Odisha aims at achieving 19 lakh new contraceptive users by 2020

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has set a target to achieve 19 lakh new contraceptive users by 2020 as part of FP2020 Vision in order to prevent both unwanted pregnancies and limit the family.

It was informed by Health and Family Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak here on Saturday.

  

“We are taking various steps to stabilise population of the State. As a matter of pride, our State has been awarded for good show in a national summit. We have prepared a vision document for 2020 to sterilize 19 lakh people,” Nayak said.

The department data said the State has yielded good results in controlling population including sharp reduction in total fertility rate (TFR), a most important indicator in population control programme. The TFR rate has decreased from a shocking high of 4.7 to 2.1 against the national average of 2.3.

Health and Family Welfare department Principal Secretary Arti Ahuja said the State Government has undertaken several measures in order to strengthen the family planning programme to achieve the FP2020 target.

“We are planning to involve more people in population stabilisation programme and working for reduction of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the State,” said Ahuja.

The department has undertaken initiatives in increasing the post-partum contraceptive services through both promotion of family planning counselling and services by facility based service providers, which has resulted in significant increase in post-partum contraceptive acceptance.

The department data shows that more than 36,347 PPIUCD insertions have been done within 48 hours post-delivery at the health facility by trained service providers in 2014-15 against merely 4,818 in the year 2013-14. The department claimed this as an indication of the success of the measures being undertaken by it for family planning.

To justify its claim of good show in population control in the State, the department data shows Odisha’s decadal growth rate has decreased from 16.25 per cent (Census-2001) to 13.97 per cent (Census-2011) which is lower than the national average (17.64 per cent). It also claimed that birth rate has been decreased to 20.1 in 2011 from 23.5 in 2001.

Chit fund scam: Swastik India offices in State raided by CBI

-- Scribes assaulted during CBI raid in city, ponzi firm chief held

BHUBANESWAR: The CBI probing the chit fund scam in the State on Tuesday conducted raids at the offices of Swastik India Multi State Credit Cooperative, a major player in the chit fund scam in the State.

The CBI sleuths conducted raid at 12 different places across the State. They raided Badagada residence of company’s chairman Ranjan Das, who was earlier arrested by the CBI for his alleged involvement in chit fund scam and out on bail.

The team also raided company’s offices at Nayapalli, Baramunda and Laxmisagar in the city, sources said.

Besides Bhubaneswar, the CBI team also conducted raids at various paces in Baleswar, Bhadrak, Sundargarh and Jharsuguda.

During the CBI raid at Das’s house (MB-83) at Badagada Brit Colony here, personal security guards of the company chairman assaulted three journalists while they were collecting report about CBI raid.

According to reports, the three journalists, ETV reporter Subhrakanta Padhiary, Odia daily Samay photographer Jitendra Mohanty and of Odia daily Dharitri photographer Manoranjan Mishra, were manhandled by Das’s security guards when they took photographs and reports of CBI raids on the house. 

Mohanty said Das and his aides attacked him and two other journalists while they were covering the CBI raid on Swastik India chief’s residence. He was kept confined inside the house for at least 20 minutes before the police came to his rescue, he added.

Following the incident, the Commissionerate Police arrested Das. Badagada IIC Suvendu Sinha said he would be produced in a court here later in the day.

While Badagada police have registered a case against Das, his wife has filed a case in the same police station alleging that the journalists molested her.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP and managing editor of The Samay Ranjib Biswal has strongly condemned the assault on journalists. “Ranjan Das is an accused in the chit fund scam and is out on bail. His bail should be immediately revoked and he should be sent back to jail again,” said Biswal.

Similarly, Dhenkanal MP and editor of The Dharitri Tathagat Satpathy also reached the Badagada police station to discuss about the matter.

Treason case against Sabyasachi challenged in court

BRAHMAPUR: Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on Monday filed a petition in the court of Additional District Judge-II, Brahmapur challenging treason case framed by the police and allowed by the State Government against him.

Panda’s lawyer Deepak Patnaik had filed the petition in the court. In the petition, the lawyer said the police had framed the treason case on the basis of a case (GR case no-809/2011) lodged in 2011. The police had framed the charge in its chargesheet against Panda filed in January this year, he said.

Patnaik said the State Government had gotten permission from the Centre in 2012 to frame treason case against Panda. But the case was lodged much before the State Government’s move to bring permission from the Centre on the issue. “So he can’t be charged with treason case,” he added.

The court received the petition and would hear the case on July 16. 

Mahanadi-Godavari interlinking project opposed

BHUBANESWAR: Activists of the State on Tuesday strongly opposed the Mahanadi-Godavari river interlinking project by alleging that it would not be beneficial for Odisha. 

Briefing reporters at a Press conference organised by the National Institute of Development (NID) here, activist Tapan Padhi and journalist Bibhuti Pati said that the project would help Andhra Pradesh at the cost of Odisha.

To justify the claim, the duo argued that Andhra Pradesh would get 710.6 crore cubic metre water (58.4 per cent) out of the total 1216.5 crore cubic metre water which is proposed to be harvested by the project. According to the proposal, if the Centre constructs link canal after building a dam on the Manibhadra River, canal’s 30-km area would be in Odisha and 526 km in Andhra Pradesh, they added.

