Orissa wants Tatas to use Gopalpur land acquired 13 yrs ago

BERHAMPUR: The Orissa government will ask Tata Steel to set up proposed coal-to-liquid (CTL) project at Gopalpur in Ganjam district to utilise the land acquired by the company about 13 years ago, state Revenue Minister S N Patro said today. "I have asked secretary in the Industry Department to ask Tata Steel to set up its proposed CTL plant at Gopalpur," Patra said here. Tata Steel and South Africa-based Sasol Synfuels Pvt Ltd have expressed desire to set up 3.6 mtpa CTL plant in the state with an investment of Rs 48,000 crore.

About 3,800 acres of land was acquired by Tata Steel in 1997 for setting up a mega steel project in the area. About 1,570 families of three villages were displaced. The land, however, remained unutilised for about 13 years as locals opposed it and the company postponed the project. Although the company has decided to utilise the land by setting up a multi-purpose Special Economic Zone (SEZ), no progress has been made in this project.

Source: Business Standard

BARC & Berhampur University to jointly study impact of radiation

BERHAMPUR: Berhampur University (BU) is gearing up to receive two eminent scientists from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, - Prof Tulsi Mukherjee, Director, Chemical Group and Dr RK Singhal, Head of Analytical Spectroscopy Section. The two are reaching the campus tomorrow to lay the foundation stone of Gamma House on the premises where an irradiation facility Gamma Chamber-5000 (GC-5000) will be installed. The facility is being developed as a component of the research project titled ‘Plant Responses to Ionising Radiation’ currently in progress in Department of Botany, BU.

The BARC-BU research project was sanctioned following signing of MoU between the authorities of BARC and BU on August 19, 2008. The total cost of the project, spanning over three years, is estimated at Rs 70 lakh, including cost of the GC- 5000 estimated at Rs 40 lakh. GC-5000 will be supplied by Broad of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT), an establishment of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. Department of Botany, BU, is one of the five centres located in five different agro-climatic zones of the country chosen under XI plan period to conduct the mega research project of BARC.

Source: New Indian Express

Gitanjali Group opens outlet in Berhampur

Berhampur: Gitanjali Jewellery Retail Private Limited, a unit of Gitanjali Group, has decided to expand its business aggressively with opening of exclusive brand outlets in all major towns of the country. At least, 35 such show rooms will be launched during this calendar year. The company, a leading manufacture of diamond and gold jewellery and known for its brands like Gili, Asmi, D’damas, Maya and Nakshatra, has opened a new exclusive showroom in Berhampur, the biggest commercial town of south Orissa.

Currently, Gitanjali Group has nearly 150 outlets throughout the country out of which 45 are selling branded jewellery in 30 towns. The remaining outlets of the group sell fashion, lifestyle and luxury products. In Orissa, the company has exclusive outlets at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. “We are planning to aggressively expand our business with opening of at least 35 exclusive outlets in the country including some in Orissa during 2010” said Santosh Srivastava, the managing director of the Gitanjali Jewellery Retail Private Limited. Srivastava was here to inaugurate the new showroom. Besides Berhampur, the other Orissa towns where company intends to open new outlets include Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Balasore.
Source: Business Standard, www.gitanjaligroup.com

HC Bench at BAMP: Agitation continues

BERHAMPUR: Members of the Ganjam Bar Association took out a cycle rally to enliven the demand for establishment of a permanent bench of the High Court in Berhampur for the benefit of people of south Odisha. It may be noted that the members of the bar association are continuing to boycott the Berhampur court on last four days of every month for this demand. The members of the Cycle Yatra team started for Digaphandi around 25 kilometres away from the city. Throughout the path they met people of city and villages around it to create awareness about the demand for High Court bench and its genuine need. The members said their cycle rally was in protest against the attempt of the State government to sideline the issue by forming a commission to enquire into it. The commission that had been formed to enquire into the matter is yet to furnish its report even after more than one-and-half-year, he alleged. It may be mentioned that, the Berhampur lawyers, along with their counterparts across southern Odisha, had started the agitation in 2007 that came to a sad end after the police resorted to lathi-charge on them on April 22, 2008. The agitation had continued for 139 days. It had also led to lathi charge by police on agitating lawyers on April 22, 2008 and more than 29 lawyers had been arrested. Present Law Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh, who was than an MLA, along with other MLAs of the district had come to the Ganjam Bar Association to show solidarity for the lawyers’ stir. But after becoming the Law Minister, Arukh on January 2, while replying to a question at the Berhampur University, stated that establishment of any HC Bench depends on the Central Government and not the State Government.

