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                          Vol.3, No.45  [*]  July 6, 1998
                          -------------------------------

                     A man of genius makes no mistakes.
                  His errors are the portals of discovery.
                              - James Joyce
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  SCIENTISTS CLAIM ON NEUTRINO VINDICATED		    [S:5-JUL-98]
   ---------------------------------------
   The  theoretical  calculations  and observations made by Dr K.D.Krori
   and his junior collaborators Dr T.Choudhury  of  Cotton  College  and
   Prof  R.Bhattacharjee  of  Gauhati  University  in 1982 on neutrinos,
   ghostly particles generated mostly by the  sun's  nuclear  reactions,
   has  been  vindicated  by  the  data  collected  recently  from Super
   Kamiokande, a $100 million neutrino-detector below Japanese mountain.
   This discovery will considerably clear the puzzle of `dark matter' in
   the universe and  will  also  lead  to  an  upward  revision  in  the
   calculations of the mass of the universe.
   
   In a  research  paper  published  in  the  most  prestigious  journal
   Physical Review D, of USA in 1982, the scientist from Assam observed:
   `One  may  then say that general relativity demands that the neutrino
   should possess mass.' In 1930, Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli, had
   introduced into Physics the massless neutrino  to  explain  the  beta
   decay.   For  about  seven  decades  since  then, elementary particle
   physicists have dealt with this massless particle with a fairly  high
   degree of success.
   
   The data from Super Kamiokande, however, proves  that  the  neutrinos
   appear to  weigh  a smidgen.  The total weight of these little things
   may add up to a great quantity of the universe's missing dark matter.
   It confirmed, the finding means neutrinos comprise at least a part of
   the universe's `dark matter', the unseen 90 percent of  the  universe
   whose gravity  keeps  galaxies  from  spinning  apart.   The Big Bang
   beginning of the universe created several billion neutrinos for every
   proton, so even a minuscule mass adds  up  quickly.    These  results
   could also prove the unified theory of the universe.
   
2  LAB CONFIRMS XENOTRANSPLANT BY DHANIRAM BARUAH	 [AINS:5-JUL-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   Calcutta's    forensic    laboratory   has   finally   finished   its
   investigations  into  the  DNA  and  fingerprinting  tests,  and  has
   confirmed  that  the organs found inside the body of Purno Saikia was
   indeed those of pig.  The director of the State  Forensic  Laboratory
   K.N.Chakravarty, heading the investigations told IANS that a detailed
   report  will  be  submitted to the forensic medicine department which
   had sought for it.  `We are not sure  whether  the  pig  organs  were
   grafted   into   the  patient's  body  post-mortem  or  ante-mortem,'
   Chakravorty said.
   
   He said the forensic medicine department will  now  decide  from  the
   findings  whether or not Baruah's claims of keeping alive his patient
   for seven days with a pig heart were correct.  The facts of the  case
   are  expected to be known only after the police surgeon completes his
   investigations and reports back to the Gauhati High Court  where  the
   case is  pending.    
   
   Dr Dhaniram Baruah, along with Hong Kong-based Jonathan Ho, created a
   flutter in  the  international  medical  fraternity  by  claiming  in
   December  1996 that they had implanted a pig's heart in a 32-year-old
   patient from  Golaghat  at  his  Heart  City  Research  Institute  at
   Sonapur, near  Guwahati.    The  doctors then said the patient, Purno
   Saikia, had survived with the animal  organ  for  seven  days  before
   dying of   infection.    After  much  uproar,  the  Assam  Government
   confiscated Saikia's body, sent organs for DNA tests, and put the two
   doctors behind bars for  40  days  for  violating  the  Human  Organs
   Transplantation Act.
   
3  JOINT TEAM VISITS INDO-BANGLA BORDER AREAS IN DHUBRI	    [S:6-JUL-98]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   Following the tripartite talks held at New Delhi on April 6 among the
   AASU, Central and the State Governments, a team of Central  observers
   visited the Assam-Bangaladesh border areas in Dhubri district on July
   2  and  3. Among others, those who were present during the inspection
   were G.K.Pillai, Central Joint Secretary (Home), State Home Secretary
   Alok  Kumar,   AASU   leaders   Sarbananda   Sonowal   and   Samujjal
   Bhattacharyya,  and  other  high-level  officials and Border Security
   Force (BSF) personnel.
   
4  FORMER AGP LEADER OF NAGAON ARRESTED			    [S:5-JUL-98]
   ------------------------------------
   Nagaon  police arrested and sent to jail the former general secretary
   of Nagaon district committee of AGP, Jayanta Bora on July 4.  He  was
   charged  with aiding terrorist organizations and of being involved in
   the kidnapping of a AGP worker.  Mr Bora was among the section of the
   AGP leaders that quit the party during the  last  midterm  Lok  Sabha
   polls in February following a call by the ULFA.

5  ROTTEN RICE FROM FCI AT BARNALA'S PRODDING	           [AT:6-JUL-98]
   ------------------------------------------
   Rakes  of  rotten  rice  have landed at the railway goods yard at New
   Guwahati and Tinsukia has been a matter of grave concern  for  people
   living the  poverty  line.    The  consignments were sent by the Food
   Corporation of India (FCI) to the States at the express  instructions
   of  the  Union  Minister  for  Chemicals and Fertilizers Surjit Singh
   Barnala.
   
   A demi-official letter of April 17, signed by the Minister reveals an
   attempt to push a huge stock of rotten rice,  through  the  Targetted
   Public  Distribution  (TDPS),  which benefits people living below the
   poverty line. His letter, addressed to chief ministers of 21  states,
   goes  as:  `As you are aware, there were unseasonal rains during this
   kharif marketing season 1997-98 in  almost  all  the  rice  producing
   states  of the country, as a result of which huge quantities of paddy
   stocks were badly affected in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
   Orissa and Maharastra. ..
   
