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                        Vol.3, No.68 [*] September 11, 1998
                        -----------------------------------

              There will be no issue of AOL next week. - Mozz
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   
1  ULFA WON'T COMPROMISE ON SOVEREIGNTY			   [S:11-SEP-98]
   ------------------------------------
   The United Front of Asom (ULFA) made it clear  that  it  would  never
   participate  in  dialogue with the Government within the framework of
   the  Indian  Constitution  because  `we  do  not  accept  the  Indian
   Constitution.'  In a fax statement, ULFA publicity secretary Mithinga
   Daimary said, the Union Home Minister, L.K.Advani  had  only  exposed
   the  Centre's  attitude  towards  the `nationality question of Assam'
   during his `illegal visit' to the State.
   
   The ULFA had always rejected the Constitution of  India  as  being  a
   testament  of  fraud  and  usurpation  of the rights of the people of
   Assam, he said.  He said, both Delhi and Dispur must realize that the
   ULFA does not like visits by Central ministers only to  harp  on  the
   old  theme  of  the  Constitution  etc,  and termed Mr Advani's tough
   talking on the insurgency issue as nothing but a clown's blabbering.
   
2  DIPHU-KARONG RAILWAY LINE CLEARED		          [AT:10-SEP-98]
   ---------------------------------
   The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs  (CCEA)  cleared  the
   Diphu (Dhansiri)-Karong broad gauge railway line connecting Assam and
   Manipur through Karbi Anglong hill district.  The proposed line, will
   bring Imphal  in  the railway map of the country.  The sanctioning of
   the  project  by  the  Union  Government  is  likely  to  trigger   a
   controversy  as  the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) as well
   as Karbi Anglong District  Council  (KADC)  have  been  opposing  the
   project  on  the ground that the proposed line would be environmental
   disaster for the region.  The 123.84 km line will be  constructed  at
   an estimated  cost  of  Rs.16.04  billion.   It will pass through the
   famous Dhansiri reserved forest before it touches Manipur.
   
3  DAMAGED PIPELINE WAS IDLE: ONGC			   [S:10-SEP-98]
   -------------------------------
   The pipeline which was damaged in a  bomb  blast  by  suspected  ULFA
   militants  on  September  9 at 8:08 pm was an idle one which does not
   carry oil at all time, according to ONGC.  The ONGC pipeline  carried
   crude  oil from Lakwa Oil Field to Galeky Group Gathering Station and
   the blast could not incur much loss.  Police said that the  bomb  was
   planted  at a point where the underground pipeline emerges overground
   for crossing over the  Dikhow  river  at  Mathaichiga-Kujibali  under
   Nazira police station.  Police recovered 660 feet long wires from the
   spot.  The  bomb  was  blasted with remote-control device.  All India
   Radio news reports said that five persons including two  Home  Guards
   personnel of the Assam Government were arrested in this connection.
   
4  AHRC CASE AGAINST SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT		   [S:10-SEP-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   Following a complaint filed by All Assam Blind Youth Council (AABYC),
   the  activist  of  which have been in an indefinite strike fast since
   September 7 demanding 10 per cent job opportunity,  the  Assam  Human
   Rights  Commission (AHRC) registered a case and subsequently issued a
   notice to the Secretary of Social Welfare  Department  of  the  Assam
   Government for  a report.  The Director of the Social Welfare met the
   chairman of the Commission and apprised him about the  efforts  being
   made  by the State Government to meet the grievances of the agitating
   youths.  The AHRC Chairman in turn, fixed September  15  for  further
   discussion with the Social Welfare Department on the matter.
   
5  OIL TO APPOINT 300 YOUTHS:  AASU			   [S:11-SEP-98]
   --------------------------------
   The Oil India Limited (OIL) will appoint 300 youths of the State from
   November  onwards  and  establish  a  Petroleum Training Institute in
   Assam with programmes matching the academic aspects of  the  student,
   says an  All  Assam  Students  Union (AASU) release.  The authorities
   invited the leaders of the AASU to Delhi, in response to  its  threat
   for 108-hour oil field bandh from September 20 and after a meaningful
   discussion  for  6  hours  over  the demands the OIL officials gave a
   written commitment to fulfil the demands on time bound manner.
   
   Meanwhile, the members of the Chabua Students Union resigned en masse
   on  September  10  in  protest against the move by top leaders in the
   oil-field issue.  The local units of AASU, Chabua Students Union  and
   the  Tinsukia  District  Students  Union  jointly called the 108-hour
   bandh in protest against the non-implementation of its accord in 1990
   with the OIL.  However, a section of the leaders left for  New  Delhi
   for talks and called off the bandh after the talks.
   
6  AASU'S SOS TO MANEKA GANDHI TO PROTECT ANIMALS	  [AT:11-SEP-98]
   ----------------------------------------------
   A  delegation of AASU led by its president, Sarbananda Sonowal called
   on Maneka Gandhi on September 10 urging her to  visit  the  Kaziranga
   National  Park during the ongoing floods to assess the damage and the
   plight of the animals herself.  They  urged  the  Union  Minister  of
   State  for  Social  Welfare  and  renowned  animal rights activist to
   despatch immediate help to protect the marooned animals.    The  AASU
   alleging  a  total  failure  on  the  part of the Assam Government to
   protect the Park from devastations called for direct intervention  by
   the Centre to save the animals.
   
   The  AASU  pointed  out to the Union Welfare Ministry that the sum of
   Rs.2 billion earmarked for the State should not be handed over to the
   State Government instead Centre should  directly  launch  schemes  in
   every district   of  the  State.    They  said  that  various  social
   organizations, students body and NGOs should be  entrusted  with  the
   job  of  monitoring  the  progress of the schemes, and added that the
   AASU is willing to fully cooperate with  the  Government  and  ensure
   that the schemes are fully implemented.
   
7  DHANIRAM'S BOOK ON XENOTRANSPLANTATION SOON		   [S:11-SEP-98]
   -------------------------------------------
   Heart  surgeon  Dr.Dhaniram  Baruah's  forthcoming  book,  `Pig-Heart
   Transplantation  Vs  Conspiracy',  to  be  published  by  a   reputed
   publication  house  of New Delhi, has presented his side of the story
   related to the Purna Saikia case.  Dr Baruah says in the introduction
   of the book, that `I was not allowed to speak' on the  subject  while
   his  `conspirators'  sat  on judgement of what xenotransplantation is
   and what had happened in Purna Saikia's case.
   
   Dr Baruah along with his associates,  Dr  Jonathan  Ho  and  Mr  C.J.
   James, were put behind bars for 40 days in 1997 for having undertaken
   xenotransplanting  by  allegedly violating Transplantation Act, which
   Dr Baruah asserts, is not applicable in Assam and  is  certainly  not
   applicable for  xenotransplantation.  He claimed that Purno Saikia of
   Golaghat had survived for seven days after the transplant was done at
   Dr Baruah's hospital at Sonapur near Guwahati.
   
   The book begins with a history of transplantation of animal organs to
   humans, which began at the beginning of the 20th century.  Dr Baruah,
   however,  would  like  the  credit for undertaking the first, and the
   most complicated, and yet successful, xenotransplantation  to  go  to
   the  Hindu  God, Lord Shiva who is said to have transplanted the head
   of an elephant on to his son's, Lord Ganesha!

______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
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