Development news of orissa and India

Bhubaneswar: Around 8000 personnel of Jagua forces of Jharkhand, CoBRA, CRPF and Special Operation Group (SOG) of Odisha have cordoned off the Saranda forests in the Odisha-Jharkhand border to track down the Maoist ultras including their leader Samarji and his fiancée Sumitra.

While the allied security men have intensified combing operation inside the forest, they have destroyed nine Maoist camps during the raid.

Huge cache of arms including guns, live cartridges, kit bags, Maoist uniforms, gelatins and landmines have been seized from these camps, reports said.

The allied forces have also destroyed 50 Lal Bungalows in the Katingapani area inside the Sunabeda Sanctuary in Nuapada district.

Bhubaneswar:  Rajya Sabha member Rudra Narayan Pany has urged the Centre for declaring 805.6 km of four state roads in Odisha as National Highways and early completion of upgradation work over 550 km of five National Highway roads in different parts of the state by the National Highway Authority of India which has been entrusted with the job.
The state roads that Pany proposed to be declared as new National Highways are: Berhampur-Koraput (313 km), Madhapur-Rayagada (292.6 km), Phulnakhara-Konark (104 km) and Kuakhia-Aradi-Bhadrak (96 km).
Pany wanted early completion of upgradation work of the following five National Highways to four-lane: Luhurachati-Sambalpur (88 km), Bhubaneswar-Puri (59 km), Talcher-Chandikhol (134 km), Panikoili-Remuli (163 km) and Remuli-Rajamunda (106 km).
Pany recently told the Parliament that there are 16 National Highways measuring 3,594.162 km in length that traversed through the state.
Out of this, 2,523.963 km is under the control of the National Highways Wing of the state and the remaining 1,070.299 km has been entrusted to the NHAI for improvement under the Golden Quadrilateral, Port Connectivity and the National Highway Development Programme Phase-III.
He said during the NDA period, a good number of roads were declared as National Highways. After that, 399 km of State roads were declared as new National Highways during 2004.
Since then no State road had been considered for being declared as National Highway.
In view of the Centre having declared state roads in other states as new national highways during the last seven years, it should consider the proposed new NH for Odisha and ask the National Highway Authority of India to complete the upgradation work as early as possible, Pany pointed out.

Bhubaneswar: Elaborate arrangements have been made in the state capital here for the scheduled visit of prime minister Manmohan Singh to Odisha to inaugurate the mega Science Congress event at the KIIT University premises on January 3.

Singh is scheduled to arrive here on January 2 evening and spend the night at the Raj Bhawan. After inaugurating the Science Congress at 10 am on January 3, he will visit the Pradesh Congress headquarters to interact with State Congress leaders and workers and leave for New Delhi at 12.25 pm on the same day.

He will be at the Science Congress from 10 am to 11.30 am.

Odisha is hosting the Indian Science Congress for the second time.

Earlier in the eighties, the event was organised at the Utkal University.

Besides opening the Indian Science Congress session, the prime minister’s visit has its political significance from the view point of the three-tier panchayat elections and the backdrop of Centre’s announcement of Rs 921crore flood assistance to Odisha.

After the inauguration of the Science Congress, Singh will drive straight to the Congress Bhawan and interact with party leaders and workers.

The proposed visit of Singh to the Congress Bhawan has created much enthusiasm among the party rank and file.

The prime minister’s visit to the Congress Bhawan is important for the State Congress in the wake of the Centre granting the highest-ever flood assistance to Odisha.

This will certainly help to energise the party men to fight the panchayat elections against the corrupt BJD Government, said OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik.

Singh will be the second prime minister after former prime minister the late Indira Gandhi to visit the state party headquarters which is being given a facelift to receive Singh.

Meanwhile, the Commissionerate police has revved up security measures for the prime minister’s visit.

We will make full-proof security arrangement as per the Blue Book in consultation with the authorities of the Special Protection Group Police Commissioner B K Sharma said.

Bhubaneswar: Odisha would need an estimated additional 60 lakh of skilled manpower by 2026, a study conducted by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) said.
Briefing newsmen here after a high-level meeting with chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnik at the State Secretariat here, NSDC chief Jaikant Singh said that as per the study report, at present there are only 70 lakh skilled workforce in Odisha against a requirement of 1.35 crore highly-skilled personnel.
Giving reasons for the gap on the availability of skilled workforce, he said that this might be due to several reasons.
The main reason is lack of manpower awareness due to migration of skilled workers outside the state for a better salary and for quality issue.
Stating that the existing infrastructure in Odisha has only 60 per cent trained people, Singh said that in order to bridge the gap the state government has focused on pilot-level efforts on three districts, Ganjam, Sambalpur and Jajpur, to enhance skill development.
The NSDC chief also said that his corporation would not only impart training just to assist the people to get jobs but also help them boost their livelihood through self-employment.
In this connection, he said his corporation would organise training facilities in sectors like food processing, particularly in the ginger producing areas with a view to adding value.
The chief secretary said that the state government would take necessary steps to study of the NSDC report further and do the needful.

Bhubaneswar: The directive of the Maharashtra State Election Commission (MSEC) banning the use of animals by political parties during election campaigns was welcomed by People For Animal in Odisha on Thursday.

In a letter to all political parties, the MSEC said donkeys, bulls, elephants and cows cannot be used for politics and requested the State Election Commission of Odisha to issue a similar directive to the political parties in the state in view of the coming Panchayati Raj elections.

Hailing the directive of the MSEC, Jiban Ballav Das, Odisha secretary, People for Animals, in a letter to the SEC, requested the Commission to ban the use of animals during election campaign.

In the letter, he further said that use of animals during poll amounts to cruelty to animals and is punishable under the Cruelty to Animals Act.

Often donkeys with blackened faces are paraded on streets to highlight the failure of the government, or representing their rivals.

The Maharashtra Commission said in its directive that political parties found misusing animals to highlight any issues during the local body elections would be dealt with firmly.

The candidates have no business to inflict atrocities on animals to highlight a public cause. The politicians have been urged to show restraint in abusing each other taking animal names, the Commission said.

Several instances of politicians calling each other donkeys or dogs have been brought to the notice of the election commission, MSEC member Neela Satyanarayan said recently.