Odisha tops in administrative reform in country

BHUBANESWAR: For administrative reform, Odisha has been adjudged as the major State of the country. This is one of the major findings of the ‘State of the States’ survey by The Sunday Indian-Abacus Market Research conducted recently.

The survey ranked 13 major States on quantifiable factors of good governance such as administrative reforms, communal harmony, e-governance, girl child education, industrialisation, investment in the State, law and order, public distribution system and public health services.

The Sunday Indian is a news magazine published in 14 languages. Recently, this magazine has conducted a comprehensive survey with help of Abacus, a market research organisation

Students advised on procedures to apply for a US visa and how to choose the right university

BHUBANESWAR: The U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad in association with the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) organized a Study USA and Visa talk at Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar on February 2, 2012.

The talk was organized to help students understand the process for choosing a U.S. university and the procedures of applying for a visa.

“At the visa office, we look for a clear purpose from the student about wanting to study in the United States. Clarity in purpose is a strong indication of the student’s intentions to study in the U.S. Students also should do their own research and not go to consultants for guidance,” Elvin John, Vice Consul, U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad said.

“USIEF is committed to helping Indian students find accredited U.S. universities that are the best fit for their academic and professional needs. We welcome Indian students to obtain genuine and relevant advice from us through these fairs, which have gained tremendous popularity over the years,” said Renuka Raja Rao, Country Coordinator, Educational Advising Services, USIEF.

As per official data there has been an 18 per cent increase in the student visa applications to the U.S. across Mission India during the last fiscal years. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011 the number of student visa applications across Mission India were 46,982 as against 39,958 reported for the fiscal ended September 30, 2010.

Speaking on the occasion, Renuka Raja Rao said, “There are around 1,05,000 students from India currently pursuing various courses in United States.  For the convenience of students the USIEF has a toll-free hotline (1800-103-1231) and students can call from Monday to Friday between 2 and 5 p.m. if they have any doubts regarding studying in the U.S.”

Retired Prof couple murdered in Brahmapur

BRAHMAPUR: Again silk city astounded by a shocking incident happened at Ramakrushna Nagar in the city where a retired professor and his lecturer wife were found murdered in their apartment on Thursday night.

After getting information, Baidyanathpur police station officials reached at the spot and recovered the bodies of Gopal Krushna Panigrahy (65), a retired zoology professor of Berhampur University, and Kamala Kumari Panigrahy (61), a retired zoology lecturer of Khallikote Autonomous College. Injury marks were found on the head of Prof Panigrahy, whose body was found in the front room whereas the body of his wife was found from the bedroom with external injury on her bodies.

After retirement, Prof Panigrahy and his retired wife were leaving in his Ramkrushnanagar apartment alone and their only daughter lives in Bhubaneswar. Taking this opportunity some miscreants looted huge amount of cash and jewelries from their house and killed them on Thursday night. The Godrej Almirah was opened, while police entered to the house.

Senior police officials including DSP of Crime Subas Acharya, BN Pur IIC Deepak Mishra visited the spot, scientific team of the police has started investigation into the matter.      

Dalit bodies hold massive rally, procession in city

BHUBANESWAR: Protesting various atrocities against dalit peoples starting from Kujang fire burst case and Pipili gang-rape case to recent Lathore village case, dalit bodies of different parts from the State staged a massive rally and dharna at Lower PMG here on Friday to give pressure on the Government to provide security and proper justice in the atrocity cases against dalits.

Hundreds of dalit people, human rights activist, youths and workers of different dalit bodies including Odisha Dalit Adhikar Manch, Mulanibasi Samata Parishad, Adimbasi Surakshya Parishad and Odisha Bhoi Mahasangh came out with a procession starting from Master Canteen to Lower PMG flaunting placards bearing slogans against the police and the State Government.

In a six-point chartered demand, the members of the dalit bodies demanded before the Government to punish the culprits on charges of setting houses of dalits on fire at Lathore village in Bolangir district according to the Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989, compensation for the victims, RoR and house for the victims, take steps to avoid such heinous incidents in future, punishment for the duty-bearers who have shown negligence in their duty and the Government should provide the necessary certificates and files damaged in the fire incident.

