Development news of orissa and India

The Cabinet Commitee on Infrastructure today gave the approval to delink the reforms implementation with release of funds for the second instalment in the ongoing projects in North eastern States and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Cabinet today approved a new telecom policy, NTP 2012, that proposes to abolish roaming charges on mobile phones and allow users to retain the same number across the country.Briefing the media the Telecom Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal that the spectrum allocation will be delinked from licensing.

The Minister said that the new Telecom Policy aims at increasing teledensity in rural areas.

The NTP 2012 aims to provide free roaming to telecom users and allow them to retain the mobile number even outside their circles without having to pay any extra charge.

At present, users have to pay extra when they receive or make a call in a circle outside their home network, called roaming charges.Also mobile number portability is not permitted outside circle.

In another important decision the government today approved promulgation of a legislation that provides for imprisonment upto seven years for exploiting tribes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Union Cabinet approved the proposal for promulgation of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal tribes) Amendment Regulation 2012.

The law incorporates stringent penal provisions to deter unauthorised entries, photography, videography, hunting, use of alcohol, inflammable material or biological germs, or even putting up advertisements to attract tourists in the buffer zone.

Briefing newsmen following the cabinet decision in New Delhi,Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said,the zone would comprise of an area upto 5 km radius around the Jarawa tribal reserve. The offenders can be imprisoned from 3 to 7 years and fined upto 10,000 rupees.

Mrs.Soni said,this regulation will cover the entire Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Tourist establishments would be prohibited and other commercial establishments would be regulated in the buffer zone, which would protect the aboriginal tribes from undesirable outside influences .

The minister maintained that an earlier attempt by the government to create this buffer zone had been quashed by the Calcutta High Court. A Special Leave Petition in the matter is pending with the Supreme Court.

Chitaranjan Tripathy in Bhubaneswar:

Political Parties must shed their differences to demand in unison for the special category status for Odisha in view of recommendations of parliament standing committee in this regard. Special Category Status to the state would go a long way to address the issues of regional imbalances, stark poverty among dalits and adivasis, poor infrastructure in remote areas and lopsided development in the state. Both the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should rise above petty politics of divide and rule and stand up to the expectations of the people of the state, the youth leaders said at a meeting held here last week.

Chairing a Seminar on “Three years of BJD government in Odisha and UPA government at Centre : A report card from Youth Perspective” organised by Janata Vikas Manch, Nageshwar Patnaik, a senior journalist said, “People across the society should not indulge in leg pulling and instead they should work unitedly for the development of the state”, he said.

Patnaik said that the 9% of Brahmins and 4% of Karans are dominating all the spheres of life. “There is complete bais against SCs & STs which is the reason for their backwardness in the state”, he said. He said that all should think why the mineral resources dominated areas are poorest in the state. “We all need to think on the developmental model. We do not know how to use our mineral resources. Odisha does not have shortage of rain, but we do have shortage of water in the state. We all need to resolve this problem”, he said.

Participating in the debate, Chitta Ranjan Behera, social scientist, said that there are around 15 laws in the state which are anti-people. He said that as per the RTI act, BPL card holders need not pay fee for filing an RTI application. But, in Odisha the BPL card holders also forced to pay fee for filing RTI application. A proper use of RTI will contain corruption in Odisha, he said.

Earlier, while presenting a status report on both the Central and Odisha government, Sai Prasan, a key functionary of JVM, said that the people of project affected areas including Tata Steel project are having water problem. There is complete darkness in the state except in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack areas. “We all need to think what will be the condition of Odisha in terms of water, environment and power after the industrial projects are operationalised five years down the line”, he said.

Sai Prasan said that the acute shortage of water is hampering the agricultural growth in the state leading to a large scale migration. The development is concentrated in the 100 KM radius of the state capital. The Western Odisha, Southern Odisha and tribal dominated areas are most backward in the state. The SC and ST population is also living in a miserable condition. All these factors specially unemployment among youth is responsible for the rise of Naxalism in the state, he said.

Dolmani Pradhan, a political leader, said that state government is neglecting the interest of the Kosal region. The natural resources of the Western Odisha are being exploited and it is being used for the development of the Coastal region. The youth of Western Odisha are not getting jobs in the industrial units set up in their own region.

The education and health system is non-functional. “The people of the region are migrating as a bonded labourers to other states”, he said.

Taking a cue from the debate, Shivram, a Communist leader, said that both the UPA government and BJD government are following the neo-liberal policies of the imperialist forces. “Neo-liberal policies are being followed at the behest of imperialist forces. Development is destruction in Odisha”, he said.

Manoj Jena, a human rights defender, said that the human rights violations have gone up in the state due to the industrialization process in the state. The government is snatching the land of poor SC and ST population for setting up the industry.

The strengthening of political and democratic process in the state will make the government functional. The political leadership should be held responsible for the violation of human rights in the state, he said.

Sudarshan Chhotray, a documentary film maker, said that mindless mining is responsible for the climate change. There should be proper check on the mindless mining. “Misuse of water is responsible for the pollution”, he said.

Among other youth leaders, Puroshotam Singh Thakur, Avinash Thakur, Abhishek Joshi and Gobind Ballabh Dalai also spoke on this occasion.

General Bikram Singh, a veteran infantry officer, today took over as
the 25th Chief of the Indian Army . He succeeded Gen V K Singh whose
26-month tenure was mired by controversies. Fifty nine year-old Gen
Bikram Singh will have a tenure of two years and three months in the
top post.
Prior to his appointment as Army Chief, Gen Bikram was commanding the
Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command.
He has held several important appointments in counter insurgency areas as the Corps Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps and Akhnoor-based 10 Division as Major General.

‘World No Tobacco Day’ is observed every year on May 31 to raise awareness about the lethal effects of tobacco and to encourage the public to abstain from all forms of tobacco consumption.

The theme for this year is "Tobacco industry interference." By selecting this theme, World Health Organisation, WHO aims to nip the problem of smoking in the bud by highlighting the tobacco industry’s brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to counteract global tobacco control efforts.

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 6 lakh people are exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless acted upon, it will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80 per cent will live in low- and middle-income countries.

PB West Asia correspondent reports that Dubai is set to mark the Day by banning the sale of tobacco for 24 hours. More than 200 companies – including restaurants, gas stations, and supermarkets – have decided not to sell tobacco products for the day.

The National Democratic Alliance, NDA has called for a 12-hour nationwide bandh on Thursday to protest against the steep hike in petrol prices.

Left parties are observing All India Protest Day on the same issue.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Naveen Patnaik led Biju Janata Dal have also called for bandh to protest
against the recent petrol price hike.

West Bengal government has taken all necessary steps to maintain normal life in view of the Thursday’s bandh.

State Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh said that any attempt to disrupt normal life will be dealt firmly. He said, the West Bengal government will not grant any leave
to its employees.