She epitomizes perfect motherhood

She has not given birth to any child. But she has set a glowing example of an ideal mother. We are talking about Arati Biswas, who nourishes 40-odd destitute children at Thakkar Bapa Seva Sadan at Belpahar in Jharsuguda.

Showing a good Samaritan spirit, she has devoted her entire life in sprouting smiles on the faces of the needy children, most of whom are oblivious about their past. Biswas derives immense pleasure from the philanthropy and understands ‘joy of giving’ to the core.

The inmates lovingly call her ‘bada maa’. They reciprocate Biswas’s love by working diligently in study and learning social and moral etiquettes of life.

“I don’t know why my parents ditched me here. Bada maa has been taking care of us very nicely. She is giving us education besides other facilities,” Bagabati Bhoi, an inmate said.

Source: Orissa Tv

Biswas hails from a poor family in Gandhinagar at Belpahar and has ten siblings. Her father had passed away when she was young. She was then forced to chuck her education.

Later Biswas joined an ashram where she was teaching the children. “In 1982 I was told to teach the children in Gramshree ashram which had 75 children, but later the ashram was shut down to due to certain problems. Then I started this ashram,” Biswas said.

She has developed a garden in the ashram premises where varieties of vegetables are cultivated.

Through her love and affection she has created a paradise for these children in Belpahad.

"We hope that the land issues will be resolved soon. We hope to start work on the project by December," Binay Kumar Singh, vice-president of the Orissa project, Tata Steel told reporters here.It should be noted that Tata Steel, has proposed to set up a Rs.21,000-crore plant in Orissa's Kalinganagar,

Tata has been facing stiff resistance from local residents against acquiring land for the six-million-tonne per annum project. The mega project suffered a major setback Jan 2, 2006, when 13 tribals were killed in a police firing.

"But let me tell you, we don't want any confrontation keeping in view of the sensitive nature of the issue. We want to forget the past and start the project in an amicable way with the cooperation of local people," Kumar said.

"The rehabilitation work is going on. The state government has also come forward."

The official, however, did not give any definite date for commencing the project.

"I don't give a definite date, but we hope things would be resolved by December and we will start work soon," Singh said.

The steel major needed 3,500 acres for the project and the government has allotted 3,040 acres. But the company is yet to take physical possession of the land due to resistance from the local residents.

Adani group aiming for abig port in Orissa

Ahmedabad-based Adani group has evinced interest to set up a large port in Orissa, which will eventually have a capacity to handle 100 million tonne (MT) cargo.The scope of the project also includes port-based industries like ship building and repairing unit.

The proposed venture will be an all-weather and multi-user port and the company’s preferred location for this is Barunei Muhan in Kendarapara district, official sources said.

Rajesh S Adani, managing director, Adani group, met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the state secretariat on Tuesday and discussed with him the company’s investment proposals.

During the discussion, Adani informed the chief minister that the group had been selected as the Miner Developer Operator (MDO) for the coal blocks allotted to the government of Maharashtra and Gujarat in Talcher Coalfields area.

Both the state governments proposed to set up 2,500-Mw (250x10) power plant at Angul and are in the process of setting up a coal washery.

Orissa signs MoU with SBI to bring financial inclusion in all GPs

Orissa on Tuesday became the first state in the country in providing banking outposts in all 6234 GPs bu enetring an MoU with SBI.This will facilitate Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) of National Rural Employment Guarantee [NREGA] payments and other social security benefits throughout the state paving the way for financial inclusion of disadvantaged and low income groups.

As per the MoU, the Bank through its Banking Correspondent (BC) will put in place Banking Outposts in all the 6,234 GPs of the State. The BC will establish Customer Service Points [CSPs] in all the GPs who will act as “Business Correspondent” of the Bank in the area. This will make “Door Step Banking” a reality.

“Initially, the project targets to cover payments to NREGA beneficiaries throughout the State and will be launched in 1,000 GPs in 10 districts, in the first phase, where NREGA beneficiaries and payments are more in number. The Panchyati Raj Department and Bank will select the GPs on the above criteria taking into consideration the contiguity of the GPs in the District. Based on the experience in the first phase, the Project will be extended to the remaining GPs over a period of next 10 to 15 month period”, SBI CGM, Shiv Kumar said.

