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                           Vol.4, No.1 [*] January 4, 1999
                           -------------------------------

                 If all men did not make hasty judgements,
                        all men would go to heaven.
                            - Lebanese Proverb
   -------------------------------------------------------------------

1  TWO IN LONDON TO CONVINCE ULFA CHIEF FOR NEGOTIATIONS  [S:4-JAN-99]
   -----------------------------------------------------
   In  a  bid towards bringing the outlawed United Liberation Front of
   Asom (ULFA) to the negotiating table and find a permanent  solution
   to  the  long-lasting  insurgency  problem  in  Assam,  one  senior
   advocate of the Gauhati High Court and  a  senior  police  official
   have left for London on December 22, 1998.
   
   Intelligence  sources  informed The Sentinel that the duo's mission
   was to convince the ULFA top brass Paresh Baruah to come forward to
   the negotiating table, to  discuss  the  terms  and  conditions  of
   negotiations and find an effective mediator.
   
   Though the developments, kept  secret,  are  still  at  an  initial
   stage,  and  nothing concrete has taken place, is being viewed as a
   positive  step  towards  solving  the  two  decades-old  insurgency
   problem in Assam.
   
   During the Congress government under the late Hiteshwar Saikia, the
   Government had appointed a mediator to convince the  top  brass  to
   lay down  arms.  In 1993, many activists returned to the mainstream
   and many others expressed their willingness to come forward to  the
   negotiating  table,  but  ULFA commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah had
   largely opposed the move.
   
   Source,  however,  said  that  the  Government, this time is taking
   every possible step to achieve success. Regarding  the  possibility
   of  holding  talks  in  any  foreign  soil  as once demanded by the
   outfit, sources, though declined to comment, said all the terms and
   conditions would be finalized before the talks  with  consent  from
   both the sides. 
   
   Although the Union Government has been opposing the idea of holding
   talks  in  any  foreign  country, the Assam Chief Minister Prafulla
   Kumar Mahanta has reiterated of holding discussions anywhere.
   
2  MAHANTA'S FIRST LIE IN THE NEW YEAR: ULFA              [S:3-JAN-99]
   -----------------------------------------
   The banned ULFA demanded that the  Chief  Minister  Prafulla  Kumar
   Mahanta  prove  the  veracity  of  his claim that the ULFA chairman
   Arabinda Rajkhowa wanted talks but that  the  outfit's  self-styled
   commander-in-chief  Paresh  Baruah was opposed to it, and termed Mr
   Mahanta's comment as the New Year's first lie.
   
   In a faxed statement on January  2,  publicity  secretary  Mithinga
   Daimary said, the outfit has already made its position clear on the
   question of negotiations with the Centre and that it still stood by
   the preconditions laid down by the highest authority of the outfit.
   
3  UNIDENTIFIED GUNMEN KILL MASS LEADER IN GOALPARA       [S:3-JAN-99]
   ------------------------------------------------
   A  group of armed unidentified men abducted and shot dead Mr Mahesh
   Chandra Nath, the former organizational secretary and  the  present
   advisor  of  the  Goalpara  district committee of the Manab Adhikar
   Sangram Samiti (MASS), a human rights organization.
   
   Mr Nath was abducted from his residence on January 1 at around 4:30
   pm at Agia in Goalpara district and shot him dead  at  Bekipool  in
   Krishnai area.
   
   Condemning  the  killing  the MASS demanded the Assam Government to
   arrest the culprits immediately and criticized  it  for  its  total
   failure  to  stop  the  ongoing  killings in different parts of the
   State by a group of `secret killers'.

4  CLASS A TO START AGAIN IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS THIS YEAR    [S:2-JAN-99]
   ---------------------------------------------------
   The State Government has decided to reintroduce the `ka-man  sreni'
   (Class-A)  in  all  the lower primary and junior basic schools from
   the new academic session.  The children who have attained  the  age
   of  five  years  will  be  admitted into the class and the new text
   book, `Natun  Path',  developed  by  the  State  Council  Education
   Research and Training (SCERT) will be used.

   The  Government  also decided to introduce English in class 3 and 4
   in all the regional language and mother tongue medium lower primary
   and junior basic  schools  from  the  new  academic  session.  Only
   English  alphabetical  and  numerical  identification and knowledge
   will be imparted to the children and there will be  no  formal  and
   compulsory exams in this language subject.

5  VIPs CAUSE TRAFFIC CHAOS IN GUWAHATI                 [AT:31-DEC-98]
   ------------------------------------
   The  Grahak  Suraksha  Sanstha  or  the Consumers Protection Forum,
   Guwahati said that frequent movements of VIPs  including  Ministers
   and senior government officials and haphazard growth of schools are
   two main reasons for traffic chaos in Guwahati city.

   The president of the Forum, Mr Deven Dutta said  that  the  Sanstha
   had  discussion  on  the  traffic chaos in the city with the Kamrup
   Deputy  Commissioner,  the  Guwahati  Municipal  Corporation,   the
   traffic  police,  different  associations  of  bus owners, rickshaw
   pullers and others to tackle the problem.

   He said that policemen responsible for controlling  traffic  almost
   always  misbehaved with the law abiding citizens to clear the roads
   during VIP movement.  He added that haphazard parking of  vehicles,
   failure  of  the  concerned  authorities  to  regulate  movement of
   rickshaws also caused traffic disorder in the city.

