Prasanjit in medical, Hriday Ranjan in Engg topped OJEE list

Prasanjit Patnaik of Kendrapara

 

BHUBANESWAR: Result of the entrance examinations conducted by the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) has been published on Wednesday afternoon. Out of one lakh students appeared for the examinations, 63, 634 students have qualified for the Engineering course followed by 2,852 in Medical courses and 16, 859 in Pharmacy, while 6, 916 students have qualified for MBA/PGDM and 3, 535 in MCA.

Prasanjit Patnaik of Kendrapara district has become topper in Medical and Pharmacy category in the OJEE and Hriday Ranjan Sahu of Bhubaneswar has topped in Engineering category. Similarly, Ashok Agarwal has topped in Pharmacy lateral entry. Rani Mittal of Rayagada in MBA and Rasananda Sahu of Keonjhar district in MCA have topped the OJEE list.

Toppers among girls are Swadhinata Sahu of Keonjhar in medical, Subhadarshini Padhy in engineering and Sangeeta Samantaray of Bhubaneswar in MCA.

Around one lakh students had appeared in the examination on May 6 in 179 centers in the country including some major cities, while 700 students had appeared for M Pharm entrance examination conducted by the OJEE on May 13. The applicants of home State had appeared in 145 centers and there were 42 centers in the capital only on May 6 examination.

According to OJEE officials, the rank cards would be sent to the qualified candidates within 15 June and the counseling would be held on third week of June. The nodal centres would be arranged before five days of the counseling. Classes will commence on the first week of August, OJEE officials added.

NIA takes PLA leader in remand after arresting from Gopalpur

--State intelligence to find out Maoists relation with PLA

BRAHMAPUR: The National Investigative Agency (NIA) took leader of the banned outfit People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in remand after arresting from a Gopalpur beach resort about 14 kilometres from the city in Ganjam district on Monday night. He was arrested in a joint operation by the Brahmapur police and the NIA.

The arrested person was identified as SS Angou, the external affairs head of the banned outfit PLA, active in Manipur, informed Brahmapur SP Safeen Ahmed K. “We tracked the person on Monday basing on the report provided by the intelligence agencies. He is now in police custody,” said the Brahmapur SP to The Pioneer.

According to the police reports, Angou had come to meet a woman working in Geological Survey of India (GSI) at Gopalpur. It is suspected that the woman is Angou’s wife, who got transferred to GSI Gopalpur office two years ago, was reportedly a resident of Manipur.  

Angou has links with some extremist organisations in Myanmar and Nepal, police said.

On Tuesday, the NIA has taken him to New Delhi after he was produced before Brahmapur Chief Judicial Magistrate on Monday night.

Following the separatist leader’s arrest, State intelligence agencies has started investigation to find out whether Angou’s any link with Maoists of Odisha or not. The relation between Odisha Maoists and PLA could not be ruled out as before the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has already given reports about the nexus.

As the Maoists have good presence in the State and link with the city, the arrest of the PLA top leader from the region and supply of arms and ammunition to Maoists groups by the PLA has left many questions about the internal relation between the Maoists and PLA.

Khirod Mallick gets bail

BHUBANESWAR: Khirod Mallick, brother of former minister and BJD MLA Pramila Mallick, got bail from the court of Additional Sessions Judge here on Tuesday in Mancheswar acid attack case and Shastrinagar firing case. Mallick had already received a conditional bail from the High Court in Namita Padhi firing case at Mancheswar in the city.

On Thursday, Mallick was arrested by the police in connection with Mancheswar acid attack case after his bail plea was denied in the lower court here and the JMFC court had sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

The Commissionerate Police on Friday had taken Mallick in three days remand in connection with the Mancheswar acid attack case. The permission was granted by the JMFC court following the request of the police.

Girls outshine boys in CBSE class XII also

BHUBANESWAR: Like CBSE X examination, girls outperformed the boys again in the CBSE class XII result which was published on Monday. The pass percentage in Bhubaneswar region stood at 83.84 per cent against 80.12 per cent in national level. Pass percentage of girls stood at 87.28 against 81.26 per cent for boys in Bhubaneswar region, while girls also outshined boys in national level by achieving 86.21 per cent against 75.80 per cent of boys.

The Bhubaneswar region includes Odisha, West Bengal and Chhatisgarh. This year, total 33,848 students of 362 schools had appeared for the class XII examination in 152 examination centres in the region. In which 7,523 students of 102 schools in Odisha had appeared in 56 centres.

Anshuman Mohapatra of Mother’s Public School in the city has topped in science stream in the State by scoring 98.8 per cent and became second topper in eastern region of the CBSE board, while Risha Bagchi of the Sai International School has topped in commerce stream in the State.

In Bhubaneswar region, pass percentage of the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas have been topped with 95.73 per cent followed by 92.28 per cent of the Central Schools and 80.82 per cent of private schools. According to available figures, 30.22 per cent students have secured 75 per cent and above marks in the examination that was conducted in 362 schools.

