Mining companies has to pay Rs. 57,904 crores to Odisha government

While lot of commotion going on about the illegal mining licenses in Odisha and the allegation about Naveen Patnaik's government  being in hands in glove with the mining mafias, now the Odisha government has come up with a novel idea. With this idea the government wants to hit two goals with a single arrow. While this new strategy will make the Odisha government to follow the M B Shah findings, at the same time it will also help it to fill its exchequer. 

As a fallout of the MB Shah Commission report on illegal iron ore mining in Orissa, the state government has levied a fine on 27 mining firms, including for captive mines held by state-owned Steel Authority of India and the private sector Tata Steel, totalling around R57,904 crore. According to the state government, these companies had mined in excess of the quantity permitted under various statutory clearances during 2001-10 and, therefore, need to pay the price of the excess ore mined.

However, sources in the Orissa government said the state has no plans of cancelling the mining leases of these firms, so there’s no immediate threat of any crisis in terms of supply of iron ore to the steel industry, for which it is the chief raw material. This is crucial because Orissa contributed around 62 million tonnes (mt) of iron to the country’s overall production of 140 mt during FY13.

The central government has also said that rather than banning production of ore or cancelling mining leases, a more prudent approach would be to look into alleged violations on a case by case basis. For instance, the Orissa government has said that action has already been taken against illegal mining in the Joda circle. Similarly, the railways will look into and take action in cases where excess ore was transported by rail by evading freight and other duties.

Industry sources told FE that almost all the companies that have been fined by the state government under Section 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, have challenged it before the mining tribunal under the Union mines ministry.

The companies contend that there were no regulatory violations by them.

Young Sarpancha Arati Devi from Odisha will represent India at US meet

A 28-year-old MBA graduate from Sikkim Manipal University who quit her job as an investment banker at IDBI Bank in Berhampur, Orissa, to become a sarpanch in a backward panchayat of Ganjam district in 2012, will represent India in the International Visitors Leadership Programme on State and Local Governments in the US next month.

Arati Devi became sarpanch of Dhunkapada grampanchayat under Polasara block at 27, becoming the youngest female sarpanch in the country. Her achievements were highlighted by The Indian Express in March 2013.

The IVLP is one of the US government’s prestigious professional exchange programmes for foreign opinion leaders and has so far hosted more than 130,000 participants. Former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Atal Bihari Vajpayee have participated in the programme.

“It’s a major achievement for me. I never expected that I would be travelling to US and meeting the President. It would be a huge learning experience for me. In about a year, I have managed to do a lot of welfare work for my panchayat which I would share at the programme,” said Arati.

Too late, too small a aid for Odisha from the center for cyclone Phalin

Here is another effort from the Congress ruled government at the center to woo the people of Odisha keeping an eye on the forthcoming general election. But such help is too late and too small considering the severity of cyclone Phalin.

Just few days back the center also announced another major grant for construction of NH5 running in Odisha. It has to be seen whether such generous gestures by the center is really going to help them in the forthcoming elections.

The Centre on Sunday announced an assistance of Rs 915-crore for reconstruction of areas affected by cyclone Phailin and subsequent floods in Odisha, and rehabilitation of victims. It also declared setting up of two new National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) battalions in Uttarakhand and at Silchar in the Northeast.

On the occasion of the ninth raising day celebration of NDRF at Munduli, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde lauded the unprecedented relief and rescue operations undertaken during Phailin which hit the state's coast in October. A high power committee of the National Disaster Mitigation Authority (NDMA) has decided to give Rs 915-crore to the state for reconstruction work, he said.

Shinde said Japan, which had fought hard to overcome the damage caused by tsunami and the Fukushima plant disaster, has praised the evacuation work in Odisha, the largest ever in India.

The central funds will be used for development of agriculture, rural infrastructure and acquisition of modern equipment to combat disasters in future, he added.

Shinde stressed on better coordination between the Centre and the state and noted that different countries are facing not only natural disasters, but also industrial mishaps like Fukushima nuclear plant blast. The NDMA is taking steps to upgrade technical skills of NDRF to face challenges of chemical, biological and nuclear disasters, he added.

Shinde informed that NDRF, which came into existence in 2006, has 10 battalions in various states and many more battalions would be raised in other parts of the country to face the challenges of various types of disaster. He advised NDRF bosses to institute a national award for disaster mitigation to raise the morale of civil defence forces in the country.