Sources: The Hindu, The Pioneer

13th Berhampur Book Fair inaugurated

BERHAMPUR: Thirteenth Berhampur Book Fair was inaugurated at the St. Stephens Church ground in the city on Sunday evening and will continue till Jan. 31st. This book fair is said to be one of the largest book fairs in Eastern India. It was inaugurated by noted academician, literary personality and major exponent of Indian philosophy in Orissa, Prof. Hrudananda Ray. A large number of publishers and book sellers are taking part in this book fair. According to Pramod Panda, a member of the organising committee of the book fair said they have put extra stress on promoting Oriya literature through this book fair. All major publishers of Oriya literature are taking part in this book fair, he said. There has also been special stalls for spiritual books. The Sri Jagannath temple of Puri and Taratarini Hill Shrine of Ganjam have also opened up their stalls to exhibit and sell books. A stage and open air auditorium are also part of this book fair. Literary seminars, poetry recital sessions and traditional cultural shows would be organized here every evening said Pramod Panda, the secretary of the Berhampur Pustak Mela Samity, the organizer of this book fair.

Source: The Hindu

Toyota plans processing plant for rare earth chloride

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Business Standard. BERHAMPUR: Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Corporation has evinced interest in setting up a processing plant for rare earth chloride, one of the intermediate products of monazite. The auto major is in advanced stage of negotiations with Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of Indian Rare Earths Ltd, for setting up the plant near OSCOM's site at Matikhal, near Berhampur. The capacity of the proposed plant and the investment figure are yet to be worked out. The rare earth metals used in manufacturing several electronics items, magnet and automobile tools are in high demand in the international markets.The officials of IREL have anticipated several other companies to come forward to set up their plants to process the individual rare earths in the area. It may be noted that OSCOM is setting up a 10 million tonne per annum monazite processing plant within its existing unit in Orissa.

Though the total investment for this plant was approved at Rs 90 crore in the 11th Plan, the expenditure on the plant is expected to be increased due to the cost of escalation in the construction materials, sources said. “We are in process of getting the environmental clearance for the proposed plant from the Union ministry of environment and forests. No displacement or land acquisition will be needed for the setting up of the proposed monazite plant”, D N Mohanty, chief of OSCOM told Business Standard. The monazite processing plant is expected to start production from next year. Presently the Mining and Mineral Separation (MMS) plant of OSCOM is producing ilmenite and associated minerals by processing the rare earth minerals which are abundant in the Ganjam coast. The present capacity of the MMS plant of OSCOM is 2,20,000 tonnes per annum and the capacity utilization of the plant is almost 100 per cent.

Source: Business standard

NIST-Berhampur to get TIFAC-CORE facility

This is the first such facility in Orissa and the only one dedicated to 3G & 4G communications technologies in the country.
BERHAMPUR: The Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has announced establishment of a new TIFAC- CORE in National Institute of Science and Technology here. The TIFAC CORE is exclusively devoted to research, consultancy and industrial collaboration in the area of 3G and 4G communications technologies. This is the first such facility in Orissa and the only one dedicated to 3G/4G communications technologies in the country. This CORE, located at NIST, will be hosting the state-of-the-art world class equipment and manpower to propel Indian companies in innovating new products and services in communication technologies.

