Declining of child sex ratio a matter of grave concern: Tirath

--Two-day regional conference on women empowerment ended

BHUBANESWAR: “We are still way behind in achieving many of the Millennium Development Goal targets and declining of child sex ratio is another grave matter of concern for us. To improve our adverse development indicators, we have to improve the status of women in the society,” said Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath while addressing the mass in the valedictory ceremony of the two-day Regional Conference on ‘Achieving Convergence for Empowerment of Women’ here on Wednesday.

Tirath said the malnutrition, which is a matter of concern, continues to be unacceptably high despite a number of schemes, and programmes being in place for long. On Mission Shakti initiated by the Odisha Government said, “It is encouraging to know that about five lakh women SHGs have been formed through Mission Shakti in Odisha involving 52,80,000 women of the State who are federated at Gram Panchayat, Block and district levels.”

She also said the people of the nation should be committed to make women full partners in the development process in all its aspects. However, despite affirmative actions taken by the Government of India and various State Governments, indices depicting the status of women show that much more needs to be done, she added.

The conference was organised by National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) and Ministry of Child and Women Development of the Central and the State Government. Representatives of the State Governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal along with the representatives of the Central Government were participated in the conference.

Among others, Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD) Anjali Behara, Senior Advisor of WCD Vandana Jena, WCD Secretary of State Aarti Ahuja, Additional Secretary of Central WCD N Sanyal, Executive Director of NMEW Rashmi Singh and representatives of the State and Central Government were present.

Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath's speech on women empowerment

Valedictory speech of Minister of State, Ministry of Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath at Eastern Regional conference at Bhubneswar on February 29, 2012

1.         It gives me great pleasure to address this esteemed gathering of academicians, civil society activists, and representatives of the state and central government from the governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.  It was heartening to know about quality of research and groundwork that was put in by the participants of different thematic sessions for the last two days, covering all the critical dimensions of women’s well being.  The recommendations that have come out of this conference will help us in working out joint strategies towards empowering the women of India through collective efforts.

2.         Through the National Mission for Empowerment of Women or ‘Mission Poorna Shakti’, as we call it in Hindi, we have been trying to look at   solutions to the many-fold problems which women in different regions of our vast country face..

3.         I understand that many state governments have also taken concrete steps in mitigating problems like malnutrition, trafficking, women with disability, AIDS etc. I am pleased to know that a lot of focus has been given to women SHGs in the states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha as instruments to promote holistic women empowerment.  It is encouraging to know that about 5 lakh Women SHGs have been formed through  Mission Shakti in Odisha involving 52,80,000 women of the state who are federated at  Gram Panchayat,  Block and district levels. It is heartening to note that the others States of the also vigorously involved in communitising various social sector schemes of the government.

4.         As a nation, we are committed to make women full partners in the development process in all its aspects. However, despite affirmative actions taken by the Government of India and various State Governments, indices depicting the status of women show that much more needs to be done.  We are still way behind in achieving many of the MDG targets.  It is a matter of concern that malnutrition continues to be unacceptably high despite a number of schemes, and programmes being in place for long. Declining child sex ratio is a grave matter of concern.  To improve our adverse development indicators, we have to improve the status of women in the society,  augment her education and vocational  skill levels and income earning capacity, improve  her health and nutrition status, so that we can address the  inter-generational cycle of malnutrition and poverty. It has been realized that one of the necessary tools to achieve the desired outcomes is to develop effective mechanisms for convergence on systemic issues and forge convergence in flagship programmes of the Government as has been emphasized in the 12th Five Year Plan approach paper.  Implementing the 73rd /74th Constitutional Amendment Acts can be the most effective tool to achieve convergence for women empowerment. There is a need to simultaneously build the capacity of our women PRI representatives so that they can participate more effectively and be the agents of social change.

5.         GOI impetus on inclusive growth has ensured substantial allocation for several programmes aimed at providing basic services and also building rural and urban infrastructure and with the objective of increasing inclusiveness and reducing poverty. However, the challenge confronting all of us, is, - how to ensure that these programmes deliver the desired outcomes. The solution lies in better implementation through flexibility in the design of the schemes to reflect the ground realities across States, promoting innovation in delivery, and ensuring ownership of local government institutions.

6.         It was with this idea, that the National Mission for Empowerment of Women was conceptualised, at the behest of Honourable President, Shrimati Pratibha Patil and inaugurated by her on 8th March, 2010. The Mission is an initiative to take a holistic focus on the various issues faced by women across the country and create innovative convergence models that facilitate coordination and collaboration between various government departments, horizontally as well as vertically.

7.         What the Mission aims to do is to provide a common platform to facilitate convergence of benefits under the programmes of the Government of various Central Ministries. Though the responsibility of implementation of programmes will remain with the respective Ministries, the Mission will ensure that synergy is achieved in its implementation through their convergence at the State, District and Sub-district levels.

8.         The National Mission  is therefore, positioned to play a critical role in creating an enabling social, institutional and policy environment for taking women’s empowerment issues to a  scale necessary for India’s next stages of development. In order to play this role, the Mission needs to engage consistently and continuously with a wide range of stakeholders. It would concomitantly require support and cooperation of the State Governments/UT Administrations which implement schemes/programmes of both the Central and State Government for the benefit of women in order to identify the key issues that need attention, and where the Mission, along with state governments and national line ministries, can play a role in achieving the desired convergence.

9.         What has been planned at the National level must percolate down to the grassroots; encompassing State, Districts and Panchayat levels. For this  the central technical and operational body of the Mission,  that is  the National Resource Centre for Women ( NRCW)  will work with the State Resource Centres for Women to facilitate social, economic and legal empowerment of women  and  help overcome bottlenecks in achieving coordinated and effective service delivery.

