DELHI ORIYA STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION (DOSA) (Regd.No - 4647/1970) Since 1960.....

Rs 42,000 cr to be invested to produce oil from coal

2010-03-23T23:42:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

Another Rs 42,000 crore would be invested in the State to make oil from coal and German-based technology would be used for this purpose. The plant would be known as Coal to Liquid (CTL) project and be set up by Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL). “Besides Tata, JSPL would also produce oil and other ingredients from the coal,” said Secretary, Steel and Mines Ashok Dalwai.

After briefing about the project to the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat about the proposed project on Monday, JSPL chief Naveen Jindal said the company would rope in German-based company Lurgee to provide the technical support. As per the plan, the project would come up near Durgapur in Angul in an area of 5,550 acre of lands. Out of it, 413 are forest lands, 1677 government lands, 3863 acre private lands. Only 300 families would be rehabilitated.

As per the plan out of the proposed Rs 42,000 crore, Rs 30,000 crore would be utilised in CTL project, Rs 2,000 crore in coal mining washing and Rs 10,000 crore would be utilised for 2,000 mw power plants. The plant would be of immense help to the country because of volatile oil prices in the market and imported oil prices. Nearly 32,000 people would get both direct and indirect employment because of this company.

The project would be completed in nine years. “It is a huge project,” said Naveen Jindal. Meanwhile, the State Government has allotted Ramachandi Coal Block near Talcher. The proposed plant would procure water from Mahanadi.

Besides the CTL project, Jindal also discussed about its ongoing steel project. They have a plan to expand it from the existing 6.5 MTP to 12 MTP. “The captive power plant would start producing power from September,” he said.

Health infrastructure in Orissa woefully lacking

2010-03-21T22:55:00.000+05:30

New Indian Express,Bhubaneswar,23.03.2010

Even as Orissa continues to struggle with high infant and maternal mortality rates, the latest evaluation report of the National Rural Health Mission has revealed the failures of the State health apparatus.

Beset with a high MMR of 303, the State has to ensure earnest implementation of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). But the report revealed that though the number of institutional deliveries under JSY has increased substantially to reach 3.09 lakh in 2008-09, the State is yet to gear up the facilities to meet the load. It has got only 39 primary health centres (PHCs) to work 24x7 so far against the target of 1282 PHCs by 2010.

Only 38 facilities have been operationalised as First Referral Units (FRUs) as against the target of 254 by the year 2010.

Unicef in its State of Children report - 2009 has blamed the lack of FRUs for high MMR in Orissa as haemorrhage after delivery has been identified as the major cause of high maternal mortality in Orissa. Blood storage units are woefully lacking, finds the report.

Skill-based training is moving at a snail’s pace as only 22 doctors have been trained in life saving anaesthesia skills (LSAS) and 24 in comprehensive emergency obstetric care (EmOC) so far against the target of 254. Only 856 Staff Nurses/ANMs/ LHVs have been trained while the target was 6388 by the year 2010.

The report has emphasised the need of ensuring proper supervision of the quality parameters like partograph, skills on delivery and newborn care along with availability of drugs, etc. Given that 68 percent pregnant women in Orissa are anaemic, the State Health department has been able to hold only 20 percent (1 lakh out of 5 lakh) of planned Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) in 2008-09.

Neonatal Mortality Rate (NMR) - infant deaths within four weeks of life per 1000 live births - in Orissa is 49 and accounts for 69 per cent of the IMR and the early NMR (infant deaths within one week of life per 1000 live births) is 37 accounting for 76 percent of the NMR. The report lamented the fact that there was only one new born care unit in the State when it has the highest neo-natal mortality rate in the country.

The findings also indicate that care-seeking for children with acute respiratory infection here declined from 67.8 to 63.4 percent and only 22 percent of families are aware of the symptoms. Further, only 16 districts out of 30 have implemented the Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI) so far.

CFTRI,Mysore and MSSRF,Chennai, in initiative to reduce chronic hunger in KBK regions of Orissa by 2015.

2010-03-19T09:51:00.005+05:30

Source: The Hindu,19.03.2010,Mysore:

The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) here, in association with the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, and other organisations, have launched an initiative to end chronic hunger in the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) regions of Orissa by 2015.

The initiative is part of an integrated approach to achieve Millennium Development Goal-1 in hunger hotspots and reducing hunger by at least 50 per cent by 2015. Other institutions that are part of the initiative include the National Institute of Nutrition, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Foundation for Agrarian Service , World Food Programme and the Government of Orissa. This was disclosed by eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan here on Thursday while delivering a special talk on “A Nutrition Secure India: Role of the Proposed Food Security Act” in the first of the CFTRI diamond jubilee lecture series.

Dr. Swaminathan said the objective of the initiative was to develop technologies for specific foods suitable for the people of the KBK region, and to provide them with food that is ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook and to meet both the macro and micro nutrients. He said the CFTRI, Mysore, would play a major role in the initiative.

Benchmark survey

Dr. Swaminathan said the FAS was currently doing a benchmark survey and the initiative is expected to reduce hunger by half in one of the chronic hunger hotspots of India. This method can also be replicated in other such areas, said Dr. Swaminathan.

IIT Bhubaneswar plans to set up Marine campus somewhere near the coastline of Orissa , may be known as Centre of Climate Change

2010-03-19T09:05:00.003+05:30

Source: The Hindu, 19.03.2010 , Bhubaneswar

Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, has proposed to have a marine campus as part of its upcoming school of Earth, Ocean and Environment Science. “We propose to set up a school on Earth, Ocean and Environment science. As part of the school, we propose to set up a marine campus somewhere near the coastline of Orissa,” said IIT Bhubaneswar director Madhusudan Chakraborty here on Thursday.

Professor Chakraborty said, “we want this marine campus to focus on research and application-oriented technology development in key areas related to changed climate, sea level rise, extreme weather events, changing ecosystem, fishery development and wildlife, air quality and pollution, water shortage, human health and hydrological cycles.”

The marine campus could be known as centre of climate change, said IIT Bhubaneswar Director. University of Massachusetts, Dart Mouth and University of California, Santa Cruz are likely to be roped in for the proposed school.

The proposed school of IIT-Bhubaneswar might go for faculty and student exchange programmes with University of Massachusetts, Dart Mouth which is said to have such marine campus.

“We have just given a proposal to Orissa government. It is under consideration of the government. I have already constituted an academic advisory committee to work out details of the school,” Prof Chakraborty said.

IIT Bhubaneswar Director said the school assumed significance since Orissa had witnessed disasters like cyclone, flood, extreme weather events and rise in sea level for years now.

Pointing out the upcoming school would an inter-disciplinary one, he said subjects propose to be covered are geology, geophysics, oceanic sciences, atmospheric sciences, marine science, climate change, disaster mitigation and management. To begin with, the school will have 30 to 40 students.

Although the proposal was at very nascent stage, sources said students could shuttle between Bhubaneswar and marine campus.

IIT admissions

Main campus of IIT Bhubaneswar is coming up on land measuring around 1000 acres near Jatni, on the outskirts of capital city. IIT Bhubaneswar has established five schools, which encompass a number of disciplines. At present 234 students have taken admission in the IIT Bhubaneswar.

Prof. Chakraborty said besides Earth, Ocean and Environmental Science, IIT-Bhubaneswar would be having three new schools such as School of Mineral, Metallurgy and Material Engineering, School of Chemical Sciences and School of Designing and Creative Arts. The schools are likely to come up by 2011.

Orissa eyes Tidal Power ! First Tidal Power Plant in Orissa at Kendrapara !

2010-03-18T11:12:00.003+05:30

Source : PTI

If things go the right way, Orissa's first attempt to harness tidal power for generating electricity would be in the form of a 1,236 MW plant along the creeks in Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district in the Mahanadi deltaic region.

SPI Ports Limited, a private limited company, has already carried out a feasibility study and documented a detailed project report for the proposed tidal power plant, Kendrapara district collector Sisirkanta Panda said.

The officials of SPI Ports Limited, which is in the race for an integrated port at Barunei in Rajnagar tehsil of the district, held talks with the district administration.

"The proposed power project will require 600 acre of land. There is availability of required government land in Mahakalpada tehsil. We are locating patches of land that will suit the requirements of the project", Panda said.

Tidal power, also called tidal energy, is a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into electricity or other useful forms of power. Although not yet widely used, tidal power has potential for future electricity generation.

Tides are more predictable than wind energy and solar power, according to experts.

Solar Power Plants In Orissa !

2010-03-17T15:20:00.001+05:30

Source : Alternative-Energy-News.INFO - Solar News (03 January 2010)

The renewable energy sector in the Indian state of Orissa is likely to get a boost with many private entrepreneurs showing interest to set up solar power units in the state. The state level technical committee (STC), headed by the secretary, science and technology (S&T) department of the Orissa government, has cleared three solar power projects with an aggregate generating capacity of 19 Mw. This will take the total solar power capacity in the state to 54 Mw. STC had earlier approved proposals with an aggregate production capacity of 35 Mw.

The proposals include 5 Mw power plant of RSB Energy Pvt Ltd in Sundergarh district and Enzen Global Solutionss 5 Mw solar power plant in Khurda district.

Similarly, Lanco Solars 5 Mw solar plant in Cuttack district, Sunark Solars 5 Mw power plant in Puri district and Kolkata based SREI Infrastructures 5 Mw solar power plant in Bolangir district were given the green signal.

The state government had approved Moserbaer Pvt Ltds 5 Mw grid interactive solar photo voltaic project and Sahara Indias 5 Mw solar power plant in the state in the first phase. The STC had also approved eight bio-mass based power projects earlier. It has recently cleared two more bio-mass projects with a combined generation capacity of 39 Mw. This will take the envisaged capacity in the bio-mass sector to 129 Mw.

The state government hopes to get 20 Mw of power from the first bio-mass based power plant in the state by June-July next year. The power is likely to be available from a rice husk based power plant being set up by Shali Vahana Green Energy Ltd at Nimidha village in Dhenkanal district.

The five bio-mass based power project developers, who have deposited the security money aggregating Rs 2.75 crore, are likely to sign the implementation agreement with the Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) soon. They are Satya Bio-Power Industry Ltd planning to set up a 10 Mw plant in Ganjam, A V N Power Projects setting up a 10 Mw power plant in Kalahandi district and Prasad Bio-Energy planning a 10 Mw unit in Raygada.

While Jay Laxmi Bio-Energy Ltd intends to set up a 10 Mw unit in Nayagarh, another plant of similar capacity is proposed by Andhavarapu Bio-Energy in Nawarangpur. On the other hand, the department of bio-technology (DoBT) of the Union ministry of science and technology, has sanctioned Rs 10 crore in the first phase for the development of an incubator in the proposed bio-tech and pharma park at Andharua, sources added.

MSSRF centre in Jeypore,Koraput to have training facilities for tribal youth

2010-03-11T09:23:00.001+05:30

The Hindu,Koraput, 11th March 2010:

Launching of training facilities for tribal youth will be made in the human resource development centre at M.S. Swaminathan research foundation (MSSRF), Jeypore on March 13, according to Prashant Kumar Parida, scientist from MSSRF.

The building, which was supported by the Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan, will have full-fledged facilities including residential facility for imparting training to the rural poor on various aspects.

Shining example

MSSRF at Jeypore has been engaged itself in the promotion of a non-basumati scented rice, Kalajeera, which is a shining example of how the traditional ones could be purified, made to yield more and fetch double the price of other varieties with proper market linkage.

Promoting cultivation and value addition and providing drudgery free machines to the villagers will go a long way to promote cultivation of nutritious but neglected millets.

The efforts made by the foundation in 25 villages on bio-village, livelihood, organic agriculture, micro enterprises, water management and promoting off -season vegetable cultivation through summer irrigation are all measures taken to improve the living standards of the people.

The community grain-seed bank is another initiative which helps the poor villagers to tide over the lean seasons and make sure that quality seeds are available during the sowing season.

While the research foundation is carrying out the novel ideas of Prof. Swaminathan to bridge the gap in knowledge by taking the ICT to villages through its village resource centre and village knowledge centres in Koraput district, this training facility will go a long way in linking the tribal youth with the development process, he says.

Koraput to have CSIR centre .

2010-03-11T09:15:00.002+05:30

Indian Express,Bhubaneswar, 10th March 2010

Koraput will soon be connected to the nationwide network of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories as it is chosen as an extension centre to have a pool of master trainers to train grassroots-level people in applied technologies in various fields.

The extension centre would be presently promoted by the State Government with an initial investment or Rs 30-40 lakh on a 25-acre land. However, it would soon have a full-fledged CSIR centre of Rs 40-50 crore investment with master trainers in agriculture, food and rural technologies, environment, biodiversity and food processing and for this a detailed proposal had already been submitted to the central authorities.

It would have active support from Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, Central Foodcraft Technology Research Institute, Mysore, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, and Central Salt and Marine Research Institute, Bhavnagar.

According to IMMT Director Prof. Barada Kanta Mishra, the centre, to be built under `CSIR-800 Programme’ would also help in creating employment opportunity for the backward region in the southern part of Orissa which has seen a series of extremist activities recently.

It would also work as an interface to transfer laboratory-based knowledge to the rural people.

Mishra was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of `CSIR technology show for micro, small and medium enterprises’ here on IMMT campus during the sixth Entrepreneurs Week celebration.

On the occasion, Science and Technology Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi said though things are at a primary level, the proposed project would be ready within a year and would mainly help in promoting rural technologies for economic growth of the region famous for its rich biodiversity.

Industries Secretary Sourabh Garg said our scientists must try to develop patented technologies for economic self-reliance so that we would not go to the West paying hefty sum in getting their R&D knowledge. He also said that the CSIR Director- General had assured all help for the Koraput centre.

Regarding patents, the IMMT Director said till date the city-based institute has acquired 100 patents while another 100 are in the processing stage adding in a year scientists are applying for at least 15 patents on a regular basis.

A day-long workshop and an exhibition on various technologies were also organised. Scientist (G) and Head, Rural Technology Department of IMMT, S.Khuntia, spoke.

Please sign the petition for the Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI) at Kalahandi, Orissa

2010-03-06T01:06:00.005+05:30

A PATIENT BEING CARRIED TO A FAR OFF HOSPITAL: THE SHAMEFUL POOR MEDICAL FACILITY IN ORISSA

Dear Sir/Madam,

Delhi Oriya Students' Association (DOSA) sincerely appeals you to sign the petition in the larger interest and forward it to as many of your friends possible.

To view and sign the petition please click on the link below.

http://www.petitiononline.com/PGMIK/petition.html

Post Graduate Medical Institute at Kalahandi, Orissa
To,
Hon’ble President of India,
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India
Hon’ble Chief Minister of Orissa
Honorable Chairperson, UPA
Honorable Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha

Sub: Request for opening Post Graduate Medical Institute at Kalahandi, Orissa

Respected Madam/Sir,
This is to draw your kind attention that there is an urgent need of opening a Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI) with 1000 bed Super Speciality Hospital having Higher Medical programmes like MD/MS /DM/M.Ch/MDS/Ph.D at one of the most deserving regions of the country i.e. Kalahandi in the KBK area of Orissa. The following reasons must be taken into consideration.
1. Backwardness of the KBK region
2. Poor Health care facility in KBK
3. Nonexistence of Tertiary Medical Care in KBK
4. It is not possible at the part of the State Govt. to afford to neither build nor maintain an Institute of this grade.

Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI) at Kalahandi, will bring a huge change in socio-economic and other areas, not only for Orissa but also to most of the naxal affected states of our country.

1. The Institute will certainly play a vital role in the development of Naxal affected areas of our country, not only in the Health sector but also in tackling the problem of Naxalism in the Red Corridor zone of our country permanently.
2. This PGMI will act as a national hub for Higher Medical Education and Research
3. It will act as a nodal center and referral hospital for Existing Govt. Medical Colleges of all the Naxal affected states.

Thanking You,
With Regards,
Tejeswar Parida,
President,Delhi Oriya Students' Association (DOSA)
Mob- 91-8010259065, 91-9350112768
http://www.contactdosa.blogspot.com/

DOSA writes letter to Orissa MP Mr. B.J.Panda congratulating him for his wonderful speech in Lok Sabha on 4th March 2010 raising many issues on Orissa

2010-03-05T01:36:00.006+05:30

To,

Shri B.J. Panda
Hon'ble Member of Parliament ,
Lok Sabha.

Date: 4th March 2010

Dear Sir,

Hearty Congratulations to you for a very resourceful,relevant and Orissa specific speech in the Parliament few minutes back which we were watching on Lok Sabha TV. Delhi Oriya Students' Association (DOSA) welcomes your concerns in the Parliament regarding Orissa . Some of the issues raised by you are highly appreciated by DOSA.

You gave highest priority to the Regional Disparity which was directly indicated towards Orissa.

Unfair Policies of the Central Govt. which severely affects the state like Orissa.

Left Wing Extremism which has the root at the lack of Development at grass root level . A lot more is needed to be done for improving the Internal Security Situation.

Sir, your 3 suggestions to tackle Left Wing Extremism on permanent basis was appealing. A) Development in Backward Regions, B) Taking tough action against the violent extremists C) Initiating talk to those extremist groups who give up arms.

Sir, You went back to 25 yrs reminding the house what a former Prime Minister had told about Corruption that only 15% reaches to the common man.Here you emphasized on Social Spending and appealed the Central Govt. to start finding whether the situation has improved and how much ?

Again on BPL issue, the non-cooperation of the Central Govt. to the State Govt. e.g. Centre not accepting the BPL list by the Orisa Govt. is a very serious issue. This observation of you will be an eye opener to the respective Govt.s at the Centre who only shout Garibi Hatao and talk of the Aam Admi but never gives attention to the drawbacks i the systems like this, which you mentioned today in the Parliament.

That the BJD will support the Womens' Reservation Bill in the Parliament and Late Biju Patnaik was the Champion of this cause and Orissa is an example for other states in this regard by early implementation of Womens' Reservation in PRIs.

Sir, your seriousness about Education is very very genuine and the truth from the ground level. That the large no. of schools not having Building ,students siting outside,Teachers Absenteeism are very serious issues .You mentioned very rightly that It is not just the question of money , it is about Taking Steps and Implementation. So fundamental changes are required urgently.

Sir, you raised a very fundamental issue of Restructuring or Re engineering the pattern of funding of Education at national level. Sir, we request you to take up this issue with the HRD Ministry and the Prime Minister and serious discusions must be started on this soon.

Sir, on Railways your concerns are not only genuine but also according to the need of the people of Orisa. We congratulate you for raising this issue, particularly the Demand for Eastern India Railways Development Fund for Orisa and Jharkhand.

Sir,you mentioned rightly about the Railways Track Density being much lower in Orissa compared to national average and to our neighbouring states (Bengal and Bihar).It is again Regional Disparity and another reason for the rise of Left wing Extremism in Orissa and Railway Density in Orisa can be a solution to Maoism here.

Sir, we are thankful to you for raising the issue of connectivity to the most backward KBK region and mentioning that only 36KM has been built out of 289 KM for connecting KBK region with Coastal Orisa. The Railways and the Central Govt. must be ashamed of this fact listening from you today in the Parliament.

Sir, you raised very relevant point of IT enable Services in Rural areas for the rapid development and the poor people of villages to take advantage from the Industrialisation process and the E-Governance. It is a national urgent need and must be prioritised and raised again and again by young policy makers like you.

Sir, your concern that basic infrastructure not being emphasized much by the Central Govt. is true and as you mentioned that the farmers are the largest beneficiaries due to PMGSY roads due to improved access to the Market.

Sir, your observation is not only highly relevant but also reminds the country of the dream of Mahatma Gandhi "Gram Swaraj" and that "India lives in its villages". Also the fact that our target in developing the National Highways are very low when compared to China, but the Central Govt. feels proud of our NH development. They must introspect.

Sir, last but not the least your view that India should always compare it with China and the fact which you mentioned that within last 30 years though our population growth is same but China's achieved 4 times higher economic growth than us. Again you questioned the fundamental issue of our so called national development.

Sir, All the issues raised by you in the Lok Sabha today while discussing the Presidents' Address are of much higher importance both for Orisa and the nation. Delhi Oriya Students' Association(DOSA)congratulate you and at the same time feel proud to have a dynamic, visionary leader like you in Orissa.

