ଆମର ଓଡ଼ିଶା Aamar Odisha

Oriya rendering in Windows7

2011-11-20T05:54:00.004+05:30

Windows-7, ରେ ପ୍ରଥମ ଥର ପାଈଁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ୟୁନିକୋଡର ସୁବିଧା ଆସିପାରିଛି।

ଏଥିରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପାଇଁ କଲିଂଗ kalinga ଫୋଂଟ ପ୍ରୟୋଗ ହେଉଛି। ଏଇଟା ଅତି ସୁନ୍ଦର ଏବଂ ସ୍ପଷ୍ଟ ଅଟେ।

Windows-7ର ଓଡ଼ିଆ କୀ-ବୋର୍ଡ ରେ ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣଚ୍ଛେଦ Danda ଟାଇପ କରିବା ପାଇଁ କୌଣସି ବ୍ୟବସ୍ଥା ନାହିଁ। କାରଣ ଓଡ଼ିଆ Danda ୟୁନିକୋଡ ରେ ଅଲଗାକରି କୋଡିଂଗ କରାଯାଇ ନାହିଁ। ଏହା ଦେବନାଗରୀ ୟୁନିକୋଡ ରୁ ହିଁ ଟାଇପ କରାଯାଏ। ଅନ୍ୟ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଆଈ.ଏମ.ଈ. ରେ ଏହା ଦେବନାଦରୀ ରୁ ନିଆ ଜାଏ। କିନ୍ତୁ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଫୋଂଟ ରେ ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣଚ୍ଛେଦ ରେ ଗ୍ଲୀଫ ଥାଏ। ସେଥିରୁ କାମ ଚଳି ଯାଏ।

ଓଡ଼ିଆ କୀ-ବୋର୍ଡ ରେ ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣଚ୍ଛେଦ ର ବ୍ୟବସ୍ଥା କଲେ ଏହା ଟାଇପ କରାଯାଇପାରେ। କିନ୍ତୁ କଳିଂଗ ଫୋଂଟ ରେ ଆ-କାର ମାତ୍ରା ଏବଂ ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣଚ୍ଛେଦ ଏକାପ୍ରକାର ଦେଖାଯାଏ ଏବଂ ଭ୍ରମ ସୃଷ୍ଟି କରେ। ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣଚ୍ଛେଦ ପୂର୍ବରୂ କିଛି ସ୍ପେସ ଦେଲେ ଏବଂ ଏହାକୁ ଆକାର-ମାତ୍ରାରୁ ଟିକେ ଅଧିକା ଉଚ୍ଚା କଲେ ଭଲ ହୁଅନ୍ତା।

ପୁନଶ୍ଚ କଳିଂଗ ଫୋଂଟ ରେ-

'ୱ' ଫଳା U0B4D+U0B71 ଅର୍ଥାତ୍ ହଲନ୍ତ ଏବଂ 'ୱ' ଅକ୍ଷର ଟାଇପ କଲେ ଆସେ,ଯାହା କି ମଧୁ ବାବୂଙ୍କ ବର୍ଣ୍ଣବୋଧ ଅନୁସାରେ ଠିକ ଅଟେ। ଯଥା-

ଜ୍ୱାଲା, ଦ୍ୱାରିକା, ପକ୍ୱ, ତତ୍ୱ, ବିଶ୍ୱ

କିନ୍ତୁ, CDACର ଏବଂ ଅନ୍ୟ ମାନଙ୍କର ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଫୋଂଟ ରେ U0B4D+U0B2C ଅର୍ଥାତ୍ ହଲନ୍ତ ଏବଂ 'ବ' ଟାଇପ କଲେ ଆସେ। ଏବା ପ୍ରଚଳିତ ପାଠ୍ୟ ଅନୁସାରେ ଠିକ, କିନ୍ତୁ 'ବ' ଏବଂ 'ୱ' ରେ ଭ୍ରମ ସୃଷ୍ଟି କରେ।

କଲିଂଗ ଫୋଂଟ ରେ U0B4D+U0B2C ଅର୍ଥାତ୍ ହଲନ୍ତ ଏବଂ 'ବ' ଟାଇପ କଲେ 'ବ' ଫଳା ଆସେ, ଯାହା ଧ୍ୱନି ବିଜ୍ଞାନ ଅନୁସାରେ ଠିକ, ଯଥା

ଜ୍ବାଲା, ଦ୍ବାରିକା, ପକ୍ବ, ତତ୍ବ, ବିଶ୍ବ, ବୁଦ୍ବୁଦ

ସମସ୍ତ ଫୋଂଟ ନିର୍ମାତାଙ୍କୁ ୟୁନିକୋଡ ରେ ଏକ ନିଶ୍ଚିତ ପଦ୍ଧତି ଅନୁସରଣ କରିବା ଉଚିତ।

Naveen demands Rs 1027 crore Centre Aids for farmers

2010-12-26T02:45:00.002+05:30

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has demanded a compensation package of Rs 1,027 crore from the Centre for the farmers in the state hit by unseasonal rains.

