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                     Vol.2, No.12  [*] May 12, 1997
                     --------------------------------

1  CM CALLS FOR DELETION OF ART 356 FROM CONSTITUTION	[S:11-MAY-97]
   --------------------------------------------------
   
   The Chief Minister of Assam, Mr Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said that  the
   Assam  Government  was  willing  to abide by the 'Consensus document'
   purely as a consensus measure in so far as the  emergency  provisions
   under the Article 356 of the constitution was concerned.  Speaking at
   the  second  meeting  of  the  standing  committee of the Inter-State
   Council in New Delhi on May 10, Mr  Mahanta  also  strongly  insisted
   that Article 356 should be deleted from the Constitution since it was
   regarded inimical to the spirit of 'cooperative federalism'.
   

2  JONATHAN HO MOVES FRESH PETITION			[UNI:09-MAY-97]
   --------------------------------
  
   Dr  Jonathan  Ho, who sent a shock wave across the world following an
   unsuccessful pig-heart transplantation into a  human  body,  moved  a
   fresh  petition  in  the Gauhati High Court on May 9, seeking to drop
   the entire charges framed against him.  In the fresh petition, Dr  Ho
   argued that he came to Assam on a request of Dr Dhani Ram Baruah.  He
   was  not  named  in  the  first information report filed by the Assam
   Police for violation of Section 304 of  the  Indian  Penal  Code  and
   Section 18 of the Human Organ Act.
   
   The  Hong  Kong-based  medico  could leave Guwahati as the high court
   modified its earlier order following  a  petition  by  Dr  Ho.    The
   relaxation  came  when  Dr  Ho  pleaded  for  high  expenditure since
   enlargement on bail by staying in a posh hotel in Guwahati.

3  DON'T SHED BLOOD, SHED PERSPIRATION: M.V.KAMATH	[S:09-MAY-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
   
   'One of the ULFA leaders has recently said that his boys  will  fight
   till  the  last drop of their blood; I appeal to them -- do not fight
   till the last drop of your blood, but work  together  till  the  last
   drop  of  your  perspiration,' said eminent journalist, Mr M.V.Kamath
   while delivering the third Vadimudi Venkata Rao Memorial  Lecture  in
   Guwahati on  May  9.    The  lecture  was  organized  by  the Gauhati
   University Research Scholars' Association at the Gauhati University.
   
   Delivering  the  lecture on 'One India, One People', Mr Kamath called
   upon the people of the Northeast in  general  and  the  militants  in
   particular to realize the futility of secessionist tendencies, taking
   lessons from the annals of history.  He said, the latest trend is for
   unity  and cited examples of Europe, which he said, was on the way to
   becoming  a  single  unified  entity  from   a   group   of   diverse
   interest-backed fighting nations.
   

4  CENTRE URGED TO TAKE OVER TOCKLAI STATION		[UNI:11-MAY-97]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   The employees' union of the Tocklai Experimental Station, Jorhat, the
   pioneering tea research institute, along with two other organisations
   have requested Prime Minister I.K.Gujral for a  Central  takeover  of
   the  institute  and  declaration  of  the same as a national research
   institute.  A memorandum to the Prime minister through  the  Commerce
   Minister urged that a national tea organisation be constituted in the
   line of ICFRC and CSIR and Tocklai be accommodated therein.
   
   Tocklai Experimental Station has been serving the  tea  industry  not
   only  in  the  country  but  also abroad since its inception in 1911.
   Since then, the research station, which is  the  oldest  and  largest
   research  centre  of  its kind in the world has been able to garner a
   respectable position among the  tea  community  with  the  credit  of
   numerous  scientific  innovations from planting to packaging. Most of
   the  improved  planting  materials,  agrotechniques  and  machineries
   presently in vogue in the tea belts of the world, have their roots in
   Tocklai, the memorandum said.
   

5  RECORD TEA PRICE FOR DOOMUR DULLUNG			[S:09-MAY-97]
   -----------------------------------
   
   In  Sale  No.10  this  week  at the Guwahati Tea Auction Committee an
   invoice of Doomur Dullung  BP  grade  C.5  20  packages  realized  an
   attractive  price  of  Rs.100  per  kg,  the highest price ever to be
   received at the Guwahati auction Centre by a CTC tea.  The garden  is
   owned by The  Assam  Co.    Ltd.    and  the  tea was purchased by MS
   R.Mugatrai and Co.  and MS K.Manibhai and Co.  for the Western  India
   market.  The price equals the record established earlier this year by
   an invoice of Hunwal Tea Estate.
   