Thanking You,
With Regards,

Tejeswar Parida
President, Delhi Oriya Students' Association.
Mob-8010259065, 9350112768
www.contactdosa.blogspot.com

Orissa State Task Force on Higher Education favours 13 more Universities in Orissa.

2010-03-05T01:31:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

People of Kalahandi will be happy to learn that the State's Task Force on Higher Education has accepted a proposal for establishment of a unitary university in their district. For the last several years, the people of Kalahandi, led by Non-Resident Odia (NRO) Dr Digambara Patra, were demanding a university at the district headquarters town of Bhawanipatna, which the Task Force chairman Prof Trilochan Pradhan has now obliged.

Pradhan, who recently presented the Task Force's Interim Report to the Government, has favoured establishment of 13 more affiliating and unitary universities in the State. Another NRO, Chitta Baral, has been batting for more universities in the State to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which the Task Force accepted in its proposal.

The State now has 12 Government Universities and two Deemed Universities. The Task Force has proposed three regional universities in the State's southern, western and central regions. The proposals include a South Odisha University at Parlakhemundi by upgrading the SKCG Autonomous College, a West Odisha University at Balangir by elevating the status of the Rajendra College and a Central Odisha University at Angul with up-gradation of the local Government College, said sources. Besides, a Metropolitan University at Rourkela, a Medical Education University at Cuttack by upgrading the SCB Medical College and a university of Management State and an Open University at Bhubaneswar have been outlined.

Every other State has an Open University while Odisha is lacking in this regard. The proposed Open University would cater to the needs of regional requirements, which the IGNOU is not able to address, feel experts.

Taking into consideration the infrastructure, student enrolment, academic ambience and qualitative growth of some of the leading autonomous colleges over the years, the Task Force felt the need of upgrading these institutions to the Unitary University status. Upgradation of GM College, Sambalpur, Khallikote College, Berhampur, Government Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna, Vikram Dev College, Jeypore, RD Women's College, Bhubaneswar, and MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, to the level of Unitary University has been suggested.

In addition to these universities, more institutions of higher learning have been favoured in the Task Force's Interim Report. Setting up of five State Institutes of Technology (SITs) along the lines of National Institute of Technology (NIT) for postgraduate education and research has been favoured. Besides, an Institute for Tribal Art and Culture at Phulbani has been proposed.

Orissa State Health Dept. to go hi-tech !

2010-03-05T01:30:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

In a bid to percolate various decisions of the Health and Family Welfare Department at the highest level to the grassroots, and to get feedback from the grassroots, the department has commissioned close users group (CUG) through post-paid BSNL mobiles. CUG is a facility wherein a group of subscribers within an organisation can talk to each other, free of cost. The users are tied in a pre-specified loop where by users can send or receive messages at one turn. Around 18,315 users are connected under this programme.

The CUG plans for an effective supervision and implementation of various programmes aimed at enhancing healthcare system in the State. This would be implemented by the NRHM with monthly expenditure of Rs 52.57 lakh.

The provision would facilitate prompt and effective communication among field functionaries and programme officers of Health Department and strengthen management of information system, professional growth, important communication and monitoring tool for tracking various important documents. Starting from the field functionaries like ANM (assistant nursing maid) to Commissioner-cum-Secretary is now connected under one net work.

Inaugurating the launching of the programme on Thursday, Minister Health & Family Welfare Prasanna Acharya talked to an ANM Nalini Jena of Chitrokonda of Malkangiri district and ANM Tulashi Majhi of Chalakamba of Rayagada district. CGM BSNL AN Ray and Commi-ssioner-cum-Secretary Anu Garg were present. “The stocks at the sub-centre level can be easily known,” said Garg.

At Block level the programme Officers like the Medical Officer I/C, BEE, BPO and BADA, at district level CDMO, additional CDMO, ADMOs, DIO, DPM, DAM, DHIO, work consultant, hospital manager, ASHA Coordi-nator, PA, MEIO, DTO, Nucleus Leprosy Officer and similarly at State level Secretary, Mission Director, DHS, DFW, DPH, all addl/joint/dy directors, VS and consultants of SPUM are connected under this network.

Extended School Health Scheme to start from July 5, 2010 in Orissa

2010-03-05T01:29:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

In a bid to provide healthcare cover to over 58 lakh students in 60,000 schools across the State, the State Health Department under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is going to extend the School Health Scheme to all the schools tentatively from July 5, as decided at a meeting chaired by Health Minister Prasanna Acharya flanked by Mass Education Minister Pratap Jena at the State Secretariat here on Thursday.

The Chief Minister had launched the programme in Kandhamal on October 1 last year.

Initially, the scheme had access to only the 1675 residential girls’ schools in 30 districts under the Tribal Welfare Department.

Both the day-scholars and boarders from classes 1-10 will be covered under the scheme following which a thorough health check-up of each student will be undertaken twice a year. Meanwhile, 325160 and 5157000 health cards meant for boarders and day-scholars respectively have been dispatched to the CDMOs.

Under the scheme, an allowance of Rs 100 will be given to a student travelling from the village to the hospital, Rs 50 per day if admitted and free medicine.

Orissa Health Department will introduce a Close Users Group (CUG) mobile network for better health services in the state.

2010-03-04T23:56:00.002+05:30

Indian Express,Bhubaneswar

To facilitate better and effective communication between grassroots- level workers and the toplevel decision-makers, Health Department will introduce a close users group (CUG) mobile network system from tomorrow.

With the introduction of the CUG loop service under Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the workers and officials of the Department can now talk free among themselves resulting in quality health-care delivery.

The CUG network will work under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and includes auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) to the Health Secretary covering 18,315 members at a cost of Rs 52.57 lakh.

The new system will help in better and quicker delivery of messages and monitoring activities and would immensely help blocklevel medical officers, additional district medical officers, chief district medical officers, NRHM mission director, directors of health, family welfare and public health and all deputy and assistant directors who would be included in the loop so that all programme implementation process would be expedited across the State.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Prasanna Acharya, in the presence of top Health and BSNL officials, will dedicate the service to the people tomorrow.

It can be recalled here that with better monitoring of activities of health workers and activists through the mobile network the Health administrators of Mayurbhanj district have reduced the incidence of malarial deaths in the recent past.

This new step would also help in controlling infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate as health service delivery would be easier through the free network

Right to Education Act will be implemented in Orissa from 1st April,2010

2010-03-04T21:44:00.002+05:30

Indian Express,BBSR:

The Right to Education Act will be implemented in Orissa from 1st April,2010.

This was decided at a high level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Wednesday. As per the provisions of the Act, all children up to 14 years of age will have compulsory education. The State will require Rs 16,000 crore during the next five years for the implementation of the provisions of the legislation.

The student-teacher ratio will be 30:1 while there will be a minimum of two teachers per school. The appointment of new teachers, the need for separate lavatories for boys and girls in schools, construction of kitchens and boundary walls were discussed.

It was decided that the process for filling up vacancies in the posts of teachers in schools will be started within the next few days. It has been found that while some of the education districts have shortage of teachers, others have more than the required numbers.

A committee will be set up under the chairmanship of the district collectors to assess whether there is surplus or shortage of teachers in their districts.

The surplus teachers will be redeployed in districts, which has shortage.

The restriction on transfer of primary school teachers to other districts will be withdrawn. Earlier, only 10 per cent of the total primary school teachers in a district were transferred to other district. More para-teachers will be appointed to fill up the shortage. As the legislation has emphasised on appointment of trained teachers, training facilities for teachers will be created.

The training will be given through Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and Distance Education Programme of other universities. Inspection of schools by the higher authorities will become strict and regular.

Besides, steps will be taken for improving school infrastructure. Priority will be given to repair school buildings and hostels which are more than 50 years old.

It was decided that the textbook printing press in the State will be modernised and 50 lakh textbooks will be printed.

Books will also be published in Braille.

Increase of scholarship of primary, upper primary and secondary school students was discussed. Minister of State for School and Mass Education Pratap Jena, Development Commissioner S P Nanda, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Bijay Patnaik and senior officials were present.

New Orissa Govt. Policy : 5% CSR expenditure

2010-03-04T21:37:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

The State Government seems to have developed a new policy for corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditures of the mega industries. It follows the model laid by the Supreme Court in the case of Lanjigarh-based alumina project of Vedanta Resources. The annual CSR expenditure will not be below 5 per cent of the profit or Rs 10 crore, whichever is more.

While clearing the lease of Potangi bauxite mines to Nalco, the Chief Minister has made the new policy applicable to this Nav Ratna PSU. So, by now, the new model has been applied to a private company and a Central PSU. However, there is no clear order issued to other mega industries receiving such favours as in the cases of Vedanta and Nalco. Economic analysts are of the view that the Chief Minister is bound to extend the CSR stipulations to all and sundry.

New mega projects, which are coming up in the State, should also earmark 5 per cent of their profits for CSR when in production, said a social activist, adding that to force their hands it should be incorporated as a condition while favouring them with mining leases.

“In fact, this should find a place in the Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR) of the State,” said a senior BJD MLA. Accordingly, an enactment might be made in the State Assembly to make it legally binding, he pointed out.

Right to Education from April 1, 2010 in Orissa

2010-03-04T21:35:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

Under the intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, School and Mass Education Minister Pratap Jena finally agreed to implement the Right to Education Act from April 1, 2010.

Earlier, Jena had made a statement that the State was not prepared to implement the law as it required huge resources to the tune of Rs 16,000 crore. He had even stated that additional 30,000 schools need to be opened for making RTE effective. These statements had invited the wrath of the Chief Minister.

Patnaik on Wednesday convened a meeting to this effect at the State Secretariat. Later, it was decided that the Right to Education Act would be implemented from April 1. Under this act, education would be made compulsory for all children below 14. A student teacher ratio of 30:1 would be created.

All the vacancies would be filled up on a war-footing. There would be a redeployment of teachers. If in one district more teachers have been found, they would be transferred to other districts.

More “Gana (Mass) Teachers” would be appointed. Teachers would be imparted training through Distance Education programme of universities and IGNOU. About 50 lakh books would be published and special care would be taken for visually-handicapped.

School and Mass Education Minister Pratap Jena, Development Commissioner SP Nanda and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Bijoy Patnaik and others attended the meeting.

Anti-human trafficking units to be opened in Orissa

2010-03-04T21:33:00.000+05:30

PNS,Bhubaneswar:

A decision has been taken for formation of integrated anti-human trafficking units at the office of the Inspector General of Police (Crime Branch), the Commissionerate of Police of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, IG office at Rourkela and DIG offices at Sambalpur and Berhampur to focus on specific places to combat trafficking in women and children in the State.

Higher education sector poised for quantum jump in Orissa

2010-03-02T10:11:00.001+05:30

Source:Indian Express,Bhubaneswar, 01.03.2010,Report by-Sanjeev Kumar Patro

Orissa’s higher education sector is poised for a quantum jump in the Eleventh Plan going by the latest UGC forecast.

It has projected that enrolment would clock a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent to touch over 6.5 lakh of an over 50 lakh population in the 18-23 year age group by the year 2012. The overall gross enrolment rate (GER) - the ratio of total enrolment to the total population in the age group of 18-23 years - would be 13 per cent. Consequently, additional enrolment in the 11th Plan period would be over 2.6 lakh.

The forecast, however, has indicated that Orissa’s GER would remain well below the national average of 15 per cent.

One of the reasons would be as high as 18 districts are still educationally backward districts. In Orissa’s case, the EBDs have either a predominant tribal population or are forested regions. Fourteen of the EBDs have over 25 per cent rural tribal population with five of them having over 58-59 per cent forest cover. Another three districts have over 40 per cent forest cover.

Significantly, the State’s chief industrial centres like Angul, Jharsuguda, Keonjar, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur that, incidentally, have predominant tribal population are listed in the EBD category contrary to the national trend. This does not augur well for Government’s industrial drive.

Inequitable growth is further evidenced by the fact that the collegepopulation index (C-PI) (colleges per lakh population) in Orissa is 17.6 against 12.4 nationally. But, nine districts have the index much below the 12 colleges per lakh population.
Two districts have C-PI even below four and two others have below eight. Thus, lower GER is on account of unavailability of qualitatively affordable higher education opportunities.

If statistics are any indication, the inequity is set to get accentuated in the 11th Plan. Because, as per the population norm of a University per two lakh population, Orissa would require a whopping 25 universities for its 50 lakh student population in the age-group of 18-23 years by 2012.
There are nine at present.

Also, for the additional 2.6 lakh general enrolment by 2012, the State needs over 200more general colleges.

Thus, to supply the manpower requirement of the industries in the State, the Government has to seek holistic solutions for the EBDs here.

Orissa Government to construct 478 more hostels for students of Maoists prone districts

2010-03-01T15:54:00.000+05:30

Source: OrissaDiary.com

Atleast 478 more hostels will be constructed for the students of the Maoists prone districts in the state. The Centre government has sanctioned Rs 198 crore special grant in aid for the same.

Atleast 478 more hostels will be constructed in five Maoist prone Debagarh, Sambalpur, Gajapati, Malkangiri and Rayagada districts . Out of total 478, construction of 190 hostels for boys and 288 hostels for girl students. This hostels will be constructed of 5 thousand squire feet and Rs 41 lakh 50 thousand will be invested for each hostels.

In every hostel at least 100 bed will be available. In every hostels 10 latriens, one entertainment room, ands one dining room will be provided. Pipe water supply, water heating facility with solar arrangements and system to collect rain water from the roof of the hostels will be provided. The construction of the hostels will be completed within two years. The district DRDAs will take the responsibilities of the construction, if necessary, it will be given to the Roads and Buildings department.

Breaking News ! Three Maoists surrender in Orissa

2010-02-28T17:48:00.002+05:30

Source :PTI, Phulbani (Orissa), Feb 28,2010

Three Maoist rebels, including a woman cadre, who were involved in a number of attacks in Orissa's Gajapati and Kandhamal districts, today surrendered before the police.

"They decided to lay down arms repenting the path of violence ...They claimed they have been tortured by seniors," Superintendent of Police, Kandhamal, Praveen Kumar told reporters here.

The surrendered were identified as Kamla Mandal (22) of Gajapati district, Binayak Parida (30) and Bishnu Parida (21) from Bariguda village in Raikia police station in Kandhamal district, he said.

While Kamla of Bansadhara committee of CPI (Maoist) had been active in Maoist activities since 2003 and involved in over eight cases, the other two ultras were providing logistic support and engaged in information collection, Kumar said.

Information about Maoist activities in Orissa and neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are likely to be obtained from them, the police said.

News Updates from Central University of Orissa, Koraput

2010-02-28T11:55:00.001+05:30

The Hindu,Koraput,28.01.2010

Appointment of the first registrar and finance officer of Central University of Orissa at Koraput has been granted by the President. They would join the university shortly, Surabhi Banerjee ,Vice-Chancellor of the university, said in a press meet here. While it would take some more months to get regular teaching faculty for the university, eminent professors and other experts in their subjects were contacted to support the teaching-learning process in the university by taking classes as visiting faculty on the campus. In addition to this there were a good number of MOU to be signed in the next few months by the university with institutions of repute like M.S. Swaminathan Research Centre, Jamia Hamdard University and British Council for developing the scope and opportunities for integral development of students, she added.

While the university had plans to shift the campus from the existing COATS premises to the newly acquired building of Central Silk Board at Landiguda near here, she expressed gratitude to the people and institutions for providing the required infrastructure for launching the classes of the university in its formative stage. The university wishes to clear all the pending payments in connection with the rent of the building on COATS premises before the shifting takes place. But lack of clarity on the ownership of the building was causing problem for the release of the funds from the university accounts . Intervention of Rajesh Pravakar Patil, district Collector was sought in this regard and on the expenditure incurred by the district administration for organising the inaugural function of the university last year , she said .

While briefing the media on the plans and proposals of the university, she said that nine out of 39 Central universities in the country were selected to have medical colleges and hospitals. Construction work for the university had begun at Sunabeda and discussions were held with chief officers of HAL, NAD, CPWD and the district administration for making plans for construction work in addition to laying proper road links to the prime site in between HAL and NAD .

The executive council at a recent meeting in New Delhi had approved the proposal to provide free education in the university to economically backward students under its community welfare initiatives from next academic session, she added.

91 new ITIs, 415 Skill Development Centres (SDC)s to be set up in Orissa under the public private partnership (PPP) mode.

2010-02-28T11:50:00.002+05:30

Indian Express,Bhubaneswar,28th February 2010

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has provisionally sanctioned 91 new industrial training institutes (ITIs) and 415 skill development centres (SDCs) to be established under the public private partnership (PPP) mode.

While the private promoters of the proposed training institutes will take the lead role, the State Government will provide basic infrastructure support, including land, free of cost. Supply of power, water and road connectivity will be the responsibility of the Centre. The Central support will be through viability gap funding.

The proposed ITIs will have a strength of about 250 trainees per shift running at least 10 demand-driven trades and the estimated cost of each institute is Rs 6 crore.

The proposed SDCs will be smaller centres of vocational training with intake capacity of about 300 persons per shift per annum to meet the skill training need of the local demand in the industries and unorganised sector in short-term modular pattern.

The minimum requirement of land for an SDC is 500 square metre and about Rs 50 lakh for equipment and machinery.

The Government will invite expression of interest from training providers for the proposed ITIs and SDCs in PPP mode.

The Industries Department has written to the district collectors to locate suitable land measuring three to five acres for ITI at the unrepresented block headquarters and 500 square meters of land or built up area for establishment of SDC at selected gram panchayat level.

13th Finance Commission recommends Rs 78,974 cr for Orissa

2010-02-27T00:59:00.002+05:30

Indian Express,Bhubaneswar, 26.02.2010

The 13th Finance Commission (TFC) has recommended a grant of Rs 78,974.9 crore for the State for the award period from 2010 to 2015. The grant has increased substantially compared to the 12th Finance Commission, which recommended Rs 36,942.8 crore for Orissa.

However, the percentage share of Orissa in Central taxes has decreased by 0.38 per cent, from 5.16 pc to 4.78 pc, in comparison to the 12th Finance Commission. The share of all low income States such as Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh has decreased.

Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei described the recommendations of the TFC as disappointing.

The 12th Finance Commission had recommended Rs 31,669.47 crore as the State’s share in Central taxes as against Rs 69,316.1 crore by the TFC.

Compensatory grant of Rs 50,000 crore has been recommended to meet the loss on account of implementation of Goods and Services Tax.

The pre-devolution non-plan revenue deficit of Rs 1,32,141.64 crore projected by the State Government has been ignored by the TFC. It has fixed the deficit at Rs 28,282.67 crore by over-estimating the State’s resources and under-estimating the expenditure like salary, pension and interest payment.

Besides, Rs 9,658.8 crore would be available to the State as grants.
The existing sharing pattern of 75:25 for calamity relief fund has been retained as against the demand of 90:10. However, the corpus has been enhanced to Rs 2,163.75 crore from Rs 1,599.16 crore though the demand was Rs 4,000 crore.

The grant for local bodies has been increased to Rs 3,270.9 crore from Rs 907 crore. The State Government, however, maintained that too many conditionalities would greatly hamper the operational flexibility.

Other grants include Rs 50 crore for eco-restoration of Chilika lake, Rs 400 crore for construction of anganwadi centres, Rs 350 crore for health sector, Rs 500 crore incentive grant for development and upgradation of the distribution system, Rs 70 crore for police training, Rs 100 crore for jails, Rs 65 crore for preservation of monuments and Buddhist heritage, Rs 150 crore for fire services and Rs 60 crore for establishment of market yards.

Besides, the elementary education sector will get Rs 1,016 crore while the forest sector will get Rs 331 crore. The water sector will get Rs 184 crore.

Recommendations for other sectors include Rs 193.6 crore for improvement of justice system, Rs 178.5 crore for issuing UIDs, Rs 30 crore for district innovation, Rs 30 crore for improvement in statistical system and Rs 10 crore for employee and pension data base.

CM unhappy with TFC recommendations

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed dissatisfaction over the recommendations of the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC). The recommendations are unfortunately below expectations, he said in a release issued here today.

Orissa’s share has been reduced from 5.16 percent of the total grant announced by the 12th Finance Commission to 4.78 percent by the 13th TFC, he said.