The demand was made by Patnaik during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. The Prime Minister has assured Patnaik that a Central team would be sent to assess the situation.

The crop loss was experienced in around 12 lakh hectares of land in the state.

Patnaik had informed the assembly that farmers were badly affected due to heavy spell of unseasonal rain from December 6-13.

“The state government had decided to assist farmers with an ex-gratia of Rs 2,000 per hectare who suffered crop loss of more than 50 percent due to the heavy unseasonal cyclonic rains. The state government would spend Rs 240 crore on this front”, he said.

“This is over and above the agricultural input subsidy (AIS) at the rate of Rs 2,000 per hectare for rain-fed areas, Rs 4,000 per hectare for irrigated land and Rs 6,000 per hectare for perennial crops to be provided as per the norms of the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF)”, he added.

Of the Rs 900 crore, the state government would have to take the burden of Rs 600 crore while Central fund worth Rs 300 crore would come from CRF, revenue and disaster management minister, S N Patra said in the assembly.

Orissa State Wide Area Network (OSWAN) project under National e-Governance Plan

2010-12-22T00:33:00.003+05:30

The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated the Orissa State Wide Area Network (OSWAN) Project for the usage by various Departments of Govt. of Orissa. Orissa State Wide Area Network - OSWAN is a Flagship Project under the National e-Governance Plan.

It will provide reliable and secure connectivity within the State Administration to make the Government more pro-active and increase the efficiency of Government delivery mechanism. It will also provide a secured backbone for encouraging electronic transactions between Government Departments at all levels resulting in better delivery of Government Services to the citizens in the State.

More importantly, OSWAN will help in Video Conferencing and IP phone connectivity which can be very useful for Real Time Video & Audio conferencing for the review of various programmes by the different departments with District and Block officials, especially with regard to poverty alleviation programmes and Disaster Management. The State-of-art RPX Conferencing Facility available under OSWAN Project provides a feeling of real presence with better Video and Audio clarity. It will help in imparting training from Bhubaneswar to field level officials at District and Block levels. OSWAN will also provide e-mail connectivity to officials at State, District and Block on the common platform and with common domain, which will ensure a secured communication system. In the 2nd Phase of OSWAN, other key offices at State, District & Block level will be connected with similar facilities.

The Chief Minister congratulate the team of officials from Department of IT, Govt. of India as well as State Government, BSNL, the bandwidth provider, ITI-SPANCO the Network Operator and TCIL, the Consultant for successfully implementing the project.

Among others Minister of IT, Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Chief Secretary, Bijaya Kumar . Patnaik,Development Commissioner Rabi. Narayan . Senapati, Secretary, IT, D. N. Gupta,Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of Departments, Officials of Govt. of India, Govt. of Orissa were present.

Odisha Government admits Rs836 crore irregularity in Water Department

2010-12-22T00:28:00.002+05:30

Odisha government admitted irregularities to the tune of Rs836 crore in chief minister Naveen Patnaik held water resources department, but ruled out corruption charges against the office.

State parliamentary affairs minister Raghunath Mohanty, who replied on behalf of the chief minister, admitted there were irregularities in the department.

"Yes, I admit there was irregularities in the implementation of the AIBP (Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme) as pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). But the CAG report did not anywhere mention about corruption," Mohanty said while replying to a discussion on an adjournment motion.

The CAG in its 2009 report had said out of 33 projects under AIBP, only nine were completed as of March 2009. This led to cost overrun of Rs3,537.26 crore and time overrun up from two to 12 years.

Stating that CAG had also praised the water resources department for introduction of e-tendering and use of remote sensing for verification of projects, Mohanty said the state government had submitted its compliance report with the CAG.

The minister said implementation of lower Indra irrigation project, Indravati project and some other projects were delayed due to several factors.

Congress member SS Saluja, SS Bhoi, BJP member Jaynarayn Mishra expressed concern alleging that there was "rampant corruption" in the water resources department for which AIBP could not be implemented at right time.

Leader of opposition, Bhupinder Singh accused the state government of failing to utilise the central funds for implementation of irrigation projects while irrigation potential in most of the districts were very low.

"Only 3% of cultivable land in Balangir district was irrigated," the Congress leader pointed out and held the department under the chief minister as responsible for the miseries of the people.

Posco to set up plant in Karnataka

2010-11-17T20:32:00.003+05:30

If things work to plan, the Posco story may get a twist, and the Korean steel giant may come home to Karnataka. After a long-drawn battle with agencies to get environmental clearance for a Rs 50,000-crore integrated steel plant and captive port at Jagatsinghpur in Odisha, now it has set its sights on the state.

