Harijan women in water row

Restricting water to Harijans is normally an issue in our country where caste bias still plays a role.
But here is a different story at Chandanimal in the tribal-dominated Kuchinda sub-division, 70 km from here. A group of Harijan women prevented other fellow women in the same community from drawing water from the village well. Later, the incident reached police station and seven women were arrested and produced in the court in Kuchinda yesterday.
As per the information from police and villagers, one well in the Harijan para of Chandanimal is the only source of drinking water for the people in the area. But, on Saturday, Ms Indumati Kansari and her supporters did not allow other women to draw water before her. She even threw buckets at other women. Enraged over this, the villagers later brought the matter to the notice of Kuchinda police.
But allotment of contract for a road work in the village is the reason behind the dispute. A tension between groups of the same para was brewing for a long time over this particular reason, Mr PK Tripathy, the OIC of Kuchinda police station said. This incident is also an outcome of the same conflict, he added.

Medical shops asked to go by rules

Stern action will be taken against druggists and medicine shop owners if they were found to be selling items which were banned, adulterated, expired and fake, warned Utkal Chemist and Druggist Association .
In a Press meet, president of the Association, Mr Sudhal Bihari Mohanty, and general secretary Mr Prabir Kuamar Das have informed that production of ginger and other alcoholic medicines had totally stopped in Orissa and instructed all druggists and medicine shop owners not to sell ginger in their shops. They said those youths who had consumed ginger were not healthy now.
Mr Das informed that the Association had been working for the poor, distress and physically handicapped people as well as the family members of jawans killed in Kargil war. He said the Association had issued health cards to the family members of martyrs of Kargil war, besides giving free health service. The Association has also supplied free medicine to different medicine banks in different districts for providing health services to the poor and distressed.
On the other hand, the Association has been demanding for the past ten years that the Central government mention the rate and tax for each medicine and they had even closed their shutters to press for the demands. Of late, Central government has realised the matter and started mentioning the rate and tax of each medicine to be available in every place. The Association has decided to follow the guidelines of government and determined to introduce it from the Gandhi Jayanti.

Dental health in a mess

Dentists of the state are skeptical regarding the opening of new dental colleges in the state without the availability of proper infrastructure.
In the past the only dental college in the state was the one managed by the state government, which functions at the SCB Medical College campus in Cuttack, since 1983. It still runs with its intake capacity of 20 students. The practising dentists of the state, who have passed out from this institute allege that the institute lacks proper teaching staff, adequate laboratory and instruments. Although the state government has been envisioning an increase in the number of seats to 60, it has not been done till date.
But in the recent past the state government granted permission to two private institutes, to open up dental colleges in the state. One of these institutes has an intake strength of 100 students, while the other has 60 seats. Three other private organisations have also applied to the state government for setting up dental colleges in the state. Their proposals are pending with the Indian Dental Association (IDA).
According to former president of the Orissa Unit of the IDA, Dr Ashok Kumar Mohanty, establishment of a dental college with proper infrastructure is a costly affair. Moreover the state government should think of the employment opportunity of the dentists who pass out of the institutes. Dr Mohanty said there is more scope for dentists in other states than in Orissa. Dental sector is a neglected field of health care in the state. Only a single dentist is appointed at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH). There is little scope for dentists to get appointed at the government level in Orissa. Even dentists passing out of the dental wing of the SCB medical college usually face problems of unemployment in the state.
Dr Mohanty puts a question mark on the decision of the state government to increase the number of dental physicians in the state, for which parents would have to pay hefty sums to private organisations. Moreover, there is dearth of Master in Dental Surgery (MDS) degree holders in the state. According to Dr Mohanty, private dental institutions are bringing in MDS degree holders on contract basis to deceive the IDA to get approval. The names of these MDS degree holders as teachers is just shown on paper and after a few months these people return to their own states, alleged Dr Mohanty.
“The Vinayak Mission Lord Jagannath Institute of Dental Science and Research, which closed down after two batches passed out, is a proper example,” he said.