In the end I would like all of us to take a pledge today to be committed for collective actions for empowerment of women. Please remember that each small step that we take in this direction will take us closer to changing the world for the better.

Thank you.

Exclude private orgs from land e-registration: Anti-corruption body

--The organisation demanded crime branch probe into land fraud in city

BHUBANESWAR: “Land fraud case is increasing day by day not only in the capital city but also in the State due to unholy nexus between the Government and private organisation’s officials involved in the e-registration process of Dharani scheme of the State Government,” said State convener of the All India Anti Corruption Organisation (AIACO) Subrat Kumar Nanda at a Press meet here on Wednesday.

Narrating the increasing of fraud cases, Nanda revealed a case of Managing Director of a city-based A2Z Management Consultancy Subhendu Kimar Das to the media about swindling of land by some land mafias through fake documents and evidences.

Das, who was present over the Press meet, said the partners of Balaji Build Com had allegedly tried to take away his 1.5 acres of land at Gangapatna under Chandaka police station area by producing fake documents with the help of data entry operators of the Sub-Registrar office at Khandagiri. During negotiation for selling of the land with the partners of the company, Das had denied for payment through post-dated cheques. But later, the partners without Das’s knowledge made some fraudulent document and submitted for the land rights at the Sub-Registrar’s office.

On a tip off, Das lodged a complaint about the case to Sub-Registrar of Khandagiri. Later Sub-Registrar informed to the Badagada police in the city and directed to lodge an FIR against the land cheaters and according to the FIR lodged on February 14, the police started investigation into the matter. The documents were proved as fraud and that was cancelled later.

“If this happens in the capital, the aim and objectives of the Dharani scheme, which was implemented by the State Government to register lands easily in a transparent manner, will not be fulfilled,” said Nanda adding, “We demand crime branch probe into the fraudulent registration of lands in the city and to exclude the private organisations from the e-registration process.”    

Trade union strike: Twin city stops for few hours

BHUBANESWAR: The prominent trade union organisations like CITU, INTUC, AITUC in the State with other social organisations observed bandh in the twin city, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, on Tuesday to support all India strike call given by national-level trade union centres. Due to dawn to dusk bandh, all forms of transportation services and bank services paralysed for 12-hour in the twin city. Shops, business establishments, offices of the insurance companies, Central Government offices and petrol pumps were found shut at several places in the city.

After 6 am, the protesters started their processions in the city by flaunting placards bearing different slogans against liberalisation and globalisation of economy and to strengthen the Indian labour law. Some protesters blocked the road by burning tyres on the road, while some other protesters sat on the railway line to block the trains. On the other hand, the members of the Bank Employees’ Association observed bandh in front of their respective banks in the city.

Employees of Reserve Bank and NABARD along with All Odisha Bank Employees Association joined in the bandh. Even the members of the All Odisha Auto Chalak Mahasangha also joined in the bandh supporting all India strike to press their demands before the Government. Like other protesters of trade union organisations, Auto rickshaw drivers also conducted a procession to mark the bandh.

Protesting price rise, corruption, violation of labour rights, free market policies and disinvestment which would result in loss of jobs, thousands of protestors came out in a massive rally and demonstrated outside the office of the East Coast Railway. Train services were affected as strike supporters blocked railway tracks in some places. Several trains were halted in the city railway stations including Khurda Road, Rourkela, Berhampur and Sambalpur due to demonstrations on the tracks, the railway officials said.

“We will continue this fight on the coming days against the Government’s neo liberalisation policy in economy, which is creating unemployment in the country. Rich is becoming richer and poor becomes poorer due to this policy,” said CITU State president Shivaji Patnaik.

To control the law and order situation, 15 platoon police force were deployed in the capital city. In some places, the senior police officials were physically present to keep eye on the situation. While the police arrested some protesters keeping in security point of view and later released them. No untoward incidents have been happened in the city, said the police officials.

Romance in car proved costly for beau

BHUBANESWAR: A youth caught by the members of the Acharya Vihar Unnayan Parishad for allegedly sitting in a compromising position with his girl friend in a car, which was a driving training car, in a public place at Acharya Vihar here on Tuesday.

After getting information about the indecent behaviour in the public place in the street, the members of the Parishad cautioned the lover duo at first. When they didn’t follow the advices from the members, some of them informed the Saheed Nagar police.

Police arrived at the place and took the beau to police station, while the girlfriend of the youth escaped from the place before the police arrive in the spot. Police detained the youth along with another youth, held from the place, in the police station.

“I don’t want to speak anything about it as some of the people misrepresented it,” said the youth. On the other hand, president of the Parishad Rabindranath Das said, “We will not spare the persons who behave indecent in public places in our areas; our colony is not for the valentines.”   

India loses revenue annually to illegal foreign fishing: Green Peace

--Odisha’s fishing sector affected

BHUBANESWAR: For the second time this week activists from the Greenpeace ship My Esperanza exposed illegal fishing practices within the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), off the Andaman Islands coast. The Tuna long liners Balaji number 5, 6 and 9, were in violation of the Letter of Permit (LoP) scheme, being registered concurrently in Taiwan and India. The scheme allows foreign vessels to fish within the Indian EEZ, provided they have an exclusive Indian registration and Indian owner.

Greenpeace, an organisation working for climate change, sustainable agriculture, preserving the oceans and other various environment related works across the globe, informed the Coast Guards and the Ministry of Agriculture of these violations. “We are still waiting for a reply from the Government on this serious matter,” said Campaign Manager in Green Peace India Sanjeev Gopal to The Pioneer.

