Imphal, Jul 9 : The number of persons who have collected the Damdawi plant potion prepared at Chawlein Medicine Research Agency, Saikot village in Churachandpur district has crossed 3.2 lakhs despite the state government`s intention to prevent mass consumption of the potion.

A state high level meeting which was held on June 21 jointly presided by three Cabinet ministers and attended by a number of experts, scientists from various institutions and doctors from the state has already discussed the issue of restricting the prevailing mass distribution of the Damdawi potion because of the possibile health hazards and side effects of the unbranded medicine. (more…)

By Nehginpao Kipgen

When invited to write an article for the ‘The Chin Student Journal’ on the topic I am passionate about, varying thoughts begirded my mind. Of the umpteen important issues, the impact of nomenclatures on the Chin-Kuki-Mizo people was one unparalleled subject.

Historically, our people were independent from foreign domination. In the evolving process of international politics, we have been dispersed in different parts of the world – notably in Bangladesh, Burma and India. (more…)

Karbi Anglong, Jul 9 : Karbi Anglong district is spading its way to become a herbal paradise and cash in on the global obsession with alternative medicine.

Black pepper for indigestion, bay leaf for cold and aloe vera for infection.

Call it word-of-mouth remedies, folk medication or what you will, but the “hedge-grow medicine” has survived contemptuous barbs of allopathic practitioners for ages. (more…)

Incidence of cancer and consumption of tobacco are very high in the region, says Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss

Shillong, Jul 9 : The BSF on Monday busted a hideout of the Black Widow group in Assam’s North Cachar Hills district and recovered a huge cache of arms.

A special operations team of the BSF and Assam Police carried out a search operation in the twin villages of Dimadao and Dithur in Umrangso, a BSF statement from the headquarters here said. (more…)

Aizawl, Jul 9 : The police in Barak Valley has stepped up its vigil along the Asom-Myanmar border following two consecutive seizures of arms and ammunition while being transhipped to an unknown destination through Mizoram in recent times.

The police suspects the involvement of a powerful narcotic racket behind cross-border smuggling of arms by using the Barak Valley as the transit route.Cross-border arms smugglers have been using the Myanmar border with Mizoram to penetrate into India in view of the adverse political situation in Bangladesh, police sources said. (more…)

Guwahati, Jul 9 : Apprehensive about the East-West Corridor highway project in the Bodo belt going the North Cachar Hills way, Dispur is requisitioning an additional 2,000 ex-servicemen for deployment in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) stretch of the road.

Sources in the chief minister’s office said the move was initiated even before two of the several construction companies engaged in the project stopped work in the Bodo belt. (more…)

Imphal, Jul 9 : The All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM) today threatened to launch a movement for a separate directorate of education for the hills if the Okram Ibobi Singh government failed to fill up vacant posts of teachers.

The students’ union, however, cancelled its plan to impose an indefinite economic blockade along the Imphal-Kohima (NH-39) and Imphal-Jiribam (NH-53) highways from July 10 midnight. (more…)

Imphal, Jul 9 : Taking their protracted call for separate compartmental examination centre in the district to the extreme, the Churachandpur District Students’ Union today seized a huge cache of files from the Zonal Education Office and set July 12 as deadline for the heads of institutions to withdraw their enrolment/registration from the State education boards.

In a statement circulated to all heads of institutions in the district today, CDSU said, the union had on September 19, 2006 signed an MoU with the Government for installation of separate compartmental examination centre here. (more…)

Guwahati, Jul 9 : The overall flood situation in Assam continued to remain grave even as the Central Water Commission warned that the river Brahmaputra was rising in lower Assam areas.

The scene in the the worst-hit Dehmaji and Lakhimpur districts, however, remained critical for the fifth day today as rail and road communication was snapped following breach of banks by river Ranganadi, official sources said. (more…)

The Khasi, a tribe in the north east Indian state of Meghalaya, follow an ancient matrilineal custom, whereby only daughters inherit property.

But now, a group of men is challenging succession rights, and they’re taking their fight to the high court.

Presenter: Alana Rosenbaum
Speakers: Keith Pariat head of the the SRT; Patricia Mukhim, Editor, Shillong Times; Valentina Pakyntein teaches anthropology in Shillong (more…)

Shillong, Jul 8 : The Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship (RGNF) scheme, launched by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry for Schedule Tribe (ST) students has benefited 79 students, Union Tribal Affairs Minister P.R. Kyndiah said.