The total funding of Rs 9.15 crore will be met in equal proportion by TIFAC (DST) and the participating industries. The most notable participating industries are National Instruments, ARM, free-scale semiconductors, Atera (all Bangalore based). The agreement was signed in Coimbatore by the Director of NIST, Prof Sangram Mudali and Registrar, TIFAC, recently in the presence of Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India and Chairman-TIFAC R Chidambaram, former director of IIT, Chennai Prof V Indiresan and other luminaries. Director of NIST Prof Sangram Mudali hoped that the TIFAC CORE will propel NIST as a centre of excellence and shape it as a mini-IIT.

Sources: New Indian Express, http://www.nist.edu/

Demand for Vansadhara-Rushikulya-Mahanadi River linking project

BERHAMPUR: Many organisations of Berhampur and south Odisha have come together to organise a march from Kashinagar in Gajapati district to Dhauli near the state capital, demanding the linking of Vansadhara, Rushikulya and Mahanadi rivers of Odisha. The long march is also aimed at putting pressure on the Government to facilitate the process that would help solve the water crisis of Berhampur city and water scarcity for irrigation in southern Odisha. Several organisations, including the Rushikulya Banchao Mancha, Mahendragiri Surakshya Mancha, Berhampur Citizens’ Forum, Ganjam Zilla Vikash Mancha, Jagrat Bharat, Dakshin Orissa Sahitya Samity and several other NGOs and eminent citizens will join the march. The march would start from the banks of Vansadhara river at Kasinagar in Gajapati district on March 5. As a symbolic move the water of the Vansadhara river would be taken in a vessel by the marchers. They would mix the water of Rushikulya river with it near Tara Tarini hill shrine to symbolise linking of these two rivers. The marchers would mix the water of Daya river which comes out from the Mahanadi with it near Dhauli in Bhubaneswar. A memorandum demanding linking of these three rivers would be handed over to the Orissa Governor.

The former deputy speaker of the Assembly, Ram Chandra Panda is taking lead of this Yatra which would pass through the areas that would benefit from the river linking project. Mr. Panda addressing a press conference said, since past many years demand was on for this river linking project. The State government had also come up with a river linking project between Vansadhara and Rushikulya rivers few years back, which was shelved. According to Mr. Panda this river linking project is the only way to solve the problem of erratic water supply in Berhampur city, irrigation facility for water scarce areas of south Odisha and to reduce regular floods in the Mahanadi. As per proposal the Subalaya barrage project can be used to transfer surplus water of Mahanadi to Rushikulya. A memorandum to this effect had been submitted to the Central government by the Orissa government in the year 2000 and in 2003. Even the national water development agency had acknowledged that the project was viable, Mr. Panda said. He blamed the State government for not pursuing the project seriously.

Sources: The Hindu, The Pioneer

Berhampuri silk saree weavers in trouble

BERHAMPUR: The weaver community in Orissa’s Berhampur city, famous for weaving silk sarees well known as Berhampuri Pata, has been facing a bleak future. Shortage of raw materials, low wage coupled with non-availability of subsidy in power tariff, have created uncertainty for over 20,000 weaver families in Berhampur city and other towns like Hinjili in Ganjam District. The Berhampuri Pata are heavy silk sarees with narrow borders, generally woven without any intricate motifs. Interestingly, Hinjili constituency on the outskirts of Berhampur city is represented by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the assembly.

Several hundred weavers of Hinjili gathered on Tuesday at Samalai, about 30 km from here, to discuss their problems.” The state government has been requested to provide electricity to run looms at a subsidised rate and to establish more raw material yarn banks in the district,” president of Ganjam District Weavers Association Parsuram Sahu said. Only two raw material banks are presently functioning at Berhampur and Aska in the district by the handloom and textile department. Each bank is functioning with a corpus fund of Rs 10 lakh, provided by the government and supply the yarn to the weavers in limited quantity. “The department procures raw silk yarns from various places through National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC),” Assistant Director of Textiles Upendra Debata said. While the weavers demanded more raw material banks, especially at Hinjili, Debata said the government has no such plan. Weavers complained that they were forced to procure yarn from private agencies and middlemen at higher rate.

