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                        Vol.3, No.25 [*] April 29, 1998
                        -------------------------------
   
               I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.
                              - Charles Dickens
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  SUB-HUMAN STATE OF JAILS IN ASSAM			   [S:29-APR-98]
   ---------------------------------
   
   The  Assam Human Rights Commission and the Chief Judicial Magistrate,
   Kamrup have separately submitted reports to the Government about  the
   subhuman conditions in which the inmates of jails in Assam are forced
   to live.    The  CJM had, after visiting the jail, submitted a detail
   report about the dilapidated state of the district jail and asked the
   Government to improve the condition for a normal human being to live.
   The CJM's report, submitted over two months ago, also include  points
   raised by an inmate of the jail, Ms Pranati Deka.
   
   The  cultural  secretary  of the ULFA, Ms Deka told the TADA court in
   Guwahati that women prisoners are  spending  their  days  in  a  very
   shameful atmosphere  in  the jail.  They do not have separate toilets
   and have to take bath in the open.  The condition of the latrines  is
   indescribable.   All the 20 women prisoners now in custody, have been
   huddled in one cell.   Some  of  the  prisoners  are  suffering  from
   serious ailments, adding to the unhealthy atmosphere in the jail.
   
   It  may be mentioned that the State Human Rights Commission Chairman,
   Mr S.N.Bhargava had been taken aback by the plight of  the  jails  in
   Assam after  he  undertook a visit of the jails some months ago.  The
   Commission had, in a report to the State Government, drawn particular
   attention to the lack of toilet facilities, unhygienic conditions  of
   the kitchens,  pitiable  conditions of the cells etc.  and asked that
   they be improved to enable a human being to live.
   
   The  jail  authorities,  on  the other hand, are not in a position to
   improve the facilities since they have to adhere to the  rules  about
   administering  the  convicts  enacted by the British nearly a hundred
   years ago. The rules have not been amended since they were enacted.
   

2  NO ULFA TOP BRASS IN BHUTAN CAMPS:  PRADIP GOGOI       [AT:28-APR-98]
   -----------------------------------------------
  
   Neither  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  ULFA Paresh Barua, nor the
   outfit's chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa have bothered to visit  the  ULFA
   camps in  Bhutan  for  the  last two years.  This was revealed by the
   ULFA vice-chairman Pradip  Gogoi  to  the  Army  in  Guwahati  during
   interrogation, an Army spokesman said in a press release.
   
   Moreover, Gogoi revealed, claimed the Army, that sharp differences of
   opinion have emerged between the political and military wings of  the
   outfit.   The military wing of the outfit is not under the control of
   the political wing.  The general body meeting of the outfit  has  not
   been summoned  since 1993.  While the political wing has realized the
   futility of the efforts to wage a war  against  the  country  and  is
   showing keenness to negotiate with the Government, it is the military
   wing  of  the  outfit  which  is  having  a  different opinion, Gogoi
   reportedly told the Army.
   
   The outfit is also facing a financial crunch as a very  insignificant
   percentage  of the money collected by the outfit through extortion is
   reaching the ULFA camps.  A major  portion  of  the  money  is  being
   misappropriated  by  the  local  leaders  responsible for collection,
   while a large chunk of the money is also sent to the  ULFA  top-brass
   camping in Bangladesh, Gogoi revealed, claimed the Army.
   
   Meanwhile,  Pradip  Gogoi on April 28 asked his advocates to move the
   Gauhati High Court  challenging  the  Army  version  of  the  alleged
   interrogation that there was any rift in the outfit over the question
   of negotiations.    The  advocates  met Gogoi at the lock-up at Assam
   Police Battalion camp in Guwahati after the High Court had  on  April
   27 asked the Guwahati Police to allow them to meet their client.
   

3  BIHARI YOUTHS IN ULFA'S PAYROLL			   [S:29-APR-98]
   -------------------------------
   
   With the arrest of  a  Bihari  youth,  identified  as  one  Hariharan
   Chauhan  by  the  Army  while  he was on his way to Kaki in Nagaon on
   April 26, the Army have unearthed another strategy  employed  by  the
   ULFA to  continue  with  its activities.  Interrogations of Hariharan
   have revealed that the  ULFA  has  employed  many  Bihari  youths  as
   couriers  and for other jobs to evade the police and security forces.
   The Army raided a house at Lahorighat on the basis of his confessions
   and recovered Rs.6,630 in cash from the house.
   

4  ARMY URGED TO ENTERTAIN COMPLAINTS OF EXCESSES	  [AT:28-APR-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   
   The unified structure strategy group meeting on April 27 took note of
   people's   grievances  against  alleged  excesses  committed  by  the
   security forces during the counter-insurgency operation and suggested
   to the Army to allow people to lodge complaints of  excess,  if  any,
   with  the  Brigadier  at  Brigade-level and the unit Commander at the
   unit command-level, according to a highly-placed source.    The  Army
   had agreed to the suggestion made in the meeting.
   