The domestic fishing sector in Odisha including traditional fisher communities, have strongly opposed the scheme on the grounds that there has been no effective system to monitor the operation of LoP vessels. Fishermen assert of various instances of competition of local fisheries for both space and resources. Reports from various fisher unions, especially Balasore, suggest that the operation by Thai and other foreign vessels in their waters has impacted their livelihoods significantly.

According to All Odisha Fish Producers’ Federation president and a campaigner for the Green Peace Kameswar Narayan Praharaj, the foreign vessels have been fishing in the Indian territorial water in disguise of Indian vessels. They are providing the vessels to Indian fishermen by giving wages and receive huge amount of catches from the Indian mid sea through their mother ship, which is a clear violation of Indian rules, he said.

“We are running out of marine fish resources, but the foreign vessels are taking benefit out of it using Indian waters,” said Praharaj adding, “The foreign fishing vessels are not following the moratorium which is strictly followed by the Indian fishermen, even they are also violating the LoP guidelines by fishing within 12 nautical miles off the Indian shore, but Indian Government is not taking any action against them, which is very unfortunate,” said Praharaj.

In a Press release Green Peace revealed that a LoP vessel like Balaji No.5 catches about 60-80 tons of tuna every season worth half a million USD in international markets. Currently there are 79 licensed vessels operating in the Indian waters. In return they pay 200 USD as licensing fees to the Ministry of Agriculture. Public records of the taxes paid by these vessels in previous years do not exist.

These vessels are also allowed to transship their catch- a practice that encourages underreporting since it is self- regulated. This means that they never land any of their catch in India thus making it impossible to track.

“This free for all attitudes towards fishing for lucrative species like tuna in our waters will surely lead to a total collapse of fisheries in India like it already has in industrial fishing nations like Taiwan. Poor formulation, regulation and implementation of the LoP have made the Indian EEZ an attractive alternative fishing ground. This robbery has been happening right under the government’s nose for years and no action has been taken till date”, says Areeba Hamid, oceans campaigner with Greenpeace India on-board the Esperanza.

Workshop on communicative skill organized by the Student’s Empire

BERHAMPUR: One day workshop on communicative skill was organized by Student’s Empire Media today at Ramanarayan College Dura. Er Simanchala Padhy, wellness Advisor-BWW Affiliate Mumbai, Mr Nilakantha Sahu, educator & President Literary wing MSC were the Resource person and Dr. Banamali Panigrahy Principal, Mr. Gagona Bihari Purohit Lecturer were present in the workshop as honorable guests.Er. Simanchal Padhy presented very inspirational key note speech on importance of book reading, media in duplication of knowledge and motivativation to eradicate inferiority complex of students.

The key points of Mr. Nilakantha sahu was, Education and communication are linked with each other. A dichotomy is that a person informally educated can also be a good communicator, body language is vital in spoken language. The workshop followed by an interaction session and Quiz competition. All the students of the college attentively enjoyed the programme.

At last the winners of the Quiz competition were awarded by Student’s Empire Media and the Principal offered his gratitude to the speakers and students. The workshop presided by the Student’s Empire editor N Lena Chand.

More Allocation Required for Children of Odisha: Experts

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha needs more allocation for children in order to address issues relating them. This was opined by experts at a consultation on child budgeting held at KIIT School of Rural Management, organized by Center for Children Studies on 25th February 2012. The state has no separate plan and allocation for children as in the case of Tribal sub plan and women component plan, they observed.

Children constitute 40 percent of the state’s population, but only 2.40 percent of the total budget was allocated for them during the financial year 2011, an analysis made on the child budget pointed out. The analysis, presented by the Center at the consultation, reflected on a lot of issues with regard to under utilization of resources allocated for children by different departments. According to this document, there remain many committed mandates of the Right to Education Act which are yet to be fulfilled by the state.

It stresses that in order to achieve the goal of 11th and 12th Plan we need to spend 6 % of GDP on education as against only 2.93 percent on elementary education at present. There is a gap between estimated and actual expenditure in state budget for Elementary Education. It is desired that this gap be reduced in order to achieve the target.

In case of SSA also gap in receipt and expenditure is quite high, i.e. Rs. 331 crore, the document informed. MOM provision for year 2011-12 is Rs 638 Cr. for 65 lakhs children, and this comes to Rs. 4.68 per meal per day, which is highly inadequate to meet the desired calorific value. Scholarships for 26 lakh children are needed considering the existing level of BPL families, which requires an additional allocation of Rs. 19.50 cr. In contrast, there is provision of about Rs 1 crore for 10000 children only. Similarly, text book for 65 lakhs children in primary and upper primary level will require an additional allocation of Rs. 26.75 cr.

The analysis further pointed out that the gap between the estimates and actual of state budget for development of health infrastructure has been increasing during the last four years of the 11th Plan period. In the year 2010 – 11, an amount of Rs. 2.59 cr. could not be actualized, it pointed out.

Prof. Sailabala Devi presented the research findings. Chief Guest Smt. Anjali Behera, Honorable Minister of Women and Child Development addressed the consultation. Smt. Saraswoti Hembrum, Chair Person, State Commissioner for Child Rights, Sri Panchanan Kanungo, Former Finance Minister and Sri Pratap Sarangi, Hon'ble MLA were present. Prof. L. K. Vaswani, Director, KSRM presided over the consultation.

WIO requests SC to re-look on river linkage decision

BHUBANESWAR: The Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) requested the Supreme Court to have a re-look at its recently given judgement and review of implementation of the highly ambitious river interlinking project in a time bound manner in the country.