Besides, members of the National Confederation of Dalit Organisation (NCDO) staged dharna at Lower PMG here demanding proper action against defaulters of law in various atrocity cases against dalits in the State. Later, they have submitted a five-point chartered demand to the Chief Minister on Friday.

      

SP meets NCW member, urges special attention for victims

--Open first track court, Mahila police station in each district: SP

BHUBANESWAR: Samajwadi Party (SP) of Odisha branch met Member Secretary of National Commission for Women (NCW) Anita Agnihotri here at the State Guest House during her Odisha visit on Friday. The party submitted a memorandum before her during the discussion with the member secretary on various crimes against women in the State.

In its memorandum, the party requested Agnihotri to pay a visit to the villages of the victim including Ranipur of Bhadrak, Arjungoda of Pipili and Seulitota under Chandanpur PS in Puri district, she was also requested to visit the women victims who were attacked by the Jindal goons in Angul district treated in hospital, compensation Rs 10 lakh to the families of rape victims, free treatment of Jindal victims and action against the top officials of Jindal who are responsible for the incident, to hold awareness campaigns and workshops for prevention of such crimes. Besides, the party demanded before the NCW to take steps for establishing first track courts to deal with such cases and steps may be taken to open a Mahila police station in each district headquarters.

While discussion, the party leaders brought the Bhadrak College girl murder case to notice and urged upon the member secretary to take appropriate measures to check rising crime against women community. “She assured that they will definitely take up the matter with chief secretary for crime branch investigation and she will try for compensation for the victim’s family,” said president of State Samajwadi Party Rabi Behera.

Families of the rape and murder victim Sasmita Palei of Ranipur including her sister and father were present in the meeting. Father of the victim Ganesh Palei requested before the Agnihotri for crime branch inquiry into the mysterious murder of his daughter. Sister of the victim Satyabhama alleged that her sister had been raped before murder and the postmortem report was a conspiracy to suppress their voice.

Election violence: ward member candidate killed in Bolangir

--a group-clash also took place in Nayagarh

BOLANGIR/NAYAGARH: Election violence has taken a toll in Bolangir district. The body of a ward member candidate contesting the panchayat election was found dead in the district on Thursday, police said. He was identified as Ekadasia Majhi (30) of Bhadrapalli village under Sadar police station in the district.

According to Ekadasia’s brother, the deceased Eka had gone to his paddy field for some work, but he did not return from the paddy field. Later his body was found from a paddy field near Thapalli village with one of his hands severed. The body also bore some injury marks, they said.

The father of the deceased Sankeswar Majhi alleged that political animosity have killed his son. He also held responsible the political rivals for his son’s killing as few days back there was an argument was taken place between Eka and his rivals.

The police have sent the body for postmortem after recovering from the paddy field, said the police officials of Sadar police station. Investigation is on into the matter and the culprits will be arrested very soon, they added. 

On the other hand, a group-clash occurred in Nayagarh district on Thursday regarding election campaign, which left two injured. Two different groups came on a face to face fight in a village under Sarankula police station of the district. Two cases regarding the fight have been lodged in local police station. The rising election violence becomes a headache for the police, besides the election tension.

Infant mortality rate higher in State than national rate

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha along with Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest infant mortality despite national Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) which come down to 47 from 50 deaths per 1,000 live births over the last one year, as per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin of December 2011 released by the Registrar General of India (RGI) at New Delhi on Wednesday.

It is noted that IMR has dropped further by 3 points from last year and the IMR for rural areas has dropped by 4 points from 55 to 51 infant deaths per 1000 live births while the urban rate now stands at 31 from the previous 34 per 1000 live births, the bulletin revealed.
According to the bulletin, Goa has the lowest IMR of 10 infant deaths followed by Kerala with 13 infant deaths per 1,000 live births against 12 per 1,000 in January 2011 figures whereas, Madhya Pradesh has the highest IMR of 62 infant deaths per 1,000, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Odisha of 61 per 1,000 live births. Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Meghalaya still have IMRs more than the national average of 47, it added.
The SRS is a large-scale demographic survey for providing reliable annual estimates of birth rate, death rate and other fertility and mortality indicators at the national and sub-national levels through field investigation and enumeration on a yearly basis.