The other social security benefits like old age pensions etc, distributed by the state government will also be gradually brought under the EBT Project. SBI also proposes to use this platform for non-government banking business. The masses in rural areas across the state will be able to avail of the banking facilities even if they are not beneficiaries of government schemes.

The Bank will leverage the BC model for achieving the goals of financial inclusion. SBI has selected “A Little World” (ALW) as one of its technology partner for this project in the state. The technology platform of the ALW is fully integrated with the Bank’s Technology platform and data transfer is seamless. This model will provide a workable option of banking services in inaccessible areas of the State in a cost effective manner.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Samal exuded confidence that the historic MoU would bring a sea change in the rural economy by rooting out corruption and go a long way to put a stop to migration of the rural poor.

SBI chief general manager Shiva Kumar and Panchayat Raj commissioner and director, J P Agarwal singed the MoU on behalf of the Bank and the state government respectively in the presence of minister for Panchayat Raj, Prafulla Samal.

15 hospitalised after applying mehndi in Orissa

Fifteen women who applied mehndi (henna) in Orissa's Bhadrak district were hospitalised after complaining of dizziness and an allergic reaction, officials said Monday.
According to the district's Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Bhagwan Dixit, about 300 people approached the Bant primary health centre, complaining of dizziness and allergy after applying the mehndi paste. Some were released after minor treatment but 15 of them were referred to the district hospital .

Similar reports have been reported in other parts of the state too. There are reports of people being admitted to hospitals after applying mehndi in Jaleswar and state capital too.

"Some people had come to the hospital. Most of them were having allergies after applying mehndi," Umakanta Mishra, the chief medical officer of a hospital here said.

Aluminum Park at Angul

The Orissa government and Navratna public sector blue-chip National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) on Saturday signed a MoU for an establishment of an Aluminum park at Angul at acost of 75 crore.

The proposed park will be a 50:50 joint-venture between Nalco and the state-owned Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).

The MoU was signed by Mr P K Dey, general manager (business development), Nalco and Srikant Kabi, managing director IDCO in the presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, industry minister Raghunath Mohanty, Nalco chairman and managing director C R Pradhan, chief secretary T K Mishra, industry secretary Sourabh Garg and several other dignitaries.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said establishment of the aluminium park would help entrepreneurs to set up downstream industries near the Nalco's smelter at Angul.

"My government's Industrial Policy 2007 and Medium Small Micro Enterprises [MSME] Policy 2009 accord highest priority for development of ancillary and downstream industries in MSME sector for greater value addition of steel and aluminium products in the state. The proposed park is yet another step to provide a platform for MSME industries to come up and grow," Mr Patnaik observed.

NALCO CMD Mr Pradhan said MSMEs coming up in the 200-acre proposed park would save a lot of cost as it will be located close to the smelter plant.

"Being close to the smelter plant, transfer of alumina in molten stage is possible. This would reduce the cost of production," Mr Pradhan said, adding, the MSMEs in the proposed park would have easy access to water, coal, electricity and other required materials.

The ancillary and downstream units identified to be set up in the proposed industrial park in the alumina/aluminium sectors will be caustic soda, calcined petroleum coke, coal tar pitch, aluminium fluoride, aluminium conductors, aluminium extrusions, aluminium castings, slugs and circles; and aluminium power.

"I hope the initiative will trigger similar downstream and ancillary industrial parks in close vicinity of the new mega projects being set up in aluminium, steel and power sectors in Orissa," industry minister Mr Mohanty said.

" Jajpur becomes another Jamshedpur in Orissa "

Committed to its Kalinga Nagar project despite a bloodbath in 2006 when 13 persons died in police firing during land acquisation, Tata Steel today vowed to make Orissa's Jajpur "another Jamshedpur".