"One-third of the required ore will be mined in Karnataka. Posco officials met me recently and I told them that showing interest is not enough, there has to be some movement. They have deposited some funds with the government. The land for the factory will have to be cleared by the Karnataka Forest department,'' chief secretary S V Ranganath told.

While there were talks about the company being wooed by the state government, now land acquisition for the project is under way.

Interestingly, the CS confirmed that the company would source one-third of the ore from ore-rich areas of the state.

"One-third will be their own and one-third will be from us. The mines will have to get environmental clearance before anything else, so I don't see why we will have an experience like Orissa. Land acquisition is under way in two or three districts,"he added.

After they deposited Rs 60 crore just before the Global Investors' Meet (GIM) in June, their mining leases are in the process of being finalized. "They haven't got any leases yet but have a preference for five places — Gadag, Koppal, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Bellary. Once they tell us where, we will go ahead. They have applied for 2,000 acres of mining land,"principal secretary of the department of commerce and industries V P Baligar told The Times of India.

Posco's Orissa project uncertain

After a long-drawn battle with agencies to get environmental clearance for a Rs 50,000-crore integrated steel plant and captive port at Jagatsinghpur in Orissa, Korean steel giant Posco may well be coming to Karnataka.

After opposition from local communities and people who cited the Forest Rights Act violation in Orissa, the Union environment ministry-appointed Meena Gupta Committee pointed to grave violations of the Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and Forest Rights Act, and stated that clearances given so far were illegal and demanded their revocation.

The N C Saxena Panel, had demanded revocation of conditional forest clearance. The project's fate in Orissa is still undecided. The proposed project has been pending for five years. Posco officials recently announced in Seoul that Karnataka is an equally good option because it of its rich ore deposits.
Source:TOI

Vedanta University land acquisition illegal: Orissa HC

2010-11-16T20:43:00.002+05:30

The Orissa High Court on Tuesday quashed all the land acquisition procedures for the Vedanta University that was proposed to be established on a sprawling 8,000 acres near the Konark-Puri marine drive.

Terming the State government's notifications made to acquire and award the land in favour of the Anil Agarwal Foundation (AAF) for the proposed varsity as ‘illegal' and ‘bad in the eye of law,' a Division Bench of the court comprising Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.P. Das directed the Foundation to return the acquired land to its original owners.

The ruling of the High Court came while adjudicating jointly at least two public interest litigation petitions (PILs) and seven individual writ petitions, including one by Umaballav Rath, a former legislator from Puri and Chinmaya Kumar Mishra, a lawyer.

Flouted laws

The petitioners challenged the setting up of the proposed university on several grounds including that of the acquisition processes which were made in violation of the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 1894, Land Acquisition (Amendment) Act 1984 and Land Acquisition (Companies) Rules 1963.

They also contested the university project submitting that it would have an extreme debilitating impact on the eco-system and varied bio-diversity in the locality.

Similarly, they challenged the status of the Anil Agarwal Foundation that was changed to a ‘public company' from a ‘private company' called Vedanta Foundation in June, 2006 for the very purpose of acquiring land.

Urging the High Court to quash the land acquisition notifications, the petitioners also prayed for quashing of the MoU signed by the State government for the proposed University with Vedanta Foundation on July 19, 2006, which subsequently became the Anil Agarwal Foundation on September 6, 2006.

Taking up the batch of petitions for joint hearings, the court in its more than 100-page judgment framed at least 17 issues and discussing each of them individually found that the proposed project was at fault on all the counts.

Sterlite Foundation, a private limited company which subsequently changed to Vedanta Foundation in 2004 signed the MoU with the State government to set up the University on 15,000 acres near the Konark-Puri marine drive.

The varsity was to have undergraduate and postgraduate courses in engineering, medicine, management, general science and humanities.

Accordingly, the State government confirmed the availability of 8,000 acres of contiguous land for the University and subsequently made notifications to acquire over 6,500 acres, including over 1,300 acres belonging to the Lord Jagannath temple.

Britannia Ind to set up Odisha plant this fiscal

2010-11-13T19:55:00.004+05:30

Britannia Industries Ltd (BIL) will start production of bakery products at its upcoming manufacturing facilities in Bihar and Odisha (Orissa) a in 12-18 months, managing director Vinita Bali said on Friday.

“These will be large plants and we are looking to start operating them in over next year or a year and half,” Bali said, adding that the company would be investing Rs70-90 crore over the next year.

Britannia has been investing as much annually for last 5 years, she said.Bali was in Mumbai to announce the launch of a new diabetic-friendly biscuit the company is launching under its NutriChoice brand.

The company, which has effected a mix of price hikes and grammage reductions on its products over the past two years, is not ruling out further price hikes.

“We do it (price hikes) all the time. Prices of sugar, wheat and milk continue to go up. But our brands command a premium in price by 8-10%,” Bali said.