After the function, Shinde told mediapersons that he would soon write to all chief ministers asking them to scrutinize expeditiously cases pending against youths of various minority communities languishing in jail for more than 5-10 years.

Addressing the function, chief minister Naveen Patnaik urged the Union home minister to enhance the technical capability of NDRF.

761 crore NH 5 of Odisha runing Jharpokharia-Baripada-Baleshwar

While the central government run by the Congress party has shown ambivalent gesture towards development activities in Odisha in the near past, here is a good news. The central government today approved a Rs 761 crore road project in Odisha under its flagship National Highways Development Project. 

"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs ( CCEA) has given its approval for four-laning with paved shoulders of Jharpokharia-Baripada-Baleshwar section of NH-5 in Odisha," an official statement said. 

The cost of the 80.6 km project is estimated at Rs 760.73 crore, including land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and pre-construction activities. 

The project will expedite improvement of infrastructure in Odisha and reduce the time and cost of travel on the Jharpokharia-Baripada-Baleshwar route, according to the statement. 

"Development of this stretch will also help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of this region," the statement said, adding that it will also increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities. 

Such kind of grants are very rare from the central government because in the state BJD, a regional party is ruling since last one decade. Observers believe this generous funding might be a game plan by the Congress keeping the forthcoming election in mind. In earlier days, Congress mostly visit Kalahandi and Koraput and takes poverty as the only election plank so far Odisha is concerned. Such developments are good for democratic politics in India.

Can Modi make an impact in Naveen Patnaik's land ? What the civic poll results of Odisha say?

The BJP's hopes to shore up its fortunes in Orissa by banking on the charisma of its PM candidate Narendra Modi are belied if results of the urban polls in the Capital are any indication. The much-touted Modi magic did not work for the party in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation elections where it won just four of the 67 wards. The only consolation for it was that it fared better than the Congress which bagged only two.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) swept the polls with its candidates winning as many as 49 wards. Moreover, a majority of the 12 successful independents are also likely to join the party. 

"We will analyse the results and see what went wrong," said BJP national general secretary, Dharmendra Pradhan apparently shocked by the results in Bhubaneswar as the polls were seen as a virtual dress rehearsal for the assembly polls likely to be held sometime in April. 

The prestigious BMC polls had followed elections to 86 civic bodies in other parts of the state in September and November last year. Performance of the BJP was disappointing even then with the party getting majority only in three of these urban bodies.

The Congress had won 13 against 64 of the ruling BJD. Modi, who is likely to visit Orissa next month, had dominated the party's municipal poll campaign with posters all across the state. Party candidates, too, invoked his name to woo the voters but the masses, who are still under Patnaik's spell, appear to have ignored the Gujarat strongman so far. 

State BJP chief, K.V. Singhdeo, however, sought to put up a brave face saying the Modi factor would work in favour of the party in the general elections. BJP's popularity in the state has nosedived since the break-up of its alliance with the BJD in 2009. In the 2009 Assembly polls, which the party fought alone, it won only six of the 147 seats.

Posco's Odisha plant got environmental clearance after 8 years delay

The $ 12.6 billion Posco steel plant in Orissa, the biggest foreign direct investment in India finally has got go ahead from the center that was stuck in a eight years long delay due to environmental concerns. The proposed 12 million-tonnes-per-year plant has been stuck for more than eight years due to delays in getting clearances and acquiring land.

Top sources confirmed that the steel plant got the green signal after it was delinked from the port project. It is learnt that the green nod came after South Korea’s ambassador to India called on Moily last week to suggest that the plant and port projects be delinked in respect of clearances, so that at least the former could take off.

“It was felt that there was merit in this argument, and there was no rationale for holding up one project because of another. So with all requisite conditions, the Posco steel plant has been granted approval. The issue of the port will be examined separately,” a senior source in the environment ministry said.

The revalidation of the lapsed environmental clearance comes days before South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye visits India for four days starting January 15. Posco’s integrated steel plant and port project was to originally come up on some 4,000 acres in the coastal town of Jagatsinghpur in Orissa. Strong opposition over land acquisition issues has, however, forced the project now to a 2,700-acre site. While the Orissa government signed the deal with Posco in 2005, so far no more than the boundary wall for the project has come up.

The environmental clearance has been strongly supported both by Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the Prime Minister. Posco India had only last month written to the Cabinet Committee on Investment requesting that the long delayed project be fast-tracked.

