After a terrible child death in Guwahati, the chief minister of Assam orders satellite mapping of open drains.

In the aftermath of a tragic accident in Kalapahar, Guwahati, where a five-year-old boy died after falling into an open under-construction drain, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed the chief secretary to use satellite imagery to identify all open drains across the city. The move comes amid rising concerns over public safety and reports of missing manhole covers. On the same day, another mishap in Kahilipara left an elderly man severely injured after a fall into a partially built roadside drain. The Chief Minister stressed stricter monitoring of construction sites and preventive measures to avoid a repeat of such tragedies.

Bhubaneswar is the location of Assam’s “Most Wanted.”

In a dramatic joint operation on Thursday, Assam Police and the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate Police raided Subhadra Apartment in Bhubaneswar’s Infocity area to nab Sameer Patnaik, one of Assam’s most wanted accused in multi-crore financial scams. Acting on fresh warrants and intelligence inputs, the police forced entry into the suspected hideout but found Patnaik missing. An unidentified woman present at the flat was detained for questioning. Authorities suspect Patnaik is still in Bhubaneswar, possibly aided by local contacts, and follow-up raids are underway. The operation highlights intensified inter-state coordination to track high-profile economic offenders.

The NIRF performance of Assamese higher education institutions.

Assam’s higher education sector has registered a proud achievement in the NIRF 2025 rankings, with IIT Guwahati (11th), Gauhati University (52nd overall / 9th among state public universities), and NIT Silchar (97th) making it to India’s top 100 institutions. Notably, Gauhati University made its strongest-ever leap, breaking into the top 10 state public universities, a feat hailed by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nani Gopal Mahanta as a “momentous institutional leap.” Education Minister Dr. Ranoj Pegu lauded the success, calling it a reflection of Assam’s growing academic strength. The recognition comes as GU also earned a place in the Times Higher Education Asia Rankings 2025 (351–400 global band, 48th in India).

BRO restores a crucial supply route after clearing a landslide-damaged road in Tawang, Arunachal.

Heavy rainfall triggered multiple landslides near Jang in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district on Wednesday, blocking key sections of the strategic Balipara–Charduar–Tawang (BCT) road. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) swiftly cleared the debris by midnight, restoring traffic movement and ensuring uninterrupted passage of military convoys and essential supplies.

The BharatGen AI platform at IIT Bombay now supports the Assamese language.

In a landmark development for regional language preservation, Assamese has been integrated into IIT Bombay’s AI platform BharatGen through a collaboration with two Guwahati-based NGOs. The move brings over two million pages of digitised Assamese content into the national AI initiative, making Assamese the tenth Indian language on the platform. Officials said this marks the first time Assamese has achieved such scale of AI readiness.

The integration is the outcome of the ‘Digitising Assam’ project by the Nanda Talukdar Foundation (NTF) and Assam Jatiya Bidyalay Trust, where volunteers digitised books, journals, manuscripts, and ancient Sachipats over 40 months, creating one of India’s largest citizen-led preservation efforts. BharatGen—India’s first government-funded multi-modal large language model spearheaded by IIT Bombay—aims to cover all 22 scheduled Indian languages and serve as an indigenous alternative to global AI platforms. Assamese’s inclusion ensures digital preservation, cultural safeguarding, and AI accessibility for the language in India’s growing tech ecosystem.

Over Rs 95 crore worth of development projects in Meghalaya are released by the North Eastern Council.

Meghalaya has secured nearly ₹96 crore in fresh development support from the North Eastern Council (NEC) in August, with major focus areas being rural markets, education, and community upliftment. The largest allocation is earmarked for setting up 30 farmers’ markets across the state — ₹4.47 crore for 20 smaller markets and ₹4.45 crore for 10 larger ones — aimed at strengthening local agri-business and improving farm incomes. Additional grants include ₹48.87 lakh for a new school building in Mawthadraishan, West Khasi Hills, and over ₹17 lakh for development programmes for the Tiwa community in Ri-Bhoi.

Alongside state-specific projects, the NEC approved regional schemes benefiting Meghalaya, such as scientific smoked meat units, integrated fisheries and piggery projects, and investments in pig breeding and value-chain development. It also sanctioned ₹51.17 lakh to support residential costs for youth skill training in Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) and IT-ITES, under a Shillong-based programme expected to train around 400 youths across the North-East.

Assam’s schools see a decline in dropout rates and an increase in enrolment and retention: UDISE+ 2024–25 report.

Assam has recorded significant gains in school education across key indicators, according to the UDISE+ 2024–25 report released by the Ministry of Education. Education Minister Ranoj Pegu, addressing the media in Guwahati on September 3, credited the state’s reforms—such as the AI-powered Shiksha Setu initiative and improved infrastructure—for reducing dropout rates, boosting enrolment, and strengthening retention at multiple levels. The lower primary dropout rate has fallen sharply from 6.2% to 3.8%, while secondary transitions and gross enrolment ratios have also improved. Marking Teacher’s Day, Pegu announced the Kriti Shikshak Awards for 15 teachers, and said six “A”-grade colleges would also be felicitated. He reiterated that recruitment would remain strictly within sanctioned vacancies.