ODISHA

It’s raining sops inOdishaahead of the panchayat , scheduled in February. Chief ministerNaveen Patnaikannounced Rs 1000 aid each for 96 lakh families covered underBiju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana(BSKY) towardslivelihoodassistance.

The chief minister has directed officials to release the assistance within seven days. “Those who are yet to get BSKY smart cards can still avail the benefits by showing national Food Security or state food security cards as all of them are automatic beneficiaries of BSKY,” a government statement said.

Stating that welfare of the poor is the government’s primary focus, Naveen said, “Covid-19 has made major social and economic impact on families of theeconomically weaker sections. The government assistance is to help mitigate that pain.”

The Rs 960 crore livelihood assistance package comes a day after Naveen announced Rs 1444 crore house repair help at the rate of Rs 3,000 each to the beneficiaries of various state housing schemes and Rs 5,000 each for eligible families deprived of central housing benefits.

The Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd (DCBL) launched Project Hastakala, an innovative economic upliftment programme for the Women in Jhagarpur village under Rajgangpur block.

The project will impart the women of Jhagarpur with the knowledge and skilled application of the globally appreciated batik art form.

The project is being spearheaded by the R and R team of DCBL through collaboration with Kalayatan Institute of Art and Craft, Sundergarh.

The programme will be rolled out in phases, with the first phase kickstarting through a pilot with around 33 women. The scale-up of the programme will be done through imparting training to additional 170 beneficiaries from peripheral communities with the target of providing a regular income of Rs 8,000 to Rs10,000 to each.

In a big leap towardscybersecurity, theOdishagovernment is all set to establish a robust mechanism to protect its websites and applications from hackers. Acyber security operationcentre (CSOC) is being built on the premises ofOdisha Computer Application Centre(OCAC) Tower to prevent any cyber intrusion and defacement attempts.

Initially, the system will be made operational on state data centre (SDC) where the government applications have been hosted, state wide area Network (SWAN), and secretariat . Later, other government infrastructures will be integrated with CSOC.

CSOC will scan or monitor the network round the clock to flag any suspicious activities. The centre will issue alerts about emerging threats to prevent any harm. The CSOC will minutely examine each threat, discard false threats and ascertain real threats. In view of any threat, the centre would act as a first responder, performing actions like shutting down or isolating endpoints, terminating harmful processes or preventing them from executing and deleting files.

The Shema e-vehicle & Solar (SES) Pvt Ltd, an Odisha-based electric scooter manufacturing company, has bagged the India Green Energy Award.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari presented the award to the firm in outstanding green energy initiatives in electric vehicle & battery segment.

The award was conferred at the third edition of India Green Energy Award 2020 by the Indian Federation of Green Energy. The SES, owned by young entrepreneur Yogesh Lath from Sambalpur district, has been manufacturing ultramodern electric two-wheelers at Dhankauda since five years. The company has also set up a mass production assembly line at Manesar (Gurugram).

Also, penalties collected from the lessees for illegal mining based on a Supreme Court order on August 2, 2017, was also deposited in OMBADC. The fund now has a deposit of over Rs 16,000 crore, official sources said. The board of directors of OMBADC headed by chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra has sanctioned projects like development of secondary schools, environmental monitoring and Sports development projects.

Under the secondary school development programme, the has planned to develop smart classroom, e-library, science laboratory, information Communication technology (ICT) laboratory and other Infrastructure in 889 secondary schools in Angul, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts.

The aim of the school development programme is to provide exposure to students in the mining-affected districts. Around Rs 533 crore has been earmarked for it. The Money will be utilised to enhance the Learning eco-system in government schools in the mining-affected districts, said the chief secretary.

People visitingHirakudDam Reservoir will soon be able to get a glimpse into the hitherto unexplored Bat Island, the Mahanadi river island which is Home for more than one thousand of bats. Visiting the island is part of Hirakud Cruise to be launched by theForest and Environmentdepartment of the soon.

The Bat Island is around 10 kilometers away from the zero point of Hirakud dam and only one kilometer away from the Debrigarh eco-tourism. One has to take a 20 minutes boat ride from zero point of Hirakud dam to reach the island, which is near village Mahutalu and around 20 to 25 fishermen families have been living in the village. During summer, when the water dries up, the villageMahultalugets connected with the Bat Island and one can walk up to the patch of the land in the river.

A dense forest is there at the island where the sunlight rarely reaches and there is darkness in the island even during the daytime. Since the bats are nocturnal and they take rest in daytime besides avoid the sunlight, the island, which spreads over around 2 hectare areas, has become place for nesting and resting of the hundreds of bats. The other reason behind the bats flocking to the island is the serenity of the place. Moreover, the bats, which rest during day time on trees in upside-down condition, also get plenty of prey at the island.

He asked revenue and Disaster Management, and animal Resources development, forest and Environment departments and Idco to work out a facilitating policy to tap the available potential of brackish water aquaculture. Idco has also been asked to develop a land bank for it. Fisheries and animal resources development secretary RRaghu Prasadsaid there was significant Growth in the sector in the last 10 years.

The production of brackish water fish increased from 11,460 MT in 2011-12 to 97,125 MT in 2020-21. Area under brackish water aquaculture also increased from 5,860 hectare to 17,780 hectare during the same period.

The Kuvempu Rashtriya Puraskar, the award instituted in reminiscence of late poet laureate Kuvempu, has been awarded to famed Odia poet Dr Rajendra Kishore Panda for the year 2020. The prestigious award consists of a cash award of Rs 5 lakh, a silver medal, and a citation.

Dr Panda:
He was Born on June 24, 1944, Dr Panda writes in the Odia language. He has published sixteen poetry collections and a novel. He is a primary Indian poet who suggested the course of contemporary Odia poetry to brilliant heights. He was awarded the Gangadhar National Award in 2010 and the Award in 1985. He was awarded a DLitt by Sambalpur University.

About the Award:
Founded in 1992, Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Trust instituted this countrywide annual literary award in 2013 in the name of Kuvempu to apprehend litterateurs who had contributed in any language diagnosed via the Constitution of India.