ARUNACHAL Pradesh education minister and official spokesman has a one-point agenda so far as dealing with New Delhi is concerned. He has been pressing for strengthening the road communication as well as Doordarshan coverage in areas of the state that are close to the Chinese border. China, he says, has been constructing excellent roads on their side of the international boundary. Moreover, Arunachali tribals residing in the border areas are not covered by the Doordarshan and AIR network, compelling them to watch Chinese television and switch on to Chinese radio, he pointed out again last week. Exploring the lost world TILL last week, Charaideo was a sleepy village near Sivasagar in Upper Assam. Then the Archaeological Survey of India team came in to excavate the 40-odd earthen pyramids that are the tombs of kings, queens and other members of the Ahom royal families. The Ahoms ruled Assam for more than 600 years, till the arrival of the British in 1826. The excavation of the maidams (pyramids) has shed light in the manner in which the Ahom royals were buried. The ASI team has also found human bones, utensils and other articles that will help reconstruct history. Focus on Majuli THE campaign to pressure the UNESCO into recognising Majuli, the world’s largest river island, as a World Heritage Site, continues. Last week, at the North Eastern Cultural Festival organised in the sandy banks of the Brahmaputra in Majuli, eminent people like Bhupen Hazarika called for a more concerted campaign to draw world attention to the island and get international support to protect it from the threat of erosion posed by the Red River. Trade yes, Bangladeshis no WHILE the Centre has launched a countrywide campaign to throw out illegal Bangladeshi migrants, Abhijit Barooah, president of the Federation of Industries & Commerce, North-Eastern Region (FINER), has called for increased trade and business between India’s Northeast and the neighbouring country. Lamenting the trade imbalance between Northeast India and Bangladesh, Barooah has pointed out that while the region imported goods worth Rs 52.6 crore from Bangladesh during 2002-03, the Northeast’s net export was to the tune of only Rs 28.9 crore. Breathing Life into Death THE Northeast has a number of cemeteries dating back to the World War II that are lying uncared for for several decades. One of them is at Jairampur in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. It is the final resting place of several valiant soldiers who took on the Japanese army under the leadership of Hsiao Chu Ching, a company commander of the 2nd battalion of the 10th regiment of the Indian Engineers of the Chinese Army. Thanks to campaigns in the media, the New Delhi-based Indo-Taipei Cultural Exchange Centre has come forward to renovate it.