5  HC ORDERS APSC TO PRODUCE RECORDS OF '95 EXAM	   [S:28-APR-98]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   A division bench of the Gauhati High Court  on  April  27  asked  the
   Assam  Public  Service  Commission  (APSC)  to  furnish before it the
   records of the 1995 APSC examination and  certain  other  records  on
   April 29.    The  order  came  after the writ petitioners, Mr Pradyut
   Sarma and others filed an affidavit enclosing newspaper clippings (*)
   on the activities of the APSC.  The APSC counsel sought for two days'
   time to furnish the clarifications, which the court  granted.    [(*)
   Several Assamese dailies carried reports of APSC having burnt all the
   answer-papers  of  the  1995  APSC  exams  to  hide  any  evidence of
   anomalies before the court.  - Mozz]
   

6  WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF `ULFA POALI' ABHI?		   [S:29-APR-98]
   ----------------------------------------
   
   `ULFA  Poali'  Abhimanyu,  the  eight-month-old child of the outfit's
   cultural secretary, Ms Pranati Deka, who is under  detention  in  the
   district jail, Guwahati, has been giving his mother sleepless nights.
   Abhimanyu  became the cynosure of all those present in the TADA court
   where his mother was produced on April 28.  He has learnt to utter  a
   few words to the amusement of his mother and others.  It is only when
   his  mother  happens to attend the court that the baby is able to see
   the world outside.  Otherwise, he has to remain confined to the  cell
   with his mother.
   
   Ms Deka was arrested in Mumbai after she delivered the baby at Jaslok
   Hospital  last year, kicking off a nationwide furore over the alleged
   nexus between Tata Tea and the ULFA.   Abimanyu's  father,  Chitraban
   Hazarika is a member of the banned outfit's central committee.
   

7  SRIMANTA SANKARDEV'S WORKS TO BE PUT ON WEB	          [AT:28-APR-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   A state-level convention to form an international-level  organization
   with  the  sole  object  of  propagating  the  arts and literature of
   Srimanta Sankardev was held in Guwahati on April 26.   Mr  Arnab  Jan
   Deka,  convenor of the convention, proposed the creation of a website
   on the life, works and teachings of Sankardev so  that  all  Internet
   users around  the  world  could have access to them.  The name of the
   organization will be Srimanta Sankardev International Foundation  and
   will  have  its  head-office with a permanent secretariat in Guwahati
   and affiliated offices in all major cities of the country and abroad.
   
   Noted  intellectual,  Dr Hiren Gohain will translate all the literary
   works of Sankardev.  The first sitting of the newly formed  executive
   committee  of the Srimanta Sankardev International Foundation will be
   held within a  fortnight.    In  the  convention,  Speaker  of  Assam
   Legislative  Assembly,  announced  a donation of Rs.100,000 to create
   the initial fund for the organization.
   

8  RONGALI BIHU IN ENGLAND				  [AT:29-APR-98]
   -----------------------
   
   If spring comes, can non-resident Assamese in England be left behind?
   Certainly not.    The national spring festival of Assam, Rongali Bihu
   is being celebrated by them at Bradford Bihutoli in England on May 3.
   Chief organizers, Dr Karuna Kanta and Mrs Arundhati Das of  Bradford,
   this  time  invited  musicians,  Ramen  Chowdhury, and singer, Anjali
   Barua of Guwahati, to perform on the occasion.

9  CASSETTE ON ASSAMESE POEMS RELEASED		          [AT:27-APR-98]
   -----------------------------------
   
   An  audio  cassette  on Assamese poems -- `Brahmaputra Paror Kobita,'
   (Poems from the banks of  Brahmaputra)  was  released  recently.    A
   compilation  of  eleven  poems collected from the writings of eminent
   poets of Assamese literature -- Lakshminath  Bezbarua,  Jyoti  Prasad
   Agarwala,  Ambikagiri  Raichowdhury,  Hem  Baruah,  Devakanta Baruah,
   Keshav Mahanta, Navakanta Baruah, Birendra Kumar  Bhattacharya,  Ajit
   Baruah and Hiren Bhattacharya were recited by Ishan Baruah, Amarjyoti
   Chowdhury, Pranjal Saikia, Srutimala Duarah, and Pranab Borah with an
   introduction by  Bhupen  Hazarika.  The cassette was edited by Bidyut
   Bhuyan and produced by Anup Saikia under the banner  of  `Brahmaputra
   Sanskritik Bahini.'

______________________________[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.assam.org/assam/news/index.html
________________________________________________________________________