Home to one of the wettest regions in the world, Meghalaya is facing shortage of rainfall this monsoon, along with Gujarat and southern parts of the country.
Though southwest monsoon had covered the entire country by July 10, five days ahead of the average date, southern peninsula, several states in Northeastern India, Gujarat and central Maharashtra have witnessed scanty rainfall. Regions facing scanty rainfall also include North Karnataka, Telengana in Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Lakshadweep.

SHILLONG, July 17: Consensus will determine the Governments decision on the proposed uranium mining in the State, asserted Meghalaya Chief Minister Dr Donkupar Roy. Ahead of Friday's all party meeting on uranium mining in Shillong, the Chief Minister told mediapersons "Any decision on the complex issue will be bases on consensus'.
Categorically stating that no decision will be imposed on the people of the State, Roy said, "The issue of health hazard will have to be discussed thoroughly before taking any decision'.

SHILLONG

The Meghalaya Government has asked the Centre to take special care for uplift of the health sector in the Northeastern States as the services were far from "satisfactory'. At a meeting recently, Meghalaya Chief Minister Donkupar Roy apprised Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss of the state of health sector in his State, saying that it was far from satisfactory. Roy requested Ramadoss to give adequate fund to improve the vital sector.

The Meghalaya government today admitted a nexus between school managing committees and distributors of foodgrain which has badly affected implementation of the Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDM). The government made the admission after a review meeting of the scheme in north-eastern states with Central Government officials here. Parliamentary Secretary Mass and Elementary Education Ampareen Lyngdoh told the media that certain managing committees and distributors were in nexus that resulted in distribution of poor quality foodgrain in schools under the scheme.

In an U-turn, the Congress today decided to join the all-party committee on uranium mining in Meghalaya. Earlier, the party had decided not to join the committee formed by Chief Minister Donkupar Roy to arrive at a consensus on whether to allow Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to go ahead with mining the heavy metal in the state. The decision to join the panel came after the AICC summoned the PCC president O L Nongtdu and Leader of the Opposition D D Lapang to discuss the matter.

Himachal Pradesh will have the country's first solar-grade silicon plant, based on environment friendly, state-of-the-art technology. The plant will be set-up by Indo-Norwegian Solar Company. "It will manufacture silicon ignots and wafers at 70 per cent lower cost, to meet India's emerging demand for solar cells. The price of silicon has been increasing rapidly as there are only few manufacturers of solar-grade silicon,' Erik Tonseth, chairman of the company, said.

Minister for Development of North Eastern Region Mani Shankar Aiyar on Wednesday termed the second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommendation to abolish his ministry as unfortunate and said the Centre should instead increase its budget. The ARC, headed by former Karnataka Chief Minister M Veerappa Moily, had recommended abolition of the ministry and suggested that responsibility for development of the region be restored to the Home Ministry.

About 708 remote villages and hamlets have been electrified in the north-eastern States so far under the Remote Village Electrification (RVE) programme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, with about 1,167 projects under implementation in villages/hamlets, according to a PIB press release.

Assam and Meghalaya are locked in a border row over a remote village Lampih following the potential discovery of uranium in this tiny hamlet-Insaf