Hello Orissa launches Website

Hello Orissa, state’s first telephonic information centre for any kind of products and services available in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela and Berhampur, will now be available on the Website www.helloorissa.com.
The energy minister, Mr SN Patra, inaugurated the Website here today. Earlier, people would make calls at 0674-2301616 to avail of the services. The Website has separate sections for services, doctors/hospitals, educational institutes, commercial shops, real estates and government offices.
Mr Patra appreciated the initiative by the students of Xavier Institute of Management and said Orissa should produce many more CEOs and institutes like Xaviers. XIMB) is a pioneer in grooming students to become future leaders, he said. Professor Sisir Kumar Panda, CEO of Sambad and an alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur, delivered key address and said that an initiative like hello Orissa betrays the passion to do something different.
Mr Bamadev Mishra, the main force behind Hello Orissa, made a wonderful presentation on the hello Orissa and its objective and future plans. He said the project was intended for social service, while making business sense out of this in order to make the service sustainable over the years to come. He informed that the students were planning to expand the services to include facilities and services available in other places such as Sambalpur, Puri, Paradip, Balasore, Baripada, Jeypore and Koraput by inviting franchises.

Nalco bags top export award

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) bagged the top export award of CAPEXIL for 2005-2006. Mr KK Mallick, the director (commercial), received the award from West Bengal chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Kolkata today. A release issued by the company said here today since its inception Nalco has been recording spectacular success as the country’s leading exporter of alumina and aluminium.
During the financial year 2005-2006, the company exported 8.62 lakh tones of alumina and 95,747 tones of aluminium metal achieving the highest ever export earning of Rs 2,306. 20 crore. The company sold 2,58,094 tones of aluminium metal in the domestic market achieving a market share of about 30 per cent. Nalco also achieved record sales turnover of Rs 5324.16 crore and net profit of Rs 1,562.20 crore during 2005-06.
Nalco enjoys Five Star Export House status, and it is the first Indian aluminium company to be registered with London Metal Exchange (LME).

Jail term for rapist

A fast track court here sentenced a tribal youth to ten years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl of his village six months ago.
The judge, Mr Soven Kumar Das, convicted Lodha Kindo (22) of Kudobahal village of Sundargarh district for abducting the 12-year-old girl on 27 February and assaulting her.
According to the prosecution, he then confined the girl at his home and raped her several times for the next two days. He was subsequently arrested by the police and a case was registered against him.

Build a future in civil engineering

Seeing the changing skyline, the heaps of bricks and cement, and pages and pages of real estate information, you know this is a country in the throes of change. Everyday we read about new townships coming up, the Metro rail extending its network, and development preparations for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. If there is one career common to all this feverish activity, it is that of civil engineers.
It is said that engineers have a hand in the creation of anything in use anywhere. The purpose of engineering is to design and manufacture the hardware of life. Engineers design, manufacture, repair, modify, and construct. From simple bicycles to aeroplanes and rockets, from highways to dams, engineers build everything.
Civil engineers design, plan and execute the construction work for any structure. They are involved in the planning, research, survey and construction of all kinds of buildings, whether it is a house, factory, stadium or airport, as also roads, traffic and transportation systems, irrigation and power plants, water supply and sewage disposal plants, ports and harbours, oil rigs, etc. Civil engineers are mainly responsible for planning and designing a project and having it constructed to the required scale. The new Beijing to Lhasa railway line was built by civil engineers. The gigantic World Trade Towers in New York attacked five years ago on September 11, were also built by civil engineers.

Role & responsibilities
Civil engineers can work at a construction site or as consultants. While the work itself is basically the same, site engineers take responsibility for the actual construction work. The work involves interpreting the architects’ designs, devising an overall plan for the construction of the proposed project, working out the cost of the construction, supervising the feasibility studies, making site investigations and advising clients on materials and contractors for the actual construction. Civil engineers also take responsibility for the accuracy of drawings and quantities of materials required for the project, supervise the work schedule and conduct periodic checks.

