When the state government is boasting of improving the condition of poor by pumping in massive fund in rural and health sector, at least 10 garden workers are reported to have died of starvation and lack of medical treatment since October 2011 in Assam’s Barrak Valley. The workers who died of starvation were working in Bhuvan Valley Tea Estate, which is closed since October 2011.

Jorhat, Feb. 7: Tea producing countries around the world have agreed to do away with the export of inferior quality teas by sticking to the quality norms defined by the ISO 3720 standard. Tea Research Association additional vice-chairman Prabhat Bezboruah said tea producing and exporting countries have agreed to abide by the standard and print it on bulk and retail packs at the just concluded 20th session in Sri Lanka of the inter-governmental group under the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Silchar, Feb. 7: The production of CTC teas recorded a dip last year in Cachar’s tea region that covers three south Assam districts. Sources at the Surma Valley branch of the Indian Tea Association revealed this ahead of the association’s 111th annual general meeting that is being held here on February 15, while adding that the production last year was around 49 million kg.

SIVASAGAR, Feb 7 – Muga, or the “golden silk”, has always been the pride of Assam. Over the years, muga silk has become a unique part of Assamese culture and tradition. This Assam’s golden silk has also got recognition in the international arena. Recently, it was declared by skin specialists of the world that dresses made of muga or eri, prevent skin diseases.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi met Union Minister for Railways Dinesh Trivedi at Rail Bhawan here today and urged him to incorporate a slew of proposals in the forthcoming Railway Budget 2012-13, an official release said. Chief Minister Gogoi while stressing the need for 'good connectivity from Assam, so critical for the people of the State and also other North Eastern States' urged him to declare the North east Frontier Railway as a dedicated railway zone exclusively for the North Eastern States and announce the same in this year's Railway Budget.

GUWAHATI: Farmers across India have been making claims for crop losses under the central government’s National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS).

However, the farmers in the northeastern states, mainly in Assam, are not even aware any such scheme exists, said an expert.
K.M. Buzarbaruah, vice chancellor of the Jorhat-based Assam Agricultural University, told IANS no claims at all have been made by the farmers of Assam and other northeastern states last year for their crop losses.

DIBRUGARH: The Assam State Electricity Board(ASEB), under its much hyped Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification project(RREP) has provided power connection to 75 below poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries at Romai Tea Estate in Dibrugarh District recently.

MUMBAI: The government has been abandoning people in M-East ward with the same indifference and insouciance as it has been depositing rubbish there for years. Waves of people displaced from different parts of the city for MUTP, MUIP and Brimstowad projects have been rehoused in the ward since 2004. But a significant increase in the civic amenities here has not been deigned important.

Guwahati, Feb. 5: The Union power ministry has called a meeting on Wednesday in Delhi to break the impasse over the 2,000-MW Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project. There has been no work at the project site since December 16 — the longest halt to the project — thanks to the continuing agitation in Assam by the anti-dam brigade led by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti.

“The revenue loss in terms of delay per day is Rs 6 crore, apart from claims of contractors and additional establishment and warehouse expenditure,” a top NHPC official told The Telegraph.

The throb of the Subansiri valley will stop on the day when practically no water will be released by NHPC except in the peak period of the evening, and for all the winter months to come, the river, which is entwined in the lives of the people, which gives them sustenance, their rich culture and lifestyle, will die on that day for ever, along with the dolphins, fish and ecology of the river. This certainly is one of the most disturbing and important aspects of the Lower Subansiri Hydro-electric Project (LSHP)in the present form.