Archive for November, 2015
Following is a report from the Pioneer
The Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS) will open its branch at Balangir which would start functioning from July next year. This was announced to mediamen at Balangir on Sunday by KIIT and KISS founder Dr Achuyt Samant. A total of 1,500 students from Balangir district are reading in the KISS at Bhubaneswar. In the proposed school, education from class I to X would be imparted and 1,200 students will be able to read here. Land has been purchased at Jalia in Balangir-Titilagarh road, Dr Samant informed. Earlier, Dr Samant addressed a huge rally of tribals on the occasion of Birsa Munda Jayanti at Titilagarh.
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November 27, 2015 at 9:05 am sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from the OTV:
Bhubaneswar: Students of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla and Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati (MKCG) Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur moved Orissa High Court today opposing the re-allotment of Kalahandi-based Sardar Rajas medical college students in their respective institutions.
The students knocked the HC doors citing that their institutions are ill-equipped to accommodate the additional strength and an alternative arrangement should be made for the students of Sardar Rajas students who have been caught in an imbroglio.
They too sought the State government be a part of the matter in the legal proceedings.
Earlier Saturday, students of VIMSAR had staged a silent protest in front of the institution protesting against the HC order to re-allocate 45 medicos of Sardar Rajas Medical College in their college.
Two days later, students of MKCG Medical College and Hospital took to streets opposing the HC order. Besides, demanding proper counselling, the students of Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital here had taken out a rally in Master Canteen area.
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November 26, 2015 at 10:35 am sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from the TNIE:
BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked the East Coast Railways (ECR) to expedite submission of forest diversion proposal to start construction of railway track of Khurda-Balangir project from Balangir side by December-end.
Though the project was sanctioned more than 20 years back in 1994-95, only 41.5 km of the project has been completed till now. The Khurda-Balangir line, which has been a politically sensitive project given the inordinate delay in its completion, was originally estimated at Rs1,000 crore. However, the project was delayed because of low budgetary provisions and issues of land acquisition. The project cost has now gone up to Rs2000 crore.
The survey work of Khurda-Balangir railway line was done before Independence in 1945. But the project got Central approval in 1994-95. However, work on the infrastructure project was started in 2007.
The Chief Minister, who reviewed the progress of the project, asked Railway officials to take up 90 km project work as the State Government has already handed over the required land. Official sources said the Government has identified land for construction of project work upto 19 km from Balangir side and paid Rs8 crore to ECR.
The Chief Minister asked the Revenue and Commerce and Transport Departments to work in coordination to complete the process of land acquisition.
Of the total 289-km project, construction work in 41.5 km has been completed upto Rajsunakhala from Khurda. So far, two up and down passenger trains are plying from Khurda to Rajsunakhala.
Work from Rajsunakhala to Bolagarh and Nayagarh is underway.
Besides, construction work upto Bolagarh and Nayagarh will start by June next year and by 2017 respectively. Construction work is also going at different stages from Daspalla to Balangir.
The State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Railways on July 20 this year to undertake some projects on a cost sharing basis.
As per the MoU, the State Government would bear the total cost towards land acquisition and 50 per cent of the total project cost which is estimated at Rs2000 crore for the Khurda-Balangir railway line.
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November 24, 2015 at 1:34 pm sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from the BS:
After being cornered by opposition parties over rising incidents of farmers’ suicide in the state, Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik today announced a whopping Rs 35,000 crore package for development western Odisha, now reeling under acute drought situation.
The money will be spent in next five years and nearly 80 per cent of it will go towards improvement of the agriculture sector.
More than 100 farmers have allegedly committed suicide in the state in the wake of the drought.
Patnaik’s announcement came at a farmers’ rally convened by the ruling BJD at Sohela in Bargarh district of western Odisha.
He announced a slew of measures including one percent interest on agriculture loan and additional assistance of Rs 100 per quintal during procurement of paddy in the drought affected areas. The BJD party in its election manifesto had announced to lower the interest on agriculture loan.
The package includes Rs 8,000 crore for building of dams in the western part of the state. Two medium irrigation projects will be built in the Bargarh district. One will come up on river Aung at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore while the other will be on river Jeera at a cost of Rs 300 crore.
The state government will spend about Rs 13,000 crore for construction of separate feeder line for supply of power to the farmers and rural electrification. In a reprieve to the farmers, the state government has already decided to suspend collection of crop loan and extend the loan repayment period by three years.
“My government has taken farmers’ issue seriously. I have asked party MPs (members of parliaments), MLAs (members of legislative assembly) and other leaders to meet farmers and extend their help,” said the Chief Minister.
