Shillong: The National Institute of Rural Development, North East Regional Centre (NIRD-NERC), Khanapara, has organized a 6-days training-extension programme January 16-21 on ‘capacity building on

SHILLONG: An earthquake of moderate intensity jolted the northeastern region on Wednesday morning. Officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property.

SHILLONG: There is a decrease in the forest cover in the State as per an official report. The decline is a cause of concern considering the ecological impact it could have in the area.

While the forest cover in the State was 77.23 per cent as per the report in 2009, the percentage stands at 77.02 in 2011 showing a decline of 0.23 per cent. Rampant felling of trees in West Khasi Hills coupled with encroachment of forest areas by people in parts of Garo Hills have resulted in the loss of forest cover. There are also reports of deforestation in Garo Hills.

Shillong: Despite being identified as one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world, the North Eastern part of the country has undergone a regression in its effort to protect and preserve the biodiversity resulting in the extinction of species both flora and fauna, said Additional Chief Secretary PBO Warjri.

“There has been no progress, infact, there is regression of the biodiversity and we are actually going backward in this aspect, increasing the chances for rare species to become extinct, threatened or endangered,” Warjri said.

GUWAHATI: The first State review of the ongoing externally-aided projects in Assam took place today at the NEDFi House in Guwahati.

SHILLONG: In a bid to pave the way for food and nutritional security in the region through improved varieties of popular tuber crops, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Research Complex for NEH Region, today held a workshop at the complex in Umiam, Ri-Bhoi District.

The workshop which will last for two days is aptly entitled CTCRI-ICAR-NEH planning-cum inception workshop on enhancing and sustainable livelihood in NEH Region through tuber crops technology.

Agartala: The Central government has provided additional quota of rice at a subsidized rate for the poor living in 12 backward districts in the Northeast, a State government official said here on Monday.

“The union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution on the direction of the Supreme Court has allocated additional quota of food grain to identified 174 districts in 27 States, which include 12 districts in Northeast region,” said Tripura Principal Secretary (food department) BK Roy.

Kohima: A 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit Nagaland and three other north-eastern States in the wee hours of Sunday triggering panic. No casualties have been reported.

According to Regional Seismological Centre in Shillong, the quake occurred at 1.25 am. The epicentre was in Kohima, the capital of Nagaland. The tremor was felt in almost all the districts of Nagaland. Besides Nagaland and Manipur, tremors were felt in Meghalaya, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has extended loans worth Rs 1,462 cr to the government to fund railways transport services, boost agri-business infrastructure in Bihar and improve road infrastructure in the north-eastern region of the country.

In three separate loan agreements signed between ADB and the government, Rs 750 crore will be used to develop the railway system, Rs 374 crore to improve road connectivity in the north-eastern region and Rs 338 crore will be used to boost agri-business infrastructure in Bihar, an official statement said today.

SHILLONG: With the objective of enhancing effective and optimal utilization of funds in the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) towards development of the Northeastern States including Meghalaya, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for introduction of a new Central Sector Plan Scheme titled “Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources – Central – (NLCPOR -Central)”.