The company, which recently de-listed itself from the Calcutta Stock Exchange, said however that it would continue to manufacture from Taratala in Kolkata. “We are not shutting the plant in Taratala and we continue to produce products there,” Bali said.

Get paid Rs.750/month for adopting orphans in Odisha

2010-11-13T19:44:00.004+05:30

Families that adopt orphan children in Odisha (Orissa) will be paid a maintenance allowance of Rs.750 per month, it was announced here Saturday.

"The state has thousands of orphan children. While 800 such children were housed in 91 government-run orphanages, many still need care," state Women and Child Development Minister Pramila Mallick told IANS.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday at the state secretariat.

A formal notification in this regard is likely to be issued in a fortnight, Mallick said. The government is also working on procedures to identify such families that have adopted orphans.

The state government has been providing similar maintenance allowance to the registered orphanages in the state.
Source:ET

Eight Tribal Organizations for Vedanta - PIL against MoEF order

2010-11-12T22:10:00.004+05:30

In a demonstration of local support for the alumina refinery project of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL), eight tribal organizations of Lanjigarh have submitted writ petitions to the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, opposing the decision of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to stall the expansion of the refinery.

VAL had proposed to scale up the capacity of its alumina refinery from one million tonne per annum (mtpa) to six mtpa which was quashed by the MoEF.

The tribal organizations which have submitted the petition are Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar ( Rehabilitation Colony)-Lanjigarh; Lanjigarh Anchalika Bikash Parishad-Lanjigarh;Nabin Vikash Trust-Bisamcuttack in Rayagada district; Unnayan Anchalika Samiti-Lanjigarh; Alumina Refinery Labour Union-Lanjigarh; Niyamgiri Adivasi Vikash Parishad; Shakti Organisation- Rayagda and Kuii Bikash Parishad at Kurli in Rayagada district.

In an unprecedented move, hundreds of tribals of Lanjigarh and its peripheral villages came to Cuttack to appeal against the MoEF order in the Orissa High Court.

Backing VAL's expansion project, they stated that it is because of the refinery project of VAL that hundreds of locals could earn their livelihood either directly or indirectly. They also claimed the project has enabled them to live a life of dignity and integrate the tribals with the mainstream.

"The all-round development has been initiated in the villages because of VAL's project, resulting in raising the standard of education, medical facilities, infrastructure facilities, thereby giving confidence and assurance to the locals of Lanjigarh", they stated in their petition.

The petitioners argued that post the expansion of the refinery, the company could have spent Rs 80-100 crore per year on peripheral development which can provide livelihood opportunities for everyone in the area.

Owing to stalling of expansion work of the refinery by the MoEF, the tribals now fear that they would not be in a position to repay their loans.

Unfair deal for Odisha!

2010-11-11T21:47:00.002+05:30

First, it was the Niyamgiri project of Vedanta; now, the heat is on Posco. Why Odisha is singled out as far as industrialization is concerned. The state happens to be rich in mineral resources, but is very poor in terms of per capita income. Since independence, policies have widened the gap between the haves and have-nots. To be sure, any industrialization could entail deforestation, and Posco is no exception. In this, a balance between growth and conservation is a necessity.

At the same time, there is no denying the fact that the political establishment, both at the state and Central levels, have historically looked for political gains at the expense of Odisha’s economy.

UNESCO's 'Kalinga Samman' for Scientists From Odisha

2010-11-11T20:35:00.006+05:30

Fifty-eight years after sponsoring Kalinga Prize established by UNESCO for popularisation of science globally, Kalinga Foundation Trust (KFT) today announced introduction of 'Kalinga Samman' for the scientists from Orissa.

This was announced by information and public relations minister Prafulla Samal here today. The winner of the first Kalinga Samman would be honoured in presence of the UNESCO general conference President Davidson L Hepburn.

Though 63 scientists, including nobel laureates from 22 countries, have been honoured with Kalinga Prize none from the state could get it, Samal said.

Indian scientists could make it only five times while Britishers won Kalinga Prize 10 times followed by USA scientists for seven times. Scientists from India, France and Russia had got the prize for five times each.

"Therefore, KFT decided to honour son of the soil by introducing Kalinga Samman," Samal said adding the Samman would carry Rs 1 lakh cash prize and a citation for scientists and persons who have made outstanding contribution to the interpretation of science and technology to general public.

Legendary Biju Patnaik had founded KFT in 1951 which had been giving away the international Kalinga Prize annually from 1952. Kalinga Prize carried a cash prize of 12,000 pound and a citation.

Some of the great scientists/personalities who have been awarded Kalinga Prize are Louis de Brogile (1952), Julian Huxley (1953), George Gamow (1956), Bertrand Russel (1957), Karl von Frisch (1958), Arthur C. Clarke (1961), Fred Hoyle (1967) and Sergei Kapitza (1979).

Prof Yash Pal was winner of Kalinga Prize in 2009, said KFT secretary Bimal Das.

