Education Bill will Put More Burden on State Finance

The Right to Education Bill passed in Parliament will entail additional financial burden and the Centre needs to increase allocations by way of enhancing its share under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) from 50 to 75 per cent, said chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik today. Back from New Delhi, Mr Patnaik said he had raised the issue at his meeting with Union human resource development minister Mr Kapil Sibal.
Elaborating on his meeting with Mr Sibal, the chief minister told reporters here that he had also requested the minister to expedite work on setting up a world class varsity at Bhubaneswar and include engineering and medical streams in the proposed central varsity at Koraput.
Mr Patnaik said he had taken up matters relating to expansion of the National Horticulture Mission and the setting up of a National Fishery Mission in the state with Union minister Mr Sharad Pawar.
"Mr Pawar has agreed to extend coverage of the horticulture mission to three more districts as against my request to add six districts," said the chief minister.
With regards to the proposal for setting up a National Fishery Mission in Orissa, Mr Pawar said he would examine it, added the CM.
Mr Patnaik went on to iterate the discussions he had had with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. "I appraised him of the Polavaram project conceived by Andhra Pradesh and how it will cause submergence in bordering villages of Orissa," said Mr Patnaik. "The Prime Minister said he will examine it thoroughly," added Mr Patnaik.
He was hopeful that the royalty on minerals, another point made forcefully at his meeting with the PM, would be increased. Something substantial would be done on the revision of royalty, he observed.

Orissa Police to visit New Delhi

Is CBI director Aswini Kumar mounting pressure on Orissa Home Secretary AP Padhi and DGP MM Praharaj to cover up the mysterious murder of IAS officer Jagadananda Panda and his family members?
The million dollar question has cropped in everybody’s mind after the Orissa cops delayed the investigation processes.
Orissa Police would a send a high level team to New Delhi to track down few more information in connection with the murder of IAS officer.
Panda, 54, was Friday found dead along with his wife, father and two sisters. Days before the incident, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team raided his office and houses to ascertain if he was involved and to what extent in the illegal immigration racket
The team would visit the residence of Panda, a 1983-batch Orissa cadre IAS officer and Protector General of Immigrants in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in its bid to find clues to ascertain the reason behind the extreme step taken by him
If necessary, the team could record statements of certain people in Delhi and also conduct inquiry at the office of Panda, sources said.
They said the ballistic experts from Bhubaneswar, who conducted thorough investigation at Panda's house in his native village Deogaon in Bargarh district, indicated that the slain family members of the 54-year-old officer had been shot when they were asleep.
There are indications that Panda's wife Surekha had been killed first, probably when she was sitting on a sofa, while his father and two sisters were shot subsequently before the bureaucrat pointed the gun at himself, they said.
The lone survivor is Panda's 22-year-old son Swapneswar, who is in a state of coma and undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, police said.The IAS officer was apparently depressed due to CBI raids on his office and residential premises, they said.
Meanwhile, Panda's cousin Muralidhar, who is a special public prosecutor, refuses to buy police theory that the IAS Officer was stressed out by allegations of his involvement in a human trafficking scam, and therefore shot his family members and himself.
The circumstances at the spot are not compatible with the suicide theory,' he said.'I visited the spot, attended the funeral and saw their bodies in the hospital. Six bullets were fired one after other which can be done only by a sharp shooter,' he said.'Police should examine if there was any threat to the life of Jagadananda and his family. His son was posted in a private company at Noida New Delhi. Why was he asked to come home?'
Jagadananda was asked by authorities to go on leave. If he was guilty in the scam, he could have been suspended but that was not done,' Muralidhar said. Muralidhar said there may have been threat to Panda and his son's lives and that is why 'he released his service revolver from armory which he had deposited four years ago.'

Students 'strip' Class VI girl in Orissa school

A Class VI girl at a Central school was allegedly disrobed by fellow students and later made to sing and dance for a hostel prefect. The girl was so traumatized by the severe bullying that her parents were forced to seek her transfer certificate and enroll her in a village school.

The victim, Rupali Mohapatra (name changed), alleged that some of her classmates at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Mundulihas near Cuttack stripped her because she was not wearing the school uniform. She pleaded with her tormentors that it was her first day at school and she was also running a high temperature, but to no avail.

After returning to the hostel, a prefect asked her to sing and dance. The prefect, along with some other senior students, forced her to do their bidding, threatening her that she would be subjected to more harassment if she disobeyed them. Unable to bear the bullying, the girl called up her father the following day and pleaded with him to take her home.

"The incident happened on July 12, the very day my daughter joined the residential school. On July 13, I brought her back. I first thought she was depressed because she had fever. It was only later that she narrated her harrowing experience," Rupali's father, Sukanta Mohapatra, said. "My innocent child was traumatized and refused to go back to the school. So I sought a transfer certificate," he added.

The aggrieved father has asked the school authorities to probe the case and also written to the chief minister, the higher education minister and the collector.

