Against the backdrop of allegations about under-utilisation of funds in the NorthEast, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today bemoaned this trend, while claiming that the current Union government has made allocations to the region like never before. “All I can say is that our government has increased very substantially the allocations for the development of infrastructure in the NorthEastern region. I think the amount of money that we have allocated has...

For years, they have been waking up early and starting late. But India's NorthEast, which sees sunrise almost two hours before Mumbai, has decided it's time to set the clock right. The region's demand for a separate time zone has never been more vociferous April is usually the cruelest month for India's NorthEastern states. Cyclonic storms lash the region with vengeance and rip apart homes and hopes. But in all...

The Centre has claimed that India’s NorthEast has never been as peaceful this century as it has been since January 2009. The “peace”, however, appears to have flowed from the barrel of a gun. The last 15 months have witnessed the lowest number of civilian and security force casualties in the region since January 2000, according to Union home ministry data for six northeasern states (minus Mizoram) released today. At the same...

One hardly needs a reminder that the Right to Education is different from the others enshrined in the Constitution, in that the beneficiary cannot demand it nor fight a legal battle when the right is denied or violated.  Now that India's children have a right to receive at least eight years of education, the gnawing question is whether it will remain on paper or become a reality. One hardly needs...

The North East Students’ Organisation today demanded special constitutional status for the region to thwart the threats of increasing Chinese aggression and unabated influx from Bangladesh. NESO, the umbrella body of all student groups in the region, will soon send delegates to New Delhi to highlight the problems and hold a meeting of the NorthEast MPs Forum to draw the Centre’s attention. NESO chairman Sammujjal Bhattacharyya told reporters here that...