6  REVELLERS THRONG ASSAM STATE ZOO ON NEW YEAR'S DAY    [AT:1-JAN-99]
   --------------------------------------------------
   Thousands  of  revellers  thronged  various  spots in Guwahati city
   including the State Zoo on New Year's day.  People of all age  also
   visited  the  newly set up Shrimanta Shankardev Kalashetra to enjoy
   the day.  Various parks  in  the  city,  Basistha  Ashram  and  Dol
   Gobinda   temple  in  North  Guwahati  received  large  numbers  of
   visitors.

   Large numbers of policemen in civvies were posted inside the  State
   Zoo  to  prevent any untoward incident. Unlike previous years there
   were fewer numbers of visitor to the  zoo.  About  15,000  revelers
   visited  the  zoo,  and  over  5,000  thronged  the Basistha Ashram
   shrine. Visitors poured into the area till late in  the  afternoon,
   however, police ensured that all revellers left the place by 5 pm.

   Many revellers were detained by police for driving two-wheelers and
   cars in inebriated conditions. Most of them were released the  next
   day after issuing warnings not to repeat such behaviour in future.
   Police control room sources said that no accidents  took  place  on
   December 31 and January 1.

7  GMC TO MAKE GUWAHATI THE CLEANLIEST CITY BY 2005       [S:4-JAN-98]
   ------------------------------------------------
   The  Guwahati  Municipal   Corporation   (GMC)   has   prepared   a
   Rs.740-million  plan  in order to clean the garbage of the city and
   to make it one of the cleanliest cities of the country by the  year
   2005.   The plan was prepared on the basis of the interim report of
   the eight-member  committee  setup  under  the  Ministry  of  Urban
   Affairs and Employment under the Supreme Court of India directive.

8  COMMONWEALTH AWARD FOR DR KISHORE OF K.V.S. GUWAHATI   [S:4-JAN-99]
   ----------------------------------------------------
   Dr  Lalit Kishore, assistant commissioner of the Kendriya Vidyalaya
   Sangathan, Guwahati, has been selected for the Commonwealth  Award,
   1998  for  his  innovative  contribution  in Science education. The
   Indian High Commission will receive the award on his behalf at  the
   Commonwealth Secretariat, London on January 11.

9  ARUNODOI DAY TO BE CELEBRATED FROM JANUARY 8          [AT:3-JAN-99]
   --------------------------------------------
   Brisk  preparations  are  on  for  the second annual celebration of
   Arunodoi Divas at Amguri in Sibsagar district from January 8 to  10
   by  the  Amguri  unit of Axom Xahitya Xabha with active cooperation
   from the district unit of the Xabha.
   
   Arunodoi, the first Assamese newspaper, published and circulated by
   the American Baptist Mission from Rangpur (modern Sibsagar) in 1846
   was an important event in the  history  of  Assamese  language  and
   literature.

10 DIGGING OF 100-YEAR-OLD BOAT IN JAGIROAD               [S:4-JAN-99]
   ----------------------------------------
   About one-fourth of the 100-year-old iron-made boat, which had been
   traced recently in the Killing river at Sitajkhala in Jagiroad, has
   already been  dug  out.    According   to   the   Morigaon   Deputy
   Commissioner,  Chandra Mohan Kakati, additional deputy commissioner
   and the superintendent of police visited the site on January 3  and
   reviewed the  digging  works.  The district administration released
   Rs.5,000 for the digging of the boat.
   
11 RIPE MANGOES IN DECEMBER AT MAJULI!                    [S:3-JAN-99]
   -----------------------------------
   The  bearing  and  ripening  of  mango  fruits  in  a mango tree at
   Mudoijan Tiniali in Kamalabari, 12  km  from  Jorhat,  has  created
   astonishment among  the  local  people.    The  mango  tree started
   flowering in September.  (Reported in AOL issue dated 30-Oct-98.)
   
   A scientist of the Assam Agricultural  University  in  Jorhat  said
   that  the  unnatural phenomenon might happen due to the presence of
   equal quantities of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the  area.    It
   may  also  happen  due  to  severe drought, the scientist said, who
   similar phenomenon in Guwahati 20 years ago.  Normally, mangoes  in
   Assam bear fruit during March-April and ripe in May-June.
   
12 FILM ON PEASANTS REVOLT IN PATHRUGHAT                [AT:31-DEC-98]
   -------------------------------------
   `Anal', a full length Assamese feature film is  being  produced  by
   the  Brahmaputra Art Production on the Patharughat revolt that took
   place 104 years ago.  On January 28, 1894, an encounter took  place
   between  the  peasants  of  Patharughat, a small village in Darrang
   district and the British administration.

   It  was an important historical event of peasants' uprising against
   the British rulers -- known as the Battle of Patharughat.  It was a
   glowing example of friendship and amity between Hindus and  Muslims
   of that  time.  One hundred and forty peasants lost their lives and
   became martyrs.
   
   Popular artists Nipon Goswami and Pranjal Saikia along with a  host
   of artists will portray the leading roles in the movie.  The script
   is  by  noted  dramatist Dr Paramanda Rajbonshi, based on radio and
   teleplays -- written by him on the subject under the title -Nangal,
   Mati aru Manuh.
   
13 SANTA UZIR'S KAMRUPI LOKAGEET                        [AT:31-DEC-98]
   -----------------------------
   Santa Uzir, who has carved a niche in the field of Assamese  modern
   songs  through films, TV and cassettes, has recently lent her voice
   in a cassette for Kamrupi Lokageet (folk songs  of  Kamrup)  titled
   `Dambaru O'.    Ms  Uzir  with her appealing voice comes with songs
   like Doom Doom Dambaru, O' Bukur Saanmai, Krishnar Hatey Dhori  and
   Dambaru  Bajehe, under the music direction of noted folk singer and
   composer Prabhat Sarma.

______________________________[Mozz-BG]_________________________________
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