GUWAHATI, May 2: The definition of indigenous people of Assam has now created controversy in the state after the AASU sought reservation of seats in the Parliament, state Assembly and local bodies for the indigenous people. But the state and the central governments had accepted a definition of indigenous people way back in 1951 during the census operations and that definition can still be used. According to the report of the 1951 census, the census statistics were collected through a set of 14 questions framed on all-India basis. The report said that the question number 13 was left to be framed by the state governments to accommodate any special requirement which they might have "Accordingly, the question framed by the Assam government was - are you an indigenous person of Assam, if so, state the land you own and the land you have rented in cash or kind from others." From the question framed by the state government in 1951, it was clear that the government had identified the indigenous people of Assam during the first census of independent India and that can be used as the basis for identification of indigenous people for reservation. According to the report, a proper definition of the indigenous people was given by the Assam government. As per the definition given by the Assam government, "the indigenous person of Assam means a person belonging to the state of Assam and speaking the Assamese language on any tribal dialect of Assam or in the case of Cachar, the language of the region." The census operation also included the land owned and land rented by the indigenous people. "The land owned means land held directly under the government under permanent settlement or under periodic or special lease. The land rented means the land held by a person under another person on payment of rent in cash, kind or service under an agreement, written or verbals" In fact, the 1951 census report had district wise break up of the land owned or rented by the indigenous people of the state. The state government of Manipur and Tripura also adopted the question with slight modification. Later on, clarification given by the then revenue minister and then Chief Minister Bishnu Ram Medhi was conveyed to all 'charge superintendents'. As per the instructions, the people, whose mother tongue is not Assamese, but speak Assamese at least as their subsidiary language, would be recorded as Assamese. The instruction was so worded as not to insist on anyone speaking Assamese or any tribal dialect at home or as their mother tongue, the report said. The report said that some persons in the then Goalpara division insisted on recording their mother tongue as Goalparia and such persons were included as indigenous. Later on all such persons were included as Assamese after the tabulation was completed, the report of 1951 census added. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 4, 2000)

KOHIMA, May 3: Jwene Phizo, wife of legendary Naga leader AZ Phizo, died here last night after a prolonged illness. She was 86 and survived by five sons and four daughters. Born in 1914 in Tseminyu, she was married to Phizo on August 9, 1930. She spent over ten years in the then Burma with her husband when he was in the Indian National Army led by Subhash Chandra Bose. Her funeral service was held today at her residence. Condoling her death, Nagaland Chief Minister SC Jamir said she was a great lady who devoted her life for the cause of the Nagas. (UNI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 4, 2000)

DIBRUGARH, May 3: Though the Dibrugarh University has a department of applied geology and petroleum technology, Oil India Limited (OIL) has taken recourse to campus recruitment at the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad and University of Poona in Pune, causing strong resentment among applied geology and petroleum technology students here. Irked by the pro-outsider stand taken by OIL, the Dibrugarh University unit of AASU has shot off a complaint to OIL's group general manager at Duliajan, asking the public sector undertaking (PSU) to stay away from such practice in the future. The AASU unit has complained that the campus recruitment drives by OIL at Dhanbad and Pune were done in a hush-hush manner, without advertising the vacancies in newspapers. This way, the company appointed four petroleum geologists and is reportedly in the process in recruiting four more. What the AASU unit is sore about is that the appointments have seriously undermined students from the Dibrugarh University. Ironically, OIL is a sponsor of the KD Malaviya Chair in the department of applied geology and petroleum technology in the university, which was set up for research in oilfield related activities. Moreover, OIL has been actively associated with the department in matters of syllabus framing, providing guest lecturers, setting examination question papers and answer scripts. It seems this OIL-DU association is more a lollipop than of making it a meaningful tie-up, feel the students. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 4, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 3: The ABSU has decided to convene a special experts' meeting to discuss the issue of defining indigenous and non-indigenous people of Assam on the basis of 1951 NRC and the 1952 electoral roll. In statement issued today, the ABSU observed that the understanding arrived between the Centre, state and the AASU regarding determination indigenous and non-indigenous people of the state had created lots of doubts, confusion and misunderstanding among the people. The Bodo students body said before taking any final decision in this regard the government should have a thorough discussion with 'real' indigenous group of people in the state. The ABSU stated that from anthropological and historical point of view, the people of Bodo groups are the most indigenous people of Northeast India. The AASU has already made it clear about its definition of indigenous people of Assam vis-à-vis sons of the soil. The AASU President, Probin Boro recently told The Assam Tribune that "No one can question whether the sons of the soil including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, More Other Backward Classes and Tea Tribes are indigenous people of Assam or not". The AASU had warned that certain organisations are trying to create a rift between tribals and non-tribals of the state on the issue of reservation seats for indigenous people in the Parliament, state Assembly and local bodies as the provision of Clause VI of the Assam Accord. According to the AASU the need of the hour for the ethnic groups in the state is to fight together to protect the interest of indigenous people of the state. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 4, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 3: The National Register of Citizens (NRC) was prepared simultaneously with the 1951 census and according to the report of the Census, "The register will be useful for electoral and various other administrative purposes and also serve as a suitable frame for socio-economic surveys." The report said that the National Register of Citizens would be maintained as a permanent record and kept up-to-date by collecting information through the village officials. However, the NRC has not been updated properly over the years despite repeated demands by various organisations including the AASU and it is learnt that the NRC of certain areas of the state were missing. From the report of the census operations of 1951, it was clear that utmost care was taken to prepare a correct NRC simultaneously with the Census and the enumerators were even given an extra honorarium for the extra trouble they had to take in preparation of the NRC. The AASU has demanded that the NRC should be used as the basis for identifying the indigenous people of Assam for reservation of seats in the Parliament, Assembly and local bodies. Speaking about the importance of the NRC, former Director of Census Operations, Assam, Nagen Dutta said that the NRC is a very important document for any 'civilised' country. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Dutta said that the NRC was prepared along with the 1951 Census under special circumstances and it is a valid legal document. He said that the NRC could have been kept up-to-date by utilising the gaon burhas but unfortunately the system of maintaining birth and death registers by the gaon burhas became less effective after the independence of the country and as such the NRC was never updated properly. Dutta said that the NRC could have been utilised thoroughly for the detection of the illegal migrants. He pointed out that the failure to maintain a proper NRC resulted in the defects in economic planning as the size of the population could never be gauged properly by the planners and the major share of the benefits given by the government is going to the foreign nationals. "At this moment we only have the voters' list as the document for citizens, but it is always alleged that the voters list contained the names of a large number of foreigners," he added. Commenting on reports that the NRC of some places of the state were missing, Dutta said that as the NRCs were kept in police stations, the bifurcation of the police stations is one of the main reasons for loss of NRCs. He said that over the years, people started giving less importance to the NRC and it came to the limelight only after the Assam agitation. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 4, 2000)

NEW DELHI, May 3: The ruling AGP's flip-flop stand on the foreigners issue including repeal of the controversial IMDT Act, notwithstanding, one of its partymen and former president of the AASU, Sarbananda Sonowal, has formally filed a instant writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Act and pleading for its repeal. The petition heard by a division bench comprising Chief Justice, AS Anand, Justice Variava and Justice Lahoti has directed the Central and Assam governments to file their counter-affidavits within six weeks' time. The case is again likely to come up for hearing in July. But Sonowal's predicament was clear when replying to a volley of questions at a press briefing, he claimed that he was acting on his own behalf and cannot speak on behalf of his party. He was equally silent on AGP's stand on foreigners issue as well as on the repeal of the IMDT Act. But in a statement, he claimed that present Union government as well as the state government have been talking in favour of revoking this Act, which is a hindrance in the detection and deportation of foreigners living illegally in Assam. Sonowal further asserted that the Assam government accepted the definition of the 'indigenous people mooted by the AASU. As member of the Tripartite Committee on implementation of the Assam Accord, Assam government has accepted the definition of the indigenous people, he claimed. Meanwhile, in the Lok Sabha, the Union Home minister, LK Advani in reply to a question tabled by Sushil Kumar Shinde and Madhab Rao Scindia, ruled out the possibility of repatriation of Bangladeshi refugees who had come to India before March 25, 1971. He said that there was no figure available with government on number of Bangladeshi refugees residing in the country, as no question on Bangladeshi refugee was canvassed at 1991 census. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 4, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 4: The month-long 2001 census for Assam began today amidst citizenship controversy and apprehension of local people being swamped by immigrant Muslims in at least three districts. Muslims, mostly Bangladeshis, had already overtaken the indigenous people in four districts as per the 1991 census. The AASU, which spearheaded the anti-foreigners agitation two decades ago, stirred a hornet's nest last month by persuading the Union home ministry to agree to take certain action to protect the identity of the state's indigenous people. These included reserving Parliament and state Assembly seats for locals, more specifically those figuring in the 1951 National Register of Citizenship or the 1952 voters' list and their descendants. The AASU also formally declared the people conforming to the above specifications as Assamese, including the Bengalis of Barak Valley. Though this far-reaching announcement was criticised by organisations like the All Assam Minority Students Union and United Minorities Front, it was appreciated in varying degrees by tribal students union and surprisingly the CPI(ML). The Asom Gana Parishad, too, has been expressing concern about the increase in ISI-sponsored Islamic militancy, particularly in the Muslim-dominated districts of Assam. If this was construed as the AGP's move to warm up to the BJP by appealing to vulnerable Hindus, the party's volte face on the contentious Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act made the suspicion stronger. While Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta stated that his government was not averse to repealing or amending the IMDT Act, negating its earlier stand of sticking to it, AASU leaders threatened to launch a fresh agitation to make the government replace it by the Foreigners Act. The IMDT, incidentally, is applicable only in Assam. According to Samujjal Bhattacharyya, elevated as president of Northeast Students Organisation, if the Centre chose to sit on the foreigners' issue, it would be against national interest. "Infiltration continues unabated today, and if it is not checked, the entire country will have to pay for it," he said. Districtwise population figures spoke for themselves, Bhattacharyya said. The 1991 census report showed that immigrant Bangladeshis effected a drastic demographic change in several districts of Assam. While Muslims overtook indigenous people in Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta and Hailakandi districts, their number was almost equal in Karimganj, Nagaon and Morigaon districts. The AASU further justified its demand to protect the identity of the Assamese people by reminding that the 1951 census report defined indigenous people of Assam as those "speaking the Assamese language or any tribal dialect of Assam, or in case of Cachar (Barak Valley) the language of the region". (Rahul Karmakar; The Hindustan Times; New Delhi; May 5, 2000)

MANDI, May 5: In an alleged bid to check conversions by Christian missionaries in tribal areas, the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has decided to set up 2200 schools in parts of Assam, Nagaland, Tripura and other border states in the country. The VHP national general secretary Parveen Bhai Mohan Togadia told reporters the VHP has also plans to set up rehabilitation centres for women on the lines of the one currently functioning in Ahmedabad. Women rescued from forcible marriages and conversions would be rehabilitated at the new centres. They would also be provided employment to help them earn at least Rs 1,000 a month, he said. Togedia, who is touring the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir, claimed that the organisation did not plan to take any money from government. The work will be done with donations from Hindu, he added. (PTI; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 6, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 5: The first-ever magazine scripted in Assamese was launched recently on the Net. Billed as Antaranga, the magazine is a part of the portal www.guwahaticity.com that covers areas like politics, literature, history, geography, business, tourist information on the Northeastern India. The maiden issue of Antaranga featured among others, articles by educationists Umesh Deka and Pramod Chandra Barman, poems by Hiren Bhattacharyya, stories by Kamakhya Sabhapandit and a write-up on women's issue by Runu Hazarika. In addition to the magazine and other features, the website also has a job profile section where job-seekers can post their resumes for openings and different agencies and companies can advertise for jobs. Besides, the site which also covers extensively activities of various NGOs of the Northeastern region, has a matrimonial section and an 'e-friend' section. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 6, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 7: One of the main reasons for the downward trend of the per capita income of Assam is the unabated influx of foreigners to the state, said the deputy chairman of the state Planning Board, Deba Kumar Bora. Talking to The Assam Tribune here today, Bora pointed out that the per capita income of Assam was higher than the national average in 1960-61 but it gradually dropped below the national average. According to figures available, the per capita income of Assam as on 1996-97 was Rs. 6663 as compared to the national average of Rs 10,771. Bora said that the influx of foreigners to Assam increased after 1971 and the per capita income started showing a downward trend since then. The state Planning Board deputy chairman said that deprivation by the Central government is another main reason for the present state of affairs of the state economy. He pointed out that the people of Assam had to agitate for every mega project like bridges over the river Brahmaputra and the major development schemes came only after agitation and not as per the needs of the state. He said that the plan allocations were also not adequate to remove the economic imbalance. He revealed that the per capita Plan allocation to Assam was Rs 57 as compared to the national average of Rs 51 in the plan period of 1956-61 but the per capita Plan expenditure in the state came down to Rs 762 against the national average of Rs 891 in the Plan period 1980-85. He further said that last year, the total Plan allocation for the state was Rs 1700 crore but the state received only Rs 1040 crore and the balance was deducted at source against the outstanding central loans. The Central government should write off the outstanding loans to remove the economic imbalance, he demanded. Bora alleged that the banks and financial institutions operating in Assam have totally failed to play their part in the economic development of the state. He said that the credit-deposit ratio of the banks and financial institutions in Assam is much lower than the national average, which in turn, affected economic growth of the state. Commenting on private investment, Bora admitted that despite the tax holiday, transport subsidy etc. given to the newly set up industries in the Northeastern region under the new industrial policy, not many industrialists have shown willingness to invest in Assam. He said that according to a study of the percentage of respondents planning to invest in the states, it was evident that only one per cent of the respondents were planning to invest in Assam while the highest number of respondents were planning to invest in Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka and Gujarat. Even in Andaman and Nicobar, the foreign exchange investment is more than in Assam. Though the overall law-and order situation in Assam has improved considerably over the few years, investors are still getting wrong signals, which discouraged them to come forward to invest in the state, he added. Bora, however, said that the setting up of the gas cracker project would totally change the industrial scenario in the state and open the floodgates for investors. He pointed out that up to 1960, Gujarat had only 3,000 small scale industries but after the setting up of a gas cracker project at Baroda, the industrial scenario in the state totally changed and now over 90,000 small scale industries are functioning in the state. Similarly, the setting up of the Gas Cracker project would not only encourage other industrialists to come to Assam, but also lead to setting up of a number of downstream industries, he said. (R Dutta Choudhury; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 8, 2000)

NEW DELHI, May 10: The Prasar Bharati has proposed to acquire additional satellite transponders to increase and beef up Doordarshan and All India Radio coverage in the Northeastern region. This was the outcome of a meeting between Union information and broadcasting minister, Arun Jaitley and a delegation of the Northeast MPs forum. In addition, the I&B ministry is shortly despatching a high-level team of official to the region to sort out the shortcomings in functioning of the official electronic media. The team likely to be sent next month will be briefed to take stock of the problems of coverage in the sensitive region, the minister assured. But what came as music to the ears of the 15-member strong delegation of forum led by P R Kyndiah was the hint thrown by Jaitley that the Union government is contemplating to announce a special package for the region to strengthen the AIR and DD network. For this he sought the assistance of the MPs for inputs and floated the idea that people in the region through the office of the deputy commissioner could submit petitions about problems faced in the area. The special package would be considered based on the inputs from the region, the MPs were told. About the decision to acquire additional transponders, the minister said the district-wise location specific information is being compiled by inviting feedback from each district and a process to identify shadow zones is on. The areas where AIR and DD signals are too weak corrective steps are proposed to bridge the gaps through special time-bound plan. The over one-and-a-half-hour discussion between the ministry officials and the forum saw several of the MPs pointing out that several of the hilly and border areas either have no access to official electronic media or their signals are too weak, forcing the people to watch foreign transmission. The delegation which included representatives of each of the states of the region has devoted a considerable part on functioning of the DD and AIR in the region. Representatives from Assam included, Union minister of state for water resources, Bijoya Chakravorty and Arun Sarma. The MPs in particular pointed out the lack of initiative on part of the Prasar Bharati to operationalise the office of Chief Engineer which is still functioning from Calcutta, despite having a full-fledged office at Guwahati. This arbitrary manner of functioning has result in waste of Rs 25,000 every month and so far the government has lost about Rs 12 lakh, Sarma told The Assam Tribune. The problem of understaffing in both the official electronic media was also brought