Eligibility
To be a civil engineer, you need an engineering degree, preferably in civil or structural engineering. Almost all engineering colleges offer the Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Engineering courses are available at two levels. There are the degree and postgraduate degree courses offered by the engineering colleges and Institutes of Technology (IITs), and, the diploma courses available at polytechnics.
Candidates who have passed the plus two or equivalent examination with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) are eligible to sit for the entrance test, although some require a minimum of 50 per cent in Class XII.

Testing time

The main competitive exams include:
The Joint Entrance exam of the IITs (IITJEE) for admission to the seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Roorkee and Guwahati, and the Institute of Technology (BHU) at Varanasi, and the Indian School of Mines.
The All-India Engineering Entrance exam (AIEEE) for admission to the National Institutes of Technology (formerly Regional Engineering Colleges) at places like Kurukshetra, Tiruchirapally, Durgapur, Calicut, Warangal, Srinagar, Surathkal (Karnataka), Rourkela, Hamirpur (H.P.) etc, as well as hundreds of government and private engineering colleges which offer degree courses in civil engineering.
Institutes such as the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, Rajasthan, and at Ranchi; Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal; the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University, among others, also conduct separate entrance examinations.
In addition, there are hundreds of engineering colleges in all states in the country, except for Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Students from these states are accommodated against reserved seats at the NITs at Silchar, Assam, the Tripura Engineering College, and in other engineering colleges of the country.
The three-year diploma in civil engineering is offered by many polytechnics and vocational institutes.
There is also the (AMIE) Associate Membership Examination of the Institute of Engineers that enables working people in the private and public sector, or diploma holders to acquire a Bachelor’s degree through distance education, for career advancement.
In addition to academic requirements, civil engineers also need to have a certain intrinsic ability of working with form and structure, and conceptualising design. They must have a facility with numbers, a logical mind, organising ability, practicality, clear headedness, and a capacity to toil and persevere under, what can at some times be trying working conditions.
Civil engineers have to travel to the locations where the construction is happening and they often have to interact with labour. They have to also stay in touch with contractors, architects and town planners while working on their project.

Job prospects
Once qualified, civil engineers can work with large construction companies, such as DLF and UNITECH and work on new urban projects. They can also work with companies undertaking construction projects, such as Larsen and Toubro, BHEL, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and others. Those looking to specialise in the construction industry can specialise in the area of construction management. The National Institute of Construction Management and Research in Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Pune offers a Postgraduate Diploma in Construction Management, suitable for graduate engineers, as also a programme in Real Estate Development and Management.
Many civil engineers join the government sector, including the railways, municipal corporations, telecommunications departments, and public sector organisations. Many also sit for the Civil Services exam. Even banks and financial organisations take on civil engineers as technical experts.
However, engineering is not so much one career as an expertise which opens doors to a vast range of jobs. Engineers probably have a wider choice of environment in which to work and a greater variety of jobs than is possible in any other profession. Not only are engineers in great demand for technical services, candidates with technical expertise are in great demand for managerial functions too, and in the area of project and production management.
Moreover, an engineer with some experience can set up his / her own small unit / company or consultancy. Be it a small industrial project, electronic business, construction activity, mechanical venture or fabrication activity, civil engineers can perform extremely well in their own business venture.

Big cities stall, Indore shows the new bus route

The solution for the public transport problems of India’s big cities is now running on the roads of Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
Indore has become the first city in the country to put in place a fleet of 53 modern low-floor buses equipped with GPS and computerised ticket-vending machines. In two days, the bus stops will have electronic sign boards to show the status of the buses.
The new Tata Starbuses have the same tariff of Rs 3- 12 as that ot the old Nagar Sewa mini buses that pack people like sardines. The perpetual story of public transport losses seems to be over. Since February this year, when the buses started running, the municipal corporation has made Rs 1 crore profit.The city is celebrating the new transport system run on private-public partnership.”There was just the Nagar Sewa until some months back. Rude staff and overcrowded buses made going out a nightmare. I always ended up taking an auto or just driving down myself. But look at these buses. The conductors and drivers are so well-behaved, there is separate seating and The word is spreading fast. Indore is now being consulted by Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Kota, Udaipur, Rourkela and Raipur. Soon a World Bank team will be here to study the scheme.