Man attempts self immolation outside Ganjam collector’s grievance camp

BRAHMAPUR: Police arrested a man who was allegedly attempting self immolation outside the grievance camp of the district collector at the Sub-collectors office here on Saturday.

Suresh Sahu (45) of Belagaon under Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s assembly constituency in Ganjam district attended the camp to place his grievance where he attempted self immolation by pouring petrol on himself and trying to set fire, police said.

Sahu has already attended six grievance camps in different cases, but this time he attempted suicide out of frustration due to lingering land-related disputes at Tikri under Kashipur tehsil in Rayagada district. Sahu had met the Chief Minister and informed about his sad stories. Later, he was settled at Hinjilikatu, sources said.

According to Ganjam Collector Dr Krishan Kumar, the man was provided house in Mo Kudia scheme, BPL rice, loan and land, yet the man is complaining again and again. This time Sahu told about Rayagada land dispute, we have forwarded his grievance to the Kashipur tehsildar in Rayagada district, the collector added.

On the other hand, Sahu complained that he did not get the house though that is in the website of district administration. Every time he gets assurance from the district administration, but he could not get solution of his problems.     

Following the attempt, the police arrested the man and forwarded to the court, said Baidyanathpur IIC Deepak Mishra. Although his wife and a ten-year-old daughter accompanied him, they did not attempt suicide with him, police said.

Fate of State not safe in Naveen’s hand: Jatish Mohanty

BHUBANESWAR: Samruddha Odisha president Jatish Mohanty on Friday alleged that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has diminished the respect of the State in the foreign land during his first visit to foreign country in his twelve years tenure.

Mohanty said the Chief Minister avoided the London based Odia students request who had taken permission from the Chief Minister’s Office protocol to meet and welcome Patnaik at the Heathro airport in London. Mohanty said the student leader Sounik Kajal Kumar Dash informed him over phone about the issue.

Sounik said during his meeting with Chief Minister they would likely to raise over PSW visa for Indian Students which has stopped by the UK Government, safety issues of Indian students as well as Odia students those are studying in Europe, but Chief Minister did not allow him audience.

On the other hand, Mohanty questioned that the Chief Minister who never ever called a Press meet in his 12 years tenure, what he will speak at the seminar of the University of Sussex. Patnaik only shows his face on some particular issues where he speaks like a radio and journalists hear that and who delivers speech with the help of written speech in the public meetings, what he will say in the foreign land, Mohanty added.

Only announcing the tribal leader PA Sangma’s name as presidential candidate can not help in the development of the tribal people, Mohanty said adding, “If he has initiated development works in the tribal people by avoiding companies’ promotion, then why he denies attending the meeting at the Institute of Development Studies?”

Mohnaty said still now tribal people are not getting basic needs from the State, some tribal school has no teacher, no drinking water facilities in the tribal villages and they are dieing due to diarrhea. The Chief Minister can take peoples of Odisha for a ride, but he could not do this in front of the intellectual mass of the foreign country, he said.

“The international and national media are criticising the scaring nature of the Chief Minister in the foreign land. Fate of the State is not safe in Naveen Patnaik’s hand,” he ended.

US Dept of State’s country report on Maoist problem in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: US Department of State has released a country report on India where the report focused on Maoists problem in the country and violence in the central and eastern India. The report revealed the armed conflicts has been emerged between Naxalite (Maoist) insurgents and Government security forces over land and mineral resources in tribal forest areas in the central and eastern India.

The report said most of the conflict areas overlap with the Dandakaranya forest, which covers parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Due to the conflict, the report said, 182 of the country’s 626 districts in 20 of its 28 states have been affected.

Stating the reason of the conflict, the report said mindless mining and rapid industrialisation in the forest lands which has large deposits of mineral resources, such as bauxite, iron ore, and uranium, and is home to millions of tribal persons, have created the conflict. “The Ministry of Rural Development in 2009 estimated that up to 400,000 persons had been displaced since the conflict began,” it added.

The report has information about ‘Operation Green Hunt’, the Government’s initiative against Naxalites in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal, continued. It also said, “The human rights advocates argued that the operation sought not only to suppress the Naxalites but also to force these tribal persons off their land, allowing for commercial development.”

The report mentioned about the attack in February 2012 in Malkangiri district of the State where four officers of the Border Security Force (BSF) were killed in an ambush by Communist Party of India (Maoist) rebels. It has also mentioned about the abduction of two Italian nationals in the State. There is a risk that visitors could become victims of violence, the report warned.

Political parties to stage hartal on May 31 protesting petrol price rise

BHUBANESWAR: The political parties including Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party here on Thursday decided to stage hartal on May 31 in the State protesting the steepest-ever hike in petrol prices of Rs 7.50 a litre by the Central Government.

