WHY are MPs from the northeast not visible in the Parliament? Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has a theory. According to him they do not have the lungpower to force others to listen to them. Gogoi should know. He was member of the Lok Sabha for over three decades and was never heard. His excuse is that he never got enough time to speak in Parliament.Underside of the great Mumbai lureTHE rescue of six teenaged girls of the northeast from a brothel called ‘Congress House’ in Mumbai last week has alarmed the whole region. While three girls were from Assam, the others were from Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. According to Hasina Kharbiih of Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (ASTEC), pimps lure girls from the northeast on the pretext of getting them jobs and roles in television serials. Treasuring the pyramids of Assam AFTER recent excavations in maidams—earthen pyramid-like tombs of the Ahom kings of pre-British Assam, the Archaeological Survey of India will now launch a campaign to get a World Heritage Site status for these structures. The maidams are a huge draw with tourists. The state tourism department too has drawn up a plan to market them vigorously abroad.