"We will also felicitate the UNESCO general conference president and the Kalinga Prize winners from India at a function here on November 12," Das said adding that UNESCO had recognised the foundation by naming a star after Kalinga on the occasion of its golden jubilee.

Mauritius President to visit KIIT & KISS

2010-11-11T20:27:00.000+05:30

A large number of international luminaries will be visiting KIIT and KISS during 12th to 14th November 2010. The visiting luminaries include Sir Anerood Jugnauth, His Excellency the President of Mauritius and Dr. Davidson L. Hepburn, President of UNESCO General Conference.

On 12th November 2010 on his visit Dr. Davidson L. Hepburn will inaugurate a UNESCO-KISS Groundwater for Emergency Situations (GWES) Project Office at KISS. He will be accompanied by a high level delegation of UNESCO and Shri A. Parsuraman, UNESCO Director at New Delhi.

Similarly, Prof. C. N. R. Rao, Chairman, Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister will address 1200 students at KIIT Convention Centre on the occasion of a seminar organized by NISER.

On 13th November, an 11-member high profile delegation of Washington State & India Trade Relations Action Committee (WASITRAC) from the United States will visit KIIT & KISS. The delegation will be led by Mr. Brad Owen, Washington State Lt. Governor and Mr. Jim Kastama, Senate Committee Chair on Higher Commission. Their programme includes an interaction session with the students of KISS. Also, they would hold a meeting with senior functionaries of KIIT, besides addressing the students of KIIT University.

On 14th November, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, His Excellency the President of Mauritius and Madam President, Smt. Sarojini Jugnauth will grace the Children's Day celebration as Chief Guest in KISS. His Excellency the President will interact with 12,000 tribal students of the institute. Sir Anerood Jugnauth will felicitate at a special Public Felicitation ceremony organized in his honour at Jaydev Bhawan. A large number of people from all walks of life are expected to attend this function.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurates Student Legal Literacy Club of 6,182 Schools

2010-11-11T19:36:00.001+05:30

The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated Student Legal Literacy Club of 6,182 schools in the state on Tuesday. It is the first in India to organize Student Legal Literacy Club with 6,182 schools. Minimum 10 and maximum 25 can be enrolled as its member. Every at least 6 classes will be taken.

The State Legal Aid /service Authoroty and Odisha High Court Legal Service Committee jointly organized the Legal Service day here in the Satabdi Bhawan on Tuesday. The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik grace the occasion as Chief Guest. The Chief Minister expressed that the steps are being taken to provide Legal service to the door step of the people.

The Chief Minister expected that the rural people can be aware of the legal service as the students will be provided primary legal literacy free of cost in the school legal literacy club. On the occasion the Chief Minister inaugurated a book on the legal service published by the Odisha State Legal Service Authority. Besides, the Chief Minister inaugurated a Legal service and Lok Adalat Van.

The Chief Justice of Odisha High Court V.Gopalgouda presided over the Occasion. The Chief Justice expressed that during the current year Rs 1 crore 32 lakh 91 thousand 387 has been collected revenue in 63 Lok Adalats and 2,079 people has been benefited.

The State Legal Service Authority Chairman Justice B.P.Das addressed the welcome speech . Among others Law Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh, School and Mass Education Minister Pratap Jena, Chief Secretary Bijaya Kumar Patnaik were grace the occasion as Guest of Honour. The Chairman of Odisha High Court Legal Service Justice Laxmikant Mohapatra proposed vote of thanks.
Source: Orissadiary

Former India hockey captain Dilip Tirkey launches Hockey Fest 2010-11

2010-11-10T21:44:00.000+05:30

Former India hockey captain Padmashree Dilip Tirkey launches Hockey Fest 2010-11 at Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

Through his newly formed organisation – Dilip Tirkey Sports Research and Development Foundation (DTSRF), he launched its maiden mega show — Hockey Fest 2010-11 – here at the CRPF stadium. At least 6-a-side eight teams are participating in the four-day competition.

Odisha Panchayati Raj director Arabinda Padhee and Ayush Hospital chief executive officer Dr Ashok Acharya inaugurated the tournament by hitting the ball.

Speaking about the tournament, Tirkey said the players of the participating teams were selected from among 64 rural teams that played zonal level tournaments in Sundergarh district.

Lok Sabha clears bill to rename Orissa as `Odisha'

2010-11-10T10:35:00.002+05:30

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday cleared legislation seeking to rename Orissa as Odisha and the language spoken in the state as Odia from Oriya.

The bill to alter the name of the eastern state was introduced in this year's budget session and was passed on the first day of the month-long winter session by electronic balloting.

MPs overwhelmingly supported the constitutional amendment bill to do away with the legacy of British name given to the state.

The central government had received a proposal from the Orissa government in 2008 after the state assembly moved a bill to change both names in deference to the manner in which the name of the state is pronounced in the local language.