In a joint statement, CPI State secretary Dibakar Nayak, CPI (M) secretary Janardan Pati, Forward Bloc State secretary Santosh Mitra, RJD State unit president Harish Mahapatra and Samajwadi Party State unit president Rabi Behera condemned the UPA Government for the petrol price hike. The left parties announced in the meeting to observe May 31 as protest day.

The leaders also informed the Central Government is planning to hike the price of cooking gas, kerosene and diesel in near future which will affect directly to the common men. They demanded the Government should withdraw the decision of petrol price hike.   

“UPA which made the promise of protecting the interest of the aam admi has betrayed them time and again. This fuel price rise is another example of betrayal while the general inflation almost touched eight per cent and food inflation has crossed the double digit. At this time of price rise, this fuel hiking is a hard blow to common man,” said Samajwadi Party State unit president Rabi Behera.

Similarly, ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) also decided in a meeting headed by Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadei which was also attended by Revenue Minister Surya Narayan Patra, Health Minister Prasanna Acharya, senior party leader Damodar Rout, MLA Arun Sahu and Sanjay Dasburma here on Friday to observe Odisha bandh on May 31 protesting petrol price hike. The leaders of the party condemned the Central Government for hiking in petrol price.

The BJD leaders requested the party workers and supporters of the State to stage protest meetings, processions and rallies to make the bandh successful. They also called upon the women, youth and students organisations across the State to support the bandh.    

Commissionerate Police takes Khirod Mallick in remand

--Police inform about hard evidence against Mallick

BHUBANESWAR: The Commissionerate Police here on Friday took Khirod Mallick, brother of former minister and BJD MLA Pramila Mallick, in three days remand in connection with the Mancheswar acid attack case. The permission was granted by the JMFC court following the request of the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Nitinjeet Singh informed about the hard evidence he has against Mallick in the cases of Mancheswar firing case, Mancheswar acid attack and Shastrinagar firing case. Mallick is now in the ward no-15 of the Jharpada jail.

On Thursday, Mallick was arrested by the police in connection with Mancheswar acid attack case after his bail plea was denied in the lower court here and the JMFC court had sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Mallick has already received a conditional bail from the High Court in Namita Padhi firing case at Mancheswar, but he was directed to present at the lower court to get the bail. According to the direction, he had surrendered at the JMFC court 1 on Thursday. Meanwhile, on a tip off, the police had reached the court and presented the other two cases against Mallick at the court. He got bail in Mancheswar firing case, but failed to get a bail in the acid attack case.

CBSE results out, girls outshine boys

BHUBANESWAR: The result of the 10th class examination of this year conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was announced on Thursday. The girl students outshine boys again in the eastern region. Pass percentage of the State remains at 99.48, better among the eastern region States like Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.

Students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya have done well in the examination as its 66.48 per cent aspirants scored more than 75 per cent mark, while 43.28 per cent aspirants of the private educational institutions scored above 75 per cent mark and 41.76 per cent students of Kendriya Vidyalaya have scored above 75 per cent mark.

But the Government schools did not performed well like others as only 8 per cent students could score above 75 per cent mark in the examination.

According to CBSE regional officer MVV Prasad Rao, out of 13,644 students appeared for the examination, 13,573 students have passed the examination. “The total pass percentage is 99.48 per cent comparing to 98.95 per cent in west Bengal and 99.13 per cent in Chhattisgarh,” said Rao.

Former Minister’s brother arrested in acid attack case

BHUBANESWAR: President of an NGO ‘Biswa’ Khirod Chandra Mallick, brother of former minister and BJD MLA Pramila Mallick, was arrested by the police in connection with Mancheswar acid attack case after his bail plea was denied in the lower court here on Thursday. Bhubaneswar JMFC court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

Mallick has already received a conditional bail from the High Court in Namita Padhi firing case at Mancheswar, but he was directed to present at the lower court to get the bail. According to the direction, he surrendered at the JMFC court 1 on Thursday. Meanwhile, on a tip off, the police reached the court and presented the other two cases against Mallick at the court. He got bail in Mancheswar firing case, but failed to get a bail in the acid attack case.

However, Mallick’s lawyer Dharanidhar Nayak condemned the behaviour of the police, who took Mallick from the court premises, and said that he will appeal against the police before the Human Rights Commission and also in the upper court.

Political parties strongly protest petrol price hike

-- Petrol pump strike by political parties causes more trouble to consumers

BHUBANESWAR: Heat of the petrol price hike goes viral as most of the non-Congress parties came to the street and strongly protested the decision of the Centre here on Thursday. Some parties like BJP called bandh in the petrol pumps, as a result all filling stations in the capital city closed their business for the day and threw the needy consumers to further trouble following steepest-ever hike in petrol prices from Wednesday midnight.

The non-Congress political parties and various organisations of the State here on Thursday staged rallies, dharnas and protest meetings opposing the hike by the Central Government and demanded rollback of the decision.

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), Samruddha Odisha, Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) and India Against Corruption (IAC) strongly protested the petrol price hike.