He, however, has not filed a police complaint. "I don't want the students to be punished because they are kids. I just want that such incidents must not be repeated. No other child should suffer the mental agony my daughter went through," Mohapatra, a teacher by profession, said.

School authorities have, however, denied the charges. "The allegations of harassment are baseless. No such incident occurred in the school. Many students are unable to cope with hostel life and cook up such stories to go back home. Every year we come across such cases, but no one ever made such nasty allegations," principal S B Rao said. He even denied receiving any letter from the student's father.

Mohapatra said, "My daughter is a talented student and cherished the dream to study in Navodaya Vidyalaya because it is the best school in our area. Why should she cook stories?"

Source:Times of India

E-admission process kicks off in Orissa colleges

E-admission has become a reality in Orissa as the irst selection list of the students was published on Monday. Around 28261 students have been selected in the first phase to make entry under the e-admission policy for 60 Junior colleges in the state this year. The selection list of the students was published on Monday.

For the first time in the country, the Orissa government introduced e-admission process for entry to 60 junior colleges across the state for the 2009-10 academic session. The new system would reduce the cost of admission and feeling of uncertainty among the aspiring students.

Sources said that 49172 applications were received for 30804 seats (of all streams) in the 60 colleges. The first phase admission would be held on August 9 and 10. Final admission would be held between August 10 and 14. The second phase selection list would come out on August 16. Admission would take place on August 21. Classes would start on August 31.

It may be mentioned that the 60 colleges, included all the 50 government junior colleges, Basic Science Junior College under Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology and nine aided junior colleges in the district headquarters of Rayagada, Nowarangpur, Subarnapur, Boudh, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara.

I am not a fool: Shilpa

The authorities of Orissa's revered Gopinath Deb temple at Sakhigopal filed a complaint recently against Shilpa Shetty accusing her of having walked into the temple with footwear on and hurting religious sentiments. The authorities filed the FIR at Satyabadi police station.

However, Shilpa insists that they were being biased against her. "I know one should enter a temple with taking your shoes off. In fact, we were supposed to be shooting inside the temple, but the punditjis raised an objection, so we shot on the steps outside. I had kept my footwear in my car, as I didn't want to wear them even in the vicinity of the temple! I had no footwear on when we shot the whole scene," says Shilpa. "Later, I decided to enter the temple without the footwear of course to take God's darshan. How could I not go and visit the temple when I was there? But I don't know what happened, when I came out, one of the guys started screaming,
'How could she be allowed inside?' I didn't know why he was making such a fuss. Thankfully, my bodyguard took me to safety quickly. And the next thing I know was that a case was filed against me that I entered the temple with footwear on!"

She adds, "This is preposterous! I am a spiritually inclined person and I know the temple laws very well. I am not a fool to enter a temple with my footwear on. This is rubbish. They are just looking for attention."

Then on a lighter note, Shilpa says, "It's all right, I am getting used to controversies now. Wherever I go, one is created."

IAS officer suicide: Orissa Police team to visit Delhi

A police team from Orissa is likely to visit Delhi shortly to find clues to ascertain the reason behind alleged killing of four family members by a senior IAS officer and his suicide two days ago, police said on Sunday.

The team would visit the residence of Jagdanand Panda, a 1983-batch Orissa cadre IAS officer in its bid to find clues to ascertain the reason behind the extreme step taken by him, Bargarh Superintendent of Police Ashok Biswal said.

If necessary, the team could record statements of certain people in Delhi and also conduct inquiry at the office of Panda, who was Protector General of Emigrants, sources said.

They said the ballistic experts from Bhubaneswar, who conducted thorough investigation at Panda's house in his native village Deogaon near here on Friday, indicated that the slain family members of the 54-year-old officer had been shot when they were asleep.

There are indications that Panda's wife Surekha had been killed first, probably when she was sitting on a sofa, while his father and two sisters were shot subsequently before the bureaucrat pointed the gun at himself, they said.

The lone survivor is Panda's 22-year-old son Swapneswar, who is in a state of coma and undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, police said.

The IAS officer was apparently depressed due to CBI raids on his office and residential premises, they said.

Orissa temple authorities file case against Shilpa Shetty

Actress Shilpa Shetty is in trouble. Authorities of the Sakhigopal temple in Orissa on Friday lodged a police complaint against the actress.

The temple authorities have raised objections to Shetty entering the shrine with armed guards and lensmen who had their shoes on.

According to temple authorities, Shetty was told that entering the shrine with shoes and that use of camera was prohibited but the actress reportedly paid no heed to the priests.

A complaint has been lodged at Satyabadi police station in Orissa's Puri district.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation. Yesterday, in the evening, a group of people, filmstars came for a shooting of a serial. Cameras, arms, guns, caps are prohibited in the premises of the temple,” said MLA of Satyawadi constituency, Prasad Harichandan.