Besides, the State Government’s proposals for adopting a criterion like population below poverty line (BPL), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) population and tax efforts have not been taken into consideration by the Commission, he said, adding that it will hamper developmental works of the State.

Orissa features among non-performing states

2010-02-27T00:37:00.002+05:30

Indian Express, Bhubaneswar,26/02/2010:

Concerted efforts to develop and strengthen elementary education from Class I to Class VIII notwithstanding, Orissa continues to feature among the non-performing states in terms of quality deliverance.

The State occupies a low rank of 29 and 27 in the Composite Education Development Index (CEDI) for the upper primary and primary segments respectively.

The CEDI developed by the National University of Education Planning and Administration (NEUPA) assigns scores and ranks to a particular State by separately evaluating the four primary variables like Access, Infrastructure, Teachers and Outcome at the primary and upper primary school level.

Orissa has been given a score of 0.513 with corresponding rank of 21 in the `Access’ parameter that primarily accounts for percentage of households not served and schools per 1000 population in the age group of 6-11 years.

In `Infrastructure’ that takes into account indicators from student-classroom ratio to water and toilet facilities in the schools, the State scores 0.489 and ranked 26. In two other parameters, `Outcome’ and `teachers’, the State with scores of 0.795 and 0.536 was ranked at 13 and 22 respectively.

The State performed better in the `Outcome’ parameter by improving 13 places over 2007-08. The apparent survival rate of 83 percent at the V grade helped the State to gain more points. But with the pupil-teacher ratio at 27 and with only 34 percent female teachers against 43 percent nationally, the State fares poor nationally in the `Teachers’ parameter. The percentage of professionally trained teachers at 78 percent in Orissa against 82 percent nationally also counted much in the ranking.

However, the State has failed badly with regard to provisioning of minimum basic necessities in its schools. As high as 43 percent schools don’t have a toilet facility at all. Only 34 percent schools were being provisioned with girl’s toilet and only 18 percent schools have electricity connection.

Over 40 percent schools don’t have a boundary wall here.

And, the average number of classrooms per school and average student-classroom ratio for the State remains below the national average.
With these slip-ups in basics, the low penetration of computers in schools is not astonishing.

But, the disconcerting fact is computer penetration has declined to seven percent from 12 percent in 2006-07.

Orissa government to buy 100 new Buses to improve communication in Naxal prone areas

2010-02-26T00:45:00.002+05:30

Source : Orissadiary.com,Bhubaneswar, 25.02.2010

A review meeting regarding OSRTC held in the Orissa Secretariat on Thursday under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary Tarunkanti Mishra . After the meeting the Transport Secretary Satyabrata Sahoo told the media persons that the Baramunda Government Bus Stand will be fully modernised in Government Private Partnership ( PP) mode in an estimated expenditure of 56 crore and it will be a model bus stand.

Further the Secretary told that during the month November, 2009 the Maoists has set fired four busses, and at the time of Bolangir students strike , the students had also set fired in two busses. It has been decided to recommend for compensation of Rs 1 crore .

It has also been decided to purchase 100 new Busses of the OSRTC , including some Air Conditioned Busses. It will be purchases by the credit of the Banks. Now there are 275 Busses are working and most of the Busses are playing in Naxal prone areas. It has been decided to instruct the district Collectors and SPs to provide adequate security for playing the Busses

Railway budget ignores state demands

2010-02-26T00:04:00.000+05:30

Pragativadi,Bhubaneswar, 25.02.2010

The demand of the Odisha for allocation of at least Rs 1,805 crore towards railway development has been ignored in the 2010-11 Railway Budget that was announced by railway minister Mamata Banerjee in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The state has got about Rs 836.64 crore as against Rs 715.22 crore for 2009-10.
It would be spent for construction of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling and electrification.

In addition, Rs 65.53 crore has been sanctioned for undertaking traffic facilities work at various stations located in the state.

In total, the state has got Rs 902.17 crore.

This includes Rs 430 crore for completion of the ongoing new lines and Rs 399.73 crore for doubling of the major rail tracks.

However, the good news is that Rs 120 crore has been sanctioned for the Khurda- Balangir railway project, Rs 101 crore for Haridaspur-Paradeep, Rs 75 crore for Daitari-Bansapani and Rs 50 crore for Talcher-Bimalagarh project.

In the Railway Budget for 2009-10 the state had asked for Rs 1,504 crore, but it was allocated only Rs 715 crore, of which only Rs 653.22 crore was released.

The budget has proposed to update the surveys for the Phulbani-Berhampur, Puri-Konark, Gunupur-Theruvali and Jeypore-Malkangiri routes.

In addition, survey will be made for new train lines in the Talcher-Phulbani-Lanjigarh and Gunpur-Therubali-Junagarh-Jeypore routes.

The only new line project that was included in the Budget is Digha-Jaleshwar.

The railway minister has proposed to set up a state-of-the-art wagon factory in joint venture or public-private partnership (PPP) mode either at Bhubaneswar or Kalahandi.

Similarly, for rail connectivity to the new minor ports coming up at Astranga, Chudamani and Gopalpur, the railway minister has proposed PPP mode.

While Lanjigarh-Bhawanipatna portion of Lanjigarh-Junagarh line are expected to be completed during the year 2009-10, the Bhawanipatna-Junagarh of Lanjigarh-Junagarh & Khurda-Begunia of Khurda-Balangir sections are expected to be completed in 2010-11.

Introduction of nine new trains has been announced in the budget for Odisha while four more will pass through the state.

The new trains announced for the state are, Puri-Howrah Duranto Express, Bhubaneswar-Pune weekly express, Sambalpur-Howrah Weekly Express, Baripada-Shalimar Express (tri-weekly), PuriValsad Weekly Express via-Katni-Bhopal-Vadodara, Puri-Digha Weekly Express, Bhubaneswar-Khurda Road Passenger, Naupada-Gunupur Passenger (after gauge conversion) and Ahmedabad-Puri-Kolkata-Varanasi-Ujjain-Ahmedabad (Bharat Tirtha train).

This apart, Out Patient Department (OPD) and diagnostic centres will be set up at Balugoan, Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar, Bramhapur, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Kantabhanji, Kesinga, Khurda Road, Koraput, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Titlagarh, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram stations.

Secondary-level General Specialty Hospitals will be set at Bramhapur, Kantabanji, Koraput, Palasa, Rayagada & Visakhapatnam stations of the East Coast Railways.

A Healthy initiative in Koraput !

2010-02-25T23:55:00.001+05:30

The Hindu,Koraput,25.02.2010

It is for the first time in Orissa that about 16,000 adolescent girls were covered under a special programme to improve their anaemic condition by providing Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablets every week along with de-worming tablets twice a year, Neelam Bhatnagar, nutrition specialist from UNICEF, said here on Wednesday. She was here for the launching of the programme along with Sujata Rao, consultant, adolescent health, UNICEF, being held in the residential school for the girls at Mondaguda near Koraput.

While the programme would be carried out in all the 136 schools of the department, selected teachers from all these schools have already been given orientation on the nature and frequency of administering these tablets, Sweta Kumar Das, District Welfare Officer, said. Adolescent girls often suffer from anaemia for poor diet, malaria and worm infection and the programme would give a coverage for them from two angles. While IFA tablets bring the girls back from the anaemic condition, the de-worming tablets would protect them from worm infections, said Ms. Bhatnagar.

Orissa seeks year’s extension of Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project (WORLEP)

2010-02-25T23:43:00.001+05:30

Express News Service
25 Feb 2010 ,Bhubaneswar

The State Government today requested the Centre and the Department for International Development (DFID) to extend the tenure of Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project (WORLEP) by another year in view of the delay in expenditure of funds.
A part of the Orissa State Poverty Mitigation Mission, WORLEP - a DFID funded programme - aims at reducing poverty by promoting livelihood initiatives in the four western Orissa districts of Bargarh, Balangir, Kalahandi and Nuapada where health indicators are poor and there is shortage of safe drinking water. Besides, the four districts are drought prone.

A state government initiative, WORLEP is managed by Orissa Watershed Development Mission, with financial assistance from DFID. Although the overseas agency has sanctioned Rs 230 crore for the project, the Government has so far utilised Rs 194 crore.

Chief Secretary TK Mishra today reviewed the progress of all the externally aided projects at a highlevel meeting here attended by representatives of World Bank, DFID, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The other livelihood and infrastructure development projects funded by DFID are the Rs 446 crore Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Project (OTELP) and Rs 400 crore Orissa Health Sector Development Project.
The Government has utilised Rs 138 crore in OTELP and Rs 52 crore in the health sector development.

The major projects funded by the World Bank include Rs 1431 crore Orissa State Road Project, Rs 546 crore Orissa Community Tank Management project, Rs 315 crore Targeted Rural Initiative for Poverty Termination and Infrastructure (TRIPTI) and Rs 39 crore National Hydrology project.

The Japanese agency is providing assistance to the Orissa Forestry Sector Development project, Rengali Irrigation Left Bank canal project, Orissa Integrated Irrigation and Water Management project and Orissa Integrated Sanitation project.
A 17 members delegation of the four external agencies attended the review meeting along with 13 officials of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The representatives of the overseas agencies expressed their satisfaction over the progress of progress of the infrastructure and livelihood projects.

Consumer advice centres to come up in Bhubaneswar and Ganjam

2010-02-25T23:42:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar, 25.02.2010

The Consumer Advice Centres (CAC) would come up in Bhubaneswar and Ganjam. An agreement to this effect was signed under the Indo-German Bilateral Programme. The MoU was signed between the Government of India and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department of the State Government.

The German Technical Corporation (GTZ) is providing technical support to the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA), Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, under the project “Consumer Protection and Sustainable Consumption in India,” as a part of the advisory services in Environmental Management Programme of the Indo-German Bilateral Programme.

Orissa gets half of what it demanded in Railway Budget 2010

2010-02-25T23:38:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar, 25.02.2010

The State's demand for allocation of at least Rs 1,805 crore towards railway development in the 2010-11 Railway Budget has been ignored. It has got about Rs 836.64 crore as against Rs 715.22 crore for 2009-10. It would be spent for construction of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling and electrification. In addition, Rs 65.53 crore have been sanctioned for undertaking traffic facilities work at various stations located in the State. In total, the State has got Rs 902.17 crore.

This includes Rs 430 crore for completion of the ongoing new lines and Rs 399.73 crore for doubling of the major rail tracks. The good news is that Rs 120 crore has been sanctioned for the Khurda- Balangir railway project, Rs 101 crore for Haridaspur-Paradeep, Rs 75 crore for Daitari-Bansapani and Rs 50 crore for Talcher-Bimalagarh project.

In the Railway Budget for 2009-10 the State had asked for Rs 1,504 crore, but it was allocated only Rs 715 crore, of which only Rs 653.22 crore was released. The Budget has proposed to update the surveys for the Phulbari-Berhampur, Puri-Konark, Gunupur-Theruvali and Jeypore-Malkangiri rail routes. In addition, survey will be made for new train lines in the Talcher-Phulbani-Lanjigarh and Gunpur-Theruball-Junagarh-Jeypore routes. The only new line project that was included in the Budget is Digha-Jaleshwar.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has proposed to set up one of the State-of-the-art wagon factories in joint venture or public-private partnership (PPP) mode either at Bhubaneswar or Kalahandi. Similarly, for rail connectivity to the new minor ports coming up at Astranga, Chudamani and Gopalpur, the Railway Minister has proposed PPP mode. The following new lines are expected to be completed during the year 2009-10: Lanjigarh-Bhawanipatna portion of Lanjigarh-Junagarh line. The following sections are expected to be completed in 2010-11: Bhawanipatna-Junagarh of Lanjigarh- Junargarh & Khurda-Begunia of Khurda-Bolangir.

The Budget had made provisions of 10 Duronto trains in the Railway Budget 2010 including five for West Bengal while there will be one Duronto Express between Howrah and Puri.

Out Patient Department (OPD) and diagnostic centres will be set up at Balugoan, Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar, Bramhapur, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Kantabhanji, Kesinga, Khurda Road, Koraput, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Titlagarh, Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram stations. Secondary-level General Specialty Hospitals will be set at Bramhapur, Kantabanji, Koraput, Palasa, Rayagada & Visakhapatnam stations of the East Coast Railways.

Sunil Kumar Bhargava new Resident Commissioner of Orissa in Delhi

2010-02-24T09:09:00.004+05:30

Source: Pioneer News Service,Bhubaneswar:24/02/2010
http://dailypioneer.com/238262/Briefly.html

Sunil Kumar Bhargava, a 1984-batch IAS officer, has taken over as the new Resident Commissioner (RC) of Odisha in New Delhi. He is known for his networking and connections in the Central Government. After 1986 batch IAS officer LN Gupta left for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on June 6, 2008, the RC post was managed by a senior IFS officer, M Satyanarayana. The issue of filling up the RC post had even been raised in the State Assembly by Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh time and again. Bhargava has worked in several Ministries, including Women & Child Development and Finance for many years.

Orissa CM announces 300 seated Women’s Polytechnic at Nabarangpur, 5,000 Hostels for 5,00,000 Tribal girls in next 5 yrs, ITI in each block of Orissa

2010-02-21T09:35:00.007+05:30

21/02/2010

Orissa CM Mr. Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for a Women’s Polytechnic at Nabarangpur. The polytechnic institution will have a total of 300 seats, divided into 60 each for Civil Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunication and Mecatronics Engineering.

A sum of Rs 12.30 crore has been sanctioned by the Government of India, out of which Rs 8 crore is earmarked for civil construction and Rs 4.30 crore for machineries and equipment.

The Nabarangpur district administration has allotted 10 acres of land near Agnipur on the outskirts of the town for the college.

The CM announced that his government had come up with one thousand hostels for supporting the education of around one lakh tribal girls . This would be increased to five thousand hostels to accommodate five lakh tribal girls in the State in next five years.

Similarly, efforts would be initiated for the development of education, particularly for girls and ITIs would be established in each block in the State

Orissa’s economic growth was higher than national growth rate.. He said that at least 5.6 lakh hectares of agricultural land would be irrigated in coming days to increase the agricultural output.

Centre seeks support from Orissa for Paradip Petroleum, Chemicals, and Petro-chemcials Investment Region (PCPIR) project, CIPET at Balasore

2010-02-20T12:29:00.004+05:30

Source:The Financial Express,Bhubaneswar:

The Union chemical and petro-chemical secretary, Bijoy Chatterjee, on Firday met the Orissa chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, and discussed about the Petroleum, Chemicals, and Petro-chemcials Investment Region (PCPIR) project in the state.

The state-owned Industrial Infrastructrue Development Corporation (IDCO) chairman-cum-managing director, Priyabrata Patnaik, told reporters that the Union secretary urged the state government to provide land, water linkage and power supply besides other required infrastructrue for the project.

Patnaik said that the Union secretary also said the Centre is willing to set up a branch of the CIPET (Cental Institute of Plastic Engineering Tehncology) at Balasore in the state. For the institute, the state government has agreed to provide 15 acres of land, he disclosed.

The PCPIR project, which is going to spread over an area of 250 square kilometers at Paradip with the Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) oil refinery as anchor tenant, is expected to attract investment to the tune of Rs 2,75,000 crore.

The major chunk of investment, about Rs 23,000 crore, will come in petroleum and petro-chemical sector.

The project will generate employment opportunity for more than 2 lakh people when it is fully commissioned.

IIPH to set up Rs 140-crore campus in Orissa

2010-02-19T13:46:00.001+05:30

Business Standard:

Public Heath Foundation of India (PHFI), a registered society set up on the public private partnership mode and engaged in the training of public health professionals, will invest Rs 140 crore in setting up the Indian Institute of Public Heath (IIPH) in Orissa.

The IIPH in the state will come up on 40 acres of land to be provided free of cost by the Orissa government at Kumarabasta village near the city in Khurda district.

Initially, the IIPH will operate from a temporary campus in the city and the short-term training programmes will kick off from July this year.

The state government today inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with PHFI for setting up the institute which is set to be fully operational by the end of 2012.

The MoU was signed between Anu Garg, secretary, health and family welfare, Orissa government and K Srinath Reddy, president, PHFI at the state secretariat in the presence of state chief minister Naveen Patnaik, state minister for health and family welfare Prasanna Acharya and chief secretary T K Mishra.

Speaking on the occasion, Patnaik said, “PHFI shall work with the Orissa government to strengthen the overall public health system in the state. This will involve education, training and research on prioritized health problems of the state.”

“IIPH, in consultation with the state government, will impart training programmes for enhancing the capacity of the public health functionaries across all levels. The institute will offer Post-Graduate diploma programmes in Public Health Management, Health Economics, Health Care Financing, Health Policy, Biostatistics and Data Management. In addition, IIPH will conduct two-year diploma course in Public Health and Masters in Public Health”, he added.

“The vital health indicators like IMR and MMR (Maternal Mortality rate) have improved appreciably over the past few years. I am sure that the partnership between the state government and PHFI will go a long way in realizing the desired subjectives”, said Acharya. Reddy, the PHFI president, said, “Once the IIPH campus is fully operational, it will offer training short-term training programmes to 500 people and long-term training to 300 others.

Orissa inks MoU with British Council to implement student interaction scheme in state-run schools

2010-02-19T13:22:00.003+05:30

Source : PTI News

Bhubaneswar: Orissa government today signed an MoU with the British Council for implementation of a programme in state-run schools to enable students interact with their counterparts in the UK.

The MoU was inked between the secretary of school and mass education Bandana Jena and director of British Council, East India Sujata Sen here.

Orissa is the second state in east besides Chhatishgarh where the Council's 'connecting classrooms programme' would be implemented.

"The children of state-run schools can interact with their counterparts in UK over internet under the programme," Sen said adding a total of 370 schools across the country would be covered in first phase.

At least 21 schools located here and Cuttack would be covered under the first phase of programme, Sen said.

The British Council would sign MoUs with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.

"The schools having computer and internet facilities will be covered under the programme", Jena said adding of about 60,000 primary and elimentary schools in the state, only 1500 have been provided with computers.

The Council would help in equipping trainers in schools and the trained teachers would help students in learning how to interact over net with their counterparts in UK, Sen said.

Railway Mininister has no time for Orissa !

2010-02-19T13:05:00.001+05:30

Indian Express, Bhubaneswar, 19/02/2010

Mamata Banerjee, known so far for her Bengal-centric railway budget has probably little time for Orissa. An appointment, sought a month ago by the House Committee under Assembly Speaker Pradip Amat, is still waiting for a green signal from her Ministry and the PMO. The committee members were expected to put across Orissa’s needs and demands before the railway budget is presented.

The Assembly secretariat is trying to fix an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Railway Minister for over a month now. This has given rise to apprehension in the ruling dispensation as to whether Orissa will get justice in Mamata’s scheme of things.

This has evoked sharp reaction from the State Government with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty describing it as yet another instance of Central neglect.

The House Committee had sought time from the Minister to argue its case for more funding to complete the ongoing projects in time so vital for upgrading the State’s infrastructure, Mohanty said. So far there has been no word on it. If the appointment is not given by February 20, the committee cannot meet her, Mohanty pointed out.

The committee, headed by the Speaker, meets at least the Railway Minister almost every year to argue for more funds in the Budget for the State’s projects. However, Speaker Amat is still hopeful of a meeting with at least Mamata.

“I am expecting that the Railway Minister will meet the committee in time,’’ he said, adding that the panel can meet Mamata if appointment is given within the next couple of days.

The State Government had submitted a memorandum to the Minister with a demand of Rs 1,805 crore to be provided to Orissa in this year’s Budget. Many of the demands were for enhanced funding for ongoing projects and introduction of several new trains.

VSS University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla to get facelift , to be named as 'Siddhi Vihar'

2010-02-19T13:03:00.003+05:30

PNS Sambalpur, 19/02/2010

The Burla-based University College of Engineering (UCE) is all set to get a facelift before its first ever convocation after being re-christened as VSS University of Technology (VSSUT) bestowed with a unitary status. “As a university, it has completed one year and the achievements in this short span are no less,” said its first vice-chancellor Prof Deba Kumar Tripathy exuding confidence that it will see more bright days ahead with remarkable achievements in science and technology.