The breakthrough comes within three weeks of Moily replacing Jayanthi Natarajan as environment minister. Moily is learnt to have cleared around 15 projects since taking over on December 24. Among them are the Tawang II hydel project and the Teesta IV hydroelectric project and, now, Posco.

A Reuters report on Thursday said Posco could also hear some good news on its request for a licence to explore iron ore. Orissa will reply within a “day or two” to the union mines ministry on granting an iron ore exploration licence, the state’s mines director Deepak Kumar Mohanty told Reuters.

How the go ahead comes with certain conditions. It has been suggested that POSCO must spend 5% of its total investment on “enterprise social commitments”, POSCO-India spokesman I G Lee told Reuters. This will mean the project’s cost will go up by $ 600 million to $ 12.6 billion.

LEE said, “Though an additional burden has been put on us, we are happy with the revalidation (of environmental clearance). It means the removal of a hurdle for us.”

Amiya Mallick to be trained under Glen Mills, Usain Bolt's Coach

Be it the 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh or the PT Usha's, the country had always seen ace sprinters emerge from either north or southern India.

Eastern India till now had seen middle-distance runners like Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, a two-time Asian Games gold medalist in 800m & 1500m, excel internationally but this is the first time when eastern India is seeing a 200m national champion Amiya Mallick displaying the potential to take on the best in the world.

Mallick, who hails from Bhubaneshwar, will train under Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt's coach Glen Mills for a period of four months beginning January 14 as part of his preparations for the Asian Games (July 23 to Aug. 3) and Commonwealth Games (Sept 19 to Oct. 4). He will train at Mills' academy - the Racers Track Club.

Besides Bolt, Mills has trained the likes of 2012 London Games 100m silver medalist Yohan Blake of Jamaica, 1999 World Championship silver medalist Dwayne Chambers of Britain, 2002 Manchester CWG 100m gold medalist Kim Collins from St Kitts in the Caribbean and 1984 Olympics 4x100m silver medalist Ray Stewart. Currently he is Jamaica's relay team coach.

"I will train under Usain's coach Mills for four months. I will be flying to Kingston via Newark on January 12. I will train under Mills and am sure the program will help me improve my timing as well as confidence.

I will talk to him about how to improve my fitness and stamina," Mallick, who is employed by Indian Oil, told reporters at a press meet on Monday.

The 21-year-old, who holds a personal best time of 10.5sec in 100m and 21.22sec in 200m, is mentored by women's national 100m champion Rachita Mishra and coached by Neel Madhav Dev of National Institute of Sports at his hometowm. It was Mishra's effort that prompted the Orissa Athletics Association to sponsor his trip.

"My target is to have a podium finish at the CWG and Asian Games. 200m is my main event. If I can shave off even 2-3 seconds from my best time I will qualify for the main race in the CWG and Asian Games and even break the national record of 20.73. Some more push and I can see myself wearing a medal.

I am thankful to my state association and Tata Steel for taking care of my expenses. As there are no national camps in the intervening period I am relatively free," said Mallick, who can be confused for a 'long walker' or a marathoner for his lean structure.

Mallick started running at the age of five but only realized he had the requisite skills to do well globally after a brilliant display at the 2009 National School Games - where he won gold in all the sprint categories.

"I sustained a quadriceps tear before the National Games in Ranchi, so I switched to 200m from 100m. That did take a good time to heal but am fit now. I am excited for my Jamaica sojourn and hope I can bring cheer on everyone's face with some good results thereafter," he said.

Odisha MSME International Trade Fair 2014

At the Odisha MSME International Trade Fair, PSUs in the state urged to procure MSME products upto 20% as per MSME Development Policy by Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India. Summing up the session held on buyer seller meet & ancillary development Secretary MSME P Dash said, Govt. of India has formulated MSME Development Policy which has made it mandatory for the PSUs to procure MSME products upto 20%.

In the session Mr. Dash urged the PSUs like MCL, IOCL in the state to follow the guideline and also asserted that PSUs should come forward and extend technical support to the MSME entrepreneurs for meeting the quality standards. In the seminar held on buyer seller meet & ancillary development was attended by J C Patra from MCL, S.K Mishra from East Coast Railway, B C Das from IOCL and A Jain from Tata Steel. The representatives from these PSUs said that they are ready to procure various spares, components, hospital equipments, electrical items, mechanical equipments and services from MSME sector.