Thousands of supporters and members of BYJD went in a procession and staged a massive dharna in front of the Rajbhavan here. Later, they handed over a memorandum to the President of India through Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, demanding immediate rollback of the price hike decision.

In the memorandum, the BYJD said without considering the financial conditions of the common men, the UPA Government has been arbitrarily hiking the price of petrol and petroleum products. This has played a cruel joke with the ever-suffering poor and the lower middle class. BYJD president Sanjay Das Burma ridiculed the decision saying the price hike is the greatest reward by the Congress-led UPA Government to the common people of the country in its eight years in power.

The party workers of BJP burnt the effigies of Sonia Gandhi here at the lower PMG protesting the petrol price hike. The youth wing of BJP led by its State president Bibhuti Jena observed bandh in the petrol pumps. Due to strike in petrol pumps, consumers faced more problems. Especially the patients faced problems as the private ambulances charged more due to petrol pump strike in the city. According to the poor patients and their relatives, the ambulance service providers asked more to provide service on the sidelines of petrol pump strike and price hike of petrol.

Similarly, CPI, NCP, Samruddha Odisha, SUCI and IAC staged rallies, protest meetings and dharnas in front of the State Assembly, demanding withdrawal of the petrol price hike. Hundreds of supporters and workers of the parties and IAC came in processions from Master Canteen square to the Lower PMG under their respective banners flaunting placards bearing slogans against the Central Government.

The supporters of CPI (M) led by its Odisha zone secretary Sura Jena also staged a rally at the Rajmahal square protesting the petrol price hike and blockade the road by torching tyre on the road.

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Kalinga Sena demands nationwide ban on IPL

BHUBANESWAR: Demanding nationwide ban on Indian Premier League (IPL), which is now in serious controversy, Kalinga Sena staged a rally in front of the State Assembly following a procession from Master Canteen to Lower PMG here on Wednesday. Sena workers have burnt effigy of IPL Chairman during rally.

                                                                                      

Sena Supreme also demanded that black money invested in IPL should be probed by CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Ministry of External Affairs and Central Excise and Custom Department. He said the proposed IPL final match should also be banned with immediate effects. He also demanded a CBI probe into IPL management and its chairman Rajiv Shukla.

He said the on going IPL tournament has earned many controversies like spot fixing controversies involving four IPL players, Kolkata Knight Rider’s owner and film actor Shah Rukh Khan’s scrap with the Mumbai Cricket Association officials and a security guard at Wankhede stadium, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Australian player Luke Pomersbach’s alleged molestation attempt on an American lady in a hotel, two Pune Warriors players, Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell, were detained by the police while busting a rave party during a late-night raid at Hotel Oakwoods in Mumbai, Rath added.

Rath said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), while showering money on cricketers, should also educate the players on the dangers lurking round the corner that can sink their careers. “Players should be stopped from following Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir’s path- from fame to shame,” Rath added.

‘Shed differences to demand special status for State’

BHUBANESWAR: Political parties must shed their differences to demand in unison for the special category status for Odisha in view of recommendations of parliament standing committee in this regard. The status would go a long way to address the issues of regional imbalances, stark poverty among dalits and adivasis, poor infrastructure in remote areas and lopsided development in the State, said the youth leaders at a seminar held on Tuesday here.

Chairing the seminar on ‘Three years of BJD Government in Odisha and UPA Government at Centre: A report card from Youth Perspective’ organised by the Janata Vikas Manch, Nageshwar Patnaik, a senior journalist said, “People across the society should not indulge in leg pulling and instead they should work unitedly for the development of the State.”

While presenting a status report on the Central and Odisha Government, Sai Prasan, a key functionary of JVM said the acute shortage of water is hampering the agricultural growth in the State leading to a large scale migration. The development is concentrated in the 100 km radius of the State capital. The west and south part along with the tribal dominated areas in the State are most backward. The SC and ST population is also living in a miserable condition. All these factors especially unemployment among youth is responsible for the rise of Naxalism in the State, he ended.

Taking a cue from the debate, communist leader Shivram said that both the UPA and BJD Government are following the neo-liberal policies of the imperialist forces which won’t lead to development, but destruction of the State.

Manoj Jena, a human rights defender, said that the human rights violations have gone up in the State due to the industrialisation process in the State. The Government is snatching the land of poor SCs and STs for setting up of the industry.

Sudarshan Chhotray, a documentary film maker, said that mindless mining is responsible for the climate change. There should be proper check on the mindless mining, he added. “Misuse of water is responsible for the pollution,” he said.

Among others, social scientist Chitta Ranjan Behera, Puroshotam Singh Thakur, Avinash Thakur, Abhishek Joshi, Dolmani Pradhan and Gobind Ballabh Dalai also spoke on this occasion.

BYJD protests petrol price hike

BHUBANESWAR: Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) here protested hike in petrol price by the Central Government on Wednesday. The price hike would affect the common people and it is anti-people, said BYJD president Sanjay Kumar Das Burma. Protesting the price hike, BYJD is going to organise a massive rally here on Thursday in front of the Rajbhavan.

