GUWAHATI, January 31: Medum-Me-Phi, the solemn festival of the Tai-Ahoms to pay homage to their forefathers and seek their blessings for a prosperous future, was observed throughout Assam on Monday. In Guwahati, the festival was held at Hengrabari, Panjabari, Dispur and Hatigaon among other places. As Sukaphanagar in Hatigaon, the day was observed with a day-long programme organised by the Greater Guwahati Medum-Me-Phi Celebration Committee. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 1, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 1: Noted litterateur and journalist Homen Borgohain has been selected by the Asam Sahitya Sabha for the LN Phookan award for journalism for the year 1999. Dibrugarh University student Pallabi Dutta will receive the Assam Association of the USA award as the first prize of the essay competition on the role of students in present Assamese society. The others who will receive Sahitya Sabha awards are Sukhapha Konwar, Kalyani Deka, Jahnabi Deka and Mojamil Hussain, all students. The awards will be presented at Krishnakanta Handique Kshetra on February 3 in Jorhat. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 2, 2000)

SHILLONG, February 1: Nearly one to two per cent of the general population in the states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland have turned drug users making the Northeast region one of the worst drug-affected areas in the entire country. From a conduit for drugs from Myanmar and Thailand, the region is now fast turning into a consumer of these drugs. Most of the drug abusers are 16 to 35 years of age but there are reports of initiation to drug abuse as early as ten years. This was brought out at the inaugural function of the three-month certificate course on drug de-addiction counselling and rehabilitation here on Monday. The course has been organised by the National Institute of Social Defence under the ministry of social justice and empowerment. Besides the common use of alcohol and nicotine in the region, the substances and other dependence producing drugs commonly abused are opiates which cover opium, morphine, pethidine, tidigesic and heroin and cannabis and psychotropic substances. (Special Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 2, 2000)

SIVASAGAR, February 2: It was a general consensus of the people of this district that the English transliteration of the name of the district should be 'Sivasagar' in place of presently used 'Sibsagar'. In order to introduce the proper transliteration of the Assamese word into English, Lakshi Nath Tamuly, deputy commissioner of Sivasagar district, issued an office memorandum on January 27 and requested all the central and state government institutions and organisations to use 'Sivasagar' in all official and non-official correspondences with effect from February 1. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 3, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 2: Widely acclaimed Kamrupiya Dhulia (drummer) Mohan Barman, popularly known as Mohan Bhaira is not more. The 105-year-old artiste breathed his last in his residence in Koihati Satra in Nalbari district at 8 pm yesterday. A recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award, Bhaira enthralled his audience all over the state with his performance. He was the man responsible for gaining national recognition to Kamrupiya dhulia art. A documentary "Koihatir Dhulia", based on his life, was also acclaimed by all sections of people. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 4, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 4: The Gauhati High Court today directed the Nagaland government to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the parents of an young boy who died in police custody. A division bench comprising chief justice Brijesh Kumar and DN Choudhury further kept it open for the state government to fix the responsibility of the police officer involved in the incident and to realise the amount from that officer. The court also directed the Nagaland home secretary to ensure fair and speedy investigation of the case and directed that the investigation of the case be completed within four months. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 5, 2000)

ITANAGAR, February 4: The Arunachal Mishing Students Union has urged the state government to take up with the Centre to include Mishings in the state's Scheduled Tribes list, its president Nityanand Pao said on Thursday. The Mishings are aborigines of Arunachal Pradesh residing in Dibang Valley and Lohit districts but the authorities did "not pay any heed to their genuine demands" for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list, he alleged. The Mishings, he said, were earlier known as Miris and have affinity of language, worship and social practices with Adi tribes of the state. Mishings were recognised as one of the tribes by the state cabinet through a notification in November 1989 as they had settled in the state prior to 1951, but later a committee constituted by the government recommended deletion of its name from the Scheduled Tribes list in view of its members's exodus to Assam where they enjoyed the ST privileges, sources said. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 5, 2000)