"We will make Jajpur district another Jamshedpur. Kalinga Nagar project is on the top of our priorities," Tata Steel's vice-president B K Singh told PTI after attending the review meeting on progress of implementation of mega projects in Orissa.

Dubbing the 2006 police firing incident as "unfortunate", Singh said the company was ready to help the families of the victims.

"We should forget the incident and heal the situation," he said.

Asked whether the company would like to make any change in the proposed site in the backdrop of the incident, Singh said the company had no such plan. "Rahter Tata Steel wants to make Jajpur as another Jamshedpur," he said.

Singh claimed that the company had already invested Rs 4,000 crore out of estimated project cost Rs 18,700 crore in the project and expected to go for first phase production in 2014.

Tata Steel which signed MoU with the state government for setting up a 6 MTPA steel mill required 3500 acre of land for the purpose.

Though the state owned IDCO (industrial development corporation of Orissa) had allotted 3040 acre of land in four phases, the company was yet to start construction due to law and order problem.

The proposed plant had also been allotted 74 cusec of water from the Baitarani river and permitted to avil power of 100 Mw at 220 kv from Duburi Grid substation.

The company had meanwhile set up rehabilitation colonies and sponscored local youths for vocational training, Singh informed the state government at the review meeting.

However, the company was asked several questions on its project at Nayagarh in Keonjhar district and Gopalpur in Ganjam district.

The company, which was developing an SEZ in the name of Tata Realty and Infrastructure Development, assured the state government that it would start activities at Gopalpur in next six months.

"Some companies will invest in steel, electric goods, auto-spare and other goods in its Gopalpur SEZ," Singh said, adding that it was taking steps for Keonjhar project.

Orissa to review progress of 13 mega projects

Concerned about tardy progress in several mega projects in the state, the Orissa government would hold talks with investors, including world&aposs largest steel maker ArcelorMittal and Posco tomorrow to kind out the cause for the delays, official sources said."We want to know from the investors about the reason of delay in implementation of projects even as the state government had provided facilities to them,"state Steel and Mines minister Raghunath Mohanty told PTI. The 13 mega projects were scattered in different sectors like steel, aluminium and power, he said. In 2004, Tata Steel had signed an MoU with the sate government for setting up a 6 mtpa steel plant at Kalinga Nagar, it was yet to come up, an industries department official said. Similarly, Posco which signed understanding for its proposed 12 MTPA steel plant near Paradip on June 22, 2005, but has been unable to acquire land for its Rs 51,000 crore project. ArcelorMittal 12 million tonne steel plant project, too, is lagging behind schedule. It had signed an MoU on December.2006 This apart, two mega aluminium projects, one by Vedanta Aluminium Limited and another by Aditya Aluminium Limited also progressed slowly, causing major headache for the state government." Non-implementation of mega projects had come as a major set back for the state&aposs industrlisation process", a senior official said.

Source : PTI

SRK planning to light up Seven villages in Orissa

Remember the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Swades, where lead protagonist Mohan Bhargava, an NRI working in NASA, returns to his former nanny's village in India and resolves the irregular electricity problem by setting up a hydro power plant. In a case of real life imitating reel life, Khan has lighted up seven remote coastal villages in Orissa by funding a solar electricity project.

The effort has dramatically changed the lives of the people of Ahriajpur, Banhipal, Okilapala, Palachua, Rangani, Denlasahi and Gupti villages in Kendrapara district, about 150 km from here. Each village has a population of 500 people and most of them fall in the below poverty line bracket. They mostly depend on fishing and agriculture for their livelihood. For the villagers, Khan is a messiah.

The rural electrification project used solar energy to produce electricity. Khan funded the project under the NDTV's Greenathon initiative titled 'Light a Billion Lives'. The project was implemented by The Energy & Research Institute (TERI).

Local coordinator of the project Biraja Prasad Pati said, "Can you imagine even after 61 years of Independence, they did not have electricity. But the project changed their lives.

Once dusk sets in, they all rush back to their houses and savour the pleasure of having electricity at home. Can you imagine even after 61 years of Independence, they did not have electricity," he said. Earlier, kerosene lanterns were the only source of light.

