Five New Trains for the Region

ARUNACHAL Pradesh governor Arvind Dave’s tourist-friendly proposal to do away with the Inner Line Permit (ILP) and the Restricted Areas Permit (RAP) has run into opposition from the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU). The union believes lifting these two restrictions would lead to an uncontrollable influx of Bangladeshis and turn Arunachal Pradesh into another Tripura, where the indigenous tribals have been reduced to a minority. Arunachal Pradesh has identified tourism as a major economic activity; Tawang, Bomdila and Namdapha Tiger Reserve have already hit the popularity charts with both domestic and foreign tourists.

Welcoming Spring, the Unusual Way

COME April, and Guwahati will be hosting a unique ‘Spring Festival of Books’ for children. Organised by Anwesha, a small five-year-old group of bibliophiles, the festival is more than just a book fair. It will also have sessions for school students on writing stories and poems, a workshop for adults on children’s literature, and a quiz contest on children’s literature and folklore. Anwesha believes in holding mini book fairs in the rural areas of Assam, thus taking books to the doorsteps of the reader.

More books on Sikkim

Sikim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, himself a noted writer and poet, wants people from his state to write more books about Sikkim. This job should not be left to writers from outside, as that could lead to distortion, he said while inaugurating a book fair at Gangtok. Books on Sikkim will help disseminate information about various aspects of the state’s culture, tradition and heritage, which in turn will help attract more tourists, he said. Books on the Northeast are anyway very few.

From Japan with Love

ASSAM’S Manas National Park, a major habitat of Royal Bengal tigers, Asiatic water buffaloes and one-horned rhinos, has got some new friends in distant Japan. Last week, two Japanese visitors to the Park, 150 kms west of Guwahati, handed over to the park authorities a sum of Rs 46,500 that some school children of that country had collected. The donation was in response to a UNESCO appeal seeking help from nature-lovers to save Manas, declared ‘‘a world heritage site in danger.’’