KOHIMA, February 4: Nagaland tourism minister TCK Lotha died on Thursday night after a prolonged illness. He was 62. The bureaucrat-turned-politician was born at Tsungiki village in Wokha district and graduated from St Anthony's College in Shillong. He was selected for the Indian Administrative Service in 1964 from Uttar Pradesh cadre and joined as a magistrate in Allahabad. In May 1968, Lotha came to Nagaland on deputation and took over the charge of additional deputy commissioner of Tuensang. He served the state government till his retirement in 1998 as chief secretary. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 5, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 5: A tremor with the magnitude of 3.7 on the Richter Scale rocked the city this evening. According to Dhanna Singh, deputy director-general of meteorology here, the epicentre of the quake was about 55 km north-east of Shillong, The tremor, which started at 7.29 pm, lasted for about 10 seconds. The intensity of the tremor was felt more in the city due to its proximity to the epicentre. (The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 6, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 5: The Gauhati High Court has directed the Nagaland government to pay Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the parents of Chubayanger, a student of Class-VII of Mission School, Dimapur, who died in police custody. Chief justice Brijesh Kumar and justice DN Choudhury further kept it open for the state government to fix responsibility of the police officer involved in the incident and to realise the amount from him. They also directed the Nagaland home secretary to ensure a fair-and-speedy investigation of the case and indicated a period of four months for completion of the probe. Chubayanger, who was holidaying at his house in Chungtia village of Mokokchung district in January 1994 was picked up by police who had gone there looking for his elder brother Wabang Toshi. The police team was led by J Bendangtoshi, then SP of Mokokchung and T Ali, inspector of police. Chubayanger, then aged about 14, was allegedly subjected to severe beating with batons by the police, as a result of which he died. This prompted filing of a public interest petition in the High Court by two residents of Chungtia village who sought compensation for the boy’s death and a judicial inquiry into the incident. (Law Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 6, 2000)

KOHIMA, February 5: Kohima and its adjoining areas are under the grip of severe cold wave following snowfall in Japfu range, western Dzukou and Barail range near here for the past few days. Nagaland roads and bridges minister KV Pusa on Thursday visited some of the villages affected by snowfall. He said snow was knee deep in some areas and added that the whole range of Japfu including Tempus hills were covered with snow for the last four days. The famous Dzukou valley, Teyhozu hillocks, higher reaches of Khuzama, Viswema, Kigwema, Zakhama and Pheshama villages were also covered with snow. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 7, 2000)

JORHAT, January 6: Bapuram Bora is a busy man these days, preoccupied as he is in trying to make the stay of his avian guests safe and comfortable. Religiously leaving his warm bed even before the crack of dawn and braving the chilly winter, Bora, gaonburah of Kokilamukh village on the banks of Brahmaputra here, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the safety of the migratory birds who throng the numerous beels around the area every year with unfailing regularity. The birds generally arrive in the month of November from as far off as Siberia and other South Asian countries and make the numerous beels dotted along the Brahmaputra their temporary roosting ground till the month of March. "The only thing I have to ensure for my winged guests is safety... and I am trying to do what I can," says Bora, who is holding village-level meetings and calling upon the neighbouring villagers to take care of the birds. Bora, along with other villagers, have taken the onus of patrolling the beels in the wee hours as well as in the evening, so that nobody causes any harm to the winged species. Bora’s spark of interest on birds was ignited following reports in newspapers of mass killing of migratory birds by unscrupulous elements (read locals) along with greedy businessmen who feasted on them and also made a fast buck in the process by selling the meat in the nearby markets. "I have seen people coming from far away places and hunting these birds in large numbers... the Forest Department then sought our help to check the menace... and here we are," he said. Admitting Bora’s contribution towards the safety of these migratory birds, the ranger of the Jorhat Forest Range, Gunin Saikia, said, "Though the Forest Department has deputed personnel to guard these birds, it could not have been possible without the support of the local villagers of the area." He claimed that unless a sense of awareness was aroused among the village folk as to how important these rare avians were, it will simply not be possible to check their killing in toto. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 7, 2000)