Now, the villagers have been provided with solar lanterns. "Life now starts after sun set," Pati said, adding that villagers had taken the cost-effective solar lanterns after paying the users' fees of Rs3 towards charging.But occasional users pay Rs5 by way of charging fees.

A recharging station has been installed in each village. Solar panels have also been set on rooftops to allow villagers to charge their lanterns every morning. "Now people are happy and know more about Khan," said local ward member Tapas Mandal.Ironically, the state government is clueless about the project.

Rural dvelopment in Orissa in a worse position

Nothing seems to be surprising regaring Orissa. The State continues to languish among the bottom five states as far as the rural development indices is concerned. Orissa is the only State in the country where a high of 44.4 per cent households don’t have the potential to spend even Rs 12-aday. The landless and the destitute population account for a national high of 16.4 per cent of the total households in the State. Over 50 per cent households (hhs) dwell in katcha houses, 49 per cent hhs are devoid of sanitation, 69 per cent depend on kerosene to light up their houses and again a national high of 84 per cent use firewood to cook their one square meal.Adding to the woes is, a whopping 43 per cent villages are still out of road loop and a high of 40 lakh rural hhs have no electricity connection.The blame lies squarely on the Government for the state of affairs.The inability to spend is because of non-availability of income generating opportunities for the landless and the destitute lot.As per the latest round of National Sample Survey, in Orissa the workers engaged in public work here earn only Rs 50 for men and Rs 46 for women on an average.The lack of adequate public works is solely due to the Government’s failure in provisioning a single rupee for the period 2002-03 to 2007-08 towards the capital expenditure - that ensures creation of new assets/services and jobs - under the rural development expenditure.Moreover, the nonwage and salary component of the revenue expenditure meant for maintaining existing services for rural development stands at Rs 754 crore in 2007-08, which is a mere 0.4 per cent of the total revenue expenditure and only 3 per cent of the total revenue receipts.The Government allocates a measly 0.8 per cent of its gross state domestic product for rural development.However, Government sources explained that the capital expenditure incurred under separate heads like Health and Family Welfare, Education and Transport Departments took care of the required capital expenditure for rural development. But the fact is, capital expenditure towards Health and Family Welfare has declined from Rs 38 crore in 2002- 03 to Rs 20 crore in 2007-08 and in Education too it declined from Rs 19 crore to Rs 6 crore during the same period. The transport sector has chequered capital expenditure with increases and decreases in actual expenditure. So, it is right time the Government focused more towards rural development.

Distortion of prayer in Orissa --"Ahe Dayamaya Biswa Bihari…Ghena Dayabahi Mora Guhari’

Controversy surrounded the distorted use of famous prayer—‘Ahe Dayamaya Biswa Bihari…Ghena Dayabahi Mora Guhari’—in an Oriya album with culture enthusiasts demanding action against the culture-spoilers.

In the album, the lyricist drew flak after penning the line ‘Ahe Dayamaya Biswabihari…Mate Kala Kain Ete Sundari”.

This has angered the culture lovers in the state with one Nishikant Mishra from Cuttack filing a PIL in the Orissa High Court against the vulgar depiction of the devotional song in the album.

Activists of Kalinga Sena, a local cultural outfit, filed complaint against 8 persons associated with the album making, with the Kharabel police.

But the lyricist, Bapu Goswami and music composer, Gudli Rath have pleaded innocence. “We did not deliberately want to hurt the sentiments of others. There was no ill-motive behind the music composition and penning of the song,” they said in unison.

Orissa to expedite Infocity-II project

The Orissa IT department has got its act together to expedite the Infocity-II project to be developed over 500 acres of land at Janla on the outskirts of the city.

The global economic meltdown had slackened demand for IT projects. But with the sign of recovery in sight, the state government is gearing up to keep the infrastructure of Infocity-II ready to welcome any IT firm keen to set up its shop in the city.

Towards this objective, the state IT department has now planned to go for a four-lane approach road connecting the Infocity-II project with the National Highway.