Sources: PTI, Orissatv, The Hindu, Times of India

Displaced families of Tata Steel want CTL project at Gopalpur

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Business Standard.

BERHAMPUR: At a time when Tata Steel is dithering on the location of its proposed Rs 45,000-crore coal to liquid (CTL) project in Orissa, the displaced persons of the steel maker's Gopalpur project have invited the company to set up the CTL project at Gopalpur.The displaced families including Goplapur MLA, Pradeep Panigrahi want Tata Steel to utilize about 3800 acres of land at Gopalpur for the CTL project. This land was acquired by the steel major in 1997 to set up a mega steel plant and about 1570 families in three villages were displaced.With the company later shelving the steel project, it proposed to set up a multi-purpose Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on this land. However, no progress has been made so far. “It is the right time for the state government to ask Tata Steel to utilize the land at Gopalpur by setting up its proposed CTL project”, said Panigrahi.

Panigrahi who hails from Patrapur village belongs to one of the displaced families of Tata Steel's Gopalpur project. The two other affected villages are Sindhigaon and Badapur.

Tata Steel and South Africa-based Sasol Synfuels Private Limited have announced to set up a CTL project in the state. The project needs 3000 acres of land but the location is yet to be finalized. B Muthuraman, vice chairman, Tata Steel and Ernst Oberholster, managing director, Sasol Synfuels International Pvt Ltd had called on the state chief minister on Monday in connection with the project.

“Almost all the infrastructure facilities are available at Gopalpur for the proposed CTL project. While road, rail and inland communication facilities are available in the area, the water required for the plant could be drawn from the river Rushikulya or Chheligada by constructing the barrage”, said Ramesh Gouda, one of the displaced persons.

Hemant Kumar Rath, another displaced person said, “establishment of the CTL project at Goplapur will help in giving justice to the displaced and affected families through creation job opportunities for them.”

Source: Business Standard and http://www.gopalpurports.com/

HT article on urban services in India: Berhampur at the bottom in water supply

Following is an excerpt from an article published in Hindustan Times. The comparative table  is from Mint.

If you thought that not all was well with Delhi as with many other large Indian cities — official data backs your claim. Urban local bodies have for the first time sent data to the Centre on services like water supply, storm water drainage, and solid waste management, and the Capital is not faring so well. Delhi is among 25-30 cities that have sent their data to the Centre. The Centre had asked for the data about services cities deliver, to compare them against certain benchmarks. Linked to the provision of these services would be central funding for urban projects. The good news: having the data may perhaps help our ailing cities to correct course. “Read them like a medical bulletin: how healthy are you?” said an official of the Ministry of Urban Development, requesting anonymity.

“Only when you take the test do you take the first step towards better health.” The figures: Only 4 per cent of Delhi’s households enjoy household garbage collection facility. Meaning, most MCD areas may have no household collection, as posh NDMC areas are likely to have household collection. By contrast, Chandigarh has waste collection from 96 percent of its households.

Delhi has had 206 incidents of waterlogging — 45 minutes of waterlogging with six-inch high water level is seen as one incident of waterlogging — this year. But the city is not the worst here. Surat with 290 and Ahmedabad with 214 water-logging incidents are worse off.

About 29 per cent of Delhi’s households have no access to water supply. In this, Shimla is best, with 98 percent water supply, and Berhampur worst with just 29 percent water supply coverage.

52 per cent of the water supplied in Delhi is non-revenue water — meaning water that is not paid for, and that lost in leakage. For Dharamshala it is just 6 percent; for Trivandrum just 18 percent.

Sources: Hindustan Times and Mint (Link: http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/Capital-s-country-cousins-in-better-civic-health/Article1-490268.aspx)

(http://www.livemint.com/2009/12/24225317/Municipal-services-fall-short.html)

Military hospital to come up in Ganjam

Unfortunately there is no announcement regarding the demand for a Sainik School in Ganjam District. This issue must be taken up in right earnest.