JAMUGURIHAT, February 6: One unidentified poacher was killed in an encounter with forest guards at Delatapu under Nameri National Park under Rongapara police station on January 28 at 6.30 pm. According to police, a forest guard equipped with .303 rifle along with a master roll worker of Nameri National Park moved to Potasali camp at 6.30 pm. On way to the camp, the guard saw four poachers with arms moving in the park. Being aware of the presence of the guard they fired at guard. In reply the guard also fired resulting in killing of one poacher. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 7, 2000)

PASARIA, February 7: There was a time when farmers of Assam were dependent on conventional method of agriculture due to lack of guidance from the concerned authorities. But, nowadays they have started switching over to modern cultivation for higher yield. Pasaria, 30 kms away from Guwahati has witnessed lot of agricultural activities. Farmers of the locality have started modern cultivation by giving up their old traditional method. "Initially it was a Herculean task to motivate the farmers towards the scientific cultivation but strenuous efforts paid off," said, Jogen Talukdar. Talukdar, an old farmer of the area told this correspondent that farmers of the six villages — Barijani, Keotbari, Pasaria, Nizpasaria, Napara Pasaria and Dolarpathar have started cultivation over 500 bighas of land with modern irrigation system. (Surajit Khaund; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 8, 2000)

NEW DELHI, February 8: The capital will host its first-ever the Northeast Poetry Festival tomorrow. Eminent poets from the region will take part in three poetry reading sessions at the one-day festival, organised by the Sahitya Akademi. The participants include Anupama Basumatary, Hirendranath Datta and Nirmalprabha Bardoloi from Assam. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 9, 2000)

AIZAWL, February 8 – Mizoram government has constituted a task force for rehabilitation of Reang refugees living in North Tripura refugee camps. A notification to this effect was issued on Monday by the administration. Officials of the Rural Development Department, who would be overseeing the proposed rehabilitation, said the government has so far not released any action plan. According to the state government, there are about 3,500 Reangs in Tripura. The Reangs had fled to North Tripura after alleged human rights violations by Mizos during the late Eighties and mid-Nineties. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 9, 2000)

MUMBAI, February 9: In the Forest Hangs a Bridge, a documentary film on the building of a suspension bridge in Arunachal Pradesh, is a major attraction at the ongoing sixth Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), reports PTI. Directed by noted maker Sanjay Kak, the film depict the natives of Damro village who make the suspension bridge as an annual ritual. For one week in the year, the villagers gather to carry out the 1000-ft-long bridge made of cane and bamboo. The Marams, by renowned filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma, is about the indigenous people of Manipur, their distinctive culture and the film examines their religious beliefs, festivals and customs. Assamese film Koihatir Dhulia (Drummers of Koihati) by Hemanta Das is a docu on the Kamrupiya Dhulia, a performing art form of Assam. It comprises elements of song, dance, circus and folk theatre known as ‘Chong’. Another Assamese film was Jibon (Life) by Altaf Mazid, about a 12-year-old boy Ron, who is suffering from Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, a rare incurable disease. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 10, 2000)

SHILLONG, February 10: As many as nine fish species in the Northeastern region have become ‘most endangered’ and many more would join this growing list in the near future if concerted steps are not taken to conserve the unique aqua resources of the region. Issuing the warning here today, RA Selvakumar, assistant director general (fishery), Indian Council for Agriculture Research, New Delhi, said that the fishery resources in the Northeast is fast declining owing to growing human development, anthropogenic stress, pollutants and (fish) habitat damage and alterations. Speaking about the rich aqua resources of the region, director, National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, AG Ponniah, said, of the 187 species found in the region 45 species were endemic to the area. The river Brahmaputra alone harbour 41 fishes of commercial importance with fishes like ‘Mahseer’, ‘snow trout’, ‘carps’ and some catfishes famous among them. (Special Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 11, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 11: Apart from paying attention to the human rights violations in the state that are brought to its notice, the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has now embarked on a mission to educate the masses of their rights, both human and fundamental. "The potential of the commission has not been fully explored so far," says Paramananda Kalita, member of the Commission since inception in 1996. It is to meet its potential that the Commission has started on its educational campaign. An example is the campaign on creation of awareness on the rights of the child and human rights that was launched recently to involve children, especially the school-going ones, in keeping with the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 that was acceded to by the government of India on December 11, 1992. The awareness programme of the AHRC is being carried out through a collaboration with the Human Rights Literacy Forum, Guwahati, an NGO dedicated to spreading the message of Human Rights among the masses. The programme is being financed by the UNICEF which has made Rs 5 lakh available to the Commission, besides providing the publicity material, says Kalita, who is himself the chairman of the forum. "It is much easier to execute programmes with the help of NGOs than for the commission to carry them out on its own," explains Kalita. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 11, 2000)