Since both large and medium scale industries are coming in good numbers all over the State and particularly surrounding this technical university, more job-oriented courses will be opened soon to create employment avenues for the students. The new courses will be water resources management, industrial power control and electric drives, material technology, manufacturing system engineering etc, informed Tripathy.

He also informed that all the vacancies in teaching and non-teaching posts would be filled up soon to convert this age-old institution to a full-fledged university. Simultaneously, advertisement has already been made in different newspapers and after the Board meeting, the process of recruitment would be initiated, Tripathy informed further. 146 students have already been selected for various companies through campus selection and more industries were to land here soon, he added.

On the forthcoming convocation on February 25 slated to be graced by the Chancellor cum Governor MC Bhandare, Tripathy informed that efforts are being made to give the entire campus a total new look by naming the campus as ‘Siddhi Vihar’ and the hostels after the Saptarshi Mandal.

Talking about the achievement of the students, Prof Prakash Chandra Swain said that the students of the university have stood first in the Robotic event at IIT Kharagpur recently. At the same time, it had successfully organised Samavesh-2010 with 2500 engineering students belonging to different engineering colleges all over the State. “There is possibility of getting Rs.10-20 crore aid from the World Bank for research activities,” Swain informed.

Adani Group evinces interest to set up a port

2010-02-19T13:01:00.002+05:30

PNS Bhubaneswar, 19/02/2010

The Adani Group has evinced keen interest to set up an all-weather port in the State and Rs 10,000 crore to be invested in this project. A proposal to this effect was presented by the Managing Director of the company, Rajesh Adani.

The port would be known as Adani-Kalinga. It would come up near the Posco project in Jagatsinghpur district. As per the proposal, Rs 5,000 crore each would be invested phase wise. This would be a 100 million-tonne capacity and 12 berths would come up in the port.

The Adani Group has also assured the State Government to develop infrastructures like railway line, roads and peripheral development near the port.

Chief Secretary TK Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Bijay Patnaik, Commerce and Transport Secretary Satyabrata Sahu were present in the meeting.

250 MW power can be generated from rice husk in State

2010-02-19T12:59:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar, 19/02/2010

Odisha is producing enough biomass, including rice husk in its rice mills, which can be used to generate up to 250 megawatt of power, but not much has been done to harness it.

Inviting rice mill owners at a seminar on Promotion of Biomass Gassifiers/Co-Generation Projects in Rice Mills here on Thursday to seize the opportunity organised by the Cogeneration Association of India (CAI) along with the All Odisha Rice Mills Association and the Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL), Secretary of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) Deepak Gupta pointed out that the move would help save the environment, improve the standard of living in rural areas and bring in more profit to rice mills because investments are recovered within a year.

He cited the example of a couple of cases in Bihar to buttress his argument that the traditionally poverty-ridden areas of the country, which are also the paddy producing regions, can benefit from the projects in providing electricity to the rural areas.

The seminar was part of a nationwide promotional plan sponsored by the MNRE and implemented by CAI. Such seminars have already been organised in UP, Bihar, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The Biomass Advisor to MNRE Dr DK Khare provided a lot of statistics to highlight the potential that Odsha has in this area and said adoption of the gassifier /cogeneration methods can save millions of litres of diesel in the State. He pointed out that the State Bank of India is so convinced about the scheme that it has made a precondition for installation of such systems, without which it is not willing to finance rice mills in Bihar.

State Director of Industries Hemant Sharma spoke about the steps taken by the State on the subject and mentioned the five paddy-producing clusters that have been identified in the State. He announced that the land for the project would be given free by the Government if a group of users approach with a joint project in a cluster. State Science and Technology Secretary Sudarshan Pal Thakur invited the prospective entrepreneurs to come forward with their projects and assured speedy approvals within a few days.

Secretary of the All Odisha Rice Mills Association Santosh Kumar Agarwal sought a model plant to be set up where potential entrepreneurs can gain confidence. He listed out some basic information required to arrive at a decision for investment. President of the Odisha State Cooperative Bank Jagneswar assured finance to all those who would approach the bank with a feasible proposal.

Rise in Dolphin population in Chilika lake

2010-02-18T10:48:00.001+05:30

THE HINDU, Bhubaneswar, 18th Feb 2010

BHUBANESWAR: Contrary to the public perception that the Irrawaddy dolphin population in Chilika lake was on the decline, the latest survey has recorded a nine percent increase in their number than last year.

The lake now has a total of 158 Irrawaddy dolphins, as per the findings of the annual census of the Irrawaddy dolphin population that was carried out in the lake on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The survey was carried out by 20 teams involving 80 persons, according to an official release issued by the Chilika Development Authority.

Of the 158 dolphins counted during the survey, 129 were adult and 29 were juveniles, including the neonates. Out of this 86 were counted in the outer channel of the lake, while 72 were spotted in the central and the southern sectors of the lake.

Last year 146 number of dolphin were counted in the lake, out of which 76 were spotted in the outer channel and 70 from the lake proper.

The rise in the population of Irrawaddy dolphin in Chilika lake was a healthy sign, according to A.K. Pattnaik, Chief Executive of CDA.

The increase in the number can be attributed to the conservation initiative taken by the CDA and the wildlife department for protection and conservation of the Irrawaddy dolphin in the Lake, said Pattnaik.

Health indicators are positive in Orissa

2010-02-18T10:35:00.003+05:30

PNS Bhubaneswar, 18th Feb 2010

Most of the trends and health indicators in Odisha are very positive. MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) has decreased to 303 witnessing 55 point decline, said Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Anu Garg while delivering her speech on the concluding day of the “Regional Conference on Population, Health and Social Development in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal”, organised by Population Foundation of India.

She further said that the full immunization coverage in the State reached to 74 per cent and above all institutional delivery has reached 76 per cent. “The RCH programme has adopted the continuum of care model. Odisha is also planning to introduce Voucher scheme to cover transportation cost. She also talked in detail about various child health and family welfare initiatives taken by the State Government,’’ she said.

Dr Abid Hussain, former Indian Ambassador to the US, currently member of the Governing Board of PFI, said Odisha is now showing signs of speedy development. He also stressed upon three important issues-3Ms for Odisha; Malnutrition, Malaria and Maternal health.

Speaking on the occasion, J M. Chaki, Dy Director MOHFW WB said that for MMR to decline 48 hrs stay for mothers is need to be ensured. “Twenty per cent of delivery is still to be institutionalised due to lack of infrastructure. Though we reached replacement level of fertility but desired level of MMR and IMR is yet to be reached. Therefore focus need to be directed to reduce neonatal mortality,” Chaki said.

At the end of the two-day conference, summing up the sessions Dr Arundhati Mishra, Additional Director of PFI observed that, to deal with IMR, there should be increased infrastructure facilities, provides quality health services, increased manpower and improved mobility.

Earlier, Bharti Ghosh , Joint Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of West Bengal, Prof. SK Guha of IIT Kharagpur, Ranjan Panda of CINI and Pritha Biswas of CBCI., Prof. Bhagaban Prakash, Sociologist, Dr. Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, Chairman, Civil Society Initiatives in Odisha and Deepak Ranjan Mishra, PFI-Global Fund, Lucknow also spoke on the occasion.

Develop Railways in Odisha on national basis: KP to Mamata

2010-02-17T19:01:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar, 17/02/10

Prior to the ensuing Rail Budget, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President KP Singh Deo has urged Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in his letter to pay special attention to Odisha, a Press release stated. Reminding the Minister of his discussions held earlier during the Winter Session of the Parliament accompanied by Union Minister Srikant Jena and MP Bhakta Charan Das, Singh Deo has pointed out that while the national average of railway developments is 19 km per 1,000 km, it is 15.3 in Odisha.

He has observed that the Railway Ministry can play a pivotal role in the development of the State rich in mines and industries.

He has also observed that it will simultaneously contribute to the economic development and alleviation of poverty and unemployment.

Barabati to host two IPL matches

2010-02-17T19:00:00.001+05:30

PNS Bhubaneswar, 17/02/10

Indian Premier League ( IPL) authorities on Tuesday allotted two of Deccan Chargers' home matches to the Cuttack-based Barabati Stadium on March 19 and 21.

This was decided after a series of discussions between the IPL and Deccan Chargers franchise to host matches in their catchment area. The IPL authorities have shifted the Chargers home matches from Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam to Cuttack due to the present political chaos in Andhra Pradesh. The defending champion Deccan Chargers will play Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils on March 19 and two days later respectively.

The IPL team will reach Cuttack on Saturday for the inspection, said OCA honorary secretary Asirbad Behera.

He expressed his happiness and enthusiasm to make the IPL matches a grand success. For the first time the State cricket lovers will witness the high voltage IPL 20-20 matches, he added.

Odisha will be mother of all investments: Kumar Mangalam Birla

2010-02-17T18:57:00.001+05:30

PNS Bhubaneswar, 17/02/10

Odisha would be the mother State of all investments, said Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Tuesday after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat.

Talking to mediapersons, Birla said, “We appraised the development of our projects to the State Government. We also informed about the large investment happenings in Odisha and assured to carry forward the project and further investment in the State.” However, he did not make any announcement about the starting of a new project.

He said the group’s top priority would be to complete its two projects in the State, Utkal Alumina and Hindalco. “We are also planning to open another unit near Hirakud,” he said. Birla expressed satisfaction over the State Government’s help to the company in executing various schemes.

High mortality rate worries govt in Orissa

2010-02-17T18:02:00.000+05:30

Source :Times of India,Bhubaneswar,16 Feb 2010

The state has witnessed a fall in birth rate between 2002 and 2008. At the same time, the infant mortality rate (IMR) has gone up. According to the Population Foundation of India (PFI), crude birth rate has come down from 23.2 in 2002 to 21.4 in 2008, while the state has second highest IMR in the country with 69 per 1,000 live births.

"This is an unusual demographic situation that may lead to many problems. Orissa needs to urgently bring down its IMR and Maternal Mortality rate (MMR)," executive director of PFI A R Nanda said at the regional conference on population, health and social development here on Tuesday.

"The state government should emphasize on primary health care by strengthening community and village-level planning and strict implementation of the programmes launched so far," he said.

Nanda said Orissa also suffers from "double burden syndrome", ie, the state is equally at risk from diseases of poverty and affluence. "While people living in poverty experience diseases that result from lack of resources, affluent individuals suffer from diseases resulting from an abundance of resources," he said.

Health minister Prasanna Acharya said, "The state government has been trying hard to reduce IMR from 90 to 69 per 1,000 child births and MMR from 365 to 303 per one lakh child births in the last few years. Besides, launching programmes, we have to create awareness on social issues like not to marry off girls at an early age, which leads to death of both mother and child."

Senior advisor of PFI Dr Almas Ali said, "In Orissa we have to give importance on three Ms, malnutrition, malaria and mortality rate, to improve the general health. Despite so many constraints, Orissa is among the few states to achieve replacement level of fertility, while the situation is quite grim in Bihar and Jharkhand."

Art students body urges CM to provide employment opportunity

2010-02-15T16:48:00.001+05:30

Source:Pragativadi, 15 Feb 2010

Bhubaneswar: The students of Nikhila Utkal Charu O Karukala Chhatra Sangha on Sunday said that they will continue their agitation until their demands are fulfilled.
In a release, the Sangh said that the existence of art teachers in government high schools in the state and art education has become a regular course in the school curriculum.
However, in 1982, recruitment of such teachers was held up at the government level due to reasons best known to the authorities.
The Sangh leaders also said that as art is declared as the third language in High School syllabus and more particularly the Sarba Sikshya Abhijan is stressing upon the slogan 'Teaching through Art' it a paradox to notice that such education is being imparted by unidentified subject teachers which is a sheer breach of sanctity.
Besides, the seven art colleges functioning in the State are churning out 225 graduates who are helplessly wandering in the street without any meaningful engagement. Presently, 55 art teachers are in service and after they retire the posts of art teachers will vanish from the school and the faulty method of teaching art by untrained people will lead to complete funeral of the subject.
They urged the chief minister to release art teacher posts for giving bread to the unemployed art graduates.

ESIC to set up medical college in Orissa with an investment of Rs 600 crore

2010-02-15T16:41:00.001+05:30

Source:Orissadiary.com, Saturday, February 13, 2010

Bhubaneswar: The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) plans to set up medical college in Orissa with an investment of Rs 600 crore. This was stated at a Press meet here on Saturday by ESIC Insurance Commissioner BK Sahu in the presence of the Regional Director of Orissa AS Meeran. He said the plan is to have one such medical college in each State where the ESIC has its operation and the college in Orisa is likely to be the first one. He highlighted a series of initiatives to make the ESIC friendly to the insured persons (IPs).

Sahu said ESIC-operated hospital at Rourkela is being modernised at a cost of Rs 30 crore, while Rs 65 crore each has been earmarked for the State-run hospitals at Bhubaneswar and Choudwar. ESIC already submitted its plans to the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) for approval. It should be noted that ESIC has been allotted 25 acres of land by the State Government in the Chandaka area near the city for its proposed medical college.
The initiatives included roping in private nursing homes as treatment centres wherever the State Government is not in a position to provide the required medical facilities. This is likely to come into effect from April 1, 2011.

Protest against Mamata Banerjee in Orissa for insulting Oriya language

2010-02-15T16:38:00.001+05:30

Source:Orissadiary.com,Saturday, February 13, 2010

Rourkela: The long-awaited Intercity Express train between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar chugged out from Rourkela Railway Station at 3.21 pm instead of the scheduled 3 pm amid political drama on Saturday. Protests marked the launch of Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express here on Saturday as a number of culture enthusiasts cast aspersions at Union Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee for 'insulting' the Oriya language.

Taking umbrage at an invitation card which was printed in English and Bangla, the protestors rushed to the station and shouted slogans demanding an apology from Mamata Banerjee.
"The regional language should always find place beside Hindi and English languages. But shockingly, the invitation card was printed sans Oriya despite knowing the fact that the function was held in Orissa," said Bhabagrahi Mohapatra, president of Utkal Sammilani that spearheaded the protest in the Rourkela railway station. Even names of local MP Hemananda Biswal and local MLAs Sharada Nayak and Subrat Tarai were also missing from the invitation cards.

After much dilly-dallying, it had initially been decided that the train would be flagged off on February 13 by the Railway Minister from Midnapur which would be displayed on TV monitor at Rourkela station and the Chakradharpur DRM would follow the suit. But, on February 12 it was decided that instead of the DRM, the Sundargarh MP Hemanand Biswal and Civil Supply Minister Sarada Nayak would jointly flag off the train. Rourkela: The long-awaited Intercity Express train between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar chugged out from Rourkela Railway Station at 3.21 pm instead of the scheduled 3 pm amid political drama on Saturday. Protests marked the launch of Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express here on Saturday as a number of culture enthusiasts cast aspersions at Union Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee for 'insulting' the Oriya language.

Taking umbrage at an invitation card which was printed in English and Bangla, the protestors rushed to the station and shouted slogans demanding an apology from Mamata Banerjee.
"The regional language should always find place beside Hindi and English languages. But shockingly, the invitation card was printed sans Oriya despite knowing the fact that the function was held in Orissa," said Bhabagrahi Mohapatra, president of Utkal Sammilani that spearheaded the protest in the Rourkela railway station. Even names of local MP Hemananda Biswal and local MLAs Sharada Nayak and Subrat Tarai were also missing from the invitation cards.

After much dilly-dallying, it had initially been decided that the train would be flagged off on February 13 by the Railway Minister from Midnapur which would be displayed on TV monitor at Rourkela station and the Chakradharpur DRM would follow the suit. But, on February 12 it was decided that instead of the DRM, the Sundargarh MP Hemanand Biswal and Civil Supply Minister Sarada Nayak would jointly flag off the train.

Balangir Varsity finds place on Task Force agenda

2010-02-15T12:14:00.001+05:30

Pioneer News Service Bhubaneswar, 15th Feb 2010

Balangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo is happy with the Task Force on Higher Education’s decision to set up a university in his constituency. He had recently met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to plead for a university in Balangir.

Singh Deo also discussed the issue of low Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in this backward district with Task Force chairman Prof Trilochan Pradhan. Balangir is one of the most backward areas of the State, where poverty and illiteracy is acute.

When Singh Deo recently met Advisor of Prime Minister on Infrastructure, Innovation and Broadband Connectivity Sam Pitroda, both agreed over the need of a university at Balangir. Pitroda, who is the former Chairman of the Knowledge Commission, had also favoured such universities during his visit to Odisha.

The interim report of the Task Force on Higher Education, presented to the State Government recently, has recommended a Western Odisha University at Balangir. It is favouring the idea of region-based universities, and in the process, Balangir takes the lead.

Rourkela favoured for Metropolitan Varsity

2010-02-15T12:12:00.001+05:30

Pioneer News Service Bhubaneswar, 15th Feb 2010

Cheers for citizens of Rourkela! The steel city has been favoured as the location for the First Metropolitan University of Odisha.

The State Task Force on Higher Education, which has presented its interim report to the State Government, has made the recommendation in favour of Rourkela.

One of the major recommendations of the Task Force is establishment of more universities as with the existing number of universities, experts feel, the State’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) cannot be scaled up to the national level.

People of Rourkela were aggrieved over the attitude of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in not establishing its proposed medical college and hospital for the State in the steel city. However, the Task Force, headed by Professor Trilochan Pradhan, thought it prudent to allow an innovative institution at Rourkela.

A Metropolitan University like London, which has more than 30,000 students, is a top class university. Educationists feel such a university at Rourkela can be developed in a big way.

Odisha set to become major Defence base

2010-02-15T12:08:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

The State will soon emerge as a major defence base with the Army, Air Force and Navy evincing keen interest to set up their bases to counter any possible attack by China in the coming days.

The Air Force and the Navy have gone ahead and started taking initiatives in this direction. Odisha is considered a soft target for China as it has the base tasting centre for India’s prestigious inter-continental ballistic missile Agni at Wheeler Island in Bhadrak, Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) at Balasore, MiG factory at Koraput and ordnance factory at Saintala in Balangir.

In order to bring Odisha under a safe net and to counter a possible attack by China on Indian soil from the Myanmar site, the Defence Ministry has decided to go ahead and has started executing one plan after another. Sources said the eastern sector doesn’t have a major fighter air base and is still considered as a vulnerable area. IAF officials maintain that with the change of foreign policy, China’s growing influence and more thrust being given on South-East Asia in the current world scenario, India also wants to play its role in the area and Odisha can provide the best platform for this purpose.

After Kalaikunda in West Bengal, there is no an air force base in the eastern sector. Almost all the air force bases like Bagdogra, Kalaikunda, Guwahati, Hashimara, Jorhat and Tezpur are in the north-east with forward airbases at Agartala, Kolkata, Pangarh and Shillong. Out of these, Bagdogra, Kalaikunda and Hashimara are air force bases for fighter squadrons.

A “blind zone” exists between the Kalaikunda and Visakhapatnam naval bases. To overcome these difficulties and to provide solid back up system to the forwarding bases to thwart any Chinese threat, IAF wants to set up a major fighter air base at Charbatia, the aerial reconnaissance post of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC), near Cuttack.

Charbatia, with 2,000 acres of land, is now under the Union Home Ministry from where RAW operates. The airstrip came up in the 1960s with the help of CIA to keep a watch on then East Pakistan and China. But it lost its significance after Bangladesh came up and the Indo-China war came to an end. With the growing influence of the Chinese, the air-strip has become important for the IAF.

Air Marshal JN Burma has already held discussions with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in this connection and urged him to recommend to the Home Ministry to hand over the land and nearly 400 dilapidated quarters to the IAF. “Unless the State recommends the Centre to transfer lands to the IAF, it would not be able to set up its base. The State’s logistic support is essential to set up a base,” admit IAF officials, adding that if one draws a straight line, it would be a straight line between Charbatia and Myanmar. “The Chinese can then know that someone deep inside is watching it,” said IAF officials.

Secretary, Information and Public Relations Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra said the IAF has already given a proposal to this effect and wants to invest Rs 5,000 crore in the base. “The Government is looking into this proposal seriously,” said Mohapatra.