The state is called Udisa in Hindi and Orissa in English, and the language Udiya in Hindi and Oriya in English as per the constitution.

This required an amendment to the constitution and had to be approved by two-thirds majority of the house.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who moved the bill, said the house was honouring the wishes of the people of the state by clearing the legislation.

Many Indian cities and states have been renamed after independence, including Kanpur (formerly Cawnpore), Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Pune (Poona), Kochi (Cochin) and North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) to Arunachal Pradesh.

No decision on Posco before PM leaves for Korea

2010-11-09T09:43:00.001+05:30

The fate of the Rs 50,000 crore integrated steel plant by Posco in Orissa will not be decided before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves for the G20 summit to Korea on Wednesday.

With the Union environment and forests ministry's various independent committees still reviewing the Meena Gupta Committee report and not slated to finish assessment in the next two weeks, the PM will not be able to carry a definitive view of the Union government to his Korean counterpart.

With the dispute continuing in the Forest Advisory Committee on the forest official's views on how to tackle infringement of the Forest Rights Act by the Orissa government in the Posco case and the Expert Appraisal Committee deferring the review of the Gupta report on environment clearance of Korean steel giant by 10 days, the final call by the Union environment and forests minister would not be viable in the next 24 hours.

Once the EAC and FAC along with the coastal regulatory authority submit their recommendations to the minister on relevant parts of the Gupta committee report, it would fall in Jairam Ramesh's lap to review the project and its impact on people and environment.

With the three bodies functionally independent of the ministry, the minister could only move once all the three reports are submitted.

The Meena Gupta committee in its majority report had pointed to grave violations of the Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and the Forest Rights Act and stated that the clearances given so far to the Korean giant were bad in law and demanded their revocation.

Before this, the N C Saxena panel too had demanded revocation of the conditional forest clearance in view of contravention of the Forest Rights Act. The government at that point had temporarily stayed the work on the project.

The FAC, which has been deliberating on the reports, has changed its views once and difference of opinion between the non-official and official members of the committee with an attempt to re-work the stance have ended in a logjam so far.

Source:TOI

Odisha to Appoint 25,000 Teachers Under Right to Education

2010-11-05T21:12:00.000+05:30

The Odisha government has decided to appoint 25,000 teachers in elementary schools to ensure free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of six to 14 to implement Right to Education Act.

Claiming that Odisha (Orissa) was the second state in the country after Sikkim to finalise rules for the RTE Act, the Chief Minister said provisions of the RTE Act and rules were translated into Odia (Oriya) for understanding at all levels.

Patnaik said all children from Class-I to Class-VIII in all schools whether government-aided, government or private, would get benefits under the act.

About 1,07,000 children have to be enrolled which was being accorded top priority. The state government has also decided to supply free text-books in all schools, Patnaik said.

Orissa 's Harihar Das & Manas Sahoo Group in India Got Talent Grand Final 2010

2010-09-26T23:24:00.006+05:30

With the grand finale of 'India's Got Talent' taking place this weekend, the show has confirmed it's final nine acts. Berhampur-based dancer Harihar Dash and Sand artist Manas Sahu and his group stormed into the Grand Final of reality show India’s Got Talent-II on Saturday. The second series, which ran over three months will end with Friday episod on Saturday 2nd October.

Harihar Das, 24, from Behrampur, Odisha (Orissa), is a hit with judges and the audience on the show India’s Got Talent for his ability to fuse Bollywood jhatkas with B-boying. “I used to copy Jackson till I came across this fantastic crew of Japanese Animation Poppers called U-Min,” says Das. “But I felt their popping lacked the emotions that Bollywood dances have. So I created my own style.” Das, too, learnt the tricks from Youtube and television. “When I went to college in Raigarha, no one had a clue about my style of dancing. Today, thanks to TV, we’re seeing performers from the most unexpected places,” says the B.Tech graduate.

“Harihar Das, the locking and popping dancer mesmerized each one of the judges, including Priyanka and Ranbir, with his locking and popping skills. But Harihar was mesmerized by Priyanka Chopra’s beauty and couldn’t take his eyes off her. Thus, he took this opportunity to invite Sonali Bendre and Priyanka Chopra on stage to teach them his skill too.”
Both the ladies were trying their hands at the dance style and were also doing quite a satisfactory job, while enjoying the whole process with Harihar. But there was someone on the set who could not control himself from coming on the stage and that was Sajid. Sajid managed to impress everyone with his own locking and popping skills.

Please vote for Harihar Das and SMS to “HD” send to 56882. Voting lines open from 25th Sept 2010.

A team of students of Sudarsan Sand Art Institute, Puri, Odisha founded by renowned Sand Artist Mr. Sudarsan Pattnaik, has been selected at Kolkata audition of “India’s Got Talent Khose-2 “show of Colors TV Channel.