The Army is proposing to set up a full-fledged military hospital at Gopalpur in Ganjam district and upgrade Kalinga School in Bhubaneswar, which is up to Class V, to an Army Public School from next session. The proposal to set up six polyclinics has been agreed in principle by the Government of India and they are going to be functional shortly at Sambalpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Puri, Koraput and Ganjam districts. All veterans should get their registration done through respective station headquarters to avail of the diagnostic facilities.

Informing this to the media yesterday, Col. Naveen Jha, Staff Officer (Job) for Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar, said Indian Army has great plans for the State. Orissa will be the first state to have two Sainik Schools after opening of the Sainik School at Sambalpur for the people of Western Orissa. He said 70 acres of land has been identified for the school along the Goshal-Chiplima road and Sainik School Board will visit the place soon. This apart Sainik School, Bhubaneswar, has been given enhanced financial assistance for its upkeep and all existing scholarships have been doubled. Col. Naveen Jha was here in connection with a recruitment rally. He was accompanied by Revenue Divisional Commissioner (ND) Jamil Ahmed Khan.

Revealing that process of identification of 700 acres of land in Jharsuguda or Sundargarh district is on for location of an Army unit keeping in view rail and air connectivity, Jha said ad hoc Station Headquarters to meet the administrative requirements of the veterans in Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Balasore and Gopalpur have been upgraded into fullfledged Station Headquarters. A transit home in Bhubaneswar and a holiday home in Puri for serving soldiers as well as veterans are also on the cards, he added. Maintaining that Army does not have much representation from the State, he said thrust is being given for holding additional recruitment rallies in all corners of Orissa with focus on tribal candidates. The tribal youths are not only physically tough but also mentally robust. Having brought up in inhospitable terrains, they are the best potential force for the Army and can be termed as half-trained soldiers, Jha observed.

Source: New Indian Express

Kalijai comes alive on Makar Sankranti

BERHAMPUR: The sleepy islet of Kalijai on the picturesque Chilka Lake came alive today with thousands of devotees congregating for Makar Sankranti. Devout pilgrims and sundry holiday makers from the State thronged the place to offer obeisance to Goddess Kalijai the presiding deity of Chilka fishermen. The devotees come in droves on this day to take a holy dip in the lake which is considered auspicious. To facilitate smooth conduct of the festivity, local boatmen were engaged to ferry people from the shore to the island. The Tourist Department too pressed into service motor boats, deployed police and put in place rescue boats to avert any untoward incident.

Elsewhere in Berhampur, women of Telugu community rung in three-day Sankranti festivities with colourful rangoli in front of their houses and lit traditional bonfire yesterday. Despite rain since last evening, people were out shopping and greeting people in their colourful best as the Telugu and Oriya populace joined hands to celebrate Pongal festivities. The Telugus form 38 per cent of the population of southern districts and it is around 40 per cent in Ganjam district itself. The celebration starts with Bhogi, the lighting of bonfire to mark the death of demon king Ravana and on the second day ‘shradha’ is offered to the ancestors while on the last day it’s time to feast. As a majority of the Telugu community is traders, most of the business establishments remained closed today. The Oriyas, for whom Makar Sankranti too holds similar importance, congregated at different shrines to offer prayers.

Source: New Indian Express

Berhampur Mahotsav underway

BERHAMPUR: The Fourth Berhampur Mahotsav, a mega cultural festival of the Silk City, was inaugurated at the City High School grounds on 12th January on the occasion of National Youth Week. The festival is being organised by ‘Mahan Sangha’, a city based NGO, to promote history, tradition and cultural heritage of Berhampur city and South Orissa. The conglomeration of Oriya and Telugu cultures in South Orissa is on full display in the festival. This cultural festival involves sessions of intellectual discussions along with cultural shows every evening. A trade fair and children’s amusement fair is also part of the celebration. Folk dance troupes from different parts of the State are performing in this festival to make the evenings colourful. Different cultural groups of the city like the Punjabi Association, Gujarati Association, Andhra Bhasa Vivardhini Samajam and Muslim Cultural Association also have their troupes performing in this festival. The best part of the festival are the intellectually stimulating discussions and seminars on various issues of Berhampur city and South Orissa.