Maintaining quality standards and delivery schedule are also important, said the representatives present in the seminar held today. J C Patra, GM, E&A, MCL saying on the efforts taken by MCL informed that MCL has started e-procurement facility. The PSU has also made automatic tender evaluation process for the entrepreneurs which will be benefited for them and assured the suppliers that ancillary development will be benefited both for PSUs and MSME entrepreneurs. Dy. ZGM NSIC P C Nayak, N. Pallai, IAS, Director of Industries, Govt. of Odisha attending the seminar, highlighted the facilities for entrepreneurs like no tender fee and free emd and security deposit if registered under MSME and NSIC single point registration. Officials emphasized on Plant Level Ancillary Committee (PLAC) meeting to address the issues of MSME entrepreneurs in ancillary development programme.  

Earlier in the morning experts and officials attending the seminar held on National Manufacturing Competitive Programme emphasized to maintain quality and productivity to create a huge market for MSME products. Because quality is not everything but without quality everything is nothing, experts said. To create more space for SME products in Global market productivity and quality are dependable on each other.

We should follow the strategy of Japan for improvement of quality, said Dr. R K Padhy, State-in-charge, National Productivity Council. Adding on the importance of quality he said, identifying the basic causes for the defect like routing error, machine sketch error, taper error, tooling and layout errors and analyzing the problems we should workout to minimize the errors to ensure proper quality. Experts stressed on scale, cost, quality and speed as basic things for entrepreneurs. Lean thinking is a significant aspect as it identifies the value, eliminates wastages and reduces cost of production. Cost cutting and time consuming are the main factors to be remembered while manufacturing the products, experts said. P K Gupta, Director (I/C), MSME-DI said the entrepreneurs are allowed to hire consultants for quality management and it will be paid by Government. MSME entrepreneurs are now following bar coding, ISO and others systems to ensure the quality.

Besides the state government has urged the Centre to establish the latter's proposed MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) University in Odisha.

"We are requesting the Centre to set up the proposed university here. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already written to the Centre upgrade the Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IED) at Bhubaneswar to this status," said Panchanan Dash, secretary, MSME department at an Investors meet on 'Food Processing in Odisha's organised on the occasion of second Odisha MSME International Trade Fair-2014.

"We will also place the proposal before the secretary, Union ministry of MSME, who will be visiting the state on January 7," he added.

Odisha has about 1.5 million MSMEs providing employment to about 3.3 million people. About 74 per cent of these units are located in the rural areas. The state ranks among the top ten states with a share of 4.92 per cent of the total MSMEs in the country as per the fourth census of such units.

Others in the top ten lists are Uttar Pradesh (11.24 per cent), West Bengal (10.47 per cent), Tamil Nadu (9.16 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (7.50 per cent), Maharashtra (7.27 per cent), Gujarat (6.55 per cent), Kerala (6.51 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (5.79 per cent), and Karnataka (5.60 per cent).

To give boost to the MSME sector, the state government has created a separate department and formulated a dedicated policy in 2009. The Odisha MSME Development Policy, 2009 aims at broad basing the growth of MSMEs with emphasis on employment generation, revenue augmentation, exports and realising the full potential of the sector in the state.

The fair, which is aimed at giving boost to the MSME sector in the State, is being jointly organized by MSME Department and National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC). Around 270 industries have put up their stalls in the fair ground. 

Odisha government asked to provide report about overcrowded prisons in the state

This is another instance of how the central government is at fight with the state government of Odisha, mostly for political margin. With the national election ahead and Odisha will also go for Assembly election at the same time, the Congress government at the center is using all possible ways to defame the current incumbent CM Naveen Patnaik.

Yesterday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the State Chief Secretary to submit an action-taken report (ATR) within four weeks regarding rights to live of the prisoners in different jails of the State.  

Acting on a complaint filed by a Angul-based rights body Human Rights Watch secretary Sangita Swain, the Commission has issued the notice on December 31 last year.  The petitioner basing on RTI information alleged that more number of prisoners even twice are staying at several jails like in Baragharh, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Rayagada, Angul and 12 other jails than the scheduled accommodation from the category of under trail and convicted prisoners violating their rights to live even after punishment.  

This implies, the complainant alleged, dual punishment for the same offence which is the mental shock during the punishment period, besides urging the Commission to ensure emergent action against the concerned authority and compensate the prisoners facing the problems in daily basis.

