Odisha joins hand with Srilanka to revive Buddhist Link

The Kalinga-India Foundation was launched at the Sri Lankan High Commission here on Thursday by High Commissioner Prasad Kariyaswasam and India's former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh. The foundation, based in Gurgaon is part of Kariyawasam's endeavours on developing unique ties with individual Indian states on the basis of their cultural linkages with the island nation.

Besides spearheading initiatives to build upon the common heritage between Odisha-- traditionally known as Kalinga-- and Sri Lanka, the foundation would encourage investment to exploit the human and mineral resources of the two. It would also promote research in socio-cultural and economic ties and give institutional support to scholars and artistes. The more visible impact of the foundation would be to promote and facilitate the visits of tourists and pilgrims to sites in two regions.

Mansingh, a recipient of Odisha's Kharavela Samman said, “In the last decade, the state has had political stability and we get dozens of proposals for investment. The foundation would facilitate entrepreneurs from Odisha and Sri Lanka to go for joint ventures.” He added that the strategic locations of Lankan and Odia ports offers easy access to the markets of South East Asia.

Mr. Kariyawasam said that reinvigorating the ancient links of Lanka to Kalinga with a productive, vibrant and stable relationship with Odisha would complement robust ties with India. “When South Asia and Asia rise, our two regions that once controlled the sea trade at the time may also rise,” he said.

Besides a common Buddhist heritage, Sinhala kings have been from Kalinga. The founder of the Sinhala race was Kalinga's Prince Vijaya and the tooth relic of the Buddha in Kandy -- considered a national symbol of Lanka-- was also brought Dantapura in Kalinga.

Kariyawasam who is set to take on the key diplomatic role of Ambassador to the United States, had earlier facilitated the establishment of a temple to Sita near Nuwara Eliya sponsored by the Madhya Pradesh government. The High Commission has taken keen interest in participating and providing inputs to the Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies in MP.

The relationship with Odisha is linked to the rise of state's mining industry. The cultural, linguistic and behavioural similarities of Odisha and Lanka in addition to sites of common heritage like the Buddhist Diamond circuit of monuments in state are focus areas of the foundation.

Among the invitees senior politician KP Singh Deo, leader of the Biju Janata Dal in the Lok Sabha-- Bhartruhari Mahtab, renowned hotelier T. Banambar Patra, industrialist K. Madhusudana Choudary, artist Jatin Das, economist Santosh Panda, former Odisha Chief Secretary Debi Prasad Bagchi and several serving and former bureaucrats.

Orissa Essential Services (Maintenance) Act (ESMA) imposed at MCL, Talcher

Angul (Odisha): With growing dependency on energy to carter the ever growing industrial sector and over-reliance on thermal power sources, India is spending a large amount of foreign currency to buy coal from America, Australia and many other foreign countries. This phenomenon has been severely criticized by economist as well as policy makers, especially in a situation when the value of rupee is  so high against international currencies like dollar. 

Since long time many scholars are recommending the government to expedite domestic sources to produce more coals to support India's growing energy needs. However, the erstwhile Congress government was not giving any heed to such proposals. However, with BJP on the center with a full majority and Naveen Patnaik with a  never before strong mandate, the situation has changed. 

The State Government has recently imposed the Orissa Essential Services (Maintenance) Act (ESMA), 1988 in the industrial belt of Talcher for six months to prevent strike, agitation and blockade which might affect coal production and dispatch to NTPC and Nalco power plants.

Though the notification in this regard was issued by Home Department earlier this month, it reached here three days before. The notification that states that all strikes have been prohibited in Talcher coalfield and at two NTPC plants came into force from April 24.

The notification has evoked widespread resentment among the locals who used to resort to agitation to get justice in compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement issues. “The Government should solve these issues before throttling the voice of the people who are at the receiving end and are demanding justice in a democratic manner,” a local said. 

Imposition of ESMA, 1988 is especially critical because it does not allow rightful protest by labour bodies which is a direct violation of human rights as well as labour law violation. Now the question is whether people's mandate for a strong government at the center and state mean, 'allowing the authority to violate human rights for industrial development'? Why the employees at MCL must not be allowed their rightful rights?

Mass termination at MCL, Talcher in Odisha

MCL, an arm of state-owned Coal India Ltd, has terminated the services of 126 employees in Odisha for not vacating the land in lieu of which they were given the job as per the terms of appointment, said an official. 

"In total, 126 Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd (CIL arm) employees who were given jobs against the land were sacked as they were not vacating land in place of which they were offered jobs in the company," according to a Coal India official. "They had violated tthe terms and conditions of the appointment. Even after giving them jobs they were unwilling to vacate their lands. As a result, disciplinary action was taken against them," the official said. 

