Category: NORTH EAST

• ASSAM
• MANIPUR
• MEGHALAYA
• MIZORAM
• NAGALAND
• ARUNACHAL PRADESH

A mild intensity earthquake measuring 3.2 on the Richter Scale hit the mountainous Shirui areas of Manipurs Ukhrul district late on Saturday evening, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.

After a number of athletes at the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) training facility at Solalgaon in North Lakhimpur town of Assam accused swimming coach Mrinal Basumatary of sexual harassment, he has now been booked for suspected sexual harassment of young female athletes.

The school teachers in Assam must be dressed in formal attires only, while jeans, T-shirts and leggings etc. will not be allowed within the school premises, a government notification has mentioned.

Amid the shortage of essentials items, transport fuel and life-saving drugs, banking and ATM facilities have also been affected due to the internet suspension across the mountainous state, making life more miserable for the people.

Making clear his government and party's stand on 'greater Mizoram' or unification of contiguous areas of Manipur, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga on Friday said that a state government cannot directly interfere in the internal affairs of other states like Manipur.

The Manipur Chemists and Druggists Association (MCDA) on Friday urged the state government to take immediate steps to address this critical issue arising out of the shortage of life-saving drugs.

An Assam government official has been arrested on charges of corruption and sleuths of the anti-corruption wing have recovered cash worth more than Rs 65 lakhs from her possession, officials said on Friday.

According to a senior police officer, the incident happened on Tuesday night when the four youth forced the girl inside a car and sexually assaulted her while travelling on National Highway 31C.

A Congress leader in Imphal said on Thursday that the party President Mallikarjun Kharge has constituted the three-member team, comprising party General Secretary Mukul Wasnik, in-charge for Tripura, Sikkim, and Nagaland Dr. Ajoy Kumar and party's Tripura MLA Sudip Roy Barman to visit Manipur.

The Army and Assam Rifles are providing security to Manipur-bound goods trucks in efforts to maintain the continued supply of essentials to the violence-hit state, defence sources said here on Thursday.

District administration has imposed 28-point restrictions and prohibited various activities under section 144 CrPC in Meghalaya's Eastern West Khasi Hills following outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), officials said here on Tuesday.

Assam police personnel, who are overweight, have time up to November this year to shed extra kilos, else they will have to accept the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), said DGP G.P. Singh on Tuesday.

Earlier on Monday, the Chief Minister rejecting the separate state demand, said: "The territorial integrity of Manipur would be protected. The Central government is also strongly against any division of Manipur."

To restore complete peace in Manipur, the Army has undertaken multi-pronged strategies including maintaining the highest vigil along the state's 400 km unfenced border with Myanmar.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday rejected the demand raised by 10 tribal MLAs for a "separate administration", equivalent to separate state, comprising the Kuki tribal-dominated districts of Manipur.

Even as a section of people who sought refuge in Assam's Cachar district due to wide-scale violence in Manipur had earlier returned to their state after the situation improved there, they have again started taking shelter in temporary camps in Cachar, a district official said on Monday.

The three deceased have been identified as Dil Bahadur Sonar, Binod Sonar, and Dalmaya Sonar. Two others were also injured in the accident. All the deceased and the injured were occupants of the car.

According to the source, the issue of the ongoing Suspension of Operation (SoO) with the Kuki militant outfits of the state is also likely to be discussed besides the ethnic violence and subsequent developments.

People in ethnic violence-hit Manipur are now experiencing a double whammy as not only prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed in the state, but banking facilities remain affected due to the suspension of internet services, making life more miserable for them.

The BJP government in Manipur is facing a big challenge as 10 tribal MLAs from various parties, including five from the BJP, indirectly demanded a separate state for the Kuki tribals, leading to an ethnic division of the state.

Assam Chief Minister and BJP's key strategist in the northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Saturday said that there is nothing surprising in the Karnataka assembly election results as several surveys earlier indicated that the party would not do well in the south Indian state.

United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate Synshar Kupar Roy Lyngdoh Thabah on Saturday won the Sohiong Assembly constituency in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district by defeating his nearest opponent Samlin Malngiang of the National People's Party (NPP) by a margin of 3,422 votes.

Amid the ethnic unrest in Manipur, 10 tribal MLAs of various parties, including that of the BJP in a significant development, on Friday, indirectly demanded a separate state for the Kuki tribals.

The pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has expressed its displeasure with the draft peace deal that the Central government provided to them for initiating the talks.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday that cyclone Mocha over southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to cause 'heavy' to 'very heavy' rainfall in Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, southern Assam and parts of Manipur and adjoining areas on Saturday and Sunday.