   These State Governments had requested for relaxation in  the  uniform
   specifications  of rice procurement for the current marketing season.
   Such rice which is being procured under relaxed specification by  the
   FCI cannot  withstand storage for long periods.  The Ministry of Food
   and the FCI have therefore decided to issue  this  rice  on  priority
   basis  for  TDPS and other welfare schemes of the State Government...
   the Food and Civil Supplies Department of your State  may  kindly  be
   advised  to  accept  the  rice  from  the  Central pool under relaxed
   specifications for TDPS from the FCI godowns.'
   
6  JUDICIAL PROBE INTO FIRING DEMANDED		           [AT:6-JUL-98]
   -----------------------------------
   Congress  MP  Mani  Kumar Subba and MLA Rashidul Haque have condemned
   the killing of four people allegedly by the police in Barpeta on July
   2 and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident and punishment of
   the errant police personnel.  They also demanded of the Government to
   pay Rs.100,000 each to the families of those injured  in  the  police
   firing.  Further, they demanded a deterrent to such incidents.
   
7  GASTRO DEATHS: PANEL FOR STERN ACTION		   [AT:6-JUL-98]
   -------------------------------------
   The  one-man  enquiry  committee,  set  up by the Assam Government to
   enquire into the reasons behind the large number  of  deaths  due  to
   gastroenteritis  in  several  upper  Assam districts, has recommended
   that  stringent  action  should  be  taken  against   the   concerned
   authorities including tea garden management and the labour department
   officials.   The  committee,  headed  by  the  Upper  Assam  Division
   Commissioner submitted its report to the Government on June 29.
   
8  GOVT MOVE TO FIGHT WATER LOGGING IN GUWAHATI		    [S:6-JUL-98]
   --------------------------------------------
   The  Assam  Government  has  decided  to  initiate  steps  to   fight
   waterlogging  and various other problems caused by incessant rains in
   Guwahati city. In a meeting held at the Chief  Minister's  office  at
   Dispur,  it  was  decided  to  clean  up  all drains in the city, and
   accordingly orders were issued to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation,
   Town and Country Planning department and the Public Works  Department
   to  start  works  immediately.  The  Chief  Minister  had advised the
   departments  concerned  to  seek  the  help  of  different  voluntary
   organizations so that the exercise takes the status of a social work.
   
9  SEBA IN-SERVICE TRAINING COURSES FOR SCHOOL TEACHERS	    [S:5-JUL-98]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   The Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) is organizing a series
   of  in-service  training  courses in English, Mathematics and General
   Science for secondary teachers during the  ensuing  summer  vacation.
   The programme is intended for those schools that have shown extremely
   poor performances in class ten board exams during the past few years.
   
   Analysis of the results of the 1997 exams has shown that as  many  as
   105 schools  did  not  have  a  single  student  passing the exam.  A
   subject-wise analysis by the Board has identified 200  schools  where
   the  achievement  is  lowest  in  English,  Mathematics  and  General
   Science, the percentage of pass being 0-5.88 in  English,  0-3.84  in
   Mathematics, and 0-10 in General Science.
   
   The Board has, therefore, planned to help these schools by  providing
   training  to  one teacher from each of these schools in the deficient
   subject.  Two courses each of five-day will be held in  each  subject
   from July 6 to July 24 in Guwahati.
   
10 AZERBAIJAN'S OFFER TO ASSAM TEA PLANTERS	           [AT:5-JUL-98]
   ----------------------------------------
   Azerbaijan  has invited tea producers from Assam to invest in its tea
   plantations.  A delegation headed by the Minister of Industries Gunin
   Hazarika recently  visited  that  country  to  promote  tea  exports.
   During  their  visit,  the Azerbajan Minister of Industries and Trade
   invited tea producers to invest in tea growing areas in the  country.
   The  delegation  also  visited  the  tea plantations and factories in
   Azerbaijan.  On the other hand, a group of Assamese tea traders based
   in Dubai also decided to increase export of Assam tea  to  Azerbaijan
   via Dubai.
   
11 SANGITA GOSWAMI IN CENTRAL ANIMAL WELFARE BOARD	   [AT:5-JUL-98]
   -----------------------------------------------
   The  newly  reconstituted  Animal  Welfare  Board of India, under the
   Ministry  of  Environment  and  Forests,  Government  of  India   has
   nominated  Ms  Sangita  Goswami, Convenor of the organization, People
   for Animal, Assam, as the only member from the entire  Northeast  and
   for the  first  time.  Justice Guman Mal Lodha has been nominated the
   chairperson of the Board along with Ms Yoshodhara Raje Scindia as the
   vice-chairperson and eight other members.
   
12 VULTURE ATTACK ASTC BUS, DRIVER INJURED		    [S:6-JUL-98]
   ---------------------------------------
   An  Assam  State  Transport  Corporation  (ASTC)  bus on its way from
   Guwahati to Nityananda  near  Pathsala  was  attacked  by  a  vulture
   recently when  it reached Changsari at about 3 pm.  The vulture which
   was flying in the sky, descended and hit the windshield  of  the  bus
   shattering into  pieces  and injured the driver Sachin Das (40).  The
   driver stopped the bus  and  lost  consciousness  soon  after.    The
   vulture also  terrorized  the  passengers.    There was a hue and cry
   among the passengers.    The  driver  recovered  after  sometime  and
   resumed the journey.
   
______________________________[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
________________________________________________________________________