Dalai Lama inaugurates south Asia's biggest monastery at Chandragiri near Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: The newly-built Buddhist monastery at Chandragiri near Berhampur, described as the biggest of its kind in South Asia and an architectural marvel, was unveiled by the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The inauguration ceremony of the 70-feet height and five-storied monastery, known as Rigon Thupten Mindoling was witnessed by around 300 Lamas from across the country. The monastery which is spread over 10 acres has been built at a cost of Rs eight crore. The construction work on the monastery started in December 2003 and it was completed in 2009. The monastery houses a 21 feet high idol of Budha, 17-feet high second Budha Padma Sambhav and the idols of Avaloketeswara. The Padmasmbhav Mahavihar Monastery - named after Padmasambhav, the founder of the Vajrayana sect of the Mahayana path, is built in Atanpuri style of architecture of Nalanda. Padmasabhava was believed to have been born in Orissa and spread Buddhism to Tibet during the seventh century. The Monastry will be able to accomodate around 200 resident monks. It has a library which contains a copy of the Jang Satham Kangyur, the first and most ancient of all the collections of the teachings of Buddha which was produced in Tibet in 17th century, an office, a dispensary, a guest house and a restaurant. The first Rigon Thupten Mindroling monastery was founded in 1966 and the site for the new Padmasabhav Mahavihara monastery was accorded by the Dalai Lama in 1998. The foundation stone for the new monastery was laid in 2003 and the construction was completed in 2008. Around four thousand people from the country and abroad congregated at Chandragiri to watch the inauguration and consecration ceremony.

Sources: Tathya.in, Asian Age, Business Standard

Source: Anupam Bharat (Odia Daily)

Handloom exhibition inaugurated in Silk city Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: The traditional handloom textile still attracts customers. The large crowd at handloom expo inaugurated in the city on January 07 proved it. The textile ministry of the Central government and the State Directorate of Textiles have joined hands to organise this big fair of traditional handloom of different parts of the State. It was inaugurated by the Ganjam district Additional District Magistrate (ADM), M. M. Deo in the presence of the Assistant Director of Textile, U.N.Devta at the St. Stephens’ Church ground.

This expo is also aimed providing weavers’ cooperative societies of different parts of Orissa tap the pre-Pongal festive market. This expo would continue for a week till Jan. 13. Around 50 weavers’ societies have opened up stalls.

Weavers’ cooperatives of Ganjam district who are famous for their Berhampuri silk patta sarees are also big draw in this exhibition cum sale. This expo would enable the buyers to have direct interaction with the weavers to buy original handloom products. The customers were found to be busy searching for Berhampur Patta, Pittala Sarees, Sambalpuri textile materials, Khanduaof Nuapatna, Maniabandha sarees, Bomkai cotton and silk sarees etc.

Weavers’ societies from Boudh, Sonepur, Bolangir, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Bargarh are a big draw. Several weavers’ societies have also started selling ready made garments made up of handloom textile aimed at the younger generation. Most artistic designs were on the silk pattu produced in Sonepur district. Cotton handloom products in Sambalpuri style from Bargarh district was the choice of younger generation. There was also quite a demand for Cuttacki sarees. The weavers from Boudh district showed up their skill in weaving cotton as well as silk fabric.

Source: The Hindu 

Kalinga herbal fair inaugurated in Berhampur

*Aim is to promote Indian traditional system of healing *Herbal product manufacturers from different places take part in it *Major attraction of the fair is ‘Vaidyasala’

BERHAMPUR: With an aim to promote Indian herbal tradition of healing, the second regional Kalinga Herbal Fair was inaugurated in the city on Friday evening. This three-day herbal fair is being organised by the Orissa’s Forest and Environment Department and the State Medicinal Plant Board. It was inaugurated by the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), southern division, Chandrasekhar Kumar. Chief conservator of forests, K.R. Singh, Regional Chief Conservator of Forests, J.P.Singh and Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer, A. K. Jena were present during the inaugural ceremony, which was coordinated by the secretary of the Nikhila Utkal Vaidya Sammelan, Sagar Ranjan Tripathy.