AIZAWL, February 11: Five Myanmarese nationals including two women have been arrested from Mizoram’s eastern hamlet of Zokhawthar on the Myanmar border by Assam Rifles personnel, police said on Thursday. An amount of Rs 33 lakh was also recovered from their possession on Wednesday. The police suspect that the amount was looted from the Lawnotlai branch of state Bank of India in South Mizoram on January 17. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 12, 2000)

DIBRUGARH, February 12: Widely acclaimed as one of the world’s top five embryologists, the unassuming and soft-spoken Amiya Mukherjee, 57, is a man who is held in high esteem in medical circles. It is because of him that test tube babies have become a common occurrence even in this part of the country. He has several firsts to his credit, which include being the first Indian scientist to produce triplets from frozen embryos at the Churchill Clinic at London. Currently a British citizen, Mukherjee says that he wants to do much more for the North East, as the region is yet to see the full impact of the tremendous advances in medical sciences. (Ron Duarah; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 13, 2000)

GUWAHATI, February 13: Vihili Sekhose (IAS), Secretary of Art and Culture Department of Nagaland government and four other government employees were arrested on Saturday by Assam Forest authorities for killing a number of rare animals in a reserve forest near the Kaziranga National Park, reports UNI. According to the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) PS Das, the IAS officer and his party killed five monkeys, two squirrels, five rare birds and five common birds in the Deopahar Reserve Forest before the forest officials and police with the help of local people nabbed them, but not before some scuffle. Forest authorities seized three .22 rifles, 167 rounds of ammunition, beside two Maruti Gypsies belonging to the Nagaland Government. Of the three seized rifles, two were telescopic. Forest authorities were ascertaining whether these weapons were licensed or not. The local people first spotted them inside the reserve forest and immediately informed the forest authorities. The IAS officer and other employees tried to flee the scene in their vehicles but their path was blocked by a car parked by the people in the middle of the narrow forest way. The officers were also roughed up by the locals. The other four arrested Nagaland government employees were S Angami, P Angami, V Koche and P Angami. They were produced before the magistrate in Golaghat after forest authorities questioned them throughout the night. Meanwhile, an embarrassed Nagaland government had mounted an all-out operation to rescue the accused IAS officer and his colleagues. The DFO insisted that this had become an increasing habit for a section of the Nagaland government servants to come down to Assam and hunt in the reserve forests defying all laws. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 14, 2000)

ITANAGAR, February 12: Arunachal Pradesh minister for Social Welfare, Labour and Employment Tadak Dulom on Saturday said the Solung tribes living in a particular area could not be called as ‘bonded labour’ as there was no ‘bonded labour’ in the state. His government has extended all social, political and economic help to the Solungs, Dulom said. The tribes living in Chayang Taju area of East Kameng district have been allotted land for cultivation, building materials for permanent settlement and their children given free education facilities in the schools run by voluntary organisations like Ramkrishna Mission, Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, he added. However, some of the Solungs have not availed of the opportunities due to their nomadic nature and shyness, he noted. Dulom, who was talking to newsmen here after his return from Delhi, clarified that slavery had existed in certain parts of state in pre-independence period. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 14, 2000)

