No mobile connectivity in 5,770 Odisha villages

As many as 5,770 villages in Odisha do not have mobile Network connectivity. The information was provided by Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 24, raised by Sulata Deo.

45,406 villages out of total 51,176 villages of the State have mobile network connectivity facilities till December 2022.

As per the reports, less than 20 villages in Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Puri, Baleswar, Dhenkanal, Subarnapur, Bolangir, Bargarh and Kendrapada districts do not have mobile network connectivity.

Govt plans to reduce child marriages

The has decided to prepare a concerted, multi-sectoral action plan engaging all stakeholders to prevent and prohibit the age-old practice of child marriage.
According to theNational Family Health Survey(NFHS) 2015-16, as many as 21.3% girls inOdishaget married before the legal age of 18 years. Along with the districts, the government will also focus on the urban poor in municipalities.

The government will prepare an inter-sectoral convergent action plan for each district for prevention and Prohibition of child marriages. This includes convergence of programmes across sectors and key line departments in districts, officials said.

District task force (DTF) meetings will be held regularly to review implementation of child marriage-free village initiative, rehabilitation and skilling opportunities for adolescents rescued from child marriage or at risk of child marriage, Child Labour and child trafficking.

For the first time in six months, the states Covid test positivity rate (TPR) stood at 0.93% with 609 new infections reported from the 64,991 samples tested.

Sixteen districts reported a TPR of less than 1%, in eight districts the figure stood above 1% and the TPR was zero in four districts. The positivity rate was 2% and 3% in Khurda and Deogarh respectively.

The trend of dip in cases might prompt the government to lift the weekend shutdown in Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar and do away with the night curfew across the state from September 1.

So far, 2.2 crore vaccine doses have been administered to people out of which 53.17 lakh people have received both doses.

Odisha second state to start OBC survey

Odisha became the second state in the country to launch theOBC survey. The much-awaited survey will continue till May 27, an official said.
The opposition BJP has criticised the ruling dispensation over the manner in which the exercise is being undertaken, while the governing BJD said the survey is being held to ensure the socio- of the OBC.

Bihar was the first state to have launched the survey, the first phase of which was launched on January 21 and the second on April 15 2023.

Odisha to spend Rs 1,062 crore to boost health infrastructure

The Odisha government has planned to spend Rs 1062 crore for strengthening hospital in the state this year. As many as 863 hospital projects from the sub-centre to district headquarters hospital (DHH) level have been selected for infra upgradation.As per the state action plan 2022-23, additional units will be constructed at nine DHHs at the cost of Rs 26.7 crore along with buildings for six sub-divisional hospitals at Rs 240 crore and 60 CHCs at Rs 596 crore.

The decision for upgrading the hospital infrastructure under the Mukhya Mantri Swasthya Seva Mission has been taken in the wake of recently issued Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) guidelines to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in view of the rising load of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

The Health and Family Welfare department has also decided to upgrade five PHCs/CHCs at a cost of Rs 4.6 crore, construct 47 PHC and staff quarter buildings as per IPHS norms at Rs 35.57 crore, 40 sub-centre buildings at Rs 18.4 crore and provide basic amenities at 696 PHCs and sub-centres at Rs 82.42 crore besides the residential and non-residential complexes under AYUSH department at a cost of Rs 58 crore.

After UP, Odisha has highest no. of mentally ill prisoners

The number of prisoners, suffering from mental illness, has been rising steadily in the state.
This was revealed in the Prison Statistics India 2020 released by theNational Crime Records Bureau(NCRB).

With 696 mentally ill inmates in 2020, Odisha stood second only to Uttar Pradesh, which had 1,507 mentally ill prisoners during the period.

In 2019, altogether 626 mentally ill inmates were lodged in different jails here, the NCRB report said.
The development assumes significance amid the last month assigning 15 psychiatrists and 13 clinical psychologists the task of screening the mental illnesses of jail inmates across the state and treating them.

The psychiatry department of theNational Institute of Mental Healthand Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore was engaged by the Centre to prepare the advisory.
The state government has also constituted a three-member expert committee to find out the condition of inmates suffering from psychiatric ailments and the status of suicides in jails.

Odisha gets Rs 524-cr GST compensation

The Central Government released an amount of Rs 524 crore to Odisha towards balance GST compensation for the period from April to June. In fact, the Union Government has released Rs 17,000 crore to States and Union Territories (UT)s on November 24. The total amount of compensation released to the States/UTs so far during the year 2022-23 is Rs 1,15,662 crore.

This is despite the fact that total Cess collection till October, 2022 is only Rs 72,147 crore and the balance of Rs 43,515 crore is being released by the Centre from its own Resources.With this release, the Centre has released, in advance, the entire amount of Cess estimated to be collected this year till March-end available for payment of compensation to the States.

Skill India to host Kaushal Mahotsav in Dnal

The Ministry of Skill development and (MSDE) through its strategic implementation and knowledge partner the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) will be organising a Kaushal Mahotsav on Sunday in Dhenkanal.

Under the guidance of Union Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan, a series of events will be periodically held in the State, bringing an array of opportunities to the local youth and communities of Odisha.

Centre asks Odisha to expedite land acquisition for highway projects

The Centre has requested the to expedite the land acquisition process as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to award tenders for some of the crucial highway projects in the state within the next one year.

Some of the key highway projects which are likely to be awarded in the next one year include theCapital Region Ring Road, Tangi-Ratanpur stretch of the coastal highway, six-lane of Chandikhole-Paradip stretch, Keonjhar-Duburi project,Cuttack-Paradipand Sambalpur ring road project.

Besides, two port connectivity projects like Chhatpur to Gopalpur and Jamujhadi to Dhamra port are also likely to be awarded for implementation by next year.
All these highway projects are proposed under the Centre’sBharatmala Pariyojanaand are significant in terms of faster movement of goods and socio-Economic Development of the respective regions.

Odisha best performer in mining work

Odishareceived the Rashtriya Khanij Vikas Puraskar first prize for thebest performing state in taking initiatives in exploration, auction and operationalisation of mines. It carries a Rs 3 crore prize .

The state mines minister, Prafulla Mallik, recived the award from Union Home ministerAmit Shahand coal and mines ministerPralhad Joshiduring the 6th National Conclave of Mines and Minerals in New Delhi.

The Rashtriya Khanij Vikas Puraskar was given away for the first time in three different categories. Odisha received the second prize (Rs 2 crore cash) in Category II, in which MP stood first and Maharashtra came third. CM Naveen Patnaik congratulated the state steel and mines department for the feat.