ORISSA

Dharmendra urges govt to repeal Odisha Universities Act

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Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday urged the to repeal theOdishaUniversities (amendment) Act, 2020 to ensure academic autonomy of state public universities.

“The state government has come up with a law to bring all state public universities under one Act. It was created this keeping the administrative needs of the universities in mind. As an alumnus of Utkal University, I request the government to reconsider the proposal of the academics on the Act for academic autonomy, multidisciplinary, employability and other benefits,” said Pradhan while attending the 79th foundation day of Utkal University.

Pradhan said putting the universities in order does not mean the Act will end up creating an obstacle on the path of autonomy of the universities. “A university cannot be a college where a teacher can be transferred from one institution to another. Besides meeting with the governor, I had also written a letter to the then education minister about this issue last year,” Pradhan said.

The government had amended the Odisha Universities Act, 1989, in September last year and brought all state public universities under one Act. Academics and retired professors had criticised the government for amending the Act which they said curtails the autonomy of the universities.

With completion of four years of the BJDs fifth term in office, the State Government approved 18 proposals including a Mo Ghara scheme.

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The decision was taken at a State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Under the Mo Ghara scheme in the & Drinking Water Department, the Government will provide financial assistance to meet aspiration of the lower and lower middle-class households in rural areas.

The scheme will cover all such families which were left out in the existing housing schemes due to stringent eligibility criteria or due to insufficient allocation and also those families which had received housing assistance of smaller amount in the past and now want to upgrade or expand their houses.

Under the scheme, a beneficiary can avail a loan up to Rs 3 lakh, which can be repaid in 10 years excluding a 1-year moratorium period in easy installments. They can opt for one of the four slabs of the loan amount — Rs 1 lakh, Rs 1.5 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh.

The Government may bear the expenses of Rs 2,150 crore for approximate 4 lakh beneficiaries (1 lakh from each loan slab) over a period of two years for the scheme.

Odishas 2023-24 budget to be 10 percent larger than last year

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The started preparations for the 2023-24 budget with Finance minister Niranjan Pujari presiding over a consultation meeting. As the state economy is on a path of recovery after the Covid pandemic, the size of the budget is likely to be 10 per cent more than the previous year. The government had presented a budget of `2 lakh crore for 2022-23. The budget is likely to be the last before the 2024 Elections and a major portion of the funds will be allocated for a large number of welfare measures announced by the state government.

Official sources maintained with the state maintaining a robust Growth rate of over 6.5 per cent and tax collection remaining satisfactory, the size of the budget will be definitely more than the previous year. The state government has already started the official preparation of a budget and a decision will be taken in this regard.

As the state budget will be placed after the central budget, things will be much clear on it in the first week of February. The state government will no longer have to anticipate the size of the central share and other assistance, he said, adding it will be much easier to prepare the budget.

Govt had presented budget of `2lakh crore in 2022-23
The 2023-24 budget will be the last before next elections
Former finance ministers Stress income from tourism
Major portion of funds to be allocated for govts welfare schemes

At 90.5 per cent, Odisha best in country in kid vaccination

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The Percentage of fully immunised children is the highest (90.5 per cent) inOdisha, according to phase-II of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5).

A fully immunised child is one who has taken all scheduled Vaccines supplied by the government. A child in Odisha takes as many as 12 vaccines from government facilities. Mostly local health and anganwadi workers coordinate the vaccine camps at the village level with the help of health department officials.

The national figure for fully immunised children aged 12-23 months has improved from 62 per cent to 76 per cent in the past five years. Odisha’s rate was 78.6 per cent in 2015-16 (NFHS-4). Odisha is followed by Himachal Pradesh (89.3 per cent), Nadu(89.2 per cent),West Bengal(87.8 per cent),Karnataka(84.1 per cent) and Goa (81.9 per cent).

According to the survey, 98.1 per cent children aged between 12 and 23 months have received most of their vaccinations in a public health facility in Odisha. While 99.1 per cent children were from rural areas, 91.8 per cent were from urban localities. However, only a miniscule 1.4 per cent children (most of them from urban areas) in Odisha received their vaccines from private facilities. As many as 97.3 per cent children aged 12-23 months have received the BCG vaccine. Similarly, 94.4 per cent children have received three doses of penta or hepatitis B vaccine.

Odisha is a pocket-friendly tourist destination

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Odisha is a pocket-friendly tourist destination having quality and a diversified product portfolio comprising forests, sea, wildlife, tribal groups and hills.