The Apex Court on Monday directed the Centre to implement the ambitious interlinking of rivers project which was started at the time of NDA regime in 2002. The court also directed to appoint a high-powered committee for its planning and implementation within the stipulated time.

After implementation of the project, the rivers of the country will be interlinked with canals and the purpose of this would be to transfer surplus water of a river to another water needed river. Extra water storage dams would be built along the course of these rivers. But some social organisations like the WIO have raised questions over the project as the ecological balance of the rivers will be affected by the project and the rivers will lose its ecological identity.   

“It is not a feasible proposal for India, but an ecologically devastated proposal. This project will bring not only ecological disaster but also huge displacement problem and inter-state conflict for water distribution process,” said WIO convener Ranjan Panda to The Pioneer.

Regarding interlinking of the Mahanadi in the highly ambitious project, WIO convener said the Mahanadi is no more a water surplus river with industrial allocation already touching more than 60 per cent of the total flow available. The river is struggling to maintain its minimum ecological flow in the non-monsoon seasons, he said adding, “What the river now needs is lease of life itself. Any further diversion of the water from the Mahanadi will mean a death certificate to the river.”

The WIO also said that if the Government wants to start the project within the time bound manner, it should have to follow the Environmental Impact Assessment before going through the project. “We have requested the Supreme Court to take cognizance of such serious issues and reconsider its decision,” said Panda.

It may be noted that the interlinking of rivers in India would raise the irrigation potential to 160 million hectares for all types of crops by 2050, according to a report given by a Centre-appointed task force.

Trade union’s all India strike today

-- Paradip Port operations likely to be hit

BHUBANESWAR/PARADIP: The prominent trade union organisations of the State with other social organisations are going to observe statewide bandh on Tuesday to support all India strike call given by national-level trade union centres. Due to 12 hour bandh starting from 6 am to 6 pm, all forms of transportation services will likely to be hit in the State.

Employees of Reserve Bank and NABARD along with All Odisha Bank Employees Association will join in the bandh. “All banks in the State will be closed on Tuesday,” said bank employees’ association president Jagdish Jena.

Even the members of the All Odisha Auto Chalak Mahasangha will join in the bandh supporting all India strike to press their demands before the Government. For 12 hours the Auto rickshaw service will be closed across the State.

Seven trade union organisations along with other social organisations will start their procession from Rajmahal in the city. “We want to observe the bandh peacefully, if the Government creates any problem it will prove costly for the Government,” said CITU president Naba Mohanty.

In their 10-point charter of demands, the trade union leaders demanded the Government should bring back the black money stashed in the foreign bank, decreasing of price hike and other demands for the betterment of the country and its people.

Similarly, an all India industrial strike called by the major trade unions of India has threatened to paralyse all business activities at Paradip. All banks have notified their customers of banks going to be closed on February 28.

The strike is likely to affect the Paradip Port cargo handling operations too. Though, the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) is trying to negotiate with the various union leaders, the unions were determined to join the strike.

The local administration, police, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), PPT management are keeping a tight vigil to avoid any law and order situation arising out of the strike call on 28th February. All schools and college management are contemplating to close their respective institutions.

‘Odisha remains Polio free State during last four years’

BHUBANESWAR: “It is good to know that India is now a Polio free country, though most of the countries of the world have not escaped from the clutches of the Polio disease,” said Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Prasanna Acharya while inaugurating the Statewide ‘Pulse Polio Abhiyan’ here on Sunday.

The Minister said the World Health Organisation declared India as the Polio free country, which was dream come true for the nation. “Our State has been remained Polio Free State for four consecutive years including the current year which is another reason to cheer,” he said.

He called on the people of the State to cooperate the Government to keep our State Polio free in the coming years. It is the duty and responsibility of the Government along with the people of the State, he added. 

The Minister officially inaugurated the statewide campaign by feeding two drops of Polio vaccine to a baby here at Unit-3 health centre in the city. The campaign started from Sunday will continue for three days in the State.

Within the time frame, 46, 56,254 children under five years old will be fed with Polio drops at 18,684 centers in all the districts across the State. To make the campaign successful, 37,368 squads has been formed where 74,736 health workers and 3,736 supervisors are being engaged at 58 most sensitive centers, 98 medium and 158 least sensitive centers of the total 314 blocks in the State. The State is aiming to immunize 46, 56,254 children against 46, 05,670 children last year.                 

48 houses charred in a Kendujhar village

ANANDPUR: Due to fire break out at Fakirpur village of Anandpur sub-division in Kendujhar district, 48 houses were charred on the wee hours of Sunday which left 25 families homeless, sources said.

Around 1 am when all people were taking rest in their houses, the fire accident took place at Dehuri Street of the village. With no time the houses caught fire rapidly and 48 houses gutted in the accident. Fire tenders took two hours to control the fire.

The fire station officials reached the village in late, though the fire station was only half kilometer away from the village, said the village people. Rice, pulses, food items, furniture along with valuables could not be saved any how from the fire.

Except some religious institutions, no other Government or private organisation helped the victims of the fire accident, said the villagers.               

Hindol fire accident toll rises to four

DHENKANAL: In the fire accident at Kansara village of Hindol sub-division in Dhenkanal district, death toll increased to four as another two persons out of three patients shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack succumbed to their injuries on Saturday. They were identified as Sarbeswar Behera (45) and Golak Behera (42) of the village. The condition of the third person Dushasan Behera was very critical as 70 per cent of the body was burnt.