Now they are selected for Grand final. The team consisting of Mr. Manas kumar Sahoo, Bulu Mohanty, Suchitra Mahasweta, Monalisa Sahoo performed sand animation. The three Judges of the audition program were very much in praise of the sand animation. The sand animation group selected through Judge’s Choice Round by Sonali bender and Kiran Kher and Sajid Khan to enter into the Grand Final round. This team of the Sand Art institute of Puri, Odisha is the first team of the world in sand animation. Now the team is going to participating in Grand Final program of India’s Got Talent Khose-2 of colors TV channel.

Please vote for Manas Sahoo & Group & send SMS to “MG” send to 56882. Voting lines open from 25th Sept 2010.

26 Industries roped into set up ITCs in Odisha

2010-09-25T23:36:00.003+05:30

Keeping an eye on the future requirement of technical manpower in Odisha, the state government signed MoUs with six more industries to set up industrial training centres (ITCs).

With six more companies signing MoUs, a total of industries to set up ITCs increased to 26. "All the companies have been provided with annual calender to go ahead with land possession, developing infrastructure and installing machineries and make ITCs operational during 2011-12 session," Industries minister Raghunath Mohanty said.

Justifying requirement of huge technical man power in the state, Mohanty said quoting a recent CII survey that the state needed 90,000 to 1,20,000 persons in metal and manufacturing sector, it required 10,000 to 12,000 people in non-executive rank by 2015. While power sector in the state required 30,000 trained personnel, about 10,000 to 12,000 people were required in IT and ITES sector.

The companies which today signed MoUs today comprised: MGR Kamalanga Energy Limited, IMFA Limited, Deepak Steel and Power Limited, Bhusan Energy Limited, BRG Iron and Steel Co Pvt Limited and Lanco Babandh Power Limited.

"We require more and more technically skilled manpower in the state to cope with the investments," chief minister Naveen Patnaik said.
Source: Business Standard

Nalco to set up Power Plant in Odisha

2010-09-25T23:27:00.003+05:30

Targeting generation of 5,000 MW of power by 2020, aluminium major Nalco today proposed to set up a mega thermal power plant in Odisha (Orissa), official sources said.

A proposal from the navratna company came when Nalco's chairman-cum-managing director A K Srivastava met chief minister Naveen Patnaik here.

The company had expressed interest to set up the power plant in collaboration with a state PSU, Energy Minister Atanu S Nayak told PTI adding that the government would take a decision in this regard after an examination.

"We are interested to set up a power plant in Odisha in collaboration with any state-run PSU," Nalco CMD Srivastava told reporters after meeting the chief minister.

Stating that Nalco already have expertise in power generation besides being ready to invest the required fund in the proposed project, Srivastava said the company was presently generating 1200 MW of thermal power from its Captive Power Plant (CPP).

Besides a thermal power generation plant, the company was also preparing to set up a gas based power production station in the state.

The company, the minister said, had also expressed interest to be a partner in OMC-OHPC joint venture company for setting up a plant. Refusing to divulge the amount of the proposed investment, Srivastava said the location for the power plant would be decided later.

"It could either be in Ib valley area in Jharsuguda district or at Talcher where coal mines were located," he said.
Source:ET

Odisha now preffered biz destination, beats Maharashtra, Gujrat

2010-08-14T21:09:00.002+05:30

Western India — Maharashtra and Gujarat seem to have lost their status of the most preferred destination for investment. While Orissa, a state, which was until recently not known to be very investor friendly, has grabbed maximum amount of investments in FY10, thanks largely to capital intensive mining projects coming up in the state.

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) study on corporate investment, which studied 796 projects in FY10 which involved bank/FI fundings, Odisha attracted highest investments of `74,757 crore in 31 projects, accounting for 13.4% of total investment intentions during the year. Maharashtra was a distant second with investments worth about `49,480 crore in 124 projects. Gujarat which used to be a top investment destination earlier, managed to attract only `16,572 crore in 72 projects during FY10 compared with `59,887 crore in 77 projects in the previous year. The other top investment destination during the year were Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

“Much of these investments are in mining projects that are coming up in the state, as the state has opened up this sector and a number of hurdles are also being addressed. these are typically very high value projects. This could result in investment in projects already cleared picking up,” said an economist with a large corporate house requesting anonymity. More recently, among the large high value projects that have taken off in the state are in the mining sector like Hindalco’s alumina project and Vedanta’s bauxite mining project.

The RBI has noted that the location of high value projects tends to change the spatial pattern considerably from year to year. The location, in turn, depends on a host of other factors like the nature of the project, market size, growth prospects, availability of skilled labour, suppliers’ adequate infrastructure etc, it said.

Another notable feature on the pattern of project investments is that the geographical distribution of the projects was seen to be broadbased in FY10 with growing investment prospects in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan as reflected in the increasing share of project expenditure intentions in these states in relation to last year.