up, with the forum suggesting that efforts should be made to recruit and train local talents instead of hiring people from outside the region. The whole problem has arisen because people from outside the region are hired who refuse to work in Northeast citing the insurgency situation, leading to scarcity in staff, Sarma said. The problem of lack of uplinking facilities in Dibrugarh, Silchar and Tura in Meghalaya was also mentioned. The lack of the facility has led to blackout of local news of the area, the minister was told, Sarma added. The threadbare deliberations today were first in a series of such meetings planned by the forum to discuss the problems of the region with central ministries involved with the region. The process which used to be a convention of sorts and which used to take place as pre-budget exercise has been discontinued since a couple of years back. But recently, the forum petitioned the Prime Minister to start the process all-over again. But the response appears to be poor as only the I&B ministry has so far responded favourably and its outcome was the meeting today. The delegation also included; Apok Jamir, Sanghtam, Samar Choudhury, H Haokip among others. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 11, 2000)

NEW DELHI, May 11: The Centre has estimated that there are 1.5 crore illegal Bangladeshis in the country. This information was given to the members of the Consultative Committee attached to the ministry of home affairs here today. The ministry has conceded that the rising ISI activities have added another dimension to the illegal immigration problem. What is perhaps even more significant was the revelation that the ISI may target important political leaders and vital installations in the Northeast using its modules belonging to the fundamentalist organisations and underground outfits like ULFA and NSCN(IM). Briefing the members, the Home minister said that a large number of Bangladeshi nationals over the years mainly for better economic opportunities have illegally migrated to India. A rough estimate puts this figures at approximately 15 million. However, as per the figures of arrivals and departure at the immigration check post that a total number of 8.9 lakh Bangladeshi are reported to have returned after having come to India on valid passport. He also revealed that there were 41 units of BSF currently posted in the Northeast, including five in Assam. However, it was about the activities of ISI that the Home minister painted a grim picture, disclosing that the arrest of ISI agents in Assam was among five other such breakthrough which has helped the government in figuring out their game plan. He also added that only two outfits of the Northeast, the ULFA and the NSCN(IM) were directly aided by the ISI. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 12, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 12: A function was organised jointly by Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra Society, Asom Sanskrit Mahasabha and Guwahati Sahitya Sabha on May 10, on the occasion of releasing a Sanskrit-Asamiya dictionary compiled and published by Prof Kiron Sarmah under the banner of Veda Vidyalaya. The dictionary was released by the Chief Minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. The function was presided over by eminent Indologist Bishwa Narayan Sastri. Chief guests in the function were renowned journalists Radhika Mohan Bhagawati and minister, Biraj Kumar Sarmah. Chief Minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in his speech said that he is being honoured to have the opportunity to release the dictionary because Sanskrit is the one of the richest languages of the world. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 13, 2000)

NORTH GUWAHATI, May 13: Amid religious rituals, the Assam Chief Minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, laid the foundation stone of the proposed museum of Satriya Culture at the North Guwahati branch of the Auniati Satra here. The Satradhikar, Pitambar Dev Goswami, apprised the Chief Minister, of the dire necessity of establishing a museum of the Satra. It is worth mentioning that the Auniati Satra at Majuli abounds in rare manuscripts, antique relics, old literature and various handicrafts and other valuables associated with Satriya culture and heritage. The Chief Minister in his speech assured to do whatever needed for the preservation of Satriya culture in the larger interests of the people of Assam. The meeting was chaired by the reverend Satradhikar. Among others, Biraj Kumar Sarmah, minister of Municipal Administration and Jayasree Goswami mahanta, MP addressed the gathering. Meanwhile, the preliminary works of the proposed museum have been progressing satisfactorily with the assistance offered by Arun Sarmah, MP. (Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 14, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 14: A meeting of the Bodo intellectuals of the state held under the auspices of the All Bodo Students' Union at the Joy Bhadra Hagjer Bhawan of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha here today rejected 'forthright' the tripartite move of the Union government, state government and AASU to establish the 1951 NRC and 1952 electoral rolls as the basis for identifying the indigenous people of the state. The meeting, which was presided over by Daleswar Boro, vice-president of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, also described the said move for identification of the state's indigenous people as "nothing but a ploy of the ruling clique to deprive the aboriginal/autochthons of Assam like the Bodos