As the eastern sector does not have a single radar station, it wants to set up a radar station. “It has chosen Hirakud in Sambalpur as it is situated on a higher altitude. The purpose of setting up the radar deep inside at a higher place is that that you can look at all and no one can watch you,” said a senior defence official, adding that the main purpose was not to give protection to Hirakud dam rather than to look into the growing Chinese activities. In order to avoid any major attention, IAF just wants to downplay it by stating that the radar was meant for the dam, said defence officials. Other security agencies are there to give protection to the dam, he said over phone from Delhi. It has already installed a major radar on the Puri- Konark coast.

Similarly, the Indian Navy has intensified its activities on the Bay of Bengal near the Odisha coast. The Indian Army has already given its signal that it is going to start its major activities at Amarda in Balasore.

Orissa Govt to help ST, SC students’ admission in Sainik School

2010-02-14T21:55:00.001+05:30

Pragativadi,Bhubaneswar,14th Feb 2010

In an attempt to give opportunity to meritorious students belonging to the backward communities, the ST and SC development department has decided to bear the entire tuition fees of these students who will get admission at the Sainik School.
Students of these categories would be given tool kits and baggage so that they should not feel inferior to their affluent counterparts.
Financial hardship comes as a stumbling block for meritorious ST and SC students who are aspiring for education at the Sainik Schools.

Statistics reveal that in 2009-10 only five tribal students were enrolled at the Sainik School, Bubaneswar, out of a total intake of 92 in Class VI.
This was despite the fact that there is provision of 7.5 per cent reservation of seats for the ST students in the school.

Similarly, only 13 SC students received admission at the Sainik School, though there is a 15 per cent reservation of seats for their category.
The reason for this poor intake of ST and SC students in one of the topmost schools is poverty, said a senior faculty in the school.
The Sainik School charges Rs 68,000 per annum towards fee.

Orissa stands 2nd in India Inc investment plans

2010-02-14T21:49:00.002+05:30

Indian Express,BBSR: Orissa has secured second spot as far as the India Inc.’s investment plans in 2009 are concerned. Despite poor implementation record and the economic slowdown, the State has garnered a total private domestic investments worth Rs 2,00,846 crore in the year.

Only Gujarat with a total of Rs 2,45,352 crore investment plans surpassed it. This has been revealed by a recent ASSOCHAM study titled ‘Corporate Investments across States and Sectors in 2009’.

The study has noted that the domestic investment announcements of India Inc. registered a growth of 16 per cent in 2009 with Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh emerging frontrunners. The total investment plans of India Inc. increased significantly from Rs 13,80,099 crore in 2008 to Rs 15,94,203 crore in 2009. Out of which Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh cornered a share of 15.4 per cent, 12.6 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively.The report, however, points out that the implementation of these investment projects has been hampered by a slew of hurdles.

These include land acquisition problems, bureaucratic inertia, ongoing economic slowdown and depressed export market conditions. It urged the governments to address these issues on priority basis.

Orissa has attracted massive investments primarily because of availability of rich mineral resources such as coal and iron ore along with cheap manpower. Steel and power were among the sectors which attracted maximum investments in 2009. But, it has clearly pointed out that Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra lead in possessing a convincing investor-friendly image.

A glance at the sector wise investments nationally reveal that power sector has bagged the maximum investments totalling Rs 4,14,327 crore or 26 per cent of the overall investment plans.Real estate at Rs 2,57,314 crore, energy Rs. 1,98,565 crore, metals & mining at Rs 1,59,534 crore, infrastructure at Rs.74,210 crore, hospitality at Rs 43,746 crore, auto components Rs. 38,150 crore and telecom at Rs 34,461 crore follow. States like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra have received major investments in energy, real estate, infrastructure, hospitality and telecom etc.The moot point in this context is with environmental clearances post-Copenhagen going to shroud many of the steel and coal-based power projects in Orissa, and with the US and EU’s insistence on the World Bank not providing loans for coal-based power projects in developing countries, may hamper investments in these sectors in 2010.

Thus, the Government here has to urgently diversify the investment portfolio with appropriate incentives to the sectors like solar/clean energy generation, infrastructure, telecom and real estate to stay in the race.

COMMENTS

Investments in Orissa comprises Mining and metallurgical projects. Such projects create Billionaires like Mittal,Jiandal,Bhusan,Agarwals, POSCO, etc These projects have more downsides than than the benefits which will percolate to the local people. Mining causes wide spread deforestation, degradation of Soil, pollution affecting water sources, agriculture, human living etc. making the local people poorer. Mining provides very little employment to the locals. The State gets pea nuts as Royalty. Thus even after producing 100 million tons of thermal coal and 100 million tons of iron Ore per annum, Orissa remains the poorest State in the Country. Remedy: Stop mindless mining and conserve forest & land. raise royalty on Minerals & Coal to at least 50% of the International Market Price, FOB-Indian Port.

By J.N.Mahanty

Two Kendrapara girls bend it like Beckham

2010-02-14T21:47:00.000+05:30

Express News Service, 11 Feb 2010

KENDRAPARA: Two village girls of Kendrapara district kept the Indian flag flying in the recently-held South Asian Games in Dhaka. Sasmita Mallick (20) of Goudapatana and Alochana Senapati (20) of Mulasahi under Aul block represented India in women’s football and won the gold medal for the country. India defeated Nepal in the final on February 8.
It was a dream come true for the duo who got a chance to represent the country in their chosen sport. There was much celebration in their villages when the news trickled in.

Today many villagers came to the three-room mudwalled thatched house of Alochana to congratulate her after she returned from Dhaka.
‘’Before going to Dhaka, I had a burning desire to stand on the victory podium and sing the National Anthem. Now I am happy that I realised my dream by winning gold for India,’’ said Sasmita.
In the games, Sasmita scored eight goals in five matches. ‘’I took to football at the age of 10 when I was in Class V. Since 2006 I had been working hard to represent the country. Every day I practise for three to four hours apart from doing other types of exercises under the watchful eyes of Bijaya Kumar Kanungo in the SAI sports hostel in Bhubaneswar,’’ said Sasmita.

Three other girls - Supriya Routray of Cuttack, Gitanjali Khuntia of Bhubaneswar and Pinki Dampal Magar of Jharsuguda also represented India in the Games, said Mohammed Jabar, chief coach of the Indian team.
‘’Sasmita and Alochana are talented and their dedication has been proved in the district and State levels.

I had high expectations from them in the South Asian Games, ’ ’ said Jabar. Aul is the cradle of women’s football in Orissa.Five girls from Aul areas had already represented India, said Debendra Sharma, vice-president of Women’s Football Association of Orissa.

Yudhistir Mallick (47), father of Sasmita, is a plumber and earns Rs 3,000 a month. ‘’It was difficult for me to look after five members of my family, so I allowed my daughter to stay in the sports hostel,’’ Yudhistir said.Alochana’s father Dhruba Charana Senapati works as a clerk in the sub-registrar office at Aul.‘’I am feeling proud for the achievement of my daughter,’’ said Dhruba.

Demand for Innovation University at Berhampur

2010-02-11T10:03:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar,February 11, 2010

Lauding the efforts to set up an Innovation University in Odisha, the intelligentsia said it is a matter of great satisfaction as the State is at the bottom in gross enrollment ratio (GER). But the university should be set up in a backward region rather than the State capital, they demanded.

Anirvan Mishra said in States like Odisha the Government thinks that the capital city has the first claim over all other places for locating national institutes. If not stopped, this capital centric approach will also coma to the fore when Innovation Universities are established. The HRD Ministry should constitute teams that will minutely inspect the alternative places before arriving at the exact locations of these universities, said Mishra.

The Central Government would do the right thing to include Tampara bay considered as Odisha’s Goa, near Berhampur city as one of the locations that deserve an honest inspection for examining its feasibility to house an Innovation University.

Berhampur city in south Odisha being close enough to the State capital and KBK regions which till now doesn’t have a centrally funded institute may prove to be the ideal location for such a University. The idea of Innovation University should not be allowed to fail by handpicking the places which already have a cluster of centrally funded institutes, he said.

Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology to come up

2010-02-11T09:58:00.001+05:30

Pioneer News Service | Bhubaneswar, February 11, 2010

The State Government has decided to set up a technical university in Sambalpur. This university would be christened as Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology. The State Government has provided Rs 10 crore for this institute.

THE HINDU

2010-01-21T15:49:00.000+05:30

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 21, 2010
ePaper Mobile/PDA Version

The Delhi Oriya Students’ Association (DOSA) organised an international students’ cultural meet at Delhi University earlier this week as part of an international student cultural exchange programme. Students from Orissa, Manipur and Indonesia took part in the event organised with the objective of showcasing the cultural vibrancy of India and Indonesia.

Established in 1971, DOSA has Oriya students from various educational institutions such as Delhi University, JNU, Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University, IIT and AIIMS as its members.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/21/stories/2010012157380300.htm

Useful for UPSC / OPSC Exam aspirants & Researchers on Orissa

2009-12-23T09:47:00.006+05:30

Govt. Schemes:

Source: PRAGATIVADI ,22/12/09, Bhubaneswar

TRIPTI Scheme

The Orissa government has decided to extend the TRIPTI (Targeted Rural Initiatives for Poverty Termination and Infrastructure) scheme to all the blocks of the state.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level review meeting presided over by chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretarait here on Monday.

The meeting decided that the panchayati raj department will be in charge of executing the project from next year onwards.

Presently, the World Bank-assisted livelihood project is implemented in 38 blocks of the state.

The meeting reviewed the functioning and implementation of Mission Shakti and TRIPTI.

Lauding the success of these two schemes, the chief minister directed the officials to create and develop adequate infrastructure for the state-wide implementation of the TRIPTI project.

Mission Shakti Scheme

The meeting revealed that as many as 3.87 lakh women self help groups (WSHGs) with around 46.5 lakh members have been formed under Mission Shakti across the state.

They have been sanctioned loans to the tune of Rs 1,367 crore for various activities.

The items produced by the WSHGs are being taken by the Reliance Fresh and ITC for marketing.

More than 7,000 water bodies have been created by these SHGs for fisheries while more than 7,000 SHG members have been appointed as agents for public distribution system (PDS) outlets.

About 63 Groups have been involved in distribution of LPG cylinders in their respective areas.

Similarly, the SHG members are involved in mid day meal (MDM) scheme in around 34,000 schools across the state.

The government has also entered into agreements with companies like Reliance Fresh and ITC for marketing the products of the SHGs.

.

Useful for UPSC / OPSC Exam aspirants & Researchers on Orissa

2009-12-23T09:32:00.007+05:30

Orissa Agriculture updates............

Source: New Indian Express ,22/12/09, Bhubaneswar

Orissa Agriculture , some very useful Information

The State Government has decided to increase seed replacement rate in paddy to 25 per cent by the end of the 11th Five- Year Plan.In view of the possibility of reduction of paddy production during the year, the State Government has decided to open seed centres in each gram panchayat. Besides, a decision has been taken to intensify the seed village scheme.

Other programmes include establishment of seed storage godowns and seed processing plants. Mobile seed processing plants will be introduced to help farmers in interior areas. Campaign for seed treatment will be launched among the farmers.

Out of the total cultivated area of 61.5 lakh hectares, 70 per cent (40.17 lakh hectare) is acidic and four lakh hectares saline. Three lakh hectares are water-logged.

The reasons for low productivity have been identified as lack of assured irrigation, low seed replacement ratio, low level of fertiliser consumption and mechanisation and weak extension machinery.

The State Government has taken up application of lime (paper mill sludge and gypsum) on a largescale and promotion of green manure like dhanicha as soil amelioration measures. Besides, bio-fertiliser is also being promoted.

Orissa Govt. to declare VSS Medical College Hospital,Burla autonomous & accord status of Unitary University

2009-12-22T09:30:00.003+05:30

The Hindu, Bhubaneswar, 22/12/2009

Orissa government on Monday said VSS Medical College Hospital would be made autonomous and the college would enjoy status of unitary university.
According to State Health Minister Prasanna Acharya, the State government has taken an in principle decision to make the long-standing demand a reality.
“Technical management and support team is preparing a draft in this regard. The State government would soon introduce a Bill in the State Assembly to accord autonomous status to VSS Medical College and Hospital,” Mr. Acharya said in a statement.

32 Orissa NGOs blacklisted for funds misappropriation

2009-12-22T00:15:00.004+05:30

Source : PRAGATIVADI & CAPART

Bhubaneswar, 22nd December 2009

Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), an autonomous body functioning under rural development ministry, has blacklisted a total of 32 NGOs and voluntary organizations of Orissa on November 9 after they were found indulging in misappropriation of funds.

The ministry has conveyed information about the matter to the standing committee on rural development that tabled its first report on Demands for Grants in Parliament on Thursday.
The Committee was headed by Sumitra Mahajan.

Of the 833 NGOs and voluntary organizations which were blacklisted throughout India , 32 such organizations are from Odisha . The ministry informed that these NGOs were blacklisted for their indulgence in irregularities including misappropriation of funds, the committee said.

List of BLA (Black Listed) VOs (as on 24-NOV-2009)

State :ORISSA

No. VO Name /Addresss

--- ---------------------------------------------

576 ABAJ ADIVASI HARIJAN SEVA SANGHA

SANTHASARA, PO SANTHAPUR, VIA GONDIA, DIST

DHENKANAL, ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :11-OCT-2000 Circular No :BLA/10/2000-2001

Reference No:718-05/92-ARWSP

577 ANCHLIK BIKAS PARISHAD

PLOT NO. A/16,NAGESHWAR TANGI,BHUBNESHWAR - 2

ORRISA

Date Of Blacklisting :06-DEC-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/143/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

578 ANTYODAYA CHETANA KENDRA

AT. SANKATAPALIA, P.O. HADGARH

Date Of Blacklisting :12-DEC-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/150/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

579 ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN'S AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

AT.+P.O. CHARIPOLIA

Date Of Blacklisting :30-MAY-2008 Circular No :BLA/HQ/5/2008-2009

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

580 BALASORE ZILLA MAHILA BIKASH PARISHAD

GODAVARI BHAWAN,GOPALGAON, BALASORE - ORRISA

- 756001

Date Of Blacklisting :06-DEC-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/144/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

581 BANDEY PURUSOTAM SEVA PRATISHTHAN

B-18,INDRADHANN MARKET, IRC VILLAGE NAYAPALLI

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/11/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

582 BAPUJI JANA SEBA CLUB

AT LAXMINAGAYAYANPUR VIA GONDIA

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/8/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

List of BLA (Black Listed) VOs (as on 24-NOV-2009)

-----------------------------------------------

State :ORISSA

No. VO Name /Addresss

--- ---------------------------------------------

583 CENTRE FOR PARTICIPATORY EDUCATION & ACTION

FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

AT.+P.O. SIKO, BLOCK-BEGUNIA

Date Of Blacklisting :06-DEC-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/138/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

584 COMMUNITY ACTION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

AT/PO SANTALA, DIST DHENKANAL, ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :25-AUG-1992 Circular No :9-BLA/92-MONT

Reference No:NOT KNOWN

585 DHARITRI

AT. BARADA, P.O. PATPUR, P.S. SALIPUR, BLOCK-

NISCHINTAKOILI

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/9/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

586 GOPABANDHU ACTIVE RURAL RECONSTRUCTION

VULUNTARY ORGANISATION

AT/PO RAMNAGAR, DISTT CUTTACK, ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :06-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/4/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

587 GRAMYA SHREE SEBA SANGHA

AT-HATABARADI,PO-HATABARADI,VIA-

KUHURI,DIST.KHURDA

Date Of Blacklisting :21-NOV-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/117/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2006-2007

588 KALYAN SAMITI

AT/PO MUNDILO, VIA MANDASAHI

Date Of Blacklisting :17-NOV-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/22/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/MISC/2005

589 KHUNTIA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

AT/PO MOTTA, VIA KAMAKHYANAGAR, DIST

DHENKANAL, ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :08-FEB-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/28/2005-2006

Reference No:ARTS-1050/93

590 MAA BHABANI JANASEVA CLUB

AT/PO RAJIB,VIA KALAPATHAR, DISTT.CUTTACK -

ORRISA-754009

Date Of Blacklisting :06-DEC-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/140/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

List of BLA (Black Listed) VOs (as on 24-NOV-2009)

-----------------------------------------------

State :ORISSA

No. VO Name /Addresss

--- ---------------------------------------------

591 MANAV SAMBHAL VIKAS SAMITI

BUDDHESHAWARI COLONY, DISTT BHUBANESHWAR,

ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :06-JAN-1997 Circular No :BLA/138/96-97

Reference No:NOT KNOWN

592 MIRABEN LADIES MISSION

VILL BELATIKIRI, VIA GOBINDPUR, DISTT

DHENKANAL, ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :09-OCT-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/77/2006-2007

Reference No:ARTS/1013/93

593 NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR BACKWARD AREA SERVICE

AT/PO-BIDHARPUR,VIA GONDIA,DHENKANAL

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/10/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

594 NILAKANTHESWAR CLUB

AT TIGIRIA, PO JORAKANI, VIA DELANGA, DISTT

PURI ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :19-NOV-2007 Circular No :BLA/HQ/128/2007-2008

Reference No:1118-12/93-JRY

595 PEOPLE RURAL RECONSTRUCTION INSTITUTE FOR

YOUTH ACTION

SANUKUMARI, BARTTANA, B.T.PUR, DISTT BALASORE

ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :21-NOV-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/118/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2006-2007

596 RAJIV GANDHI YOUTH CLUB

P.O. BANKUAL, VIA-MARTHAPUR

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAR-2002 Circular No :BLA/140/96-97

Reference No:NOT KNOWN

Circular No :BLA/HQ/9/2001-2002

Reference No:718-22/92-ARWSP-CAPART

597 RURAL AND URBAN POPULAR ACTION, SOCIAL

RESEARCH INSTITUTE

AT PO CHIRULEI, VIA MAHIMAGADI

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/6/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

List of BLA (Black Listed) VOs (as on 24-NOV-2009)

-----------------------------------------------

State :ORISSA

No. VO Name /Addresss

--- ---------------------------------------------

598 SAMAJ VIKASH

AT PO KHUNTA, DISTT. MAYURBHANJ, ORRISA -

757019

Date Of Blacklisting :06-DEC-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/139/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

599 SARBODAYA VIKASH SAMITI

AT-RAIGURU BASUDEIPUR,P.O.-BALAKATI

Date Of Blacklisting :12-DEC-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/151/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

600 SEVA BHARATI

AT.JORANDA,PO/VIA-MAHIMAGADI,DISTT-

DHENKANAL,ORISSA.

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/7/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

601 SHRI AURBINDO PATHAGAR

AT/PO BARADA, VIA/DISTT DHENKAKANAL ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :05-JUL-1996 Circular No :BLA/84/96-97

Reference No:NOT KNOWN

602 TALAGARADA HARIJAN SAHI MAHILA SAMITI

AT. NUAKALURIA, P.O. KALURIA, VIA-MAHIMAGADI

Date Of Blacklisting :06-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/1/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

603 TEAM FOR RURAL TRIBAL AND URBAN UPLIFTMENT

AT. SANTI NAGAR(BEHIND SAI MANDIR),PO

BUDHARAJA

Date Of Blacklisting :18-MAY-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/5/2009-2010

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

604 VIKALP (CENTRE FOR PROMOTION ALTERNATIVES)

AT/PO KANTABANJI, DISTT BALANGIR ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :30-MAY-2008 Circular No :BLA/HQ/4/2008-2009

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-2002

605 VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

KARADAPALLI, PO NILDKANTHESWAR PUR, DISTT

PURI ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :17-OCT-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/88/2006-2007

Reference No:ARTS/521/92

List of BLA (Black Listed) VOs (as on 24-NOV-2009)

-----------------------------------------------

State :ORISSA

No. VO Name /Addresss

--- ---------------------------------------------

606 YOUTH SERVICE CENTRE

ANGUL, HAKIMPADA, DISTT DHENKANAL, ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :21-NOV-2006 Circular No :BLA/HQ/126/2006-2007

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2006-2007

607 YUG SHAKTI PALLI UNNAYAN CLUB

VILL. BAIDYA KATENI, PO. LAN, DISTT.

DHENKANAL ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :22-NOV-1994 Circular No :BLA-64/94-MONT

Reference No:NOT KNOWN

608 YUGA JYOTI MAHILA SAMITY

AT/POST-MALUDA,VIA-CHILIKA PARKUD,BLOCK

KRISHNAPRASAD,PURI,ORISSA

Date Of Blacklisting :09-MAR-2009 Circular No :BLA/HQ/15/2008-2009

Reference No:MED/CAPART/RMK/2001-

2002(A)

Sri Lankan Cricketers Bowled over by Sambalpuri sarees

2009-12-22T00:10:00.002+05:30

ENS , Bhubaneswar: 21 Dec 2009

Swashbuckling opener Tillakaratne Dilshan may have been every bowler’s nightmare but today he was bowled over by something which has been every Oriya woman’s love.