This Herbal Fair is aimed at promoting medicinal plant sector in the State. It aims at providing a platform for direct interaction between medicinal plant collectors, traders, exporters, Ayurvedic pharmacies, herbal product manufacturers and consumers. Herbal product manufacturers from different parts of Orissa took part in this fair.

At several stalls raw herbs were also being sold. It was also platform to promote the traditional healers of rural areas of the State or the ‘Vaidyas’.

A major attraction of this fair was the ‘Vaidyasala’, where traditional herbal healers provided instant herbal remedies for common ailments for the visitors. The guests of the inaugural ceremony termed these traditional healers as persons who had till date played a major role in keeping alive the herbal remedies of India.

Source: The Hindu

Students' body urges the CM to set up proposed Bank of Odisha's headquarters at Berhampur

Berhampur: The South Orissa Students' Association (SOSA) has urged the State Chief minister to set up the headquarters of the proposed Bank of Odisha at a Berhampur. The Student's body has said that Berhampur city has contributed immensely to the vibrancy, cultural and social life and above all economic growth of Odisha. Even with inadequate state support, Berhampur city has carved a niche for itself and has grown exponentially in the spheres of business, transport and commerce. It still remains the only hope and bright spot in the utterly backward region of Southern Odisha. The city has always been a great centre for business and commerce since the days of Britishraj and most importantly it has flourished solely based on local entrepreneurship and initiatives. This aside, the greater Berhampur region with a population of close to 7 lakhs is the second biggest urban cluster in the state and supportive government policies are the need of the hour for its future growth that in turn will propel the growth of the state. In the past the shifting of government offices like the State headquarters of OSRT, Jail training academy, Cooperative Training Academy from Berhampur led to resentment among the locals and the state government must undo these erroneous decisions through the establishment of the proposed Bank of Odisha with its headquarters at Berhampur, which the city rightly deserves.
It should be noted that state Government forms a sub-committee under the state Revenue Minister for exploring the establishment of Bank of Odisha is a step long awaited and hence praiseworthy. Having taken the logical first step, we do expect that the state government will announce the formation of the Bank of Odisha with its corporate headquarters at Berhampur as it is logical that the rewards must go together with performance. The headquarters of the proposed Bank of Odisha at Berhampur in recognition of its standing in banking, business and commerce in the state will send the right signals and help the cities of Odisha focus on their core-competencies. This will become the first state level headquarters of any establishment of any sector that will be located in Berhampur city. Further, the headquarters of Bank of Odisha in Berhampur will ensure distributive justice in the establishment of state institutions and the State Government must give Berhampur the due recognition that it deserves through this initiative.
Source: Orissa Diary  (http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=16149)

Medical University should to be established at Berhampur

By Abhisek Mishra

In our state there is no uniform and consistent policy for establishing higher and technical education Institutions and Universities. This has resulted in some cities and regions getting completely ignored while others have multiple Government professional institutions. When it comes to the establishment of professional Universities the region of South Orissa draws a total blank, while all other regions of the state have been taken care of in this regard. All the professional Universities established so far in our state, like OUAT, BPUT, Orissa Law University, Culture University and the recently established VSSUT have all been located in places other than the under developed region of South Orissa. Further, the Institutions like IIT and NIT are for all practical purposes function as multi-disciplinary Professional Universities. Hence, it becomes imperative that the planned Medical University is established in Berhampur, the major city in the south, for balanced and logical distribution of Professional Universities in the State. The issue should not be politicized and made controversial and everyone in the state should support this logical and rational proposal for balanced development of the state.

