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                     Vol.2, No.24  [*] June 16, 1997
                     -------------------------------

     Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking
           what nobody has thought.  - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   

1  ASSAM BANDH TOTAL:  PEOPLE IGNORE ULFA DIKTAT	[S:14-JUN-97]
   --------------------------------------------
   
   The ten-hour dawn-to-dusk bandh sponsored by the ruling AGP  and  its
   allies  to protest extremist violence in the state evoked spontaneous
   response from the  people  and  totally  disrupted  normal  life  and
   crippled the  functioning  of  the  state  machinery on June 13.  The
   bandh however passed off  peacefully.    Totally  ignoring  the  ULFA
   diktat  to  frustrate  the bandh call, people across the state mostly
   stayed indoors.   Security  arrangements  were  tight  and  uniformed
   personnel  maintained  strict vigil throughout the state apprehending
   clashes with underground elements.  Attendance  in  State  government
   offices was  thin.  The Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his
   cabinet colleagues stayed away from office  as  did  the  ministerial
   staff.

2  CIVIC BODIES POLLS TODAY			[S:16-JUN-97]
   ------------------------
   
   The elections to 24 municipal bodies and 38  town  committees  across
   the State  is  being  held  today.  State Election Commission sources
   said that a total of 1,965 candidates, including 700 women are in the
   poll fray.  A total of 236 seats have been reserved  for  women,  the
   source said.    State Government declared June 16 a holiday under the
   NI Act for the polls.
   

3  ARMY BUSTS ULFA CAMP, SCRIBES ROUNDED UP	[S:13-JUN-97]
   ----------------------------------------
   
   Three  members  of  the  outlawed  ULFA  including a women cadre were
   killed and two civilians were injured when the Army busted a camp  in
   Borthekerabari at Hawajan, east of Gohpur in an operation carried out
   on June  12.    Army  sources said that the camp was an 'action group
   camp' of the  underground  outfit.    A  universal  machine  gun,  an
   improvised explosive device were recovered from the camp.
   
   Meanwhile  in  Nalbari,  on  June  12,  police   rounded   up   three
   journalists,  a  telephone  operator  and  the  chowkidar  of Nalbari
   District Telecom Office on charges that they  were  sending  out  fax
   press  statements  issued  by the ULFA's publicity secretary Mithinga
   Daimari.  Police also seized a fax machine from the office.   Two  of
   the  journalists  were  later  released  while  one  was  remanded to
   judicial custody till June 16.
   

4  ADAMTILLA POWER PROJECT GOES ON TRIAL RUN	[S:14-JUN-97]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   The  Adamtilla gas-based power project, undertaken by the DLF Company
   of Delhi in Karimganj district, has  started  trial  run  since  last
   week, and the Assam State Electricity Board, which has entered into a
   power-purchase  agreement with the promoter company, expects the 9 MW
   project to go on full steam from the end the current month.   Talking
   to  newsmen  in  Guwahati on June 13, Chairman of the ASEB B.K.Mishra
   said the Baskandi gas-based power project in  Cachar  district,  also
   promoted  by  the  DLF  Company,  is expected to go on trial run next
   month.  The installed capacity of the Baskandi project is 15.5 MW.

5  PLAN TO DEVELOP DHUBRI-SADIYA WATERWAY		[AT:15-JUN-97]
   --------------------------------------
  
   The Union Ministry of Surface Transport has proposed to invest Rs.1.1
   billion, during the Ninth Five Year plan period to  develop  National
   Waterway number 2, extending from Dhubri to Sadiya, the Union Surface
   Transport Minister,  T.G.Venkataraman  has said.  According to plans,
   fair-way facilities would be  provided  up  to  Sadiya,  while  night
   navigational  facilities  would  be  made  available  till Dibrugarh.
   
   Besides  to  make  the  waterway  viable,  permanent  terminals  with
   mechanical   loading   facilities,   floating  terminals  along  with
   road-rail link at Dhubri, Jogighopa, Pandu, Tezpur and  Neemati  ghat
   is proposed  to  be  provided  to  facilitate movement of cargo.  The
   Inland Waterways  Authority  of  India  has  recently  developed  the
   stretch   from  Dhubri  to  Pandu  by  providing  various  facilities
   including provision of 24 hours  navigational  facilities  and  cargo
   movement.
   