Two persons Lochan Amat (60) and his son Bulu (20) were charred to death and six others sustained to burn injuries on Friday. Seriously injured Tara Amat (55), wife of Lochan Amat, was going under treatment in Anugul Government hospital.

On the day of the incident, Amat and his son were grinding explosive powders for making fire crackers in their house. While making the explosive powder, it exploded and caught fire in the house. Within few hours, the fire spread rapidly in the area, about 60 houses comprising around 200 rooms were gutted in the mishap. It took long hours for the fire tenders to control the blaze.

District officials on Saturday distributed cooked food, polythene, dry foods and rice during their visit to the affected village. Other social organisations near the village have also distributed food materials and cloth to the affected families of the gutted village.

The fire cracker manufacturing unit in the village was running by Lochana Amat and his son illegally without license for twenty years, sources said.

         

Auto drivers to support all India strike on Feb 28

BHUBANESWAR: Supporting all India strike on February 28 by the Trade Union Centre, the All Odisha Auto Chalak Mahasangha (AOACM) called 12 hour bandh in all over the State on Tuesday to press their demands before the Government.

The members of the Mahasangha said the Auto rickshaw service has restored the public transport system in the State and continuing their service for years. Though, they are working in the unorganised sector, still they are not getting health insurance, social security, pension and provident fund like labourers of other unorganised sector, they said.

In their six-point charter of demands, the members demanded the Government should revise the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 to give some privilege to the Auto rickshaw drivers, to make auto bay for the passengers along with auto parking zones in the city, to stop liquor shops on roadside and to check police harassment.

“We have been demanding before the Government through dharnas, rallies, agitation, strike and discussion, but the Government is not hearing us. That’s why we have decided to support the all India strike to press our demand,” said General Secretary of the AOACM Padman Kumar Samal.        

   

   

Budget 2012-13; a jungle of numbers, increase of VAT to 5% will affect common man: Samajwadi Party

BHUBANESWAR: Budget 2012-13 is a mere increase in statistical number and lacks the budgetary spread out. The increase of VAT from 4% to 5% in essential commodities like sugar, dal and textile will have cascading effect while it reaches to the consumer.

Similarly medicines will be dearer and unholy traders shall cease this opportunity to exploit the common consumer says Samajwadi Party president Ravi Behera. Allocation increase in agriculture can not check farmers’ suicide and no pension for farmers has been taken up.

Similarly separate allocation for establishing Mahila police station and Fast Track Court does not find place to check rising atrocity on women. Above all the budget is mean for encouraging public-private partnership (PPP) which will benefit 20% people at the cost of the larger community of consumers.  

Int’l delegates experience SHG’s, cooperative bodies of State

BHUBANESWAR: To gain practical knowledge on ‘Poverty Reduction Through Rural Credit’ as a part of international training programme, 20 delegates from 13 countries of Asia and African continent visited the cooperative societies and self help groups (SHG) of Balakati of Khurda district and Pipili of Puri district near the city on Friday.

The delegates from National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) at Hyderabad first visited field offices of Adhikar, which is a micro finance company helps the cooperative societies run by women, to gather information on the style and strategy of operations of micro finance and poverty alleviation to empower women effectively in the rural areas.

According to a delegate from Tajikistan Abdulloev Bakhodur, the interface of their team with women beneficiaries as well as officials of Adhikar field offices at Balakati and Pipili was inspiring and informative. Another delegate from Kenya Simon Mwangi Muchigiri said that nowhere micro credit is started except Bangladesh and India successfully. Though Bangladesh is pioneer in this field, India is booming in the sector and yielding a very good result for economic viability and sustainability as well as women empowerment in the country, he added.

“India is gone ahead in tackling the issues as we think it is one of super powers and we have to learn from the country as it has started so many economic empowerment programmes for the common people,” said a delegate Tessema Boke Meharu from Ethiopia.

According to Professor of NIRD Dr Bijay Kumar Swain, the delegates want to replicate the models of cooperative society and SHGs from our country and also they have already replicated in their countries.

The delegates then visited Kalinga Institute of Social Science and MBA department of KIIT University.  

6 girls, boy rescued from bus in city

BHUBANESWAR: After getting information from a co-passenger about trafficking, the Commissionerate Police picked up six girls and a boy from a bus by which they were coming to the city to catch train for Tamilnadu to work in an unorganised sector. They all were the residents of Kendujhar district, the police said.

On a tip-off, the Commissionerate Police raided a bus at Rasulgarh in the city to rescue the girls and a boy from the traffickers. According to a rescued girl, she came to the capital city in search of work following the consultation with a person who takes people to the work field, but she was not aware about journey by train for Tamilnadu to work there.

Following the raid by the police, the girls and a boy, some of them were minor, were taken by Childline for counseling. After counseling they will handover the boy and girls to their family. The police held two women and one man and detained them in connection with the case.

On the other hand, IIC of Mancheswar police station PR Satpathy said, “Exactly it was not a trafficking case, because the boy and girls were coming with some of their parents and at their will to work in the city or outside.”

Green Card holder women’s dharna in 2nd day

BHUBANESWAR: Protesting Government apathy towards fulfilling of their 11-point charter of demands, Odisha Sabuja Patrika Mahila Sangha (OSPMM) staged indefinite dharna at Lower PMG here from Wednesday.

Hundreds of women workers and green card holders staged demonstration at the Lower PMG flaunting placards bearing slogans of their demands and then the women tried to break the police barricade, but the police brought the situation under control.

According to the members of the Sangha, they had given memorandum to the Chief Minister, the Governor and the Health Minister to take appropriate step for the fulfillment of their demand, but their demands have fallen into the deaf ear of the Government.