The employees who were placed in the Talcher coalfields of MCL were given final notice in November last year, he said. As on December 2013, more than 11,292 jobs are provided in the MCL to those who gave up their land, the official added. As on April 1, 2014, MCL has 22,278 people on its roll, he said. 

Talcher Coalfield is located in Angul district of Odisha, in the valley of the Brahmani. MCL, formed in April 1993 and created out of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd and Central Coalfields Ltd. The company produced 107.89 million tonne coal in FY'13 as per its website. 

Obtaining jobs in lieu of providing land has been a major issue in Angul district of Odisha in recent years due to the influx of large scale industries. Similar problems have been regularly reported from the Jindal and Bhusan Steel plants situated in Angul district.

Source : ET

50% Growth in Crorepatis in Odisha Assembly members in Five Years

One of the poorest state in India, Odisha has surprisingly largest number of richest elected members in its legislative assembly. Odisha assembly this time will have at least 76 crorepatis while their were only 32 after the 2009 elections, according to a report by Odisha Election Watch (OEW). Its a growth of more than fifty percent in the last five years. Out of the 147 winners analysed by the OEW, 76 (52 per cent) winners are crorepatis, while there were only 32 (24 per cent) crorepati winners in last assembly polls, said Ranjan Mohanty, state coordinator of the OEW.

While 62 (53 per cent) out of 117 winners from BJD are crorepatis, nine (56 per cent) out 16 winners come from Congress and four (40 per cent) out of the ten from BJP are crorepatis. The average assets of 147 winners is Rs 3.22 crores. The average assets per winner for 117 BJD winners is Rs 2.03 crores, for ten BJP winners the average is Rs 13.44 crores and for 16 Congress MLAs it is Rs 1.92 crores, the report said.

The top three winners with highest declared assets are identified as Dilip Kumar Ray of BJP from Rourkela (Rs 106 cr), Independent Sanatan Mahakud from Champua (Rs 69 crore) and BJP’s Nitesh Gangadeb from Deogarh (Rs 17 crore). Three winners with lowest declared assets are all from BJD. They are Priyanshu Pradhan from Chhatrapur (Rs 2.76 lakh), Basanti Mallick from Mohana (Rs 3 lakh) and Ramesh Patua (Rs 3 lakh) from Rengali.

Meanwhile, at least 52 (35 per cent) of the 147 winners this time have declared criminal cases against them while in 2009 there were 42 (31 per cent) winners with criminal cases out of the 134 winners, it said. In terms party-wise winners with criminal cases, Mohanty said, 32 (27 per cent) out of 117 winners from BJD have declared criminal cases against them while nine (56 per cent) of the 16 from Congress and eight (80 per cent) out of 10 from BJP have declared criminal cases in their affidavits.

Significantly, the OEW report said that 23 (20 per cent) out of 117 winners from the BJD have declared serious criminal cases against them while eight out of 16 winners from Congress and seven out of 10 winners from BJP have declared serious criminal cases in their affidavits.

Source: The Indian Express

6.0 Magnitude Earthquake in Odisha

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook Odisha and many eastern Indian States on Wednesday evening.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the seismic event was of moderate intensity and had its epicentre in Bay of Bengal, about 310 km south-east of Seismological Observatory of Bhubaneswar, Director, Sarat Chandra Sahu, said.

The IMD, which recorded the time of the earthquake at 9.52 pm, said no tsunami alert has been issued. The earthquake’s epicentre was measured at latitude 18.3 degree North and Longitude 87.9 degree East, at a depth of about 10 km in the sea.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, a body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, first estimated the intensity at 6.6 on the Richter Scale before revising it to 5.8.

The USGS National Earthquake Information Centre, however, recorded it at 6.0.

The earthquake, which was felt across the State, left people panicked though no major damage or loss of life was reported.

People ran out of their houses at almost all the places. Many apartments witnessed stampede-like situation as panic-struck people tried to get to the ground floor.

Reports from coastal towns of Puri, Paradip, Bhadrak, Gopalpur and Berhampur said that people felt the tremors for several seconds. It lasted for about 10 seconds in some parts of Bhubaneswar, whereas in Puri, the impact was felt for about 5 to 10 seconds.

The impact sent awe and shock among people of the Capital City, who perhaps felt tremor of such magnitude for the first time. Patients fled the hospitals while people made frantic calls to find out about their near and dear ones. As the realisation dawned that it was an earthquake, people started making calls, but almost all mobile service providers drew a blank with calls not going through.

