Category: NORTH EAST

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

Former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Thursday said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill would have been passed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday by the BJP government if the Congress-led Opposition was not there.

Zoramthanga, who is also the President of the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), appealed to the people, NGOs, churches and political parties to join hands and stand united in case there is a bid to reintroduce the CAB in Parliament.

Normal life came to standstill in Nagaland on Monday as a dawn-to-dusk shutdown called in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, evoked total response.

With weeks to go for the announcement of the 17th Lok Sabha election dates, the Election Commission has begun preparations in the Northeastern states, a top election official said on Tuesday.

A senior BJP leader confirmed this on Friday and said that the Prime Minister will arrive in Guwahati on February 8. "The Prime Minister is also scheduled to visit Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura to inaugurate some developmental projects," he said.

Eleven northeastern political parties came together on Tuesday against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and decided to appeal to the Central government to scrap the legislation.

The official said Modi will arrive in Arunachal on February 9 to inaugurate the Hollongi airport and later that day address a public gathering in Agartala at the Swami Vivekananda Ground after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of several projects.

Sarma's statement came a day after student outfits from all the northeastern states under the banner of North East Students' Organization (NESO) gathered in Guwahati on Wednesday and warned the BJP-led government at the Centre and the state against the Bill. 

However, this strict law will cause serious loss for the licensed liquor barons which are fifty in number throughout the eight districts of the state. It will also cause incurring huge loss for two authorized bar owners, informed the sources.

The MNF in the November 28 Assembly polls secured 26 seats, five more than an absolute majority in the 40-member Assembly, ousting the Congress from power in its last bastion in northeast India.

Welcomed by thunderous chants of "Mary Mary" at the jampacked K.D. Jadhav hall, the Indian took the ring with a statistical and psychological advantage over her Ukrainian opponent, whom she recently beat at the Silesian Women's Open semi-finals in Poland.

The Election Commission would set up polling stations at Kanhmun, a village along the Mizoram-Tripura border, to facilitate voting by the tribal refugees, sheltered in Tripura for the past 21 years, official said here on Wednesday.

Over 35,000 Reang tribal refugees, comprising 5,907 families, fled from Mizoram and have been staying in Tripura's Kanchanpur and Panisagar sub-divisions for the past 21 years following ethnic tension after a Mizo forest official was killed in the neighbouring state.

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress suffered a major setback after state Home Minister and senior party leader R. Lalzirliana and three sitting legislators, Lalrinliana Sailo, Buddha Dhan Chakma, both former ministers, and Hmingdailova Khiangte resigned from the party.

Seven of the northeastern states are divided into three meteorological sub-divisions -- Assam and Meghalaya; Arunachal Pradesh; and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. The eighth state, Sikkim, along with north West Bengal, form a separate sub-division.

An Ashoka fellow, Hellman-Hammett award recipient and a media rights defender, the Dhaka based outspoken journalist is presently engaged with the acclaimed newspaper, the Bangladesh Monitor, published from Dhaka.

However, according his statement the refugee outfit is also planning to initiate a long agitation march from Kanchanam to Zawalnam RD Block drawing attention of the central government regarding the malfunctioning of the earlier signed pact.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has tightened security across the northeastern region and some parts of West Bengal and Bihar ahead of Independence Day, an official said on Tuesday.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and his Mizoram counterpart Lal Thanhawla along with officials of the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) were present during the signing.

The ruling National People's Party (NPP)-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government on Monday said it is open to the idea of conducting National Register of Citizens (NRC) updation exercise in the state, on the lines of Assam.

Panmei and his team along with the police and fire fighters are searching for the two missing children, but District Collector Ravindra Singh said chances of finding them alive were slim. 

The three teachers had forced the 88 girl students to remove their clothes in front of the entire school, as punishment, when none among them confessed for having written vulgar words against the head teacher and another student.

Over 32,850 Mizoram tribals staying in refugee camps in Tripura for the past 22 years would be repatriated to their home state (Mizoram) by September, an official release said here on Tuesday night.

Widely regarded as a masterpiece of Italian neorealism, the movie narrates the story of a poverty stricken unemployed worker of Rome along with his young son in the backdrop of devastating world-war.

Running of trains has been affected in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section of Assam following landslides triggered by incessant rains for past few days.