“Protesting Government’s apathy towards our demands, we came to the streets and we will continue the dharna till our demand is fulfilled,” said president of the OSPMM Laxmi Devi.        

KIIT Premier League 2012 from Feb 25

BHUBANESWAR: The 5th edition of KIIT Premier League, one of the most lucrative University level cricket tournaments, will commence from 25th February 2012. The prestigious All India Day & Night Cricket Tournament will be participated by 14 teams, which have been divided into four groups. Teams like Utkal University, Bhubaneswar; SRM University, Chennai; and SOA University, Bhubaneswar are in Group A. Delhi University; Geetam University, Hyderabad; and IIT Kharagpur feature in Group B. Mumbai University, Maharashtra; Krukshetra University, Haryana; KIIT, University, Bhubaneswar; and Purusottam, Rourkela are in Group C. Similarly, Group D has teams like Andhra University; Ravenshaw University, Cuttack; Meerut University, UP; All Odisha Medical Colleges (AOMC).

All matches will be played in league basis from 7AM to 11AM, 2PM to 6PM and 6PM to 10PM. Semifinals are scheduled to be played on 2nd March, while the Finale would be played on 3rd March 2012. On 29th February an exhibition match would be played between Odia cine Stars.

This year KPL is offering the highest prize money in university level Cricket matches. Team and individual prizes total Rs. 3 lakh. The Champion would get the prize money of Rs. 1 lakh, while Runner’s up team would get Rs. 50,000. Semifinalists would bag prize money of Rs. 10,000 each and league match winners Rs. 5000 each.

Similarly, Best player, Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Best Fielder, and Best Wicket Keeper would get cash prize of Rs. 3,000 each. The tournament has been designed as per Indian Premier League (IPL) to promote the cricketers of All India University level student. Mr. Ashirbad Behera, Secretary, OCA, would grace the inaugural match as chief guest, while Mr. Debashis Mohanty, eminent cricket player would grace the Final match and Prize distribution ceremony.

PLGA takes responsibility of Mathalput Sarpanch’s murder

SUNABEDA: Srikakulam-Koraput division of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), the ultra outfit of the CPI (Maoist), took responsible for killing Sarpanch of Mathalput panchayat in Koraput district Bijay Muduli, informed Srikakulam-Koraput divisional committee leader Daya in a letter to the Media here.

In his letter Daya said the Congress leader and Sarpanch was misusing his power for his own benefit in Damanjodi area. During his tenure as president of the Nalco Alumina Girls High School, he was assaulting women and girls. Thereafter bribing the police officers and using his power to close cases against him, he was escaping wisely, he added.

He said the Sarpanch was collecting huge money from contractors and from the Nalco Company taking Maoists name and also taking money from the job seekers to give employment in the Damanjodi plant. Muduli was looting the welfare funds of the panchayat and pretending as well wisher of tribal people, he was cheating them, Daya added.

Daya also said that they didn’t have any relation with the Sarpanch and he was an enemy for them as he had very good relation with the police. They killed him for his awful act against common people, said Daya in his letter adding, “If the associates of the deceased Sarpanch would not leave anti-people activities, they will also not be spared from us.”

  

Anganwadi workers indefinite dharna from March 14

BHUBANESWAR: Demanding hike in stipend and other demands, Nikhil Odisha Anganwadi Karmi Sangha (NOAKS) would stage indefinite dharna from March 14 till their demand is fulfilled, informed its president DK Panda at a Press meet here on Wednesday.

According to the members of NOAKS, they had staged demonstration in front of the Assembly and submitted a memorandum to the Minister for Women and Child Development on August 18 last year and the Secretary of Women and Child Development on August 16 during their dharna. The Minister and the secretary had given assurance to discuss 11 demands out 12-point charter demands in the budget session. They withdrew the dharna believing a positive reply, but they yet to get the solution of the problem as couple of days passed.

The members also said the State Government is delaying in the process of implementing the direction of the Technical Committee instituted by Central Government for their promotion from mere Anganwadi workers to primary school teacher, ANM and village level Government services according to their eligibility.

They also said that attacks on Anganwadi workers by the village level politicians and their senior officers and other problems are increasing and their work load is also increasing day by day with responsibilities given by the Government, but their stipend is not increasing accordingly, for which they will sit on dharna from March 14 till their demand is fulfilled, they added.   

     

  

Communal Violence Bill is UPA’s jihad against Hindus: Togadia

-- Chidambaram should roll back on the decision of NCTC

BHUBANESWAR: “The UPA Government is not sincere at all against terrorism, if it is sincere, why it removed the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). Chidambaram should roll back on the decision of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) as we need stronger law than POTA,” said Executive President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Dr Pravin Bhai Togadia delivering his opinion on NCTC at a Press meet here on Wednesday.

He lashed out the UPA Government on Communal Violence Bill. The Bill is not only a ‘draconian law’ but also it is UPA’s jihad against Hindus, said Togadia. He also criticised the Government for not initiating consultation with the State Government on the issue of NCTC matter.

On the issue of reservation for some particular minorities and Ranganath Mishra Commission report, he opposed reservation for some minorities from the portions of Hindus. In his seven-point charter demand, he said the Government should dismiss the report of the Ranganath Mishra commission and Sachar committee report and don’t provide reservation unnecessarily to some minorities for getting minority vote bank.

To protest the reservation policy of the Government for some minorities, Togadia and his organisation have started ‘Hindu Roti-Sikshya Bachao’ movement in all over the country to create awareness among the Hindus about the UPA Government’s apathy and negligence.