For clean nature and ideal family

Balia Baba, who has launched a campaign of spiritual and social enlightenment, told reporters here today that at the end of each of his discourses he made it a point to distribute saplings to all those present there as enough damage had been done to the environment where we are living in.
Born in Cuttack, the spiritual preacher, who has set up his hermitage at Arilo, near Tirtol under Jagatsinghpur district, emphasised the need of a cleaner environment and ideal family.
He called for mandatory check-up of bride and groom before the marriage so that they can ensure a safe life

Women take on bootleggers

Women from Anukundaguda in the Gumma block of Gajapati district organised a rally ~ disrupting traffic on the Paralakhemundi-Gumma road ~ demanding the immediate stopping of manufacture and sale of hooch in their village and the adjoining areas.
The women belonging to the Shanti Mahila Mandali, the Indira Mahila Mandali, the Savitri Mahila Mandali and the Eastor Mandali have launched a campaign called Operation Vijaya aimed at curbing the sale of illegal country-made liquor in the villages.
A delegation of women had earlier met the district collector, the superintendent of police and the Excise officer seeking their support for the movement against a menace that was harming their family and social life.
But as their request did not yield any results, they planned a road blockade in order to highlight their demand. Coincidently, the RDC (SZ), Mr Sudarsan Pal Thakur, was on his way to Gumma to inaugurate a water and sanitation project when he was stopped by the rallyists.
The RDC assured his whole-hearted support to this noble campaign and immediately asked the district collector, Mr DV Swamy, to look into the issue. The collector agreed to give the members of the Self Help Groups policing powers to stop the manufacture and sale of hooch in the locality.
“It is a pleasant surprise to see the women take up a campaign against liquor mafia. We support their cause and give them police protection,” said the RDC.
Ms Subarna Sabara and Ms Shanti Misal, who are leading the agitation, informed the RDC and the collector that they were being threatened by the bootleggers. The collector assured them that anybody who tried to stop their agitation would be dealt with sternly.

Flood: Man-made disaster?

Could the deluge have been averted? Was the flood control measure up to the mark to tame the watery invasion? Were the massive funds, both from the state and Centre, judiciously spent on embankment refurbishment?
These pertinent issues have come under intense debate in these parts of the state that bore the brunt of as many as three major floods, all within a short span of five years. The general mood of the public is that of anger, with flood-hit people yet to pick up the threads of life.
Popular perception is that the flood was thrust upon them by a handful of corrupt administrators and engineers, besides power hungry politicians.
Opposition parties in this politically sensitive district are vocal in their criticism and the unanimous opposition view is that the flood was entirely man-made. It could have easily been averted with the resources at the government agencies. Funds were literally plundered with little work done to mend the weakened Chitrotpala and Luna embankments.
If the Opposition leaders are to be believed, an estimated Rs 15 crore grant, meant for flood control measure in the flood-prone Kendrapara district, falling under the Mahanadi north and south divisions of the water was misutilised over the past three years, .
Kendrapara MLA Mr Utkal Keshari Parida pointed out that the breach that occurred on the left embankment of the Luna river to devastate large areas stayed in the water resources division’s list of ‘threatened’ spots. The said site had incidentally shown sign of embankment cracks.
The department claimed to have spent Rs 25 lakh to repair the 5 km stretch Luna embankment from Baspur to Kalapada. The repair was done but in most haphazardly. “A month before the flood, I had categorically pointed out that Luna embankment near Baspur area has got considerably got enfeebled. But the authorities concerned turned a deaf ear to my plea”, he said.
Floods of devastating nature had wrought havoc in the river-locked Patkura and Kendrapara region in August 2001 and September 2003 and the general belief is that flood-induced disaster was entirely man-made. Massive flow of funds for measures like breach closure, repair of breach-prone points at the river embankments and height elevation of embankments were largely siphoned off and consequently deluge recurred despite the much-acclaimed flood control measures, according to opposition parties here.