6  NEC AID FOR TITABAR SERICULTURE FARM			[S:12-MAY-97]
   ------------------------------------
   
   The North-Eastern Council  has  sanctioned  Rs.1.5  million  for  the
   development  of  the  Titabar Sericulture Farm, the State Sericulture
   Minister, Mr Ramendra Narayan  Kalita  said  on  May  11.    He  also
   disclosed  that  for  the  overall  development of sericulture in the
   State, the department has submitted a plan of Rs.1.77 billion to  the
   Central Government.
   

7  TALK ON CANCER BY DR SURABHI KAKATI			[S:08-MAY-97]
   -----------------------------------
   
   Dr Surabhi Kakati, Cancer Research Scientist, Rosewell  Park,  Cancer
   Institute,  Buffalo,  USA, Assistant research Professor of University
   of  New  York   and   Assistant   Director,   Clinical   Cytogenetics
   Laboratories  delivered  a talk on chromosomes in human cancer in the
   College of  Veterinary  Science,  Assam  Agricultural  University  in
   Guwahati  recently  in  presence  of  a  large  number  of  teachers,
   students, scientists  and  medical  practitioners.    The  talk   was
   organized by Assam Science Society, Khanapara.
   

8  DOCUMENTARY ON SHANKARDEV TO BE SCREENED IN USA	   [AT:10-MAY-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
  
   An  hour-long  documentary  on  saint  Srimanta  Shankardev  will  be
   screened soon at Atlanta city under the auspices of Assam Association
   of North  America.    The  initiative  was  taken  for  this  special
   screening  by  Texas-based  Assamese  computer engineer Malabika Bora
   Brahma and her husband  Utpal  Kumar  Brahma.    The  film  has  been
   directed  by  prominent  Assamese  film-critic and engineer Arnab Jan
   Deka and is based on a outline prepared by Ratna Ojah.
   

9  NOTED PERSONALITIES PASSES AWAY		[S+AT+UNI:09-MAY-97]
   -------------------------------
   
   Jagannath Bhattacharyya:   Noted  freedom  fighter  and  one  of  the
   founders  of the Communist movement in Assam died of old age ailments
   in Guwahati on May 9.  He was 87.  He was a member of  the  editorial
   board of  Assamese  editions of Soviet Land.  During his student life
   in Beneras in 1930, he got attracted to Marxism and became the  first
   Assamese member of the Communist Party of India.
   
   Sheshadhar  Hazarika:  Veteran  freedom fighter, social worker and an
   exponent of Sankari culture died on May 8. He was 87.
   
   Hemen Choudhury:    A  popular  film,  stage  and  TV artiste died in
   Guwahati on May 10 of cardiac arrest.  He was 63.  He  acted  in  the
   award  winning  'Halodhiya  Charaye  Baodhan  Khai',  the  Karbi film
   'Osobipo' among others.
   
   Dennis Bangs:    Accomplished  trumpeter and renowned musician passed
   away at his residence in Jorhat on May  9.    He  was  53.    He  was
   suffering from  cancer.    He  composed music for two Assamese films,
   Bibhrat and Sutrapat.

10 ROHAN SAIKIA WIN THE FIRST SINGLES IN HIROSHIMA	[PTI:08-MAY-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
   
   Rohan Saikia defeated Leonid  Mikhas  6-4  3-6  6-1  in  the  opening
   singles  and Manoj Mahadevan gave an unbeatable lead to India beating
   Alexander Maltsen 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the NEC World Youth  Cup  (Under-16)
   Asia-Ocenia qualifying tennis tournament at Hiroshima on May 8.  They
   meet Thailand in their next encounter.


______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
Compiled from newspaper and agency reports for private circulation only.
      [S=Sentinel, AT=Assam Tribune, Agencies = UNI, PTI, PIB]
              http://www.cyberspace.org/~mozz/aol.html  
  http://piglet.uccs.edu/~kalita/assam/news/news-from-assam-index.html
________________________________________________________________________