Even as a CBI team has arrived to investigate the increasing incidents of poaching of rhinoceros, officials have claimed to have found that poachers are recruiting young men from villages on the fringes of Kaziranga National Park.

"We have been told that a number of young men, including minors, have been roped in by different gangs that have targeted rhinos in Kaziranga in recent weeks. We are looking at a chain of criminals that begin with the local villager locating a rhino to the end-user across the international border," Ravindra Singh, SP, CBI Wildlife Crime Investigation Wing, told The Indian Express.

Rhinos in Assam are back in the cross-hairs of poachers. Following a lull of hardly a month towards the end of 2012, the poachers have returned to Kaziranga National Park, gunning down seven rhinos in the current year. That makes it one rhino killed every week there alone. And two other rhinos have been killed elsewhere in the state.

"Yes, incidents of poaching have gone up in the past few weeks," said Assam forest and environment minister Rockybull Hussain. "What is alarming is that while earlier it was criminals and smugglers who were involved in poaching of rhinos, recent incidents have revealed the involvement of armed militant groups."

Seven years ago, when the Arunachal Pradesh government introduced cultivation of large cardamom in Lower Subansiri and other adjoining districts as an alternative to jhum or slash-and-burn cultivat

Over 2.44 lakh people have been affected by floods in 14 districts across Assam in the past few days, with the authorities shifting over 32,000 people to relief camps, official sources said here on

Assan Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday unveiled a Vision Document for women and children, setting an ambitious target of bringing down the state’s alarming infant mortality and maternal mortal