“Due to the project, around one lakh family would be directly affected. The project would submerge 63,003 hectares of farming land, 4000 hectares of reserve forest and 5520 hectares of village jungles and destroy the habitat of thousands of wild life animals. After bearing so much of loss, why will we support the project?” asked the activists.    

The State was told that the Central project would irrigate 3,5,786 hectares of agricultural land and would control flood in the Mahanadi basin, but how can the State compromise with the Centre for a few sops by losing so much of its resources, said Sahu.

Activist Tapan Padhi said the State Government has to carry out a study to know whether the Mahanadi has surplus water or not. “It is seen that most of the time the river remains dry. How can it give 710.6 crore cubic water to Godavari?” he added.

Sahu said the State didn’t get any positive response from the Centre in Polavaram issue. “We are going to lose several villages of Odisha due to the project which will help Andhra Pradesh. Now the interlinking project will also help the neighbouring State instead of ours,” said Sahu.     

Hemant Sharma replaces Suresh Mohapatra as energy secretary

BHUBANESWAR: After appointing senior IPS officer Soumendra Kumar Priyadarshi as new Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for Nabakalebar festival, the State Government on Monday assigned Hemant Sharma as new Special Secretary Energy replacing Suresh Mohapatra. 
 

Mohapatra, a 1985 batch IAS officer and was the OSD for Nabakelebara, would remain in Puri as Chief Administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) till end of the Rath Yatra.  

Priyadarshi, a 1995 batch IPS officer, would have overall supervision during the Rath Yatra.

Notably, Sharma (1995 batch IAS officer) is also CMD of the Gridco and the OPTCL.

The State Government also appointed 2002 batch IAS officer William Bilung as Registrar of the OUAT. He was Additional Secretary of the Science and Technology Department.

Sushma Swaraj praises Bhubaneswar as best place for business

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and MEA Sushma Swaraj

BHUBANESWAR: Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Friday here praised Bhubaneswar for its unique distinction of having rich history, culture and tradition and providing platform to business houses to do business here.

Quoting the World Bank report, Swaraj said Bhubaneswar is the best place to do business in India. The capital city of Odisha, she continued, one of the modern India’s first planned cities, home to a large number of ancient temples which stand testimony to millennia old uninterrupted flow of its culture.

Swaraj also praised the city for having number of educational institutes and called it temples of higher learning.

The Union Minister while inaugurating an international conference on maritime trade suggested delegates to visit the Sun Temple of Konark to know about the rich maritime history of Odisha. “Please visit Sun Temple, where you can see a boat containing giraffe, which shows linkages with Africa,” said Swaraj.   

She told about the rich heritage of Odisha by giving example of Boitha Bandana Utsav, worshipping of the ships. “It is a practice that has been there since Kalinga days. The ships used to embark on long voyages to Sri Lanka, Bali, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Malaya, Vietnam and also to China,” she added.

Swaraj said the festival of Baliyatra on Karthik Purnima in November is a continuation of this tradition. With commendable efforts of the State Government here, this has emerged as a major connect with our ancient maritime legacy, he added.

India committed to maritime security: Sushma Swaraj

--‘Odisha rich in maritime trade’

BHUBANESWAR: “We are committed to maritime security, freedom of navigation and peaceful settlement of disputes in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR),” said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj while inaugurating the three-day international conference on maritime trade in the IOR countries organised here on Friday.

Swaraj said maritime security is an important dimension of India’s bilateral relations with all Indian Ocean Littoral States and through various formal and informal structures currently in place. “We have been working with like-minded countries to preserve the integrity, inviolability and security of maritime domain which is a global commos,” she added.

As the region is facing problems like piracy, terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal fishing and oil spills, she said the maritime security need to be strengthened to create a path for development of the blue economy.

Taking the names of IOR countries, Swaraj said time has come to work together to promote increased cooperation in trade, tourism and investment, infrastructure development, marine science and technology, sustainable fisheries and protection of marine environment in the region.

In the IOR region, she said, global trade expanded by 3.5 times from USD 1,224 billion in 2003 to USD 4,232 billion in 2012 whereas intra-regional trade increased by more than four times from USD 302 billion to USD 1,230 billion over the same period.

The Union Minister praised Odisha for its rich tradition of maritime trade. She suggested delegates to visit the Sun Temple of Konark to know about the rich maritime history of Odisha. “Please visit Sun Temple, where you can see a boat containing giraffe, which shows linkages with Africa,” said Swaraj.  

She told about the rich heritage of Odisha by giving example of Boitha Bandana Utsav, worshipping of the ships. The festival of Baliyatra on Karthik Purnima in November is a continuation of this tradition, she added.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also said that Odisha or the ancient Kalinga has the rich maritime history by citing the examples of excavated materials ranging from Kushan coins, Roman pottery fragments and other historical things. “The Kalingan merchants exported high value items like diamond, precious stones and spices to Roman Empire, elephants to Ceylon and ivory, betel nuts, pepper, fine clothes and fabrics to China,” said Patnaik.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said India would play a greater role for development of the region.

A postal stamp on ‘Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola I’ commemorating the conference organised by the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies (ISCS) along with the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). Two books related to maritime history were  also released.

Among others, RN Ravi from Prime Minister’s Office, ISCS secretary Arindam Mukherjee, Chief Post Master General (Odisha) Tilak Dey, RIS director general Prof Sachin Chaturvedi were present.