Indian Army demonstrates air defence capability near Berhampur city

BERHAMPUR: A fire power demonstration was conducted by the Gopalpur based Army Air Defence College (AADC) near Berhampur. It was a display of might of air defence capability of the Indian Army. Around 270 officers of Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and friendly foreign countries witnessed this fire power demonstration. Staff and student officers of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington in Tamil Nadu took part in it as part of their study tour. A group of around 17 foreign delegates from defence forces of friendly countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Mangolia, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, Afganistan, Maldives, Bhutan Ethiopia, Tanzania and United States were also guests at this display of air defence strength of our Army. The demonstration also included visit of the delegates to various training facilities in the AADC. Lieutenant General Kuldip Singh, Commandant of the AADC was the chief host of the occasion. It was second demonstration of air defence fire power at the AADC. The last demonstration was held in January last year. The AADC authorities said they would make this display of fire an annual affair to be held in January every year.

Also see Dharitri (http://www.dharitri.com/080110/story8.asp) and the Samaja (http://www.thesamaja.com/news_view.php?news_id=8538) for the news on AAD College.

The missile systems which were fired included the OSA-AK weapon system, Strella 10 m missile, Igla-1M shoulder fired missile. It may be noted that the OSA-AK weapon system is a highly mobile, low altitude, short range tactical surface to air missile system. The anti air-craft guns demonstrated included Schilka weapon system, L/70 gun and ZU-23 mm twin barrel gun, which play a major role in the air defence of the Indian Army. The aerial target support was provided by state-of-the-art Inter Services Pilotless Target Aircraft, Lakshya produced indigenously by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The Lakshya is a remotely piloted high speed target drone system. Aeromodels of 26 cc and 7.5 cc, Air Target Imitator (ATI), Aeromodels with infra red flares were also used as targets. Para-barrels dropped from AN-32 aircraft of Indian air Force from a height of 5000 metres were also used for target practice.

Source: The Hindu, The Samaja, Dharitri

National meet on NREGA in Chatrapur

BERHAMPUR: A two-day national workshop on implementation of NREGA was inaugurated at Chatrapur. The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) has organised this workshop in collaboration with the Ganjam district administration. Ganjam district was chosen as the venue as it was adjudged second best district in the country in the field of implementation of NREGA during the year that ended in March 2008. The conference is being attended by resource persons from the LBSNAA, civil servants from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, collectors and project directors of District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) of Orissa. The participants discussed the success and stumbling blocks during the implementation of NREGA in their respective areas. The delegates attending the workshop visited different areas of Ganjam district on Thursday to have a practical experience of the implementation of NREGA in the district.

Source: The Hindu

Berhampur University celebrates 44th Foundation Day

BERHAMPUR: The Berhampur University celebrated its 44th foundation day on Saturday. The chief guest of the function was the speaker of the Orissa State Assembly, Pradip Kumar Amat. State Law Minister, Bikram Keshari Arukh and Gopalpur MLA, Pradip Panigrahy attended the function as guests. All the three guests were part of the alumnus of the Berhampur University. In his welcome address the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Bijay Kumar Sahu urged the State government to provide adequate timely support for the development of the university. He took up the issue of demand for regularisation of temporary employees of the university who have served more than a decade and filling of large scale vacancies in posts of teachers in different departments. Mr. Amat, Mr. Arukh and Mr. Panigrahi promised to take up the issues related to the progress of the university with the State government. The registrar of the university, J.K.Mohapatra, its post-graduate council chairman, A.S.N. Murty and adviser of the university Students’ union were among the dignitaries attending the function.

The students of the university and its affiliated colleges who had excelled in different fields were awarded. Mr. Mohapatra read out the annual report of the university. At present the university has 20 post graduate departments. When it started in 1967 it had 11 colleges under it. Now 128 colleges are affiliated to it. There are six autonomous colleges in the region of south Orissa under the jurisdiction of the university. Recently a proposal has been sent to make Science College, Hinjli in chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s constituency an autonomous institute. Recently the university has got sanction to open up new departments like Microbiology, geophysics, M. Pharma, Education and Hindi. The university has introduced e-governance on its campus and it is working on having customised software for the purpose.

Source: The Hindu