HENGBUNG (MANIPUR), May 22 – The Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Dr S Ayyappan has announced plans to initiate schemes to enhance profitability and productivity to bring back the people by making agriculture prestigious and profitable. He also promised that the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Hengbung village in Manipur’s Senapati district would be equipped with a seed processing unit to supply quality seed to the needy farmers in the region.

NEW DELHI, May 22 – Assam may be reeling under massive power shortages, but Union Power Minister is still sitting on the proposals to grant long-term coal linkages to Chandrapur and Margherita thermal power plants. Applications seeking long-term coal linkage and Letter of Assurance (LoA) for setting up 60 MW thermal power project at Chandrapur and 500 MW Margherita project were received by the Ministry of Coal and sent to Ministry of Power for recommendations.

GUWAHATI, May 22 – Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today laid stress on solving the problems of flood and erosion. Once these problems are solved, the health of the State’s economy will undergo a fundamental change, he said while inaugurating a seminar on low cost technology for mitigation of flood and river bank erosion in the river Brahmaputra at the Assam Secretariat auditorium here.

AIZAWL, May 18 – The 4th Meeting of the Expert Consultative Committee held here on Saturday has called for the formulation of a separate textile policy for NE. The meeting was organised by the Indian Jute Industries Research Association (IJIRA) under the Ministry of Textiles. Zothankuma who is the Director of Industries chaired the meeting. Representatives from the states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura attended the event.

The Railways have projected an outlay of Rs 17,495 crore for completion of 13 new line projects in the North Eastern region. The new projects taken up by the Railways envisage to bring all the State capitals of the North Eastern region barring Sikkim on the railway map of the country. The 13 new lines on completion will provide connectivity to all State capitals, said Minister of State for Railway Bharat Sinh Solanki.

NEW DELHI, May 18 – Notwithstanding the controversy over the construction of mega dams in the North-east, the Centre has ruled out the possibility of reviewing the proposals for the construction of the big dams in the region. Union Minister of State for Power KCVenugopal, however, added that the concern of the local people on the safety of the dams including the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydroelectric Project and 1750-MW Lower Demwe Hydroelectric Project have been given due consideration.

The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) will soon issue notification prohibiting distribution of plastic carry bags free of cost to the customers within Guwahati Municipal area. “Minimum price of carry bags depending upon their quality and size will be charged as and when the notification is issued by the Corporation,” an official statement said.

Oil companies engaged in drilling and exploration activities, power projects, coal and cement industries, besides developers of national highway in both public and private sectors have emerged as major environmental violators in the North-east. In a Question Hour discussion on Tuesday, Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jayanthi Natarajan allayed all apprehension over violation of environment norms in construction of dams in the North-east.

SHILLONG, May 10 – The Central Silk Board (CSB) and State Space Application Centres has taken up a project to extend the silk cultivation area in the State to meet the growing demand of silk in the country thereby provide employment in the rural areas of the State. The current demand for silk is 30,000 ton but the country produces about 23000 ton, according to the CSB. The board is trying to extend the cultivation of silk in non-traditional areas like Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, etc.

The revival of the Namrup fertiliser plant depends on the finalisation of its funding pattern. The Planning Commission has suggested that the funding pattern has to be finalised before seeking in-principle approval for the project and hence the Department of Fertilisers may explore the possibility of open bidding and expression of interest for equity participation from private companies, said Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikanta Jena.