeguard their interests, has today emerged the biggest stumbling block in the way to industrialisation of the state. Under the Act, not only non-tribals cannot buy land from tribals but even transfer of land from a non-tribal, who held land prior to the Act, to another non-tribal is also prohibited. No wonder outside investors are unwilling to come to Meghalaya. The issue had been discussed by the leaders of the state, time and again, but no politician could come up with a solution apparently unwilling to go against public sentiments. However, with government jobs drying up and unemployment problem becoming more acute everyday, the government realising the need for industrialising the state has brought in relaxations to enable investors to acquire land for industrial units. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; September 28, 1999)