Das Burma said the price hike is the greatest reward for the common people of the country within eight years of the congress led UPA Government’s ruling. He called on the non-congress parties to come on to the street against the Central Government.

Law on early childhood education demanded

BHUBANESWAR: Civil society organisations have demanded a law on early childhood education recognising rights of the young children to have universal access to quality early childhood education. The demand wakes up in the context of the move of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to frame a draft policy concerning Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

The demand for law on early childhood education moots up in a two-day long advocacy workshop of civil society organisations working on young children in Odisha organised by National Campaign for ECCE Right (NCER) led by Committee for Legal Aid to Poor (CLAP) here.

Speaking on the occasion the Chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Right Saraswati Hembram emphasised on importance of mother tongue based education for tribal children at the stage of pre-primary education, which is already instructed under the Right to Education Act.

India representative of Netherland based Bernard van Leer Foundation Dharitri Pattanayak also emphasised on mother tongue based education as the State has a huge tribal population and their children remain far away from education because of non-availability of mother tongue based education which they use in their day to day life.

Attending the workshop, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities Kasturi Mohapatra observed that children with disability receive very little policy attention in the proposed draft policy on ECCE. Unless children are provided with facilities and an inclusive provision is made the rights of physically challenged would be overlooked.

Referring to the draft policy on ECCE, the Executive Director of CLAP Pramoda Acharya stated that there is a need for the Government to immediately contemplate a national plan of action on ECCE so that the policy can really be implemented.

NCER convener of Dr Bikash Das presided over the workshop. Among others, women activist Namrata Chadha, Prof UN Dash, human right activist Baghambar Pattanayak, professor of Education at SCERT Prof BN Panda and former member of National Commission for Women Sukeshi Oram were present.

Youth dies in city in suspicious state

BHUBANESWAR: In a suspicious state, a youth died in the city on Friday. He was identified as Barik Reddy from Laxminagar of Salia Sahi slum under Nayapalli police station in the city. Investigation into the matter is on.

Reddy was living with his family in his Laxminagar home. Few days ago, he had bit argument with his wife; as a result his upset wife went to her father’s house. Reddy had decided to go to his father-in-law’s house to bring his wife back to home. He went there, but returned with severe illness.

On Friday, some people of Reddy’s father-in-law’s family left him at his Laxminagar home in the State of severe illness. Family members of Reddy then immediately admitted him in the Capital hospital, but he was declared dead.

Reddy’s family members alleged that he was severely beaten up by the people of his father-in-law’s house, whereas wife of Reddy has denied the allegation made by Reddy’s family. The police informed that Reddy has no injury mark on his body. “After the postmortem report, the truth will come out, whether he was murdered or not,” said Nayapalli police station IIC Anup Kumar Kanungo.   

Odisha Lok Dal protests Centre’s apathy over mines royalty hike

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Lok Dal (OLD), a political party in the State, staged a rally at the Lower PMG here on Thursday opposing the Centre’s step-motherly attitude towards Odisha. In the rally, members of the party criticised the Central Government for keeping mum in mineral royalty hike issue.

The party said that every year Odisha loses huge amount of royalty money due to the Centre’s faulty mining policy. On the other hand, the State Government loses crores of rupees due to unholy nexus between administrative officers and mines mafias in the mining areas. The Centre should revise royalty on mining in every three years, but that is not happening in time for which the State bears huge lose at a tune of Rs 1800 crore, they added.

“Odisha has the right to get 50 per cent royalty on mining, but the Centre is avoiding the demand made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik which is not acceptable anyway. We will take the issue to the streets if the Centre does not fulfill our demand,” said OLD president Dipti Ranjan Mohanty.

   

Synergy College closed sine die

--irate students ransacked college accessories after a students death

BHUBANESWAR: Following students tension in the campus, the Synergy Institute of Technology at Phulnakhara in between the twin city has been closed sine die on Thursday. The irate students have ransacked the college campus after a student’s death on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, a student of the college was seriously injured in a road mishap. At the mean time, some fellow students had requested the authority to send a vehicle to take the injured student to hospital for his treatment, but allegedly they could not get a college vehicle. Later the students admitted the injured student in a hospital, but that was too late, he breathed his last in the hospital, they added.

After the death of the friend and college mate, the raged students ransacked the college and threw out the college accessories to the ground. The college vehicles, computers, furniture and other valuables were not spared from the students’ anger. Police reached the spot and controlled the situation.

Later, the authority of the college declared sine die. After the declaration, students have left the college. The chairman of the college said that they will decide the next step after consulting with management, students and their parents.   

      

Paudi Bhuyans demand action against forest officials for torching their huts

BHUBANESWAR: Paudi Bhuyans of an interior tribal village of Mahulpada panchayat in Sundergarh district on Thursday demanded the Government should take necessary action to arrest and punish the forest officials who have burnt their houses at Kansaldarha near Derula village of the panchayat on April 15 this year.