The new scholarship scheme was launched by the Ministry in the academic session 2007-08 with grants to 23 institutes. (more…)

North-east India has always been a hotspot for population geneticists due to its unique, strategic geographic location and the presence of linguistically, culturally and demographically diverse populations practicing varied occupations (from hunter-gathering to settled agriculture).

There are an estimated 532 tribal communities who inhabit the different geographical regions, who vary in their morphological features and ethnic origins (Australian, African, East Asian) of varied cultural features and who belong to three linguistic families (Austro-Asiatic, Dravidian and Tibeto-Burman). These are important in understanding the genetic history and peopling of the Indian subcontinent, and to derive further insights into the antiquity and past human migrations to other parts of Asia and their genetic relatedness. (more…)

By Graeme McMillan

With The Dark Knight set to follow Hancock, Wanted, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man into the theaters and hearts of cinemagoers worldwide, it seems that this really is the summer of movie superheroes. But what about Will Smith’s earlier attempt to be a superhero and all the other superhero also-rans that didn’t quite make it onto film? Under the jump, we look at five superhero movies that we’re relieved didn’t make it to a first day of shooting.

The Mark: Rob Liefeld’s near-mythical movie for Will Smith (First announced in 1997) possibly disappeared due to worries over its similarity to Marvel’s Star Brand series (which is, itself, a rip-off of DC’s Green Lantern): Smith was to play an average joe who would end up with ultimate power that he didn’t want, thanks to a mysterious brand that is magically “transferred” to his body from the corpse of a Confederate soldier. The pitch meeting probably went like this: “Picture this, Will. You have this mark on your hand, right? And you’re looking at it, wondering what it is, and then it has this laser blast that comes out of it and blasts through a wall in your apartment.” “Can I look at the hole in the wall and say ‘Awww hell naw’?” “Sure.” “I’ll do it!” (more…)

By Anu Jogesh

New Delhi, Jul 7 : At least four states, the Army and the Railways have pinned their hopes for a clean, efficient alternate fuel on a common weed: Jatropha.

The Army has planted Jatropha in 300 hectares to conduct key tests and uses oil from the plant’s seed as bio-diesel to power its tanks. The fuel mix comprises 80 per cent diesel and 20 per cent Jatropha oil. The Army is keen on Jatropha because it believes in case of war the first casualty will be import of petroleum products.

“Energy security is the country’s security and so we’re taking no chances,” says Zakwan Ahmed, Director of the Defence Agriculture Research Lab. (more…)

New Delhi: Three Indian Army officers have been let off with a warning over allegations of gold trafficking while they were UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The allegations, first revealed by the BBC, were part of a wider investigation carried out by the UN.

The UN has kicked off an investigation into the allegations that Indian peacekeepers traded food and even military intelligence with Rwandan Hutu rebels in return for gold. The rebels were involved in the Rwandan genocide. (more…)

London, Jul 7 : A quarter of Londoners would like to be a councillor, despite many not knowing what the job entails or who runs their council, according to a poll.

Rubbish collection, local taxes and leisure services are among areas overseen by local councillors in Britain, who number 20,000 in total and are elected by the communities they serve. (more…)

London, Jul 7 : Long before Cristiano Ronaldo, Spanish footie ace Sergio Ramos had got his hands on the Man U player’s ladylove Nereida Gallardo.

A pal of Gallardo’s revealed that Cristiano has no clue of the stunner’s past relationship with the Portugal ace. (more…)

By Karl L. Gechlik

Microsoft offering their users a piece of free magic software, called SteadyState. We have all been there late at night and our virtual guard is down. Maybe you hopped on an unsecured network and decided to browse some hardcore porn sites bit torrent trackers um er let’s just say some not so reputable sites. Either way you have exposed your machine to a potentially bad neighborhood and if your protection on your machine isn’t up to snuff then who knows what could have happened already! (more…)

Monday (July 7) morning witnessed a deadly suicide car attack in front of the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in recent months. Indian ambassador escaped unhurt in the attack.

At least 30 people were killed or injured in a massive suicide car-bombing in front of the Indian Embassy on the comparatively secure Interior Ministry Road in Kabul on Monday (July 7) morning. (more…)