Vice-president Hamid Ansari on Wednesday urged the younger generation of the country to be aware of the past history, culture and literature of their land and people to be good citizens.

Both the presiding officers of two Houses of Parliament are visiting Tripura within a span of one week that will begin with the arrival of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Wednesday to attend a seminar to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tripura Assembly while the chairman of Rajya Sabha and vice-president Hamid Ansari will visit the state on September 25 to inaugurate the newly build state museum.

A major split in Congress marked the fresh beginning of the Trinamul Congress in Tripura with a promise to oust the Left Front from their last bastion in 2018 when the state will hold its next Assembly election and the immediate goal to emerge as the second political force in the state in 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The Tripura high court has ordered the doctor of Santir Bazar PHC Sanjit Kumar Deb and Sajal Sharma, officer-in-charge of the Manpathar police outpost in South Tripura district to pay `2 lakh each to the wife of one Krishna Keshab Datta, a police constable who died in police custody, for negligence in performing their duty as well as conspiring to protect some Tripura State Rifles officials who inflicted grievous injury on the victim causing his demise.

The growing hegemony of Indian Forest Service officers in general administration is causing heartburn for the members of the Indian Administrative Service, who are considering to approach department of personnel seeking their intervention.

Rubber trees are as green as any other trees but it has some difference. Unlike other trees or herbs or shrubs, the latex reach rubber leaves are not edible for human beings or animals or birds.

Tripura chief minister and CPI(M) politburo member Manik Sarkar virtually stirred a hornet’s nest by revealing the internal proceedings of an important central committee meeting of the secretive party held 17 years ago where the party plugged former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu’s aspiration to become Prime Minister of the country which the departed leader later described as a “historic blunder”.

The quest to retain the last bastion brought all most the entire top brass of the CPI(M) to Tripura who are criss-crossing the whole state to campaign in favour of their party candidates for the February 14 state Assembly elections. Apart from chief minister Manik Sarkar, three more politburo members — Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat and West Bengal state secretary Biman Bose — are now in Tripura. Each of them is holding four to five meetings every day in different parts of the state.

Eleven National Liberation Front of Tripura militants led by dreaded area commander Suren Debbarma surrendered on Saturday bringing much relief for the security forces on the eve of the state Assembly election. The group also handed over some arms and ammunitions, including AK series rifles.

Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s comment regarding the Opposition’s “ignorance about global realities or their backwardness” in realising the need for economic reforms, CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat asked the Prime Minister to come down to the ground realities and understand the sufferings of the toiling masses. “Don’t see the world sitting on an American helicopter, please come down to the ground,” she said.