He took a dig at the Centre stating that the Union government has not released a single penny as drought assistance till date while the state government has sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore for drought relief.
“Odisha faces natural calamities at every two years interval. Natural calamities like Phailin, Hudhud, drought and unseasonal rains have hit the state in last five years. The economy of the state has been hit, but the Centre has ignored the demand for special category status,” said Patnaik.
Patnaik said, “We believe in deeds not in words. They (Opposition) are shedding crocodile tears by calling press conferences which will not resolve the problems of farmers.”
The opposition is trying to weaken the farmers’ confidence. They must stop politicising the plight of farmers, he added.
In retaliation, state unit of Bharatiya Jana Party staged a 12 hour hunger strike at Bhubaneswar.
“It is not a farmers’ rally in western Odisha, it is the convention of the party workers. The convention is against the cause of the farmers”, said Pratap Sadangi, senior BJP leader.
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November 23, 2015 at 11:49 am sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from the http://www.orissadiary.com
Report by Debadatta Panda , Kalahandi: Farmers suicide case occurring in western Odisha like Bargarh,Sambalpur,Nuapada districts due to heavy loan and loss of crops.Like that in Kalahandi a farmers suicided by hanging in his cropland in the Koksara Block of Kalahandi.Though Kalahandi is irrigated by Upper Indravati Irrigation Project but the Up Land area known as Dandpat area is not irrigated by UIIP.
Secondly serial draught situation attract the local people for the migrant labour work. Bira Majhi aged about 55 years of Dhanpur village in Koksara Block of Kalahandi has suicided b y hanging himself.It is known that BIra was a small farmer having two acres of land as his paternal property and by cultivating that he was managing his family.He has given marriage to his two daughters and sent his two sons as migrant labourer for income and he was planning to repay his all of the loan made for the marriage and cultivation from the crop income .
But on the draught situation the crop is going to be damaged the crop is to be damaged and his dream is to be smashes and Bira became mentally pressurised as told by the family mambers. As told by the wife of the deceased Bira,on the day of occurance Bira went to his crop land after his morning day to day work in a normal mind and at ten o clock they informed that Bira suicided on a Nimb tree at his cropland. Koksara police came to the spot and inquest the dead body and hand over to the family. But the family members as well as the villagers came to the NH26 at Koksara and demonstrated a Dharana demanding more help to the Bira”s family. Koksara Tahasildar and ABDO came to the demonstrators and assured them to provide all govt assistances to the deceased then the demonstration was called up.
The farmers suicide cases spread throughout the western Odisha and now occurred in Kalahandi.It is anot a good symbol for the farmers said the intellectuals.Govt should take remarkable steps for the welfare of the farmers, demanded by the farmers organisations.
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November 18, 2015 at 1:47 pm sanjibkarmee
Following is a report from the Swarajya Magazine:
How much nicer it would be if Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, etc, are split into smaller governable provinces.
This won’t hurt to say with the Bihar elections concluded and the key Uttar Pradesh polls not due till 2017. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh need further subdivision to smaller states having 20 or so Lok Sabha seats. The principle needs extension to other large states as Maharashtra and West Bengal. Tamil Nadu with fewer than 40 seats may be border-line but division won’t harm.
Divisions will be solidly resisted by the political class and especially by regional politicians. Bihar politicians did not easily give up Jharkhand. Its mineral assets were stripped and cashed before every election. Nor was Uttarakhand peacefully carved out of Uttar Pradesh. At the time, the leaderless Uttarakhand agitation seemed destined to fail. The formation of Telangana was long overdue. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mamata Bannerjee, etc, will defy fractionation of their states. But smaller states are inescapable.
Smaller states are easier to govern and develop. They may seem unstable from having too few legislators but Manohar Parrikar made an example of Goa with his unvaried thrust to economic growth and development which brought political stability to the state. There is every reason to believe that smaller states fashioned from UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu will follow Goa’s stable pattern. In any case, they will each have two to three times more assembly members than Goa.
State elections are consuming too much national time and energies. Frequent elections and the negativities they generate is something all parties should get together and minimize. The damage caused to the national psyche is enormous. But super-sized states and their overweighted politics are also hurting national growth and cohesion. Bihar A and Bihar B with 20 Lok Sabha seats each would consume far less election time and exhaust the nation in half of a united behemoth with 40 seats. Uttar Pradesh divided into three entities will cease having a disproportionate influence on national politics. It is disconcerting that it controls a seventh of the Lok Sabha.
