ODISHA

Members of the Youth for Action tried to gherao the residence of Industries Minister Pratap Keshari Deb here demanding jobs in the industries of the State.

A large number of agitators came in a procession holding placards and shouting slogans. When they tried to march towards the Ministers house, Police personnel deployed there intercepted them. This led to a scuffle.

The agitators alleged that Unemployment is on the rise in the State and demanded that the Government take immediate steps for providing jobs to the unemployed youths by expediting the industrial process.

During the last 22 years, the has signed over 200 MoUs with various companies in the steel, aluminium, thermal power and petrochemicals sectors. The MoUs were aimed to provide EMPLOYMENT opportunities to least 90 per cent of the total unskilled and semiskilled workers from Odisha.

However, the Government has failed to implement the pacts and the number of local workforce in the industries is less than 10 per cent, the agitators claimed.

A whopping 15 lakh cases are pending in different of Odisha, an increase of 1.96 lakh cases since July last year.

The spiralling of backlog in cases has continued despite a marked rise in disposal rate (84.23%) after a quantum drop in disposal of cases to (18.68%) during the first wave of the pandemic. Between July 2019 and July 2020, there was a rise of 1.2 lakh cases.

The latest statistics available from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) revealed that during last month (September) 31,785 cases were instituted while 26,774 cases were disposed of.

Projects worth Rs 640.65 crore were approved under the Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) for development of secondary schools, environmental monitoring and Sports development in (ULBs) of the Minerals-bearing districts on Tuesday.

The approvals were accorded in the Board of Directors meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary SC Mahapatra wherein OMBADC Chief Executive Officer Uma Nanduri presented the necessity and expected outcome of the projects for discussion. Giving nod to the projects, Mahapatra directed to provide global-level Education and exposure to the students under the secondary school development programme.

A project on application of ICT and data science for development of the environmental information system in the mining areas estimated at Rs 3.10 crore was also sanctioned.

The project envisages development of a comprehensive Database on periodic environmental data collected from mines through different statutory returns, clearances and compliances. The data generated should be used in curtailing pollution and decision-making activities regarding mining operations.

The state commerce and transport department has written to theMinistry of Civil Aviationto ask the AAI to issue the NOC for the site and provide in-principle clearance to position the Dakota Aircraft on the selected land, which is located near the entry point of the Biju Patnaik International Airport and close to the Airport Police station and administrative building of the BPI Airport director.

Padhi requested Kharola to impress upon the AAI headquarter in Delhi for issuance of the NOC and provide clearance to position the Dakota Aircraft on the selected site.
On December 13, 2017, the AAI had written to the and given the proposal to procure the Aircraft from Kolkata. The AAI had also offered all assistance and support to the government in procuring the Aircraft. The state government wrote to the AAI on January 22, 2020, expressing its willingness to bring the Aircraft to Bhubaneswar and display it near Biju Patnaiks statue at the BPI Airport.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) recently declaredBrahmani Natural Archin Hemgir forest range of Sundargarh district as a National Geo Heritage site believed to be belonging to the Jurassic period.
After the bill is passed in Parliament, it will be one of the biggest Natural Arches of the country to have the geo heritage tag.

The arch is on top of Chengapahad in Chengapahad reserve forest on the way to Kanika from Hemgir, nearBrahmanivillage and 2.5 km from Kamalgra village. It is present within ferruginous sandstone of Upper Kamthi Formation, which is supposed to have taken place in lower to middle Jurassic age. The development of Arch morphology probably took place after 66 million years.

According to geologists, the oval-shaped arch is 30 metres long at the base and 12 metres in height. The alcove is 7 metres high and 15 metres wide.

WithOdishaaspiring to be a major maritime state by exploring the potential along its 480 km-long coastline, the apprehends that the Indian PortsBill, 2021, if implemented, will be a major setback to that dream.

The state government has already raised objection to certain provisions in the draft Indian Ports Bill anticipating that the proposed legislation may end states control over non-major ports. If the ports bill gets implemented, the state government said it will centralize all powers with the Maritime States Development Council (MSDC).

At present, the Centre controls operation of major ports while coastal states or their maritime boards have full authority over non-major ports.

Besides, four more non-major ports one on the Subarnarekha river, a riverine port on the Mahanadi in Kendrapada district, one at Jatadhar river mouth and another at Astaranga are in the pipeline. There are eight other potential locations identified for development of ports along states coastline.

Earlier, theBihargovernment had evinced interest to set up a port facility along the states coastline, which has been accepted by the Odisha government. Besides, the government also has plans for Logistics park projects at Dhamara, Gopalpur and Subarnarekha.

While the states commerce and transport minister Padmanabha Behera has written a letter communicating Odishas objection to certain sections of the bill, official sources said the commerce and transport department has sought more time from the shipping ministry to convey its clause-by-clause views on the draft bill.

The transferred Rs 441.76 crore to Cooperative banks and primary Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) towards interest of loans taken by farmers for 2022-23, a government statement said.

The government said total interest borne by the state government for 2022-23 is Rs 856.99 crore. The government had paid Rs 415.17 crore in the first phase earlier. The government gives farm loan up to Rs 1 lakh to eligible small and marginal farmers at zero per cent interest.

Besides, it was also supposed to reduce the adverse socio-economic impact resulting from HIV infection and to coordinate and strengthen STD, HIV, AIDS surveillance. But unfortunately, the functioning of OSACS is virtually in a shambles. Prevention is the best strategy of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and NACP-IV focuses on early detection and continued care and support to the high-risk vulnerable communities to prevent further infection in the Society.

These high risk populations includes Women sex workers, intravenous drug users, trans-sexual and transgender (TSTG), men having sex with men (MSM) and bridge Population like migrants and truckers.

In Odisha, high-risk prevalent districts such as Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Jharsuguda and Cuttack where targeted intervention project has failed because of closure of project owing to non-selection of implementation partners since 2015. The Central Government is providing nearly 1 crore annually for these seven districts which are unspent besides crores of other grants. The OSACS sought expression of interest many times but could not materialise it. In 2020 OSACS again invited expression of interest from various NGOs, but no proactive steps have been taken, which has put the fate of vulnerable community in jeopardy.

The may use technology in Police patrolling with the possible introduction of geo-fencing and QR coding systems for better monitoring in urban as well as rural areas, minister of state for Home Tusharkanti Behera has informed the assembly.

According to the state police headquarters, onlyGPStechnology is currently being used to track police control room (PCR) vans, including those attached with the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) or dial 112. All thePCRvans in the state have been attached with GPS devices to provide their live location.

GPS devices also keep a track on PCR vans and help the control room know if any vehicle is found parked or stationary without going for patrolling.

Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Principal Secretary Arabinda Kumar Padhee said the weather and conditions of Odisha are extremely favourable for cashew farming.

This year more than 20,000 hectares of new land area will be brought under cashew farming, he announced.

More steps are being taken to improve production and productivity of cashew in the State with application of innovations in this field, Dr Padhee said while addressing the National Conference on Cashew. He said that underdeveloped districts and tribal areas will be on cashew farming.

More than 250 delegates from 19 States consisting of cashew farmers, processors, exporters, scientists from research organisations, experts, department officials, field level implementing agencies and officials of Odisha State Cashew Development Corporation participated in the conference.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will prepare a road map for cashew development for overall development of cashew in the country by incorporating the innovative ideas emanated in the conference. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is contemplating achieving self-sufficiency in cashew production by 2029 30.