Seven Sisters

Guwahati8217;s reluctant studentsGUWAHATI is slowly learning to deal with its education problem. While several thousand children have been ...

Guwahati8217;s reluctant students
GUWAHATI is slowly learning to deal with its education problem. While several thousand children have been re-inducted in schools under a NGO-government initiative in the past two years, the city still has over 21,000 children who are yet to join a school.

According to figures shown by the Assam Sarba Siksha Abhiyan Mission ASSAM, Guwahati has nearly 1,000 children who live on the roads and are often harassed by criminals. More such children are pouring into the city every year from rural regions.

Land of the tourist
ARUNACHAL Pradesh has identified tourism as its most important sector. The state has recognised tourism8217;s potential to usher in large scale economic development.

While Tawang, Bomdila and Zemithang8212;all located in the snow-clad eastern Himalayas8212;have become new tourist hotspots in eastern India, the state last week received an additional Rs 13 crore for tourism development from the Centre. The money will be spent on developing more facilities for visitors.

Meghalaya for I-cards
WHILE its 425-km long international boundary with Bangladesh continues to remain largely porous, Meghalaya has urged the Centre to introduce identity cards as well as work permits to check the inflow of people from across the border.

Chief minister D.D. Lapang last week said Bangladeshi migration threatens to change the demography of the state and urgent steps were needed to stem this. At present, only 120 kms of the international border is fenced with barbed wire.

Manipur cashes on culture
MANIPURIS see their rich culture as their strength and are projecting the state as a cultural hub in the Northeast. While a five-day festival of culture ended in Imphal last week, the state is taking a package of its cultural programmes, including martial arts and theatre, to different cities in the next few months. The aim is to tell the world that Manipur does not just mean conflict and insurgency.

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Spiritual leaders campaign for Majuli
SATRADHIKARS, the spiritual heads of the vaishnavite monasteries of Majuli, the largest river island in Assam, have joined hands to ask New Delhi to take steps to protect the heritage island from the waters of the Brahmaputra.

A delegation of the satradhikars are currently in New Delhi for a week-long campaign. They will be meeting various central leaders including the prime minister to tell them of the threat of erosion to the island and also to attract global attention towards Majuli.