Same goes for Ajantha Mendis. The Sri Lanka Army officer has bamboozled the batsmen across the world with his mysterious carrom ball but for a change he was the victim today. Sambalpuri saree was the scalper in both the cases.

The cricket frenzy in this part of the country and the pressure of a crunch game notwithstanding, Sri Lanka cricketers today found time for Oriya sarees.

They ventured out of the team hotel and stepped into a famous saree store to do their shopping.

The salesmen and store managers at “Meher” were pleasantly surprised to see Dilshan along with three other cricketers walking into their outlet at about 4.30 p.m. They went about their shopping a cool manner asking the salesmen to show the best. “They loved the Sambalpuri and Bomkai sarees. Besides some of them also picked up chiffon, georgette and cotton sarees,” the store manager Gouranga Patra said.

The first batch of players stayed for about 45 minutes and purchased sarees estimated at Rs 60,000. As soon as Dilshan and co returned to the hotel, the second batch started. This time, it was a group of five including Mendis and Lasith Malinga. They headed for “Meher” where they purchased sarees worth Rs 60,000.

“Besides the cricketers buying sarees, the team manager also wanted to have silver jewellery,” said Kishore Patra.

By the time the Lankan cricketers were busy buying the sarees, news of them shopping spread and a large crowd gathered outside to have a glimpse. Since the cricketers have been confined to their hotel for security reasons, there is no chance locals could get a close view of them.

As soon as they came out of the shop, some of the fans tried to shake hands with and even managed pictures.

Declare special status to Orissa, pleads Orissa Finanace Minister

2009-12-14T00:33:00.008+05:30

The New Indian Express , Bhubaneswar

Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei today slammed the Centre for adopting dual standards so far as grant of special financial assistance is concerned.

While the latest findings of the Planning Commission-appointed Suresh Tendulkar Committee put Orissa at the bottom of the poverty level after Bihar, the Centre has been ignoring the demand for granting special category state status to it.

The Tendulkar Committee report came close on the heels of the NC Saxena Committee report which had recommended to the Plan panel to revise the number of BPL families from 47.81 per cent to 84.47 per cent as per the kilo calorie consumption. The Saxena Committee was appointed by the Rural Development Ministry to suggest methodology to estimate poverty.

If the poverty estimate by two separate committees of the Centre admitted high incidence of poverty in the State, there is no denying the fact that the State needs special assistance, the Finance Minister said.

“It is the responsibility of the Centre to bridge regional disparities among states by providing adequate Central assistance,’’ he said and regretted that the Centre is always apathetic to Orissa.

As the State resources are limited, it largely depends on the Central assistance to meet the capital expenditure. The Centre should now realise the ground situation and take immediate measures to treat Orissa as a special category state, he said.

Under centrally sponsored programme, the Central share is 90 per cent for special category state while the balance 10 per cent is the State’s share.

Presently, the Centre-state ratio is 70:30 in all the centrally assisted programmes.

More poor people of the State will be benefited under welfare schemes like Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and National Old-age Pension if the Centre accepted the report of either Saxena or Tendulkar Committee, the Finance Minister said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had taken up the issue with the Centre time and again. However, the Centre has been rejecting the State plea saying it does not fit the criteria set for granting special category status.

In that case, the Centre needs to change the criteria to accommodate Orissa under special category, Ghadei said.

Ravenshaw starts MPhil in Women’s Studies

2009-12-14T00:20:00.002+05:30

PNS | Cuttack

Ravenshaw University has decided to start regular MPhil course in Women’s Studies from this academic year.

The eligibility criterion for the course is post graduate degree in any discipline with at least 50 per cent marks. While the total number of seats for the course is only eight. Selection will be done on the basis of the performance in the post graduate examination. The course fee is Rs 5,000 and application forms are available in the university.

Asima Sahu, Reader in Political Science, Ravenshaw University, and coordinator of the M Phil Programme, pointed out in a meeting that the need for the incorporation of women’s studies in the university curriculum was felt by academics in the early 1980s.

Sahu mentioned that the topics covered under this inter-disciplinary course in women’s studies are the women’s movement and feminism; feminist critiques of disciplines; caste, class and patriarchy; women, colonialism and nationalism; women and development; and politics of representation. The core areas of study are generating awareness towards women’s issues, gender sensitivity, women’s empowerment, expression of the women’s voice, socio-cultural factors and marginalisation, legal rights of /for women, restructuring women’s role in history and critical analysis of stereotyping, she informed further.

Many Indian universities offer women’s studies or gender studies as part of their under-graduate programme in social sciences and at the post-graduate level, the scope for in-depth studies is limited to specialisation in specific gender issues. We hope the new programme will help in overcoming these limitations and creating avenues for research in the subject, said Vice-Chancellor of Ravenshaw University Devdas Chhotray.

After 32 years, DSPs to be recruited directly in Orissa

2009-12-14T00:20:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has finally decided to allow recruitment of Deputy Superinten-dents of Police (DSPs) directly. After 32 years, young boys and girls will now be able to join the Odisha Police Service (OPS) through direct recruitment.

This practice had been abandoned in 1976, reportedly due to pressure from the junior police officers. After the green signal of the Chief Minister, the Department of Home has cleared the proposal and sent it for approval of the State Cabinet, said sources.

Due to the discontinuance of the direct recruitment of DSPs, all the 48 posts of IPS cadre earmarked to be filled up by way of promotion from the OPS cadre have fallen vacant. As a result, in as many as nine districts, OPS officers were posted as SPs and the Government is forced to post more to the districts in view of the growing Maoist menace.

Earlier, there was a lesser number of DSP posts, but now it has risen to 404. Now, there will be no dearth of posts for junior police officers to rise in the ranks. The Government has created 34 posts in the rank of DSP Junior Class I, which would be filled up by direct recruitment process, said officials. However, these posts would be filled up in a phased manner, and in a given year direct recruitment would not exceed 15, said the sources.

The Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) will recruite young boys for the OPS. In order to be eligible for promotion to the IPS cadre, an OPS officer should have completed eight years of continuous service, said the sources.

Odisha is the only State where direct recruitment of DSP had been discontinued. Time and again the Centre has advised the State to start the process to overcome the crunch in the IPS cadre.

Experts call for better agri management for development of Orissa

2009-12-12T13:46:00.000+05:30

The New Indian Express, BBSR :

With Orissa earning the dubious distinction of having the highest percentage of poor in the country, experts have called for better agriculture management to generate more income for rural poor.

With more than 85 percent of the population depending on agriculture, most of them being marginal farmers, ‘hidden calamity’ like soil acidity must be addressed first. Studies have found that 70 percent of our cultivable soils is acidic causing plant nutritional problems, fungal diseases and poor utilisation of bio-fertilisers.

According to soil scientist and Chairman of Western Orissa Development Council (WODC) Prof. Niranjan Panda, there would be no change in productivity if nature of soil remains acidic. Cost-effective liming materials rich with calcium can be used in the uplands to benefit the farmers, he said.

Irrigation needs to be strengthened, he said adding the highly water deficient western and northern Orissa can also benefit from rainwater harvesting as the land is sloppy there. Sustainable rainwater management practices with the help of villagers would ensure absorption of 40-50 percent of the surface run off into the soil, he said adding it would help partly manage flood, drought and ensure improved cropping intensity.

With per capita availability of land pegged at 0.14 hectare, many lands still remain fallow. Also with poor use of mechanised practices and rising labour costs, there is a loss of interest among small farmers. So at panchayat level agricultural implants can be made available in public-private partnership mode to help the poor, he added.

Noted economist Prof Baidyanath Mishra said with varying poverty indices from World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Human Development Report by UN agencies the definition of poor is changing and there is no more a fixed parameter. “However, with rising cost of living if we put our the limit at $2 per day then more than 80 per cent of Indians will come below poverty line,’’ he said.

There are huge variations, he pointed out. While 20 percent of the rich have more than 42 percent of the national income, 20 percent of the poor have only 9 percent, he added.

Land reforms, mechanised agriculture practices and irrigation facilities can augment productivity, he pointed out.

JB Patnaik takes oath as Assam Governor

2009-12-12T00:17:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

Veteran Congress leader and former Odisha Chief Minister JB Patnaik was sworn in as the Governor of Assam on Friday. Patnaik replaced Syed Sibtey Razi. On Friday morning, Patnaik left for Guwahati.

He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Guwahati High Court Chief Justice J Chelameswar at a function held at the Raj Bhavan in Guwahati. Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi and his Cabinet colleagues were present.

“I would execute my constitutional duties and whenever required I am ready to extend my services,” Patnaik said. Patnaik’s wife, former MP Jayanti Patnaik and other close relatives were also present at the swearing-in-ceremony.

After taking over Governor, Patnaik urged the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) to shun violence and come for unconditional peace talks with the Government.

International NGOs seek to play spoilsport for industrialisation in Orissa

2009-12-11T12:51:00.002+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

They are coming to enjoy tourism marvels of tribal Odisha. But in many instances, the inside story seems to be something different. All on a sudden, the influx of International NGOs has raised eyebrows in Kalahandi district. Civil and police officials and industry proponents are in a quandary over the unexpected spurt in the movement of foreigners and foreign NGOs to Lanjigarh and adjacent areas of the district.

According to police officials, these foreigners are visiting the State on tourist visa on the plea of enjoying tourism spots. However, the aim of most of them is different as they are playing spoilsport for the State’s massive industrialisation, revealed an activist. Their principal target is Vedanta Aluminum Limited (VAL), which is setting up a project at Lanjigarh, he said.

Minister of Steel and Mines Raghunath Mohanty recently revealed that not a single tribal family would be displaced due to VAL’s mining project. He stressed that no Dongria Kondha tribe lives in the proposed mining area, located between Rayagada and Kalahandi districts.

However, the stories of the international NGO’s are different as they are circulating false and fabricated information about the industry here, alleged an official. The NGOs, with the support of some local NGOs, have been interacting with the tribals and disturbing their peace, alleged villagers.

The State-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), which has got the Niyamgiri mining lease, has taken Sterlite Industries India Limited (SIIL) as its partner. The State Government has constituted a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in the name of the Lanjigarh Project Area Development Foundation (LDADF) with the Government’s contribution as 25 per cent, OMC’s 26 per cent and Sterlite‘s 49 per cent, as directed by the Supreme Court.

The Revenue Divisional Commissioner is the chairman of the LDADF, which, at its first meeting itself, decided to undertake development projects worth Rs 17.70 crore in the areas of health, education, road, infrastructure development, the Minister Mohanty said.

Since mining is an important source of revenue generation, such projects should be encouraged along with principle of sustainable development so that these areas can be brought into the mainline, the Supreme Court had observed.

Masterplan for Greater Berhampur

2009-12-09T23:57:00.002+05:30

Source : Press Trust of India
published on : 8/12/2009

Berhampur: The Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO) under Union Urban Development Ministry is preparing a comprehensive development plan (CDP) for the proposed 'Greater Berhampur' mooted by Orissa government.

The proposed Greater Berhampur comprises existing Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC), NAC areas of Gopalpur and Chhatrapur and as many as 139 adjoining villages.

The population of these areas, which was 5,13,760 as per the 2001 census, is expected to exceed 15 lakh in the next 20 years, official sources said.

The total area of the proposed town would be around 317 sq km as against 85 sq km, 47 sq km and 17 sq respectively of BMC, Chatrapur and Gopalpur NACs, they said.

"We will prepare the CDP for Berhampur keeping in view all aspects and for better living condition of the people of the town as well as for its future development, Chief Planner of the TCPO J B Kshirsagar said at a workshop on the CDP in Berhampur.

Kshirsagar said the CDP would be prepared within a year with the help of the Orissa Remote Sensing Application Center (ORSAC), Town Planning Department of the state government and BDA.

Preparation of the CDP is necessary for development of the proposed greater Berhampur in planned manner. Due to lack of comprehensive master plan, colonies in the town are mushrooming haphazardly causing problems in traffic, water supply and construction works.

Proposal to include Khandayats, Mahalayaks in OBC list rejected

2009-12-04T00:40:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

The Government of India has rejected the proposal of the State Government to include Khandayat and Mahalayak castes in the Central list of OBCs. The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) had received a proposal from Odisha for including the two castes in the Central list of OBCs, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment D Napoleon informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Thursday.

Napoleon was replying to a question whether the Odisha Government has sent any proposal for including Khardayat and Mohalayak castes in the Central OBC list. The Minister informed the Rajya Sabha that NCBC, after considering all the materials and evidences produced, had advised not to include the two castes in the list. “The proposal of the NCBC has been accepted by the Centre,” he said.

Food security in Odisha at stake, thanks to poor irrigation system

2009-12-03T00:55:00.000+05:30

Bikash Kumar Pati

Odisha’s agrarian economy is facing two challenges: disasters like drought, flood and cyclone and lack of input intensive farming practice for poor farmers. In the State’s western region, drought occurs every alternate year. People can no more rely on agriculture for their subsistence.

Costs of inputs like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and wages have registered a substantial hike, whereas the market has failed to provide a competitive price to the farmers. The State’s agriculture policy considers agriculture as an industry and the benefits of the policy skews in favour of rich farmers. There is a growing consideration for commercialisation of agriculture.

Since there is no ceiling on land holding, this would promote land alienation. The poor farmers would sell away their land and prefer to remain as wage earners.

The current approaches of agriculture give emphasis on promotion of hybrid seeds, water-intensive crops like sugarcane, which would surely increase the frequency of drought, especially in western Odisha, where the monsoon is always erratic. Farmers belonging to all economic strata are after paddy and cash crops, where investment is high and the return is not guaranteed.

Farming of short-duration paddy, minor millets and the like, which was really providing food security, are on the decline because of the faulty policy and programmes. While rain-fed agriculture is the reality of this region, irrigation has been shown as the only panacea for this problem. But whatever irrigation potential has been created, the actual irrigation is much less than practised. Irrigation efficiency is abysmally low here because of predominance of paddy.

In coastal Odisha, though yield and production are high, flood and cyclone have been crucial in sustainability of agriculture.

Rising prices of inputs are another threat. The shift from foodgrains to cash crops is rapid, which is a threat to food security. The fluctuations in the market, poor functioning of the existing irrigation systems, water-logging and drainage, erratic behaviour of monsoon and mono cropping are the significant factors in the sustainability of agriculture in coastal Odisha.

The Government approaches both flood and drought as two different sets of problems. For flood control, the present thinking is to come out with a second dam on the Mahanadi. And for drought, the approach is for developing irrigation infrastructure. But over these years, crores of rupees have been spent on developing irrigation wells, bore wells, minor irrigation projects, etc, with very little impact on agriculture. In most of the cases, these infrastructures are not in use because of structural problems, improper management, inappropriate cropping pattern and poor linkage between the farmers and the agriculture and irrigation departments.

The water resources department holds the view that it has offered the best possible system design, which needs no change. It is the people who must change their habits and use the system as per the design provisions. The department is, however, not prepared to accept the fact that the design provisions and the system performance to support the desired crops are incompatible. Thus, the issue of improving irrigation efficiency has come to a dead end due to non-congruence of the stands taken by each stakeholder. What is being done in this regard is simply for the sake of doing something. Key issues are not being touched.

Still worse is that many of the current programmes are a mere repetition of ideas which already had failed in the past. Shifting incumbency in the Government makes it difficult for the newcomers to recognise the old wine presented in a new bottle. Well, things will continue with whatever is considered appropriate by the reigning authority at a given point of time, but the desired result will not definitely come unless the key issues are addressed.

Nothing is sacrosanct in this world; much less is a design methodology of an irrigation system. To the onlookers, it is already obsolete. Only the authors are sticking to it as their all-time best. If the present system has defied improvement for about half a century now, logically there is a case for reviewing it by a group of high powered onlookers. Unfortunately, the irrigation fraternity is so deeply entrenched and their lobby with any Government is so strong that it has been ordinarily impossible to make any dent on their fortress. It will need an extraordinary effort of the kind of public demonstration to shake the immobile.

-- The writer is a researcher with the Regional Centre for Development Cooperation, Bhubaneswar

How effective is education in Oriya Schools on border areas of Orissa ?

2009-12-01T08:06:00.001+05:30

Express News Service.

Bhubaneswar : About 40,000 students are studying in 385 Oriya schools on the border areas of the neighbouring states. Over 500 teachers have been appointed in these schools.While the highest number of 186 schools are in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal has only one school to impart education in Oriya. While Jharkhand has 113 such schools, Andhra Pradesh has 85 schools.

Most of these institutions are one-teacher schools which lack even basic infrastructure to impart education. While most of these function from dilapidated buildings or do not have buildings at all, in many instances it has been found that the schools do not have Oriya teachers. Delay in supply of textbooks to these schools often affects teaching.

Official sources, however, maintained that these schools are running well and there is no basis to the charges that Oriya language is being neglected in these regions. The State Government has taken several initiatives through the Utkal Sammilani for promotion of the language among the Oriya- speaking people.

Besides claiming that books are being supplied to these schools in time, sources claimed that scholarships are given to students of Class III, V, VII and X. Scholarships are given according to three criteria: Students who get the highest marks in the class in Oriya, scholarship considering merit and income of their parents and highest marks in Oriya by tribal students.

The State Government also provides financial assistance through the School and Mass Education Department to the Utkal Sammilani for purchase of books for libraries, equipment for science laboratories and furniture for classrooms. Besides, teaching aids are also supplied by the State Government regularly.

However, there is an allegation that these announcements are confined to files and little materialises at the field level. It is being demanded that the State Government should increase its assistance to these schools and effectively monitor the quality of education.

Berhampur-Rourkela rail link demanded

2009-12-01T08:00:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

Unfortunately there is no rail link between the main urban centre of the State’s southern region (Berhampur) and the steel city (Rourkela),” laments Siba Prasad, a resident of Berhampur.

He points out that Berhampur and Rourkela are two primary rail heads in the southern and western Odisha. Till 2002, the Hirakhand Express used to connect the two cities, but of late it has been withdrawn too, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

Prasad observes that if the two cities are linked by a train, it would not only bring the two important zones of the State closer but would also lead to development of both regions. Besides, the train link would be connecting 10 districts and four major urban centres, he points out.

Per capita availability of cultivable land on decline in Orissa

2009-12-01T07:57:00.000+05:30

Bikash Kumar Pati

The geographical area of Odisha is 1,55,707 sqkm, with cultivable area of about 65.59 lakh hectares. It has been assessed that about 49.90 lakh hectares can be brought under irrigation. But by the end of 2005-06 about 27.31 lakh hectares (44.29 per cent) of land was brought under irrigation, out of which 45.4per cent was covered through major and medium irrigation, 18.8 per cent through minor, 14.3 per cent by minor irrigation and the balance 21.5 per cent were irrigated through other sources. Odisha is the tenth largest State in India as per the 2001 census. Its population is 368.05 lakh, which is about 3.58 per cent of the population of the country.

The agriculture sector plays an important role in the State’s economy. According to the 2001 census, out of 142.76 lakh workers, 9,589 lakh are main workers and 4,687 lakh are marginal workers. Out of 46.87 per cent lakh marginal workers, 8.12 lakh (17.3 per cent) were cultivators, 29.01 lakh (61.9 per cent) were agricultural labourers, 2.9 lakh (6.3 per cent) workers were engaged in household industries and 6.76 lakh (14.4 per cent) were other workers of which cultivator and agricultural labourers together were 37.13 per cent. It shows that majority of the population has been dependent on agriculture and allied activities. Therefore, agriculture and allied activities play an important role in the State’s economy. However, the share of agriculture and animal husbandry in the Gross State Domestic Product has remained comparatively low, around 23.43 per cent. It is therefore necessary to increase the agriculture production and productivity of the crops, which form the major basis of the rural development.

Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fodder, fibre and other goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals. The history of agriculture is closely linked with human history and agricultural developments have been crucial factors in social change including the specialisation of human activity. Forty-two percent of the world’s labourers are employed in agriculture, making it by far the most common occupation. Agricultural production accounts for less than 5 per cent of the gross world product.

Agriculture and animal husbandry contributed 23.43 per cent of the Net Domestic Product of Odisha in 2005-06 (A) at the 1993-94 prices and provided employment directly or indirectly to around 65 per cent of the total workforce as per the 2001 census. The per capita availability of cultivated land was 0.39 hectares in 1950-51 and has declined to 0.14 hectares during 2004-05. Development of agriculture in the State has lagged due to several constraints.

The percentage of cultivators to main workers has decreased from 57 per cent in 1960 to 44 per cent in 1990. By contrast, the percentage of agricultural labourers to main workers has increased from 17 per cent in 1960 to 29 per cent in 1990. Thus, in a span of three decades the ratio of agricultural labourers to cultivators has increased substantially from about 3:7 in 1960 to 6.5:3.5 in 1990. This is primarily due to increase in landlessness or near landlessness on account of population growth and subdivision of land holdings among legal heirs. As the pace of industrialisation in the State is still slow, agriculture continues to provide sources of livelihood to a significant segment of population. Therefore, agricultural growth holds the key to the overall development of the State by way of creating employment, generating income, providing raw materials to the industrial sector and, last but not the least, ensuring self-reliance in food production and food security to the deprived sections.

On the water front, the State claims that it has got perennial river systems, but most of the rivers are unable to provide water for domestic consumption during the dry season. The ayacut of most of the irrigation structures is shrinking.

Although the groundwater potential has not been exploited beyond 15 per cent, there are no adequate studies on the recharging of groundwater and its real potential; we have been referring to studies done before 10 years. Of course, the State is rich in minerals, extraction of which is dearer to the environmental stability and livelihood of millions.

Pollution of air and water and degradation of land because of mines and industries is on the rise; the best example lies with the Talcher-Angul industrial area, which is rated among the country’s 14 hot spots for environmental pollution.

The long coastline of more than 400 km provides ample opportunities for fishing and other maritime activities. Erosion of beaches because of excessive human-sea interactions, poor drainage, heavy siltation, intensive fishing using mechanised boats and gears, etc, are some of the characteristics of resource use.

Pollution of seawater and fluctuations in the fish catch has added worries to the livelihood of the fisherman folk. The present trend in resource use is very much in favour of the industrial/corporate interests and acts detrimental to the subsistence of the poor.

Although the share of agriculture to State income has fallen badly and it is no more a prime factor for the State’s economy when compared to the growth of service sector, the rural population still predominantly depends on agriculture and allied activities. Failure in agriculture, which has become a common phenomenon, adds to their misery and vulnerability.

Since 1991-92, the year that had a bumper food grain production of 72 lakh tonnes, the production of food grains is gradually on the decline. During 1998-99 the food grain production remained as low as 58 lakh tonnes. Currently, the State is facing a severe drought and crop production will fall further.

The writer is a researcher with the Regional Centre for Development Cooperation, Bhubaneswar.

Nalco-NPCIL Nuclear-Power plant proposed in Ganjam

2009-11-22T02:15:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

As part of its proposed diversification activities, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) has decided to enter into an (MoU) with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to produce nuclear power.

Signing of a nuclear deal with USA by India has ended isolation of the country from sources of nuclear fuel and paved the way for large-scale generation of nuclear power in the country. The Government of India has reportedly decided to produce nuclear power with the support of Central PSUs. Accordingly, the NPCIL, which is eyeing setting up of a nuclear power plant in Odisha, has roped in Nalco, the first Navratna company in the State, revealed sources.

An MoU would be signed soon between NPCIL and Nalco for a joint venture (JV), official sources said. The JV company would set up a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant with an investment of Rs 8,500 crore. A site has been identified near Berhampur in Ganjam district for the plant, said an official in the Department of Energy.

JB Patnaik appointed Governor of Assam

2009-11-22T02:08:00.000+05:30

Daily Pioneer, Bhubaneswar

President of India Pratibha Patil on Saturday appointed former Chief Minister of Odisha JB Patnaik as Governor of Assam. He will assume charge of his gubernatorial responsibilities after Syed Sibtey Razi's tenure comes to an end on December 9.

The appointment will take effect from the date JB Patnaik assumes charge of his new office. On being contacted, the veteran politician and Congress leader said he had not yet decided when he would go to Assam to take charge.

After passing from Khurda High School, he graduated in Sanskrit from Utkal University in 1947 and secured his his MA in Political Science from BHU in 1949. In 1950, he became the president of the State unit of the youth wing of the Congress. In 1980, he became the Union Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation and Labour. Later, he served as Chief Minister for a record number of years. He is also an eminent writer.

New Executive Team for DOSA

2009-11-17T08:12:00.004+05:30

A General Body Meeting of Delhi Oriya Students’ Association was held on Sunday on 15^th November , 2009, in the VC office Lawns of Delhi University . The following were present.

1. Tejeswar Parida

2. Ambarish Dinda

3. Subash Chandra Mahapatra

4. Gobinda Chandra Hansdah

5. Dwibendu Sekhar

6. Santosh kumar Jena

7. Madhusmita Sahoo

8. Abhipsa Samantray

9. Mahesh kumar Panda

10. Sailesh Kumar Bhoi

11. Tapas kumar Bishi

12. Byomkesh Meher

13. Debasish Behera

14. Swagatam Das

15. Sugriba Khillo

16. Amrit Chandan Patra

17. Himanshu Sekhar Sahu

18. Sushant kumar Pal

19. Sudhir kumar Behera

20. Irasish Acharya

21. Nihar Ranjan Parida

22. Jitendra kumar Behera

23. Bibudha Garnaik

24. Jeet Sankalp

25. Priya ranjan Parida

26. Pradyumna kumar Sethy

27. Sishir kumar Rath

Nityananda Agasti

28. Ramakrisna Biswal

29. Biswabasu Swain

30. Kamalakanta Roul

31. Parsuram Parida

The following Office bearers were selected for two (2) years w.e.f. 15.11.2009 for the day to day work.

1. Tejeswar Parida, President

2. Nihar Ranjan Parida, Vie-Presidet

3. Sushata kumar Pal, Secretary

4. Abhipsa Samantray, Jt. Secretary

5. Neha Swain, Jt. Secretary

6. Parsuram Parida, Treasurer

It was also decided that the Bank Account will be jointly operated by the President and Treasurer.

To have a better coordination it was decided unanimously agreed that at least a meeting of the executive body should be held once in every month.

(Sishir kumar Rath)

Convenor

Despite campaigns, Orissa fails to attract Tourists

2009-09-27T18:24:00.003+05:30

Express News Service
27 Sep 2009

Bhubaneswar :

The landscape of Orissa is abound with natural beauty both flora and fauna, towering temples, rich cultural heritage but the State is yet to exploit its strength in terms of generating tourist inflow or revenue. Despite high decibel promo-campaigns, “Incredible Orissa” is still waiting to happen.

As per the latest data released by Union Ministry of Tourism, the State does not figure in the country’s top-10 states. In 2008, of a total of 568 million tourists visiting India, only 6.246 million tourists have chosen destination Orissa. Orissa had a measly share of around 1 percent in the aggregate tourist arrivals to India in 2008. It had a share of 0.92 per cent of the aggregate tourist arrivals in 2003 and has even failed to double the figure in five years.
The road ahead looks bumpy for Orissa as it dreams to receive its 10 millionth tourist by 2012. To achieve the target, the State needs a year-on-year growth rate of over 15 percent. But in 2007 the annual growth rate had been only around 9.5 per cent and in 2008 slid to around 8.5 per cent.

In case of foreign tourist arrivals too, the rate of growth slipped to 12.5 per cent from 14 per cent in 2007. So, to clock a double-digit growth rate the State needs some `incredible’ effort.
Pilgrimage tourists to Orissa account for a very nominal share of 1.7 per cent of its total arrivals. The Planning Commission has attributed the factors like lack of proper infrastructure, tourist circuit strategy and adequate public investment behind such stunted growth.

This assertion stands vindicated when it is noticed that as of March 31, 2008, as high as 26 projects in the tourism sector have been kept pending for lack of timely capital inflow. The United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation has emphasised on the need of a professional, well-funded travel and tourism research and information organisation that could draw strategies and contingencies taking into account emerging trends.

The inference is the State has to get a right mix of investment and proactive strategies to grab a significant share in the national tourism market.

Lack of teachers bane of Primary Education in Orissa

2009-09-27T18:18:00.001+05:30

Express News Service
27 Sep 2009

Bhubaneswar : While the objective of the universalisation of primary education is to provide access to education to all children by 2010, the State has miles to go before achieving the target.

As per the Government estimate, total enrolment of children at primary level was 67.15 lakh in 2008-09. There are 43,109 primary schools (class-I to V) and about 14,000 upper primary schools (class IV to VII & class V to VII).
If a single teacher is appointed for each class at the elementary level, the minimum requirement of teachers is 2,15,545. On the same standard, about 40,000 teachers will be required for the upper primary schools.

While the total requirement of teachers for the primary schools is about 2.55 lakh, the sanctioned strength till last year was 1,66,378. Teachers numbering 35,890 took retirement during the last 10 years when there was a freeze on recruitment. Another 2,000 teachers might have retired by this time this year. On an average three per cent Government employees retire every year.
Though the Government opened 2,550 new schools in the primary and upper primary level last year, no new teacher post has been created. The minimum requirement of teachers for the new schools will be over 15,500.
Shikshyak Mahasangha general secretary Abani Boral said 12,918 schools were functioning under the District Primary Education Programme without creation of new teacher posts.

Though the Government claims to have posted more than 50,000 shikshya sahayaks, in reality there are only 37,043 such contractual teachers. As per the national yardstick, the student-teacher ratio should be ideally 40:1. On the same yardstick, the State is having a shortage of 76,000 teachers. From this one can well imagine the quality of education being imparted at the primary school level, Boral remarked.
After inclusion of Class-VIII under Sarva Shikshya Abhijan, posting of additional teachers is required for subjects like Sanskrit, Hindi and Science. The Government is yet to take initiative to provide specialised teachers for these subjects, he said.

Orissa demanded Tribal University in Kandhamal

2009-09-25T22:18:00.001+05:30

PRESS RELEASE (CHIEF MINISTER MEETS UNION MINISTER FOR TRIBAL AFFAIRS) DT.24.09.2009
GOVERNMENT OF ORISSA

PRESS RELEASE

New Delhi
September 24, 2009
Chief Minister meets Union Minister for Tribal Affairs

Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa met Shri Kanti Lal Bhuria, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs at New Delhi today and discussed about issues relating to tribal welfare in Orissa. He asked for an early release of Central assistance for undertaking various tribal welfare activities for which a proposal was submitted by Govt. of Orissa and the Union Minister acceded to the request of the Chief Minister for grant of Rs 64.26 crore.

The Chief Minister highlighted the action being taken by the State Govt. for issue of land rights (pattas) to tribal community in Orissa and informed that it will be concluded in a time bound manner.The Chief Minister further emphasized for inclusion of more eligible communities from Orissa in the SC/ST List so that the deserving people could benefit from government programmes. He informed that 167 such proposals have been sent by the State to the Centre for inclusion in the list.

The Chief Minister also asked for release of Rs.140 crores during 2009-2010 for construction of 400 new 100 bedded ST Girls Hostels in the State. The Chief Minister requested that a Tribal University be set up in the Kandhamal district in Orissa. The Chief Minister requested for grant of Rs 5 crores for modernisation of the existing small Tribal Museum at Bhubaneswar and separate fund for opening of Tribal Museums in all the 17 Micro Project Areas in the State. He highlighted the need for increase in the amount of Post Matric Scholarship for ST/SC Students.

Recalling his recent letter written to the Union Minister, the Chief Minister asked for sanction of more Ekalabya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in the 4 uncovered KBK districts i.e., Nuapada, Malkangiri, Sonepur & Bolangir in the current academic session.The Chief Minister informed that the DFID assisted Orissa Tribal Empowerment & Livelihoods Project has been well accepted by the Tribal Communities in the State and requested the Union Tribal Affairs Minister for augmentation of the DFID assistance to the tune of US $ 40 Million.

The Union Minister assured full cooperation of the Government of India for tribal development in Orissa.

New Vice-Chancellor of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla.

2009-09-10T17:54:00.001+05:30

The Hindu,10th Sept 09,BBSR:

Governor and Chancellor of universities Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare has appointed Deba Kumar Tripathy as the new Vice-Chancellor of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla.

Dr. Tripathy is at present serving as professor of Rubber Technology Department in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

More PG seats in VSS Medical College,Burla sought

2009-09-10T17:51:00.001+05:30

Express News Service: 10 Sep 2009
SAMBALPUR:

After the Medical Council of India rolled back its decision to reduce 43 MBBS seats in VSS Medical College, demands are being made to reinstate the abolished post graduate seats in various departments for better medical services.

Reduction of seats coupled with vacancies and absenteeism have badly affected medical services. Locals said if the PG seats are reinstated, more doctors will be available in times of emergency.

There were four post graduation seats in Anesthesia Department which manages and operates the four-bedded ICU at VSS Medical College but two have been withdrawn reflecting on the services at the ICU.

Demand is also being made to reinstate the two post graduate seats each in Department of Skin and VD and Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology which has been withdrawn since 2006.
Likewise, to ensure steady flow of quality teachers there is a need to hike the existing PG seats in the departments of Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Physiology, Pathology, Social Preventive Medicine and Microbiology.

Moreover, VSS Medical has four super specialty departments comprising Cardiology, Urology and Nephrology besides Haematology which are non-functional in absence of doctors.

While doctors and authorities concerned refused to speak over the issue, president of Junior Doctors Association, S K Sabat agreed that reduction of post graduation seats has been reflecting on medical services.
“The State Government should initiate steps not only to reinstate the withdrawn post graduate seats but also increase it for long term gain,” he added.

World Bank aided road projects in Orissa jinxed?

2009-09-10T17:44:00.002+05:30

Express News Service
09 Sep 2009,BBSR:

Three World Bank-assisted infrastructure projects worth over Rs 400 crore have remained a non-starter even after a year of awarding of contracts due to lack of cooperation from the Government.The World Bank sanctioned loan for widening and strengthening of three roads under the Orissa State Road Project. Tenders were invited for the three projects in January 2008.

While contract for the 41-km stretch of road from Berhampur to Taptapani was awarded in May last year, the other two packages - 95-km long Chandabali-Bhadrak-Anandapur and 68-km Bhawanipatna-Khariar road were awarded in September 2008.As per the agreement, the Berhampur-Taptapani project with an estimated cost of Rs 81.97 crore was scheduled to start on November 22, 2008 and the date of completion was November 24, 2010. The work progress is nil.

Similar is the fate of the other two projects. The contract of the Chandabali-Bhadrak-Anandapur road project with an agreement value of Rs 216.23 crore was awarded in September last year and the project was scheduled to start in February. The expenditure on the project so far is Rs 2.8 crore.

Although the scheduled date of commencement of the Bhawanipatna-Khariar road was February 20, work on the project is yet to start. Contract of the Rs 105.51-crore project was awarded in September last year.

This came to the notice of the World Bank team on Orissa State Road Project (OSRP) during a review of the infrastructure projects here today.Country head of SNEC (India) Pvt Ltd, the consultancy firm for the road projects, Ian Alderson reportedly told the meeting that his firm is not getting desired support from the chief engineer of the World Bank project. While complaining of unwanted interference from the government officers connected with the project, he said frequent transfer of engineers had severely hampered the progress.The World Bank team headed by Rajesh Rohatgi will visit the three project sites for an on-the-spot assessment. The team is scheduled to visit Bhawanipatna tomorrow.

Orissa missed chances to lessen impact of drought ?

2009-08-27T14:40:00.002+05:30

The Hindu,Bhubaneswar,27th August:

Even as Orissa is staring at possible drought in some districts due to uneven distribution of rain, it appears to have missed a chance to overcome this critical situation.According to latest progress report on implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Orissa, the State performed miserably in creating assets such as drought proofing, micro irrigation works, water conservation and water harvesting, renovation of traditional water bodies and land development.

Only 1.22 per cent of total works taken up for creation of these kinds of physical assets have been completed. Only Mizoram and Karnataka are the other States which have dismal records in the area.During 2009-10 Orissa undertook 6,990 drought proofing works of which only 18 have been completed. Gajapati district is leading the table where 12 drought proof works were done. However, those districts that received scanty rainfall (up to 90 per cent of shortfall in the month of August) had very little or no drought proofing work.

Similarly, renovation of traditional water bodies, which is said to be an important step in making farmers independent in irrigation, have not been done up to satisfactory level. Out of 43,528 renovation works, only 623 have been completed under NREGS.

While Ganjam, Sundargarh and Jajpur district have more than 100 each of water bodies renovated, such work has not been initiated in other drought prone districts like Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Malkanagiri and Sonepur.“NREGS was precisely meant for creating physical assets for dealing with calamities like drought. However, during implementation this aspect was not given due attention.

Had they created such assets, the State government would have been in much comfortable position to deal with possible drought,” said Richard Mahapatra, a New Delhi-based researcher.In 2009-10, about Rs. 491 crore was made available under NREGS to Orissa. But, the State could spend only Rs 111.76 crore, which was only 22.76 per cent.

‘Orissa’s climate is deteriorating rapidly’

2009-05-30T20:08:00.001+05:30

The Pioneer,Bhubaneswar,30th May 2009:

What the Water Initiatives Orissa (WIO) had found out three years ago have been substantiated now by a World Bank report, titled Climate Change Impacts in Drought and Flood Affected Areas: Case Studies in India.The World Bank report, which took Orissa as a case study of flooding in the scenario of climate change, has referred to projections that ‘temperatures, precipitation, and flooding are likely to increase, with adverse impacts on crop yields and farm incomes, and among the more substantial effects, is a spatial shift in the pattern of rainfall towards the already flood-prone coastal areas’.

Three years ago, the WIO had found out significant increase in average annual rainfall in coastal districts like Balasore and Puri. Now, the World Bank report has projected 23 per cent increase in annual mean rainfall in that region.
This shift in rainfall will result in ‘dramatic increase in the incidence of flooding’, says the report. Elaborating further, the report cautions that the probability of discharge exceeding 25,000 cubic metres per second (about 9 lakh cusec) at Naraj may grow from the present 2 per cent to 10 per cent due to climate change.

The World Bank report has also mentioned that average annual maximum temperature will increase between 2.3 to 3.7 degree Celsius. This is also one trend that the WIO has already established very clearly with startling figures that average annual highest recorded temperature has increased everywhere in Orissa and up to 6.6 degree Celsius in centres like Sambalpur in just a decade. Even cities with moderate climates like Puri and Gopalpur centres have shown an increase of 2 degree Celsius or more.Following on that finding, the WIO had pursued a State-wide public perception study of climate change. The study clearly indicated such distinct geographical phenomenon within the State including extraordinarily high changes in temperature in some places, especially in the coal/mining and industrial belts, the temperature rise has surpassed by several degrees from the average increase that has been found out by the WB.

“We are continuously alerting people about serious climate degradation in Orissa since we have found unnatural trends. But required seriousness has not been shown. Now, we cannot escape without serious intervention by the Government. So far as organisations like World Bank are concerned they often release such reports as a prelude to more loans. But till now the World Bank or any other such organisation have not laid out any major climate change mitigation plans, except the coastal livelihood project,” said Convener, Water Initiatives Orissa, Ranjan K Panda.

“We demand serious action and strategic intervention to include environment conservation in real earnest. For that we need to have a clear and well laid out ‘Orissa Climate Change Action Plan.’ Without waiting for big loans from World Bank-like institutions we can utilize the NREGS to create climate combating resources. We must act now to stop disasters from happening and not wait for eternity when we are left bereft of any option to reverse the damage,” he further urged.

