The Centre asked the Assam government to initiate immediate steps for preparing and

maintaining correct and complete electoral rolls. This is in pursuance of the decision taken at the
discussions with a delegation of the All Assam Students Union last week that names of foreign
nationals would be removed from the electoral rolls before holding elections in Assam, taking
care to ensure that Indian nationals are not harassed.
Indo-UAE Talks
A two-man official team from India will be in the UAE capital next week to discuss with the
government of that country the problems thousands of Indians are facing as a result of its
decision to implement its labour law. If the UAE Government goes ahead with its plan to
implement the law strictly, thousands of Indians residing there — most of them Keralites — will
have to return to their homeland en masse. The deadline for the departure of illegal residents is
February 21.
Iran Anniversary
As some 50 American hostages marked the 100th day in captivity, tens of thousands of Iranians
celebrated the first anniversary of the nation’s revolutionary regime with a parade through
Teheran. The crush was so great that a grandstand collapsed and an unspecified number of
persons were injured. Teheran Radio said roads leading to the parade route were filled with
people as far as the eye could see.
Gromyko Visits India
While no hard agenda has been drawn up for the talks that Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei
Gromyko is to have with the Indian government in Delhi during the next two days, the
Afghanistan question and the situation in the region are bound to be discussed by the two sides at
length. Gromyko’s is the first visit by a ranking Soviet dignitary to a country in this region after
the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.