and Misings etc. of their due protection and safeguard from the intrusion of the newcomers under the guise of Khilanjia, i.e. indigenous". The move "will immensely hamper the interest of the people who are really indigenous", observed the Bodo intellectuals, while stating that they find it strange as to why the Union government "has entertained the opinion of some people who are not much indigenous, without consulting the people who are aboriginal and very much indigenous of this part of the country in deciding the question as to who should be treated as indigenous". "As such this meeting of today resolved that the prolonged agreement should be rejected and the government of India be urged to invite the actual aboriginal opinion leaders of Assam if it has any doubt about who should be treated as indigenous in Assam", the meeting said in a resolution. The meeting also resolved to urge upon the Union government to consider a proposal for giving some additional political advantage to the aboriginals like the Bodos in the state by providing them minimum 40 per cent reservation of seats in both the state Assembly and the Parliament. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 15, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 15: AASU president Prabin Boro today asserted that the headoffice of the Union would never be shifted from Gauhati University campus. Talking to this correspondent here, Boro said the Post-Graduate Students' Union general secretary Niren Deka, who was expelled from the AASU, manipulated the Vice-Chancellor to issue an order to shift the headoffice of the AASU from the university campus. Boro said that they met the Vice-Chancellor on May 13 and informed him about a decision of the University Court in 1994, which allowed the AASU office to function from the university campus. ''The VC told us that he was not aware of the court decision. He also assured that he would invite us again for discussion soon,'' Boro added. Boro said that they are still awaiting a decision from the university authorities before taking any decision on whether the AASU would launch any agitation against the order. He pointed out that as the examinations of the university are now on, "We do not want to vitiate the academic atmosphere at this moment". (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 16, 2000)

NEW DELHI, May 15 - The BJP today reiterated its stand on repeal of the IMDT Act, asserting that it favoured 1971 as cut-off date which was agreed to by the AASU and the Union government. Reacting to the ongoing debate in the state over the definition of the indigenous people, BJP spokesman Venkiah Naidu today said that the BJP preferred 1971 as the cut-off date as was agreed to in the Assam Accord. The cut-off date of 1971 is binding on everybody including the AASU, he added, when pressed for the students body's latest definition of indigenous people. The BJP spokesman, however, gave enough indications that though the party favoured repeal of the controversial IMDT Act, it was lying low at the moment, as the BJP is yet to build up a consensus among NDA allies on the issue. Several of the BJP's NDA partners including the Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee and several others from Bihar and UP are opposed to the idea of repeal of the IMDT Act, as they nurse an apprehension that being a party to its repeal may invite a backlash from the minority community in their states. This is more so in the case of Trinamool Congress which is testing the electoral waters in Assam next year. But BJP insider here admitted that on the question of the indigenous people, it needed to be cautious, as it too might invite the wrath of the Bengali Hindus. The BJP, it may be noted that, only supports the detection and deportation of Muslim illegal migrants and not the Hindu on the ground that they had fled Bangladesh following harassment on the religious minorities in the country. Venkhiah Naidu today however, tried to side-track the issue when pressed further, saying that he has to get in touch with their state unit for more details on the issue. (Staff Correspondent; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 16, 2000)

GUWAHATI, May 13: The Centre has decided to set up four centres for rehabilitation of the disabled in the state under the Gramin Punarvas Yojana (GPY). The centres, at Dibrugarh, Silchar, Guwahati and Goalpara, will be up and running by June-July this year, said a high-ranking official in the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment who was here in the city recently. He said each of the states in the Northeast will have similar centres in addition to which another rehabilitation centre under the National Programme for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (NPRPD) will be established. Centres, under both the schemes will be set up in each of the states and Union Territories in the country by July," the official said. NPRPD is complementary to the GPY, he stated. The GPY will be launched in 107 districts across the country and each centre will start off with an allocation of about Rs 69 crore per year, the official elaborated. He said the rehabilitation centres proposed to be set up in the Northeast will go a long way in ameliorating the condition of the disabled here who were earlier deprived of such facilities even when the District Rehabilitation Centre (DRCs) were set up in the country about 15 years ago. The DRC project, launched in 1985, has so far remained the only government agency providing rehabilitation services at the grassroots, he informed. (Staff Reporter; The Assam Tribune; Guwahati; May 16, 2000)