“Mission Samadhan” scheme ceremonially launched in ChirangThe Chirang district administration on Monday ceremonially launched “Mission Samadhan”, an initiative undertaken by the district administration to provide relief to the residents of Chirang district who are deprived of caste certificates due to lack of linkages.Deputy Commissioner Shah said that those residents from Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes of the district who have been deprived of getting caste certificates due to lack of linkage, would now be able to apply for caste certificate through this mission by March 22, 2022.NORTH-EASTERN STATES

Meghalaya govt initiates talks with a terror outfit in hill state

After the Centre’s nod, the Meghalaya government has initiated the process to hold formal talks with the banned militant outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), officials said on Friday. A senior official of the Meghalaya Home Department said that the has appointed retired Ias officer Peter S Dkhar as the interlocutor for facilitating the talks with the HNLC, which also last month offered to hold peace talks with the Centre and the Meghalaya government without any pre-conditions.

The HNLC has claimed responsibility for the low-intensity blasts that took place in recent months in the heart of Shillong and other areas in the state. While militancy is on the decline in Meghalaya over the last several years, but since 2020 the HNLC has been behind a few low-intensity IED blasts in the state. The HNLC, which has been demanding a sovereign Khasi tribal homeland in Meghalaya, is a breakaway faction of the Hynniewtrep Achik Liberation Council, the first tribal militant outfit of the mountainous state, formed in the mid-1980s.