There is no doubt that it’s the duty and obligation of the State government to provide human treatment to the prisoners just like any other human beings. But the timing of this allegation is little doubtful, with the whole country moving towards elections. Saying this, we also must restate that the Odisha government must also make adequate efforts to build new prisons and provide essential facilities in the existing prisons throughout the state. 

Odia Expatriates doing well abroad - Many like Nilambar Biswal

Odia Bohu Nisha Biswal sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. It may be noted that Nisha Biswal married to Odia boy Subrat Biswal--they have two daughters. Nisha is the daughter-in-law of Nilambar and  Anu Biswal who are based in Maryland. Biswal family hails from the Anugul district of the Odisha.  Nisha Desai Biswal is also an active member of Odisha Society of America. 

USA-based Odia entrepreneur Dhirendra Kar congratulates Biswal for her new assignment. Mr. Kar recalled how Nisha and her family proactive to unite Odia community in America. Mr. Kar termed her as an accomplished administrator.

Nisha Desai Biswal was sworn in as USAID's Assistant Administrator for Asia on September 20, 2010. Prior to her appointment, she served as the majority clerk for the State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on the Committee on Appropriations in the U.S. House of Representatives, which has jurisdiction over the State Department and USAID, as well as other aspects of the international affairs budget. In this capacity, Biswal provided staff support to Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and Subcommittee Chairwoman Nita Lowey in managing the appropriations and oversight of the U.S. international affairs budget.

Biswal has served as the director of Policy and Advocacy at InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international humanitarian and development nongovernmental organizations. She also previously served on the professional staff of the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee, where she was responsible for South and Central Asia policy as well as oversight of the State Department and USAID. Biswal worked at USAID for four years, serving as special assistant to the administrator, working in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Office of Transition Initiatives, and serving as chief of staff in the Management bureau.

Biswal has also worked with the American Red Cross, both in their Washington headquarters and overseas as an international delegate in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Biswal holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia. 

Different governments at Center and State hindering Odisha's development - The case of Mining in Odisha

The federal form of administration with multi-party system - nevertheless being the very column of democratic institution - is taking its toll on the development of India. While the Congress is in power at the centre and regional party like BJD limited to Odisha is in power at the state, it’s creating a great deterrent to the development of the state economy that eventually contributing to the stagnation of Indian development.

This situation is of course not limited to Odisha only. The scenario is same with other states that are not being run by Congress. The central government has always given deaf ears to the needs of such states and what’s more, it has directly or indirectly caused hindrance to the development of such states for political vendetta.  This is especially true to those states where the chief minister is not very dynamic and daring enough to fight the central government for the development of the state.

This is what happens to Odisha as well at least since last 15 years. No doubt Chief Minister Naeen Patnaik, is doing exceedingly well in Odisha. But he could do much more if there is constant support from the central government.

Few years ago the central government stopped many mining activities in the state on the ground of environmental concerns. Union Cabinet on Thursday referred the MB Shah commission of inquiry report on illegal mining in Odisha to the committee of secretaries (CoS) to suggest further action which may include recovery of nearly Rs 60,000 crore from the miners and a CBI probe into roles of public servants in allocating mines to private companies. 

The commission has severely indicted both the Centre and the Odisha government on illegal mining of iron and manganese ores in its 5-volume report and it is bound to be a political hot potato for the BJD government as well as the Congress ahead of next year's Lok Sabha poll. 

Finance minister P Chidambaram said the Cabinet has asked the CoS to formulate an action taken report (ATR), which along with the Shah commission report, will be tabled in Parliament. 

He, however, refused to divulge the details of the report, saying, "It is the first report, and I think it is in 4 or 5 volumes. We are asking the CoS to draw up the ATR. The report of the Shah commission, appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, must be placed before House together with an action taken report. The ATR will be drafted by a CoS and then the Cabinet will take a final view on that." 

Besides indicting both the Centre and the Odisha government, the commission also asked the state to recover over Rs 59,203 crore from the miners and use the amount for the development of two districts, Keonjhar and Sundergarh, "badly affected by illegal excess mining". 

It also recommended granting all future mining leases via auction route only and asked the government to revisit environment clearances given to all 55 mining leases which are located along the Baitarani River. Till the completion of the exercise, "the mines may be closed", it said.