Comparing Odisha with other States, he said people who visit Rajasthan only see palaces and desert; but in Odisha, they get chance to stay in lavish royal palaces and can visit forests and see wildlife animals. People whjo are going to Agra only see Taj Mahal; but in Odisha, they can see the iconic Konark Temple and many other beautiful temples across the State.

The three-day Odisha Travel Bazaar 2022 is organised by the Department of Tourism and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) signed a Statement of Intent with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday to work for tribal development and sustainable development in Odisha.As per provisions, the two organisations will undertake targeted analytical tribal research activities based on SDG and Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), skilling through career guidance and counseling, management of natural resources especially water and biodiversity to ensure overall development of tribal areas.

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The Statement of Intent was signed between KIIT and KISS founder Dr Achyuta Samanta and UNDP Resident Representative, India, Shoko Noda. Both UNDP and KISS are working towards eradication of hunger and POVERTY. We are happy to work with KISS to bring about overall development of tribal areas in Odisha,” said Noda. Thanking UNDP for partnering with KISS, Dr Samanta said KISS has been working towards eradication of poverty and hunger and fulfilling Goals for last three decades.

Odisha will need 428 yrs to ensure women make up 1/3rd of police force

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At the current rate of recruitment,Odishawill need 428 years to fulfil the criteria of having one-third Women in Police force, the India Report 2021, released on Thursday, stated. Ironically, Odisha had introduced 33% reservation for women in police force way back in 1992.

The report, published by a group of seven organisations working towards reforms in justice delivery mechanism, said India will take 33 years to reach 33% target for women, assuming the rate of recruitment for women and men in police stay the same.

The report, the third overall, said as on 2020 Odisha has 9.1% of women in police and 11.1% officers in the force. As per the latest report,Delhi Policewith 12.4% of women in the force, will take 31 years,Gujaratwill require seven years (with 16% women now in police) followed by Bihar (17.4%), needing eight years.

Mizoram will be slowest, requiring 585 years to reach the 33% mark. While Gujarat also has 33% reservation, Bihar has 38% quota for women.

The 2019 report (the second) had said Odisha would take 82-111 years to reach the 33% target. The womens share then was 10% overall and 11.2% among officers, which has since declined, the report stated.

Kendrapara district of Odisha, that is crisscrossed by rivers, creeks and water inlets, has become the only district in India where all three species of crocodiles viz., salt-water,gharialand mugger are found.

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District has also claimed fame for its successful conservation programme launched for salt-water or estuarine crocodiles at theBhitarkanika .

The national park comprises of 1,768 estuarine crocodiles and is Home to 70 per cent of Indias estuarine crocodiles.

Now, with the sighting of mugger and gharial crocodiles, all three species of crocodiles are found in the river systems of Kendrapara district.

Gharial hatchling was rescued from Paika river which is a tributary of Mahanadi on August 29, 2021.

In 2016, a 14-feet-long mugger was sighted.

This larger national park is located in the northeast Kendrapara district of Odisha. It obtained the status of a Ramsar site in 2002. The area the second Ramsar site of Odisha after the Chilika Lake. The Park is surrounded by Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, Gahirmatha Beach, Marine Sanctuary, separating swamp region as well as MANGROVES from the Bay of Bengal. Park is home to Saltwater crocodile kingcobra, Indian python, black ibis, darters and other species of Flora and Fauna.

nly 70% work on the Rs 316-crore mega piped drinking water supply project has been completed till date though it was supposed to be commissioned by August 2020.Work on the project started in April 2018 to ensure round-the- clock supply of safe drinking water to around 2.75 lakh villagers in 52 panchayats underJeypore, Borigumma andKotpadblocks.

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He said under the project the surface water ofMurandam in Borigumma block will be filtered and supplied to the villagers for drinking replacing digging of borewells for water.
Official sources said as the ground water level is depleting with each passing year, the use of surface water will be very helpful in providing safe piped water supply in rural areas.

First aviation security institute to come up in Odisha

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Officials said while the security of BPIA is entrusted to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), security at the other three – Veer Surendra Sai Airport, Jharsuguda, Jeypore airport and Rourkela airport – are handled by Odisha Police. Before obtaining a BCAS licence for operationalising an airport, there are some mandatory requirements including training of security staff. The Barisal airstrip that will be transformed into a world-class pilot training centre, can train 500 pilots annually. The State Government has allocated Rs 275 crore for the project.

A government letter said because of the rush in BPIA because of increased air traffic, GATI was not getting slots for the trainees. The Birasal airstrip got approval from the DGCA in November 2019 and started flying trainer aircraft in December on a temporary basis.