The Dark Age Of Tocklai

“It’s going to perish within two years..”, sighed a scientist working at the Asia’s largest tea research institute. Toklai Tea Research Institute resting in Jorhat has been the pride of the country and hub of different kinds of researches. Since the time of its establishment way back in the colonial era, Tocklai Tea Research Institute has seen glorious days. Scientists from far and wide would come to this institute to do their researches as Toklai was a perfect and all encompassing hub to carry out researches. But why is it on the verge of closure?

The Ayodhya Verdict

On 9th of November, the Supreme Court of India finally delivered a judgment in the Ram Janambhumi-Babri Masjid dispute, which is considered to be one of the most controversial and enduring issues in the legal history of India.

Playing With Fire In A Man's World

The struggle of gender equality has been a part of our society since time immemorial. However, even after we have reached the 21st century, our mindset still needs to be revamped on the subject.

Bell Metal Industry: Future Lies In Institutional Support

Despite being an important part of Assamese tradition and culture, the Bell metal industry of Sarthebari is facing several challenges like many other traditional industries of Assam. The industry will not survive on its own only depending on destiny and needs policy intervention. Arup Jyoti Das writes

The Massive Sell: Privatisation Of National Properties

The Union government has recently cleared disinvestment in five Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in the country.

Empowering Rural Women To Fight India's Hunger

The Global Hunger Index 2019 is out and India has once again fallen down from its previous ranks to 102 among 117 countries, being tagged as a country with ‘serious’ levels of hunger.

Unrepresented Tribes And The Politics Of Exclusion In Meghalaya

Meghalaya’s bid to exclude “unrepresented tribes” from the provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution has left minor tribes upset. The five minority tribes -Hajong, Koch, Rabha, Boro and Mann are clubbed together as “unrepresented tribes” and they fear that once the proposed amendment is implemented, their rights will be violated. Northeast Today reports.

Cannabis: Legal Or Illegal?

On 21st September at the launch of the “Start-Up Manipur” Scheme, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh cited two reasons for the legalisation of Cannabis in Manipur. The first one is, it will be used for medical and industrial purposes, and secondly the cultivation of the plant that grows abundantly in the state, would help boost the revenue generation of the state. However, the legalization of Cannabis has always remained a debatable topic. Mumeninaz Zaman explores more.

Home Minister Wants Hindi As ‘Language For The Country'

The Narendra Modi-led government has continued to push Hindi as the ‘one’ language of India since it came to power in 2014. In its previous stint, the BJP had tried to change the language of official correspondence to Hindi. It had also tried to make Hindi compulsory in schools across India. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent comment that ‘only Hindi could unite the nation’ as the language reflect the country’s identity is what BJP always wanted to implement. Kingson Chingakham narrates.

Autumn Bonanza

A new film made from Naharkatiya in Upper Assam has been creating a buzz among film buffs, and the people involved in its making, in particular, the producer and director, are promising to provide wholesome entertainment to a family audience.

Are The Gun Days Gone In Northeast India

The Northeast has been relatively peaceful this year with significant drop in insurgency related fatalities and activities. With this changing scenario, there is a voice in support of paradigm shift in the Northeastern region’s security policy which has been largely defined or modeled along anti-insurgency.

Wahida Ahmed

WEAVING AN ODYSSEY OF EXPLORING AND EXPERIMENTING INDIGENOUS ART

Imlibenla Wati

Meet the Naga Beauty who have represented India at the International platform

Son Beel Struggling For Survival

At a time when Sarbananda Sonowal led Assam government is mulling to promote the water tourism of the state by organising river festivals like Namami Brahmaputra and Namami Barak, Son Beel—Assam’s largest wetland is crying for attention.

Criminalising Marital Rape Of Child Brides – A Glass Half Full

On October 11, 2017, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgement by criminalising sex with child brides and this has brought relief to millions of child brides (who shouldn’t have been brides in the first place) across the country.

India Slips In GHI 2017 Report

NET Bureau In a Nutshell

Combating Fake News in Social Media

WikiLeaks’ founder says “If journalism is good, it is controversial by its nature”. The lines echo in my head constantly and make much sense every time I scroll through my phone, reading news with melodramatic headlines trying to get viral by sounding controversial.

