ODISHA

The National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) has registered nearly a 3.5-fold increase in net profit to clock Rs 831 crore in Q3 of financial year 2022, a jump of 246% compared to Rs 240 crore in the same period previous year.

The company has also broken the highest profit figure clocked since its inception for the first nine-month period, with net profit of Rs 1,926 crore for the period ending on December 2021, a five-fold increase and a substantial jump of 429% over Rs 364 crore posted in corresponding period last year. The total revenue from operations in Q3 of FY22 witnessed a substantial Growth, a profit of Rs 3,773 crore compared to Rs 2,379 crore in Q3 of FY21.

The special task force (STF) of the Crime Branch has urged the state Police to explore the feasibility of opening a special unit to conduct forensic examination of wildlife parts. At present, theSTFsends the seized or recovered wildlife parts to theWildlife Institute of India(WII) in Dehradun for forensic examination.

Though the STFs main mandate is to curb organised crimes and drug trafficking in the state, protection of endangered wildlife species and crackdown against wildlife smugglers has also remained its focus area.

Experts said there is a need to sensitise enforcement agencies in wildlife crime scene investigation and proper collection of evidence through regular training and workshops.

The Union Government of India has lately declined to accept the Odisha Government’s demand for the acknowledgement of the rebellion as the first war of independence.

Highlights:

The Paikas of Khudra supported the Paika Rebellion in Odisha. It was led by Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhara. The rebellion was upheld against the British in the 1820s.
In 2017, the Odisha Government obliged that the Odisha rebellion be named the first war of independence.
The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 is currently called the first war of independence. The Central Government discussed the Indian Council of Historical Research.
According to ICHR, the rebellion cannot be the first war of independence.
The Government, however, has decided to include it in the curriculum of the Class VIII HISTORY textbook of NCERT.

Paika Rebellion:

Paika rebellion happened in 1817, 40 years before the first sepoy mutiny. The Paikas were the farmer militias who gave military Services to Gajapti rulers in Odisha.
The British East India Company ousted the King of Khurda, Raja Mukunda Deva, in 1803.
In 1804, the king organised a rebellion against the Britishers involving the Paikas.
However, the Britishers learned about the plan, confiscated the entire territory, and suppressed the Paika farmers through their revenue systems.
This started the rebellion following Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar in 1817.
The government buildings were set on fire, Police officers were killed, and the British safe was looted. Bakshi died in 1825 in prison.

Minister of State for Home Tusharkanti Behera on Monday inaugurated a Sampark Help Desk and 16 Child Friendly Police stations in hybrid mode from the office of Crime against Women and Children Wing (CAWACW) of the Crime Branch.

Terming the initiative as truly transformative Minister Behera said the step was in tune with the 5T charter of the .

Sampark Help Desk has been initiated with technical collaboration of UNICEF.

The objective of such an initiative is to address the issues of gender violence by providing psychosocial support to the victim of sexual violence who face tremendous trauma post the incident, connecting the victim to various support agencies in the district like DCPU, DSWO, Cwc, Childline, One Stop Centers and district mental Health professionals

The latest report on accidental deaths and suicides in India (ADSI), compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), shows that Odisha witnessed the highest number of deaths due to fall from moving vehicles in the country in 2020.

A total of 1167 people, including 158 Women, died in the state after accidentally falling from running vehicles last year, the highest in the country, the ADSI report stated. Maharashtra stood second with 1058 such deaths whereas Madhya Pradesh was ranked third with 397 fatalities.

It must be noted that road accident-related deaths have increased by nearly 21% from 3,931 deaths in 2014 to 4,738 in 2020 in the state. This despite The Supreme Court committee on road safety directing the to bring it down by 50% by 2020.

The ADSI finding has also placed Odisha on top when it comes to deaths caused by accidental fire due to electric short circuit. A total of 490 people died by accidental fire following electric short circuits in the state last year, with Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh reporting 186 and 158 such deaths, respectively. Odisha had also topped with 279 deaths due to accidental fire sparked by electric short circuit in 2019, the report stated.

TheOdishaState Legal Services Authority (OSLSA), along with NGO Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHII), launched a legal aid clinic for transgender people.

The legal aid clinic, the first-of-its-kind in Odisha and third in India, will benefit the transgender community in availing of free legal aid services.

Despite an increasingly progressive socio-legal Environment, transgender people continue to face stigma, discrimination and violence in family, Society, accessing public services and inheriting property due to their gender identity.

A large proportion of violence and discrimination was perpetrated by general public (37%), followed by parents, sibling and other biological family members (17%).