“My initial reaction was the roof would come down as I felt a rail engine rammed right through my house, such was the sound,” said Aditya Panda, a resident of BJB Nagar. Initial reports said apartments in Nayapalli, Kalpana Square and Shyampur area had developed cracks, but it could not be confirmed.

At least 50 persons were admitted to Capital Hospital __ some with serious injuries and most with minor ones __  after they tried to run for safety. Deepak Swain of Pokhariput jumped from the rooftop and fractured his leg. One Pawan Gaud, 45, sustained head injuries after the asbestos of his house collapsed. Rajani Mandal of Satya Nagar tripped from the staircase while trying to run downstairs.

With fear reigning supreme, rumour mills went on the overdrive. People were reluctant to enter their houses apprehending aftershocks.

Delay in Puri Jagannath Temple conservation works. Odisha government blames ASI

Ahead of this year’s Rath Yatra and Nabakalebara festival in 2015, the Odisha Government has expressed concern over tardy pace of conservation and renovation work of Jagannath Temple being carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Voicing Government’s concern, Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra has written to Ministry of Culture seeking visit of two technical committees during July for joint inspection of the sanctum sanctorum of the 12th century shrine where the problems of humidity and temperature have lingered on.

This is despite the fact that ASI has a dedicated team stationed at Puri to carry out the conservation tasks faster. “I have been assured by the Union secretary of Culture that a dedicated office of the ASI will be set up at Puri,” Aravind Padhee, chief administrator of Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said on January 2014.

Padhee, while speaking to newsmen at that time had said the assurance has come from the Union Culture secretary Ravindra Singh at a meeting he had with him in Puri. Singh who was also present at the briefing said, “The temple administration has informed me about the conservation issues of the ancient shrine. Sri Jagannath Temple is an important place and we will do whatever is required for its conservation”. Singh had assured that the conservation work of the temple will be completed before the Nabakalebar of the Lords in 2015.

But it seems the ASI speed of work is not as per their commitment which has made the odisha government worried because of the approaching Rathyatra soon. Pointing out that the joint review in January had focused on expediting the conservation of ‘Garbha Griha’, ‘Jagamohana’, ‘Nata Mandapa’, ‘Bhoga Mandapa’ and the subsidiary shrines, Mohapatra said the pace of progress and urgency to complete the work by ASI “appears to be sluggish”.

The Chief Secretary’s letter to Union Culture Secretary Ravinder Singh spoke about the nagging problems of humidity and temperature inside the ‘Garbha Griha’ that  remain unresolved.

Mohapatra pointed out that two technical committees had been formed in the past for looking into different problems of the temple. During 1992-93, a panel under the chairmanship of Prof AP Gupta, former head of Civil Engineering Department of IIT Kharagpur, had been formed to oversee the conservation of the sanctum sanctorum. It had Director (Conservation) and Director (Science) of ASI as members besides officials of the State Government.

Subsequently, another technical committee was formed by ASI in 2006 for directing as well as monitoring the works of ‘Jagamohana’, ‘Nata Mandapa’ and ‘Bhoga Mandapa’. The panel was headed by Director General of ASI. The technical committees time their inspection of the sanctum sanctorum during the Car Festival when the deities are out on their annual sojourn and inside of the shrine is accessible for at least seven days. This year, the inspection of the ‘Garbha Griha’ has been planned on July 2, three days after Rath Yatra.

Mohapatra has requested Singh to ask the Director General of ASI, Director (Conservation) and Director (Sciences) to expedite the conservation works and resolve related problems at the earliest. Besides, the national agency must ensure that the senior officials participate in the joint inspection of the sanctum sanctorum on the scheduled date, the letter stated.

Only seven AAP Candidates in Odisha got more than 2000 votes in the assembly election

Aam Admi Party (AAP) has failed to take off in Odisha with its candidates making no impact in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

AAP candidates had contested in 106 out of 147 assembly seats in the State. However, 58 of 106 candidates could not garner more than 1,000 votes. Many candidates have got less than 300 votes.

In Aul assembly segment in Kendrapara district, Soumya Ranjan Dhal of AAP secured 248 votes whereas Congress candidate Debendra Sharma, who won the seat, polled 81,254 votes. Similarly, in Chandbali and Basudebpur, AAP candidate got 257 and 276 votes respectively.

Only seven candidates were able to cross the 2000 mark in the assembly election.

Ajay Kumar Das in Kantabanji assembly seat in Bolangir district seems to be the only saving grace for the new party. Although he was not in the top three candidates in the seat, the AAP candidate got 20,333 votes. In neighbouring, Patnagarh constituency, Sunil Goel secured 5,588 votes. Only these two candidates of AAP had managed votes in excess of 5,000.

