North East

Shillong, July 5: Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to file an additional report on the health condition of a woman who was repeatedly raped allegedly by a militant-turned-politician in 2016. A division bench of the High Court during a hearing on Monday observed that the overall health of the 20-year-old survivor be determined and counseling provided for her career. In particular, the psychiatric and psychological aspects should be dealt with by experts in view of the trauma that the survivor went through. It is also essential that...

GANGTOK, July 5: Around 100 students of an engineering college in East Sikkim suffered severe skin infections after coming in contact with Nairobi flies, officials said on Tuesday. Nairobi flies, native to East Africa, are growing at a rapid pace at the campus of the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT) in Majhitar, they said. A student who was recently infected by the flies had to undergo surgery on his hand, they added. The flies are not native but can overwhelm new areas in search of breeding grounds and ample...

Aizawl, July 5: Mizoram on Tuesday reported 138 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike in over two months, a health official said. The toll rose to 706 as a 94-year-old man from Aizawl died on Monday, he said. The new cases were detected after testing 595 samples, recording a positivity rate of 23.19%. On Monday, it was 22.12% with 48 cases being detected, he said. The Northeastern state now has 368 active cases. The state has so far recorded 2,29,348 COVID-19 cases. Of them, 2,28,274 patients have recovered, including...

Guwahati, July 4: Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (BRLF) on Monday said it has joined hands with Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) to improve the employment opportunities of ST and Adivasi communities in two Assam districts. BRLF and BTC signed an agreement to implement a project on improving the socio-economic condition of some specific communities in Bodoland, the society under the Union Ministry of Rural Development said in a statement. According to the MoU, the 'Transforming the Lives of Bodoland Tribes' project will cover 40,000 households belonging to the tribal and the...

Guwahati, July 4: The Assam unit of Jamiat Ulema, a key Islamic organisation, has appealed to the Muslims not to sacrifice cows on the occasion of Id-uz-Zuha or 'Bakrid' festival so that the religious feelings of the Hindus are not hurt. As 'Qurbani' is an important part of the festival, animals other than cows can be sacrificed, said Badruddin Ajmal, the organisation's state unit chief. "Sanatan dharma of Hindu religion reveres the cow as their mother and worships them. We should not hurt their religious feelings," Ajmal, also the president...

Shillong, July 4: The Meghalaya cabinet on Monday approved an amendment which provides exemptions to those who earn less than Rs 1.8 lakh annually from paying employment tax but made registration of those employed or earning through trade or other professions mandatory. The amendment to Meghalaya Professions, Trades, Callings and Employment Tax Act said that anyone with income of less than Rs 1.8 lakh will not have to pay the tax and 12 gross income slabs are now reduced to only four, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said. Earlier, only individuals...

Guwahati, July 4: Researchers at IIT-Guwahati have designed an affordable and efficient passive' radiative cooling system that does not require electricity to operate. This 'Radiative Cooler' coating material is an electricity-free' cooling system as it can be applied on the rooftops and functions both during day and night time to provide an alternate to the conventional air-conditioners, an IIT-Guwahati release said on Monday. Passive radiative cooling systems operate by emitting the heat absorbed from the surrounding in the form of infrared radiations that can pass through the atmosphere before getting...

Guwahati, July 3: Every year, around this time, life comes to a complete standstill in Assam, pounded by relentless rain and subsequent landslides and floods, the intensity of which have only been on the rise, leading to increased loss of lives and property. Experts have pointed out that floods in the two river basins of Brahmaputra and Barak have occurred since yore but the unprecedented destruction witnessed in the recent years can be primarily attributed to faulty flood control measures, population pressure, shrinkage of water-bodies, unregulated construction and skewed development...

Shillong, July 3: The Meghalaya government is planning to build 75 new health centres in remote areas that will be resilient to extreme weather conditions, officials said on Sunday. Most health centres in far-flung areas of the state are susceptible to the variability of climate, affecting the well-being of patients, auxiliary nurses, and midwives who run and manage the facilities, they said. The state government has entrusted Sauramandala Foundation for capacity building and designs while Selco Foundation will be the technical partner for the project, they said. We are trying...

Guwahati, July 3: At least 10 drug peddlers, including two women, were arrested from different parts of Assam and heroin, ganja and 'World Is Yours' tablets were seized from their possession, police said on Sunday. Based on specific information, an operation was launched and two drug traffickers were apprehended from a location under the Jajori police station, the Nagaon District Police tweeted. The police also seized 19.1 gm of heroin from their possession, it added. Another search operation was conducted at the house of one suspect in Rupahi Nodirpar area...