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                     Vol.2, No.26 [*] June 23, 1997
                     ------------------------------
 
           Ahar-r xat: Give a little break to Mother Earth.
                     - Ancient Assamese tradition
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------


1  MAJOR RESTRUCTURING OF NEC AGREED		         [AT:22-JUN-97]
   ---------------------------------
  
   A major restructuring of the North Eastern Council (NEC), was  agreed
   upon  in  New  Delhi  on  June 21 at a high-level meeting convened by
   Prime  Minister  Inder  Kumar  Gujral  and  attended  by  Union  Home
   Minister,  Union  Finance  Minister,  Governor  of Arunachal Pradesh,
   chief ministers and chief secretaries of all the  North-east  states.
   The  two-hour-long meeting decided that the NEC will be delinked from
   the Home Ministry and put under the Planning Commission and  will  be
   headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Commission.
   
   The meeting also decided to delink security matters from the  NEC  in
   order to convert it to an exclusive body for planning and development
   of the region.  The governors of the North-east states will no longer
   be  members  and there will be provisions for inviting bank and other
   financial institutions in future NEC sittings. The restructuring will
   require an amendment of the existing NEC Act and  the  Home  Ministry
   has been asked to prepare a bill in this regard in the meeting.

2  XATRADHIKARS TO HELP GOVT SOLVE INSURGENCY	          [S:22-JUN-97]
   ------------------------------------------
  
   The Assam Xatra Mahaxabha and Xatradhikars of different  Xatras  have
   expressed  willingness  to take active role in solving the insurgency
   issue in the State, according to a Government press  release.    This
   view  was  expressed  by  the  xatradhikar of Garhmurh Xatra, Harideb
   Goswami during a meeting with the Chief Minister in Guwahati on  June
   21.
   

3  ALAM ARA CASE: FSL TESTS DETECT HUMAN TISSUES	  [S:21-JUN-97]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   Forensic analysis of the soil samples taken from beneath the flooring
   of  quarter  number  73  of the Old MLA's Hostel campus by a CBI team
   earlier this year has yielded traces of necrotic human tissue.  Tests
   conducted on the soil samples at the Forensic Laboratories  (FSL)  in
   various  parts of the country corroborated the findings of the other.
   While the FSL has not been able to conclusively say  that  the  human
   tissue  present  in the samples had belonged to Alam Ara, wife of the
   State  Irrigation  Minister,  Mr  Abdul  Muhib  Mazumdar,  they  were
   convinced  that  they would be able to carry out a DNA fingerprinting
   on the tissue available with them.  Alam Ara had gone missing over  a
   decade ago under mysterious circumstances.
   

4  TWO ULFA MEN KILLED BY ARMY AT SONAPUR	       	  [S:22-JUN-97]
   --------------------------------------
   
   Two  suspected  ULFA  activists  were killed in an encounter with the
   Army in Samata village near Sonapur at about 11:45 pm on the night of
   June 20.  Some other ULFA cadres managed to escape.   The  Army  team
   was accompanied  by  the  Khetri  police  during  the  raid.   Police
   recovered a letter addressed to one Suren Baruah, 7th Battalion, ULFA
   from the trouser pocket of one of the deceased.  A list of  books,  a
   .22  revolver  and  a  live  cartridge  were  also recovered from the
   deceased, police sources said.
   

5  ULFA USING E-MAIL FOR SECRET MESSAGE TRANSACTION     [DJB:21-JUN-97]
   ------------------------------------------------
  
   A  newsreport  in  the  Dainik Janab Bhumi (DJB) says that extremists
   groups in the North-east have started using electronic facilities for
   transactions of secret messages within the country and abroad.   This
   has  come  to  light  after  Army  and  Police  intelligence  sources
   unearthed information regarding the  matter  recently.    It  may  be
   mentioned  that  ULFA  started  using  the  e-mail after the Internet
   access was made available in the State along with  the  rest  of  the
   country.   Police  sources  admitted  that  anyone  can obtain e-mail
   connections since there is no prohibition on the use of this facility
   by any individual or group or organisation and is only  a  matter  of
   money for  obtaining  the  connection.   The ultras have been able to
   maintain secrecy to a very large extent in their communications after
   using the e-mail services, sources said.

6  FIRST SNAKE FIRM COMING UP IN LANKA		         [AT:22-JUN-97]
   -----------------------------------
  
   Assam's first snake farm is coming up in  Lanka  in  Nagaon  district
   with  snake  'ojah' Amir Choudhury (29) already collecting over 3,300
   snakes from different parts of the North-east.  The farm was  set  up
   by Choudhury in a two 'bigha' plot of land allotted by the government
   over a  year  back.   Venom extracted from the snakes will be sold to
   pharmaceutical and other related industries that pays up to Rs.12,000
   to Rs.19,000 per gram.   Choudhury  is  helped  by  his  wife  Parul,
   daughter of  his  guru, Shyamlal Lalung.  Choudhury had left his home
   at the age of ten to become a tantrik under his guru at  Mayong,  the
   legendary place of black magic and related arts of Assam.

