The Northeast Notebook

Nagaland weaves bamboo dreamsBAMBOO has emerged as a major item of economic activity in Nagaland, which grows the plant in more than 4.48 la...

Nagaland weaves bamboo dreams
BAMBOO has emerged as a major item of economic activity in Nagaland, which grows the plant in more than 4.48 lakh hectares of land. While the Guwahati-based Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre has identified 22 species of bamboo in the state, Nagaland has declared bamboo to be a major building material in view of the fact that it lies in a highly seismic zone. To drive the point home, an international bamboo festival will be held in Kohima later this year.

Guwahati to evict hill encroachers
ONE week after 14 people were killed in six simultaneous landslides in Guwahati, the authorities have promised to evict all encroachers from the reserved forests and hills in and around the city. Guwahati has a number of hills and hillocks, most of which are reserved forests, but only in official records. Thousands of rural families looking for jobs in the capital have encroached on these hills, creating a major ecological problem for Guwahati.

Tripura tribal population up
GOOD news from Tripura: The number of tribal people in the state has gone up from 30.95 per cent in 1991 to 31.05 per cent in 2001. A state that faced an unprecedented influx of people after the creation of East Pakistan in 1947, the tribal population of Tripura fell from 50.09 per cent in 1941 to 37.23 per cent in 1951. Details of the 2001 census, released recently, also showed that the literacy rates are also up among the tribal population in the state.

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800 homeless as Manipur village sinks
WHILE unprecedented floods have rendered millions homeless in Assam and other states of the Northeastern region, 800 people, all residents of the little-known Phikomai village in Manipur, have become homeless after the entire village sank last week. Phikomai became history after a series of landslides rocked the area following incessant rains for over a week. The disaster also reduced to rubble the only school in the area run by the Catholic mission, while a stretch of one km of National Highway 39 also disappeared, cutting off road links with the rest of India.

Meghalaya remembers freedom fighter
LAST week Meghalaya paid rich tributes to U Tirot Singh Syiem, a Khasi tribal chief, who was the first to put up a brave resistance against the British during the first Anglo-Khasi war of 1829-1833. Captured by the British in 1833, he was offered his kingdom of Hima Khatsawphra (near modern Shillong) back if he accepted British supremacy. But an unyielding Syiem turned down this offer, which landed him in the Dhaka jail, where he died a year later.

Delhi Traffic Police issue advisory for Dussehra, Ramlila from today: Check timing

Cities1 hr ago

As the festival season sets in with Dussehra, and devotees are expected to flock to Ramleela Ground and the Red Fort areas, the Delhi Traffic Police issued an advisory Sunday, saying they will close some routes from Monday until October 3.

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