According to the victims, 20 families of the paudi bhuinya community were living in the interior village Kiri for last hundred years which is around 7 km away from Mahulpada. As they were living in the forest hill top having no communication facilities, they were not getting minimum support including necessary health service provided by the Government. Accordingly the whole community decided to shift at Kansaldarha, a suitable place for habitation in the Mahulpada reserve forest near Derula village and constructed 18 huts by cleaning the forest and was living there from last October.

When the forest department came to know about their new habitation, they went to the spot and torched the 18 huts. The poor tribals lost their all the belongings including clothes, ration card, voter cards and rice in the inhuman act. “The district administration yet to take any necessary action against the culprit forest department people,” lamented on of the victims.

Members of various organisations like CSD, CSFHR, Odisha Jungle Manch, AZAM and Lok Shakti Abhiyan demanded at a Press meet here that they should be allowed to settle there at Kansaldarha since they have rights over their habitat recognised and protected under PESA, 1996 and FRA, 2006. They also demanded that if the State Government wants to settle them other than the same land, then each family should be allotted 10 acres of cultivable land near to forest and construct houses for them.

“It was a criminal offence to torch the tribal people’s houses and also the forest officials have violated the Forest Rights Act and the PESA. The violators of human rights should be punished under the law,” said Lok Shakti Abhiyan convener Prafulla Samantaray.  

Availability of food grain failed dramatically in India: Sainath

BHUBANESWAR: “Every year of economic reform, availability of food grain failed and failed dramatically in India,” said Ramon Magsaysay awarded journalist P Sainath in a discussion on ‘Food and Livelihood Security and Government Policies’ organised by an Odia fortnightly Janatantra and Gram Swaraj Sammukhya here on Sunday.

Sainath said the Government failed to increase food production in the country. The food production rate of the country was 6.3 per cent after the independence and the population growth rate was 2.3 per cent, but during the decade of 1991-2001, the food production rate was 1 per cent against 1.8 per cent population growth rate. During the decade of 2001-10, the difference between the food production rate and population growth rate has been increased, he added.

Criticising the Government policy, Sainath said that three committees Arjun Sen Gupta Committee, NC Saxena Committee and Suresh Tendulkar Committee were formed to estimate status of the people living below poverty line (BPL) in the country, but they could not give a clear picture about it.

He criticised deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who has spent 274 days in abroad excluding travel days and whose expenditure was Rs 2.05 lakh per day excluding Indian embassies’ expenditure on him. A person who spends life in luxury hotels and spends a huge amount of money per day, that person says the poor Indians to live with Rs 22 per day for rural poor people and Rs 28 per day for urban poor people, which is ridiculous, he added.

Sainath said the Government should introduce millets, jawar and raggi in the recent food grain list in its future plan to provide food grains in the MGNREGA programme. He also suggested the Government should provide clothes to the labourer’s family in MGNREGA programme which will promote not only the Government textile industries but also the poor people will get clothes in subsidised way, he added.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is talking about austerity measure, where Ahluwalia is living in luxury hotel and spending huge amount of money per day,” said Sainath adding, “In the history of India, we have never been ruled by so disgusting, greedy and insensitive people.”

Expressing grave concern over illegal mining in Odisha, he said the State is rich in mineral resources, but very poor in food production. Though, Odisha, Chattishgarh and Jharkhand have more than two-third mineral resources of the country, the people of the States are living in acute poverty, he added.

Sainath said the world is running out of water resources, which is the biggest problem. Corporate companies are interested to set up industries in Odisha due to its rich water resources, he added. “If you don’t have water security, your food security will be hampered,” said Sainath.

Anti-corruption campaign will reach every village: Kejriwal

--Kejriwal urges Odisha CM to adopt Uttarakhand Lokayukta bill

BHUBANESWAR: “Anti-corruption campaign by India Against Corruption (IAC) would reach to the village level and form a committee to create awareness among the common people which will impose pressure on the Government to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill,” said the national leader of IAC and core member of Team Anna Arvind Kejriwal while addressing a huge congregation of volunteers came from across 30 districts of the State here on Saturday.   

Kejriwal said that any bill introduced in the Parliament and the Assemblies should first be referred to the Gram Sabhas and Maholla Sabhas for taking people’s opinion. The MPs and MLAs should make their case basing on the will of the people.

He expressed grave concern over the loot of land of the poor farmers by the corporate world. Land can be transferred only after written agreements by the farmers elaborating the conditions there of, he added.

“The corrupt must be punished in one to two years time, his property should be confiscated and he should be dismissed from the service,” said Kejriwal adding, “There should be timely delivery of service by the government servants, failing which the Lokpal will ensure compensation to the victims and penalty to the defaulters.”

