People crowding a petrol pump during the short time it was opened in the face of fuel scarcity

CM, Jayentakumar meet Arjun Singh
Spadework on for IGNTU centre in State
Manipur Info Centre
NEW DELHI, Nov 13 : Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and Education Minister L Jayantakumar Singh on Wednesday met the Union Minister for Human Resources Development Arjun Singh at Shastri Bhawan here to relay the assurance of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh made the previous day for opening a centre of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Manipur.
The meeting lasted for about 10 minutes.
In the evening at 4 today at Shastri Bhawan here; Education Minister L Jayantakumar Singh, Tribal Development Minister
DD Thaisii and student leaders had an hour long discussion with the Union Secretary (Higher Education) RP Agrawal assisted by two Joint Secretaries for formulation of the proposed Manipur campus of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkan-tak in Madhya Pradesh.
The Union Secretary (Higher Education) informed the Manipur Ministers that the matter regarding the opening
of a Regional Centre of the University in Manipur had been
communicated the Vice Chancellor of the University.
An expert group consisting of the representatives of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi had been formed for preparation of Detailed Project Reports of the proposed Centre in Manipur.
RP Agrawal also communicated to them to send a high level team comprising representatives from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University to Manipur very soon to see the suitable location of the Centre.
The Secretary asked the Manipur representatives to find out a suitable location of the area of 500 to 700 acres.
He informed them that the appointment of faculty staff of the Centre would be done on the basis of the all-India norm and as for the admission of the students; it would be based on the ethnic composition of the State.
At the same point of time, the Ministry would also look into whether the reservation of the STs in the Manipur University was fully observed under the existing norm or not by sending a team from the Ministry, he added.
Tribal Development Minister DD Thaisii said here today that the opening of the regional centre of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University would give a good opportunity not only to the tribal people of the region but also to the general people in learning different subjects in the University.
The Minister further stated that the proposed regional centre in Manipur would be the first campus of the University.
The Union Secretary told them that the Ministry has received many proposals from different States for opening of the branches of the University in their respective States, he added.

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READY FOR VISION 2020 : A vehicle makes its way through the slush that passes off as a road at Kasom Khullen

Assam serial blasts
Clues point at ULFA-NDFB combine
Achinta Borah
New Delhi, Nov 9 : More than a week after serial blasts rocked Assam, investigators have found clues that ULFA and NDFB carried out the deadly explosions with the help of Bangladesh-based HuJI's expertise.
Home Ministry sources said the investigators have found enough evidence that the banned ULFA had carried out the October 30 serial blasts with the help of dominant Bodo militant group NDFB.
This comes in the wake of the Centre expressing concern over the "paradigm shift" in the northeast militancy.
Some people have been detained by police and Central security agencies who had provided logistical support including procuring cars used in the blasts that left over 80 people dead and more than 400 injured, the sources said.
The people have an allegiance with the two banned outfits, the sources said.
Interestingly, NDFB is currently under truce with the security forces and is engaged with the Government in peace negotiations.
"We have found that the Bangladesh-based HuJI has provided the expertise to ULFA and NDFB as none of them has the technology to explode such devastating bombs which claimed more than 80 lives," a Home Ministry official said.
Home Ministry sources said the Government is worried over the fact that the northeast militants has started using a deadly mixture of RDX, ammonium nitrate and plasticised explosives to carry out explosions which led to greater casualties which was never seen in the past.
"At least 80 kg RDX were used to carry out the October 30 serial blasts in Assam. Never before in the Northeast such a large quantity of RDX mixed with Ammonium Nitrate and plasticised explosives was used as propellants," a Home Ministry official said.
Each of the cars, which were used to carry out three explosions in Guwahati, was laden with 20 to 25 kgs of RDX.
A maximum amount of explosives used for a single blast in the State was 10 kg at Dhemaji during the 2004 Independence Day which killed 13 people, including 10 school children.
The September 1 serial blasts in Agartala, where terrorists triggered four blasts within an hour, were the first synchronised explosions in the Northeast. The Assam serial blasts were carried out within a span of just 20 minutes.
"Kokrajhar, where three bombs were exploded is 250 km away from Guwahati while Barpeta Road, another place of bomb attack, is 150 km away. The near simultaneous explosions at the three far apart places show how the terrorists worked in precision," the official said, adding "this is also a new trend in the Northeast".
"Neither ULFA nor NDFB has the expertise to carry out such dead explosions. Besides, HuJI has no logistics at a place like Kokrajhar. So a nexus between local outfit with outsiders is evident," the official said.
The November 5 meeting of Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Northeastern States, which was attended by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan, Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar and Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, took stock of the connection between a Naxal group and a Manipuri insurgent group, possibly to procure arms from the Northeast which has a porous international borders with several foreign countries, the sources said.
"Probably this is the first report of any Northeast militant group having link with an extremist outfit of mainland," the sources said.
Unlike in the past, there have been growing collaborations among the different insurgent groups.PTI

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