More importantly, the share of multi-state projects increased sharply to 30.6% in 2009-10 from 17.8% in 2008-09. The central bank has noted that these multi-state projects largely cover telecom sector either directly or indirectly through telecom infrastructure.

Source: ET

Environment ministry asks to stop work on POSCO project

2010-08-06T23:58:00.004+05:30

The environment ministry has asked the Odisha government to stop all work, including land acquisition, related to the $12 billion steel project of South Korean steel major POSCO in the state as it violates the Forest Rights Act (FRA), officials said Friday. "I am directed to say that state government shall take all necessary measure and ensure that work, if any, being undertaken for the project, including handing over of the forest and non forest land shall be stopped forthwith," said H C Chaudhary, assistant inspector general of forests.

The ministry's decision was based on the recommendation of a joint panel of the environment and tribal affairs ministries.

According to the panel, land acquisition work related to the project which started on July 27 is a violation of the FRA and the conditions laid down by the environment ministry on forest clearance.

The environment ministry has also asked the state government to report to it at the earliest about the action taken in this regard.

The ministry had given clearance to the project in the state's Jagatsinghpur district on the condition that it would ensure proper implementation of the FRA, settling the land rights of the people living there before acquiring forest land for the project.

POSCO requires about 4,004 acres, mostly government land, for the project of which 2,900 acres are forest land.

Thousands of villagers have been protesting the project, saying it will displace them from their homeland and ruin their betel leaf farms. Posco and the government maintain the project will bring prosperity and employment to an impoverished region.

Posco had signed a deal with the Odisha government in 2005 to set up the project near the port town of Paradip by 2016. The ministry order is likely to delay the project further.

Odisha constitutes Unified Command to fight Maoists

2010-08-06T00:07:00.003+05:30

In a bid to execute anti-Maoist strategies in a planned manner, Odisha government has constituted a state-level Unified Command to deal with Left Wing Extremism, officials said today. The decision to set up the Unified Command was taken at a recent meeting in Delhi. The eight-member command would be headed by the chief secretary with representatives from security organisations and civil service.

The constitution of the Unified Command (UC) was notified by the state home department here yesterday.

While development commissioner (DC) was taken as a member of the UC, home department secretary would function as member convenor.

The Director General of Police (DGP), Inspector General (IG) of Police (operation), CRPF IG (operation), Representatives of Intelligence Bureau and state intelligence would also work as members of the UC. While security and intelligence officials would plan security operations, civil service officers would execute socio-economic activities in Maoist-hit regions, sources said.

"With UC in place, the menace of Left Wing extremism could be dealt in two fronts like anti-Maoist operations and developmental activities," said a senior official in the home department.

With Central para-military force men engaged in anti-Maoist operations in various states, it was proposed to
utilise the service of a retired major general in each Maoist-hit state. The selected major general would then be included as a member of the UC.

Rs 50,000 cr worth of investments already in Odisha (Orissa)

2010-08-05T00:17:00.001+05:30

Odisha, which has signed 86 MoUs in steel, alumina, cement and power sectors lining up a total of Rs 4.11 lakh crore during the last five years, has already received investment to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore by now.

"We have already got investments worth Rs 50,056 crore by now of the total proposed investment of Rs 4,11,726 crore in the state," said state industries minister, Raghunath Mohanty.

The minister said of the total 86 MoU projects, 32 units including 29 in steel sector have gone into various stages of production. These MoU projects have employed 72,561 persons in the state, he added.

In steel sector, 29 of the 50 MoU companies have gone into various stages of production during the last five years. These 29 units have established 7.79 million tonne steel production capacity.

Mohanty said Vedanta Resouces's 1 million tonne alumina plant in Lanjigarh, 2.5 lakh tonne smelter and 1215 mw captive generating plant in Jharsuguda have gone into production.

He said that the state government's nodal agency for escorting the investors, IPICOL, had received 63 combined applications proposing Rs 2,97,508 crore in the state during 2009-10. Besides, according to him, the state government is expecting an investment to the tune of Rs 2.79 lakh crore in the proposed Petroleum, Chemicals & Petro-chemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) at Paradip and Rs 3,600 crore in the Multi-product Special Economic Zone promoted by Tata Steel at Gopalpur.

BJD calls Odisha bandh on July 5

2010-06-29T21:38:00.001+05:30

Ruling BJD along with six other non-BJP and non-Congress parties has called a Orissa bandh on July 5 opposing the UPA government's decision to hike fuel prices and decontrol petrol and diesel rates.

The six parties who have gone along with BJD to call the bandh are CPI, CPI(M), Forward Bloc, RJD, Samajwadi Party and JMM.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the six parties said the UPA-II government at the Centre had hiked fuel prices thrice during the past six months thereby causing prices of all essential commodities to rise.

While the food inflation remained above 17 per cent, the hike in kerosene price had come as a major blow to the poor and labour sections who were already hit by inflation, the statement said.