May 20, 1981, Forty Years Ago: Protesters Differ

Leaders of the All Assam Students Union and the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad gave conflicting assessments of the day-long talks with the Central government officials over the future of foreign nationals who entered Assam between 1961 and 1971. While AASU President Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said nothing new had emerged in the talks, AAGSP convenor said that the talks had progressed satisfactorily. He was hopeful that a solution would evolve soon.

UK Minister Resigns

By dismissing one of her colleagues and forcing another to resign, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has once again created a political crisis for her two year old political regime. It was over public spending cuts which the PM wants to introduce to enable the country to stand on its feet. She dismissed Navy Minister Keith Speed not only because he had publicly opposed the 800 million pound cut in the budget of his department but also because he did not agree with the government miller. Hall Miller, private secretary to the Leader of the House, Francis Pym resigned over disagreements with the government on policy.

Delhi Power Crisis

The power situation in the capital has worsened. On May 18, power availability slumped to 350 MW against the peak hour demand of over 500 MW. Several areas in South and West Delhi went without electricity for intermittent hours through the day and night. The Badarpur power plant generated 250 MW, almost half of its installed capacity.

Pope Recovering

Pope John Paul sipped tea and had breakfast, the first time he has consumed solids after he was shot at last week. “We will soon be able to lift the ‘guarded’ prognosis,” a papal physician was quoted as saying by Italian news agency AGI.