ODISHA

Over 5k unauthorised religious structures in Odisha: Govt to HC

by

The informed theOrissahigh court that the state still has 5,268 unauthorised constructions of religious nature on public land.
The High Court had registered a suo motu case with the title ‘removal of unauthorised religious structures on public land’ on February 24, 2020, following aSupreme Courtorder. Accordingly, the high court was taking stock of the current status of the matter inOdisha. The government had filed an affidavit indicating the status of unauthorised religious structures on public land on the basis of reports received from the districts by November 30, 2022.

The state government had since framed a policy under which committees had been constituted at the district level to take a call on which structure needs to be removed or relocated or which ones can be regularised.

47% growth in Jan SGST collection

by

Odisharecorded around 47% Growth in collection of stateGST(SGST) in January as total collection during the month is estimated at Rs 1143 crore compared to the Rs 777 crore collected in 2021. The growth rate is highest amongst all major states, said an official source.
Figures released by the GST commissioners office on Thursday said total SGST collection till January of the current financial year is estimated at Rs 10,239 crore compared to Rs 6,556 crore in the 2020-21 financial year. Similarly, the total SGST collection till January of the 2019-20 financial year was pegged at Rs 7,131 crore.

According to the figure, the gross GST collection comprising SGST, central GST (CGST), integrated GST (IGST) and cess during the month of January is Rs 3,995 crore compared to Rs 3,137 crore collected in January, last year, thereby registering a growth of 27.35%.
Growth of GST during the current financial year is a result of better management and regular return scrutiny by circles combined with enforcement activities, which have resulted in better compliance by taxpayers, said a senior GST official.

Centre lens on transport plan of Odisha

by

The Centre has expressed displeasure over theOdisha governments poor progress in implementation of the vehicle location tracking system in public transport vehicles.
Theministry of road transportand highways has been providing financial assistance from theNirbhayafund to states to implement the project for the safety of Women commuters. The has been asked to expedite the project.

Under the project, all passenger buses, school buses and cabs will compulsorily be equipped with vehicle location tracking devices and panic buttons near the seats for the safety of women travellers. Women travellers, when in distress, can press the emergency buttons and expect quick response from Police. A control room has been set up here to receive alerts from women commuters.

Natl seminar on psychological research in Sanskar City Clg

by

A two-day National Seminar on emerging trends and challenges in educational and psychological research was conducted by the Psychological forum Chhattisgarh atSanskar city collegeof Education, Thakurtola ofRajnandgaon. A total of 95 entries from different states comprisingOrissa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, and more came for the National Research, said an official release. A total of 50 papers, 30 in offline mode and 20 in offline mode were read during the seminar.

The book is Co-authored by assistant professor of Psychology of Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University Rolly Tiwari and Basant Kumar Sonbar, head of Psychology department of Kamaladevi Rathi Womens Post Graduate College.

Taking a new initiative for primary school students deprived of online classes in remote areas of the State, the School & Mass Education Department has decided that under-training students would teach disadvantaged students at their doorsteps during the Covid-19 pandemic.

by

The students pursuing their career in elementary Education training course will reach out to primary school students, who do not have facility for online education in far-flung areas, and teach them near their houses as part of their internship, informed School & Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash on Wednesday. Since uncertainty still looms over reopening of schools and physical classes during the pandemic, as per the decision, one TEACHING student would be engaged for at least 10 school students for the doorstep schooling. The department has planned to select 10,000 teaching students and engage them for this purpose. The teaching students will visit 10,000 villages that lack Internet connectivity to take classes of the State-run school students near their houses by following Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, Dash said.

4 of Odisha in top-100 edu institutions list

by

Four educational institutions of Odisha featured in top-100 list of India Rankings 2023.

Union Education Minister (MoS) Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh on Monday released the India Rankings Report for 2023 in various categories and domains.

Four institutes from Odisha found place in overall categories of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) this year.

While Bhubaneswar-based Siksha `O` Anusandhan (SOA) University ranked 26th in the list, the city-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University was placed 29th, the National institute of technology (NIT) Rourkela in 37th rank and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar in 91st rank in Overall NIRF ranking.

Besides, three Odisha educational institutes secured ranks in top-100 University category list of India Rankings 2023. While SOA was positioned 15th in the category, KIIT and Utkal University were the 16th and 93rd best university, respectively, in the country.

The Ministry of Education released the 8th edition of India Rankings for the year 2023 based on ranking parameters identified and defined in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

The eighth edition of India Rankings builds upon previous seven annual exercises undertaken between 2016 and 2022 with consolidation, improvements and expansion in terms of additional categories and subject domains added to the ranking exercise, gradual increase in number of institutions that participate in the annual ranking and number of institutions that are being ranked in various categories and subject domains.

Odisha: Government debt to touch 1.25lakh-crore by the end of 2021-22 fiscal year

by

Odishas overall debt stock by the end of 2021-22 financial year is estimated to touch Rs 1.25 lakh crore, which indicates increasing loan burden on the states finances, revealed the budget documents tabled.

As the states revenue collection from own tax and non-tax sectors and fund flow from the Centre under shared tax and grants-in-aid are not adequate to meet the budgetary requirements, the generally goes for borrowing.

During the 2021-22 financial year, the state government has targeted to borrow a major amount of Rs 18,000 crore from open market and Rs 16,186 crore from sources like Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (Campa) funds.

Submit project proposals to avail JICA loans

by

The Odisha Government has shown interest in taking Japanese loans for its developmental projects as Japan is showing its inclination for development of the State. The Government of India is also eager to participate in the proposals for Japanese assistance.

Accordingly, the has asked all the departments to submit project proposals for Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan from the Government of Japan.

At least 50 per cent of this target i.e. JPY 2.5 trillion is expected to come as ODA in the next five years. Therefore, the role of JICA would be crucial with regard to public Investment and financing from Japan.

Odisha: 64% growth in gross GST collection in November

by

Odisharecorded grossGST collectionof Rs 4,136 crore in November, a 64% Growth from Rs 2,528 crore collected in the same period last year.

The collection is also the highest among major states as well as the highest ever gross collection of GST by the state ever since launching of the new tax regime, said an official statement.

Figures released by the state GST commissioner’s office said progressive collection till November of 2021-22 fiscal is pegged at Rs 28,032 crore compared to Rs 17,229 crore collected in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The collection was Rs 19,366 till November of 2019-20 fiscal.

TheSGST(State GST) collection in November is estimated at Rs 1,157 crore, a growth of nearly 70% over the Rs 681 crore collected in the same period last year.

According to the figures, the SGST collection till November of the current fiscal is pegged at Rs 7,977 crore compared to Rs 5,013 crore collected in the same period of the previous fiscal.
In the 2019-20 fiscal, the SGST collection till November was Rs 5,661 crore.

Besides SGST, collection from the state during November was Rs 1,001 crore under CGST (Central GST), Rs 1,223 crore under IGST (Integrated GST) and Rs 735 crore under cess.

CM sanctions Rs 3.82 cr for Utkal Balashram

by

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed the 12th foundation day function of the Odisha State Commission for Child Rights here.

Children are the future of our Society. They represent our collective hopes and aspirations. Smiling children paint our society in multitude of colours and depict its vitality. All our endeavour should be directed at one goal — bring smiles on the face of every child, Patnaik said.

The CM sanctioned an amount of Rs 3.82 crore for construction of an Utkal Balashram building in Cuttack.