Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Press Council issues guidelines: New Delhi, Apr 30: The Press Council of India (PCI) has issued fresh guidelines following threats to the mediapersons in the North-east particularly in Assam and Manipur. Concerned over the threats to newspersons in the two States, the PCI constituted an Assessment Committee for Assam, whose scope was later enlarged to include Manipur. The Council has issued guidelines based on the Committee’s report. The Council’s action came after NE Television owned by Positive Television Private Limited moved it, complaining of threats being received by the print and electronic media representatives in the North-east, said Information and Broadcasting Minister, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi in a Rajya Sabha reply to a question by Kumar Deepak Das. The complaint was referred to the Chief Minister and the Ministry of Home Affairs on March 29 last year requesting all possible measures to ensure security of the print and electronic mediapersons, especially of the NE Television...

Shifting cultivation in Nagaland, Manipur one reason: New Delhi: The forest cover of the country has decreased marginally by 728 square kilometers between 2003 and 2005, the Rajya Sabha was informed on 24 April. Minister of State for Environment and Forests S Regupathy said forest cover in 2001 was 653,898 sq km which increased to 677,816 sq km. However, it came down to 677,088 sq km in 2005, he said. "The forest cover of the country has more or less stablised," he said replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour. The Forest Survey of India (FSI) carries out forest cover assessment of the country using remote sensing technology once every two years. He said the reasons for fall in forest cover was tsunami's effect on vegetation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, construction of dam in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and shifting cultivation of bamboo in the North-East especially Nagaland and Manipur. Source : The Press Trust of India

Rebels meet PM on shake-up: Imphal, Dec 6 : The rebel Congress MLAs who have been camping at Delhi for more than a month in their campaign to remove O Ibobi from the post of Chief Ministership, called on the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Thursday for an Ordinance so as to stall the delimitation exercise besides sustaining their oust-Ibobi move. Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Th Debendra who is being projected by the dissident group as their leader and Rajya Sabha MP Rishang Keishing called on Dr Manmohan Singh at about 12.30 pm and apprised the Prime Minister of the prevailing political imbroglio within the CLP. The two senior Congress leaders reportedly told the Prime Minister that replacing O Ibobi with another leader as Chief Minister of Manipur will be able to end the protracted political impasse. Acknowledging the stance of the dissident group and considering the reports culled from different quarters, Dr Manmohan Singh entrusted the party's North East in-charge P...