Even AAP has failed to make an impact in urban areas like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela, where it had claimed to have good support base. The performance in Lok Sabha election is even worse. Lingaraj Pradhan, AAP’s face in Odisha who was considered to have realistic chance of winning the election, finished sixth with 15,672 votes in Bargarh Lok Sabha seat whereas the winning BJD candidate secured 38,3320 votes, 24 times of AAP votes.

The party had fielded candidates in 18 out of 21 seats. Only three candidates got more than 10,000 votes. In Balasore, the AAP candidate got 2,664.

AAP got fewer votes than that of ‘None Of The Above’ option. In Lok Sabha election, 3,32,780 voteers opted for NOTA in comparison to 1,47,898 for AAP. Situation was somewhat similar in Assembly election. AAP’s vote share in Assembly election is 0.6 per cent whereas NOTA’s share constitutes 1.3 per cent. In fact, AAP’s vote shares in both Assembly and Lok Sabha election was not even 1 per cent of total votes polled in the State.

Source : The Hindu

A Special Paper on Odisha Politics in Ravenshaw University

This will be definitely a new initiative by the professors in the Ravenshaw University, situated in Cuttack, Odisha, that will not only give the students a firth hand experience about the political scenarios of the state, but it will also help the student to go through practical politics on the backdrop of political theories.  The massive win of BJD in assembly and Lok Sabha polls, Narendra Modi's failure to sway voters in Odisha, downfall of Congress and such events in 2014 elections have encouraged Ravenshaw University here to include a special paper on Odisha's political scenario in its curriculum.

The university authorities have decided to introduce 'political and social change in Odisha' for postgraduate students of political science. A team of faculty members are busy designing the content of the course, which will be introduced from this academic session, varsity sources said.

The decision was taken at a two-day seminar, organized by the varsity, to discuss curriculum reforms. Noted political scientists participated in the event, which concluded on Saturday, and proposed a special subject on Odisha politics.

"Our students study political economy and history of America. It's an irony that they know nothing about Odisha's political background. Electoral politics in Odisha is a very interesting subject and a lot of research work can be done on it," said Bishnu Mohapatra, a former faculty of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Initially, it will be an optional paper. The authorities would make it a compulsory subject after assessing the response of students, varsity sources added.

"The syllabus will be an amalgamation of traditional and contemporary development in Odisha politics," said Ravenshaw vice-chancellor B C Tripathy. It is being prepared under Mohapatra's guidance, he added.

Source : TOI 

Naveen Patnaik to be sworn as the CM of Odisha consecutively for fourth time

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has registered an emphatic victory by winning as many as 20 of the 21 the Lok Sabha seats in Odisha and 117 seats in the 147-member State Assembly. He will soon become the Chief Minister of Odisha in consecutively for fourth time a rare feet achieved by very few leaders in India.  

Mr. Patnaik, who led his party to an unprecedented victory in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls by challenging both Congress and BJP, was set to become the Chief Minister for the fourth consecutive term. According the official announcement of the results made by the Election Commission on Saturday, the BJP won the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat where its candidate former Union Minister Jual Oram emerged victorious by defeating BJD nominee and ace hockey player Dilip Tirkey by a margin of 18829 votes. The Congress failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat in the State.

The BJD had won 14 Lok Sabha seats, while Congress had won six and Communist Party of India one in the 2009 election. The BJP had failed to win any Lok Sabha seat in 2009. Of the 147 Assembly seats, the BJD bagged 117, Congress 16, BJP 10, CPI(M) one, Samata Kranti Dal one and Independents two. In the 2009 Assembly polls, the BJD had won 103 Assembly seats in 2009, while Congress had won 27 and BJP six.

The division of the anti-BJD votes among the opposition parties helped the BJD register a clean sweep in both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the State, according to political analysts. The Modi wave, which helped the BJP increase its vote share with regard to both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the State, apparently helped the BJD in winning more number of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in comparison to the simultaneous polls held in 2009.

After the initial trends indicated a massive victory for his party on Friday, Mr. Patnaik had thanked the people for reposing their faith in the good governance of his government and his party’s commitment to serve the interests of the State. He had also specially thanked the women of the State for voting for BJD in large numbers.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJD bagged 44.1 per cent votes, while Congress got 26.0 per cent and BJP 21.5 per cent.As regards the vote share in the Assembly polls, BJD got 43.4 per cent of votes, while the Congress got 25.7 per cent and BJP 18.0 per cent.

Source : The Hindu