He informed about ‘Hindu Sarbajati Maha Panchayat’, a meeting to unite all the castes of the Hindus, organised by the VHP at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on February 4.        

Home guard arrested on rape charges

BHUBANESWAR: A home guard Prasanna Kumar Lenka was arrested by the Commissionerate police on Wednesday for allegedly causing sexual assault to a city woman on Shivratri night. After this incident, Lenka has been terminated from services.

On the day of the incident, the woman from Gautam Nagar area under Badagada police station in the city was going to Lingraj temple on Monday night to offer prayers on the occasion of Shivratri. On the way to temple, the home guard asked her to avail lift on his motor-cycle and she agreed. But the home guard instead of going to the Lingraj temple, he took the woman to a resort near Bapujinagar and allegedly sexually assaulted her forcefully.

The father of the victim called the mother and sister of the victim inquiring her arrival at the temple, but the mother, who was waiting for her elder daughter in the temple, got worried over the delay and informed the father of the victim to inquiry about her. When the father called her daughter, the victim, he could not connect with her as the mobile was switched off. Suspecting any danger he searched her on the way, but he could not find her.

Thereafter, the victim lodged complaints in the Mahila police station against the home guard. The police arrested him on Wednesday. The Commissionerate police detained the manager of the Dwarka resort. The manager of the resort admitted that he had received Rs 600 from a man and provided a room number 208 for them on Monday night. The police have started investigations into the matter.

US-India Education Foundation announces Fulbright-Nehru Fellowships for Study, Research and Teaching in the U.S

HYDERABAD: The United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) announces the opening of its annual competition for Fulbright-Nehru and other Fulbright fellowship opportunities for study, research, teaching, and professional development in the United States.

Outstanding Indian students, academics, teachers, policy planners, administrators, and professionals in all disciplines are encouraged to apply. The India-U.S. bilateral Fulbright agreement has resulted in a significant increase in the number of fellowships awarded each year -- USIEF expects to offer approximately 100 Fulbright-Nehru fellowships for Indians in 2013.

Fellowship details are posted on the USIEF website at www.usief.org.in. Each type of fellowship opportunity has a different application deadline; the earliest program application deadline is July 16, 2012. For more information, applicants may contact the USIEF offices in New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, or Mumbai through the USIEF website.

1 killed, 3 injured in Ganjam poll violence

BRAHMAPUR: Due to clash between two different political parties, one person died and another three were injured, one critically, at Dayapali village 15 km away from here under Hinjlikatu police station in Ganjam district on Sunday. The deceased was identified as S Pitambar. Critically injured B Pitambar along with other two injured persons was going under treatment in a hospital here.

Regarding election matter, two groups on Monday evening started fighting with each other which was later came to normal condition, but the collective anger turned violent on Tuesday morning. The defeated group in recently ended panchayat poll started attacking the rival group workers with swords and other sharp weapons.

During the violence, S Pitambar was killed on the spot. Male members of both the political parties have deserted the village apprehending police action. Ganjam police have deployed one platoon of police force to maintain law and order in the village.

Civil body demands Nimapada IIC’s arrest

BHUBANESWAR: Demanding appropriate action against Nimapada IIC and his supporters, who helped him to flee from the clutches of Vigilance officials on January 6, the Durniti Sangharsh Manch staged dharna at the Lower PMG here on Tuesday.

It may be noted that Nimapada police station IIC Bimal Kumar Nayak’s vanishing act amidst a group of audacious supporters of the town just before he was to be arrested by the Vigilance officers after he was caught red-handed while taking bribe from a man involved in a land dispute case had raised many eyebrows as the ‘absconding’ police officer was untraceable till today.

The Manch members said the police should arrest the supporters immediately because they helped a corrupted police officer. “We are really shocked with the absconding drama and failure of police official to nab the kidnappers,” said Sudhir Mohanty of the Manch.

Fearing the police arrest, the common people who were present over there on the day of the incident to see the vigilance search, are not staying in their home, the Manch members said adding, “To arrest the culprits, the police should start an impartial investigation into the matter.”    

       

SC/ST council to file case against WR officials

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha State Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Tribe Youth and Students Council at a Press meet here on Sunday alleged that the SC and ST assistant engineers working in different departments of the State Government are being neglected by some vested officers of Water Resource Department. They decided to file criminal case against WR officials for violating reservation law.

The members of the SC-ST youth council said the engineers recruited through OPSC on regular mode since 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 were not enlisted in the cadre list of Assistant Engineers with ill-intention. The officials taking bribe from general category validated engineers intentionally to debar the SC and STs from their genuine claim of promotion since long, they added.

President of the council Haldhar Sethy alleged that the officials of WR Department by changing the SC/ST officials from establishment wing intentionally held up the process of fresh recruitment of contractual engineers for remaining backlog vacancies out of the select list so prepared in the year 2009, even after the order of the Chief Minister.

The council condemned that the anti - SC/ST attitude of the officials of WR Department who are regularly violating the reservation law as well as the service law meant for Odisha. The council has also drawn the attention of the National Commission for SC/ST who has responded the cause proposing state review meeting in the 1st week of March this year.

             

Pay Rs 1,000 for staging dharna at PMG

BHUBANESWAR: From February 21, the social and political organisations along with NGOs and activists or who will want to stage dharna to press their demand before the Government they have to pay Rs 1,000 to get permission for staging dharnas, agitations and rallies at the Dharna place of Lower PMG in the city, according to a notification by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).

From Tuesday onwards, staging dharna at the Lower PMG will not be free. The respective organisations would have to take permission from the Police Commissionerate’s Office and a license from the BMC office by paying Rs 1,000. The defaulters of this notification will be imposed with fine.

