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                        Vol.3, No.27  [*]  May 4, 1998
                        ------------------------------

      I have picked up a pretty sound working knowledge of electrical 
         matters. It is not comprehensive -- I still can't fully 
       understand why you can't boil an egg on an electric guitar.
                           - Keith Waterhouse
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  BODO ULTRAS GUN DOWN 13 ADIVASI PASSENGERS		    [S:4-MAY-98]
   ------------------------------------------
   
   Suspected  Bodo  ultras  killed  13  Adivasi Santhal people including
   three women and two children and injured eight others as  the  ethnic
   cauldron simmered again in the Kokrajhar district.  The incident took
   place near Bashbari at around 10 am on May 3.  (An agency report said
   25 Adivasi people were killed.)
   
   According to reports, a group of  suspected  Bodo  ultras  stopped  a
   private  bus,  ordered down the Adivasi passengers and killed them in
   cold blood. The bus which was coming  from  Ultapani  was  proceeding
   towards Bishanpur in Kokrajhar district. Reports said that the ultras
   were  armed  with sophisticated weapons. They verified the identities
   of the bus passengers after ordering them to disembark from the bus.
   

2  ULFA VICE-CHIEF FOR TALKS WITHOUT MEDIATION		    [S:3-MAY-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   ULFA vice-chairman Pradip Gogoi said it was not that the  demand  for
   sovereignty  had  to  be  granted  necessarily because the outfit had
   raised it, but the demand had to be  determined  in  the  negotiation
   table  --  not  on  paper or in statements. Talking to newsmen before
   being produced in the court of the CJM, Kamrup in Guwahati on May  2,
   Mr  Gogoi  said,  neither  Paresh  Baruah,  nor Arabinda Rajkhowa nor
   Pradip Gogoi will ever  surrender.  They  will  negotiate.  Will  the
   problem  be  solved  if  they  surrender? -- Mr Gogoi asked and said,
   Paresh Baruah had never opposed to talks. On the contrary he has been
   expressing goodwill and willingness to talk.
   
   Mr  Gogoi said, the process can be started by agreeing to talk on the
   demand for sovereignty  in  a  `third  country'  in  presence  of  UN
   representatives  which  the  ULFA  had always been insisting and told
   newsmen,  `I  sincerely  appeal  to  the  State  Government  and  the
   Government  of  India through you to come over for talks.' It is only
   after both the sides start the negotiations that one could  determine
   what to accept and what to reject, Mr Gogoi added.
   

3  ULFA CHAIRMAN REJECTS AXX MEDIATION FOR TALKS	    [S:3-MAY-98]
   ---------------------------------------------
   
   ULFA  chairman  Arabinda Rajkhowa joined issues with the Axom Xahitya
   Xabha president, Dr Nagen Saikia on the issue of  talks  and  advised
   him  to desist from turning the Xahitya Xabha into the `B team of the
   AGP' and said, Dr Saikia's `attempt was condemnable.' In a statement,
   Mr Rajkhowa said, since some days past, the ULFA  had  been  noticing
   statements  of  appeals made by Dr Saikia to the outfit in newspapers
   to come over for talks.  The ULFA had advised him not to confuse  the
   people by his appeals without making his position clear on the issue.
   
   Mr Rajkhowa said, the people of Assam and the `colonial ruling clique
   of Delhi'  today  stood  face  to  face.  If there is war, it will be
   between the two sides.  If there are negotiations, they will also  be
   between the  two  sides  only.    And  that  too, the only demand for
   `independence' but not through any mediator.   The  ULFA  had  stated
   this on  earlier  occasions  also.  The Xahitya Xabha should have the
   courage to demand before Delhi to wind  up  its  colonial  rule  from
   Assam forthwith and also let the world know about it, he said.
   
   Meanwhile,  the  full  session of the AXX executive committee 1998-99
   discussed the reaction of various circles to the proposal, adapted in
   the 64th session of the Xabha on the present situation and insurgency
   in the State, and clarified that the  Xabha  believes  in  human  and
   democratic values and only because of this and with a view to get out
   of  the  present  turmoil  it  has  come  expressing its desire for a
   solution to the insurgency issue.  The Xabha described as  `confusing
   and  unfortunate' ULFA's criticism of Xabha president Dr Nagen Saikia
   and the Xabha whom the rebels had accused of being a `B team  of  the
   AGP.' They expected ULFA to realize the sincerity and goodwill of the
   Xabha in its stand over the issue.
   

4  ATTEND TO NORTHEAST, BJP CHIEF TELLS GOVT	          [UNI:3-MAY-98]
   -----------------------------------------
   
   BJP chief Kushabhau Thakre underlined the urgent need for stepping up
   effective   developmental   activity   and   creation   of   a  rapid
   communications infrastructure for balanced overall development of the
   Northeast region.  He said that the region had been neglected for far
   too long.  The bulk of the funds for developmental work  never  reach
   the  people  for whom it was meant for, but pocketed by corrupt local
   politicians and an  equally  corrupt  bureaucracy,  he  said  in  his
   presidential address at Parivartan Nagar on May 3.
   
   The  problems of the people of the Northeast are unique and different
   from those of the people elsewhere, contributing to  their  sense  of
   alienation from  the  rest  of  India.    Economic deprivation breeds
   resentment, add anger against the state, physical distances create  a
   sense  of  psychological alienation, the two together provide a happy
   hunting grounds for separatists and terrorists, he added.