He also said that in the current central cabinet, 16 ministers have serious charges against them out of total 34 Ministers and if Jan Lokpal Bill is passed at least 12 ministers will go to jail, it might be the reason why the Centre does not want Jan Lokpal. There is a need of cleansing political system, he reiterated.

Kejriwal declared here that the IAC will launch nationwide biggest ever campaign making three broad demands citizen charter, to bring Group-C and D employees to the purview of Lokpal and Lokayukta in State, if strong Lokpal bill does not come by May 22 this year.

He urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to adopt the effective Lokayukta bill which is recently introduced by the Uttarakhand Government to check corruption in the State. He termed the Uttarakhand anti-corruption bill as very strong and effective.   

  

Guv emphasises on separate State policy for women

BHUBANESWAR: “It was envisaged that 90 per cent of women who work in the unorganised sector would get benefits once a separate state women’s policy is formulated to look into their problems and issues,” said Governor MC Bhandare while inaugurating the State-level consultation on “The Role of the State Policies in Addressing the Issues of Women from the Marginalised Sections and the Unorganised Sector” organised by National Alliance of Women Odisha Chapter (NAWO) here on Thursday.

“There still exists a wide gap between the goals enunciated in the constitution, legislation, policies, plans, programmes and related mechanisms on the one hand and the ground level situational reality of the status of women in India, on the other,” the Governor said.

He also said the women are living in a world of human rights, where they can enjoy equal dignity, equal opportunity and equal rights with the men. Steps should be taken for mobilisation of poor women and convergence of services, by offering them a range of economic and social options, along with necessary support measures to enhance their capabilities, he added.

“If you empower a man, you empower a person. If you empower a woman, you not only empower a family but also a society,” Bhandare said.

Member of the Planning Commission of India Dr Sayeeda Hameed said that safety is the responsibility of the State. In all over the country you can find that the women are suffering from rape, gang rape, molestation and sexual harassment and its reason is silence. But now the women are coming out of the culture of silence. The State like Odisha is also not a backbencher in the record of crime against women, she added.

Among others, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women Dr Mohini Giri and chairperson of the Commission for persons with disability Kasturi Mohapatra were present. The convener of NAWO, Odisha chapter Pramila Swain presided over the consultation.

MLA’s urge CM to stop cattle trafficking

BHUBANESWAR: MLAs of the State have urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to stop illegal cattle trafficking from the State as it affects 40 lakh farmers who depends on cattle for agriculture work. They also suggested the Government to bring some reformation in the animals act to check the trafficking.

The MLAs like Pratap Sarangi, Anup Kumar Sai, Amar Prasad Satpathy, RCC Patnaik, Bhagirathy Badjena, Hrushikesh Nayak, Hitesh Kumar Bagarti and others said the mafias are illegally trafficking thousands of cattle daily to other States as a result the price of cattle is increasing in home market which affects 95 per cent of farmers in the State who depends on cattle for agriculture work. Most of the farmers will loss livelihood due the illegal trafficking, they added.

They alleged that the police are not taking action against the traffickers, even the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is not helping to check the illegal cattle export. To solve the problem, the Government should bring reform in the act and auction the seized cattle within seven days of rescue with the help of local veterinary doctors, they suggested.

The MLAs also suggested the Government should make a provision to provide 20 per cent of the auction money as reward to the person or organisation and the Government employees for nabbing the cattle loaded vehicle. Money should be provided for cattle food and to the labourers who will take care of the cattle till auction, they added.  

OJEE 1st phase exam held

--Many fail to appear due to wrong course code

BHUBANESWAR: Due to wrong course code, many students could not appear the first phase of the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) of this year on Sunday. While, the OJEE authorities held the applicants responsible for putting wrong course code in their application form.

According to the students who failed to appear the exam said that their roll number was not matching with the examination centre and in some cases fresh applicants for engineering course had received identity card for lateral entry. Many of the applicants in some examination centers in the capital city failed to sit in the examination hall.

While the authorities of OJEE clarified that some students have put the wrong course code in the place of their interested course which left them in problem. “Around 150 students had come to the OJEE office and corrected their wrong course code before the examination day, but some of the students complained in the morning at the time of examination where we could not help them out,” said OJEE Vice-chairman Sitaram Mahapatra.

In Kolkata OJEE center, five fake candidates were held in the charge of impersonification in the examination. The persons came in the name of the original candidates to write for them and later the examination centre officials caught the fake candidates and handed over to the police, informed Mahapatra.     

Around one lakh students have appeared in the first phase of the examination on Sunday in 179 centers in the country including some major cities. The applicants of home State have appeared in 145 centers and there were 42 centers in the capital only. The result will be published on May last week and Rank card will be provided to the successful candidates by June second week, while the second phase of the OJEE for pharmacy course will be held on May 13.  

   

For electoral and political reform some recommendations

BHUBANESWAR: The Eighth National Conference on Electoral & Political Reforms, inaugurated by the Election Commissioner Shri H.S.Brahma, concluded today. This two-day conference was attended by Election Watch groups of more than 22 States, various NGOs and activists, eminent citizens, media personalities, Representatives of all major Political Parties and Other Stakeholders from all over the country.