6  ULTRAS, POACHERS PUSHING RHINOS TO EXTINCTION	[PTI:15-JUN-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   A  growing demand for rhino horn in east Asia and its barter for arms
   by the  north-east  extremists  are  pushing  the  Indian  one-horned
   rhinoceros  to  the brink of extinction, says a Traffic-India report.
   Rhino horns, which can fetch up to Rs.800,000 per kg, are bartered by
   north-eastern militants with the poaching syndicates in Nagaland  and
   neighbouring Myanmar  for  arms,  the report said.  'Some evidence of
   such exchange came to light in Manas, as also in the  case  of  horns
   from Kaziranga bartered for arms in Nagaland and Myanmar,' the report
   said  adding  Assamese  and  Naga  ultras even sell the horns to fund
   their activities.
   

7  NOTED CITIZEN OF JORHAT MURDERED		[S:13-JUN-97]
   --------------------------------
  
   Noted  educationist and social worker Dr Debika Saikia (61) was found
   dead with head injuries outside her  house  in  Jorhat  on  June  12.
   Police   arrested  Dr  Debajyoti  Saikia,  son  of  the  deceased  in
   connection with the murder on the basis of the statement made by  the
   latter's   father,   Mr  Deben  Saikia,  retired  head  of  commerce,
   St.Antony's College, Shillong.  Police said that Debajyoti, a suspect
   drug addict, had attempted to kill his father thrice and mother twice
   earlier.  The incident took place following  an  altercation  between
   mother  and son, when the mother asked for the repayment of Rs.35,000
   the son took from her for a proposed trip to Japan  last  year  which
   did not materialise.
   
   In  another  incident  on June 14, Jorhat police nabbed a five-member
   juvenile gang of dacoits in the age group of 13 to 16 years.  Besides
   making an abortive attempt to rob the Roroiya branch  of  the  Indian
   Bank on June 13 the gang was also involved in numerous other cases.
   

8  JAHNU BARUA SAYS NO TO GLOBALIZATION OF CULTURE		[S:15-JUN-97]
   -----------------------------------------------
  
   Noted  film  director  Mr  Jahnu  Baruah  gave a clarion call against
   globalization of culture.  He said the attempt to  globalize  culture
   --  to  ensure that there exists only one culture in the world -- was
   actually aimed at ensuring market of western culture plagued  by  the
   crisis of  capitalism.  The imperialist forces were trying to project
   that the culture adopted by them was the 'global  culture'  and  that
   every other  culture  should  adopt  it,  he  said.    Mr  Baruah was
   delivering a lecture  on  'Globalization  of  Culture'  organized  by
   Anwesha,  a  socio-cultural  group  at the Gauri Sadan in Guwahati on
   June 14.
   
   Mr Baruah lamented that even the intellectuals  of  the  country  had
   failed  to  understand  the  dangerous implications of the process of
   globalization.  'When the intellectuals fail  to  decide  whether  we
   need  globalization  or  not,  the common man will definitely be at a
   loss,' he said.  He added that culture was a local phenomenon,  which
   is   determined  by  factors  like  the  climate,  language,  natural
   resources available in the region and the impact of  the  culture  of
   the neighbouring  areas.    When an alien culture is projected as the
   global culture, the people tend to undermine their  own  culture  and
   accept the alien culture as their own, he said.
   
   Citing examples he said, the dubbing of Hollywood films in Hindi  was
   attempted at  exploiting  the  market in India.  It had nothing to do
   with globalization of culture as it was made out to be.  But the move
   might prove detrimental in the long run as people may start mistaking
   the culture shown by the films (in which the language is Hindi) to be
   their own culture, he said.    'People  will  start  accepting  alien
   culture as an idea and may even find it difficult to accept their own
   culture,' he cautioned.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________