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                        Vol.3, No.84 [*] November 20, 1998
                        ----------------------------------

                A man is made miserable by his own thoughts.
                            - Uttardhain Sutra
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1  ASSAM BANDH DISRUPTS NORMAL LIFE                        [S:20-NOV-98]
   --------------------------------
   
   The  12-hour  Assam bandh called by the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra
   Parishad (AJYCP) to protest the killings of ULFA cadres  and  leaders
   by  the  SULFA  allegedly  at  the  behest  of the Army and the State
   Government, and ostensibly to voice its concern over the growing rise
   of prices passed off peacefully in  most  of  the  districts  in  the
   Brahmaputra Valley disrupting normal life on November 19.
   

2  ULFA BLAMES GOVT FOR `SECRET KILLINGS'                 [AT:20-NOV-98]
   -------------------------------------
   
   The banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) accused the `Indian
   State   machinery'  of  engineering  the  recent  series  of  `secret
   killings' with the help  of  a  band  of  antisocial  elements  which
   included a section of `deserters' of the outfit.
   
   In  a  faxed  statement  signed  by  its central publicity secretary,
   Mithinga Daimary, the ULFA  alleged  that  the  Army  and  the  State
   Government  had  been  trying  to give an impression that the `secret
   killings' was a fallout of clashes between the ULFA and the SULFA and
   called upon all sections of the people of the State  to  raise  their
   voice  against  the  inhuman  design  of the `secret killers' who are
   enjoying patronage from the Indian State machinery.
   

3  BODO GROUPS TO TAKE PART IN RALLY FOR SMALL STATES     [AT:20-NOV-98]
   --------------------------------------------------
   
   The Coordination Committee of Bodoland Movement (CCBM) has decided to
   participate in the  proposed  mass  demonstration  in  front  of  the
   Parliament  House  in  New Delhi on December 1 under the aegis of the
   National Students and Youths Forum for Smaller States (NSYFSS).
   
   The demonstration has been organized by the NSYFSS to demand creation
   of  Bodoland,  Jharkhand,  Gorkhaland  States by dividing the present
   states of Assam, Bihar and West Bengal respectively.
   
   The CCBM criticized the stand on Bodoland State issue by  `so-called'
   non-Bodo  organizations  which  participated  in  the  last  round of
   tripartite talks in New  Delhi.    They  said  that  the  demand  for
   creation of a separate Bodoland State had not only been raised by the
   Bodos  but  all  sections  of  people living in the proposed Bodoland
   area.
   

4  EXPORT SCHEMES FOR NORTHEAST                            [S:20-NOV-98]
   ----------------------------
   
   The Agricultural and Processed Food Products (APEDA) will take urgent
   steps  to  boost export of flowers and mushroom from the northeastern
   region. Addressing a awareness programme in Guwahati, APEDA  Chairman
   D.Rajagopalan  said,  the  APEDA  will  soon come up with a number of
   schemes and proposals for boosting exports from the Northeast.
   
   APEDA will facilitate the participation of willing exporters from the
   region in its various seminars and workshops on quality management at
   international standards held regularly. Besides, joint workshops with
   experts from Bangladesh and Southeast Asian countries  will  also  be
   held to enable the exporters to get ideas about the quality standards
   in their neighbouring countries.
   
   Mr  Rajagopalan said, the APEDA has already created cargo storage for
   commodities meant for export  from  the  Northeast  at  the  Gopinath
   Bordoloi  airport in Guwahati. Similarly, a cargo centre will also be
   created at the Subhash Chandra Bose airport in Calcutta.

   
5  ABUNDANCE OF POWER HAUNTS NORTHEAST                   [UNI:19-NOV-98]
   -----------------------------------
   
   At a time many parts of the country are still  plagued  by  an  acute
   shortage  of  power,  the  North  Eastern  Electric Power Corporation
   (NEEPCO), the main power generating agency, is faced with the problem
   of abundance.
   
   NEEPCO, a central public sector unit, surprisingly faces the  problem
   of  evacuating  power  generated  by  them and due to that reason the
   Kathalguri Power Project has not been able to go full steam.   NEEPCO
   currently  produces  50  per  cent  of  the  power  generated  in the
   Northeast with most of it coming  from  the  steam  turbines  of  the
   Kathalguri gas-based project.
   
   NEEPCO  has  prevailed  upon  the  North-Eastern Regional Electricity
   Board (NEREB) for the construction of 220-KV double-circuit line from
   Kathalguri to Tinsukia and  132-KV  Tinsukia-Deomali  and  associated
   substations.  This will facilitate evacuation of power effectively.
   
   The  NEEPCO,  NEREB  and Powergrid top brass are unanimous that after
   2000 AD, the Northeast will be power surplus region and  the  Eastern
   Grid  will be fed from here by the under-construction Maldah-Tinsukia
   powerline of the Powergrid.


6  GUWAHATI FESTIVAL A PLOY FOR CONVERSION: VHP         [IANS:18-NOV-98]
   --------------------------------------------
   
   A  Canadian  evangelist and faith healer, currently giving sermons to
   thousands of Christians in the Northeast,  is  under  fire  from  the
   Vishwa  Hindu  Parishad  (VHP)  which  has labelled him a `fraud' and
   accused him of trying to engineer conversions.
   
   A four-day Christian conference-cum-divine healing  camp,  which  got
   under  way on November 15, sparked a blazing controversy with the VHP
   alleging  that  the  event  was  an  `attempt  to  lure  people  into
   Christianity.'
   
   Canada's  Revered  Peter  Youngren,  a  practising  faith healer, was
   reported  to  have  `cured  several  people  with  chronic  ailments,
   including  inborn disabilities' through his `divine spiritual power.'
   His special prayer sessions at the Judge's Field  in  Guwahati,  were
   attended everyday by 20,000 people on an average.
  
   The VHP's allegations have angered church leaders. The Church in  the
   northeastern  region  has  always  been  a powerful institution as an
   estimated 40 per cent of the  total  30  million  population  in  the
   region is Christian.
   
   Arvind  Bhattacharyya,  organizing  secretary  of the VHP's Northeast
   wing, told India Abroad News Service (IANS) that attempts were on  to
   mobilize  VHP  workers  in  tribal  villages  to  reconvert people to
   Hinduism.  `Yes we are working hard to (bring back) those who want to
   return to their roots,' he said.
   
   `Definitely  the  Christian people will raise their voice if attempts
   were  made  at  reconverting  Christians  into   Hinduism,'   Revered
   L.J.Sangmam,  general secretary of the Council of Baptist Churches in
   the Northeast India, said.

7  ASSAM ATHLETES SHINE IN NATIONAL MEET                  [AT:19-NOV-98]
   -------------------------------------
   
   Assam athletes did an encouraging job in the 10th Inter-zonal  Junior
   Athletics  Championship  held  in  Hyderabad  from November 11 to 13.
   They have won three silver and five bronze medals.
   
   Nomita  Dihingia  won two silver in javelin throw while Moon Changmai
   struck the third silver in pentathlon.  The bronze medal winners were
   Deepali Deori (long jump), Fatema  Begum  (heptathlon),  Ajit  Bashya
   (400m and 4x400 relay) and Minu Gogoi (pentathlon).

   
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