ODISHA

States first human milk bank inaugurated at Capital Hospital

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Odishas first human milk bank was inaugurated atCapital Hospitalhere on Wednesday. It will provide breast milk to newborns who cannot be breastfed by their mothers, infants whose mothers have died, unwell or cannot produce enough milk, or babies who cannot suck on their mothers milk.

This state-of-the art milk bank will ensure the retention of the nutritional value of mothers milk, he added. On the first day of its opening, 19 lactating mothers donated their milk to the bank, which was laterfedto their children. For pasteurisation, we require at least 2.5 litres of milk. The commercial use of the milk bank has not yet started. At present, only mothers are storing milk for their children.

The first human milk bank in the country was set atSion Hospitalin Mumbai in 1989.

Govt to ink pact on gender parity

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TheOdishagovernment will sign a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) with J-PAL, a research centre, to improve gender-based outcomes in the state.

The PARTNERSHIP aims to accelerate gender by changing stereotypical attitudes and behaviours among schoolgoing adolescents.

The programme will focus on integrating the gender equity curriculum into the school syllabi for classes VI to X.

The purpose of the gender equity program is in synchronisation with the goal of the 5TSchool Transformationprogram, which aims to help children dream big and move forward with confidence to face all challenges in life.

The program will be implemented in the academic year 2022 and onwards. The curriculum will come as a supplementary textbook for social studies and its allied subjects this year.

Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), a Capripox virus disease affecting cattle, buffalo and goat, which was detected in Odisha in the aftermath of the Fani cyclone devastating the coast in May 2019, has re-emerged in the State, the Institute of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (IVSAH) run by the SOA here, said on Tuesday.

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The disease, which is contagious and transmitted by agents like blood-sucking fly, tick and Aedes mosquito, cause immense loss to farmers and keepers on account of death of animals, expenses on treatment and more than 20% reduction in milk production, Prof BramhadevPattnaik, Dean of IVSAH, said.

The genus Capripox virus has three virus-affecting ruminants, sheep pox, goat pox and LSD.

Prof Pattnaik said that though the disease was initially confined to Africa, it has spread to other continents subsequently. LSD was first detected in Odisha following the Fani cyclone and it has been epidemiologically ascertained that it has travelled to the State from Bangladesh through Jharkhand.

The virus, which is also known to get transmitted through contaminated feed and water, has made a re-appearance in Khordha and Puri districts.

Odisha to train 30,000 as first responders to road accidents

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Chief ministerNaveen Patnaik launched a road safety initiative here called Rakshak – a first responders’ training programme. Under this initiative, at least 30,000 volunteers, staying or working at eateries and different business establishments located near accident-prone spots, will be trained as first responders to road accidents.

The capacity building programme is being organised by the commerce and transport department in PARTNERSHIP with Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Indian Red Cross Society‘sOdishabranch.

In the first phase, 300 master trainers, including volunteers from the Indian Red Cross Society and NGOs across the state, will receive training of trainers (TOTs) from experts of the Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC).

The TOTs will be conducted at 10 places – Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Balasore,Koraput, Phulbani,Sundergarh, Keonjhar and Bhawanipatna.

Ganjam OAV 5th best in country

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As per a survey conducted by the Education World India School Ranking 2022-23, Odisha Adarsh Vidyalaya (OAV)at Hatiote under Polasara block in the district has been ranked 5th best school.

This is for the fifth year that the OAV has secured a spot among top Government schools in the country. The OAV secured the rank due to its quality of TEACHING, Leadership, management, curricular activities and technical education imparted to the students.

The Education World India School Ranking is one of the world’s leading school ranking organisations. Education, teachers, guardians, students and prominent persons are associated with the organisation.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik pushes for farm-market linkage

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Chief ministerNaveen Patnaik stressed on removing intermediaries from the agri-supply chain that will ensure linking farmers directly to market and help increasing their income. While virtually inaugurating theOdisha Agri Conclave-2021, the chief minister said development of Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Empowerment of farmers are the priority areas of his government.

Leading private players in agri-business and Food Processing sectors likeAdani-Wilmer Ltd,Tata Agri, Parley, Amul, Coffee Board of India, Big Basket joined the conclave that was organized to link farmers directly with the national and global market. The objective was also to provide states traditional, indigenous and nutritious produces to get prominence in global market.

The state government is planning to bring uniform research guidelines for state public universities and it will be framed after a discussion with the universities. The aim is to provide better service to research scholars and maintain quality of research works.TheOdisha State Higher Education Council(OSHEC) will take the lead to frame the guidelines after holding meetings with the university vice-chancellors.

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The guideline will address this issue. Universities will set a deadline for registration of students for PhD programmes and approval of the thesis in a time-bound manner to award degrees to scholars without much delay. It will also look into the matter related to use of anti-plagiarism Software and maintaining the quality of the research. Some universities are asking scholars to publish their research articles in the Scopus indexed journals, while others are advising somewhere else. After finding all these issues, we thought the council should bring a uniform guideline for the universities on this, said the council member.

Govt mulls portal to overseestate disaster response system

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The has decided to create a web portal to monitor and manage the disaster response system in districts during emergencies and rescue operations.

Since ODRAF (Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force) andOFES(Odisha Fire&Emergency Service) are the first responders during emergency, rescue and evacuation operations, we want to further streamline their Services. A web portal will be developed for inventory of all disaster response equipment, vehicles and accessories available at ODRAF units and fire stations in districts for proper tracking, timely repair and maintenance. This will ensure functionality of the emergency equipment for optimum utilization at the time of disaster, a senior government official said.
While ODRAF has 20 units in the state, OFES has around 345 stations across Odisha.

In the past 11 years, Odisha has seen 16 natural disasters, causing loss to public and private properties. The state was hit by 10 Cyclones, three droughts, two severe floods and one untimely rain between 2010 and 2021, official sources said. In October last year, the government announced to introduce disaster and pandemic management in the curriculum of schools and colleges to prepare Disaster Management yodhas (warriors) in every household.

Odisha govt launches doorstep delivery of oxygen

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To ensure that the Covid-infected patients do not suffer formedical Oxygen, the on Sunday launched doorstep delivery of oxygen concentrators in Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Cuttack, Rourkela andSambalpur.

Recently, the chief minister announced the formation of a task force to further strengthen the supply Logistics of medical oxygen and prepare a master plan to meet the immediate requirement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

PM Narendra Modi to lay stone, inaugurate rail projects worth Rs 8,000 crore in Odisha

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone and dedicate RAILWAY projects worth over Rs 8,000 crore to the state.

Among the projects inaugurated would be the flagging off Vande Bharat Express from Puri to Howrah, besides the doubling of Sambalpur-Titlagarh rail line, a new broad gauge line between Angul and Sukinda, the third line connecting Manoharpur-Rourkela-Jharsuguda-Jamga and a new broad gauge line between Bichhupali and Jhartarbha.

These projects will cater to the increased traffic demands due to rapid industrial development in steel, power and mining sectors in Odisha. It will also help ease the pressure on passenger traffic in these rail sections.