“We are committed to provide external infrastructure like roads, water and electricity for the Infocity-II project. The state IT department has engaged a consultant which is undertaking a survey work on the proposed four-lane approach road and the private land that needs to be acquired for the purpose”, an official source told Business Standard.

Earlier, the state government had sanctioned Rs 150 crore for developing external infrastructure for the project like approach road, electricity and water.

While land acquisition for the Infocity-II project is already over, the construction of the boundary wall is underway. The state government is on the look out for anchor tenants for the project.

Though IT heavyweights like Infosys Technologies and Wipro Technologies had evinced interest in taking possession of land within the Infocity-II region, they were non-committal on their expansion plans due to the prevailing slowdown.

As per the estimates of the Orissa IT department, the Infocity-II project is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2012 and the project is set to attract investments worth Rs 4,000 crore from IT ad ITes (IT enabled services) companies.

The proposed Infocity-II project will generate direct and indirect employment for about four lakh people in the information technology (IT) and ITes sectors.

Presently, more than 18,000 professionals are engaged in the IT sector in the state while the ITes sector had a workforce of over 15,000.

The Infocity-II project would be a part of the proposed IT investment region in the state. The IT investment region (ITIR) in Orissa was to be developed on an area of 40 sq km (around 10,000 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khurda.

The ITIR project in the state is expected to be fully operational by 2020.

Apart from its focus on the Infocity-II project, the state IT department is also keen to expedite the commissioning of the second tower of the Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC) in the city at an investment of Rs 30 crore.

The proposed facility is being developed exclusively for IT and ITes (information technology enabled services) companies and it is scheduled to be operational by early 2010.

This tower will have a total built-up space of about 2 lakh sq ft and it is being developed by the Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).

Relief package for Maoist violence hit families

The Orissa government on Sunday announced relief measures for families hit by Maoist violence including financial assistance to the children of policemen killed while battling rebels.

As per the finance department notification, the government will provide financial assistance of Rs 1000 per month towards education of atleast two children of policemen killed in the line of duty at Maoist affected areas in the state.

Moreover, the family members will also be entitled to get the salary earned by the deceased cops as pension till their retirement period. The government is also contemplating to provide pension after retirement similar to that meant for other government employees.

Man arrested in Orissa for raping daughter for years

Bishnumohan Panda, a 58-year-old resident of Rajgurupur village, was arrested after his daughter complained to the police Saturday with the help of villagers, said Damodar Mohapatra, in charge of the police station in the village.

The 32-year-old victim, who is now married and has two children, alleged that her father first sexually exploited her when she was studying in Class 9 and continued to do so for years, threatening her with dire consequences if she complained to anyone.

"Though my father later married me off to a poor man, he wanted my husband and me to stay at his home so that he could exploit me further," the victims said in her complaint.

"She also alleged that she was forced to undergo many abortions by her father in the past," Mohapatra said. "We have arrested her father and are investigating the matter further," he said.

IDBI to open 10 new branches in Orissa

As a part of its expansion plan, the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) would open 10 new branches in Orissa by the end of 2009-10.

These branches would be over and above the existing 11 branches of IDBI in the state.

IDBI is focusing on the western Orissa region for its branch expansion, Arun Kumar Panda, deputy general manager of the bank said at the inauguration of the 11th branch of IDBI Bank at Talcher, near here.

The branch was inaugurated by PR Das, chairman of the Orissa State Financial Corporation (OSFC). “We selected Talcher for the 11th new branch of the bank because of its proximity to Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and other private industries. IDBI may also set up a branch at Angul soon,” said Panda Out of the proposed ten new branches of IDBI, four new branches would be opened by the end of this month while the other six branches will be set up later, he informed.

IDBI's total business in Orissa currently stands at Rs 500 crore and the bank has targeted a business of Rs 1,200 crore by the end of this fiscal, he said.

On a pan-India basis, the bank aims to ramp up its branch network from 580 at present to 1,000 by the end of this fiscal.

Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik review pogress of various infrastructure project

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the progress of different Roads, Buildings and Bridge projects in a high level committee held in the Orissa Secretariat on Friday .Out of 1,219Kms long High way 983 Kms of Orissa will be constructed by the Orissa state government.

Similarly the Cuttack-Paradeep and Khurda - Bolangir highways will be completed by June,2010.It has been decided that the Vanivihar-Rajmahal Road in Bhubaneswar will be converted to an eight lane road.Besides the Pandapada-Naranpada of Keonjhar district ,Cuttack-Banki, Barkote-Lahunipada,Bolangir-Kantabanji,Chorda-Duburi and Udala-Baripada Roads will be completed during current financial year.

The Chief minister also reviewed the progress of the Bhanjanagar-Phulbani-Charichhak,Tiring-Jashipur-Karanjia-Sakipur, Dhenkikote-Karanjia,Panikoili-Rajaminda,Biramitrapur-Rajamunda,Munduli-Angul etc roads.

It was also expressed in the meeting that the process of Tender has already been completed for construction of E-Procurement Cell at Cuttack,Construction Academy Buildings at Gopalpur, Parala Moharaja Engineering College at Brahmapur,Engineering College at Bhawanipatna, Agriculture College and Horticulture at Chipilima.

Among others Principal Secretary of Chief Minister Bijoy Patnaik, Secretary of Roads and Buildings Suvendu Kumar Ray,Chief Engineer Roads and Buildings Nalinikanta Pradhan were present in this high level review meeting .a

Orissa tops malaria death list, 2,368 died in 8 yrs

With 2,368 deaths in the last eight years, Orissa has the highest number of malaria deaths in the country.

"High incidence of malaria deaths in Orissa is the main cause of concern for the Centre. The state tops the list of malaria deaths in India," P K Pradhan, Additional Secretary in Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said here today.

Out of the total 7,25,502 cerebral malaria cases reported from across the country in 2008, 45 per cent came from Orissa, he said.

Pradhan, also director of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), was addressing a national workshop on 'Equity, Quality & Accountability' in the NRHM.

Even as the National Anti-Malaria Programme (NAMP), renamed as National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), was implemented in Orissa since 1953, the state contributed to 25 per cent of malaria deaths in the country, official sources said.

Centre to look into problems of RGGVY in Orissa

The Centre has assured the Orissa government to look into various problems encountered in the implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY).

This includes the removal of the discrepancy between the number of villages where the electrification is reported to be completed and the number of actual villages offered for inspection, creation of additional transformer capacity and finalisation of packages for Jajpur district.

The state energy secretary, Pradeep Kumar Jena held discussion with the officials of the Union power ministry in New Delhi on these issues recently.

Sources said, the energy secretary took up the issue of discrepancy between the list of completely electrified villages furnished by the Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) vested with the rural electrification work in Orissa and the list of villages which are offered for inspection by the state government.

The state officials pointed out that the total number of electrified villages under the RGGVY as given by the CPSUs is not correct as the same number of villages are not offered for inspection. They urged the ministry officials to come on a field visit and check the numbers.

Similarly, it has come to the notice of the state government that some villages are electrified with just extension of the existing LT lines without commensurate increase in the transformer capacity. About 300 villages in Ganjam and Gajapati districts couldn’t be charged as the additional transformer capacity was lacking. In this context, the Centre was urged to accept the revised cost estimates of these villages.

Though the CPSUs were given the target of electrifying all the villages targeted to be electrified in the 10th plan by the end of September 2009, given the pace of work, there was apprehension whether these villages could be provided power within the stipulated time. About 1200 habitations are yet to be electrified. Besides, the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) was urged to finalise one package work in Jajpur district.

Orissa plans to start cluster mapping soon

The Orissa government plans to start a ‘cluster mapping’ exercise soon to optimize the growth of the existing clusters and identify the possibility of setting up new clusters in the state,

The mapping process would include possible measures for the development of clusters in areas like handicrafts, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and cottage industries. The process of mapping has been set in motion and it is expected to be over by March 2010, official sources said.