AIZAWL, February 14: Myanmarese Army personnel allegedly abducted a village teacher from Mizoram after crossing the international boundary in pursuit of rebel activists on Friday, the director-general of Police, Mizoram, Tumsanga, said here today. The DGP said that activists of the rebel Chin National Army (CNA), fighting for restoration of democracy in Myanmar, allegedly fired upon the Myanmarese Army deployed near the border river Tiau on Friday from the Indian side of the river. Myanmarese soldiers who entered Mizoram in pursuit of the rebels, were unable to trace them. The soldiers, however, allegedly abducted Zokunga, a teacher of Lianpui hamlet before crossing over. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 15, 2000)

GOLAKGANJ, February 14: Bhogdanga, a village along the Indo-Bangladesh border here is virtually cut off from India as these villagers are entirely dependent on Bangladesh villages like Balabari, Kaechakuti and Sabakuti for their day-to-day requirements. The village with about 900 population consisting of 85 families, is bereft of basic amenities. An LP School is running without a teacher. With no health care centre, post office and even a grocery shop, lives of the villagers are literally miserable. The village, surrounded by Bangladesh territory on three sides, has the only link with India through a gate constructed under the Assam Accord with barbed wires along the entire Indo-Bangladesh border. Total area of Bhogdanga is around 630 bighas. Width is between 144 meters to 270 meters while length stretches over 1 km from the Indian soil. Unlike other villages along the Indo-Bangla-border of the Golakganj sector, there is no border road in and around Bhogdanga. On the other hand, although according to the provision of Assam Accord, a border road has been constructed and barbed wires erected, it does not mean anything to the village and as such remains out side the barbed fencing. While there is free passage for Indians, living outside the fencing, ironically, an iron gate has been constructed which runs to Bhogdanga connecting the Indian land. Like other gates along the Indo-Bangladesh border, this gate is also under vigilance of BSF jawans resulting in severe restriction on the free movement of the villagers of Bhogdanga. The gate is opened for six hours a day in two-hour stretches but the timings is not maintained by the BSF jawans, villagers alleged. Ironically, owing to international law of boundary as well as indifferent attitude of the district administration 900 Indians are alienated from their own country. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 15, 2000)

TEZPUR, February 14: A herd of elephants are creating havoc in the different parts of greater Tezpur in Sonitpur district. According to sources, at least 150 dwelling houses at Besseria, Parbetia, Holeshwar, Millanpur etc. were destroyed besides causing extensive damages to the paddy and sugarcane fields. Sources said, more then four hectares of sugarcane fields and ten hectares of paddy fields were destroyed by the wild tuskers during the last fortnight. Besides property worth more then Rs 10 lakh have already been destroyed. Meanwhile, a great sense of fear psychosis is prevailing amongst the affected villagers who are passing sleepless night as the Sonitpur district administration has so far failed to protect the life and property of the affected villagers, and has even failed to provide any relief materials to the affected people. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 15, 2000)

SHILLONG, February 15: The Northeast Media Exchange Programme (NEMEP) of the National Foundation for India (NFI) today announced award of ten fellowships to journalists including outward and inward for the current year, reports UNI. Stating this after a two-day conference of the NEMEP, its convenor Sanjoy Hazarika told reporters here that while four would be inward fellows the rest be outward. The six who enjoyed outward fellowship were Sitansu Ranjan De (Agartala), Anupam Bordoloi (Jorhat), Partha Pratim Hazarika, Sushanta Talukdar and Jaydeep Saikia and Rituraj Konwar all from Guwahati. The inward awardees included Hemendra Narayan, chief representative of the The Statseman, who would study the condition of the tribal communities in Tripura, Freny Maneckshaw from Mumbai whose topic was to study a Konyak Naga village in the Mon region of Nagaland, Santosh Kumar Gulvady – Editor-in-Chief of Nootana in Karanatak who would be returning to the Northeast after ten years to look at its changes in lifestyle and R Krishna Kumar, Staff correspondent of the Hindu, Mysore, who would study wildlife protection in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in the context of environmental issues. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; February 16, 2000)