Wouldn’t smaller states come at a cost of a strengthened Centre? That is not so terrible. All the same, the Congress era of sacking state governments at will is over. The Supreme Court is intervening in cases of contentious assembly confidence votes where the speaker is biased. Information transfer is also so fast and far-reaching that a state deliberately neglected by the Centre has a powerful weapon of public opinion to fight back. Public opinion overwhelmingly supports economic growth and development. So the fears of a wilful Centre may be put to rest. But smaller states will definitely mean that they cannot use size to obstruct the national narrative of growth and development. India on the whole will become more governable and amenable to the rule of law.
If a spirited campaign gets underway now, perhaps the country will see more numbers of smaller states with better futures in the years to come. Politics in the states will also become less about power for power’s sake than good governance.
This piece was originally published at newsinsight.net and has been republished here with permission.
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November 18, 2015 at 1:38 pm sanjibkarmee
Saket Sreebhushan Sahu
Medium of instruction of teaching means a language which is used inside the classroom to inform the student. And if a child is not acquainted with the medium of instruction before entering into the classroom then certainly that is a foreign language for the child. Resultantly the child failed to grasp the teaching or the course content. Teaching a child in an alien language is as if putting the child in deep water without swimming knowledge of the child. So, instruction in mother-tongue is indispensable for the child. Advantage of having a mother-tongue based education enable the child easily grasps the course content as they are used to the vocabulary. Research has shown that children’s first language is the optimal language for literacy and learning throughout primary school (UNESCO 2008 a). Most developed nations have medium of instruction in their mother-tongue. Education is the key to development of the nation and so accordingly the Government of India has enacted Right to Education Act (RTE) on 4th August 2009 keeping provision of compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under article 21 A. India become the 135th country to make education a fundamental right.
Further, the right to receive education in one’s own mother-tongue or native language is recognized by several international instruments. Under the provision of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging National or ethnic, Religious and Linguistic minorities (1992), States are required to take appropriate measures so that, whenever possible, persons belonging to minorities may have adequate opportunities to learn their mother-tongue or to have instructions in their mother-tongue.
But “Right to Education for All” is grossly violated in Odisha. At present Odia is the medium of instructions in the elementary level in Western Odisha. But Odia is not the mother-tongue of children of western Odisha, it is Kosali. No education in Kosali for the children of western Odisha. No education in mother-tongue; education denied. Kosali children are deprived of their fundamental rights. And development from this region has been hijacked.
Kosali is used in the day-to-day life by two crore (2,00,00,000) people of western Odisha out of the total 4.2 crore population of Odisha according to the census of 2011. Western Odisha encompasses ten contiguous districts forming a strong linguistic identity and cultural homogeneity. For the people of western Odisha it is not just a language but a way of life that propel progresses and harmony in the region.
Western Odisha contains 40 to 50 % of the state’s population. Odia language is not used in day-to-day communication in western Odisha. But medium of instruction is Odia in the schools that’s why dropout rate is very high in rural and Adivasi area. This is the main reason of low literacy rate in the region. Kosali is the dominant means of communication throughout western Odisha. Though there are a few tribal languages, but all tribal languages have functional capability in Kosali not in Odia. Odia medium instructions is throwing challenges for the students of western Odisha and blocking them in their progress like overall marks of students from western Odisha are lower than the students of coastal Odisha and students of western Odisha fail in both 10th and 10+2 examinations. Hence, education in Kosali language is the key to development of western Odisha.
On 30th July 2012 the then chief secretary of Odisha directed Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) a body of the Government of Odisha to start mother-tongue based primary education in 10 languages; Munda, Santhali, Kissan, Oraon, Kui, Koya, Bonda, Juanga and Saura; of the state but there is no Kosali.
Further, OPEPA published an advertisement on dated 25/5/2014 in Sambad daily about recruitment of total 295 Sikshyaa Sahaayak/Sahaayikaa for different languages of different districts like Binjhal (Bargarh), Santhali & Ho(Balasore), Kui(Gajpati), Dibai(Malkangiri), Bhunjia(Nuapada), Pahadi Bhunjia & Kharia(Sundergarh), but again there is no Kosali.
People of western Odisha have been deprived of their basic cultural right, right of mother-tongue which connects them with their economy, socio-cultural system and political right. Perhaps this is the same mentality where Sudras were checked by Kshyatriyas and Brahmins from education and Sambhu was killed by Ramachandra while reading Veda. For the same reason, Dronacharya asked for the thumb of Ekalavya; fearing he may challenge the prince.
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November 12, 2015 at 7:36 am sanjibkarmee
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 