“We are in the process of preparing a cluster map for the overall growth of the existing and potential clusters, which would include handicrafts, SME and cottage industry sectors”, Hemant Sharma, director industries told Business Standard.

The method adopted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) for cluster mapping will be followed in this exercise and some people in the state industry department have been trained for the purpose.

As part of the UNIDO project, the directorate of industries, directorate of handicrafts and cottage industries and directorate of textile and handlooms have adopted 2 clusters each as model clusters. This is proposed to be replicated at other locations. It may be noted, the state government has decided to develop 86 clusters.

Sources said, a cluster cell has been constituted in the directorate of industries for implementation of the cluster development programme and a pool of 43 officers has been trained in the cluster methodology. Meanwhile, the Union government has approved 14 clusters out of 20 clusters notified by the state government for central assistance. The approved clusters include engineering cluster at Rourkela and Jharsuguda, rice milling cluster at Baragarh and Nuapada, pharmaceutical cluster at Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, cashew cluster at Ganjam,

Kalinganagar cluster in Jajpur district. plastic cluster at Balasore, and graphite polishing cluster

at Bolangir. Two proposals namely plastic cluster at Balasore and engineering cluster at Mancheswar have been sent to the Union government for assistance under Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS). Each of these units can avail Rs 60 crore assistance under the scheme.

Out of the 14 approved clusters, special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been registered in case of four clusters. The state government is also in the process of sending the proposal for a sponge iron cluster at Bonai near Rourkela for assistance under IIUS.

It may be noted, the development of enterprise through cluster approach was initiated in the Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR), 2001. It was taken forward in the IPR, 2007 and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Development policy 2009. The directorate of industries of the Orissa government is taking steps to leverage funds from Micro and Small Enterprise Development Programme. (MSE-CDP) of the government of India (GoI).

Orissa goes hi-tech in school education

The Orissa government has linked 40 schools in the state to the Edusat network with an aim to modernising the school education.

"We have connected 40 schools on an experimental basis. I am sure it will be successful and expanded to many other schools in Orissa," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Monday.

The network provides two-way video and audio communications between teachers at the studio here and students in the remote schools thus making the class interactive.

The state government hopes that this would help in addressing the deficiency of quality teachers in the remote areas of Orissa. The technical assistance has been provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

"We have connected 40 schools of 28 districts. The technical assistance has been provided by ISRO. ISRO has also provided the required bandwidth and its technical hub free of cost," an official said.

The official said the infrastructure has the potential to cover all the schools of the state.

Election in Educational Institutions in Orissa

Recent violence in Utkal University came into lime light because it is situated in the heart of the state capital where media coverage is the highest in the state and the nature of the violence was high.But this is not the only violence happening in Orissa in recent times or in the past in colleges and universities.It is common for all government institution weather small or big.Six bused were set on fire , six ATM were broken ,one Bank office was damaged , and even one hospital was attackedUtkal Universityin the recent incident . by some students of

What a society can expect from such so called educated students who do not hesitate to attack a hospital where half dead patients are struggling for life and damage public property.One question is that "had they dare to destroy their own property for the sake of strike".On the other hand, the administration is so incapable that few actions has been taken against such students in the past. Either the officials are influenced by the politicians or threatened by the students.

The motto of college election is representation of students in the general activities of colleges and allow them to present their demands.But those who have ever be a part of such institutions in Orissa can realise that the actual positive impact is very less .The represented candidates only interested in corruption , bribe from several companies etc. But one certain result of such election is violence ,damage to government property,interruption of regular classes etc.

So ,why we need such election if the objective deviates from the reality ? There are few colleges in Orissa, where election is restricted or only indirect election is possible. G.M college in Sambalpur conducts such indirect election .The procedure for such election is that first each class will select their leader and the head of the institution (President ,Secretary and others) will be nominated by the selected candidates.Such type of election procedure fulfill the objective of representation and at the same time reduces violence.

The government should think to adopt the indirect election procedure across the state .It will helpful in reducing unnecessary ferocity and will helpful in continuance of peace education in the state.