Rhino killed
Morigaon (Assam): One adult male rhino was shot dead by poachers in the Pabitora Wildlife sanctuary in Assam, police said on Wednesday.
A gang of poachers killed the rhino near the Jagtol forest camp and escaped with its prized horn on Tuesday night.
This is the third killing of rhino by poachers inside the 38 sq km park this year after two were gunned down in September and October.
The park houses about 100 rhinos, more than those in the two world heritage sites, the Kaziranga national park and the Manas Tiger reserve, forest officials said. (PTI)
Anti-erosion project for Brahmaputra
New Delhi: The Planning Commission on Wednesday gave investment clearance for an anti-erosion project along the Brahmaputra river in Assam.
The Rs 8.35 crore project will cover areas between Uluberi and Borigaon in Assam and is expected to be completed within the current financial year, an official release said.
The project will be funded under the approved outlays in the state’s Annual Plan.
It envisages anti-erosion measures along the South bank of the river.
The scheme aims at protecting an 8,000-hectare area comprising cultivated and home stead land, besides public properties.
Over 1.5 lakh people in the project area are expected to benefit from the scheme. (PTI)
Nagaland gets highest grant for RMSA
Kohima: Nagaland has been allocated the highest amount of Rs 8325.97 Lakh, excluding balance of previous years, among the eight North Eastern states by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) for implementation of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) for the year 2011-12.
According to official sources out of the Rs 8325.97 Lakh, Rs 6471.11 Lakh has been sanctioned for civil works and infrastructure and Rs 1854 Lakh for salaries and maintenance.
The Ministry of HRD has allocated the amount after finalizing approval of Details Project Reports for all the North Eastern states.
Tripura was allocated second highest amount of 5629.22 Lakh followed by Manipur (Rs 5167.49 Lakh), Arunachal Pradesh (Rs 4528.75 Lakh), Mizoram (Rs 4052.59 Lakh), Assam (Rs 3691.54 Lakh), Sikkim (Rs 705.23 Lakh) and Meghalaya (Rs 330.27 Lakh).
The RMSA is a flagship programme of the Government of India for universialisation of Secondary Education in which central government’s share is 90 per cent while the state governments contribute 10 per cent of the project cost for NE states. Nagaland is one of the few states in India to have perspective plan of RMSA up to 2016 to 17. (UNI)