5  ABSU BID TO FORM NATIONAL STUDENTS BODY		   [AT:3-MAY-98]
   ---------------------------------------
   
   The  All  Bodo  Students' Union (ABSU), along with three other tribal
   students union of the country,  have  decided  to  form  a  `National
   Students  Union  for  Smaller  States' to press for their demands for
   creation of separate States jointly. This was disclosed by  the  ABSU
   president  Urkhau  Gwra  Brahma.  He told newsmen over telephone from
   Kokrajhar that preliminary discussions between  the  ABSU,  Jharkhand
   Students  Union, Gorkhaland Students Union and the Telengana Students
   Union were held and the next round of  talks  will  be  held  in  New
   Delhi. He said the new body is scheduled to be formed on June 6.
   

6  EARTHQUAKE PREDICTED BEFORE MAY 5		          [PTI:3-MAY-98]
   ---------------------------------
   
   North and  Northeast  regions  of  India,  which  had  experienced  a
   moderate  earthquake on the afternoon of May 2, are under a threat of
   another widespread quake within 48 hours, according to  an observator
   in Coimbatore. The quake, with an intensity of four  to  5.5  on  the
   Richter  scale  is  likely to rock parts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
   Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and some parts of  Jammu  and
   Kashmir,  before the midnight of May 5, R.Shanmugasundaram, a budding
   observator told PTI.
   

7  BUDGET SESSION OF ASSAM ASSEMBLY RESUMES	           [AT:4-MAY-98]
   ----------------------------------------
   
   The Budget Session of the State Assembly, which was in  recess  since
   March 21, will resume its business from May 4 with question hours and
   voting on  demands for grants.  The amendments bills on Assam General
   Sales  Tax,  Assam  Professions,  Traders,  Calling  and   Employment
   Taxation,  Assam  Amusement  and  Betting  Taxes  and Assam Executive
   Magistrates (Temporary) Powers, which were introduced  in  the  House
   earlier before the recess, will be discussed during the session.
   

8  GUWAHATI CITY POLICE CRACK DOWN ON CHECK-GATES	    [S:3-MAY-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   
   The Guwahati city police, in a swift action, raided seven check-gates
   put  up  by  the  Guwahati  Municipal  Corporation  (GMC)  and  other
   organizations from Khanapara to Amingaon on the national  highway  on
   the  night  of  May  1  on  receipt  of allegations that tax and toll
   collectors had been illegally extorting huge amounts  of  money  from
   the trucks  and  buses.    Police  also  arrested  15  youths in this
   connection and registered a case against the lessees of these  gates.
   All the  lessees  are  absconding.  Police said these check-gates had
   been extorting Rs.300 to Rs.400 in  place  of  Rs.50  as  entry  tax.
   Several check-gates were dismantled by the police after the raid.
   

9  HEAVY LOSS OF TAXES IN SRIRAMPUR CHECK-GATE		    [S:4-MAY-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   
   Tax  collection  at  the  inter-State  motor  vehicle  check-gate  at
   Srirampur in Kokrajhar district has been decreasing in comparison  to
   the total  collection  in  the  year  1996-97,  sources said.  It was
   revealed that the collection -- road tax, goods tax, border  tax  and
   composite  fine  --  at  the  check-gate  during 1996-97 was Rs.199.8
   million.  But, during the year 1997-98,  it  came  down  to  Rs.145.7
   million.  This sharp decline by more than Rs.50 million is surprising
   considering  the fact that the size of incoming traffic and goods has
   increased manifold during the period.
   
   According to records available, the total amount of tax collection at
   the check-gate from April to September, 1997 was  Rs.101,516,168  and
   from October, 1997 to March, 1998 was only Rs.44,108,436. The sources
   claimed that the sudden  decrease  in  the  collection was related to
   steps  taken  by  the  district administration  against corruption by
   the collecting  officials  posted at the check-gate, after which  the
   official deserted their post.  The check-gates were left at the hands
   of grade-4 staff, who had no knowledge of the  gate affairs.
   

10 LAST DIGIT LOTTERY GRIPS NALBARI		           [AT:4-MAY-98]
   --------------------------------
   
   A  section  of  people  of  Nalbari  district  have  lost  all  their
   properties in  the  name  of last digit lottery.  Thousands of people
   regularly buy lottery  tickets  and  wait  for  their  results,  from
   morning  to evening, in front of hundreds of lottery booths operating
   near the Nalbari bus stand.   From  students  to  employees,  retired
   persons  to  even armymen also walk into the trap of these lotteries.
   The dark cloud has also covered the villages.  More and  more  school
   going  boys  regularly  come  to  town to buy tickets and return home
   empty hand.  In 1995, the district administration had demolished  the
   lottery booths in an apparent bid to stop it, but to no avail.
   

11 STATE'S FIRST WOMEN'S BANK				    [S:3-MAY-98]
   --------------------------
   
   Assam's first women's bank, Kanaklata Urban Cooperative Bank Limited,
   to  be  fully  managed  by  a board of women directors with all women
   employees and aiming at providing all financial assistance like loans
   only to women and other banking services to general public,  will  be
   set  up  at Jorhat soon under the joint initiative of Jorhat District
   Mahila Samity and South Sarbaibanda Mahila Samaj.

______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________