Govt declares 4 per cent DA

The state government today declared a 4 per cent DA for its employees which will be given retrospectively from July 2005 taking the total percentage to 21.
The doze of DA will be given to all government employees, besides varsity, other work charge workers and teachers.
Even as details of this announcement were being made a section of the secretariat employees were protesting against the withholding of full payment. Later, they went in a delegation and thanked the chief minister for the announcement.

MLA opens new road

The long cherished dream of the people of the Kasinagar and Gosani blocks was fulfilled after the Paralakhemundi MLA, Mr Trinath Sahu, inaugurated the all Orissa Paralakhemundi-Kasinagar Road via Sitapur and Hadubhangi villages.
Constructed under the Rastriya Shrama Vikas Yojana at a cost of Rs 70 lakhs, the road will facilitate the transportation towards Kasinagar, Gunupur, Rayagada and Koraput without having to enter into Andhra Pradesh. Conceived in as early as 1970, the proposal for this road was finalised in the 90’s, but lack of funds had not allowed the starting of this project .

Changes not in the offing

Caste based ostracisation still continues at remote rural areas of Ganjam district even in this present century.
Incidents of social ostracisation of lower castes by the upper castes have come up from villages like Sarabadi, Batasena, Singipur of Sorada block and Alasu village of Jagannathprasad block. The tragic part is that the lower castes are not being allowed to collect water from community water sources at these villages. The tribal organisation, Lok Sangram Manch, has decided to unite the lower castes of these villages in protest against this inhuman archaic practice of upper castes. Mr Bhala Chandra Sarangi, leader of the Lok Sangram Manch, said although Orissa does not have casteist politics and people of Orissa are not as caste driven like their counter parts in other states of the country, yet some remote pockets still bear the marks of the medieval caste based psyche.
Mr Sarangi alleged that in the Alasu village of the Jagannathprasad block, the Harijans are not being allowed even to shop from the shops owned by upper castes. But water seems to be a major source of discomfort between the traditional minded upper castes and the lower castes. Recent rains submerged the tubewell in the Harijan locality of the Singipur village under Sorada block. Inevitably the Harijan families went to the other tubewell at the village to collect water. But they were not allowed to collect water from the tubewell, as it exists in the locality of upper castes and for astonishing reasons the upper castes of the village felt their tubewell would be polluted if the lower castes touched it. A complaint regarding this is also pending at the Badagada police station of the Sorada block.
But the Harijans of the Sarabadi village of Sorada block have decided to oppose their social ostracisation at the hands of the upper castes of the village. They have formed an organisation named Harijan Kalyan Sangh at the village and have decided to stage a dharna and go on a hunger strike in front of the office of the Bhanjanagar sub-collector, if the administrative officials did not stop the caste based social ostracisation at their village. Mr Sarangi said the Harijans of the village have filed a complaint regarding this at the Badagada police station, but no action has been taken yet.
It is alleged that nearly 35 Harijan families of the Sarabadi village have been debarred from using the village community pond and the tube well at the village. Even the members of this community are not allowed to hold special rituals at the village temple, although the Harijans have also contributed to the construction of the temple. At times the Harijan youths are ordered not to ride bicycle in front of senior members of the upper castes in the village.

Jail break: Two get suspension

Mr Bangsidhar Patr and Mr Abhimanu Sethy, the warden and guard of Baripada circle jail respectively have been placed under suspension following the escape of two under trials.
Superintendence of Jail M Sibdas Chand said Mohammed Nizamuddin (34) and Bablu alias Papa (30), who were lodged in the jail since 20 February, had escaped by cutting the grills of a window. They had also used a rope to flee. Mr Chand suspected that some insiders had helped the duo escape. Superintendence of police Mr Ravi Kant said the under-trials were facing several cases in Jharkhand.
Special police teams have been sent to track down the two notorious criminals, added the SP.