According to the BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, the fees will be used for the development of the Dharna place including its cleaning and to avail other facilities within the zone. The Dharna place is polluted with the unwanted materials thrown by agitators and to clean the area needs manpower and vehicles for which we need the money to appoint sweepers for cleaning the place.

But the social activists and different political and social organisations have opposed the decision taken by the BMC. Every people have fundamental rights to protest and imposing fine and monetary constraint on that is undemocratic, said some social activists of the city.

“This decision seems as Mughal emperor Aurangjev’s Jizyah tax which was imposed on Hindus, now this Jizyah tax by BMC on the poor exploited those are deprived of their basic right come to the Lower PMG square to air their demands and grievances before the Assembly, which is ridiculous,” said president of Odisha unit of Samajwadi Party Rabi Behera demanding withdrawal of the decision.

 

          

Juangas demand mother tongue based pre-school education

BHUBANESWAR: Members of the Juanga Child Protection Committee (JCPC) organised pre-election meetings inviting contestants of panchayat election to support their demand of mother tongue based pre-school education.

Hundreds of Juanga women and men gather in the pre-election meetings to press their demands to support their claim of quality education for their children. For the first time the voters have organised pre-election meetings to press their demands among the contestants and seeking their commitment to the development needs as articulated by the adivasi communities instead of accepting the offers like free booze and money for group feasts from the contestants here.

About 12 pre-election interaction meetings were being organised between voters and candidates in the area. On 16th of February an open forum discussion was organised at Tala Champei in ‘Juangapidhi’ by the members of Child Right Protection Committee of TLC where the aspiring candidates were invited to clear their stand on the reasonable demands by the Juanga community members including the demand for mother tongue based early childhood education in the Anganwadi centers in the area.

The member of the Child Right Protection Committee and Founder Member of CLAP Bhaktabatshal Mohanty highlighted the need of mother tongue based education to the children below the age of 5years as it is easy for the children to learn in their own language. Kainta Juanga, a Juaga woman, stressed the need going by the fact that most of the parents are not literate in Odia language and find it difficult to support their children in their studies.

Speaking to the aspiring candidates Programme Manager of TLC Bhagirathi Mohanty stressed that once the Juanga verbal language get adopted in the local Anganwadi Centers the children of the area would feel at home while enabling their learning potentials. This would help them feel confident and improve their reasons which would ultimately help them continue their education in any language during later stage, he ended.

Capital city gears up for Mahashivratri

BHUBANESWAR: Like every year, devotees of the Lord Shiva are getting ready for much awaited to observe the religious occurrence Mahashivratri, as all the Hindu devotees especially Shaibas believe the Lord Shiva is the harbinger of happiness and good luck. The State is geared up for the festival and preparation of all the Shaiba shrines have been completed till Sunday evening.

The famous and one of the major Shaiba shrines Lingaraj temple in the capital city also geared up for the occasion. Keeping eye on the heavy flow of devotees from the city and also from other parts of the State, security arrangement have taken place in a strategic way. Commissionerate police along with private security guards will be deployed in the temple area to control the huge crowd on the day of Shivratri.

According to the Lingaraj temple administrator Abanikant Patnaik, 14 CCTV cameras were fixed in the temple to keep eye on the movement of the crowd and other security measures. Special security arrangement from the police will help the devotees to get hassle free darshan of Lord Shiva in the temple, he added. Apart from that this year the pious Mahadeep will be rose between 9.30 pm and 10 pm night on Monday.

Besides Lingaraj temple in Temple City, the famous Shaiva shrines like Loknath temple of Puri, Aaradi of Bhadrak, Kapilash of Dhenkanal, Dhabaleswar of Athagarh, Gupteswar of Koraput and other shrines have taken special arrangements for the devotees.

GRP arrest mastermind of chain snatcher gang

BHUBANESWAR: Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested a mastermind of a chain snatcher gang, who snatch gold chains from the running train, from Mali Sahi in the city on Sunday while he was selling the gold chain.

On a tip off, GRP team reached Mali Sahi and nabbed the chain snatcher mastermind Ramachandra Behera alias Susant, a resident of Nuapada under Madhupatna police station in Cuttack district. According to the IIC of GRP Bhubaneswar Smruti Ranjan Kar, Susant was involved in a chain snatching case of February 7, 2012. He had snatched a gold chain from Shantilata Rath, wife of Durga Madhav Rath, when they were going by a passenger train from Bhubaneswar.

Besides the case, 14 chain snatching cases were in the name of the culprit. During their raid in Mali Sahi, Susant was selling a gold chain. The police arrested and seized a gold chain from his purse, but his associate escaped from the police, IIC Kar informed.        

Lingaraj temple servitor critical in attack

BHUBANESWAR: Bhagaban Samartha, a servitor of Lingaraj temple, was seriously attacked by some unidentified miscreants at Old Town in the city when he was plucking flower from a garden near cemetery on Sunday afternoon. His condition was critical and under treatment in the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack.

Samartha was seriously attacked with the help of sharp weapons. Miscreants attacked him from back side as a deep injury mark found from his neck. Besides, his hands and belle have deep injury marks, doctors said.

He was rushed to a medical in the city then he was referred to the SCB Medical College and Hospital for further treatment. According to the doctors, his was still not out of danger and his condition was critical.

Family members of Samartha said that they have no knowledge about the miscreants, but it was a conspiracy, they informed. He was a temple servitor and he had an important role to play during Shivratri in Lingaraj temple, they added. Airfield police is investigating into the matter and none is arrested in the case.