Orissa among top in tobacco consumption

2009-05-30T20:03:00.002+05:30

New Indian Express, Bhubaneswar,30th May 2009:

Despite anti-tobacco campaigns gaining momentum through high profile Government initiatives and other social awareness campaigns, tobacco consumption in the country continues to be very high. And, Orissa features among the top in the ladder of tobacco consumption.Almost half of the State’s population is addicted to tobacco in one form or the other in contrast to one-third nationally.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) study on tobacco use during pregnancy as well as exposure of pregnant women and their young children to second-hand smoke has also pressed the alarm bells. It reveals that one-third of all pregnant women in Orissa consume smokeless tobacco and most are often exposed to secondhand smoke. Smokeless tobacco use can lead to oral and pancreatic cancers and incidentally these are on rapid rise in the State.Besides, Orissa has gained the dubious distinction of being second in tobacco consumption among women after Mizoram. The percentage of girls (15 years and above) chewing some form of tobacco is at a high of 50 percent plus the increase in the percentage of women smokers from mere 0.9 per cent to 6 per cent within five to six years, as per the latest NFHS-3 survey, portrays the ominous future.

The Union Health Ministry’s monograph has categorised Orissa in the intermediary low bracket (prevalence range between 1.1 - 2.9 percent) with regard to bidi consuming population but the danger lies in the high usage of Gudakhu made up of tobacco and molasses in Orissa. Chewing tobacco in the form of betel, gutkha, khani and snuff is also at a very high incidence level. In addition to the above facts, the pointers like three-fourth of illiterates use tobacco along with 40 percent in the highest and lowest quintile and more women in the ST population sum up the enormity of the situation.

The facts seem out of place when the Union Government is spending Rs 2.5 cr on tobacco control per year as per WHO’s Global Tobacco Epidemic Report-2008 released recently. The inference is much more endeavour is required from the State agencies to launch a massive anti-tobacco programme in the rural areas to make the State ‘tobacco free’. The World No Tobacco Day to be observed on Sunday could be a start.

Calamities eating into Orissa’s development

2009-05-30T19:59:00.003+05:30

New Indian Express,Bhubaneswar,30th May 2009

Natural calamities are not just a drain on the exchequer of the State, they also are eating into the development pie of Orissa. What’s more, the spending on drought and flood mitigation is exceeding expenditure on sectoral development programmes and it could be bad news for a deficit-ridden State.

Between 1965 and 2006, the State had faced at least 17 droughts, 20 floods, eight cyclones and a super cyclone.There are half a dozen depressions taking place off Orissa coast battering its life and property every year.With climate change threatening to increase the incidence of flooding in the State - the latest World Bank report warns this - Orissa may just have to cough up more in the days to come.

Sample this: During the Tenth Plan Period, State’s spending on mitigation of drought and flood was actually more than its expenditure on development sectors.The total estimated expenditure on sectoral programmes during 2002-2007 stood at Rs 53.87 bn as against the outlay of Rs 73.79 bn whereas the spending on the mitigation of natural calamities was a whopping Rs 66.77 bn.It meant, Orissa spent 25 per cent more on fighting calamities than on development programmes.

The report acknowledges it saying natural disasters being high on frequency, Orissa has to pay a heavy price and that in a span of four years between 2002 and 2006, the cost of relief far exceeded the development expenditure.During the Tenth Plan period, spending on agriculture and allied activities was Rs 2.69 bn while the expenditure on rural development was Rs 7.96 bn.The expenditure on special area programmes was Rs 18.80 bn. The biggest spending of Rs 24.42 bn was on irrigation and flood control.In fact, the Plan outlay during the period was Rs 73.79 bn. Against it, the total allocation for calamities mitigation was Rs 105.96 bn and expenditure stood at Rs 66.77 bn.‘‘The fiscal strain is substantial since the Central reimbursements against flood reliefs are usually lower than the requests for assistance,’’ the World Bank report said.

‘Orissa still one of the poorest states’

2009-02-12T19:27:00.000+05:30

Express News Service , 12 Feb 2009

BHUBANESWAR: The BJD-BJP Government's claim of making rapid strides in industrialisation notwithstanding, the State continued to have the dubious distinction of being one of the poorest in the country.

As per the poverty estimate of the Planning Commission, the State topped the list with high incidence of poverty. While 39.90 per cent of the population of the State was living below the poverty line in 2004-05, Bihar is placed second with 32.50 per cent BPL families.

Although, the latest estimate of the Planning Commission said that 34 per cent of the State’s population is BPL, the economic survey for 2008-09 released by the Government today has BPL figures till 2004-05. The reasons attributed to the large scale poverty in the State are recurring natural calamities, uneven economic growth leading to regional imbalance, lack of irrigation facilities and quality infrastructure.

Although the State Government has been pursuing various strategies to eradicate poverty, the results of the poverty alleviation programmes are not satisfactory, the economic survey said.

A disproportionately large proportion of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes population in western and southern Orissa are still living precariously with very low economic base.

Rural poverty in the State is the highest in the country. Though the State recorded significant growth in food grains production during the last couple of years, agriculture growth is much lower than the national average. While majority of the population depends on agriculture, lack of assured irrigation has failed the farmers.

A large number of rural communities particularly in hilly terrains of western and southern regions of the State are physically excluded for want of connectivity and other infrastructure, the survey said.

Increasing unemployment is another main reason for poverty. The growing joblessness among the educated youth is a matter of serious concern for the Government and this calls for high level of investment to create gainful employment, the survey suggested.

Poverty, unemployment still major concerns of Orissa

2009-02-12T19:25:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar , Thursday, February 12, 2009

Despite all the industrial growth, poverty has been the most intractable problem of the State. The State exhibits large scale of poverty both in terms of intensity and extent of spread. 39.9 per cent of people come under Below Poverty Line. It still continues to be one of the poorest States. This was stated in the Economic Survey 2008-09 which was tabled in the Assembly on Wednesday.

However, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at a constant (1990-2000) price of Orissa has increased from Rs 42,909.62 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 73,542.26 crore in 2007-08 registering an annual compound growth rate of 6.97 per cent over the period. However, the natural calamities adversely affect the GSDP. While the GDSP was 9.35 per cent in 2006-07, it was 8.67 per cent in 2007-08. Negative or low economic growth rates during some years are due to adverse impact of natural calamities including the severe drought.

The per capita income of the State has also increased during this period from Rs 13,096 in 2006-07 to Rs 16,195 in 2007-08 at constant 1999-2000 prices. However, the gap between per capita income of Orissa and the National level widened from Rs 5,314 in 1999-2000 to Rs 6,366 in 2003-04 to Rs 8,061 in 2007-08.

Growing unemployment, particularly the phenomenon of educated unemployment, is one of the burning problems of the State. The backlog of unemployed persons has been estimated at 14.13 lakh persons in the State at the beginning of the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-08) and it has been projected that about 10.53 lakh additional labour forces are likely to join the labour market while employment for 10.73 lakh persons is likely to be generated during the 11th Plan. By this end of the financial year, the number of unemployment persons will stand at 14.07 lakh and it will gradually reduce and by the end of the 11th Plan period, the number of unemployed persons will stand at 13.93 lakh. Though infant mortality rate has reduced, the number of child labourers over the years has compounded.

Agriculture and allied sectors continue to be the mainstay of the State’s economy with contribution of about 20.09 per cent to NSDP (at 1999-200 prices) as per advance estimates for 2007-08. Paddy is the major cereal crop and accounts for 95 per cent of the total foodgrain. However, Industrial growth is taking an upsurge. 71 MoUs have been signed. The investment comes to around Rs 3,05,752 crore.

‘Global meltdown won’t hit projects’ - Vedanta Chief Anil Agarwal

2009-01-04T10:45:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar , 4th January 2009

The ongoing financial recession in the global market would not affect the projects in Orissa, said Vedanta Chief Anil Agarwal on Saturday. "I am coming to Orissa to reassure Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that the global meltdown will not hamper the growth of any ongoing project," he said.Talking to reporters after meeting the Chief Minister at the State Secretariat, Agarwal said the company has already earmarked Rs 50,000 crore for the projects in the State, including the aluminium smelter plant at Jharsuguda and alumina plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi. "I came here to invite Naveen to inaugurate the smelter plant," he said.He further said the company has so far not made any loss due to the global economic crisis. "We will not divert our resources from the Orissa projects," he said.He also said Vedanta would soon go for mining. However, he did not mention any deadline. On the Vedanta's proposed world-class university project at Puri, he said the company has so far acquired half of the land required for the purpose.

On the issue of sustained opposition to the university project, Agarwal said India is a democratic country and each person has the right to raise his voice. "However, Oisssa has to come up," he said, adding that the company would address the local problems and give the best rehabilitation package. He further announced that a modern hospital with a capacity of 1,000 beds would soon be established at Puri.

Water tourism planned in Mahanadi, Birupa.

2008-11-08T16:46:00.000+05:30

The Pioneer,November 8, 2008

Bhubaneswar: The State Government is planning to develop water sports and water tourism in Mahanadi and Birupa rivers. A detailed plan has already been prepared to this effect and would be implemented in the end week of the current month. Mumbai based Swgatika Impex would be roped in to develop water tourism in these two rivers. "It would be developed on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode," said Tourism Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, adding that tourist places like Dhabaleswar and Sidheswar would be connected with the water tourism.

Another Defence unit in the offing in Balasore

2008-11-08T16:44:00.000+05:30

The Pioneer, BHUBANESWAR ,November 8, 2008

Balasore district is likely to see another defence unit in the near future near Amarda (Basta) as the Army is seeking a patch of land for the purpose. A requisition for identification of 1,000 acres of land has come to the district administration from the State Government’s concerned department for setting up the Army unit.The Government’s letter said that the unit’s location should be at Amarda at the British-time airfield at Rasgobindapur, which has been lying unused since several years. The unit is supposed to have facilities of road and rail links but not to be too close to the township.

A delegate of the Army has already met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik with the proposal and apprised him of the requirements, which has been approved. It is, however, not clear as to what type of Army institution is being planned. The patch of land is required at Amarda because of the existing airstrip and land of over 100 acres belonging to the DRDO.The Army desires to set up the unit here since Orissa has only a few defence establishments. The Army would develop the area as well the periphery as per requirements, it is mentioned in the letter. This unit would be another one in Balasore district, where several key defence establishments and installations, including the century-old PXE and missile testing range of DRDO are located.

The letter has been further sent to the tehsildar of Basta for compliance. “As per the need of the Army and instruction from the State Government, the letter has been forwarded to the Basta tehsildar,” said reliable sources.The British constructed the Amarda airfield of nearly 2,000 yards at Rasgobindapur around 1940 during the Second World War to meet the threat of Japanese attack from their Myanmar base.

POWER PLANT, ‘Prioritise socio-economic survey’

2008-11-08T16:38:00.002+05:30

Express News Service , 08 Nov 2008

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy today directed the companies who have signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with the State Government to set up mega power plants in Orissa to make a socio-economic survey around the location of their projects. The Chief Secretary reviewed the progress of seven mega power plant projects. ‘‘The companies should involve themselves in social activities including organising eye and health camps. The requirements of local people should be assessed and training should be imparted,’’ he said. Some of the companies maintained that the projects have been delayed because of opposition to land acquisition and water problem. Besides, several companies are yet to get coal blocks. The Chief Secretary directed the engineer-in-chief of the Water Resources Department to solve the water problems of the mega power plants. While some of the proposed plants would draw water from Mahanadi river, others will meet their demand from the Bramhani river. Besides opposition to land acquisition, delay in conversion of forest land also came as a major hurdle, they said. Tripathy directed the Collector, Angul, who attended the meeting, to solve problems relating to land acquisition faced by the companies. The Mahanadi Aban Power Company Limited will set up 1,030 MW plant at Talcher in Angul district. The land requirement for the project is 1,035 acres. The location of the plant to be set up by GMR Limited will be at Kamalanga in Dhenkanal district. The land requirement of the plant is 1,100 acres which includes 78 acres forest land. The Jindal India Thermal Power Limited will set up its 1,200 MW plant at Jerang in Angul district on 1,100 acres of land. The first and second units of the plant will be completed by December, 2011 and March, 2012 respectively. The 2,000 MW plant of Tata Power Company Limited will be located at Marthapur near Naraj in Cuttack district on 990 acres. The Essar Power Limited has proposed to set up its 1,000 MW plant on 1,070 acres of land at Karang in Angul district. The plant is expected to start production in March, 2012. The CESC Limited will establish its 1,000 MW plant on 1,094 acres of land at Neulapur in Dhenkanal district. The first unit of the plant will be competed by March, 2013 while the second unit be completed in September, 2013. The KVK Nilachal Power Limited will set up its 1,200 MW plant at Kandarei near Athgarh in Cuttack district. The project will be over by March, 2011.

Ship building, oil rig project for Dhamra.

2008-11-08T16:30:00.000+05:30

Express News Service,08 Nov 2008

BHUBANESWAR: Apeejay Surendra Group and Bharti Shipyard have evinced interest to set up a ship building factory while an oil rig is being proposed by the Oceanic Shipyard Ltd near Dhamra. Both the projects are estimated at Rs 900 crore each. The chief executives of the companies met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here today to discuss the issues of land acquisition, employment other project details. The ship building unit is proposed to start from January 2009 and its first phase will be complete in 2011. The project is expected to be over by 2013. About 7,000 persons will get direct employment in the project, while over 40,000 people will indirectly benefit. The State will get Rs 20 crore a year as revenue. The oil rig, proposed in collaboration with Oceanic Shipyard Ltd, will be of an equal cost. It will be taken up in three phases and help ancillarisation as well as downstream industries in the area.

Ravenshaw forges MoU with Chinese varsity.

2008-11-08T16:28:00.001+05:30

Express News Service ,08 Nov 2008

CUTTACK: Step by step Ravenshaw University has begun setting new milestones in the academic course in Orissa. Even as it has been making conscious efforts towards developing as a Centre of Excellence, with distinction in culture studies, today it made a move beyond the boundaries of India to forge a relationship with China. An MoU was signed between Vice-Chancellor of Ravenshaw University Devdas Chhotray and Chief of Shanxi University of Finance and Economics Prof. Yao Chaocheng to promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries through academic and cultural exchanges. This is the first time in the State for an educational institution to establish relationship with a counterpart in China. Orissa and China have strong links since ancient times. The common thread between the two regions has been Lord Buddha. Buddhism being the corner-stone of the culture, heritage, economic structure and resources, the liaison would be natural. Besides educational exchanges between the two universities, the agreement would involve furthering cultural assimilation through Buddhist studies. It has also been suggested to jointly hold an International Buddhist Academic Forum on an annual basis. The forum would be organised in Shanxi and Orissa alternately year after year. The modalities of the MoU would be finalised after Prof.Yao Chaocheng submits a detailed report on the relationship to the management of the Shanxi University of Finance and Economics. Prof Chaocheng had led a delegation from the prestigious university of China on a two-day visit to Ravenshaw University from yesterday.

Historic Coast Canal to be renovated.

2008-11-07T15:48:00.000+05:30

The historic Coast Canal, abandoned for years, is likely to be operational soon with clearance from the Ministry of Surface Transport for renovation after discussions in Parliament. The Union Government has approved a budget outlay of Rs 1,526 crore with a recurring expenditure Rs 59 crore annually.

BJP MP Kharabela Swain following approval of this mega project, besides expressing his thanks to the Ministry has also made certain observations. Seeking speedy implementation of project he observed that encroachments should be cleared since by shrimp farming and other activities at several places the canal has been filled due to dormancy and non-dredging. “There is no sign of any canal after a long unused period. The canal land at several places have been encroached by shrimp farming and other activities,” Swain pointed to the Ministry in Parliament, demanding the land which has been encroached by the mafia in the shrimp farming sector should be recovered and State Government should take stringent action.

He further stated that the dredging would enhance drainage and urged for development of embankment, adequate numbers of small bridges over the canal to ferry cattle for farming and grazing activities and sluice gates to check saline water ingress from sea towards land. He urged for a meticulous planning before undertaking work with regards to the bridge and observed “in future whosoever wanted to cross in front of his village will raise some sort of embankment if all these are not made in a planned manner.”

“The embankment on either side could be developed as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana road,” he suggested. “The region was full of jungles when it was made which provided an alternate safe passage for trade and transport. The renovation of canal issue although it affects my constituency yet is in fact an issue of the State as well as country. It is one which has been in my priority agenda ever since I found opportunity to represent people of this constituency. I had always raised the issue in different occasions. Since the issue is has been cleared it is certainly a matter of happiness for me as well as my constituency people,” reacted Swain.He too urged the Ministry for speedy implementation of the project with a time frame.“You should fix a time frame by which the project should be implemented else it will remain in paper for eternity and won’t be implemented at all,” he appealed on the Parliament floor.
At a cost of Rs 45 lakh the canal was dug connecting Guakhali to Matei at Charbatia under food for work programme between 1880 and 1885 when region was hit by a severe famine. Although purpose was to provide relief to starving populace of the region immediately yet the water passage had opened ample of opportunities including irrigation besides communication. After opening of railway links between Howrah and Cuttack the water passage lost significance considerably.

State GDP gets 28% from Horticulture.

2008-11-07T15:46:00.000+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

The horticulture sector has got a tremendous boost in the State and it contributes around 28 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from about 13.08 percent of the area and 37 per cent of the total exports of agricultural commodities, said Governor MC Bhandare, while inaugurating the four-day-long Third Indian Horticulture Congress at the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) on Thursday, in a galaxy of eminent horticulture scientists.

Though horticulture is a sustainable and viable sector for small and marginal farmers in the State, poor harvest management often affects the farmers, he said, adding that diversification of crops through horticulture is very much necessary.

He, however, expressed his pleasure over Union Government for increasing over Rs 25 crore in the 7th Plan to over Rs 15,000 crore in the 10th plan for horticulture sector.Recollecting the havoc wrought by the recent flood, which has affected around 16 districts in the State, he said the agriculture scientists are required to develop appropriate technologies for post-flood farming so as to meet the loss of crops in flood.
The horticulture scientists should show the path to the future generation. But this is not enough.Each of them should go to villages, stay there for two years, and give practical training and guidelines to the farmers about the modern technologies and scientific methods of horticulture, which can be adopted for a better output, viewed Madhya Pradesh Governor Balaram Jakhar in his presidential address.

Number of Cancer patients in Orissa is increasing.

2008-11-07T15:37:00.002+05:30

The burden of cancer has spiralled with new cancer incidence in Orissa being about 100 per 100,000 population.
There are about 30,000 new cancer cases every year and about 1,20,000 cancer patients in Orissa at any point of time in various stages of their disease.
Patients usually report at advanced stage, thus making cure impossible. Early detection is key to cancer control and people have to be made aware of this.

Natural calamities: Orissa lost Rs 20,000 cr in 16 yrs

2008-10-21T00:59:00.001+05:30

PNS | Bhubaneswar

The country's poorest State, Orissa, is getting poorer, owing to the natural calamities striking it's zone almost every year. The State's geographical location and geo-climatic conditions make it one of the most vulnerable zones for frequent natural disasters, pointed Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Nikunja Kishore Sundaray.

He said more than 80 per cent of the geographical area and 90 per cent of the people are vulnerable to one or more types of disasters. Over 60 per cent people living below the poverty line (BPL) face the brunt of calamities and their economic conditions have been deteriorating rapidly.

During the last 16 years, the State has suffered a staggering financial loss of Rs 20,000 crore. Since 1995-96 to 2007-08, the loss was Rs 17,385 crore, Sundaray said.

Due to the Super Cyclone of 1999, the State became poorer by Rs 6,243 crore, he revealed. This year's devastating floods have cost the State Rs 2,500 crore, according to a preliminary survey. And after the final assessment, the loss would rise further, said an analyst of flood damage.

Cyclonic disturbances are also relatively high on the Orissa coast in comparison to West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, he said, adding that this coast is twice more vulnerable compared to other eastern States. Orissa is one of the States worst affected by flood, he said, adding that Orissa's 3.34 million hectares of land is flood-prone.

Apart from storms and severe cyclones, the Orissa coast is also prone to tsunami, while the reservoirs of the Hirakud and Rengali dams are in the Earthquake Zone-III.

In this backdrop, the SRC has raised the issue of reviewing the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) kitty and lowering the ratio of the State's share of 25 per cent to the CRF. It may be mentioned that the State Government is now preparing to present a memorandum to the Thirteenth Finance Commission