ODISHA

minister Pratap Jena on Tuesday said the process for preparation of a fresh reservation list minusquota for backward classesin the panchayat polls has already been started and the list will be submitted soon to the State Election Commission (SEC).

The minister said that the fresh reservation list is being prepared in accordance with the observations of the Orissa High Court following The Supreme Court‘s order.

While the State Government had already submitted the reservation list with 27% seats reserved for otherbackward classesto the SEC, the Orissa HC, citing recent orders of the SC, observed that there can be no reservation for backward class candidates.

The issue of no reservation to backward classes is also at the centre ofOdisha‘s politics as the BJD announced to give tickets to at least 40% OBC candidates.

The Government has set a revenue collection target of Rs 63,966.52 crore. This includes Rs 46,000 crore of States own tax revenue and Rs 48,200-crore non-tax revenue.

For 2022-23, the State has set a PR target of Rs 27,648 crore while it has received Rs 4,828 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

The latestNational Family Health Survey(NFHS-5) released on Wednesday revealed that the totalfertility rateinOdishahas gone down to 1.8 (2020-21) from 2.1 (2015-16).

The TFR (children per woman) of Odisha is lower than the national Average of 2.

Experts said the trend indicated increased awareness among people about family planning methods and a preference to limit offspring to one or two.

The report said the Percentage of adoption of any kind of contraception (overall) has risen to 74.1 per cent from 57.3 per cent in 2015-16. The rate is better than the national average of 66.7 per cent.

Significantly, the use of oral pill as a method of contraception in Odisha has gone down to 10.8 per cent from 12 per cent while there has been a rise in other forms of family planning.
Pill use has gone up nationally from 4.1 per cent to 5.1 per cent.

Female sterilisation (tubectomy) in the state has marginally gone down from 28.2 per cent to 28 per cent.

The rate of condom use in the state has gone up to 5.5 per cent from 3.4 per cent. Nationally, the rate has gone up from 5.6 per cent to 9.5 per cent. Male sterilisation (vasectomy) in Odisha has gone up marginally from 0.2 per cent to 0.3 per cent.

The books will have topics like folklore, art and craft, music, songs and fables that have enriched tribal communities. They will also contain and document riddles and stories in tribal languages.

Odisha has as many as 62 tribal communities speaking 21 languages of which seven have their own scripts. The major tribal languages include Santali, Ho, Koya, Munda, Bonda, Kishan, Gandi, Desia, Kuvi, Kui, Gabba, Soura, Juanga, Bhumija, Binjhal, Bhuyan, Sadri and Khadia.
Experts said imparting Education in tribal languages has several challenges, primarily being the shortage of adequate teachers. Besides, residential schools have a varied proportion of students from different tribal communities.

Parents are expected to be more interested to enrol their children in Government schools instead of private schools. In the first phase, the CM had dedicated 10 such schools in Sheragada and Hinjili blocks of Ganjam district on August 21.

Patnaik said, “Our children in Odisha are no less than talented.” They have a lot of potential. They can make HISTORY if given the opportunity. The programme was moderated by 5-T Secretary VK Pandian from the Lok Seva Bhawan in Bhubaneswar.

Chief ministerNaveen Patnaik said community involvement indevelopmental planningis essential for balanced regional Growth.

Joining an induction programme for 56 senior economic investigators in thestate planningand convergence department through video-conference, he emphasised on evidence-based, outcome-oriented planning which will result in achievement of sustainable developmental goals and better indices.

This will ensure growth with Justice and Equity. Systematic developmental planning requires involvement of the community and elected representatives, who have better knowledge of local needs and Resources. Such an approach will help address the distortions in local level planning.

The Cooperation Department, Government of Odisha today announced that farmers in the State will be meted out absolutely free crop Insurance coverage for the coming three years, starting from the Kharif season of the year 2023 up to the Rabi season of FY 2025-26.

The announcement came close on the heels of a review of the Departments performance conducted by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik earlier in the day. As per the announcement, the department will pay insurance premiums for the same period on behalf of the beneficiary farmers.

Providing free crop insurance coverage to Odisha farmers is the first-ever step in the country. Agricultural loans provided to farmers in the State are one of the successful programmes taken up by the Department. Accordingly, Odisha State Cooperative Bank, 17 Central and around 2,710 Primary Agricultural credit Societies (PACS) have been providing agricultural loans to farmers in Odisha.

The beneficiary farmers get short-term cooperative loans at the time of their requirements, with low rates of interest and easy installments of payment, a press release mentioned.

The State Government previously enhanced the interest-free loan limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Under this ambitious scheme, more than seven lakh small and marginal farmer families were provided with total agricultural loans to the tune of Rs 16,683.57 crore during the FY 2022-23.

The DSO would make the entries in the RSP Intranet Portal and ensure implementation of the recommendations also. An assessment committee comprising members from Finance, Personnel, IED and Safety Departments would assess the near-miss cases on a quarterly basis and the employees would be awarded a prize worth Rs 300 for every reported near-miss case.

Besides, the scheme also has annual Awards in three categories, i.e., Rakshak Department, Rakshak DSO and Rakshak Karmi. The first award would be in the form of a trophy and a certificate to the department concerned while the latter two awards carry prizes worth Rs 1,000 each to the individuals concerned. The Safety Engineering Department of RSP is the nodal agency of the scheme for its effective implementation.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Odisha State Council organised its Annual General Meeting (AGM), in which its new team was inducted.

JB Pany, Director, Javastra Technology Pvt Ltd; Rajib Sekhar Sahoo, Chartered Accountant and Principal partner, SRB & Associates; and M K Gupta, Managing Director, Gupta Power Ltd (GPIL); were appointed as new chairman, senior vice-chairman and vice-chairman of the State Council for the year 2023-24.

The new office-bearers said they would work closely with the State Government to make Odisha a preferred destination for investors.

Odisha is the manufacturing hub of East India, with the state GSDP Growth surpassing the national GDP growth rate of India. It is the heartland of Indias mineral deposits and one of the most happening places for start-ups. Odisha is also recognised as a leader in the implementation of business reforms by DIPP and the World Bank.

The ICC living up to its new theme of Governance for Growth actively promotes sustainable growth initiatives throughout the country and abroad connecting the hinterlands of India to the highways of global growth.

The ICC initiatives in Odisha pan a cross section of business and economic activities in the State.

According to the study, parts of the State are yet to achieve the recommended daily drinking water target of 40 liter per capita per day (LPCD). While about 17 districts in the State have issues with saline groundwater, in many districts, the concentration of fluoride, nitrate, iron and chromium (hexavalent) are found to be above the permissible limits. Besides, there is huge wastage of water in the domestic sector. Due to a lack of adequate and metering, around 54% of unaccounted water losses were observed within the system.

The availability of water by the year 2051 was assessed, and the result shows that the surface water availability from its own drainage boundary remains more or less fixed but the inflow of surface water from neighbouring States will be reduced from 37.556 billion cubic metres (BCM) to 25.272 BCM.

The study indicated that by the year 2051 the total water requirement may go up to 85 BCM from the present requirement of 55 BCM, and the State may face a severe water scarcity situation in 2051.