Memoirs Of 5th Tawang Festival

The Tawang Festival, which entered into its fifth year this year, was born out of an initiative of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu when he was the state Tourism Minister in 2012.

Doklam Not Over Yet

According to a report published at the Times of India, it has been stated that about 1,600-1,800 Chinese troops have established a “virtually permanent presence” in Doklam.

Bitter Story Of Manipur's Prized Lemon

Manipur’s prized Lemon, popularly known as “Kachai Lemon” one of the most sought after of all the fruits grown in Manipur, apparently is not getting enough attention and care it deserves.

Dating Apps' Grey World

Sir Albert Einstein, while explaining what relativity is, once said, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” Analysing Einstein here, we can say that time spend with one’s partner is always less and never enough. Meeting each other and to go out for a long drive or a walk is always exciting. But as the world has developed technologically, meeting in person has been gradually replaced by virtuosity. Kingson Chingakham gives an account about the advent of dating apps and how it has replaced the age-old tradition of dating and pushed the entire concept towards oblivion.

Orange Is The New Black

In a bid to attract people from across the world to explore the unexplored beauty and experience the exotic and vibrant culture of Arunachal Pradesh, Abu Tayeng, a resident of Dambuk village and a senior bureaucrat of Arunachal government have been organising Orange Festival of Adventure and Music (OFAM) for the past few years. OFAM is the first of its kind festivals in India which combines adventure sports and musical gigs on the same platform. Northeast Today finds out more.

AFSPA Extended For Six More Months

Despite remarkable improvement in law and order situation of the state, the Sarbananda Sonowal government in Assam has recently touted the entire state ‘disturbed’ by extending the controversial AFSPA for another six months. Significantly, this is for the first time in the past 27 years that the Assam government has taken this decision.

Exploring World Through Books

With an aim to provide children a chance to explore the world of literature, Kolkata-based Crayons of Hope has brought its unique library Wall O Books to Arunachal Pradesh. Wall O Books is a dream revolution and its main intention is to sweep the minds of the underprivileged children with books and a magical wall! 

Dead Due To Politics Or Politics On The Dead?

Mystery still shrouds the death of Santanu Bhowmik- a Tripura-based TV journalist- who was killed on September 21,2017, by miscreants, allegedly owing allegiance to the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). Meanwhile, serious allegations of incompetency are being raised against Tripura Police- both by local villagers and as well as by a larger section of the media fraternity. They strongly feel that a CBI probe into the incident is a necessity as the SIT investigation ordered by the state government is just an eyewash.

The Citizenship Imbroglio

Central government’s decision to grant citizenship to Chakma-Hajong refugees living in Arunachal Pradesh (since the 1960s) has created a ruckus in the state and every section of the society has come together against the Centre’s decision expressing their displeasure. From economic shut-downs to strong political resentments, Arunachal Pradesh in the past few weeks has witnessed protests of various magnitudes. No matter what, the people of Arunachal Pradesh are not at all ready to accept the Chakma-Hajongs as citizens. The indigenous communities feel that granting citizenship to these refugees of over six decades could threaten their very existence. Northeast Today digs in deeper.

Beyond Journalists' Murders

First Words

India's Q1 GDP Growth Lowest In Three Years

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter (April-June) Q1, of 2017-18. The GDP has slowed down to 5.7 per cent, a dip of 1.5 per cent from the preceding year’s first quarter. Demonetisation and clearing of inventory by the manufacturers before the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) have been largely held responsible for hampering growth in the country. Other than these two reasons, if we need to resuscitate our economy, we need to assess and understand the other factors which have contributed in arresting our economic growth.

Rohingya Refugees & India

A military crackdown against the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar has left hundreds of men, women, and children of the group homeless, besides exposing them to a series of atrocities. Having faced discrimination in the Buddhist-majority country for decades, the Rohingya are now fleeing in large numbers in search of a safer haven. Termed as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, this Rohingya mass exodus is certain to have an impact on the immigrant issue through which India has been plaguing for ages.

Sand Mining Goes Unregulated In Garo Hills

Centre for Environment Protection and Rural Development (CEPARD), a Tura-based NGO said that “excessive” sand mining was one of the reasons for erosion and rivers like Ganol changing its course.