7  LAJMI-HAZARIKA'S NEW VENTURE			          [S:23-JUN-97]
   ----------------------------
   
   At a crowded press conference in  Guwahati  on  June  22,  Dr  Bhupen
   Hazarika  and Ms Kalpana Lajmi presented brief visuals - video promos
   - of their latest film 'Darmiyan'  (the  Gulf).    According  to  the
   writer  and  director of the film, Kalpana Lajmi, it is for the first
   time that video promos of sequences of the songs in a film have  been
   made.   Dr Bhupen Hazarika has, as usual scored the music of the film
   which should make a  big  impact  on  the  listeners  throughout  the
   country.   Dr Hazarika sings the theme song in the film, based on the
   popular Assamese numbers ha had scripted and sung, over  two  decades
   ago, Patralekha.
   
   Darmiyan  is  a  'sad,  cruel  story'  based  on  the   life   of   a
   hermaphrodite,  born  to  a  beautiful actress, who had reached dizzy
   heights of stardom.  According to Ms Lajmi, the song  'Duniya  Parayi
   Log  Begane,'  symbolizes  the pathos of the protagonist of the film.
   The other songs, all based on Dr Hazarika's popular Assamese  numbers
   like  'Shillongore Monalisa Lyngdoh', 'xitare xemeka raati', 'aluguti
   taluguti konhate latighati', 'ohoho mohoho' etc.  should  come  as  a
   breath of fresh air to viewers and listeners in the country.

8  THOUSANDS CONVERGE AT KAMAKHYA			[AT:23-JUN-97]
   ------------------------------
   
   Thousands of pilgrims from  all  over  the  country,  and  some  from
   abroad,  converged  at  the famous Kamakhya Temple atop the Neelachal
   Hills in Guwahati for the annual Ambubachi mela beginning  from  June
   22.   About  40,000  devotees  have  already  arrived while more were
   expected within a  couple  of  days,  according  to  Kamakhya  Temple
   management sources.    As  per  tradition,  the Kamakhya Temple would
   remain closed from June  21  to  5  pm  of  June  26  on  account  of
   Ambubachi-menstruation of the goddess.

9  ASSAM TO PARTICIPATE IN SURAJKUND MELA		[AT:21-JUN-97]
   --------------------------------------
   
   Assam with participate in the 12th Surajkund Craft Mela at  Surajkund
   in Haryana  from  February  1 to 15, 1998.  The theme for the mela is
   'Purbuttar Bharat' which would emphasize the socio-cultural  life  of
   the North-eastern   states.    The  festival  will  include  cultural
   performance, exhibition of handloom and  hand-crafts,  fashion  shows
   and food festivals.
   

10 'DRACULAS' IN GOLAGHAT FEAST ON HUMAN HEART	        [PTI:22-JUN-97]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   Like Bram Stoker's Dracula, two persons  of  Kachupathar  village  in
   Golaghat  district extracted the heart of a person and made a feat on
   it.  Padmeswar Kurmi and Siva Kurmi killed their  neighbour,  Anghona
   Kurmi, took out his heart with a sharp weapon and ate it on the night
   of June  19.  The killers claimed that Anghona was a faith healer and
   tried to kill both of them with his black magic.   Both  the  persons
   were arrested by the police.  An investigation is on.
   

11 ICMR PRIZE FOR BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES		          [S:22-JUN-97]
   ----------------------------------
   
   Indian  Council  of  Medical  Research (ICMR) has conferred prize for
   biomedical research in underdeveloped areas for the year 1995  to  Dr
   Vas Dev  of  Malaria  Research Centre, Sonapur near Guwahati.  Dr Vas
   Dev worked on 'Epidemiology and control of malaria' in tribal  areas,
   and  formulated the 'insecticide impregnated nets' popularly known as
   'medicated nets' for the north-eastern states.  Dr Dev  is  a  active
   member  of  several  national and international scientific societies,
   and based on this contribution in the  international  arena,  he  has
   been invited to be an active member of New York Academy of Sciences.
   

12 BHARAT GAURAV AWARD TO MRIDUL KUMAR SARMAH	         [AT:23-JUN-97]
   ------------------------------------------
   
   Mridul  Kumar  Sarmah of Tinsukia, a reputed mechanical engineer, tea
   technologist,  manufacturer  of  tea   machineries   and   industrial
   consultant  has  been awarded the Vijoy Shree Award and Bharat Gaurav
   Award at New Delhi in a national  seminar  on  'Economic  growth  and
   national integration' organised by IIFS, New Delhi.

______________________________[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://www.cs.uccs.edu/~kalita/assam/news/news-from-assam-index.html
________________________________________________________________________