Discussions took place on various aspects of the Electoral and Political issues, particularly the issues concerning financial transparency and inner-party democracy of the political parties. Concerns were also expressed the increasing role of media in electoral mal-practices and its impact on news coverage.

The Conference unanimously resolved:

§       Candidates with Criminal ancedents should be debarred from contesting elections.

§       There is an urgent need for a comprehensive Bill to regulate the functioning of Political Parties to ensure inner party democracy and financial transparency within the political parties.

§       The internal elections for the offices of political parties should be done using secret ballot and the culture of unanimous selection of the office bearers must stop.

§       The ticket distribution process of the political parties should be made transparent and should be decided by the registered members of political parties.

§       The accounts of the political parties should be audited by the CAG appointed auditors.

§       The Political Parties should be declared as Public Authorities so that their functioning could be transparent  and be made more accountable.

§       Strict Laws should be passed to punish candidates involved in Electoral malpractices, particularly for buying of votes.

§       Implement ceiling on expenses of Political Parties during election period.

§       Strict actions against candidates who fail to file their election expenses.

§       There should be a cooling off period of 5 years before which bureaucrats or people who have changed their parties are allowed to contest elections on tickets of a political party.

§       The requirement for winning election should be “50% + 1 of the registered votes cast.

§       Voting machines should have the option of “None of the above”. If the election in a constituency results in “None of the above” getting the maximum number of votes, there should be a re-poll and the candidates who contested should not be allowed to re-contest in that election.

PRI poll politics destroys village peace: Srikant

--‘Odisha is the highest breeder of black money’

BHUBANESWAR: “Odisha is the highest breeder of black money in the country in the form of coal and mines loot and from other sources of corruption,” said Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilisers Srikant Kumar Jena participating in a discussion at the 8th National Conference on ‘Electoral and Political Reforms’ organised by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) here on Sunday.

Sharing his views in a discussion on ‘Political Party Reforms’, Jena said the Panchayati Raj election has completely destroyed the village peace. After the influence of politicians and political party, the villagers are divided and sub-divided into many groups. Now there is a conflict in every Gramsabha regarding election matter as pre-poll politics and post-poll violence has changed the scenario of village which is based on harmony and brotherhood, he added.

He said the people while casting vote they don’t bother about the political party, but casts vote keeping faith on the candidate which indicates that credibility of a political leader is most important than party philosophy.

He also emphasised on more political party for a vibrant democracy and the Government should abolish the MP and MLA lad fund, which is one of a source of corruption by the politicians and his party fellows.

“To reach at the consensus of an issue, we have to debate on that particular matter, but we are hardly debating on important core issues neither in the Parliament nor in the State Assembly like western world, and hence, there is a need to reforming the political system along with political parties,” Jena added.

Minister Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation of Uttar Pradesh Government Ambika Chaudhary said that lot of people are given tickets bypassing genuine party workers who has worked hard in politics for several years which is not a healthy trend. “There should be a cooling off period for people who are switching parties as well as the bureaucrats on their contesting elections after retirements”, he added.

Among others, former Finance Minister of Odisha Panchanand Kanungo, Former DGP of Odisha Sarat Chandra Mishra, former DGP of West Bengal Dr Amiya K Samanta, NEW State representatives and civil society members were present. 

EC emphasises for banning of criminals from electoral politics

BHUBANESWAR: “Banning of criminals from electoral politics may solve 95 per cent of the problem of the country which are created by the politicians and his fellows,” said Election Commissioner HS Brahma while addressing the house at the 8th National Conference on ‘Electoral and Political Reforms’ organised by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) here on Saturday.

Brahma said the time has come to impose ban on criminals from electoral process, because the elected representatives having criminal background are creating various problems including crimes such as murder, dacoity, rape, violation of human rights and corruption to get fund from different sources. “If we debar the criminals to take entry in active politics from Panchayati Raj election and Municipal election to Legislative and Parliament election, 95 per cent problem of the society will be solved,” he added.

He also emphasised on political and electoral reform in the country. He expressed grave concern over expenditure of huge money in general election by the politicians, criminalisation of politics and spending money for their favourable coverage in media which is now termed as paid news syndrome.

On the issue of horse-trading for Rajya Sabha poll in Odisha, he said the Election Commission has sent the documents and evidences relating the issue to the Odisha Government and they hope the State Government will take immediate action on this matter.     

Following the inauguration of the two-day conference by Election Commissioner Brahma, five thought provoking sessions were held on its first day. The top politicians, police officers, bureaucrats, social activists, media professionals and members of the Election Commission participated in the discussions.

The members discussed about money power in elections, political party reforms, role of media in ensuring free and fair elections and role of youth in democracy during the sessions. The State representatives of National Election Watch of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa and Manipur also shared their experiences during the recent assembly elections.