SPICMACAY Concert at Sikkim University

Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt: recital in progress

SPICMACAY Concert at Sikkim University by Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan Veena)

Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University welcoming Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt & Pt. Ramkumar Mishra

Northeast asks centre to reduce gas prices

The northeastern states have urged the central government to reduce the prices of natural gas being used in various thermal power projects of the region, a Tripura minister said here Sunday.

The power ministers of the seven northeastern states met union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora in New Delhi last week and told them that unless the government reduces the gas price, the people of the northeast would be burdened with heavy electricity tariff.“Over 48 percent of the total electricity is generated from the gas-based thermal power projects in the northeastern region,” Tripura Power and Transport Minister Manik Dey told reporters.

For more, read:
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/northeast-asks-centre-to-reduce-gas-prices_100420004.html

Mizoram ready to take back Bru refugees

The Mizoram government was ready to take back Bru refugees from the six relief camps in North Tripura district before October this year as desired by Union home minister P Chidambaram. "The ball is in the court of the refugees," chief secretary Van Hela Pachuau told PTI here today. "The state government is ready and it is now the refugees who should be ready for the repatriation process," he said, adding that it was always the refugees who made excuses when the state government had prepared schedules for their repatriation earlier.

for more, read:
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mizoram-ready-to-take-back-bru-refugees_1428581

Fears of 'demographic inundation' behind Bhutan's refugee crisis

From their isolated perch in the heights of the Himalayas, the leaders of Bhutan looked upon their borderlands in the 1980s and saw a problem.

Their authority and traditional way of life, preserved by centuries of reclusion from a changing world, were threatened, they felt, by people they had allowed to migrate into the Buddhist kingdom for more than a century.

These newer people were a minority but could soon become the majority. So the monarchy sent a message and promised to enforce it: Fit in or get lost.

For more, read: http://www.insidebayarea.com/bhutan/ci_15906108

Sikkim declares 2010 as Year of Tourism

Having declared the year 2010 as the Year of Tourism, the Sikkim government has drawn up a plan incorporating as many as 13 local festivals in the list of popular events to be staged next year to woo tourists from across the country and abroad.Officials of the tourism department said that the celebration of the Year of Tourism will commence with the Sikkim Discover Festival to be held in March/April next year and conclude with the State Flower Show to be held at the state capital in March, 2011.

Read full report on http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200907021251.htm

Mizoram spends Rs 70 cr on tobacco annually

Mizoram Chief Secretary and chairman of the state Tobacco Control Society Vanhela Pachuau on Thursday said that Mizoram spent around Rs 70 crore on tobacco products per annum. Pachuau, addressing a press conference, based his calculation on the basis of the study conducted by the Presbyterian Church in 2004 which said that 77 per cent of the church's over five lakh members in the state consumed tobacco products and spent around Rs Nine lakh per day.

Read full report on http://www.zeenews.com/news544016.html