Railway men demand interim relief

The members of East Coast Railway Shramik Congress held a demonstration before the office of the divisional railway manager in Sambalpur for the fulfillment of demands they had made.
The main demands are Rs 1,000 interim relief before the final implementation of Sixth Pay Commission recommendation, removal of salary ceiling limit of Rs 2,500 for the payment of the productive linked bonus and a halt to privatisation and outsourcing of regular works in the railway etc.
“While there is an increase in number of trains, the appointment of staff is in the reverse trend,” alleged Mr PK Barik, the divisional coordinator of East Coast Shramik Congress. Congress also demanded the stopping of harassing gang men and implementation of uniform roaster in different departments. n SNS

City cops arrested in Kolkata out on bail

Seven Mumbai police personnel were arrested for negligence on Thursday after one of the six commercial sex workers they were escorting to Kolkata escaped en route. The cops were released on bail on Friday after Sanjay Aparanti, deputy commissioner of police, social service branch, arrived in Kolkata. The cops are now on their way home.

A local court in Mumbai had ordered that six women held for flesh trade near Kennedy Bridge in south Mumbai in August be sent to a remand home in Kolkata, since the women hailed from the city. A team of 15 cops � three male and 12 female constables � was to escort the women to Kolkata. The group reportedly boarded the Kurla-Howrah Gyaneshwari Express on Wednesday. On Thursday, as the train approached Rourkela railway station, one of the six women requested to be allowed to visit the loo.

�As the train slowed down near the station, the woman jumped off and escaped,� DCP Aparanti said. The team then proceeded to Kolkata with the remaining five women, the DCP said. �It is a matter of shame. The cops should have disembarked and lodged a complaint with the local police,� Aparanti added.

When the team arrived at the Liluah Home for Destitute Women, around 25 km from Kolkata, the authorities there were shocked that the cops had brought only five women instead of six. They refused to admit the women and alerted the local police. The seven cops accompanying the women were first detained and subsequently arrested for negligence. But why seven cops when there was supposed to be a team of 15?

According to DIG (Presidency Range) Hermanpreet Singh, the seven cops claimed their team members had gone after the woman who escaped. However, a subsequent probe revealed that the missing constables had not boarded the train from Mumbai.

Aparanti said, �We have confirmed that the eight missing constables did not start from Mumbai at all. We will take action against them.�

10-year-old girl runs for 12 hours

Denied permission by the local administration to run 100 km at a stretch, a 10-year-old tribal girl ran for about 12 hours in Orissa's Sundargarh district.
In a throwback to the Budhia Singh controversy, Anastasia Barla of Panchara village began her run at around 11.30 pm on Thursday. Her tiny feet rested only after 12 hours, a report reaching here said.
Anastasia was found missing from her bed on Thursday night by her parents. As they searched for her, they found her running in the dead of the night, they recounted.
Hundreds of villagers gathered at the local playground to cheer her as she resolved to honour her decision to complete a 100-km run between Sundargarh and Rourkela on October 2.
The girl had hit the headlines after the Budhia saga, when she completed a 60-km run in five hours and 23 minutes in the presence of Congress MLA Gregory Minz, himself a former state hockey player.
Anastasia, trained by Dominic Lakra, had announced her decision to run for 100 km on Independence Day. But the plan had to be shelved after the district administration denied her permission to do so.

Jamshedpur on a renewal mission

The Opposition-ruled Jharkhand government is in crisis, and the ruling alliance at the Centre is clearly not unhappy about it. This may not unwelcome news for Tata Steel, the company that has been managing the industrial township of Jamshedpur for 99 years.This is because Raghobar Das the Finance and Urban Development Minister and Jamshedpur's BJP MLA has been trying to foist a municipality on the town, creating uthuraman adds, “I believe Jamshedpur is the best managed town in the country. While you have one successful model which has been there for a hundred years would you like to bring in some other model which however loft may not yet have been tried.”
An elected body could inject party politics into city management. Things are already very uneasy between the government and the city managers. For instance, the state has notified water rates that are way below the cost of supply, even though people around Jamshedpur have shown a willingness to pay more for assured supply.
The 74th Constitutional Amendment required elected bodies for responsive administration and efficient delivery of public services.
It would be hugely ironic if an exercise in democracy has the opposite effect.